Fantastic Voyage - Reflective Statement

This project has been the most challenging, as I had to do a full and complete animation. Sadly, at the end I was not able to produce a finished animation, however as I see how it could look when it is finished, I will work on it in the close future in order to make it how I have pictured it.

I think my original idea was achievable, but I made it very complicated and made a mistake with it, as my experience was not enough for the final outcome. Although, I think I could have done it in time if I would have had more experience and should have known that I will have lots of trouble with Maya. I have lost lots of time while I was making the fish models, as I have started to make the models in a too complicated ways.

I will keep in mind for future projects, that I have to think about Maya not always working or messing up files, so I will prepare much earlier to start going into Maya. Furthermore, I will make sure that I keep in check with what I am able to do based on my experience and while I might make challenges for myself, I have to be more careful not expect too much. Lastly, I think I need to refine the environment, so it somewhat matches the detail of the fishes.

While I was not finished with the animation in time, I think if I spend a bit more time with it, I could finish it and the outcome would be fairly close to what I wanted. I am quite proud of how the fish and the piranha have turned out, they are very similar to the sketches and drawing, both shape and colour wise. I am also happy with the texture, as it makes to fish more detailed and I think it brings a bit more life into the models. I was slightly worried about rigging and texturing since I have not done much of them before, but at the end they were not as much of a problem as I have expected. This project helped me top get used to doing it and I feel a bit more confident.

Overall, have learned a lot during this project, such as not underestimating how much time Maya could take up and try not to set the bar too high while my experience might not be able to achieve it in time. Furthermore, I have learned new techniques in Maya and became more aware that while I have to learn a lot more, I very much enjoy modelling in 3D. About the project itself, I found it challenging, but at the end it was still enjoyable, as I could work in big variety of areas, such as drawing the fishes in Photoshop and bringing the them to life in Maya.