Sorting out the Audio

In response to Des' previous email saying he had limited spare time and after speaking with my group, realising that neither of the other group members would be available, I sent him this response;

Dear Des

I understand you must be very busy at this time. I would be able to meet with you this afternoon if you are free, around 3 o clock? If this is an option please call or text me on (phone no. removed). We could meet at the University or in Finchingfield like I say, this would be a tremendous help to us. We are at a stage where we are unsure what extra information we do require but I'll talk to the rest of my group this morning and hopefully will decide on what we intend to do with respect to the rest of the project to let you know when we meet. That is right, we did want to record some sort of guided commentary, which we would be able to borrow a recorder for if available although you probably know a lot more about this due to your broadcasting background!

Thank you ever so much for your time

Kind regards

Polly

Des did call me back after receiving this email and we spoke about how we were to record the audio and I suggested that I borrow the equipment from the University and meet him either at the uni or in Finchingfield and record about 20-30seconds of 'tour' in each room. Des suggested that due to his background in audio that it would be more feasable if he recorded the audio on his own equipment and sent it to me via CD. I did ask whether he was sure of this and I could meet wherever he required to assist but he said he was happy to do so and would send the finished audio file to my address. I obviously thanked him very much and he asked me to send my address via email which I did. 


Des responded the next day with;

Hello Polly

I've sent you a cd with a Voice Over for possible inclusion in your project.   It's in an MP3 format.  

Hope all is well with you

Des

Minutes for Group Meeting

Minutes for Group Meeting 

18/11/11

Attending: Polly, Alex, Kat

Brought forward to meeting;

Alex told us how he was getting along with modeling the ‘tour guide’ character, he says he has completed this and intends to model the objects required in the bathroom and kitchen.

Kat has continued to model the hand that will be used for transitions between scenes (through doors etc) and has been starting to model other attributes such as a fireplace.

Polly has modeled the windows and doors, adding and positioning them to the guildhall model, she also has modeled some objects including picture frames, and tables. Polly also talked about her contact with Des via email.

Items Discussed;

We discussed Des’ email and tried to arrange a date when we would all be free to meet, due to employment this was quite problematic to find a day that we could all be there but we agreed that we would work around Des and see when was best for him since he was doing us a favor and if some of us couldn’t be there then so be it.

We also discussed the animation portion of the module, suggesting when we would like to start the animating and post production work, agreeing it would be best to spend another week modeling to make sure we have enough objects for the interior and also that would give us time to source the accompanying audio.

The group also discussed the further assets that would were required and needed to be modeled that hadn’t yet.

Work to Continue;

Alex to model the assets required for the kitchen and bathroom areas

Kat and Polly to continue with modeling other objects required and Polly to continue contact with Des regarding recording the audio.




Minutes for Group Meeting 
24/11/11


Attending: Alex, Polly, Kat


This was quite a brief group meeting, we all showed the assets we had been modeling and spoke about now finishing up any loose ends, trying to think of anything left to model before we start animating.


Work to continue;
All to continue modeling to finish up ready for animating. Polly to model a basic village of Finchingfield, Kat to model shop items and Alex to model extra bits and pieces e.g. gravestones.

Modeling the Doors

I modeled the doors in a similar way to the windows from a basic box and modified it to give it definition , creating more detail on the door using chamfer.

I then created a simple doorknob from a sphere and after converting to an editable poly and using face selection I extruded the reverse faces into a stem, scaling in the process. I decided to create a simple doorknob to complete the door and if I have more time at the end of the modeling process I hope to create different latches for differing doors.

Here are the doors installed in the guildhall model - again having to resize and position each door individually for each opening and the pivot points needed to be moved so that the doors swung in a realistic way.

Here you see a close up of the material selected for a quick idea of how the door will look, using a wooden material for the main door and a polished brass handle look as this will be used on the renovated version of the guildhall.

Here is the guildhall model complete with doors and windows in place. The main issue I had with positioning the windows and doors correctly was getting into the trickier areas of the main building, and obviously the large variations in size and angle of each orifice.

