18/09/23
Self Reflection
The first week of University was very nerving but I was able to pull through and learn new things through my courses. Whilst I was in my 1st trimester, I was introduced to 3D Digital Literacy. 3D literacy is the ‘ability to access, manage, understand, integrate, communicate, evaluate and create information safely and appropriately through digital technologies’ Ref: Digital literacy
Learning something new is fun and I found the module enjoyable. Throughout the module, I was introduced to the ‘SnowMan’ task. The ‘SnowMan’ task was where I had to demonstrate a Snowman by installing a mesh UV sphere, through the Blender 3D Software and using the spheres to make the Snowman’s body. Then after building the snowman, make the snowman into a Life-like being through animation.
However, using Blender and doing 3D animation was a hassle as I had no idea how to use these platforms as I was more used to 2D instead of 3D.
I was impressed that I was able to proportion a UV sphere as I was able to perfectly align the Sphere with others and being able to apply ‘parent’ to objects and group them together.
I’ve learned that left-clicking a mouse onto your mesh brings up a ‘shade smooth’ option which forms the object in a shade smooth.
The only thing I disliked about making this SnowMan animation was the overall process of building and using the Blender software therefore I would make sure to do more research on this software and build more skills by the use of practice.
I hated applying armatures to the model as I had no idea how and where to place them and not being able to understand how to use the ‘bones’ of the armatures.
To change this issue I would recommend researching more about having to use armatures than guessing what to do with them.
If I had the ability and capacity to do this module again I would make sure that the background has more depth and field to it and composition as well as having a more creative mindset. On top of that, I would also add more than one shot to the scene to make the animation more engaging.
If I was able to repeat this module I would also make my character a bit more compelling like adding 3D lashes or a scarf to show that the environment is cold.
But I would keep the form and the way I sculpted the snowman as I thought the body looked exactly like the real thing.
The inspiration for this animation was from Looney Toons’ stylistic, humoured physics as well as 20th Century Studio’s Ice Age franchise and the way they made snow look realistic and fantasy-like by giving it a ‘fluffy’ look.
Little Side Note
As a side note, I had some difficulties when rending my Animation therefore I have decided to provide screenshots and recordings of my work. First 1 I did I added snowflakes/snowballs as an extra feature but I accidentally combined the nose and head which made the face of my SnowMan turn Orange. Therefore, I made another Sequence where I added stone-like textures as a backdrop, and further improvised the snowman and the animation itself.
