As an exchange student coming in without any prior knowledge of the course or the 3d software Maya, and generally little 3d experience, this project proved to be a challenge in several aspects. But regardless, it wasn't impossible, I wasn't 100% new to the concepts, and with the helpful guidance of the tutors and other students I could manage it in the best of my abilities while juggling the rest of the projects and my own existence in a foreign environment.
My specialty lies in 2d art, and that is what I planned to contribute here. That is not to say I was meaning to ignore learning or contributing in 3d aspects, quite the opposite, my intent was to deliver help with what I could consider my strong side, all while learning and giving a hand in the 3d aspects, but not as much to have my inexperience weigh the project down. I would like to say that at most part I achieved this intent.
I was assigned to deal with the concept art of the characters and their textures, and I think I managed to deal with this successfully. I did all the character concepts that we had planned for the initial idea, even though we managed to practically use only half of them. In terms of textures, I managed to texture all the models we needed for the skits that we ended up having without overworking on skits we wouldn’t tackle. So with this I could turn to helping with the animation and taking upon one of the scenes. Admittedly the 3d animation was a challenge and I only managed to do it as far as simple key poses that themselves could’ve been revised and better timed. The new medium took a toll on my speed and efficiency as well as quality, and even though 2d and 3d animation both have fairly similar concepts in the core, in the moments of execution it proved to be difficult for me.
Despite the challenge I learned a lot in the progress. Not only do I now know the basic use of Maya, such as the fundamental tools, shortcuts and techniques, I’ve also learned a lot of new things about 3d animation, modelling and the industry in general, which is knowledge that isn’t that accessible from where I come from.
If I had to do this again, I think I would possibly try and take up the reigns and perhaps give a hand at being director. The project has shown that I should work on my communication skills in a more professional manner in the future and to not fear taking upon some responsibilities in favor of progressing more. Unfortunately the conditions of being in a new environment and lack of experience in the course slowed me down and made me more sheepish, but I believe that this has been a valuable experience that I will carry with me to future projects. I’m incredibly thankful for the tutorship and help I’ve received, and can only hope that some of my small insights managed to help the people around me as well.
