All Done and Dusted?

So we handed in the project and I'm sure most the class is now playing Resident Evil 5 (including you Jared - we know what your like deep down :P) anyway I just thought I'd post up a quick comment as to the over outcome of the project for you all to read and really sort of tie off any loose ends.

Sam and I managed:

To create an interactive piece which engages the viewer directly making them choose what they want and when they want to do it.

To add in extra areas such as a 'map' and 'extra's' as our rendering wasn't time consuming at all.

Reference using layers correctly - we managed to get our head around 3 different layers in a blank masterfile (in which everything was a reference) and approximately we worked through around 150 Maya files in total throughout this project - 20 alone on the vehicle, around 40 on the character, and the rest were scenes and different renders - and we didn't lose our way in there.

We (moreso I) managed to get to grips with the 'button-side' of Flash and Dreamweaver.

We (moreso Sam) managed to learn pretty much from scratch texturing and get GOOD at it!! (well played Sam)

We also developed all our skills in general learning a little bit in each area - eg Pre-rendered backgrounds, Lighting, modeling and a whole host of things within maya, Exporting files, Basic Housekeeping of the files to keep it tidy, Scales, Cameras, Priorising and many many more.

We also managed to keep to the Poly Count as well which I'm very happy about.

We didn't however:

Have time to add more additions such as Body Work Options - animate the character as much as we would have liked - blend shapes etc on the mouth and eyebrows.

We didn't argue... a few ups and downs but we managed to overcome them with a simple discussion over the matter and crumpets... well not really crumpets... but a note for the future....mmmm crumpets :)

Need extra time and STUCK to the deadline and actually finished on Friday afternoon - just made a front cover etc on Friday afternoon.

My Evaluation:

I really think the project went well considering Sam and I had very VERY limited experience in Flash and Dreamweaver (coding)  To be honest that was the hard part but as we left a week and a half to do this we managed to pull through.  Mustn't go without saying Max Saunders gave us a quick into into Flash and Dreamweaver (2 hours we owe him) he was our on call help on evening after we'd been doing things one way... we called him and he went - your doing it the REALLY long way.  Even now the entire html coding part is not correct with the Flash files slightly wrong.  There's a few glitches in some transitions due to poor exporting by Sam and I however they are so unnoticeable I'm not going to let them get me down too much.

The Team:

Sam and I really did pull something out of the bag I feel.  We were in when we needed to be to discuss matters and for me to teach him Maya (texturing and basic lighting eg prenumba angles and light fog etc) and for him to teach me more 2D and texturing techniques - being a wizz at photoshop and all.  Sam's 2D concept work really set the standard for the entire piece and we attempted to create the feel to a certain extent within the Maya work during the modeling and texturing stages.  As we were learning off of each other throughout the project I don't really know how it could have gone much more smoothly.  I'd like to think it was because he and I were good mates and got along previously and respected one another, not only as people but also in each others knowledge in different areas.  As we had these different areas of expertise I think we were a strong team from the word go.... At least I like to think so anyway.  I'm not sure if he'd want to work with me again but I'd be happy to have him by my side once more working on a future project.

The Final Outcome:

As I've already mentioned there were a few glitches but a friend - Max Saunders (again) said he may be able to put it up on Rave On Air - if we can get the glitches out.... I'm considering building a website soon to be honest - possibly over the summer holidays and then hopefully have all my work up on there for the world to view (and criticsm and rip apart and ignore and hate and to just genearlly be disgusted at :p) so yeah.... maybe one day soon you'll be logging on to my site! Lets hope (previous attempts of people building me a site have failed however this has boosted my confidence somewhat).  The final Site was fairly good however I'm a bit bummed out that we'd have to re-render for different Internet Browsers... kind of annoying but hey - different formats I suppose need different things involved.  Our final site plays best on *confused face*... I think its the latest version of Internet Explorer - not the older one thats for sure and definately not Safari (Mac).  I'll probably post up a video we made (as we can't upload the entire site up onto the blogger I don't think) sometime soon.

