Modelling: Stairs

 To build my stairs, I moved one of the edges of a cube inwards to create a slope that was the right size and fitted into the outlines on the image planes.

 After I had this shape, I used the multicut tool at equal distances apart to create edges within the shape which would become the banister/wall and the stairs themselves.

To create the walls on the sides of the stairs, I used the extrude tool which allowed me to pull these parts out without adjusting the base shape.

And to create the stairs I simply just moved every other edge inwards, keeping the lines straight by holding the V key.

Image Planes, Scaling and Starting Modelling

To start off the modelling process, I first imported the side and front view pictures from photoshop into Maya as image planes and lined them up alongside each other.

And then before actually starting off modelling, I needed to make sure that my lighthouse would be to scale, to ensure this, my tutor had sent out a 6 foot man that we could then import into Maya to scale things around.

Initially, the image planes were not even past the 6 foot mans foot. So I had to scale them up very very much before I could start modelling around the image planes.

 To start off the modelling process, I first created the bottom platform that would serve as the base for my lighthouse. This was initially just a cube which i increased the size of and then stretched out to match the size of the guides and then moved the different edges out so they matched up too.

 I then moved on to creating what would be the wooden beams holding the lighthouse up off of the ground.

I encountered a problem when creating the crossbeams in which you could see the edges of the polygon and I was unsure as to how I would flatten this out without altering the shape of the beam. I used the bevel tool on the ends of each crossed beam to flatten the right part of them so as to make the edges not visible.

Environment Artist Research

I also have done some research into different environment artists to find some inspiration towards the way I would like my building to be structured and the way I want the environment around it to look etc.I found 4 different artists which I liked the work of, a few of them had rather realistic looking work whereas some were different and were much more of a cartoon art style.
The biggest influence from the artists I looked into is Scott Sinclair, he was the Art Director at Irrational Games and therefore created lots of the concept artwork for the Bioshock series which itself was a big influence to my decision to create a Lighthouse.

With each of the artists, I looked into the composition of each of the art pieces that I had found to see if they followed the rule of thirds and the golden spiral, I have also highlighted the dominant, subdominant and subordinate forms within all of these.

As you can see, all of the different pieces are shown to follow the rule of thirds, with the majority actually focusing on a main part of the artwork being in the centre portion of the piece, but you can also see that one of the pieces doesn't follow the golden spiral whereas the rest near enough do. they are all aesthetically pleasing in that the colours all work well together, they have leading lines to make your eyes follow to certain parts of the art, and some have multiple subdominant and subordinate forms within them to keep you fixated on the artwork.

Communication and Presentation survey

Updated Project Proposal

Exhibition Room Plan

We were tasked with creating a room plan for the end of year exhibition and here is my idea for how to set out the room, there is a key alongside.

Asset List

Before moving on to building my Lighthouse in Maya, I have written up an asset list and estimated the times in which it will take me to create, UV and texture each part of my model, including moving it into Unreal Engine once it is finished in Maya.

Photoshop: More Accurate Design and Painting

I have scanned my drawing into photoshop so that I can make sure that all of the lines are completely straight for when I begin to model my final piece, and also so that I can decide what colourscheme I would like to use when I create the texture.
Firstly I simply used shift+left click to re do the outlines of my base structure to make sure that all was straight.

I then started to paint my lighthouse, I decided on using a light grey/off white sort of colour for the base of it, a more of a brick like colour for the top and the stairs and of course a brown for the wooden beams on the bottom.

Once I had done this I began to choose whether I wanted any other colour on it, as quite often traditional lighthouses tend to be white with red stripes on them, so I painted on just one red stripe and then two to decide which to use. I ended up deciding to use the two red stripes rather than just the one.