LO1: Understanding 3D modelling techniques.

1: Avatar (2009)

One purpose of a 3D modelled environment is for use in a film, an example could be the film 'Avatar', which used a lot of CGI, there's a variety of software used to create the world in the film, from creating the interiors of buildings to the vegetation seen in the forests.

Autodesk Maya was used for creating most shots, but others such as Lightwave 3D was used to create most of the real-time shots of the environment in a low resolution. Houdini by SideFX was used for interior environments and software like MASSIVE (used for creating the vegetation) and Autodesk Mudbox (used for creating floating mountains) were used for the exterior Environments.

An example of the interior environment the Houdini software would have been used for.

An example of both the Autodesk Mudbox and MASSIVE software being used to create the floating mountains and vegetation.

To create scenes with motion and action in modelled environments, they would need to bring the different computer-generated components together either through importing one into the other or overlaying them in the post-production stages. Softwares created by the same company such as Mudbox and Maya (Autodesk) can easily be imported into each other.

2: WALL-E (2008)

The majority of animations today use 3D modelled environments compared to hand-drawn or even real sets that could be used in stop-motion like animations. This is the case with the film 'WALL-E' which is entirely CGI, it makes use of modelled environments in every scene because it's a 3D animation. Disney Pixar model both characters and the environments using Autodesk Maya, but for the rigging and animation they use their in-house software called Marionette, rendering is then done with a software called RenderMan.

An example of an exterior environment created using Autodesk Maya which would then be placed in Pixar's Marionette software.

An example of an interior environment, also created using Autodesk Maya.

With the example of the interior environment, the scene had a lot of movement and changes to the environment itself. The holograms and transport seen are moving in the animation and are a part of the environment. They would have needed to be animated so changes could have been made, this would have been done with their Marionette software, the actions would have been keyframed so that they are at a different location at a different time.

3: Quantum Break (2016)

Modelled environments can range from small corridors to open worlds in video games, they can be very different from environments used in film and animation as they can be explored, interacted with and changed. After an environment has been created they are applied to a game engine (Such as the Unreal Engine 4), which can have rules that replicate real life, or something unnatural. In Quantum Break, the environments were created using Autodesk Maya and implemented into Remedy Entertainment's in-house engine called Northlight which allowed for ways to represent 'broken time' in the world. The broken time theme allowed for environments to have a lot of animation applications due to the changes in the environment. They even used a technology, which could be implemented with Autodesk Maya called Digital Molecular Matter that allowed for realistic physics in the environment, such as destruction of objects like crates.

An example of the 3D Modelled environment changing as the player explores: