Moving forward on our first project!!

Everyone should be focused on creating assets for their room.

What I want us to do today before we start creating:

- Write a short paragraph explaining where you see your self in ten years

- Drop it in your folder and move into creating your stuff.

I'm going to read these paragraphs and make sure everyone's assets reflect their statement.

QUICK 3D lessons for the day:

I know some of us had problems making wheels-lets work on that.

we will employ a new selection tool that will come in super handy!

What we can do is drop a "disc" down and "select all' then extrude for desired wheel thickness.

You can then inner extrude or go to "circle" selection tool to select inside any radius geometry

Also, we'll learn about the knife tool today - a lot of fun with this simple to use tool.

What ever you want to cut must be editable; make sure you are set to edit points.

When you're ready, cut the desired location by scrubbing over lines until your points connect, then delete the cut out area.

REMEMBER: next class is at BAVC in the Mission (2727 miriposa) - we start at 6pm - don't be late!!!

First class Assignment

Great job last class, we are still moving forward towards

making some dynamic 3D images.

I want to spend the day today getting everyone caught up and on the same page before we move too much forward.

Our first assignment will be: -Due Feb. 5th- end of class

Make the room of your future-this room should contain everything you think will

be in your possession in ten years-will you be a doctor and have a stethoscope?

will you be and artist and have an easel and a painting?

what ever it is -we will spend time refining assets we created from last class, plus making new assets to place in our future space.

I will teach two things today to insure you wont have any issues making items to place in your room.

today we will learn:

#1. adding light to your lamp and making the lamp shade semi-transparent first we must draw a lamp shade in half with splines. then we need to drop it onto lathe nurbs and watch it complete the shape. Repeat the same process for the lamp stand. Then we need to create a simple light bulb by half drawing it with splines and then attaching the lathe nurbs. Bring in light and add it to the bulb-make sure you attache a lens on your light and make sure that what ever material you attach to your lamp shade has a decent transparency in it's attributes menu.

#2. "sweep" nurbs - this will come in very handy! Use this for long tubes , chair legs, hoses etc. first create a spline, then create a desired radius under splines (circle). Then, go to sweep nurbs (right under lathe nurbs) and dump them onto the sweep nurbs to get your results.

We will keep making assets until we make our roomnext class.
So just keep making assets. When you finish one - make another!
The more stuff in your room the better it will look!!

GAME OF THE DAY:
http://cdx-thegame.com/
(Make sure to use your headphones, as the game has some important audio elements)

Questions:
-Describe your experience playing the game; what did you like best, or find most unique about it?
-What skills used in this game would be useful in a real-life situation?

TUESDAYS CLASS-Jan. 20Th

Wow, I'm super impressed with how much 3D you all picked up last class.

For the students that missed the last class-Ill work with you all individually to get you caught up.

We also will have a guest visiting our class today- so-please don't be distracted and keep focus.

last class we learned:

Parametric primitives and how to parent them to other primitives

We learned about the interface (icon pallets. - basic move and modeling tools)

Copying

Shaders

and unexpectedly ,but really excited about being able to teach on the first day "ANIMATION"!!

we learned a 360 degree turn along with variations on the x,y, and z all with "KEYFRAMES"

TODAY we are going to dig a bit deeper into manipulating primitive's

#1. Extrude : make editable and(right click) to get menu-then go to "extrude" you will use this to push things back or pull forward

#2. Inner Extrude: make editable and (right click) then go to "inner extrude" use this for making windows and doors smaller or adding detail like ridges and edges

#3. Boole (top Array menu) this is an important feature for getting windows and doors.

make a primitive you think would make a good cut out of your larger shape. place it where you want it and make sure it's placed so you can see it from the outside and inside.-grab your Boole and then first drag small cube or window on to the Boole then add your larger cube or house on to Boole.

#4. "Change current state" very important move!! (under function) after your done with boole-ing you must select all and go to "cstc" this will complete the process and make it one piece of geometry-delete old geometry/ keep booled geometry.

#5. "group" (option+G) makes stuff into a Null object-easier to manage complex geometry

FIRST ASSIGNMENT:

take two primitives attach a parent object to each-then animate each one on a different axis

simultaneously-then render a preview...if your computer doesn't render yet-save it in your file labeled -assignment#1-

GAMES OF THE DAY:
1) http://www.eyezmaze.com/grow/cube/
2) http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/wake.htm

Questions:
- What messages do these games convey about the environment?
- Describe your thoughts on the gameplay.
- Keeping the concepts of the games in mind, how could the gameplay / interface / presentation of these games be improved?

GAME OF THE DAY:
Download and play:
http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/gravitation/

Go to "applications" then open up "neooffice" and type in questions; try and keep your Game Journal Questions and answers on one page with name of the game you played and date.

QUESTIONS:
- What in the Social Metaphor of the game.

- Describe your experience.

- What would you change or add to this game

Now first off lets recognize the basics of 3D and that's X,Y and Z

X- is always on a horizontal plane

Y- is always on a vertical plane

Z- always represents the space

Cinema 4D interface:

Primitives: Basic Geometry to get your started in building assets

-Located in the: "command palette"

Basic modeling tools are:

Vertices's/Points: where two points meet at an angle or the corner of a polygon-in C4d you can push and pull these to manipulate your primitives.

Edge/lines: the line between two vertices's

Face/ Polygons: What is created when you connect lines and edges and vertices's.

Basic Move tools:

Move: moving around your geometry on an X,y,z plane

scale: scale any geometry

rotate: Rotate geometry

Material Managers:

used for dumping textures on to models.

you can go to "Shadder" and get a full menu of proprietary textures from the hard drive.

or go to "new material" to bring in new stuff from outside the application -i.e web jpg's etc.

After we get up to speed on all this lets try a quick 360 animation

.check out the Animation pallet-currently we are set up for 90 frames of animation.

drop a ball primitive down-place a keyframe down on frame 0 by hitting the "key"icon

then scrub to frame 90 and then go to the attributes manager and then to r.b.change that 0 to 360 and stamp a keyframe down by hitting the red outlined circle.

Welcome to Digital Pathways 3D Animation and Gaming class

Welcome to our first day of class together!

Every day you will need to check out this blog for current 

lectures and assignments.

Class Objectives:

Our goal is to learn how to create basic 3-D assets in

Cinema 4D and implement them into our 3D gaming engine Unity.

Class rules:

1.I need everyone to focus on assignments and other required work.

2. No one will be allowed to use Facebook, Myspace,text or personal email etc. during class time.

3.You all must maintain mature behavior at all times-this is a shared space with other    students in other programs along with employees outside our class room that work in the  building.

4. No bad language or verbal threats to other students

5. Everyone must respect the equipment, no drink or food allowed near the computers and    please clean up after your self.

6. No drug use and no smoking inside the class or outside the building

7. Last but not least-you must be on time for class-your attendance will be monitored and will  have an effect on your final stipend at the end of the program.

We will be learning two very complicated programs with very similar interfaces-we will be learning them simultaneously  so be prepared to come to class with major focus and a creative mind. You all have the potential to carve out your niche in the future of games-so let's go!