Project 2024

19 February 2024 09:08

This is my Final major project…

Context
Research
Problem Solving
Practice Skills
Production and Planning
Evaluation
Presentation
Bibliography
Deliverable

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 Context
19 February 2024 09:09

Unit-12_13-Project-Proposal-pro-forma (2)

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 Research
19 February 2024 09:09

For this project I have chosen to create a few minutes of animated footage edited together for a show
about historical battles, The battle I choose was the siege of castle Gaillard, sieges where a key part
Of medieval warfare they could last months are would test a castles defences. This project should
educate but also entertain the audience. This project will give me a glimpse into a project that could be
used in the industry and what the workflow would be like.

About the Castle

We need to research the castle in order to understand what happened in the battle this is key to deciding
what to animate and how the castle will look. Castle Gaillard was sieged in December 1419 and was
surrendered to the French. "The siege of Chateau Gaillard was a high point in the French conquest of the
Angevin lands and stands as one of the most famous sieges in Medieval Europe." (Warfare History Network.
(2022, July 13). King Richard’s Chateau Gaillard - Warfare History Network.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/king-richards-chateau-gaillard/ Photo taken for lake perspective will be useful as this
, September 2019 William E. Welsh) This gives me a perfect castle environment to model its position Is where the troops will be landing on the shore this is a useful
allows for only part of the castle to need to be rendered and for the animation of the English up the Image to give a correct perspective for the area we will be creating.
shoreline. This source is an experts interpolation of the history.

The castle its self was built in 1193 - 1198 as the English kinds Richard the 1sts castle. "
Château Gaillard was the castle of the English King Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart. The
"Saucy Castle" was built between 1196 and 1198 to fortify and symbolize Richard's conquest of the French
territory of Normandy." (Ian Matthews , https://study.com/academy/lesson/chateau-gaillard-history-
location.html) This castle was a great project that combined several defences to make one of the most
defended castles of the, Richard did not believe it would be contourable.

Top down map of the castle I can use for shape

Reference.
British Weapons and Armor
Only the shore section will be visible.
During the medieval times the English used a wide verity of weapons, one such weapon was the long
sword. This was an effective weapon because it allowed for the wielder to use both hands to increase
strength to pierce armour. At the time armour was used a lot in combat and stabbing swords had
become the norm for his ability rather than curved blades.
"Long enough to be gripped with both hands, the medieval longsword was an efficient weapon in
armored fighting in battlefield, judicial dueling, and tournaments. Unlike greatswords, the longsword
was surprisingly light and suitable for thrusts and cuts" (Cambal, A. (2024, April 6). A guide to the
medieval Longsword. Swordis. https://swordis.com/blog/longsword/) Long swords will be a perfect
choice for my project as they would have been used in that time and are one of the most recognisable
medieval weapons setting up the era in the viewers mind. Swords are constructed of several key parts
which will affect the design, the pommel may be heaver to counter balance the weight form a long
blade they also have a guard for defence that can come in many different shapes. For this animation we
will have basic not fancy swords as they are common foot soldiers not noble men. This has let to
consider making a damaged used sword for the project.

Another Common Medieval weapon used by the English was a Long bow I researched this to extend my
understanding of weapons used at the time, This was an effective ranged weapon its material and large Recreated armour on an actor.
size made its range longer. To make these bows they used Yew wood because of its natural elasticity "
Yew wood continues to be regarded as natzures most perfect bow material having natural elasticity,
sweetness of draw and cast second to none."(The worshipful company of bowyers. (n.d.).
https://www.bowyers.com/bowyery_manufacture.php) Long bows provide support to the front line Table of Contents
soldiers they must be used strategically to avoid arrows hitting your own men but are the most
common and practice ranged weapon of the time as the weapons re cheap compared to cannons of 1. Introduction
cross bows. For my project I could use this research to add far off archers but it also allows me to have 2. Project Overview
the understanding that these bows should not be in close up combat. - Objective
- Scope
3. Castle Research
- History of Castle Gaillard
- Construction and Architecture
Around this time steel was invented made weapons and armour at this time stronger than the previous 4. Weaponry and Armor
iron ones, they lasted longer and would be made to be a weapon intended to be reduced. "Steel is - Longsword
stronger than iron in the domains of yield and tensile strength, but it's also significantly tougher. For - Longbow
applications across various industries, steel is obviously a superior material; it doesn't crack, warp, - Steel vs. Iron
twist, rot, or split." (Iron vs Steel: What’s The Difference? (n.d.). Reid Supply. 5. Sound and Lighting
https://www.reidsupply.com/en-us/industry-news/iron-vs-steel#:~:text=Steel%20is%20stronger% - Sound Effects
20than%20iron,twist%2C%20rot%2C%20or%20split) - Lighting Design
6. Siege Strategy
These scene will be enhanced by sound for this project I will need serval sound effects one such sound - Defensive Strategies
effect is audible voice lines there will be perhaps mixed together to create the atmosphere of large - Attacking Strategies
amount of people, also the lighting in this scene will important so I will plan out how the lighting will 7. British vs. French
look. I might record a few of my own sound effects. - Symbols and Sigel's
- Troop Details
Medieval knights used a couple of types of sword but for this animation I am going to give them round 8. Asset List
shields called "bucklers", these where a more agile option compared to kite shields but offered less 9. Concept Art
protection. These shields where made mostly from metal and wood. - Mood Boards
- Storyboards
- Digital Concept Art
10. Scale and Dimensions
- Castle Dimensions
- Soldier Heights
11. Historical Context
- Siege of Kenilworth Castle
- Other Historical Sieges
- Voronoi fractures

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 - Voronoi fractures
- Feedback
- Other Historical Recreations
12. Conclusion

Mood bored

The lighting within this image has really given me some ideas the fog
And the red lights from perhaps fire are something that could bring my
Project to the next level.

This image is an artist's recreation of it shows a number of siege weapons some of which I had to
Research to find more about. From Siege towers to catapults this is a great reference for a siege
And has inspired me to consider several siege weapons and also to add damaged areas of the castle
With Boolean modifiers.

The attackers seem look for defensive loop wholes this is something that I could capture in my
animation to show their attempts, sieges can be long stale mates so they tend to set up camps
Nearby if the defences are particularly strong.

This is piece of artwork showing a castle surrounded this overwhelming

Force is huge and creates almost trapped feeling something they would
Destroy moral.

This diagram shows a more realistic arcuate version of sieges

It has defences for the attacking forces and show the camp in the distance.
This will be of importance when arranging our assets.

Screen capture of the documentary I watched.

The castle was considered one of the most advanced castles it was built in a record time the ting of

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The castle was considered one of the most advanced castles it was built in a record time the ting of
France need to take the castle to capture Normandy. The siege lasted 7 months and was one of most
savage. The French attacked and the British defended and an estimated £12,000 worth of castles in the
area creating a defence system 3 there castles where nearby one was owned by enemy and wooden
spikes in the lake. The castle was built in 2 years by 6,000 years.
"French troops advance their siege against Chateau Gaillard from the south. They captured the castle
through a combination of mining and trickery." (https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/king-
richards-chateau-gaillard/, September 2019, William E. Welsh)

The boat I will model is a English re enforcement ship "The English sent two forces to relieve the castle.
Under cover of darkness, one force was to row up the river and destroy the bridge of boats, which
would cut the French forces in two" (
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, March 6). Siege of Château Gaillard. Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Ch%C3%A2teau_Gaillard)
This was a smart move that failed but could have changed the tides of the war.

"French were able to retreat over the bridge of boats, as the river assault had not arrived in time."
(
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, March 6). Siege of Château Gaillard. Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Ch%C3%A2teau_Gaillard)
French backed towards the river in our scene as referenced in the documentary, I picked this as my
scene as it can be a time there the soldiers where running without much combat leading to a good
scene that’s not overly complicated to animated.

