Category Archives: maya_term1

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Final Work

11th January 2024 Yifang Liu Leave a comment

This was my final assignment for my first semester in college.

It is set in the Longmen Grottoes in China and depicts an ancient grotto, eroded by time and nature, containing ancient Buddha statues and temples. The spiritual and religious elements embedded in the scene create a sense of mystery and shock that transcends reality.

I try to express my awe and respect for human civilization, emphasizing the combination of tradition and mysterious stories. In the depths of a distant valley, there is an ancient temple that has gone through many vicissitudes of life, and in the silence comes the sound of gentle chanting of Buddhist scriptures. A devout Buddhist stumbles into the temple and witnesses the “echoes of salvation” in front of a solemn statue of Buddha. As the bell tolls and the statue slowly collapses, a mysterious and distant voice calls out through the power of the statue’s destruction. In the end, the temple is transformed into a place of salvation, and the Buddhists finally understand the impermanence of all things, just like the quote at the beginning of the video: “There is no tree in Bodhi, nor is there a mirror in a bright mirror, and there is nothing in the first place, so where does it stir up the dust.”

I used ue5, houdini, nuke, zbrush, maya, and substance painter All of these programs are first time users, and there are many deficiencies that still need to be improved.

Background music: Ancient Traditions_Alan Williams

Some presentations about the nuke file and houdini file contents

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Week 10 Maya texture detail

3rd December 2023 Yifang Liu Leave a comment

Texture Detail：This week I finished mapping the architectural details in sp

LANTERN: This is a downloadable material from the internet, but I will make my own textures and add some dirt stains to make it more natural in the scene.

TEMPLE: Expanded UV for the temple doorway I finished making two weeks ago for better mapping inside the sp. And I gave it a wood texture, since many buildings in ancient China were made of wood

BANNER: I used c4d to make a banner to hang in front of the temple, making the scene more rich, and used “fabric simulation” in c4d to make the fabric floating animation and then imported it into ue5.

STONE STAIR: I adjusted the position of the scene again, I felt that the temple’s doorway shouldn’t be left alone on the ground, so I created a larger ladder to go with the temple’s doorway, making the scene more complete.

The stairs are made the same way as before

3D TEXT: At the very beginning, I tried to use maya to create 3D fonts, but that didn’t look like it fit the scene very well and felt a bit fake. So I tried again to use sp to create the bumpiness of the font. For example height and base color, this step was very useful and I was able to achieve a Chinese font in the form of calligraphy.

3D MODELING: In China, carp contains symbols of good luck and blessings. It is usually placed in front of doors or in homes with connotations of protecting people’s well-being. So I downloaded a carp model from the internet and used sp to make the carp texture, under the golden color appearance there are some rubbing marks, which also represents the erosion of time.

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Week 10 maya robot

27th November 2023 Yifang Liu Leave a comment

In this lesson we learned how to handle lights in maya and render photos using the Arnold renderer.

Add new material in arnold

HDRIs: Indoor • Poly Haven

This is a rich material site that contains a wide variety of HDR stickers

ai shadowmatte can show this shadow of the object.

Using Arnold materials can make the robot’s shadow transparent into the background, making the object more realistic.

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Week 10 Final Work_Modeling and Mapping of walls

23rd November 2023 Yifang Liu Leave a comment

Since I felt that the scene was very empty except for the part with the Buddha statue, I talked to Manos on Monday about the possibility of adding some walls, pillars or flags to the scene. So I started to build them in maya and used zb to add the Chinese pattern.

I found a reference picture that helped me to establish an understanding of the scene and be clear about its structure

I used the roof that I built earlier, and I continued to change it to this side wall

When Manos was helping me look at the scenarios, he told me that I could use alpha or normal to add subtle patterns to objects inside sp or zb, which helped me a lot. I think this is a very useful bit of knowledge and will help me quickly refine the content and details of the scene.

Using “curvature” in conjunction with the “dirty” map, you can create more rust marks and details on the stone pillars.

Adds more detail with lots of discolored dust in the corners

It’s very easy to use the mesh fill inside the sp, I don’t need to split the objects and I can spread the uv’s together and paste the materials at the same time.

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Week 8 improve scene model

16th November 2023 Yifang Liu Leave a comment

First of all, I need to create a ladder for the scene. The steps I made at the beginning I thought were dull and unrealistic, so after looking for references on the internet I made another version of the steps and added it to the scene, which is more realistic and complete than the previous version. Finally, I used SP to create the texture of the stones.

I used zb to carve the shape of each step to make them look as irregular as possible.

But when I imported this staircase into the scene, I thought it didn’t look good and appeared too regimented.

Next, I’m going to switch to another idea and try again to build a staircase that is more in line with the style of my scene.

My experience in making stairs twice taught me that when I need to make individual objects in a scene, I need to find a lot of real-life reference images to make them as detailed and less rule-based as possible. Therefore, while refining the scenario, I need to make the atmosphere of the scene as consistent as possible so that it looks more complete.

I replaced the mapping of the Buddha statue with sp because I wanted to create a dimmer environment with mystical powers. So I didn’t use the normal stone material for the statue. Instead, it was replaced with a metallic body and has some flowing red elements in the seams, which is part of the story.

Next I will refine the details of the scene and add lighting.

Correction, I decided to change the red aperture on the back of the Buddha because after discussing with manos, I thought it was very fake

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Week 6 : practice of texture on maya

31st October 2023 Yifang Liu Leave a comment

In this class we learned about how to expand the simple UV and find some picture about moon and earth on website, and then put it into the Maya.

for demonstrate the operation, I practiced it again on my own when I back home.

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Week 5&6 concept and storyboard of final work

24th October 2023 Yifang Liu Leave a comment

My inspiration comes from ancient Chinese myths and Buddha statues.

I wanted to create an ancient cave eroded by time， include ancient Buddha statues and temples.

My goal is to make 7-8 shots to compose the final animation and will use nuke, ue5, and maya to realize them.

Story Concept:
Set in the Longmen Grottoes from China, this concept depicts an ancient grotto eroded by time and nature, with murals and sculptures of ancient Buddha statues inside. The scene is strewn with withered fallen leaves and the rocks are covered with moss, giving the overall scene a long and sedate atmosphere.

Part 1：

Modeling attempts on rocks in the environment

In the process of stone making, I used a relatively complete process to make different stone shapes. First, I created many simple blocks in maya, then I sculpted them in detail in zbrush and expanded uv. Finally, I tried to use sp for mapping, but it was my first time to use SP for mapping. Therefore, I will have further optimized plans for the subsequent carving and mapping of Buddha statues.

Part 2：

An attempt to model a temple gate in Chinese style

In this section, I’ll create a complex roof element in maya, and I’ll use the mesh tool to create the tiles on the roof. In addition, I used the “nCloth” and “nConstraint” modules to create banners and other soft material objects. In this process I also added an animated presentation about the fabric. In order to enrich the elements, I made a Chinese-style plaque, which is a sign that can be placed on the top of the temple door.

【Maya中式屋顶制作、建模、3D模型、建筑模型】 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1tj411r7y6/?share_source=copy_web&vd_source=40dc29ce4ec4b214a8d0c18ffc4ab769

This is the roof making video I referenced, I used the mesh tool to make many of the tiles, and with the tutorial I think it was easier than I thought it would be. I would love to make these tiles and make a complete roof out of them.