Low Poly Animation

koneda

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This is a low poly scene for an animation I making for school. These are pretty much the first models I have ever done so I need some advice. I have been reading as much as I can on the entire process but I am running low on time.

So here's the run down. Due to time constraints I'm gonna leave it B&W, and I was thinking of using AO to give it a nice look. Like in this example.



The problem is i don't exactly know what I'm doing. I've never unwrapped models before, but these are pretty low poly. Do I need to have everything in a model smoothed correctly before I unwrap? If its for an offline render (i.e. an animation) does it need to be unwrapped to begin with? This isn't for a 3d class but it is for an assignment. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

gsokol

If you are not intending to texture it, and just plan on leaving it black and white...why bother unwrapping it?

If you aren't actually adding any texture...then there is no reason to.

koneda

Thanks, I know I am a complete noob at this. Would I even need a AO? Or would a basic light setup do the trick?

DiegoTeran

Cgtuts.com look up rendering. There is a quick one u can do if u just plan on having some good renders with a basic light. If u can't find it. Msg me

koneda

thanks, think I found it

DiegoTeran

Just follow the first section of it. U should get a good result with just that

koneda

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Quick update. I'm pretty satisfied with the results. Hopefully when I have more time I'll make it look like its not snow and I'll texture stuff. But now to animating, at least I have lynda for that. Thanks, Turista for helping me find a good tut.

DiegoTeran

Work on ur shadows for ur render. Also... Did u add a smooth to ur models?

koneda

yeah, added smooth. I think shadows might be off. Btw if the characters in the animation are gonna be 2d, can I just add them like a might add reference image to a flat plane? If the background around the figure is transparent pixels, what would I need to do to keep it transparent? (I'll look up myself, but just posting the question in case of a quick response)

DiegoTeran

U have no shadows... And for some of the hard surface models use the smooth 30 might give u a better result

DiegoTeran

go here and look at my render.

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83561

koneda

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Finished up with the scene (for now...) but, Im trying to figure out how to get rid of the white space around the figure. It's saved as a PNG and the figure was saved with transparent pixels in while in photoshop. I just need to get them transparent for the animation. (I know it's shitty but I got to begin rendering tonight).

DiegoTeran

U can use the wand tool and select all the outer part, or u can use the magic eraser and erase the white, or lol there is an option on the top to select any certain color and erase it. I forgot how to do that tho, I would open my PS but I'm laying in bed posting on my phone and watching lost lol maybe in a bit I'll check for ya

koneda

No, I the image has the correct transparency.


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But I don't know how to make it transparent in Max or more importantly, the render.

DiegoTeran

? Huh

DiegoTeran

Oh hmm same thing. Erase the background on PS but save it for web. That will keep the background off. Try that

Mark Dygert

Save out your transparency as a separate mask and plug that into the opacity channel. Max has a tough time working with embedded opacity masks in png's.