This was the English Sigel at the time "The Lion of England. The lion is one of the earliest animals to appear in
royal emblems; a traditional symbol of bravery, strength and valour. The first recorded use was the gift of a
blue shield, decorated with small golden lions, given to Geoffrey Plantagenet by Henry I as he married
Henry's daughter Matilda"(Lion of England | The Royal Mint. (n.d.). https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-
coins/queensbeasts/qb-lion/lion-of-england/)
. This research was important because it allows me to add Sigel's to flags and other common branded things in
the battle site. This research was a success as I learned about the Sigel in detail. This symbol shows there
courage and ferocity. The paw in the air and the claws out are perhaps indicators of the English want to been Asset list:
seen as aggressive and fearless. • Long sword -
• Boat
• Castle
• Foliage
• Fire torches
• Bow
• Arrows
• Spears
• Cannon

The French has a Sigel with three "fleurs-de-lis" and a blue background "In Medieval times, a blue flag with
three fleurs-de-lis was used as the flag of France. The French flag then changed to white, and then it
changed to a blue flag with a white cross. The present day French flag (Tricolore) was first flown in 1794. It
has 3 vertical stripes of blue, white and red."
(American Flags. (n.d.). France Flags. https://www.americanflags.com/flags/world-flags/france-flags.html)

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(American Flags. (n.d.). France Flags. https://www.americanflags.com/flags/world-flags/france-flags.html)
Banner men will carry this Sigel and swords and cloak may have this Sigel on them. Sigel's where often on
banners and armour they were important for knowing who side people where on or the standing of a
house "
By looking at a flag, observers were able to identify the status, association, or religion of the flag
bearer." (Gettysburg Flag Works. (n.d.). Medieval flags. https://www.gettysburgflag.com/medieval-flags)
to make these more purposeful they would sometimes pick animals to symbolise the traits of their house
for example the English lion was meant to portray courage and fearlessness which we often associate with
this animal.

Story bored

Boat lands on shore to Troops walk up the Cannon fired at castle wall.
Give supply's. Shore of the lake. Destroying the wall.

Wall damaged by cannon leaving

A crumbled area. Panning out of the End credits
Damaged scene.

For this scene will use a combination of sweeping angles and also arial views in order to show the forces
and boats from different perspectives this combined with dynamic weather (rain and fog) and lighting
will create an amazing scene for the viewers. In France the weather is normally mild "France generally
enjoys cool winters and mild summers except along the Mediterranean where mild winters and hot
summers are the norm. Average winter temperatures range from 32° F to 46° F and average summer
temperatures from 61° F to 75° F. For the most warmth and sunshine go to the south of the country.26
Jun 2020" (https://internationalliving.com/countries/france/climate-in-france/ ,Updated Jun 26, 2020
By International Living)

Scale
A scene of a historical event like this will need the scale to be arcuate to start with I researched the main
watch tower height to start with "The castle sits on a high limestone promontory, 90 m above Les
Annelyse and overlooking a bend in the River Seine."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%
A2teau_Gaillard

For the walls I could not find a specific measurement for the castle so I looked at the average castle wall
height "A typical wall could be 3 m (10 ft) thick and 12 m (39 ft) tall, although sizes varied greatly
between castles. To protect them from undermining, curtain walls were sometimes given a stone skirt
around their bases." (Wikipedia contributors. (2024b, April 20). Castle. Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle)
this source is written on Wikipedia and is a featured article so is regarded and one of their best so should
be a reliable source. This secondary source gives me a rough Idea that I can use but is not specific for this
castle.

Heights of the troops should very as not all troops will be the same height the recruits had to be a
minimum height of five roman feet and the average is 5ft 7 so if I range the height between average
and minimum I will not risk making abnormally tall troops " Imperial regulations, though not entirely
unambiguous, suggest that the minimum height for new recruits was five Roman feet, seven inches
(165 cm., 5'5") ... for the army as a whole a reasonable estimate of a soldier's average height is
around 170 cm (5'7")." (International Living. (2024, April 10). Climate in France: The weather,
temperature & average rainfall. https://internationalliving.com/countries/france/climate-in-france/)
. This research into height will be important when re scaling the troops.

Without scale not only will the scene be inaccurate but the proportions of different assets will be off
leading to for example a flower being larger then boat, research is key to find the average sizes of the
things I'm producing so this will be a continuous part of my research. For some assets I may be able to
look into the referance images and see if they have the sizes on their origin site of the image, this may
be the case for websites about history.

The boats are quite large compared to some aspects of their size so this will need to be taken into
account when positioning the camera "
Length ranged from 15 to 25 meters (49 to 82 ft), and the width (also called "beam") was 5 to 8 meters
(16 to 26 ft)" https://homework.study.com/explanation/how-big-were-ships-in-the-medieval-
era.html

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 era.html

My boat should be on the lower size scale of the boats at the time as it was not a major battle ship, its
purpose was to carry supplies from one place to another. There were a wide verity of ships at the time
the largest where rigged ships which would not really be used for supplies.

Concept art

Produced a digital concept inside

Photoshop of the cannon
Scene.

I created a rough concept art of the scene showing the boat cannon and a soldier, this helped
Me to begin to visualize how my project will come together.

The siege was impacted by architectural choices and trends one such trend was the emergence of machicolations,
this castle was one of the first to use this feature, this allowed the troops to poor boiling oil and water on the troops
below. This was another showcase of the castles innovative design.

Medieval design had many trends at the time gothic style slowly started to become more popular but also things like
timer framing. To capture the styles of the time I will use materials they had at the time such as, stone, steal and
more.

Armour
This part of me research is to help me understand what the knights would have looked like and what there armour
was like.
Medieval knights needed protection against stabbing based attacks rather than slashing attacks due to
The wide spread use of long swords and pointed arrow heads (there are however different types of arrow heads).
This however armour choice drastically reduced mobility.

This is a diagram of medieval armour showing all the parts of the armour by name, I noticed that there
are separate areas showing the complex defence measures In the design. The visibility in this example is
low but this varies in different armour designs. Even the armour inside a battlefield is important it can
change a siege outcome but during this time both sides armour where similar leading too little to no
combat advantage due to amour.

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 Château Gaillard compared to the siege of Kenilworth castle
This piece of research is important for my object because it allows to isolate the key features that make this siege
unique and understand other historical norms in sieges.

Another medieval siege was Kenilworth siege this a happened in England 1266,
"the origins of the siege lie in the second Baron's war, when nobles tried to curb the King's power. Led by Simon de
Montfort, they defeated Henry at the battle of Lewes in 1264 and took the King prisoner." (
Jt_Access. (2021, July 12). The Kenilworth siege of 1266 – Everything you need to know for a visit! Visit Kenilworth.
https://visit.kenilworthweb.co.uk/the-kenilworth-siege-of-1266-everything-you-need-to-know-for-a-visit/)

This was a very different siege it was the geography landlocked rather than river facing and was the longest siege on
English soil, this battle was only between armies within England whereas the other was French vs English. There was
a river the other side but it saw no action during this siege due to wooden spikes In that area.

This siege was politically different, this was a civil war within England between houses meaning they had smaller
army's and less funding. as well as being a smaller battle leading to some quite different outcomes this combined
with different geography made these into very different battles. One thing that was similar was the weapons and
armour as during Europe at this time most countries used the same armour and weapons.

Kenilworth castle in the present day. Still mostly

Standing unlike the other castle

In the industry following references is very important this is something I sometimes struggle to do, often
time 3d models benefit from the reference for correct form and topology. In my case its especially
important because of the historical context. Within the industry we could be given requirements and
limitations designed to keep their projects constant and working well for their platform. For this project
I have gathered a lot of different references but due to the castles current ruin state I needed to look at
documentation another artists recreations.

Chisel marks on stone work this

Is common as the chisel and hammer
Castle in the present day, only the inner keep remains. Where common masonry tools.

Tools used in stone masonry at the time,

These range from measuring tools to chisels.

