Two more results can now be inspected directly: the complete rain version 04 preview and the Course 10 backdrop stages. Full assessment acceptance remains at 0 / 7. These are intermediate results.
Rain: Matching the Preview to Its Project#
The main project already included impact ripples, but the website still showed the version 03 movie without them. Version 04 has now been rendered from Frame 0 through 120: 121 frames at 30 fps and 640 × 480, lasting about 4.03 seconds. Every PNG was checked for readability, the MP4 was decoded in full, and SHA-256 hashes link the movie to its source MAX.
Watch the updated animation and download the project. After a drop hits the surface, Collision Spawn creates a ring. Shape Instance uses Event Start to play the Torus expansion and thinning animation. This is a supplemental geometry method, not a value-for-value recreation of the teacher’s procedural shader. The rings remain faint in the wide shot; final image quality, particle settings, and the teacher’s ring shader still need matching.
Scene Setup: Building the Backdrop#
Reviewing the start of Course 10 confirmed the initial Plane settings: Length 300 cm, Width 190 cm, Length Segs 3, and Width Segs 1. The teacher then converts it to Editable Poly and folds it into a floor, back wall, and top panel.
See the source steps and editable backdrop projects. New files cover the flat plane, raised far vertices, folded backdrop, and an integrated version 09 tornado scene. After saving and reopening, the backdrop’s eight world-space vertices and three quadrilateral faces were read back and checked. Actual renders were also produced.
The starting dimensions and segment counts are confirmed from the video. The folded vertex coordinates remain reconstruction choices based on the images. The current camera, material, and lights are for structural inspection: the result is dark, and the top panel obscures part of the view. Exact source movements, any chamfer operation, and final camera and lighting settings remain unverified.
Tornado: Putting the Materials Back into a Scene#
Course 12 now includes two scene studies: version 12 uses a frontal camera, while version 13 moves closer to the model. Both retain the orange crossing stripes, base smoke, and folded backdrop. Both were rendered, and version 13 was reopened to check the models, material references, cameras, and backdrop vertices.
At 28:00, the teacher’s RenderView uses /viewport_camera at Frame 0. This does not establish an explicit camera object. The Free Cameras, light positions, and backdrop material in these studies are marked as supplemental choices. The renders also reveal gaps at the sides of the backdrop, tight cropping in the close view, and visible sampling noise. These are inspection scenes, not final matches to the source.
A closer review of the base Cylinder confirms Height 40 cm at 16:05 and X/Y Scale 80% for its 32 bottom vertices at 16:25. The last visible top-ring drag value is 96%; earlier trials of 139% and 157% are neither final settings nor successive multipliers. Version 14 and the modeling steps are now available. Reopening the file confirms bottom radius 32 cm, top radius 38.4 cm, and height 40 cm. The top-ring value remains identified as the last visible drag reading, rather than a value read from the teacher’s saved MAX.
Remaining Work#
- Rain: procedural ring shaders, complete modeling and UV steps, final image quality, and assessment checks.
- Tornado: backdrop and camera matching, UV and animation settings, and the remaining particle and FumeFX course work.
- Other assignments retain their own results and unfinished-work lists. These two updates do not establish completion of the full course.