Having only done texturing and colouring once in class as a tutorial, I was feeling very doubtful about the method to do it as I didn’t think I remembered each step correctly. As such, I researched various questions and concerns I had before beginning to add textures to my models. I also downloaded texture maps to add to my models, as I wanted to avoid having to unwrap each model and colour it that way. Though more effective for creating realistic textures and colouring, I remembered struggling a lot with the unwrapping of the models during the introductory class for it, and due to time constraints, wanted to avoid something that I knew I would have to spend a lot of time on because of my lack of experience. However, if we had more time, I would definitely attempt unwrapping the models and colouring them manually for realism, not to mention increasing my comfort with this aspect of Maya.
Googling questions about adding textures to models as I worked, I was able to create nodes in hypershade and added the textures to my models. However, the textures would not appear on the models. I luckily had a class later that morning and asked my tutor and he suggested I press “6”, as pressing 4 or 5 may make the textures disappear. I pressed 6 and it didn’t work at first, but after pressing it numerous times, the textures (bizarrely) finally appeared. With this situation resolved, my tutor and I then discussed what could be done about creating the effect of the twinkling lights I wanted in the Lignum Vitae and the effect of the northern lights in the sky. I had discussed this with him in a previous lesson, and during this lesson, he suggested a possible method for creating the twinkling lights in the Lignum Vitae. Step-by-step, he showed me how to create a new texture on hypershade called “fractal”, and we fiddled with the various controls of it until we achieved a marled look. He then showed me how to key the animations of the fractal movements at certain points to create the effect of the texture moving. For the purposes of learning how to create this texture and tamper with it, the texture was placed on the entire Lignum Vitae. However, I will soon remove this and place a tree-like texture (previously downloaded from polyhaven) on it, selecting certain faces throughout the tree to show the twinkling/marled effect of the fractal texture.
As for the colouring and texturing of the houses, my tutor and I also experimented together, replacing the model with various materials such as wax, honey and rubber. Rubber was the winning material, giving the houses a matte, yet moulded effect, just as I intended. I also played around with the colour to try and achieve the beige/melted-candle colour I desired.
As mentioned previously, I plan to place the wooden texture on the Lignum Vitae and select faces for the twinkling lights, and then move onto adding the trees for the forest surrounding the houses within the world before creating the northern lights in the sky. I am leaving this for last as my tutor said he needed more time to experiment with how to create such an effect, and due to my lack of experience, I fear I am unable to make this without his help.
I will model the forest trees in a similar way to how I modeled the Lignum Vitae, but of course, with much less detail as they will be quite small and not the focus of the world. As for the leaves, I will most likely have to follow a tutorial on how to create these and how to add these to the trees as I’m not sure where to begin with this. Once this is all done, I will add animations – such as trees swaying in the wind – to the world. Finally (after modeling the northern lights with my tutor), I will add the camera animations for the world, as we were asked to do in the brief.
Though there’s still a lot to do, I’m feeling more comfortable with the workload now that there’s a solid plan laid out for me. I hope the final product is as good as I hoped it would be!
