Radio modeling continues...

As is shown below, as I zoom in the radio, there are small holes are found on the surface, which are formed by unwanted vertices, after removing all those useless ones, the surface become entirely smooth.

 

Also, UVW mapping modifier plays a significant role during applying material process, as is shown below, the material is stretched and it is difficult to see the texture of the material. Therefore, UVW Mapping is adopted to assure that the material has been assigned to the object properly. Here Box Mapping is used due to the shape of the radio.

 

A big work is to create the stripe with the method of Extrude the polygons to a specific height value (-1.5), which is one of the main features of the chosen radio and occupies half space of the front side. As I realize that there is no shortcut to clone the stripe, so I did all the stripes one by one, including the ones at the back. Finally the stripes give some depth to the radio and look perfect with the texture as well.

 

The logo has been created by using Text tool with Segoe UI Bold Italic font, after that apply Bevel modifier.

 

Time to create the buttons…

Again, create the buttons with ChamferBox; for the “play” symbols or signs on the button, I used the Box and then reduce one corner (two vertices) to create a triangle, and then Boolean it.

 

Doing the same for the other two buttons: stop button and pause-play button.

 

The buttons after applying metal materials:

 

The other buttons such as volume controller and channel control will be created by using Spindle basically. Ring and Connect the edges in order to have more details, the new edges after Connected are scaled down to have the gears around it. Apply material or colours respectively.

 

For the other part of the radio, the material details are shown as follows:

General radio material:

 

White/ metal part of the radio:

 

The channel

 

The stripe

 

Bush logo

 

The final radio prototype

Real work starts...

Real work of radio modeling starts now…

Place a reference image of the front and side view of the chosen radio, even though I couldn't find exactly the same radio of different perspectives yet the same model.

 Start to create the body of the radio by following the same method as mentioned above. Modify the shape of the radio by vertex until it looks similar to the chosen radio.

 

Again, follow the same way to create the handle and the sides, and then apply Turbosmooth.

 

Clone the existing handle and place the cloned parallel to it. Add a Box on the top and scale two sides down in order to have the following shape, afterwards attach it onto the handle and apply Turbosmooth modifier.

The rough body of the radio:

 

It is time to try to apply some materials onto the radio, wooden and metal are the main materials used here. As the objects have been attached together, so I use Multi/Sub-object to apply materials on the respective objects or polygon.

  
More materials have been added…

Having been struggling with create the channel screen for the radio, due to the stretched original image, difficult to adjust the shape after applying as a material, but it seems all right here.

Some research and preparation work

Before the modeling started, some research on the chosen radio (50s) has been implemented, as I need different perspectives of the radio:

The model: Radio Bush TR82

Some inspiration regarding the radio animation…

Radio transform

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iefj065zEVg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rusz4kW8ThM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZYs7AVJ1w

Useful resources of radio tutorials:

http://tutorialtown.com/3d-studio-max-tutorials/stock-vector-illustration-3d-radio-images

http://tutorialagent.com/3ds-max-tutorials/3dsmax-wooden-radio-tutorial-logo

http://tu.3dxia.com/3dcaizhi/list_20.html

http://www.coolsc.net/3D-Columns/list82-1.htm

Some sketches…

According to the radio tutorials, I started to make some sort of sketches, in order to have a basic understanding of how to model a radio. Use the ChamferBox to create the body of the radio and then create two Chamfer Cylinders, after that apply Boolean method to merge the objects together by creating the hole as detail.

The handle of the radio is created with Rectangle tool, and then Convert it to Editable Spline, set the parameters as shown below:

Also, create a Cylinder, clone it and place them on both sides of the radio, which work like screws and connect the turning point. Again, use Cylinder to create antenna.

Convert the antenna to Editable Poly, and extrude it by setting Extrude Height to 0.65, keep doing this for twice until the size matches each other and look like a real antenna. Add a sphere at the end of antenna. Now it looks like a real antenna!

The basic appearance of a simple radio is done after applying wooden material on it:

 

Week 6 (inc. group presentation & SWOT analysis)

In week 6, first of all, a presentation of group ideas has been held.  I actually didn’t expect that there was a presentation on that day, therefore, no preparation at all! However, thanks to Henry and Mathew who did it finally with demonstrating the basic ideas and three models of the radio as well as the storyboard to show the timeline of the animation. The presentation went well and we’ve got a few good suggestions from Richard, for instance, we should not just insert music of different period to illustrate the characteristics of the radio, perhaps we could also apply radio-audio rather than music from that time, even though maybe it is low quality, yet it reinforces the suitability between the audio and visualization.  Hence, we will try to apply this in the further work.

According to our presentation, a SWOT analysis of our project needs to be undertaken.

