Week 10

Finishing Scene 1

At the start of this week I completed my scene 1, not without a couple of problems. Whenever I'd exit a file, 3DS Max would return a null reference exception. Opening a file would cause it to crash instantly about 6/10 times, and also the random crashes would still happen. As it would also crash whenever I clicked render, Chris let me put the file onto his computer to render, but it still crashed even on his installation so I thought there may be a problem with the file. Which leads onto my next solution:

On the left in the hierarchy, you can see I've started to group things into a 'stuff' group to merge them into a new file easily. So I tried to do that, and thankfully I was able to get it to render.

On a brighter note, I changed the arc of the camera and shortened the paths of the ships so the camera swoops out of the way of the ships as they move towards it faster than they did previously, plus as it moves back into the ships' paths at the end, it gives a nice effect which I really like. When I edit it, I'll make sure to keep that movement in, as it gives the viewer a chance to take it all in for a second before the X-Wing comes to ruin the empire's day.

Scene 2

To save time I repurposed my first scene's file to make the second scene's file. This was to keep the lighting in similar places and ships on the same scale, along with the sky sphere. The tracks that the empire ships move along is basically the same. I simply moved the camera, and added in the X-Wing in their places.

Originally I tried just the empire ships and the camera moving. This didn't give a very good effect, as you could really notice the X-Wing wasn't making any progress.

Secondly I tried the camera moving backwards, the X-Wing moving forwards slowly, and the empire ships (of course) moving forwards still. This meant the camera would change angle really fast, and it took any tension or surprise out of the scene when the X-Wing's nose first peeks into the frame. It also gave the shot a more lively feel, when really it should be slow and methodical as the X-Wing is sneaking up on these unsuspecting ships below.

Finally, I went for having the camera static, but following the Lambda shuttle's position. I did have to adjust the X-wing's position slightly to get it in the centre but I'm so happy with that feeling it has as the X-Wing moves in with the relatively tiny empire forces down below:

And the X-Wing just keeps coming (almost filling up the screen) and seemingly has no end until you see the exhaust lights:

And it also gives the effect that the camera is pulling away smoothly, and intensifying the size difference between the X-Wing and the empire ships:

Side View:

Also while experimenting with this, I tried putting a camera into the cockpit of the X-Wing and it came out looking pretty nice, so I might change my plans for scene 3 to incorporate a shot similar to this experiment.

While it would deviate from my storyboard but I think it would be worth it to get a really good shot with a LOT of polish. I could even try to add in a HUD or aiming target. I also need to make the window frame and the side windows 2 sided materials so they show up in the render.