Contact with Des

My email response to Des;

Dear Des

That would be absolutely wonderful to meet with you and also Jackie. Would you possibly be able to pass on her email address to us incase we have any questions and make contact with her. With regard to meeting up, we are available to either come to you or to meet at Anglia Ruskin, whichever is best for you really. If at all possible it would be highly beneficial for us if we could meet early next week, if this is not convenient for you then we would be able to meet later in the week or weekend. Again thank you for your time and interest in our project.

This is the link to our group project (it is currently a working progress and does not show everything we are currently working on, but will give you an idea of our progress); virtualfinchingfield.blogspot.com

Kind regards

Polly

And the reply;

Dear Polly

Next week is rather full at the moment.   The only time I have free is Monday.  It would probably be best if I came to you unless there was something you wanted to see in the Guildhall. If you could give me an indication of the information you are looking for I might be able to come armed with it on a usb key.  If what you wanted was to record a commentary from inside the rooms as they are then I have a minidisc recorder and a good microphone and could do that for you and burn it onto a cd and post it to you or send you the minidisc.  I'd be quite happy to do this as I used to do it for a living; I was a broadcaster. 

The Finchingfield Guildhall Trust has appointed a contractor to do the restoration and they will be taking over the site in the next few days and after that there will be only very limited opportunities to see it.  Jackie Bargman and I are coming to Anglia Ruskin on Friday 9th to see the projects you are working on. 

Thank you for the link. Very interesting.  

Jackie's email should you need it is:  (Jackie's email taken out for privacy purposes)

Hope this is helpful.

Many thanks

Des

Minutes for Group Meeting

Minutes for Group Meeting 

 11/11/11

Attending: Polly, Alex, Kat

Brought forward to meeting;

Alex showed his further progress in the modeling of the guildhall building, which was discussed and it was agreed that the group as a whole was happy with the progress being made.

Polly brought the two initial storyboards to show the rest of the group, and again the group was happy with the outcome. Polly also brought the email sent to Des regarding asking about recording an audio tour to accompany the animation and a couple of models of assets for the inside of the guildhall such as the table and picture frame.

Kat brought the finalized Gantt chart to the meeting that we all discussed and agreed upon certain tasks being completed by the deadlines dictated on the chart. Kat had also been working on modeling some of the assets for the interior of the guildhall and walkthrough such as the hand that would be seen to open doors etc in the animation.

Items Discussed;

Items that were discussed were again the audio, discussing how and when we would meet with Des to record the tour if he was agreeable to our plan.

We also discussed the animation and use of the tour guide. We suggested using a model of one of our heads created as our individual assignment and extend on it to create the whole body and we agreed that we would use Alex’s head due to the male tour guide voice and also the quality of the model.

The group also discussed the assets that would were required and needed to be modeled so that the group could split the assets and avoid duplicate modeling, to ensure all the objects were covered.

Work to Continue;

Alex to model the tour guide’s body, extending from his existing head model.

Kat to continue modeling the hand and also other assets that would be required in the guildhall.

Polly to continue modeling assets for the interior of the guildhall, including windows and doors for the exterior of the guildhall model.

A Spot of Modeling

Whilst continuing with the more shall I say 'organisational' tasks required in this project such as typing up minutes, contacting Des, creating storyboards, SWOT analysis and accompanying paperwork for the project I began work on modeling some assets that would be featured in the guildhall during the animation, including some of the architectural aspects of the guildhall such as the windows and doors.

One of my tasks for the group project is to model the windows for the guildhall. To start this process I referenced the photos that we took whilst on our visit to the guildhall to see how the windows looked and what they were comprised of. I drew a quick sketch of one of the windows and separated it into four main parts for which to model. These four parts were the main window frame, the inner window frame, the glass panes and the lead piping. Now to make the modeling process slightly easier I decided to model only the one large pane of glass to fill the frame rather than many smaller panes, which would generate an unnecessary amount of extra information when rendering. I also decided to model the lead piping in a similar fashion. As time is short I decided that I would not make the windows functional (able to open) and if we have time later I will use the same process of modeling but create locks and latches whilst also making the windows function.

