Mousetrap

Wow, it's been a while since I thought to actually begin blogging. More than a year, really. Such big hopes...

Well, now I actually have nearly daily things that I am working on, so I should be able to post a couple of times of week. Hopefully.

To kick things off, I thought I would post the first video we did as a homework assignment in the Maya II class I'm in. As a graduate student in a undergrad class, it's has been quite interesting. Mostly, I think I feel old. Which is strange, for I really am not that much older than the students in that class - perhaps it is their expectations and whatnot. In any case, I am thoroughly enjoying the class.




This was built using the dynamics system in Maya. Utilizing constraints, gravity, active and passive rigid bodies, and so forth, this animation took shape. The task of not actually animating anything, but allowing the physics system to work it out instead was quite the chore. I ended up baking everything in at the end of the animation and editing a few keys, so the render ran more smoothly, and didn't take 15 years. The textures are just things I threw on the objects in a few seconds. Literally. Even the objects themselves are highly simplified in hopes of speeding the physics engine up as it worked in real time.

In any case, I actually am posting now. What joy.