 | | | Re: Carrara 3D Basics for Middle School | Re: Carrara 3D Basics for Middle School 2005-10-17 - By Andrew
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I would also like to add that you can have the class make a robot with
CSB. Robots have stiff parts that do not need skinning to animate
well; only a heirarchy of object groups - which CSB can do.
It's also a subject matter that the kids (especially the males) would
find interesting and hold onto. Most parts of the robot can be
primatives and other parts can be spline objects, since those are the
modelers that you are limited to. (CSB doesn't have the vertex
modeler like in the full Carrara 1,2,3,4 lineup does.)
Animation wise, teach the kids forward kinetics because it's an easier
concept to grasp and it can provide really good results (it's just
slower to animated than IK). Forward Kinetics is the rotation and
movement on a joint by joint basis. Inverse Kinetics (IK) is the
opposite when you move the tip of an objects and everything else moves
to accomidate that movement.
Show how to "plant" trees and shrubs by mapping a texture to a plane.
Using this technique, build up a nature scene. However, you will
probablly have to supply the tree textures and it's "alpha" map. With
this lesson, you can teach the kids how to make their own black and
white transparency maps via PhotoShop/GIMP or other 2D program. This
also renders alot faster than actual geometery, so the kids can see
instant results for their efforts.
If you are looking for a library of premade objects, look at the CD
that came with CSB. That holds a large amount of pre-made objects to
examine and to play with.
AWBenson
--- In Carrara@(protected), "ccoles_avengers" <ccoles_shado@(protected)>
wrote:
>
> --- In Carrara@(protected), Harvey White <madyn@(protected)> wrote:
> >
> > On Sun, 16 Oct 2005 21:47:47 -0000, you wrote:
> > >
> > >Should I be using a different software package. Should I not try to
> > >introduce this complex technology to 7th Graders?
> >
> > The average video game is of equal complexity, try Dark Cloud 2 on for
> > size. I'd say let them handle it, you'll get more out of them if they
> > are challenged than given an easy slot.
>
> I agree 100% with Harvey. Challenge them...they can handle it. :) I
> taught a robotics workshop for my youth group kids for a few years (we
> met on weekends, holidays, and during school break) and the kids
> ranged from ages 10-16, girls and boys. If anything could galvanized
> their varying ages together [ and help keep them quiet and engaged ;)
> ] it was meeting challenges during our sessions.
>
> Perhaps you can come up with a scene and have the students animate
> different parts of that scene. And since you are using CSB, then
> perhaps you can simply limit your animations to things that rely on
> rotations, repositioning, etc., rather than thing such as boning (I
> don't think CSB has this anyway).
>
> The key thing, however, is getting the students to start "Thinking in
> 3D". If you can have one to three days dedicated to this approach,
> this will really help the process along IMO. Basically, give them
> assignments during school and at home for homework where they look at
> and study objects they see in every day life and then translate them
> into 3D using primitives. Such as:
>
> 1) A table = 4 vertical long cylinders and 1 large flattened cylinder
>
> 2) A camera = a cube with a large cylinder for a lens and small
> cylinder in the back for an eyepiece, with other primitives expressing
> other bits of detail.
>
> 3) A laptop = a series of cube primitives and a couple of cylinders
> arranged in such a way to resemble a laptop. Here is a laptop I did
> just with primitives. The only thing I borrowed (because of time) were
> some freeware cube primitves that were already laid out in a basic
> keyboard fashion [ this would be a great exercise, though, for one or
> two students to learn patience ;) ]. But then I simply duplicated and
> resized some of the keyboard key cubes to make things like the CD-ROM
> drive as well as the mousepad keys. Texturing is another part of the
> 3D process and if you can assign some students to do research for some
> free textures, you can yield some satisfactory results.
>
>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Carrara/files/Selocic/laptop_primitives_001.jpg>
>
> Actually, this type of model would be fairly simple to animate. You
> could have the kids learn how to move the hotpoint so they can open
> and close the lid with the rotation tool. They can learn how to
> animate buttons pressing up and down (simple repositioning movements)
> to simulate some invisible person typing on the keyboard. You can
> also find some free animation on the web and stick it into the screen
> cube primitve's shader to simulate an animation or live video running
> on the laptop; that would help them learn about the shader tree. And
> for a extra credit, see which student would want to assign the key
> text onto each key. ;) Challenging, but that would also get them to
> learn how to take a simple bitmap withone letter of the alphabet on
> it, and map it to each key primitive (using flatmapping), to have the
> key primitives look like keys [ like I said, this would have to be
> *extra* credit ;) ]
>
> If you would like, I can ZIP up the file with all the textures for you
> to review and/or share with your class. Just let me know.
>
> Well, the laptop is just one simple example of what the kids could
> build and animate. There are many others objects that work well with
> primitives and animation (a chess set, a game of checkers, etc.). If
> you need any help with this as far as coming up with ideas, etc., just
> let me know.
>
> Well, wish you the best on your project with your kids.
>
> Claudia
> "Selocic"
> - 3D: when 'Flat' just isn't good enough! -
>
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