Media Tests and Experiments

This is a compilations of the various media tests that I have researched before starting my project. Please understand that all of these examples are from tutorials and workbooks, and therefore they are not entirely original work. However, it is through the reconstruction of these tutorials that I will learn the techniques and knowledge that I need to complete my project from a practical standpoint.

Each video has narration. I try to make them as quick as possible to demo my understanding of what I learned through the tutorial and what that video will aid in the future. However for anything I did not mention in the media tests/experiments in the video, I have annotated in this post.


Cloth tests:


First of all, I watched a video that helped me understand the basics of cloth. I was unable to use Cloth 101, a gnomon workshop DVD as it detailed a system of cloth that no longer exists in maya today. Therefore, not having any other information available from the library, I sought out tutorials on youtube.

What is interesting to note of Maya's ncloth, is that is a system dedicated to using 4-sided regular polygon shapes to simulate cloth. It has all the bells and whistles of the classic cloth system, but does NOT work with nurb or sub-divisional shapes in Maya.

Here are the tests:

It is important to learn cloth, as I have planned the use of it in my final asset. I hope to carry out more specific examples in my media tests, more akin to something I'll be doing, but for now I'll just get to grips with the basics.

Maya's native ncloth system does not seem too difficult to understand and carry out, so I hope it will be one of the easier aspects of the artefact's creation and from doing these tests I'm not so worried about the final.

Rigging Tests:

Rigging is essentially putting strings on the puppet that is the 3D model. It is essential to get the character to move, but can be quite technically involved, sometimes even incorporating maths techniques like vector maths and such. 

Rigging is the one of the core skills of technical artists. While there is much more to technical art than rigging, TAs are often referred to as rigging artists instead. There is some confusion to the role, and today is expands beyond just rigging. However, a lot of complex rigging techniques are used in some of the biggest films today. Some of the techniques below, however, are very standard and are some of the most basic rigging skills a TA can have.







Currently, the third test does not have audio, as the recording messed up half way through. In short, it is just me going over an IK/FK switch, where there are 3 sets of leg joints (in this case). One we can control, one that is set with IK(inverse kinemetics) and FK (forward kinemetics). There are some orient constraints set to an attribute on the FK/IK switch that allows the animator to interpolate between the two. This is useful because it allows more flexibility when animating, as the animator is not restricted to only one method of animation.

Hair/Fur Tests: