Midterm Project

For this midterm project, I decided to construct an aerial vehicle from polygons.  I wanted to use a lot of the things I learned from the tutorials and decided to implement them into this project.  At first, I wasn't sure what to create for this project.  While playing video games with my friends, I decided that one of the stages in the game would make a great model.  "Great Fox" a stage in Super Smash Bros., didn't look like the typical aircraft, so I decided to use this ship as the inspiration for my new model.

I used the extrude tool a lot to create many parts of the ship, such as the wings, the head of the ship, and the fins.  The extrude tool was also very useful in making the ship bay (the opening at the bottom of the ship) and the attachments in front of the wings.  The rocket boosters and lasers guns were also created using similar techniques, involving extend and scale tools.  I decided to give the aircraft simple colors, since I wasn't sure on how to create my own textures.  I gave it mostly red and white colors so it could be seen with the dark background, and also to give it a "robotic" appearance.  Texture maps were added to give reflections based on light.  I used the smooth option to give the ship a less jagged appearance.  I added fire effects on the boosters as well.  I animated the ship to make it seem as if it is traveling in the air, bobbing up and down like most aircraft do in the air.

I am happy with the final results, however I did have some minor problems involving the extrude tool.  I ended up learning and using the bridge tool because of this, and it mostly fixed the problems I had.  I also wish I could have created my own texture map to use, but I am not experienced in that and I did not want to jeopardize my project.  I wanted my airship to look intimidating, which is why I created the laser guns and giant rocket boosters, and I think I pulled that off well.  If I could have planned this out better, I probably could have done a better job shaping the ship, and made it look better appearance wise.  I think I could have done a better job with the fire effects, but I am inexperienced with these special effects.  I also wish I could improve the animation somehow.  I would proceed by improving the animation of the ship first.  I think that I could give it a more realistic bobbing motion, or maybe make it do complex maneuvers, such as a barrel roll.