Project 3 - Can Fight

     Sometimes it can be best to get away from the usual tasks and just focus on something silly. Something to just free up your spirit and get you going for the next project. That's what today's project is. I also thought this would be a perfect way to show my project process in more detail.

    Now what exactly is this project? Well, it's quite the concept. I was tasked (by a friend) to make a fight scene between two soda cans in as little as 4 hours. I don't typically just take requests from friends, but this one sounded fun. I picked the two sodas we all know and love, Bepis and Conke.

    The first thing I started with were the models, specifically the soda cans. These cans were fairly simple, soda cans have a basic cylinder shape. The arms were quite fun to model. I tend to model with the subdivision modifier. This means I only need to model the low-poly and the software (Blender) will make it smooth. It isn't perfect, but I can always clean it up later. Lastly was the sword. Getting the shape right was a little tricky, but the end result it quite refined and polished. 

    Second was the textures. I use what Blender calls "texture nodes". These texture nodes are a sort of blocky way to make procedural textures. Procedural textures are textures with infinite resolution. No matter how far you zoom in, you will never see pixels. This can be very useful since that's the case in real life as well. For the soda can I used a mix of both. The label on the can is an image with pixels, but most labels are. The detail on the can and arms, such as the bumps, rust, and color variation are completely procedural. The sword has some layering lines and the handle has a basic wood texture.

    The third step was the environment. I went with a fairly basic environment. The background is an image texture of a storefront with some reflection mapping and in the foreground is a vending machine and a cardboard box. The ground is an image texture of some grass that I gave a slight height mapping to. Nothing overly complicated, but a necessary part of any animation.

    The final step was the animation. This is my favorite step. I was a little pinched on time, so I didn't get all the animation quite how I would have liked, but I am over-all pleased with the result. The can's each have a bit of personality and each movement was thought out. Working on the animations is always the best part of any project. Creating life-like movent is what I strive for.

    I really enjoyed working on this fun project. Working on big things all the time can get tiring and draining and this was just what I needed to get myself back into the swing of things. The full video will be below this and I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.