To begin the window modeling process I started with the main model of the guildhall that Alex had created and created a simple box using the standard primitive shapes that fit into one of the window recesses to get the correct size. I then cloned this box 3 times so that I had an exact copy of this box to use for each section of the window. After this I entered isolated mode to work on the simple box away from the other objects in the viewport.

Changing the box to an editable poly, and using the faces selection option, I selected the front and reverse faces and used the inset function to get an idea of the width of the frame I wanted. I then used bridge to create the frame. Selecting the inner border of each window allowed me to use chamfer so that the frame wasn’t so square. I used the same technique for the inner window frame, adjusting the frame size and positioning so that it sat inside the outer frame. After following the same techniques as the outside window I used the connect function, creating 2 segments so that the inner frame had 3 faces on the front and reverse of the box. I again used inset, bridge and chamfer to create the 3 separate openings. Next I moved onto the lead piping. As with the inner frame window I used the connect function to create 45 smaller sections, then applying inset, bridge, and chamfer. The last cloned box was used for the windowpane and I adjusted each section to the correct size and positioning to look like the windows of the guildhall.

I left isolation mode and went back to the main model of the building, again repositioning and resizing to get the correct placement for the window on the guildhall model. After I was satisfied with the positioning I added materials to see how the windows would look, trying out both ray traced glass material for the glazed pane, and with a frosted effect. In the end I much preferred the clear glazing and left it at that. I was satisfied with how they looked and as time is of the essence I decided to clone this window to use for the other window recesses by resizing and repositioning as required for each individual frame. 

And the guildhall with windows resized and positioned according to each window opening;

Emailing Des

After our group meeting and deciding upon the tour guide animation idea I contacted Des in the hope that he might help us with our project on a more personal basis. I did feel a bit cheeky asking for another walk through tour although felt that his expertise and knowledge on the project couldn’t be rivaled although our back up plan is that we would get another voice over to use for the tour guide character if Des was unwilling to be recorded in this manner.

Dear Des,

Thank you very much for getting back to us so quickly. I have spoken to the rest of my group and discussed what kind of information we were hoping you could maybe help us with. We received the detailed architect plans from Richard, thank you, and we would be very interested in the papers you spoke of concerning the history of the Guildhall and how it was used. 

Currently my group and I have been working on creating a 3D model of how the Guildhall will look after renovation (using the detailed architect's plans), and also creating a storyboard to depict how the animation will look as a whole piece. It is our plan to model the Guildhall before and after renovations, complete with furniture etc and to use characters to aid in a 'walk-through' style tour, complete with tour guide. We do have some specific questions we hope you can help us with and also we were wondering whether you would be so kind as to spare an hour or so of your time in the next couple of weeks where we might meet and go over the tour you gave us, and to perhaps record your voice to use for our tour guide? We of course understand if you would rather not be recorded, we feel your knowledge in this field is invaluable to the success of our project and would bring a personal touch from Finchingfield into the piece. As part of the module we will be keeping a record of our work via a group blog that I'd be happy to send you a link to, and we would also bring a rough portfolio of the work for you to see if we were to set up a meeting.

Again thank you so much for your time, we are very grateful!

Kind Regards

Polly

Response from Des;

Dear Polly

I am delighted to help in what ever way I can.  Might I suggest that you also involve the Clerk to the Finchingfield Guildhall Trustees, Jackie Bargman.   Her knowledge of the Guildhall, its past and future use is much more comprehensive than mine.  She had hoped to join us when you came to visit but was caught up in another appointment.  I know she would want to help now and has already responded to two requests from other students in the class.  To this end we could meet in Finchingfield or at Anglia Ruskin whichever suits everyone best. 

I would be happy to provide a voice over for your project if that helps.

I am attaching an historical recording of the Guildhall conducted by Brenda and Elphin Watkin.  It will probably be much more information than you need but along with drawings and other technicalities it also describes the past uses of the Guildhall and how they come to the conclusions they make.   

Please send me the link to the blog. I will be fascinated to see how the process works

Many thanks for your work on this

Des

Storyboard

After producing a rough example of the storyboard for the rest of the group I then created two more versions in Celtx as initial finalised storyboards. One depicted the sketches I had created for the story board and the other showed photos taken during our visit to Finchingfield that related to each section of the storyboard for more of an idea as to how the final feel of the animation should come across. The photo storyboard can be seen below through a series of images.

Contacting Des Fahy

During our group meeting I suggested emailing Des Fahy (our tour guide during our visit to Finchingfield) to see if he had any extra information that would help with our project, after aquiring his email address from our course tutor, here is a copy of the email I sent;

Dear Des,

My name is Polly Brand and I came to visit Finchingfield with my classmates for your tour of Finchingfield and the guildhall. I firstly wanted to thank you for your time and genuinely wonderful tour of the guildhall. I really appreciated the little glimpse into the history of both the village and how the guildhall has been used over the generations. I am working as part of a group, as I am sure sure may be aware, to model and animate a 3D representation of the guildhall how it stands now and what it will look like after renovation. As I'm sure you can imagine, this requires rather a lot of information and research about the guildhall to make the final piece as accurate as possible. I just wanted to contact you to ask if my group and I could request information on the guildhall, village and proposed renovations if we need to in the near future. We obviously would be willing to let you know how our project progresses if it is of interest to you.

Thank you once again for you time,

Kind regards,

Polly 

Response from Des

 This is the responding email from Des;

Dear Polly

You may indeed have more information on the Guildhall and the village.  The architects sent the detailed plans to Richard Barnes a few days ago when they were completed.  If there is any other information that would be of benefit to you I would be delighted to get it.   There are papers on the history of the Guildhall and an assessment of how it was used.  Good luck with your project and I am indeed interested in how you are progressing

Best wishes

Des

Group Meeting

Another group meeting! At this meeting we discussed our progress and also what assets we would require in the building that Kat and I would model. We also spoke about using a tourguide animated character within the animation who would look to give the audience a virtual ‘tour’ of the guildhall as it was being renovated using an audio tourguide commentary that would be lip synched. We also discussed a suggestion I had of using an animated character to depict the ‘audience’ that would be seen in the various reflective surfaces of the guildhall (such as the windows etc). to minimize the work load we decided that we would use Alex’s head model and extend to model a body for the tour guide and either mine or Kat’s for the audience model.

I created a rough storyboard to visualize our ideas for the project to make sure we were all on the same page and all working towards the same outcome. I showed the rest of my group my interpretation and ideas. They were both pleased with how I had visualized the piece, giving me the go ahead to finalise the initial storyboard. I then typed up the minutes for our meeting.

Minutes

Minutes for Group Meeting 

Attending: Polly, Alex, Kat

Brought forward to meeting;

Alex showed his progress in the modeling of the guildhall building, which was discussed and it was agreed that the group as a whole was happy with the way it looked and the process and techniques used so far.

Polly brought the initial storyboard to show the rest of the group, which was discussed and again the group decided that the ideas displayed in the storyboard were how we wished to proceed with the project. Polly also brought the response from Des to the initial group email.

Kat had begun to work on the Gantt chart, although due to illness was unable to finish this task.

Items Discussed;

Items that were discussed were the audio, what would be used for the soundtrack of the piece. It was decided that we would contact Des and request a short tour of the guildhall that we could record for the voice of the tour guide, and search for some ambient sounds/music to use in the background.

We also discussed the animation, using the storyboard and how we would use animation for the figures in the piece as well as the building, so that we all have a rough idea of where the animation will be and what will need to be animated.

A SWOT analysis was drawn up by the group to ascertain Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that may affect the assignment completion. This was useful to be clear about what we need to keep an eye on (time management for example).

Strengths - 

Group relationship is strong, with great communication between all group members.

Each member has a different skill set to bring to the group that compliment one another, e.g. one individual may be more skilled in modeling, another in animating and another in the idea development.

