Avatar project

For this project I decided to not do myself, but a general female character, as I believed it would give me more of a challenge. From the start of the box modelling I was going rather well, yet it was when it came to adding extra detailing in the hands and joints primarily that I had trouble, as well as the face. I also gave her some large boots and a skirt, attached to the main body mesh.

The hair was a separate mesh, as were the strands of hair. This was more to do with how I wanted it to look. After finishing the mesh, I exported it to Roadkill as separate OBJ files, cutting out the UVW maps to be used as separate textures later on, as there would be multiple alpha maps for the hair. I took the model into mudbox to give it some more definition, although it was only slight. I baked out a normal map as well as an ambient occlusion map that I used to create the main diffuse map. After placing the diffuse map and the normal map onto the character, I found that the normal map was not working to standards, so I removed it.

I did also add in a skeleton using Human IK. I lined up all the joints and tested the movement, yet had trouble in skinning the multiple meshes to the skeleton.

SU Project

I was tasked with building a set of table and chairs, the doors and the main bar for the SU. I first did the benches and table, making two iterations of the benches after being told to drop the polygon count down. I did also finish a table too, but was told that it wasnt up to scratch late on, the model being replaced by another variant by another person while I continued on modelling the bar.

The bar was the hardest I believe to model, as I wanted to get it as close as I could to the real thing. This would have included the small tables to hold the tills and other items behind the bar, yet I was instructed to try and simplify it a lot more. I did a few variants, eventually getting the shape and poly limits right. I then textured each part of the bar separately as they would be able to be moved about if needed. I left the bar taps white as I was told they would get a chrome shader when put into Unity.

The Doors were a bit more simple than the bar, yet were still slightly complex as I made them to be animatible. I also left the glass as an untextured piece, as I was told it would be made transparent in Unity itself.

Vertical Slice - Enviroment Assets

I began modelling environment assets with the wooden platforms that the players would see dotted about the level to help them get to higher places.I started off by making the docks, including a high poly version to sculpt the wood in Mudbox with. I decided against this early on, and concentrated on the model itself. I then also decided to make it modular, rather than having separate models for the docks, the basic wooden platforms and the platforms with supports. I then made a separate support, wooden platform piece and dock support (which was also able to be used for multiple other pieces around the level). I was able to texture them with the wooden planks texture that we were able to get from Ash, occasionally having to paint in areas myself to fill gaps or do areas he was unable to do.

One of the primary things that needed modelling was the hut near to where the character would start out. This had gone through a couple of variations in the concepts alone before it came time to model. Max had mocked up a design for it at first, which I didn't feel fit the style of the game, with the chunkier wood and cartoon style. I decided to do my own mock up and then create the hut itself. I textured it using the same base wooden planks texture from Ash, cut up and moved around to fit over the UVs, and added my own sections for the cloth. I also added an alpha map on the front too to stop the player going inside and getting stuck in what was a rather small space in the level.

There were a couple of other test objects mocked up, that never really got much further than the model itself, through either not being needed any more of other things taking over such as a lilypad and a tree stump for two examples.

I was then given the task or modelling some ruins platforms, as well as a stone archway. This would serve as the finish point for the level, with a portal effect in the middle. I modeled the main body, and although having a some trouble with getting the rocks correct, I managed to get it done to a pretty good standard. I then decided to add a small frog head made of stone, attached to the middle top of the arch, in reference to the destination where the portal would have sent the player. I did have some trouble with the smoothing groups however on the archway, not as much on the ruin platforms.

I then also did some work on smaller pieces, like signs and some debris, as well as a texture to use on a grass plane for a small bush or shrub.

Vertical Slice - Concept Art

From almost the get go the game was to be set in a swamp or forested area. I already knew that would be enough of a challenge for me, as I am not the most skilled at painting or drawing vegetation and landscapes, being more focused on characters and objects. Still, I decided to try, as it would at the least give me experience and help me improve.

When the voodoo theme and the more cartoon style was decided on, I instantly thought of the old Playstation 2 game, 'Tak and the Power of Juju'. It definitely helped me think of the more stereotypical jungle themed terrain.

I wanted to primarily use wood for most of the environment objects, with it being bound by rope or by large, crude looking nails and screws, keeping with the cartoon theme. This also gave me the the original idea of trying to make everything look rather painted, as in the top image above.

I also had a go at redesigning a couple of the characters that Ed had designed, primarily the frog and the Wooden zombie. I made the frog a slight bit more threatening and large, with a slightly lizard like appearance, including things such as fangs and large claws, as well as bulking out the body. I also did a similar thing for the wood monster, making the chest more pronounced and getting rid of its shield to try and make it more of a threat to the player. Unfortunately, neither of these characters would be used in the final game.

I also did a few sets of concepts for other objects that would be laid around the level, such as lanterns, log platforms and multiple mask designs. I then was asked to do final designs.

I also did a few attempts at painting up larger areas for the game, such as the boss arena, which unfortunately was cut along with the boss fight. I also did a sketch that was only slightly progressed into a painting of the environment as a whole. It included a few things that also did not end up in the game, such as the fishing sloth, boat, lily pads and some others.

For this brief, we were told to create a small asset of a revolver from a piece of concept art. It was to be 800 triangles, and with only a 64x64 diffuse map.

I started by trying to get the main body shape of the pistol sorted, by following the exact shape of the concept artwork.

I then kept adding more parts, such as the trigger and the barrel. I actually added some extra polys along the barrel, to allow it to be animated and inflate when the gun is fired. This wouldnt be done by me for this brief. I then UV mapped it and created a small simple diffuse map of the basic colours.

I then added in the normals, with rather simple boxes and circles to give it indents and grooves. I couldnt add much more, such as any text as the detail would not show up with a 128x128 normal map. The specular map was rather simple and I believe i could have maybe done better with it, and added more glossiness.

Overall Im pretty happy with the final result, although some parts could have been much better.

For this brief we were instructed to create a piece of concept art of a tree that had character. I decided to go with a sightly fairy tale or fantasy route.

I wanted to get across the feeling of a spirit or person that had been trapped inside the tree, arms out spread and shouting to the sky. I also placed in a small 'red riding hood' like character to get across the scale. I tried a different painting style for this, with trying to keep any smoothing to a minimum. I believe it worked rather well for some of the tree trunks, but I really did not like the outcome on the leaves. Its something I have always struggled with. I also believe I could have got across the depth of the area a bit better.

This project were told to make a set of trash from some reference photos that maxed out at 500 triangles.

This was the set of rubbish I chose to work on. The main concern for me primarily was the plastic bag, yet it actually was the folded cardboard in the centre box that gave me the most trouble. I had to compromise a little and make them be pretty solid and flat objects that I would solve through texture work.

  

 The textures for the boxes I was actually rather happy with. I had a little trouble fitting them to the UV map, as it was slightly skewed when I rendered it for some unknown reason, although I solved it by moving the parts slightly down to match the real UVW. I also changed the bag from slightly see through grey, to a black bin bag, as matching the different objects inside the bag would have been a major challenge. The only parts I am not super happy about are the cardboard inside the centre box. I think I could have made the textures slightly better and more detailed.