Castles have several key features that define them in the time, One of these is the use of limestone,
sandstone and granite giving them a grey colour that should be replicated in any accurate render. These
materials where used to bring strength to the castle and make it last for a long time. It was stone
masons jobs to work with the stone they would use basic tools available at the time this would often
include a chisel and hammer. Sometimes stones from nearby projects left over would be used or
abandoned churches in conjunction with stones that where meant to have intricate designs that went
wrong. During this time the stone masons where formed they started off as local guilds.

The frontal area that will not be in view had several lines of moats protecting the gates with a draw
bridge " The defense of the enceinte, or outer wall, of the castle was generally by means of one or more
lines of moats, which were crossed in front of the gateways by drawbridges—i.e., bridges that could be
drawn back or raised from the inner side in order to prevent the moats from being
crossed."https://www.britannica.com This was a useful feature protecting the gate that was a week
spot.

The battle came to an end when the defenses where compromised by the French "
after isolating the fort by a double ditch, the French undermined and collapsed part of the châtelet

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 after isolating the fort by a double ditch, the French undermined and collapsed part of the châtelet
and penetrated the main fortress through the latrines" (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia.
"Château Gaillard". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Dec. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chateau-
Gaillard. Accessed 25 April 2024.)
This was deemed impressive as the castle was one of the most fortied castles in the world at the time
and this breach let to the end of the battle. Medieval times are chaotic and unpredictable and this was
not a outcome they foresaw.

Source 1 Source 2 What is different

Theses maps have some key
differences the older one has an open
area on the secondary though without
walls the older one as a wall and
bridge. The newer one has satellite
quality and the older one does not
making it in some ways more accurate.
Apart from this the shapes of the
towers differ.

These are two existing full scale models

they are both of the castle but are
drastically different his is because no
one truly knows what it looked like I
will use theses to shape my design.
They all however follow the top down
map I found and share some traits like
tapered roofs and the groves on the
inner fort that is still standing today.

These too sources are from different

time periods they show the remaining
areas of the castle in the modern day
the left one shows the back the right
one the front. These both show only
what's left and does not show how it
would have looked.

Strategies used?

Strategies used at the time and strategies used in the siege

Defensive
One defensive tac tic that was used was moats these where pivotal to protecting weak point such as the castle gate allowing for a
draw bridge to be added to remove the opportunity to use a battering ram on the wall. Even if troops tried to swim these moats they
would be slowed down and attacked while swimming but crossing often times would be in vain as there was no shelter and no
entrance on the other side. These moats did not cover the hole castle but only the walls facing the in land area and also around the
main keep.

Siege Tac Tics

One siege tac tic used was battering rams
"While the battering ram, the bore, and the mine affected the stability of the walls, the besiegers attempted to force an entry into
the stronghold. Scaling-ladders were moved up against the walls, and those who climbed these drew up with them other ladders, by
which they could descend into the enclosure." (Château Gaillard: Medieval castle built by Richard the Lionheart. (n.d.).
https://www.medieval-spell.com/Chateau-Gaillard.html) These combined with scaling ladders allowed for a continuous pressure on
the castle defence, the battering rams did not lead to a compromised wall in the end but did put a strain on them ultimatelythe
double ditch allowed them to breach the defences the scaling ladders where used throughout to scale the walls and for part of the
siege where the main way of entering the castle, however these could easily be pushed down leading to causality's.

Historical implications

The siege marked a Signiant step to Philip II reclaiming Normandy from the English allowing them to
advance their troops further un challenged and also weakening the defence of the area which was
comprised of a network of castles. This devastating defeat only enhanced the tensions between the
French and English.

It also had a importance in destroying moral and legacy of Richard the lion heart "Château Gaillard was

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The siege marked a Signiant step to Philip II reclaiming Normandy from the English allowing them to
advance their troops further un challenged and also weakening the defence of the area which was
comprised of a network of castles. This devastating defeat only enhanced the tensions between the
French and English.

It also had a importance in destroying moral and legacy of Richard the lion heart "Château Gaillard was
important not solely as a military structure, but as a salient symbol of the power of Richard the
Lionheart. It was a statement of dominance by Richard, having reconquered the lands Philip II had
taken." (Wikipedia contributors. (2024a, March 3). Château Gaillard. Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_Gaillard")
Portrait of Richard the lion heart with
Boths sides learned tactical lessons from this battle this led to changes in tactics between the two sides I
English lions on the robe.
future combat. Also overall this siege used a lot of new siege strategies on both sides this showed them
the importance of new technology and led to more investment in new technologies.

The castle also hosted the kingdom a large sum of money this loss put England down a large amount of
money leading to less to invest of future defence and attacks.

Fracture of model research

For this project I want the wall to be effected by mass effects so I need to make the wall fractured so
upon contract the physics takes place there are multiple ways of achieving this the first one I found was
with a 3ds max extension but I may use built in features I found a tutorial on Voronoi fractures I am
going to try follow. This will be a useful think to know moving into the industry and can be used for
many different things from explosions to creating wear on old ruins. This was particularly useful at
understanding Voronoi fractures.
3ds max tutorial - Destroying objects with 3ds max without using any plugins

I will also get people to complete a survey this could have quality assurance questions to make sure the data is
accurate. The aim for the practice is to ascertain engagement so I may give them a series of clips with the option to
continue and time how long they watch each clip for however this may be bias.

This question allows me to see if my work is as good as I think it is from outside sources who are
Less bias to my work. It was a yes no question with the option for feedback 3 people chose to give
feedback, two of these where to say my work is of a reasonable standard and one said I could improve a
little this showed Its not 100 percent perfect and can be enhanced.

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I asked this question to give me some background information into the people filling out the form one
person said they are not engaged by historical documentary's and the rest ranged from being unsure
and sometimes to 3 agreeing strongly. This confirmed some of the people filling out this form are in the
intended target audience.

This is a similar question that allows me to see how many people completely have no interest in this
Media. Two people again added custom answers which we will first discuss, firstly someone put
"sometimes if it becomes repetitive this for me shows the importance of unique media scenes like mine
to break up large repetitive chunks of information. The other entry stated they get bored if its
something they are un interested in which is something that cannon be mitigated but highlights the
importance of focusing on target audience. 0 percent of the people who filled out put yes which shows
they are mostly a good test audience further highlighted by the 66.7 percent who said they don’t them
boring.

From allowing them to enter what I can improve I have obtained several targets. First of all three came
under the same target this was to make the boats slower to in essence make the animation smoother,
this was a target I have personally I wrote about how I already slowed the video but more work needs to
be done perhaps because of the time period boats should have been extremely slow. Next was a rather
un helpful comment that says it looks unprofessional I found this unhelpful as they did not write why so
I am un able to improve it, another person put add more detail which is always a welcome thing to be
improved I imagine they found the textures too clean and repetitive this is something I will aim to
improve in future projects. Lastly was a kind comment saying it was great which gave me some
motivation for the future.

Measuring how engaged these people are as important as they are similar to
My intended target audience, 83.3 percent said it did this result is very promising and shows it
An effective piece of historical media. The 16.7 percent may have been un engaged by small issues like
boat speed or not liking the topic etc.

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 In order to see if the castle was worth changing I added this question 83.3 percent of
People said the new castle looks better than the older one this showed the importance
Of the initial evacuation of the first castle and allowed me to see how important the
Historical accuracy is.

This form has friends and peers who filled it in this may cause some bias due to the fact they are similar
people and also know me however it is still important feedback.

The historical media industry has a many ties to the animation and 3d modelling industry's they
use these technology's to produce recreations of objects, environments and battles. These are
very important as they mitigate the need to hire and film and produce real world recreations
which often require a large crew instead they can hire one or two skilled animators and have a
brilliant final result. Key things to account for are scale and tactics these are important and
something I will need to make sure are done right in my project.

The Battle of Hastings Brought to Life in Stunning Animation: 1066

HistoryBattles3D

In this video several battles where produced they were accurate to the tactics and armour this
Is good example of how research can lead to accurate 3d recreations of battles. This research
Has been useful to see what makes other historical animations successful.

