Virtual Environment Project

The video above is the animation I recently created for my DP2 virtual environment project.

The aim of the project was to create a superheroes lair in virtual modelling software called 3DS Max. The piece should include four interlinked spaces and a camera fly-through sequence.

The first stage of this project was to create an original superhero. After experimenting with several body shapes and characters I came up with the Egyptian mutant warrior 'Ant Man'; this is what he looks like:

The story for my superhero is that the Pharaoh had put a curse on one of his disloyal soldiers that mutated him into this  half ant creature and gave him eternal life; the ant man was charged with the task of protecting the pharaoh's tomb after the ruler had died. Three thousand years after the pharaoh died and was entombed within a pyramid there were many archaeologists who began to explore this site; there were also thieves who searched the pyramids for buried treasure. In the 19th and 20th century there were hundreds of explorers and thieves who dared to enter this pyramid but all were pierced by the ant man's arrows and left dead in the sand.  If they managed to escape from the ant man they would have to face the death trap inside the pyramid; this is a room containing a spinning blade and poisoned spikes which claimed the lives of many brave men.

After I created the superhero I decided that the environment would be the place the superhero must protect which is the pyramid containing the remains of the Pharaoh. Here is my design for the outside of the pyramid:

Below is my design for the inside of the pyramid.

After I had completed my design of the outside and inside of my pyramid I began modelling the environment within 3DS Max. I first began by creating the outside scene showing the camera approaching the entrance of the pyramid from outside. I then created a separate scene of the inside of the pyramid; the first step was to create an outline of the walls and extruding them to the height I needed, I then added a plane to every wall and on top of this added a texture. My textures were made of images of hieroglyphics and Eqyptian wall art.

In the death trap room I added 4 horizontal narrow cones which represent the poisoned spikes and a large star which represents the spinning blade.

Within the treasury room I also added several objects such as stacks of gold, silver and bronze coins, metal ornaments and a wooden treasure chest.

The centre piece of my environment is the pharaoh's sarcophagus which is basically a box with an image of a sarcophagus mapped on top.

Once I had completed modelling the walls, planes and objects I started to think about lighting and the camera. I added one light in each room; this was dimmed to 20 % to give a soft light effect, two lights were added to the corridor areas, these were dimmed to 10 %; I added these just to brighten the hieroglyphics on the walls which were otherwise just black planes in the dimmed lighting.  I then drew a line to represent the path the camera would follow; this roughly followed the path that an explorer might take if he managed to escape the ant man and pass through the death trap. I tried to make the line curved instead of having pointed angles so the camera movement would be smooth; however, this was difficult as the rooms were quite compact and required sharp turns around some of the angles.

After completing the modelling, lighting and camera path I rendered the entire sequence; it took approximately 35 minutes to render. I then imported the two scenes into Premiere where  I added cross dissolves and end credits. I also added music; the piece I used was from a track called 'Wheel of Time' by German heavy metal band 'Blind Guardian' , I liked this track as it uses an Egyptian scale and intricate tabla drumming.

Evaluation

If I had the opportunity to do this project again I would spend more time getting all the walls perfectly straight and corners exactly at 90 degrees, the textured planes would then fit perfectly onto the walls; I would also spend more time getting the camera path as smooth as possible.

Overall I am happy with the outcome of this project. Although there are small technical faults in the animation I think I have managed to convey the Egyptian theme I was looking for.