cse490 Computer Animation Autumn 2001

Project 2 : Shading

Date Assigned: October 23, 2001

Due for in-class critique : Nov 1, 2001
Final Revised Shading Due: Nov 6, 2001
Reading: Chapter 2 


In this assignment you will assign surface shading properties to your models. 

Getting started

Before beginning you should complete the two brief tutorials on writing shaders and texture mapping in Maya. The tutorials are sequential, when you finish the Shading one you should then proceed to the texture mapping tutorial, using the model for which you just wrote shaders.

What to do
This assignment has 3 parts and everyone will use the same camera and lights. Download the following for object display and Import your model into it.  (File->Import) Rename the .mb file after you download it to reflect your model.

-Object Display Mat 
-Object Display Texture Map

1. Photorealism

Shade your models from the previous assignment so that it looks exactly like the real objects. Pay special attention to dents, smudges, scratches, and other "defects": it's often these details that make a model look real.  

2. Effect.

Do one of the following:

(a) Second material. Make one of your objects look as if it's made of some completely different substance. (For example: leather, aluminum, terra cotta, Saran Wrap, matzoh, cork, terrycloth, papier mache, mosaic tile, vinyl, felt, skin, you name it.)  If you made a living object (e.g. a bird or fish), one option is to use the second material to make your object look like statue. (e.g. the Maltese Falcon).

(b) Antiquity. Make your object look as if it has aged by a hundred years. (No, you can't just model dust if you made a living creature :)

Note: As in the last project, you must be able to bring in real world examples of the textures which you model. As an example, if you model a aged-worn couch, bring in a piece of the cloth you were trying to replicate.

3. Group Design

        As a group you should compose your restaurant scene using your newly shaded models.  

What we're looking for

In the first part, you should emulate reality with all of its imperfections. Convince us that it's the real thing. In the second part, you should aim to convey the stated effect as well as possible. No cheating. ("Here you see my pepper grinder made out of... well... what does it look like to you? ... Mashed potatoes? Yeah, that's what I was going for.")

Since we will only see one view of the scene for each part (or all parts, if you like) of the assignment, take the time to position your model so that the best features are visible. The final scenes should be rendered at 1024x768 resolution w/ High Quality Anti-Aliasing and Raytracing turned on.  These options can be set in the Windows->Render Globals menu set.

We'd also like you to use only the lights we've given you. You may make slight adjustments to the positions of the lights if it will help illuminate a particular feature of your object, but try to keep the changes to a minimum. There will be plenty of room to use light creatively in the next assignment.

 

Turn in

Before the critique on Thursday, hand in your project as follows:

  1. Copy your final .mb file from the tutorials to the 458_turn-in/username/Project2 directory.
  2. Copy your Maya project from your work directory to the turnin directory specified above.  This project directory should contain all texture maps used as well as your .mb files and one high quality render for each object in each part of the assignment and the group scene composition.
  3. On the day of the critique, bring in a copy of your modeled object if possible, at the very least bring in a picture.  In addition, bring in an object w/ the same texture as the one which you modeled.

Tips

Where do you find interesting textures?

Look around on the Hypershader texture list.  We would really like people to do their best job in making the textures look exactly like the object though, so if you are making a rock, make sure you don't just use a pre-packaged texture unless it is very close to the real thing.  For reference, or use, here are a few links to texture archives:

Shaders 

Textures

You can scan images and objects.  The fish texture in Fish Schtick was made by putting a real fish on the scanner bed! (Try not to make too much of a mess though...) You can also create textures from scratch using PhotoShop. Or you might want to modify an existing texture (changing various things like contrast, color, etc).

Also, feel free to modify your models from your last assignment if there are things that you want to change.  Just don't spend too much time on this aspect as the project's main emphasis is on modeling.