3DS Max Open Ended Problem (All help please!)

badgermonkey

badgermonkey

badgermonkey

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Hi all,

I've just been given a piece of coursework for my 3ds Max (8) class. The simple statement is make a 30 second animation of some sort to show off your skills.

Now I'm not the most artistic person in the world, but I was looking at doing something particularly good for this, as my last submission was rather pathetic due to me leaving it to the last minute.



Now one idea I had was something such as a spaceship maybe falling towards the earth, and also doing the impact, the explosion etc as it drives itself into the ground.

The problem is, my max knowledge is below par, so I was wondering if something like this is possible, and it it were, then how difficult would it be/how much time would it take? Also, I was wondering if anyone could point to tutorial sites that might help me with my particular idea (rather than just link a site with 3ds max tutorials).

If this is an unviable option, is there any chance I could do something similar to the above idea, or should I change my tact entirely?

(Btw, I have until 30th March for this, so if it'll take me a fair bit of time... don't worry, I have 2 and a half months).
 
As you dont want to hand animate id reccommend using dynamics (i think its called reactor in max). You should be able to get some cool shattering/explosion effects without too much effort! Obviously the more you put in the better it will look :)


Spaceships are a bit cliched, im sure you could make something that looked fairly cool if you were prepared to take the time but aliens/robots/ninjas/spacehips do turn up a lot in these kind of projects ! :)

Id also focus on doing something simple in terms of style. Dont waste your time learning to be ace at texturing or advanced modelling, etc.. Your better off spending more time making the animation/camerawork and lighting look good. imo of course.
 
And I would recommend the complete opposite of what bubbletron has recommended. :p

Don't bother delving into reactor, its just going to add unneccesary complication. Instead look at using particle systems and add environmental effects such as mavity to them. I would also suggest keeping the animation to a minimum, and make the animation that you do use very good. Also work a lot on getting a good solid model with nice textures and good lighting. Any cutting corners in the early stages is only going to show up in the finished product. Also as mentioned, the whole space thing is very cliched. Personally I would look at doing something with vehicles/robots etc. Possibly steer away from doing organic stuff, as this can be very hard to make look right. If you need any help or advice, feel free to add me to msn. :)
 
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