Portfolio Reflection

Pen

This pen was made in the program Maya, and was created in 3-D. When creating this pen I learned how to use soft scaling, which is how I made the grippy and the clip. I picked this project because I spent quite a bit of time on it and it summed up my whole semester on what I learned, and I got better throughout the semester. My strengths for this project are that I got a lot of the small details in the pen and tried to get the colors the same. I have improved on using the right material for making the colors on it, like how phong is more shiny, and Blinn is more dim but has a small shine to it, which is what I made my pen color out of. Next year, I will probably be using the soft scaling and the materials a lot for different kinds of projects. I  could improve one thing it would be the tip of the pen, after finishing it I saw that I forgot to add the ink on the tip of it. I am very proud of this project because I spent a lot of time getting the small details.

Character Story

This animation probably took the longest out of all of the projects, because I was still learning how to use After Effects. When making this project I learned how to move a character and the background at the same time, and also how to parent a shape to another shape. I picked this project because this was my biggest project throughout the whole year and took me a few weeks to make. My greatest strength through this project was that I did a lot of trial and error to try and make the animation run smoothly. There was a few mistakes in it still, because I was still learning. Like when the screen was scrolling the character was moving slower than the background and the robot steps onto the other robot, but it was mostly because I was running out of time to fix it. I probably wont be using After Effects a whole bunch now that I am learning how to use Maya, but if I do, I will use what I learned on how to make a walking cycle or how I scrolled the background on my next project. If I could change something, i would fix the small mistakes and put more detail in the background of the animation to make it more appealing.

Ice Cream

This was my first animation, before I was just learning how to model in Maya, and I still am learning how to model. I had to ask for help quite a bit for the animation but now I get it better, it was my first time so it was a little confusing to learn at first. I picked this project because it was my first 3-D animation in Maya and I spent a long time created the ice cream and the other models. My strengths in this project are that I tried to get the right material on the ice cream to make it look like a real scoop of ice cream. I will be using what I learned on how to animate it in the future, like how I put objects into the same group so that they all spun together at the same time. If I could change something I would fix the material in my animation, in the animation the cloud texture spins with the table and it looks like the scoops are spinning, but i didn't have time to fix it.

Multiplane 

In this animation, I was learning a new skill, which was how to make a background with different layers to scroll and move at different speeds. I picked this project because I spent a long time created the backgrounds and it turned out good in the end. This animation was also created in After Effects, but the backgrounds were made in Photoshop. My greatest strengths in this project was the detail I put into making the backgrounds, and I don't see any mistakes in the animation. I already used what I learned during this animation in my character story, this helped me a lot.

Walking Animation

This animation was my 3rd animation made in After Effects, and I learned how to make a walk cycle. I picked this project because I did pretty good on the animation and I spent a lot of time making the robot, it was first hand-drawn. My strengths in this project was that I had to do a lot of trial and error on this one too, to make the walk look real and run smoothly. I have used what I learned on this project for the character story, and I probably use it again if I use After Effects. If I could change anything in this animation it would be that I fix the two specks that are moving with the head by the robot, I don't think I noticed them until I rendered it out, but again I didn't have enough time to go back into it to fix it.