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 Problem Solving
19 February 2024 09:47

During this project for I have had to problem solve a lot which is important to complete projects to
the plan, One such problem I have encountered so far is making the castle reasonably accurate to at
least the top down map this was a struggle cause I had to work out which section will be visible
from the troops docking on the rivers shores perspective. This required me to use problem solving to
find a solution but after finding references and top down maps it came out reasonably well.

Another issue I ran into during this project was a render compatibility problem, I learned by
exploring the texture slate editor of tools such as the crack and dent tool used to add damage to
textures but unfortunately these caused issues with the scanline render. At first I was unsure of the
what caused the problem I knew It was a texture based problem and had to work backwords to
isolate this as the issue. The solution was to remove these nodes and add the cracks to the bitmap
texture I made. This had to be fixed before any final renders could take place. The slate material
editor is nod orientated system that allows for tools and paramotors to be connected up its gives a
wide range of different tools all that are useful.

A tremendous problem in this project was the castle wall, I found the shape of the real castle wall to
be un even and curvy, this led to un even topology requiring a large about of work and movement of
vertices in order to proper size d raises in the walls. The castle in real life would have had equal
sized ramparts so this was key. The noise modifier creates random vertices connected via edges that
are then moved at random increments to the range in the direction you chose and to the level you
choose. Planning was key to foresee problems and plan solutions for them, A deep and rich plan
allowed me to do this. Some times during major projects you can encounter outside problems, this
happened I had to re plan my time due to increase workload outside the project on top of this there
where a few technical difficulties with my computer that I fixed allowing me to continue.

At the current stage in my project the lag from having over 2 million polys was making animation
difficult to counter this I changed the 3ds view port to performance mode giving a more basic but
smoother editing, this however was not the complete source of the problem upon research into
scanline render a common issue was ray tracing been automatically turned on within the lighting
settings I changed it to use a shadow map and found my rendering issues were resolved, I then was
able to make the first render of the boat scene. During this project I have rendered on high spec pc
hardware at home and lower at college this led me manage resources on the pc with task manager
preventing software from starting on boot and setting 3ds max priority to high in task manager other
enhancements included disabling windows animations and transparency and allowing room on the
hard drive for virtual memory encase ram is running high a smaller change was removing clock and
taskbar icons as well as the windows search button hopefully allowing for less usage of the
hardware also keeping to one open application during the rendering kept the usage to the minimum.
Windows game mode and power options and other performance settings were configured for
maximum render times as well. To further optimise this I could have decreased the texture
resolution which would have led to a direct decrease in quality so I opted out of this compromising
the aesthetics was not something I was willing to do as I personally think it would not look
reasonable. I could have also removed windows bloat where that uses too many resources.

One other problem I had to fix was the sky box image being scaled down, this was a problem
because it made a patchy skyline to rectify this I added a sphere and inverted it then added the sky
box texture making sure to set a mild opacity for lighting. This gave me the perfect rounded sky how
I wanted.

Three weeks from the end my laptop started smoking out the charging port due to a manufacturing

FMP Page 20
Three weeks from the end my laptop started smoking out the charging port due to a manufacturing
fault and I switched fully to the college computers they had a colour scope error in the textures due
to a 2024 feature that is not in 3ds max 2021 so after re adding the textures I could continue.

During the use off the mass fx tool kit I ran into an issue with gravity causing the wall to collapse
before cannon ball impact, after asking some peers and my instructor this was something that could
have been caused by two issues. The first one being the ground plane being set above the wall this
caused the gravity to be above and secondly the friction and mass, I changed this to reduce the
forces impacting on the wall without external impact. After this I was able to produce a working
result.

FMP Page 21
 Practical Skills
19 February 2024 09:47

This project required a range of particle skills within different software, this is down to the variety of different animation and modelling, techniques. Talking
about these skills helps us reflect and improve. One such skill is Hard Surface modelling this skill that is for making static non organic models this was crucial
for the castle and probs for this project there where challenges in making the castle accurate to the top down map. A few skills that I didn't already have
where developed during this project one such skill making composite textures and adding cracks and other texture aspects with nodes in the slate material
editor inside 3ds max. Practice skills are key in this project, I wanted to use a multitude of techniques to really show off my different set of skills. I used 3ds
max, photoshop and after effects during this project.

During the project I learned how to do several new things, these where learned through videos and articles. One new technique I learned was using CV
curves to create splines tracing objects, this tool I found more reliable then the line spline tool as its easer to accurately trace corners of references. The
cannon benefitted from this a lot and was where I first used this.

Another thing I learned during this project was how to create rain, I watched a video that used a technique using particle sprays I used this to create falling
particles that look like rain that I could then texture, this came out just how I wanted and will be something I use in the future projects. I also tried out
different camera angles in order to see what shows the models off best and what works best for the story.

The use of noise has been instrumental in water, animated flags and terrain without this I don’t think the water and flag wind animations would be as nice as
they came out. Noise essentially moves every verity at a random place on a axis to the selected strength to make terrain or water or flags we needed to
subdivide to add large amounts of verities. There were some kills and techniques I considered using but did not in the end one such was procedural
generation, this uses algorithms to generate unique models for example to quickly generate a terrain however I wanted to focus on my modelling skills and
not my use of external premade tools which do the work for me.

During the initial research for this project I considered using unity to render out the final video as in the industry its Realtime render speed is used for a lot of
movie trailers but I decided keeping it within 3ds max will be best as it’s the software I know best and has more specialist tools also prevents texture transfer
issues but I would have liked to make a shader with unity's shader graph for the water but in the end my 3ds water did come out quite well without access to
Shaders.

Using essential practices that are standard in the industry was an important part of this project making my models with proper edge flow and topology was
important as well as proper uv wrapping where important there are no overlapping faces and I reviewed each model to make sure they are made of quads
only. This practices are important in the industry because it makes sure all models are shareable and useable allowing other artists and even yourself to be
able to modify and edit these with ease.

There are some areas that I chose not to use for a variety of reasons one such is ray tracing this was not used because of its increased render times another
was ai upscaling but I was unsure on the policy of UAL so chose not to use this but this is increasing being used in industry so is worth recognising.

Skill used Software Why / how? Did it go to work? Have you used
used before?
Bevel / photoshop Allows to make 3d looking textures I used Yes it did, I was able to make good Many times
Emboss the bevel tools and bushes to create textures however some needed throughout the
immersive textures for all my models. more wear and dirt. year but still
relatively new
skill.
After effects Adobe Allowed for renders to be slowed to the Yes it did, this was a basic use of Once or twice in
video After speed I want, this was to mitigate the after effects that went well. the past but not
slowing effects animation speed being too fast without re much.
rendering.
Photography Imported Used for the sky box texture in order to At first no but I fixed the sky box by No I haven't in
for textures to 3ds max add a sky to the scene. using a transparent inverted sphere 3ds max but I
which I added my photo on as a have in unity.
texture.
Mass fx 3ds max To create the cannon ball simulation, Not at first but after asking peers and Once before
creating realistic physics. instructor I was able to isolate the following a
issue and fix it. tutorial.

FMP Page 22
 Production and Planning
19 February 2024 09:48

Date Comments Images

Monday
19th Feb Using the subdivide and noise modifier I created the water and
2024 land and then sculpted the terrain. The noise modifier has a
built in animation mode which I will use to create the effect of
waves, the main castle tower was made with a tube.

This is a rough early version based of an image from a rowing

boat I may change the shoreline later on to fit the reference
better.

The overall early terrain was not quite right it was not as hilly
as the references and not large enough.

The water was something at first I did not know how to

achieve I tried several techniques then watched a video
tutorial. This video also taught me how to make things float
which will be useful later on. ("https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8
&ved=2ahUKEwi-
pOTV_vOEAxV4Q0EAHQCsDeIQtwJ6BAgKEAI&url=https%3A%
2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%
3DPkxS4oI9sKI&usg=AOvVaw3EiPwzpXSZ-dgoGdaeckth&opi=
89978449")
Tuesday
20th Feb I began to slowly work on the main visible section of the castle.
2024 I roughed out the basic shape as it looked on references, slowly
extruding and re positioning a small area at a time. This was a
very basic first attempt but was very good for discovering
problems and making a plan for the final version.

