It's been a while..

Recent new models I've done since starting Huddersfield University, some relavent to my module, some not.

Finish

A little delayed, yet here is the finished product for the Digital Showcase. Of which I must say, was a success. So in the end, the blood, the sweat, the tears.. it all paid off.

Evaluation

Our original intention for our Pulse trailer was to have two completed trailers. One of which was to be just a teaser of the game, this would last around 25 seconds, not really showing much, but to gain the essence of suspense for the viewer. The other however was to carry on where the trailer left off with a lengthy game play clip that we were going to simulator courtesy of Unreal Editor 3.
Another aspect we had underlined several times in the group and was a foundation of our trailer was a FULL bar scene.
Due to time constraints, I was only able to create one character. Even still, I only created the top half of a character since I had a colossal struggle with the bottom half, so I took a shortcut and created some space marine legs. So if had one pristine character to start with, I would have been able to duplicate it, and make minor adjustments to the mesh to have an array of different characters.
We also settled for just making a version of the trailer without the game play action included. The reason for this was because we were already pre-occupied with learning the ins and outs of studio max to take on a game engine as well, so we decided to scrap that idea.
However, as a team I think we have pulled the rest together to create an enjoyable games trailer, despite not having our original intentions in place.

Our original intention for the trailer, looking at the demographics and audience point of view hasn’t changed much from our plan. We set out to create a trailer that would be aimed at largely the male gaming community, from 18 to around 40 years old. We also thought that the audience would have to have some sort of experience or interest in first person shooter games since that’s what our game’s platform.
However, our trailer didn’t contain any graphic content as id of hoped originally, yet it still has some fairly eerie track to the trailer which still wouldn’t be suitable for minors.
Throughout our trailer, I would say that the texturing side of the process was definitely our solid point. After several other side projects and tutorials I have built up several techniques such as bump mapping, to show more definition in the texture that you have used, this usually works best with walls or floors.

The gathering of the textures was a little trail and error based. As a group, we gathered images using a digital camera, taking images of for example metal or wood. Yet when we got back to our scene, the images wouldn’t tile properly to create the desired effect we were after, even after applying UVW wrap and unwrapping. So we had to put our secondary plan in action which was to download the textures from a royalty free website. One of many that immediately sprang to mind was cgtextures.com. This been known to provide games developers in the industry, the only problem is if you are not a registered member, you only have a quota of 15mb. Since we needed a mega library of textures, it took a course of a few days to get the number of textures we needed, one of which was the stained glass windows for our rococo environment.

Also reflecting on my own work, I am impressed with the way my character turned out to be. With having a film influence from Robocop and having a art deco idea relating to that of cyberpunk, the outcome of my character fits both of these profiles. As I have mentioned before about the bottom half of my character, I would of liked to of made one solid character to make duplicates but also to reflect my professional creative ability.

As a whole, we have been a little lenient when it came to the factor of time management, for reasons such as models or environments taking a lot longer than expected or software difficulties. 3DS Max is an enormous package as you may or may not know, you can only really learn how to create greater things with the package with the method of trial and error and using tutorials. After using a tutorial for one piece, you can distribute the skills and techniques you have used throughout your portfolio. For example, when it came to character to modelling, using Photoshop to create a human profile from two images in two separate layers then importing them into 3DS Max. From here you have a visual of a full 3D profile of which you can start moulding around as if you were applying paper mache to the characters face.

Overall I am happy with the outcome of our trailer, from starting off as being a couple of ideas on a A3 sheet of paper, to a fully fledged animation sequence with a sound track and professional standard environments. As a team leader of Exodus, I feel that the majority of the group has contributed their delegated roles appropriately for this outcome to be more than just an idea. It is a shame to end the project as it was going so well towards the final stages, you can only really see your creation piecing together at this point.
Yet there are some things I would like to change if I was to redo this project, one of which is having the game play aspect we decided at the start. The reason why we didn’t have this is because our team wasn’t properly introduced with the Unreal Ed package, if this was the case, I think we could of made a truly outstanding piece of film.

Problems and Constraints

In terms of problems within the team of Exodus and general production issues, there hasn't been that many faults to report. We have had a solid plot, narrative and story line that we have pretty much followed through to the end of production. We havn't had any arguments or negative disagreements, if a member of the team has had an ideas to import into the trailer production, we have taken the claim into account and added it to the foundations.

However in any team related production there are bound to be some mishaps that occur. Our main weakpoint in Exodus was time management. We have had set deadlines on when to have a particular model or environment due in for, yet in some cases it has taken longer than expected. This has had an overall effect on the animation stage. Since some of the keys parts of the scenes havn't been completed on time, our animator has had his work cut out for him. Yet since we are every meaning of the word team, we will all pitch in to help as best we can in the animation stages to get the final piece done and dusted.

The main focus of my problems has been undoubtedly character modelling. Our aim was to make a couple of characters or one pristine character and change the way they look. Yet I was having trouble with the bottom half of the character. In the end up, I had to skip all detail and design some robotic legs for the chracter. I'm not delighted with the idea because it looks like i've been lazy, but time is drawing to a close for the development stages. If I was to have a little more time or to redo this project, I would indeed create a couple more characters to place into the bar scene, both wrecked an clear versions.

Character Finished!

All the hard work paid off and i've finally finished our main character for the trailer! Its taken alot of time and a few shortcuts but team Exodus now have an actor to play with.

Polys: 16,580
Verts: 13,932

So much for a low poly character... I'm just now hoping that the scene will render properly.


I will update rendered scene where our character has a bone structure, many different poses and props etc.

Bits and bats... and swords

Just a little update on the prop front, I was so wrapped around character modelling these past couple of weeks I forgot about props!

Heres a concept that will probably be used in the final production.

Get yer kit off!

Had a big leap in the battle for creating clothes for the character, as ever its a very simple series of steps, just needed to perceiver with it and find a starting point.


Ive got as far as creating a jacket and a tshirt for the character. PLEASE NOTE! I understand the textures I have picked for the models are quite... dire. Just getting the layout to a decent standard and maybe get a cloth modifier thrown in for the jacket, texture sampling comes later!



Its a great feeling to feel that the modelling part of this project is coming to a close, next stop, animation... great.









Pants are to come, our character doesn't really fit the profile of a social flasher.