Specification

Bsc Animation and Visual Effects Programming

Final Year Project Specification

Sunjay Dayalji H8012115

Supervisor: Mathew Holton

Project Overview

My Project aims to study birds through flight and produce a procedural wing which emulates how an actual bird would fly depending on the forces applied upon it. The rig I produce would be simple to animate, reusable and realistic to an actual bird in flight. If I have time I would extend my project to include feathers to the wing simulation to apply a more interesting wing effect which would be visually pleasing when rendered. I feel this would help animators who are animating huge wing based projects as the rig would constrain in the right place so it would be easier to make a better looking product

Scope of the Project

During my project I am going to research how a bird flies and how their wings react to different conditions. With this research I hope to implement a reusable bird wing rig in 3D software preferably Autodesk Maya using either the C++ API or MEL scripting API to technically achieve wing simulation. If I have extra time during the project I would like to add feathers to the simulation as the feathers would need an extra rig because the move in a different fashion on the wing itself and they apply the resistance which is essential for the wing itself. Another extension I would like to add would be adding the tail, during flight the tail helps the bird fly and that rig would also include feathers.

My Aims

My main goal is to have a C++/MEL scripted wing which simulates over a path in a realistic fashion. To make the rig itself easy to apply to a model or asset I would like a menu system or its own Maya tool which would make the whole applying the rig an easy task. I would also like once this task is finished to be fluent in C++/MEL scripting API and be able to create rigs a lot easier in 3D software’s.

Schedule

I plan to use my time wisely throughout the project. I would like to spend most of November and part way through December doing research on wings and gaining a good idea on how a bird’s wing moves throughout flight and see how the wing is affected. Once I have done my research I will start analysing and planning how I want my wing to actually simulate which will be done mid-December till early January. Throughout the rest of January till mid-March I would like to implement my solution in the API of my choice and hopefully have something which is up and running which shows a good understanding of my actual project. March till the end of April I wish to have my Project up and running and have my Dissertation proof read and finalised ready for hand in. Throughout the next 20 or so weeks I am going to try keeping a blog noting my progress through my course showing how I am advancing and experimenting. I wish my project to be 6000-10000 words in length.