Things I'd Change:

Probably get the character slightly better and attempt to do different pieces of body work on the car WHILST modeling and that way its all easier and adjustable.  I'd probably do a little more research as well.  I dabbled from game to game however I look at SO many different pieces and games each day its hard to keep up with them - Sam and I pretty much everyday looked at a game but didn't blog it up which was a major bummer but.... hey.... we are learning so thats all that counts.  Its what you know - not what you can prove you know by writing on a blog! haha.

And thats about it for this blog (other than the final film).  I'm still slowly updating www.dwshufflebotham.blogspot.com so keep in check with that if your interested.

Things I need to write later for Sam

I'm at work now... So I'll type up these things a little later for the text conversion - remember Sam needs to be in Black and not white like all the other writing. Hope you had a good birthday yesterday :p.

Insert about Internet explorer and lag,
Insert explaining what our focuses were for the project (just in case Jared doesn't understand the subtley in which we explained it within the interactive side/the interactive for some reason doesn't work and he has to watch the video)
Insert explaining which area/page to click on within the mass index of links within 'SITE'.

Also write up evaluation of project for Jared and for Sam and obviously myself so that we can all learn on what needs to be improved on next term and next project.

The Time Has Come

Project nearly done now....just been playing the ALMOST final final and it doesn't play smoothly on Safari - a friend of mine - Max Saunders who helped a bit with the dreamweaver side of things in this project - told me that all web browsers may play it differently... this might have something to do with it so Jared I hope you play it in Windows Internet Explorer as it works like a dream in that :)

Finished Map...What you get Zoomed

This is the zoomed in version of the detailed map I made for the project.... accessible from the start up menu... if you want to look at it :)  Getting the sounds now....Sam... Need writing for - Jeep concept if your still up man.

I don't really like the map as it turns out... I find its a bit plain and boring but hey... I added a little more here and there and it'll do.... I think it'll fit in once we've added in a couple of crease marks here and there so that it looks as though its been folded - one of Sams ideas though but I think its a good one.

Eventful

Today has seen a high and a low.... We finished our videos for our project and collected the voices someone kindly recorded for us :) We managed to get all the files we need into Flash now and all the buttons working appropriately however still have a slight problem which I aim to rectorfy tomorrow morning in the early hours... fun oh fun .... while Sam is importing the sounds which I find tonight.

Sounds for tonight -

Gun Shot.

lights flicker on

Cha-Ching? MONEY MONEY MONEY

Suspension / Neon Sound

Think there was text I needed from you Sam... not sure what it was saying though.... hmmm

Oh...and Sam.... I have an idea about tomorrow with the Flash file.... I'll try making EVERYTHING bigger (if thats possible.... but I still don't know if that'll work but HEY I'll give it a go! lol

Mini Map-Map

Forgot the Images I imported.... there they are.... all vector based images meaning they can be scaled as big/small as needs be :)

Its still not finished but hey.... Thought I'd post the progress.  Idea is that you'll be able to pan around the map... but would have to work out the lagistics (not sure about the spelling of that word..) of this process as it would involve a number of extra files.... hmmmmm... perhaps just have the green box highlighted.... thats the initial thought I had anyway.  I still need to add to these images but as you can see I've made the SafeHouse Logo and a few others.  Will probably finish this off tomorrow.

Tonight...

I've been relaxing and kicking back 2night really... Along with doing a lil bit of work on the side.  I know Sam and I previously had discussed a number of different posibilities and therefore I just thought I could probably do one in one night... so thats my aim for now.  Build and Improve on what I already have.  I'm not going to let on what I'm doing just yet but hopefully it'll all be worth it in the final render :) Providing it all goes Smoooooothly.

Jared had a quick look at our project today and he seemed to be happy but also said something very valid...  ' if you find yourselves with spare time think about how you can improve...' we cut corners originally to fit things in - eg we now don't have a body work alternative etc... so maybe we'll have time to add that in tomorrow.  I'm doing the majority of the Flash parts at the moment I suppose as I have my External HD and arranging all the files.  I'm happy with the way its working out but I am going to teach Sam exactly what I'm doing - DETERMINED!!! I'll GET YA SAM!! lol