Bowling Finished

Here is the final model of the bowling pins. Everything has stayed the same all though i think there is changes which could be made, but as i have many other props to make i shall continue to move forward and see how i go for time. I would like to come back to this and change the top of the pins as i think they are a little to long.

Bowling

When modelling the bowling pins, i used a cylinder and added edge loops where most of the sculpting would take place. From there i selected the line of vertexes and used the scale tool to slowly start creating the right form.
Using the front view was really helpful so that i knew i was selecting all the vertexes on that line.
Creating the top was slightly more tricky this included me using the extrude tool on the top edge, shape that using the scale tool and then repeating this process over again until i got an oval shape.
Creating the bowling ball was fairly straight forward i used sphere and then used the Boolean tool to create the finger holes. And here was pretty much have the bowling pins and ball complete.

Toy Concept

I tried creating a mixture of shapes when drawing xylophones. I also used animals as a theme as well as having plain ones. I really like the design of the fish because it is original, more creative and exciting compared to the others. Modelling this will also be slightly more challenging for me.
When designing The Tower of Hanoi i was a little limited in what i could do, the only thing i could really develop was the base. I really like the star design but i have to consider the edges which may seem unsafe. I feel that sticking to a circle or square base would be safer.
Thinking about rocking horses was really interesting as there were so many things that i could change and adjust. At first i was thinking about how Summers parents could have brought her one, but then i thought it would be nicer if the rocking horse was simpler as it could represent that her dad hand made it for her just like the tree house.
Having Summer on the floor would have seemed a little to uncomfortable. I was thinking of having a rug on the floor but i thought it would seem slightly more homey if there were some cushions which she could sit on. I really like the design of an animal but feel this may be rather hard to model as a cushion so i think the next one would be the heart design. Nice, girly and oval, sending out a friendlier message.
Mike said to our group that we should have a lantern at the tree house as it would be very unlikely that her parents would let her be in her treehouse at night, so having a lantern would send a message out to her parents and the audience that she is safe with light around her. I was thinking that a young child lantern would be nice, but realistically it would be unlikely that she would have one so if i model a slightly old fashioned lantern than it would seem like it is her parents, as everything does not have to belong to Summer.
When creating garden tools i found it a little hard to create different designs for a child. The only thing i could really think of was that they would be rounded off so that they would be safer.
Bowling pins were quite difficult, i wanted to create different shapes but i was unsure on how i could make them look or if they would fall over being a different shape. So i thought it was best to keep to the same realistic shape but have different designs. I quite like having numbers on the pins as it would be a learning toy for Summer as well as fun.

Next steps to modelling

James has recently asked if there is anything that he can model as he does not have much in his modelling folder, so i have given him the slide to model and he can also animate that to put towards his animation folder, as i know he does not have any animation at this time. With that given to James i think i can now move onto the interior shot and start thinking about the kinds of toys that Summer would have. Given her age, i think she would have some learning toys, so maybe something musical, something fun, maybe something a little old fashioned like a rocking horse. There is all sorts of different toys that can be made, but i do not want to turn the tree house into her bedroom, so i shall have to make sure that there are not to many toys but enough for Summer to be entertained when she is up there. Once again it is time to draw some props and then get back to modelling.

Finished Slide

Here is the final version of the slide, i changed quite a few things in the end as i was not happy with the older version. I redone the slide and added a curve to shape of the slide as a slide does not go completely diagonal. I modelled a heart and placed that onto the frame of the ladder and used the boolean tool to cut out the shape of a heart. This now looks a more attractive and is aimed towards a female audience. There are also less steps now as there would not be many for a child's slide as it would not be very high.

Slide Modelling

Here is the first version of my slide, as you can see it is the a simple shape which i am not totally happy with, i need to do some further modelling to this which would appeal more to a young girl.

When modelling this slide i found it a little tricky to get the right shape for the slide as i did not have enough vertexes to create the right curve but if i was to add anymore then the slide would start to have to many polys which would make the exterior scene to large. I created the slide by using a plane and then selecting the vertexes and lowering them down in the middle and higher near the edges to create the curve. For the ladder i used cube shapes and slotted them into place.

Meeting

I was meant to write on here a couple of weeks ago about a meeting that myself, my team and Kieron went on to discuss about the sound for our animation. We spoke really well about the sound effects we need and Kieron was confident that he would be able to make them for us. The only thing we had a little trouble with was the sort of music we should. We found this rather difficult as we do not want the music to come across to scary if a young audience watches this, and we do not want the music to be to loud as that would drown out the sound effects. Kieron asked us what our favourite instruments were but we came out with guitar and drums, which would not be helpful. Karl then came out and said that a violin could sound really dramatic for our animation which we all quite liked the sound of. Kieron then told us all to go and find a song from a movie, game or programme which we think is a little scary and send that to him to see what he thinks and then re create something with them all. Sounds like quite a challenge for him but he mainly wants that so that he can get a better knowledge of the type of music that drives us. Kieron has told me to sign up to something called dropbox where we can place in files and they go to our computers straight away in a section folder, which i think is a great idea. We can easily send files to one another without all the hassle.

FInished Sandpit

Here is the finished version of the sand pit, as you can see i have soften the corners so that it is safer. I have also added star fish around the sand pit which i created using the create polygon tool, which lets me draw the shape i need by placing vertexes. Once the shape was made it was a plane of that shape, from there i then added extra vertex lines around the edge of the shape so that i could then i could then reshape the the starfish by moving the vertexes. Creating the star fish was actually the longest part of making this prop, but i think really makes the sandpit stand out.

Sandpit

For the sandpit i started off with a simple cube, flattened it and made it wider to get the very rough shape, i had to make sure that the cube was not to high or it would not look as though Summer could get inside. From here i made four edges to create the border of the sandpit. Then i selected the middle face and extruded it down to create the space for the sand. I then selected four face round the edge and extruded them up to get the impression of a castle.

I got a plane so that i could use that to make the shape of sand. This did not take to long as all i done was selected a bundle of vertexes at one time and either lift them up or down to start creating a wave effect.

I thought it would look quite nice if i made a bucket which could go inside the sand pit to give the impression that the sandpit has been used instead of the sandpit being static.

This is only the rough shape to the sandpit right now, i need to soften edges and make the sandpit a little more interesting without trying to make this prop be high poly as this will not really be seen from a distance.

Prop Concept

Here are a few drawings i have started to gather up so that i can can get into the mind of a young child. There is rather a range of different designs but are all equally creative. The slides are a little limited as i do not really know how to make them different from one another. The main things i have changed about them is the boldness of the slide and the steps. I rather like the one which has the heart on the slide as this aims it to a girl which i think is always helpful in an animation.


Need to keep in mind about the price range for each prop, making sure that the audience do not get confused by some items looking expensive to others looking rather cheap.

I first started off my sandpit designs by starting off with a tyre meaning that the family are creative with the resources they have, i also thought this was a nice idea as the tree house was hand made so why couldn't other items be related in the same way. But this also sends out the message that the family may not have much money and with other props this may seem slightly comfusing to the audience. I think all the props need to be consistent by price range. The family have some money behind them so i want the audience to know that. So this is where my other designs come in, they slowly look a little more fancy.