The finished building

These last weeks I had to make sure everything was prepared so I could pretty much to create the rest of my tower and add the finishing touches on. I created some more drawings so I could have reference for when I made stuff in Maya and I began to model. Also along these weeks I had to write a report on gaming consoles themselves and show that I knew about consoles all together. I thought I’d finish my model first so I could just do the writing towards the end. We were shown a presentation that consisted of points that had to be made in the report. Once the presentation was shown I made sure I had my notes so I could pretty much just write the report after the model. I began modelling again and pretty much the idea was the same, just the layout was a bit different. I stacked a building onto of the cog tower and used this still as the base. I then used the clock tower as an extra building itself instead of it just being a clock structure. I wanted there to be a walk way that connected to the main tower where the person would reside most. I wanted this to have a wizard look but still steampunk.

Again I wasn’t sure on how to create the objects itself but after manipulation the lines and vertex I had the shape I wanted. I deleted faces and filled the hole of certain objects so I could create the shape easier. Once I had the base I insisted just going over my model and adding detail so it would feel more steampunk and have more character. I added more windows, different lights and rivets here and there. I was overall happy with the result and I was at this point finished with my tower. The last thing I added was a rope structure that came out of the top of the tower. I added this from all the research I did and found that it filled that missing piece. 

Once I finished my tower I had to write out the report and finish off little parts of my project. All in all I was at the ideal place even though I had to change my building a little I still ended up being on time with the project. The only thing I would really change is that I wanted to tidy up my building a bit and maybe add something else as I thought it was a little empty but I thought I wouldn’t have gotten this far since I wasn’t happy with the previous design outcome.

Making the choice

These two weeks I began working on clock tower since I thought I could copy and paste it to make a whole one. So once I created it I copied and pasted it so I could attach the one to the other to create one main building. I had a bit of trouble here since I didn’t really know the different ways I could do it. I knew that I would have to move each vertex and then use the merge vertex tool so they would attach to each other but I wasn’t sure if there was another option. In the end I just deleted the inside faces and attached the vertex together. This was time consuming and one I got into the middle I in counted a problem that I needed help with. I realised that I must have messed up somewhere and the main part of the building had too many faces. It had extra faces inside and when it came to merged them together it made too much of a mess I figured I would have to start it again.

So after I realised this I just simply merged the roof together and used that as one object then simple used the building as a reference so I could create a clean cut object. 

Once I made this and attached everything together so it wasn’t messy, I combined the object so I could see what it would look like with the rest of the tower. At this point Maya was running slow so I just deleted the history on the objects and overall it began to move a lot faster. Once I added the object to the rest of the tower I realised I really didn’t like the way it was set out. I messed around with it a lot and tried to figure out how I could make it decent or most of all the way I really liked it. After spending a lot of time on this I just made the decision to do another tower but still keep the previous buildings I already made. Still using some of the objects I began making another building and I thought this would be easier/ less time consuming that my previous idea.

Experimenting in Maya

So after the weeks creating and coming up with the idea, we began to model our designs in Maya. Although using Maya from the previous year and knowing my way around it better, I still had to get used to it again. So before modelling I began to familiarise myself with all the tools again so I could maneuverer around the program much easier. Once I knew I was okay with using it, I began blocking out the structure that held the top section up. Since this was sort of a base it was easier for me to branch other structures of this building. This part was pretty simple and I was trying to get as much detail as I could. I used polygon shapes and manipulated the vertex and edges to my desired shape so I could achieve my building structure. I didn’t run into any problems when creating this and I started off with a positive feel towards my building. 

As you can see I was working along my plan and was doing good progress. Along this time I want to create a light bulb. I honestly didn’t think I would be able to create many objects that I did but I gave it a go. I looked online for more reference to light bulbs and looked at Maya tutorials. I didn’t really need to create something extreme since this was just a minor detail so the building wasn’t bare. I actually made a quick light bulb using a sphere and just manipulating the lines then using the extrude tool on certain parts. I actually achieved a decent light bulb for my first try and was happy with the results. After adding the tiny details I could see my building coming to shape. The little rivets here and there really helped bring the life to the building as it didn’t look so empty. 

Coming towards the end of this week I finished my middle building and I began to work on the clock tower building. I knew I had a lot ahead of me but I planned to at least give it a go and see how far I could get. Again I started blocking out the shapes and added details; this would be the part where I would have to create windows. So my intentions were that I would create one building and just simply copy and paste that building again so I wouldn’t have to make it all from scratch.