Jake Guest Designs: Overcoming Problems And Finishing Off

With the basic shell now formed I was able to begin work on more of the props and stand out features of the model. To begin with, I wanted to make the environment seem self contained and sheltered, but open enough to really show off all the things i'd designed. Working through the environment, I began assigning various different materials to different sections to try and create something that looked slightly more realistic. Moving away from my colour study, I looked more at my reference images to find the correct colours.

Assigning colours in Maya comes with picking a new material. As the default material in Maya is known as Lambert, I opted to carry on using this material and just slightly change the colour. Going by my reference images, I chose a lighter tone to assign to the overall piece as I felt that it would really show to contours of what I had created as well as stand out as a focal point of a landscape.

Creating more stand out props became my next task. With the different levels I wanted to have a sort of focal point on each level, whether it be a large hallway or stairs, I wanted to have that big drawing point. For the mid level, I decided to edge the walls with a sort of temple inspired design. As I had included a temple to the bottom right hand corner of my concept sketch, I wanted to use the design somewhere in the finished product as I think it really does fit the aesthetic of the overall piece.

Using the same technique as the grate, I created a pillar to sit the roof on and duplicated it until I had two even rows at either side of the wall.

Creating the roof was the most challenging part to date, as I had to create this triangular roof and then bend it round the corner to fit. Using the bend deformer I had previously used with the stairs, I began to create the new shape. The issue being that the shape would not bend at an angle, but instead bent overall into a curve rather than two distinct ends with a bend in the middle. After hours of working round this I opted to separate the two piece and do it manually. Although this didn't give me the piece I was hoping for, it did allow me a lot more freedom over it's creation.

Using facial extrudes on the edges allowed me to create an interesting pattern on either end, and a ridge on the top.

Next, I moved onto edge work for the walls. Creating a small arch from a flipped cylinder and extruding it to look as though it had been etched from stone right into the wall, I began combining and duplicating many of these over the model.

Creating this piece raised the biggest and most troublesome issue I had come across. As everything I would combine, separate, move or scale this object Maya would crash. It did not matter what I did, but Maya would just crash and I could not find any solution after days of searching. No one else had reported the same issue before and even speaking to other members of my class that use the software were completely dumbfounded when having a look at the project file.

Not only was this issue affecting this one object I had created, but it would not allow Maya to save. Because of this, I was set back about 4 days in trying to find a solution. No suggestion made to me at this point helped my situation and the file could not be worked on anymore. After this issue, I reverted to an earlier save file and began work again.

Wanting to include this frill work to the edge plagues me for days, until I finally decided to give it another go. Yet again, the issue came back for unknown reason and had begun to manifest itself every time I would use the combine or separate function.

This was not only an issue for the file I had already made, but I could not progress any further without finding a solution. Going back into maya I had a look through the script editor to see if I could find any warnings or errors that may alert me to the solution for my problems. Whilst in the script editor, it occurred to me that I could type in the command for both the separate and combine commands. Although I didn't have much hope, I thought this may give me more of an indication of the issue if I have the script editor open.

Selecting the trouble objects and combining them before had made Maya crash, but for some reason unbeknown to me or anyone else I had spoken to, using the raw text command made the combine and separate stick. Using the PolyUnite; command to combine and the Separate; command to separate the issue disappeared and I was able to work with these objects again.

With this revelation, I moved both commands to a button situated in a custom shelf and carried on working. This issue cost me days of work, but the fix was as simple as typing out the words. It seems silly, but at least I know for the future to try the command script before uninstalling Maya again.

With this done, I began to create the decor and position it all over the model. Alongside this, I decided to create a small rail to place on the edges of many of the walls to create some cover for potential archers if the walls were to be used in battle.

From here I joined the mid level of the castle to the walls by extruding one of the faces on the mid section and created a bridge. Using the arches below as a base I could use them as a support without having to create any extra geometry. Duplicating this on both sides was relatively easy as I could move these newly extruded faces into the walls together.

Much like the drain, I was able to extrude the faces on the arch to create the illusion of brickwork. As these arches were much bigger, the effect is that much more noticeable.

Using the same basic technique as before when creating the larger stairs for the entrance, I created a curved stairwell to connect the lower and mid level. with the addition of a stone rail that could be included in the deformation gives an extra object to the overall stairwell. This doesn't only serve to be practical in it's application, but also helps to give that grand feeling I was looking for.

Duplicated on both sides it gives a feeling of completeness to both the mid and ground levels.

Along with the bend deformer, I began to mess around with some of the others. From playing around with the deformer before, I had the idea to include a scaled staircase. One end being fat, the other thinner to connect the covered level. In the deformers palette, there was one names "flare". Using the basic shape I had created for the curved stairs I applied the flare deformer, flaring the top end and leaving the bottom end in place. This created a very fitting set to set into my scene.

Moving up to the top, I worked more on the triangular section at the very top of the castle, extruding the sharp edges to create the shape of pillars. Having these running down helped create this grand feeling overall and really pushed the scale of the construction I wanted. From the top view down, I wanted it to feel very grand and magnificent. From this view here, I feel very happy with what I have created. For my first time in this software, I cannot even begin to understand how I have come this far in such a short time.

To give another focal point to the picture and to really reinforce the different levels, I wanted to introduce some tall towers that could be used for look out. Using more polycylinders I reduced the height subdivisions and scaled down the top to create a taper. From here I could extrude out every other face to create an interesting pattern, and extrude in faces on the top to allow for the idea of windows. These are some of my favourite parts of the model. Duplicating them front and back really gave the piece a very towering and almost scary feel to it.

Wanting to give a sense of scale to the image, I began creating little huts out of wooden planks. Creating these basic planks out of a cube was fairly easy, subdividing them 3 times and slotting them together very nicely. I didn't want to add too much detail to this area as it is just to show scale, but I duplicated the planks and laid them out to create a little kiosk from which people could tender things such as fish, wools and books etc. I think this addition is one of the best decisions I made. Working from nothing but my own ability to concept in Maya using 3D objects, creating these models allowed me to see how far I had been able to come.

The other prop I decided to include were barrels. As the wooden huts would most likely be for traders, I felt that barrels would be a nice addition to have near by. Again, using a polycylinder to create the basic shape, I could use a lattice deformer to manipulate the entire model from different sections. Similar to the scale vertices tool, it allowed me to create something entirely different from something exceptionally simple.