Cumulative log - Tuesday 18 May 2010

10.00am - I came to the office.

I continue searching the required material for my next scene on the net. My next scene requires me to model a scenery of desert, and I’ve decided to create a valley, much like a Grand Canyon in US. After a couple of reference, I opened up 3Ds Max and start modeling.
Around 1.00pm – I go out to lunch

Around 2.00pm – I’m back to the office.

I’m researching on how to create a valley as my attempt to model one end up miserably. After a few search on some 3D forum, I found that we can download a real scientific data called ‘ Digital Elevation Model’. It is an information of the earth crust levels around the worlds that is captured by the satellite.

The data is in ‘DEM’ format and to load it onto 3D modeling software such as 3Ds Max, we need a special tool, plug-ins  or software that is capable to convert such data to a readable format.
I continue research on how to get the data and how to use it in my scene.

Around 5.00pm – I finally found a website which provides such data freely. I try to download it. It takes a few minute before I can get the file. Once done, I try to convert the file using a convertor program that I download from the net.

Around 6.00pm – I failed to load the file in 3Ds Max.  It seems that I missed some crucial steps as I’ve still not have enough knowledge to use this method.

Around 7.30pm – We dismissed.