FMP: June 2012

For my FMP I wanted to design a 3D model of a motorcycle and the rider to do this i had to research different types of bikes and artist.
I knew I wanted to make a big engined sports bike so i started looking bikes such as.

Suzuki GS500F

Yamaha R1

Kawasaki Ninja

Honda CBR1000

After looking at the bikes closely i decided on the Suzuki gs500f because of the shape,style and the layout of the parts of the bike, it seems like it would be the most fun and less time consuming to model. Also out of all the bikes the Suzuki is the one that stood out for me because of the head light, all the other bikes have two lights, this just looked too generic for me.

Now that i had the bike i needed to find the rider design that went with the style of bike. To do this i was looking into artist such Scott Robertson because he is an artist that draws future concept vehicles and can fit his vehicles with a character very well. I also was looking at an artist called Don Figueroa. He is the man that came up with look for most of the Transformers, so i thought that i could make the bike rider have a different helmet shape just to make the rider a bit different and modern.

Overall I think that the artist and bike companies that i researched were relevant for the style i was looking for and would help me with my FMP.

For my Final Major project I wanted to create something using the 3d modelling skills I learnt these past two years as I feel most strong in this and find modelling interesting. To come up with my idea I decided to use my other interest of bikes. Although 3D modelling is a favourite of mine I would also like to extend my work by including animation.My idea was to create a man on a bike that that transformed the bike as a suit of armour for the man to do this I would of needed 3Ds Max.

To do this I had to research bikes and their parts as well as the human figure. My primary research was my own motorcycle that I own. I also needed to research into artist to find a style in this piece I was creating such as Scott Robertson I really liked his work because of its placement and block like look.

I started my work by doing drawings of my character and bike I did them in a range of styles such as quick sketch and line work I found I had succeeded in my line drawings they were my potential to move forward in this projects and continued this style digitally.

I independently researched the relevant tutorials needed to complete the project because of my lack of skill with the software. Creating the model in 3Ds Max was going to be my biggest challenge I needed to learn how to rig a character, spine modelling, placement and scale. These are all factors that I needed to know and wanted to individually learn without the help of tutors which I did using tutorials and researching the software my self gaining more knowledge as I went along in this project. This is something I feel I have been very successful overall in my FMP.

I chose to model the 3d models in cel shade to texture them I used basic flat colours in the 3Ds Max material editor, this makes the model stand out more in this art form and made it less detailed. I chose to do this because I did not want photo realism.

So far looking at my work, if I had more time to work on my model I would have put in more parts for the bike but because of my tight schedule. Working towards a deadline and Scheduling the time management myself I realised that I did not time well and fell behind on plans. However I looked at this and worked my plan back on track to meet my deadlines.

Through my independent study I decided to use the software AR media as I felt this would be really intriguing in my work and to the viewer as this will interact with the audience. This again is something that I needed to learn and do so on my own.

Through more scheduling issues and biting off more than I can chew I realised that my plans were going to have change because of time. My idea was too complex to fit the deadline. If I had had further time it would have been completed. My remastered idea is now to have my character and bike static but still on AR media so viewers can move then models themselves and take closer looks. I really like this idea as viewers can see the detail I have done on my models.

Overall I think that my FMP was a success even though I had to change my idea for the final out come a few time because of lack out time and skill with the software. But even though the end result was not what I intended to present it still had very positive response at the summer show. I think that this is because it let the viewer interact with the piece and not just watch it like a video. If i had to go back and redo this project again the first thing I would do differently is to maybe not spend as much time on the model because in the augmented reality it can't quite pick up all the detail put in.To get my final piece ready for the show I independently researched the relevant tutorials needed to complete the project because of my lack of skill with the software. I am very happy with the final outcome because of what I managed to achieve within the 16 week time period.