As is known, in SWOT, strengths and weaknesses are internal factors while opportunities and threats are external factors.  In our SWOT, we obtain several advantages (strengths), for example, the chosen location is in Chelmsford itself where our campus locates, which helps us to collect the information faster and easier. Also, two of the group members are from Essex and they are familiar with the history of chosen topic. Furthermore, the chosen project itself is not too difficult to complete for three members, as each of has to model one radio; yet it is interesting and challenging to make the animation with the sound effects as well as the transitions between different scenes. However, we are facing the problem of lacking the relevant tutorial as guidance, so we ourselves have to figure out how to create the radio model the same as the one we selected. On the other hand, we have certain limitation regarding the programme skills such as 3D MAX studio and Adobe Premiere, which will probably hinder the development of whole process.  The opportunity to carry out this project is that there will be new career marketing for us if the final production is a success in attracting the tourists to Essex. Nevertheless, the threats could be that the tastes of the tourists have shifted away from radio to something else such as the museums, castles and zoos, etc.

SWOT analysis:

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES
·         Location of our project is convenient to obtain information faster and easier ·         Group member(from Essex) familiarize with the history of chosen topic ·         The chosen project is interesting and challenging	·         Lack  of relevant tutorial ·         Programme skill limitation
·         Attract the tourists by our production and get well-known ·         A new career marketing for us	·         Shifts in tourists’ tastes away from the radio
OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS

The SWOT Matrix

A SWOT matrix shown below is constructed as developing strategies:

	Strengths	Weaknesses
Opportunities	S-O strategies	W-O strategies
Threats	S-T strategies	W-T strategies

According to the chart above, we summarize our conclusion, therefore---

we could pursue opportunities that are a good fit to our strengths (S-O strategies)--->> utilize our knowledge to produce a complete and rounded animation to fit the needs of the target group, by doing so, we might explore a new career marketing for ourselves;

we could overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities (W-O strategies) --->> although somehow we have the difficulties in mastering the skills in doing this project, yet we can still cultivate our interest in certain alternative area which might be another career opportunity for us;

we should identify ways that we can use the strengths to reduce the weaknesses to external threats (S-T strategies)--->> convert our passion with Essex to an in-depth level, so that we can stick to what’re doing, no matter how much trouble we’re encountering;

we should establish a defensive plan to prevent our weaknesses from making it highly susceptible to external threats (W-T strategies) --->> try to get as much assistance with the programme as possible to create a user-friendly animation and have a belief that the target group will eventually be attracted.

Reference:

1.     http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm
2.     http://marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-swot.html 
3.     http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/

Secondly, personal blog has been created and individual work on the radio modelling has started. During this work, I have worked on the radio modelling according to the chosen radio---the radio from 50s. Before starting, I was struggling to find a suitable method to get approach to it, as I was thinking to use the method similar to the head modelling earlier, such as the UVW-map. However, I haven’t figured it out and couldn’t find a relevant tutorial of UVW-unwrap tool, and then I just started to create the basic shape of the radio with some materials on it.

The details of the whole process will be updated soon…

Summary for Week 2-5

The project VisitEssex is a group work and we are three members including Henry, Mathew and I. the main task is to produce animations about a chosen area of Essex.

This project started in week 2 of the semester. After the lecture from Ms Eliis who is the Tourism, Marketing and PR Manager at Essex County Council, we began to have a group meeting regarding what topic, where and how we are going to produce it as an animation.

In week 3, a few ideas have been discussed. The initial idea was to make animations of the animals from the zoo, as it was really interesting to do it especially when it comes to the animation and choose some object with movements itself. But then we considered it might be too complicated and difficult to model an animal and its behaviour as well the movements. Therefore, we discussed that we should pick something easier like buildings. And then we had an idea of demonstrating the development of a specific historical building in Essex such as Colchester castle. We planned to use a timeline to show different period of that building. However, the idea was changed again; we thought it would be very boring to work on a single building itself and finally we ended up with creating an animation of radios of three different times--- the early gramophone, a radio from the 50s, and a digital radio from the present day. The main reason for choosing this theme is that Chelmsford is the birthplace of the radio, and the intention is to attract tourists to visit Chelmsford. We assigned our task and each of us would produce one radio and some animation along with.

During week 4-5, we were basically doing some research on the radios of ages. By doing so, we found some radio representing different time; we worked on the storyboard and discussed what each scene should be as well as how we could transit from one scene to another. We agreed that we could have three different rooms of ages with one each radio in, by zooming into the room from outside the building, the animation starts as the background music begins. Also, the sound here plays an important role. We planned to use some typical music or radio to demonstrate the feature of that specific age, by doing that, we could connect two scenes together continuously. In the meanwhile, we will try to decorate the rooms with wallpaper to show the changes according to the timeline.