Tuesday
20th I worked out would be visible from the river and began to look
February at reference images and top down maps, I did this in order to
2024 create an accurate model. It began to come together but was
not constantly round and the proportions where off.

Tuesday
20th There were some initial shape problems with the layout of the
February castle. I adapted the outer wall to be further out in order to
2024 match the references as before it was curved at too shallow of
an angle gradient.

Wednesda The I added the Outerwall and some raised wall ramparts. And
y 21st Feb added a roof to a tower and added window arrow cut outs
2024 with Boolean modifiers. Also adding a cone to the side tower
which should be altered to be more bowing,

Wednesda
y 21st I then began to make the castle again from another top down
February map, using splines to line out the walls which then I extruded
2024 ramparts from. I produced the inner building in a similar way
but used a basic cylinder for the tower with a cone for the
roof. This was successful and I started to see a rebalance of the
castles design.

Wednesda I then created a roof texture for the tower using the Fiber filter
y 21st and the bevel tool in photoshop. And later went over the bricks
February with a brush that looks like grunge.
2024
I then added serval filters to make it look realistic one such
filter saturated the colours making it lighter and the other
added dust noise.

Wednesda
y 21st I added in the textures and added some transparency to the
February water to create a mor e realistic look and added a plane for
2024 some more terrain and used 3ds max basic sculpting tools
because they are great for forming land and shaping it to your
needs. Then made the first test render I liked the water colour
and transparency but I realised a rocky base will be needed
under it.

Thursday I then began making some trees and foliage, I used Nosie
22nd modifier from the top of the trees and bush and the rest was
February reliant on the taper modifier within the flower there was an
2024 issue with over lapping pedals with was fixed with a bit of
mindful movement. The models went for a very basic
approach to foliage but could have been much more realistic.

Thursday
22nd
February
2024 I began to construct weapons for the landing troops.

The spear went to plan however the balance could have been
off if this was real due to the size of the spear head.

Friday 23rd
February I then created a rounded shield for the troops and made the
2024 castle walls textures. With the bevel effect and in conjunction
with the grid in photoshop.

I wanted the textures to be tillable so I designed each tile to fit

together. I played around with adding moss but removed it in
the end as it caused some issues with tiling.

A reference of a rounded shield

27th I created a torch for the scene with noise and tapering, I
February realised it’s a day scene so it would be out of place so I thought
2024 putting it under a tree in the shade would make sense.

I carried on in photoshop producing textures for the torch,

first I had to produce the fire texture this was made with the
cloud filter it sued 2 shades of orange which later in 3ds max I
will add a emission to create a fire effect. After that I produced
the wood texture, I added some dirt with a paint brush with a
high splatter field and made the texture tillable with offsets
and history brush. Lastly producing the rope texture I used a
bevel fx water with a basic brush to make the illusion of rope
weaving and I also used the cloud tool again for the
background. For all of these textures I was able to use
photoshops built in normal map generator and I sued the
properties to fine tune this.

27th I then worked on fixing some uv unwrapping issues and added

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FMP Page 24
 27th I then worked on fixing some uv unwrapping issues and added
February some lighting to the torches. The issue was that the seem Was
2024 visible and I fixed with a seem in the not visible bottom.

I also added a few omni lights in order to create the reflections

from the sun and the shadows. I did this because they give a
good wide spread light that can give a sun light effect, this
went well but I may need to adjust them as new assets are
added.

28TH I created a particle scatter for a rain effect, then by messing

February around I sound out you can add chips to textures with the
2024 cellular node. I found out that you can use the composite node
to merge together different effects with a layer system like
photoshop and used this to combine a normal map giving
depth to the bricks and also adding cracks.

29th I created a boat using the hemisphere tool for a sphere I then
February added a flag pole and used nodes to add the British lion Sigel References
2024 on.

I used animated noise of the flag to create the effect of mind. I

produced a wood texture inside photoshop and added into my
boat and flag pole.

I then found 3 references and remade the boat to have

features from them. The other one is similar to a medieval
rowing boat so can be used too.

The Sigel I used was sourced from google, I used this because
at the time it was on flags and armour and is historically
accurate. My research into the English led me to discover there
Sigel choose to use it to enhance the realism.

Blog photos

1st March I Then bowed out the edges to make it more like there
2024 references. Then I did a quick test render, I noticed that there
is not much foliage compared to the references so I intend to
add more. Clay and ceramic are sued to make roofs I'm this
time so I textured it to look like these materials are used.

Monday Today I modelled a cannon from a reference image, I used

4th march NURBS curves for the second time to trace the wood and
2024 modelled the cannon tube and details from there. I also made
a paddle for the rowing boat I mainly used tapers and bends in
future I would make it have a wood seam line through the
middle.

The cannon came out good but the wheels where not quite
right, they should have add two sections one for the metal and
one for the wood.

Thursday I produced a long sword based of several refence

5th march images. I produced the texture with a different method
2024 then I have for the rest of these and rendered the uv
maps out and imported them into photoshop then adding
details.

This method really worked well for texturing the sword

but the model of the sword could have had more small
details. This model will not be visible close up so adding
these smaller details may not have been as important as I
thought.

Some of the cracks look a bit too polished in future I will

make then harder if I was to change them I would have
used a more pointed brush.

TUESDAY I produced amour that I could add damage too and

12TH scatter around the environment, however the helmet was
March too square and could have been improved with better
2024 topology perhaps for a reference. I most likely will not
use this but its good for the practice.

Thursday I produced a bow from a reference image this required

14th march the taper and bend tool, it came out alright but the final
2024 wood texture is a bit light which I will alter down the line.

I then use the displacement modifier to make some coins

that are historically accurate to scatter around the battle
field. The first version was too many polys I managed to
get it down from 1.8 million to 308k without losing much
detail this will help the render time.

I used a vector of the design from google…

18th march Knight model credited to

2024 DJMaesen
Strong Knight

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FMP Page 26
 Added camera for and angled it for the first scene then
imported in my chosen character pre rigged and ready to be
animated.

19th march I then began to add dummy's for the floating boats,
2024 however I ran into a problem the boat disappeared when
the attachment constraint was used. I added dummy's in
order to attach them to the surface this method allows
you to link the boats to the dummy's and make them go
over the bumps in the mesh making the illusion the boast
is floating. I watched this video to learn how to do this
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=
89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%
3DPkxS4oI9sKI&ved=2ahUKEwjLy9SBqY-
FAxXIQ0EAHdisBoIQtwJ6BAgdEAI&usg=AOvVaw3EiPwzpXSZ -
dgoGdaeckth. It was a good video which I also used to learn
how to make water originally.
20th of I became re making the castle and terrain, something I
march planned to do but was needed due to the loss of certain
2024 files for the old version.

This version will improve on the topology and accuracy of

the castle, improving from my previous mistakes I added
ore of the castle which previously I did not intend to be
visible but I might consider using now.

I am going to consider using the array tool with a spline to

distribute high poly bricks but I'm not sure how much this
will affect render time but likely a lot as there will be
more polys to render. This has led me to aim for a more
detailed approach to the castle as I feel it’s a major focus
for the project.
21ST I then produced an arrow for the bow and arrow set, this
march arrow uses a long arrow head and bird feathers. I did this
2024 to create some more weapon option for the troops and
or clutter for battle site.

Sunday I carried on from the top down map and my reference

24th march images making a new more accurate castle. I did this
2024 because the original was not quite accurate and the
topology was not up to standard. This went okay but it's
still not how I imagined it.

After that I used a Boolean modifier to cut an arrow hole

into the castle .I did this because it’s a good technique
for cutting wholes in models compared to the cutter tool
or manually changing topology. This turned out well, I
learned how to modify the capsule shape after I made it
into a Boolean to make the slit thinner accurate to the
real world.

