Lighthouse Project Document and Art Bible

Lighthouse Scene Project Document

Overview

The aim of this project is to create a video that shows the interior of a lighthouse. The camera will begin at the entrance and then will move into the lighthouse and to the stairs. The camera will go up the stairs and then finish with the light at the top of the lighthouse. The sky should be visible through the windows.

Depending on the amount of time available, some of the rooms in the lighthouse may also be shown. If there is not enough time for them, they will simply be removed.

Scope

3D interior model of lighthouse
3D assets inside the interior
Rendered if necessary
"Tour" of the environment as a “fly-through” video with 1080p HD quality with h.264 encoding
Certain models included in Showreel video with 1080p HD quality with h.264 encoding
3D models built in Autodesk Maya 2015
3D models textured in Adobe Photoshop or possibly Autodesk Mudbox?
Video edited in Adobe After Effects or Adobe Premiere Pro
A light at the top of the lighthouse to provide lighting
The sky will be visible from inside the lighthouse.
Completed within 7 weeks
Includes Project Documentation, Art Bible and Production sketches and brainstorming of ideas on blog

Methodology

The 3D models will be built in Autodesk Maya 2015 and possibly further edited in Autodesk Mudbox. They will be textured in either Adobe Photoshop or Autodesk Mudbox. The environment and its assets will be used in After Effects for editing and compositing before being put into the showreel. It will be rendered if necessary.

The Agile methodology would be best suited for this project as it allows me to set deadlines and milestone and look at my progress once I meet a deadline. I can observe what went right and wrong and then make adjustments based on those. This way, I can also decide what won't be in the final product without it being too detrimental.

Gantt Chart

Risk Assessment

Risk	Severity	Mitigation
Software or hardware failure prevents progression of project	Low	Software that is accessible at home, Qantm and other areas will be used so that if one area is unavailable, at least the required software is accessible from other areas.
Data Loss	Medium	All data will be backed up on external drives, a laptop and desktop computer. This includes Autodesk Maya files, Adobe Photoshop files, possibly Autodesk Mudbox files, After Effects files, possibly audio files, concept designs and research.
Project Falls out of Scope	Medium	Milestones will be planned out to be met so that everything necessary is completed. This way, unnecessary things can afford to be discarded. Also if the project falls out of scope, the most important elements can still remain.
Progress is lost	Medium	Each time a major change has been made to the project, it will be saved as the current version. This allows use of a saved version that can be used again if data is lost. They can also easily be referred back to if a major unfixable mistake has been made. Saving different versions will ensure multiple copies and it will also help to have them saved on multiple back up drives.
Personal or Health Issues	High	Backup and fallback tasks (milestones) and proxy models will be created to allow the entire scene to have a standing base.

Work Breakdown Structure

This is a solo project so I will be handling the concept sketches, story, documentation, asset designs, 3D models, lighting and showreel.

QA Testing

Change Management

All risks will be monitored and the progress of the project will be continually monitored.
There will be effective communication that will inform any parties if they get involved of the changes including the full details and reasons for and them. They will also be informed of the benefits received if the changes are successful.
Training, skills upgrading and extra research will be conducted if necessary.
Feedback from any necessary parties will be considered and implemented if decided to be useful.
Changes will be monitored. The project will be updated and fine-tuned as required.