THE THING

Origin Story

For one of my last projects of animation first semester we had to create a sphere that had holes in it. In addition to creating this shape we had to use professional lighting to illuminate it. We were to do this in the animation program called Maya, which is used by professional animators. We first, however, had to prove we knew how to light so we had to watch a video or two about it and then place lights in the appropriate place on a worksheet. After that it was time to get to the fun part. 

The The Thing Was Created

To start of the project I first had to create a new file in Maya where all my work and finished projects would go. Once the file was created I created a sphere in the program that had a radius of 5. After that I created a cylinder to help create holes in the sphere. This step to a few tries because I would either make the cylinder to short to go through the whole sphere, to big to fit in it, or to small. When I eventually made the cylinder the right size I duplicated it so I would have two more of the same size. I then placed the cylinders in the sphere so there was an end sticking out of the top, bottom, and four sides. After they were in place I used the Boolian difference button to take out the spots where the cylinders and the sphere touched to create the holes. When the holes were created I colored the shape red and added a shiny texture to it. I then went in and added the lights using the directional lights tool to light it. After that I added an additional flat plane under the shape and colored it green. Once the plane was colored I rendered the images, saved, and I was done. 

Learning About The Thing

Throughout this project I learned how to create hole in objects, use the align tool, and was able to get a better understanding of how to color polygons. Being able to create hole using the Boolin tool will allow me to create more dimension and interest in future projects. The align tool wasn't hard to use but gave the project a nice professional look because nothing was off center and looked very nice. Improving my skill of coloring and adding texture to surfaces will allow me to work quicker and get my projects done faster while still looking nice. Professionally I learned that I work better while listening to music. This is because it blocks out additional noise and people while see my headphones and not bother me. I also learned how to use extra time I had after I was done. Instead of sitting at my computer I used my extra time to finish other projects I needed to do. 

Life Lessons 

Overall, I think this project went pretty smooth and turned out good. One thing I would change is not doing as dark of colors for the plane and maybe the shape. My dark colors made the shape and plane hard to see and the whole thing was very shadowy. However, my lights placement was very good and wasn't. In my next project I will most likely do the same lighting. At the end of the project I realized that not all projects will need a ton of work and can still look good. As a whole I think the project went very well and I will probably going into other projects with the same focus.