Tuesday I experimented with new castle wall textures in

26th march photoshop because I wanted to add more depth this one
2023 went well but I need to check the brick size and the
colour a bit. I might consider using multiple different brick
textures. This will help shape the future of my project
textures but overall I found this useful.

30th March I then made the terrain with noise and sculpting I did this
2024 create the precise shape and used to Nosie to capture the
randomness of the terrain to make realistic bumps this
came out okay but I wanted to look better I am going to
try using textures to do this.

10/04/202 Low-Poly Medieval Peasant Character

4

I used model of a medieval person to populate the rowing

boat, this model was created by
Keash all credits to them.

11/04/202 Then added all the normal maps back in order to add
4 depth to otherwise there will be flat textures and then I
added a bevelled the bottom section of spires to match
with the reference to bring realism and added the areas
at the top for the troops to fire arrows off again as they
were in the references . There was an issue where the
normal map textures where too dull this was fixed with
changing the level of the normal map. This at first did not
go to plan but after a while I am happy with the result.

Using a one meter by one meter cute and re scaling as

well as properties to check I adapted model scaling. I did
this to increase the realism and the proportions. This
went well but I may in the future go and make the
measurements to a more accurate degree.

15th April I began to animate the pre rigged knight model, I created
2024 a walk cycle and linked my sword to the character so that
it follows his arm movement this is important as
otherwise the sword will stay static. Linking the sword
was a issue as I found it hard to know what to link it to
but after trial and error I worked out it should be the
wrist bone. Overall I am happy with this so far but I would
like to do more weapons the movements where a little
robotic but this works as the Armor would make them
move like this in real life.
17th April To keep video quality I exported each frame individually

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FMP Page 28
 17th April To keep video quality I exported each frame individually
2024 then I used after effects to compose a clip of a sequence.
This was successful at keeping the resolution high and un
compressed. This went well but upon looking at the clip I
think I will slow it down the boat moves too fast.

22nd April After creating a walk cycle to animate the troops I set
2024 their paths to create the direction they go and rendered
out the scene this over all came out quite well.

Using bump maps I created a cannon ball the bumps are

on all references so I added them into the final model.
This created a nice bump texture that I think came out
well.

23rd April Today after research I used a Voronoi fracture script to

2024 fracture my castle tower in order to create fragments to be
collapsed upon impact with the cannon ball this went fine but
in future I would break the model into smaller pieces, I did not
want to increase render times by doing so on this occasion.
After this I used mas fx tool bar in order to set the wall to be a
dynamic rigged body this will allow it to be impacted by the
cannon ball which is set to be a static object this will allow the
ball to be animated to hit the wall and then the impact will be
simulated based upon the set friction and mass, I used the
sleep mode to make it not collapse before impact, Over all this
came out okay after some issues with the gravity.

25th April Today I added he final renders into premier pro in order
2024 to construct a sequence of clips and then I added royalty
free audio in order to create immersion in the media.

I then produced a title screen on 3ds max in order to add

textures to the text then I exported into after effects to
add into transition animation.

The project is now complete early so I can focus on the

written work and finalising it. The audio is all copy right
free…

Initial Plan

This my first plan to get me to the end if the project.

Project action
plan and
timetable
Week Date week Activity/what you intend to do - including independent study Resources/what you will need to do - including access to resources Was it successful.
beginning
Monday, 19th Plan the idea and complete project proposal. Start with writing a Access to web and project proposal document and dates of each week of the project The first week was successful I had to rethink my idea a little
1 February 2024 complex and deep document with accurate historical knowledge and to allow for planning. And look into what happened during the siege and why compose but I got there in the end, the issue was that I miss understood
achievable goals. a paragraph that explains why I want to do this and what happened in an articulate part of the history and after watching a documentary I changed
way. this.
2 Monday, 26th Write the context section of the unit. A problem that occur during this Access to internet for relevant study and access to requirements for the section Went to plan finished the context section. And completed
February 2024 week may be lack of knowledge so some research will be needed to be because this will allow me to understand what is needed. Expand the context with improvements to the scene including re making the castle wall
completed during this week. more initial research. based of the top down reference to capture the exact shape of
the wall.
Monday 4th Write the research section of the unit go in depth into the armor, Access to internet for relevant study and to preform research such as fining other This week went to plan I completed more research then
3 March weapons, buildings and the historical context. studies to cite. and access to requirements for the section. planned and made a complex context section.
2024
Monday 11th Carry on with research and begin planning out the project week by Access to internet for relevant study and to preform research such as fining other This week over all has been productive for research, busy week
4 March week. Make sure each week has a list of what needs to be done broken studies to cite. and access to requirements for the section. so had less time but managed to produce a lot of work none
2024 down into a detailed level. the less.
Monday 18th Start Production of the scene Access to 3ds max and photoshop as web as internet to problem solve, use photo shop This week came with some challenges I lost a save and went
5 March Focus on individual assets to start with then move into animation to produce textures and 3ds max to make the assets. back to a backup but overall came with a lot of improvements.
2024 making sure to try use references.
Monday 25th Continue with production making the boats, weapons and foliage. I may Access to 3ds max and photoshop as web as internet to problem solve, use photo shop During this week I produced a number of textures I feel they
6 March find some areas of particle knowledge missing so I might need to watch to produce textures and attempted to make them seamless and seam worn and 3ds are lacking damage and wear, also work to make them
2024 videos to help myself. max to make the assets. seamless needs to be done.
Monday 1st Continue with production and construct final scene, add all assets into Access to 3ds max and photoshop as web as internet to problem solve, use photo shop During this week I completed the re construction of the castle
7 April the scene allowing for the textures to be added. Then configure the rain to produce textures and 3ds max to make the assets. and terrain it was not what I expected but with teaks it is still
2024 and water animations and lastly make the mass fx Cannon simulation. better than the previous version.

Monday 8th Render out scene and edit it and write evaluation. And edit the final clip Access to 3ds max, after effects and photoshop as web as internet to problem solve So far I have rendered the scenes but have not been able to
8 April together inside after effects adding in title screens and commentary. and access to requirements for the section. Pre rigged character from sketchfab. start the evaluation yet.
2024
Animating the pre rigged characters linking my weapons to them.
Monday 15th Go over all work and finalize and check everything. This time is set aside Access to all previous work go through and check everything, spelling punctuation and
9 April to allow for this period of reflection and will allow for potentially grade for missing or lacking areas.
2024 changing fixes.
10 Monday 22nd Present the work in detail showing off the deliverable and talking about Fast access to present final deliverable, present to teacher and class get ready by
April how it was made and what went well and what didn't and submit it. practicing and scripting the presentation.
2024
It will be important to be articulate during the presentation and clear
about what went well and what did not.

Plan 2

I decided to make a second plan mid-way through as I found my time management was not good
enough from the time left I have adapted it to suite the remaining time frame.

Project
action
plan and
timetable
Week Date Activity/what you intend to do - including independent study Resources/what you will need Was it successful.
week to do - including access to
beginnin resources
g
Monday, Plan the idea and complete project proposal. Start with writing a complex and deep Access to web and project The first week was
1 19th document with accurate historical knowledge and achievable goals. proposal document and dates successful I had to rethink
February Model terrain and castle blackout. of each week of the project to my idea a little but I got
2024 allow for planning. And look there in the end, the issue
Weekly day plan into what happened during was that I miss understood
Monday Tuesday Wednesd Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday the siege and why compose a part of the history and
ay paragraph that explains why I after watching a
want to do this and what documentary I changed
Make a rough Write the Write the Write the Go through More More happened in a articulate way. this. I modeled the castle
notes page of Rational project evaluatio checking initial initial I will need to make a blackout mock up and terrain then
ideas and page concept n. Add to and adding research research of the castle with basic shapes evaluated them deciding to
research written and techniques with a basic use a top down reference
needed to form work and terrain. in the next version.
idea blog.

