Read on for the details:
Monday - Visual Design
The project this week is what I assumed which was to model our reef character using any selected materials. Initially, I thought that it wouldn't turn out that great, purely because my last one wasn't exactly a masterpiece. However, having said that, you should get better the more you do something. I was determined this time to make a great looking Plasticine model of my reef character. In order to achieve this, I started looking at how others sculpt the male torso and arms, as well as revisiting the anatomy. This allowed me to really exaggerate some of the muscles like I had initially sketched into the design. I hope that if I keep revisiting the anatomy, I'll be able to pick certain features I was to stand out and overall improve my 2D drawing skills too.
Small bit of extra development:
Plasticine model:
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| Front View |
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| Side View |
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| 3/4 Back View |
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| Close 3/4 Front View |
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| Close Back View |
I chose Plasticine mainly because I am new to making physical models and it's easy to work with. The downside is that it doesn't dry and on my previous model, parts have fallen off, plus, I had to prop him up using another object. This is also the reason why I didn't model the legs in this case; the top half does this character justice and is the focal point, therefore it only made sense to make a more detailed top half instead.
I had a lot of fun modelling this guy, I feel like I have made progress and this time, proud of what I made.
Alongside this I also did a little bit of development on the hands of my reef character, and another digital painting because I really need to practice. The second one has more atmosphere than my first, but the first is definitely more detailed and had quite a lot of time put into it. Also, on the 2nd version, I used the technique of blocking it out and then going in afterwards:
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| 1st version |
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| 2nd Version |
Tuesday - Game Production
The focus this week though was finishing my gladiator.
I think that rigging is just another one of those things that initially takes quite a long time and is a bit messy, but over time, I'll improve upon by having a faster workflow and doing a much cleaner job. Take texturing for example: At the beginning of this course I was struggling to get the Darlek modelled for the following week and as soon as textures were thrown at us for the wheelie bin, I panicked. Texturing at the start seemed like something that would take forever, and my workflow in Photoshop wasn't exactly great & it was all a bit 'wishy washy' (Layers, all non-destructive etc) but if I were given the bin project again now, I'd have it modelled and textured within the day! Thinking about that improvement now is quite something.
Don't get me wrong though, I love rigging because you can see your model come to life. However, I'd say the most stressful things at the moment are the following:
-Switching in and out of figure mode to test the model without breaking it.
-Selecting verts underneath the clothing... Seriously, the 'loop' selection tool doesn't even work!
-Intersections of polys on the shoulder - Rigging shoulders is quite a challenge.
-Just changing anything in the model seems to break the whole rig... Really need a solution for this.
-Painting out seams in 3DS Max... Why must you crash on me every time? I can't get rid of the hideous seams all over the gladiator because of this!
After all the trouble 3DS Max gave me for the rigging, I am really pleased with the overall product. Of course there are things that could be a lot better and I've identified them in the design document. In terms of what I have learnt from doing this project, I have developed my mentality & workflow further, as well as the actual learning of the basic rigging & character modelling process.
In terms of mentality, I now know that instead of thinking "Oh,
this doesn't work too well but it still works alright, I'll work around
it", isn't always the best thing to do. Of course in some cases, you HAVE
to work around a problem, but in others like my UVW unwrapping of the arms
& hands, I should have thought "This doesn't fit on top of each other,
just copy the geometry of one arm to the other so they are identical and will
fit." This would have given more space for the torso & face, therefore, a higher resolution texture for those parts.
This leads into the point of just doing something again. I have had to redo many things before, it is encouraged! If
I did do what I just mentioned, I'd have to rig it again, but that's just what I'd need to do
for a better looking product at the end. There are other instances I should
have done it more than once, not just for the final product, but for practicing
the process itself.
A couple of renders of my gladiator:
A couple of renders of my gladiator:
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| Pose #1 |
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| Pose #2 |
Wednesday - Critical Studies
I'll be perfectly honest, I can't remember much from the lecture as I am writing this 4 days after - I usually make notes but they turned the lights off and I couldn't see where to write. Anyway, I do remember that by a certain date, all of our blogs will be reviewed and we will have workshops in the library to help us with them. I think this is a great idea because all of my blogs at the moment just update anyone reading them on what work I'm doing. It'll be good to get some ideas for things I can write about to make these more interesting!
Personal Work
As mentioned before, I really need to improve my digital painting skills. So, the first step towards this is by observing the process of how others work. I have been watching many videos to see how other artists go about their digital work. I find it fascinating to watch and it gets me excited to do my own, so whenever I feel ready to just pick an idea and go for it, I will and in doing so, I'll get practice. At the moment, I can get the basic blocks for things, but I struggle to imagine up all of the little details that really make the piece look far more believable.
I am still continuing with Photoshop tutorials and am loving exploring what you can do. I have a particular interest in photography & retouching tutorials, but all techniques are useful and can be directly applied for textures.
A good week overall, I'm still making progress and can't wait for visual design tomorrow as we're revisiting the National Space Centre! :)
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