CRITICAL EVALUATION FOR COLLABORATIVE PROJECT
Starting with the collaborative unit, I was enthusiastic about the upcoming challenges in the project. This was a project which was a creative approach, as it was a mixture of Virtual Reality, Computer Generated Elements, and Reality. In addition to this, I got an opportunity to evaluate my knowledge in the field of Special effects and Modelling. This project has helped me in knowing about the future field that I would like to pursue in the mere future.
For this project, I got to model different types of models. The theme for the project was Cinderella as well as a hospital. So as per the themes I created various models such as a Pumpkin cart, a Music box, Virus Cell, Syringe, Stethoscope, an IV Bag, and a thermometer. After seeing the final output of the project, I am not impressed by it, as it fails to showcase my capabilities in modeling. Due to some reasons our models, its textures and the FX done in Houdini are totally missing and are not showcased in the final output. You can refer to my blog to take a look at the various models and its briefings. From this experience, I would be more careful about such problems and make sure that the elements that are created by me are properly utilized and communicated in a much better way.
During this, ‘Time’ also played an important role for us. As the final output of the project was just a day prior to the submission deadline, we could not tell the VR students to do the necessary changes that would demonstrate our modeling work. Due to the ongoing assignments and projects along with the collaborative unit, we have work piled one on top of the other. It was difficult to meet ends with the deadlines as the renders took a lot of time, and hence I had to reduce the quality of the renders to finish the project on time.
While working on this project, I understood the importance of communication among the team members. Due to language barriers, we had trouble understanding the requirements of the team members in the group. For example, I had a really hard time while making the FX for the model Little Girl in Houdini. These problems were caused due to the errors in the Model that were given to me. These errors were causing the geometry/model to collapse or disappear on any random frames which gave me various artifacts while making the FX. So, when I was trying to make them understand the errors, it was harder for them to understand what was going on. If the circumstances were different, I would definitely change my approach to making the FX needed in Houdini. I would have opted for various other techniques, which were more ‘refined and effective’ and would have given better results. It was indeed frustrating to work as I had to keep on finding various techniques which would go along with the FX. It cost me a lot of my time, and I could not keep up with my expectations. Due to this, I was unable to showcase my full potential in this field.
Even though we had enough problems during the project, it helped me evaluate the level of my skills in the field of modeling and special effects (FX). And this would help me a lot while working in the future in the industry of VFX.