FMP Page 29
FMP Page 30
2 Monday, Write the context section of the unit. A problem that occur during this week may be lack Access to internet for relevant Went to plan finished the
26th of knowledge so some research will be needed to be completed during this week. And study and access to context section. And
February rough out scene in 3ds max. requirements for the section. completed improvements
2024 Weekly day plan Expand the context with more to the scene including re
Monday Tuesday Wednesd Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday initial research. I will need making the castle wall
ay sources relating to the castle. based of the top down
reference to capture the
Add to Begin Add to Render out Start exploring Busy - Busy - exact shape of the wall.
each rough rough rough block methods for day off day off
Section out. out. out. different aspects
in of scene and Add
proform to written work
a and blog.

Monday Write the research section of the unit go in depth into the armor, weapons, buildings Access to internet for relevant This week went to plan I
3 4th and the historical context. study and to preform completed more research
March Weekly day plan research such as fining other then planned and made a
2024 Monday Tuesday Wednesda Thursday Friday Saturda Sunday studies to cite. and access to complex context section.
y y requirements for the section.
I will need references for the
Write Write Add to Write Write Busy - Busy - weapons and buildings to
complex complex current Research Research day off day off ensure there arcuate.
research research work and into what into castle
into amour into check it. happened in structure
Weapons the battle and Add to
written
work and
blog

Monday Carry on with research and begin planning out the project week by week. Make sure Access to internet for relevant This week over all has been
4 11th each week has a list of what needs to be done broken down into a detailed level. study and to preform productive for research,
March Weekly day plan research such as fining other busy week so had less time
2024 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturda Sunday studies to cite. and access to but managed to produce a
y requirements for the section. lot of work none the less.
Use of my Calander to plan
Go through Plan each Make list of Get Busy - Busy - Busy - the week in detail.
current week from assets that references day off day off day off
research and now on to need ready
check as well help structure making and begin
as add and manage a to do list production
things. my time. and Add to
written
work and
blog.

Monday Start Production of the scene Access to 3ds max and This week so far I have
5 18th Focus on individual assets to start with then move into animation making sure to try use photoshop as web as internet added in a camera and
March references. Build the castle and all terrain as well as land. to problem solve, use photo knight which went to plan.
2024 Weekly day plan shop to produce textures and And began to reconstruct
Monday Tuesday Wednesda Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 3ds max to make the assets. the castle and terrain.
y
Model Model Model Model the Make castle Busy - Busy -
foliage for sword for shied foe r terrain and and Add to day off day off
the scene the scene the scene water written work
and blog

Monday Continue with production making the boats, weapons and foliage. I may find some areas Access to 3ds max and During this week I
6 25th of particle knowledge missing so I might need to watch videos to help myself. Re make photoshop as web as internet produced a number of
March the castle to higher standard. to problem solve, use photo textures I feel they are
2024 Weekly day plan shop to produce textures and lacking damage and wear,
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 3ds max to make the assets. also work to make them
seamless needs to be
Model Model the Texture the Begin re Model Busy - Busy - done.
the first second boats and Add making the Bow and day off day off
boat boat to written work castle arrow
and blog

Monday Continue with production and construct final scene, add all assets into the scene Access to 3ds max and During this week I
7 1st allowing for the textures to be added. Then configure the rain and water animations photoshop as web as internet completed the re
April and lastly make the mass fx Cannon simulation. to problem solve, use photo construction of the castle
2024 Remake terrain to higher standard. shop to produce textures and and terrain it was not what
Weekly day plan 3ds max to make the assets. I expected but with teaks it
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday is still better than the
previous version.
Model Texture Mass fx Re build Add all Busy - Busy -
cannon cannon animation and terrain assets to day off day off
Add to written scene
work and blog

Monday Render out scene and edit it and write evaluation. And edit the final clip together inside Access to 3ds max, after So far I have rendered the
8 8th after effects adding in title screens and commentary. effects and photoshop as scenes but have not been
April Weekly day plan web as internet to problem able to start the evaluation
2024 Monda Tuesday Wednesda Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday solve and access to yet.
y y requirements for the section.

Animat Render Add to Link the sword Animate the Busy - Busy -
e boats boat written to the troop paths for day off day off
scene work and and animate a each French
blog walk cycle troop

Monday Go over all work and finalize and check everything. This time is set aside to allow for this Access to all previous work go This week came with a lot
9 15th period of reflection and will allow for potentially grade changing fixes. through and check of issues my laptop began
April Weekly day plan everything, spelling smoking so I had to switch
2024 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday punctuation and for missing to college pc and set up the
or lacking areas. textures to work on 3ds
Complete all Complete Edit the final Record Busy - Busy - Busy - max version from two
unfinished render of deliverable voice over day off day off day off years ago but after fixing it
written mass fx scene add audio and I got back to the point
work and troops and titles render. where I was and began
rendering the knight
walking scene.
10 Monday Present the work in detail showing off the deliverable and talking about how it was Fast access to present final This week has gone to plan
22nd made and what went well and what didn't and submit it. deliverable, present to everything has been
April teacher and class get ready by rendered and the final
2024 It will be important to be articulate during the presentation and clear about what went practicing and scripting the deliverable has been made.
well and what did not. presentation.
Weekly day plan
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Check work Check work Check work Check work Check work Busy - Busy -
add add add add add day off day off
anything if anything if anything if anything if anything if
needed needed needed needed needed

11 6th may Final deadline submission… Access to submission Submitted successfully to

2024 platform. teacher.
Weekly day plan
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Check work Check work Check work Check work Check work Busy - Busy -
add add add add add day off day off
anything if anything if anything if anything if anything if
needed needed needed needed needed

Near the end of easter I was behind so I have had to put more hours in per day and adapt the time table
in accordance.

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 Evaluation and reflection
19 February 2024 09:48

Compared to my initial goal the project is currently going well but the castle is not to scale and is not
accurate so I plan to re make it to a higher standard, I intend to taper the towers and add some that are
missing also in some sources the bottom have a ramped area I will add as well as making a wall with
better topology.

Making the assets has been fun but has not been without issues and time constraints after much
Time they are completed. I like there textures however I put too much detail in considering how far
away the camera will be.

The sword model was based off a reference image I ended up making some changes but for
The most part it came out as a success I would make the handle more rounded and the guard straight to
Match the reference if I was to edit this further. The textures came out well however I added too much
detail which will not be seen from the distance of the camera.

During the process of making the terrain I learned a lot however I wish it was a bit more accurate to the
real terrain but it's somewhat similar In the future I could use satellite images or old paintings. The
textures could have also been more detailed and had areas with rock.

The ores came out how I expected with trial and error using the bend tool to form the end if I where

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 The ores came out how I expected with trial and error using the bend tool to form the end if I where
To improve I would add a grip and a wood seam down the centre this was not in the proforma but I
Chose to add it to enhance the rowing boat.

The boat animation came out too fast and boat did not go as far as I should have made it go in future I
am going to adapt this and add more camera angles and lighting. The use of statement constraints
allowed for a good floating effect but the water in the lower boat due to the dummy box not being big
enough.

After completing the new castle I found It accurate but not perfect the arrow slits for example are not
visible due to texturing. The roofing and shapes where based of different reference but there is no
complete evidence of the complete design left. The next version should attempted to improve on these
mistakes.

During the process of creating the knights walking scene I ran into an issue with my laptop and had to
switch device upon setting up the
render I was not Happy with the castle wall textures this is something I may work on. I considered how
id present this scene but I came to the
Decision a group of soldiers in threes would show organisational and discipline of the knights compared
to a scattered and un orderly troop layout. When writing the proforma I had a longer scene in mind but
it came out just as good as a smaller scene. I may slow it down in the video editor.

After reflecting upon my initial plan I decided to split the cannon scene into two different scenes one of
the cannon firing and one of the cannon hitting the wall this decomposition of the problem split the
animation task into too and allows me to have 2 different camera angles without additional animation.

As of the third week the practice is wrapping up and beginning to match the proforma criteria I do
wish I had studied ways to make better more engaging graphics.

