First Steps to CG Reality

     Today I finally start modelling and, surprisingly it feels like it is taking solid shape already. After coming in and unsure how to start, I talked with Jordan and he suggested blocking out the basic shapes I need for my scene. I was initially worried about the number of models I have planned but not all of this shown is going to be a 3D model, particularly towards the back.

    After Jordan showed me some basics when shaping the scene, I took a couple of steps to refine it ready for my first detail models. Before I moved on to such things though, it seemed best to work out a lighting setup first while the whole thing is still pretty low-poly. Thus it was very useful that this was on Monday and Simon gave us a lesson that went nto detail about lighting different times of day (in my case morning or evening lighting tips are probably best, but I've always figured learning how to do a midday scene was considered the first steps in lighting a digital scene.)

     As I said I was worried about the level of detail but one of the beautiful things about such a distant shot is that I can probably get away with portraying smaller details such as lamp-posts, shrubs or street furniture as being textures or bump maps.

    There is an ambient occlusion node here though I cannot quite recall if it was this last frame or if I had progressed further. When it comes ot texturing I may have t odial down the colour intensity of these lights so the whole thing doesn't by the end look like the city was drenched in orange juice.

     Rather than building my hero prop first I thought it was probably best to create one of the other buildings to test out texturing, lighting and modelling rather than do it with my hero prop in case I mess up, Though I wonder if at the moment it's too complicated. I'm building it as an organic structure, certainly, but I suppose one question is how detailed should I get? Its not too fiddly a design as it is relatively flat at the top and there's not too mcuh going on underneath aside form some very organic curves, but it is still quite a chunky design at its heart.

     From the wireframe  Ican see it is farily complex, but I suppose that is what these test models are for. Though I concern myself slightly with the complexity of the UVs as the UV maps in the previous scenes I have done have been reasonably simple, and the most complex thing in the Old Alley ended up being coloured with a shader. One thing I have noticed is that probably due to my own inexperience the model hasn't come out exactly like the orthographic views. With all the curves I have in my city I wonder if I should add some curve guidelines so it is a little easier ot map out my curves in Maya when making future models (something that, in thinking about it, might help a lot for things like faces and limbs).