3D World

I found it fairly easy to make a general volcano shape (which is saying a lot as I am not finding MAYA easy). I used a polygon cylinder and made the top face smaller than the bottom, then I extruded just the top face inwards to create a crater. I also bevelled the sides to try create a more natural shape as it was looking a bit too smooth.

For the clouds I used the sphere shape and by distorting the shape in different ways then grouping multiple spheres together I created a semi cloud shape. There’s probably a better way to make a cloud but this just seemed like a simple way to do it, they do look a bit like boiled eggs at the moment so I need to work out a way of smoothing where the edges of the different spheres meet. I also added a moon but that is just a large sphere floating above the clouds and volcano. I am going to add more clouds around the peak to emphasise how large the mountain is. I might even add more clouds slightly lower down than a little town above the clouds as the lyrics describe the village being obscured by the clouds below.

I can appreciate Maya and I can see why people use it but personally it is not for me, potentially with more practise and understanding I would like it more but right now I just find it frustrating. It just seems very complicated to make very simple things.

Today I have mostly been working on making a tree, the basic shape is pretty simple I used two cylinders and a cone on top of each other. I made the top face of the cylinder smaller than the bottom to create a cone shape, then used another cylinder for the trunk. I’ve been trying to find a way to make the tree more realistic looking, I tried using the scalpel tool to cut triangles out of the bottom face of the tree to create a more jagged edge but that only worked on the bottom face not for the whole tree. I think I will probably have to accept that this is my first time using this software and its not going to be a masterpiece but as long as the eternal idea of the piece its there its okay. Moving forward I am going to duplicate more clouds and trees to create a forest, I also need to add colour and texture. If I have time I will attempt to make a little village at the top of the mountain and maybe the volcano erupting.