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 Overall Evaluation

The back section mirrors the references however the extruded areas are not as think as they should be
but this is not visible in the renders so a fix is not required. But can be good to model an extra areas as a
reference for where in the castle certain parts are located.

I changed the roof to be tapered at the bottom because upon reflecting on historical references this
went well and really improved the look of the roof, this was a simple change but one that really changes
the model from basic to immersive.

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The cannon model came out quite similar to the reference but has a slimmer cannon shaft and and less
detailed wheels if I where to improve I would change these issues. But over all the same and design are
similar to the cannons of the time.

This was an early version of the castle wall textures I plan to fine tune it for the final version. It would
benefit from more depth and damage which could be done with bevel ad emboss tolls and brushes.

The foliage over all came out well, historically I have had limited practice with creation of plants. I
decided to do a simplistic approach to the trees which works but is not highly detailed they are very
basic but get the job done. The textures could have used alpha maps is had more time.

This was the larger boat I produced I created I t based off a reference then researched English flags and
learned how to make them look like the wind is blowing the fabric, I at first had the wood as a basic
wood texture with no panels but upon reviewing boats of the time I discovered they were made from
many Pannels and not one piece of wood. I made a new texture to fix this, this change helps to keep it
to historical accuracy as mentioned in the proforma.

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 to historical accuracy as mentioned in the proforma.

After reviewing other re-creations of the castle I added a sloped bottom to the castle towers to match
the castles real design before it was just a cylinder with a cut out for the arrow window but this has now
added more complicated design as well as this I added a top area where troops can fire arrows from as
in historical references.

Final Evaluation

Chateau Gaillard Final Major project by kai piper

Overall the project was long and rewarding process that challenged me I'm proud of the final result but it is not as good as I
imaged in my head. Over all the outcome of the animations where too fast on each scene and had to be edited and the
models where not detailed enough. However I do believe I met my proforma criteria and made it accurate to the time,
there were of course some artistic liberty's as we do not live in the time period so we can't 100 percent guess the true look
of assets.

This was made and produced for a tv show for historical events across the globe that has a focus on historical events, the
clips where designed to appeal to the audience with aesthetics and accuracy we achieved these goals on time and kept to
our proforma. The audience would have been quite wide being a history show you could have anyone from an avid history
hobbies to a young child, this mix of historical accuracy and animation creates the perfect style to appeal to all audiences.
Overall the castle model is simpler than other recreations as it's only a small part but for the most part it matches
references including other artist recreations and areal maps of castle walls. Another important part of this project was the
boats they were made to match references which there shape and textures archive, I took the liberty of adding the English
flag as I could not find English specific reference but my research pointed to their flag being on the sails.

The research has guided and shaped this project the terrain was shaped to match references I researched and swords and
armour at the time where picked due to the research. During this project I maintained comprehensive research, refection
and evaluation allowing me to identify and change mistakes. After my presentation I received some feedback that the mass
fx scene should have been longer showing the full power of the system and the physics on the castle, I agree with this and I
will next time spend more time concentrating on this feature. During this project there was a importance of adapting my

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will next time spend more time concentrating on this feature. During this project there was a importance of adapting my
plans I did this with success to adapt to new changes in my time for example a new job and changes to priorities of what
could be done.

There were some key goals for this project firstly was to produce 3 scene one with the boats one with the troops and the
cannon scene. These where completed within the time frame to a good standard there are aspects that could have been
improved and if I had time I would have added more details etc. Another was to create this models and environment to
historically accurate standard I successfully did this but using references and research. Finally I wanted to edit these all
together into a final deliverable which I also achieved and I sued the software to mitigate the fast animations.

There were many issues and complications but sticking to the plan allowed me to keep on track, from render times to
texture issues I worked creatively to get this project complete. I experimented with new skills and solutions to create a
good final deliverable.

Overall it was a learning curve to make a large animated project and went really well.

Here is some feedback of the final deliverable from peers:

I also got some feedback from some friends and peers, this question allows me to see if my work is as
good as I think it is from outside sources who are Less bias to my work. It was a yes no question with the
option for feedback 3 people chose to give feedback, two of these where to say my work is of a
reasonable standard and one said I could improve a little this showed Its not 100 percent perfect and
can be enhanced.

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 From allowing them to enter what I can improve I have obtained several targets. First of all three came
under the same target this was to make the boats slower to in essence make the animation smoother,
this was a target I have personally I wrote about how I already slowed the video but more work needs to
be done perhaps because of the time period boats should have been extremely slow. Next was a rather
un helpful comment that says it looks unprofessional I found this unhelpful as they did not write why so
I am un able to improve it, another person put add more detail which is always a welcome thing to be
improved I imagine they found the textures too clean and repetitive this is something I will aim to
improve in future projects. Lastly was a kind comment saying it was great which gave me some
motivation for the future.

In order to see if the castle was worth changing I added this question 83.3 percent of
People said the new castle looks better than the older one this showed the importance
Of the initial evacuation of the first castle and allowed me to see how important the
Historical accuracy is.

Measuring how engaged these people are as important as they are similar
to
My intended target audience, 83.3 percent said it did this result is very
promising and shows it
An effective piece of historical media. The 16.7 percent may have been un
engaged by small issues like boat speed or not liking the topic etc.

This form has friends and peers who filled it in this may cause some bias due to the fact they are similar
people and also know me however it is still important feedback.

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 Presentation
19 February 2024 09:48

Initial presentation
Castle Gaillard FMP Initial presentation
The initial presentation went well
I explained the idea in a clear and coherent
Divinorum Man way.

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 kai Reflection

After my final presentation, I realized I forgot to talk about my goal for historical accuracy. This is an area
that is important to my project and something I did manage to succeed at. Also, I could have talked
Link to final presentation recording: about my problem-solving in more detail. However, the presentation went okay and was not as bad as I
Fmp final presentation thought. I wish I focused more on issues that I faced as well.
Divinorum Man
But I was confident and present the idea to the audience well which was a something I was worried
about but I managed to overcome this.

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 Bibliography
18 April 2024 13:09

Cambal, A. Longsword. Swordis. Available at: https://swordis.com/blog/longsword/.

Clerk, S. P. Bowyery Manufacture. Bowyers. Available at:

https://www.bowyers.com/bowyery_manufacture.php.

Matthews, I. Château Gaillard: History & Location. Study.com. Available at:

https://study.com/academy/lesson/chateau-gaillard-history-location.html.

Pearce, S. Yew Wood. Bowyers. Available at:

https://www.bowyers.com/bowyery_manufacture.php.

Reid Supply. Iron vs. Steel. Reid Supply. Available at: https://www.reidsupply.com/en-us/industry-
news/iron-vs-steel.

Welsh, W. E. King Richard's Château Gaillard. Warfare History Network. Available at:
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/king-richards-chateau-gaillard/.

News Ycombinator. Average Height of Medieval Soldiers. Available at:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14033887.

Wikipedia. Château Gaillard. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_Gaillard.

Wikipedia. Siege of Château Gaillard. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Ch%

C3%A2teau_Gaillard.

Visit Kenilworth Web. The Kenilworth Siege of 1266. Available at:

https://visit.kenilworthweb.co.uk/the-kenilworth-siege-of-1266-everything-you-need-to-know-for-a-
visit/.

Royal Mint. Lion of England. Available at: https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-

coins/queensbeasts/qb-lion/lion-of-england/.

American Flags. France Flags. Available at: https://www.americanflags.com/flags/world-

flags/france-flags.html.

Britannica. Medieval Castles. Available at: https://www.britannica.com.

Château Gaillard: Medieval castle built by Richard the Lionheart. (n.d.). https://www.medieval-
spell.com/Chateau-Gaillard.html

Wikipedia contributors. (2024a, March 3). Château Gaillard. Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_Gaillard"

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Deliverable
25 April 2024 14:16

Chateau Gaillard Final Major project by kai piper

This is my final deliverable in the form of an animated video short…

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