The tutorial project involves the creation of a virtual product for the purposes of promotion via the Internet. Our chosen product is the Sony DSC-F55 Digital Still Camera. The project will be an accurate portrayal of the real thing and will replicate some of the functionality.
Our target platform for this exercise is an average home or business computer connected to the Internet via a dial-up modem. This broader mass market focus limits us to a lower polygon count and filesize. We will endeavour to remain under 5000 polygons and 300Kb filesize, including all textures and sounds.
Note: for your own projects these limits will be extended to 20,000 polygons and 1Mb filesize. As you gain experience you'll find it easier to work to the constraints of your target platform and chosen Synthetic Environment technology.
First things first. You can't create a 3D model without having some idea of what it's going to look like and how it's meant to work. If the object already exists then you may be able to take some reference photos which are useful not only in the modelling process but can also become the basis of textures that will be applied to the object. If the object is only in your imagination then rough sketches are the place to start.
Our object already exists so it was just a matter of taking a few photos and familiarising ourselves with its operation.
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Your storyboard should be a rough sketch of the finished Synthetic Environment. Don't go into too much detail as it's likely to go through a number of changes before both the development team and the client are satisfied.
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This project will have a number of interactive features:
The user interface will initially consist of the default VRML browser controls. As we add more navigation and complex interactions, a custom HUD (Head Up Display) will be created. This solution will comprise 4 viewpoint icons and a Sony website link icon.
Additionally, interactive components on the camera itself will have rollover effects to provide usability clues to the audience.
To complete the project we're going to need the following resources:
3D Models
Textures
Sounds
When you're planning any project it's good practice to break it into stages, estimate a duration for each stage and farm the work out to your various team members. This not only helps to keep everyone working to known milestones and deadlines, but makes project costing and management easier.