Experiment 2: Week 4 Reflection

This weeks lecture focused on how we would be able to improve our environment and tips on how to make our building have more character. Russel showed us a technique of how to paint on our materials possibly to deliver a message and give the the audience the sign of how life did exist in this environment before. The lecture has definitely given me ideas about the story I'm going to tell for my 2 minute trailer. With the lecture today I should be able to portray my ideas perfectly.

References for Trailer

I am Legend Trailer

I am Legend Trailer

Book of Eli

District 9

Blending Test

Issue Posted on Forum

Image of an issue I am having posted on the course forum

Experiment 2: Week 3 Reflection

This weeks lecture we emphasized on the idea of abandonment. We were given examples of structures and environments that have been abandoned. It gave me a lot of ideas of how human existence affects a building and what occurs once humans do not exist anymore. Good examples that I took great note of was the nuclear zone in Chernobyl. This particular one interested me most because of the strong presence of human existence and the idea that anything can happen to any place in the world.

Progress and Direction of Project

Direction of Project

The direction of the project is heading towards a continuation from the previous trailer in Experiment 1. The end of Experiment 1 showed things not occurring the way you'd expect and certain things getting damaged due to this. What is doing the damage is still unknown. 

The chosen building is the house at the Barcelona Pavilion  I intentionally chose this because its fascinating structural features. I chose this to complement my general story that no place is safe from the destruction of what ever it may be, even in a place of great tranquility such as the Barcelona Pavilion.

3 Sketches and Reference Images

Barcelona Pavilion

First sketch. Rear pool.

Second sketch. Outdoor view.

Indoor view. 

Experiment 2: Week 2 Reflection

Week 2 of experiment 2 we studied about the forensics of construction. We analysed some construction details and photo graphs of destructed buildings. This gave us an insight on how these structures are damage and how they would slowly deteriorate. We studied different kinds of damage such as water damage, earthquake damage, controlled damage and many more. Depending on the construction we can analyse the way the building is damaged and what remains. We were presented with details of construction for all three houses to help us understand what is supporting the building. By understanding this we also get an understanding of what parts of the building will be damaged first. The images presented also showed plenty close up images, giving us an idea of the materials which then leads us to discovering what materials will be deteriorate first.

Materials Research

Concrete

Concrete has great compressive strength but quite poor tensile strength. This means that it is difficult to crush concrete but easier to pull it apart. This is why structural concrete requires steel reinforcement. Concrete has a very low thermal  differentiation between hot and cold but in extreme conditions and if not calculated properly cracks may appear and effect the strength quite drastically. Concretes low thermal coefficient is why it is used as a barrier to protect steel frame structures from fires.

Cracking of concrete is will happen to all concrete to a certain extent. Some causes of concrete cracking are from shrinkage and tension. Even though concrete is prone to cracking there is a technique called creeping which allows the concrete to give in a little and reduce the the cracking, this technique must be calculated quite carefully.

Accessed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Properties_of_concrete on the 20th October 2013

Marble

Marble is an extremely hard metamorphic stone which is used in construction both cosmetically and structurally. Its is a re-crystalisation of limestone from geological processes. 

Natural processes have a degrading of its appearance and its structural strength. Agents such as rain, snow, thermal, wind and pollution all have an affect on marble. The weathering process makes marble lose its polish and detailing. Little can be done to restore this issue. Marble is also susceptible to erosion as it is a natural stone. The efects of erosion are general loss of detail, sharpness and the erosion is generally localised to the effected area of contact from wind or what ever it may be.

Discolouration of marble or staining can be caused by a variety of exterior substances, internal occlusions and structural elements. These things may include oil and grease stains, dyes and inks, organic stains, dirt stains and metallic stains.

Accessed from http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/111858 on the 20th October 2013

Glass

Glass is generally known as a fragile material. It is composed of mainly sand, soda ashes and limestone heated to an extreme tempurature and then quickly cooled to create glass. It is a clear material used to let in natural light and is generally not used as a structural component.

As soon as the structural components of the building is damaged I would imagine that the glass will just simply crack and crumble. Moss and fog also attach it self to glass and create a type of staining of the glass. Glass could also be stained by natural dirt and grease and almost anything due to its transparency.

Accessed from http://www.ask.com/question/what-are-the-properties-of-glass on the 20th October 2013

Modelling Progress

This is what I have accomplished so far from modelling in 3ds Max. The components have transferred correctly to CryEngine. I need to fix up the UV mapping of the textures but apart from that everything is going quite smoothly.

Before and After of bump mapping

Before spec map and bump map was placed

After spec and bump map were placed. Unfortunately unable to see too much detail because the image is quite detailed but the process was successful.

Material successfully modified in the materials editor

Experiment 2: Week 1 Reflection

The introduction of this experiment was for us to understand that, by breaking down a structure you learn more about the structure. You learn about how it was built and what are its weak points. It also gives us an insight on the materials and how different materials break down which then leads to structure failure. This experiments would be very interesting and would be very useful skill to utilize in our everyday lives.

3 Houses Exported to CryEngine

Experiment 2: Exported object from 3ds Max to CryEngine

An exported object from 3ds max to CryEngine. Encountered some difficulty getting the textures to work and also transferring from new versions of both 3ds max and CryEngine. Repeated the process a few times to finally get it to work and understand the process.