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