Weaknesses - 

Individual weaknesses in certain areas may affect the group as a whole if the wrong person is allocated the wrong tasks.

Time is short and it may run out if we are not strict and stick to the gantt chart displaying proposed work timescales.

Opportunities - 

Developing further skills through process

Using video for future purposes (e.g. promotion for Finchingfield advertising renovation, use in personal portfolios)

Threats - 

Running out of time, not meeting set deadlines

Not receiving information/help required from outside sources (e.g. Des)

Skill set not developed enough to complete proposed ideas

Work to continue;

Alex - Continue modeling the guildhall

Polly - Finalise the storyboard (neaten), continue to model assets, including hand to be animated. Email Des to request further information/assistance regarding the tour guide aspect of the animation

Kat - Finish the Gantt chart for deadlines and timescale for project, create assets and model hand

Time and date of next meeting: Friday 4th November 2011

How to go about the project...

We brainstormed as a group and came up with a few ideas of how to complete the project and which style to use. I mentioned that I had seen various grand design episodes and suggested using a similar technique of using transitioning effects to move walls and features in a smooth fashion whilst the camera panned the building, to depict the renovations, as they will take place. The rest of my group agreed this would be a good way of being able to depict the changing of parts of the architecture of the main building.

MINUTES

Finchingfield Group Project Meeting

Minutes for Meeting dated 20^th October 2011

Attending: Polly Brand, Alex Chapman, Kat Fitzpatrick

During this meeting the group as a whole decided to animate a walk-through of the Guild Hall, showing how the building is currently and how the renovations will change it. We discussed the modeling of the hall and also other aspects that will be required for the animation.

Everyone agreed to bring thoughts and ideas to the next meeting of how we want to model and animate the final piece.

We also discussed contacting Des Fahy, our tour guide when we visited Finchingfield, regarding any ideas and further information we will require.

Plan of action for next meeting:

- All to come up with ideas for modeling and animation styles

- Contact Des Fahy via email

Our Group

For the group project in which we must model and animate the proposed renovations to the Finchingfield guildhall my group will me Alex Chapman, Kat Fitzpatrick and myself. I am pleased with the group that I will be working with, as I know they are hardworking individuals, motivated to do as well as possible and we get on well as individuals which always helps when working with someone! I am not worried about issues or problems that could occur when working closely with my group as I am sure that every group member feels valued and would be able to raise any issues with the other two easily and effectively.

As soon as we decided to work together we discussed our personal strengths and weaknesses. I felt this was necessary to determine how well we would realistically be able to work alongside and collaboratively. We quickly assessed that Alex had the strongest knowledge of the 3D Studio Max software. Although Kat’s skills and mine are developing, we are not yet as familiar or as quick to be able to model in the program as Alex. To this end we decided that Alex would be the best choice to model the main guildhall building, which he suggested, and Kat and myself would focus to work on the assets that would be required within the guildhall as separate files and other smaller projects that would be required to back up the main model. I personally feel ‘safer’ in a sense, working on separate items as I feel that whilst modeling a larger object such as the guildhall I could get a little overwhelmed by the complexity of modeling many features on one object. I do intend to work on larger and more complex objects to further develop my skills but I am fully aware that for this project my strengths are required in other areas.

We realised that Kat and myself were much better at coming up with ideas for how to produce the project and organizational skills required when working in a group. Kat and I will both be dedicated to generating the minutes from each of our group meetings, to ensure that the ideas and issues discussed are recorded efficiently. We decided that a gantt chart would help us very much to visualize what needed to be done and the timescales that we had for which to complete each task. Kat was confident to create the initial gantt chart which we would review as and when we needed to, to make sure we were on track. I decided that as we were creating a visual piece a storyboard was a necessity. I was happy to create the initial storyboard and to continue to work on progressive versions as and when our ideas evolved. I also created a SWOT analysis with the group to ascertain our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats as a group to monitor how we work together and to avoid falling victim to any of our threats! I felt that this would help us work more efficiently together once we had made ourselves aware of certain problems that could arise and to avoid them if at all possible.