3D Modeling, Animation, and Video Games

Image retrieved from https://c.pxhere.com/images/c6/90/c306b75bbb837452fe6a40595f86-1587047.jpg!d

As my 3D modeling and animation class has come to a close, it became hard to think of what to write about for my final blog of the class. So I figured part of this blog will be about my final thoughts and the other half will be about me being a nerd about a video game (and yes it does tie in with 3D modeling and animation).

I enjoyed the class, it was one of the classes I was looking forward to. Of course I still had trouble, I had stress, and of course, I had a huge headache figuring out how to work the program we used and how to animate in general. In the end, I learned from my mistakes, became more knowledgeable in the subject, and can be easily amazed by the simplicity of just making an object move. Will I consider this aspect of Graphic Design as a possible job career? Maybe, we will see where life takes me, but I will heavily consider it especially since I enjoy animation.

Now for the part of me tying in video games into this conversation. I am in love with the Persona video game series (Shin Megami Tensei). I haven’t played all of the games, in fact, I only played Persona 5. I first heard of the games from watching gameplays of it on YouTube, the first one that caught my attention and introduced me to the franchise was Persona 4. From there I became entranced by the storyline, art, and overall mechanics of the game that I decided to purchase Persona 5 and try it out. Sadly, I never finished the game, but I got far enough into it to pinpoint what exactly makes it better than the rest and for that I say is its animation, its graphics, its art style and of course its 3 dimensions and various camera angles.

Image retrieved from https://live.staticflickr.com/7875/45556035035_05dbc58333_b.jpg

The overall concept of this game is to fight against time. The player faces various decisions that they must make that will affect the course of the story and its ends. There are dungeons and stats building and various animated cut scenes, but the best part is the point of view you are put in. You are a phantom thief that steals people’s hearts. You are essentially making criminals, corrupted people, and just overall bad people pay for their mistakes and crimes. You are playing in the shoes of a teenager in high school who was wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit and now has a criminal record because of it; while at the same time your individual choices you make throughout the game affect the course of the story.

Image retrieved from https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7762/26227536524_3e92556dec_b.jpg

Long story short, I wanted to tie this in because of the camera angles I mentioned earlier. 3D animation heavily relies on different camera angles and the position of them will influence how one captures the story. This game has a way of putting you into the scene of what is happening in the story, it puts you into the perspective of a “thief” and it is just overall interesting. It is a game I would highly recommend, especially since a new one was announced to be released.

3D Modeling

Image retrieved from https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/02/14/22/16/rocket-white-and-black-3154034_1280.jpg

Graphic Design is very fascinating as there are many different career paths one can take. One of them, which I never gave much thought about before, is 3D modeling. I never even knew that 3D modeling was of major importance until I took a class on it.

3D modeling is widely used in the making of films, 3D animations, video games, architecture, and just about anything that requires the creation of three-dimensional elements. When creating a 3D model many programs will offer pre-made, mathematically based shapes, like cubes and cones, called primitives to choose from and begin building your character, landscape, etc. Beginning with those shapes is where the transformation begins as you essentially can create just about anything by reshaping and sizing them to your liking.

Depending on the type of program, there may be more tools that are offered to better create your 3D model. This field interests me from the video game perspective, which I may do more research on in the future to gain more skills and practice in creating 3D models.

Animation and 3D Modeling

Image retrieved from https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/11/22/17/45/gallery-4645288_1280.jpg

I have begun my new class for this month which is Principles of 3D Modeling and Animation. I am very excited about this class, well at least for the animation aspect of it. Animation is something that I was always interested in, but the more I looked into it, the more complicated I realized animation truly is.

You have to keep proportions in mind as well as what kind of animation you want to accomplish, whether it is a fast animation meaning- you’d have to draw fewer frames or a slow animation meaning- you’d have to draw more frames in between the actions. Long story short, animation takes a lot of time and many details must be taken care of to create a short scene that may last only a few seconds! Imagine having to make an entire animated film, it makes sense as to why a whole team of people is needed to complete one since it would be too much for one person to handle.

For me, 3D modeling takes a bit to get used to as you have to take into consideration the perspective of what you are creating as well as the fact that there are three-axis that you are working with: x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis. Since I’ve been so used to only using the x and y-axis in the math classes, I have taken previously, adding the z-axis is a whole new learning experience. However, 3D modeling can be pretty useful as it can be used in things like animations, video games, movies, and just about anything that you want to create in 3D.

I am already deeply intrigued by some of the projects we will be creating in this class, so I look forward to expanding my knowledge on this subject.