Evaluation of Final Model

Evaluation Time

   Overall, I had a ton of fun modelling my rifle, despite the countless frustrations. In terms of form, I feel that the shape and silhouette immediately tells you that this is a sniper rifle. The cogs, gears and gas canister should be giving away the steampunk theme well enough.
   For the functionality, or whether it looks like it would work, I think that I could have spent more time gathering resources of people holding weapons such as this, so I would create a more correctly proportioned model. I'm not 100% sure a player model could successfully wield the weapon without some issue. Other than that, it looks like it would fire straight... ish.
   Now, one part of me wants to say, "there are parts of this model that are boring and flat" (the ammo clip, for example). However, another part of me is screaming, "please, no more details, I don't understand unwrapping well enough!". In fact, upon learning about unwrapping, I was tempted to remove some pieces of my model. So that I might have more of a chance of finishing with a complete, unwrapped and textured model. But instead, I felt that the details were what was making the model pleasing for me to look at, so I decided against that. My favourite detail to add were the cogs behind the grate, which really set off the steampunk feel. They were also not concepted, and I found that it was fun to not follow a concept when modelling.
   I am satisfied with my mesh at the end. I had to remake some parts, after realising how mistakes I had made were affecting other sections of the model. I am aware that the rivets don't necessarily need to be modelled, and instead can be done with texturing, and lightmaps etc. But, of course, I haven't the required skill. However, there were no massive mistakes in the mesh that I know of, so that's a plus.

The unwrap is sketchy, so far. However the wood and metal textures I've picked out made the render quite pretty looking. I chose a dark, natural wood, for a finish that makes the weapon seem aged. The copper/brass textures had some handy wear and tear markings on them, that I managed to make use of on the gas canister.

Here is the current render. It's most definitely subject to change, as I want to work more on the model's unwrap (you can still see some obvious tearing in the textures). Despite learning about three point lighting, I decided to use only two lights on this render. This is because my third light felt as though it was ruining the moodyness of the scene that I'd achieved with just the first two lights. I especially like the sharp specular being picked up on the spring.

I'm not sure what else to evaluate. I'd like a run through of what's expected in this evaluation, that would be cool.

Geometric Theory

Geometric Theory

There are a range of 3D softwares used throughout the media, such as Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, Lightwave and more. Many game studios are now using softwares such as Maya and 3DS Max, and moving away from programs such as Lightwave. Mudbox and Zbrush are also used heavily in videogames and movies, typically for more organic models.

Mesh Construction Techniques

Box Modelling

Box modelling is a common way to use Maya to create a 3D representation of your concept. So, you start with the base primitive shapes; cube, cylinder, sphere, pyramid etc. Next, we can edit the mesh of the shape, by adding further subdivisions, which will give us more leeway with shaping the cube later.

Here I've added subdivisions to each the height, width and depth. Then, I can select specific faces, and use the extrusion tool to add more complexity to the mesh.

This creates more faces, edges and vertices, thus developing the mesh. Box modelling is great for producing a rough draft of your final product.

Extrusion Modelling

With extrusion modelling, instead of starting with a primitive shape, you would start from what would be an edge of your model, using NURBS. This gives you lots of accuracy with creating bends and curved shapes. After the lines are made, extrusion tools would be used to start forming the model around the lines you have created.

Displaying 3D Models

Direct3D and OpenGL are application programming interfaces (APIs) that are used in consoles; the xbox uses Direct3D. This allows the graphics card to access greater performance through hardware acceleration. Granting more detail to a game environment, and features such as anti-aliasing and mipmapping.

Direct3D provides a specific pipeline for the work process of the GPU:

1. Input Assembler
2. Vertex Shader
3. Hull Shader
4. Tesselation stage
5. Domain Shader
6. Geometry Shader
7. Stream Output
8. Rasterizer
9. Pixel Shader
10. Output Merger

Of course, Direct3D and OpenGL aren't just used in video games, but anywhere that high performance graphics are required, like in simulation.

Pre-Rendering vs. Real-Time Rendering

Pre-rendering is a process typically used in the film industry, where a scene is not rendered by the playback device, but instead is a recording of a scene rendered on another machine. This allows you to use a more powerful computer (or perhaps multiple computers) to render your scene, creating much higher levels of detail with many more polygons in the scene, higher resolution textures. Of course, the downside is that it lacks interactivity, thus why it isn't used greatly in video games. Pre-rendered lightmaps allow for much more realistic lighting, however they are not convincing inside a game engine, as they won't react to changes in light very well.

Real-time rendering is done on the playback device, leaving a scene fully interactive. Due to this, it restricts the level of detail available in the scene. A lower number of polygons, and lower resolution textures, are allowed. However, as technology progresses and hardware becomes faster, our poly count is always on the rise. Lighting in real-time means that dynamic shadows can be cast, like from a torch being held by the player, for example.

Worklog #2 - 29/10/13

Worklog time! It's long overdue. So, in terms of development of designs, 3 ideas were settled on, and orthographics were made for each design (handcuffs, cane and rifle). The rifle went from a melee/sniper weapon hybrid to a steampunkified rifle for only the most gentlemanly of marksmen.

3D MODEL PROGRESSION PICTURES INCOMING

I can't find any version of the file that's older than this. Blocking out the proportions and shapes.

Making adjustments to length of the barrel, 'cause the rifle seemed a bit stumpy.

Creating the gears was troublesome at first, but once I figured out a simpler method to achieve the geometry, it became much easier.

Beginning to dislike the shape of a few pieces of the rifle. The back piece, attached to the spring, and the trigger. The trigger was just a hole, and it just seemed out of place. The shoulder-guard's shape was too round and didn't fit in to the aesthetic of the rest of the model.

Added finishing touches to the ammo clip and shoulder guard.

A closer look at some of the finer details inside the rifle, behind the grate.

And a peek at the wireframe.

As you can see, I decided to model the rifle. I'm on to unwrapping now (have been for several weeks), however I'm having trouble with getting my head round it. I feel a little unstable and lost while doing it, despite it being demonstrated to me twice now. I fear I won't have a fully textured model at the end, due to the fact that I couldn't have possibly taken in to account the fact that I had to unwrap and texture my model, as it wasn't explained to me until after I'd finalized my model. Had I known this prior, I'd have kept some simpler shapes/added less detail, because right now I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew.

Now, in terms of Photoshop, I am worried once again, as I don't have access to a tablet at home. So, finishing my piece off with the mouse will be both frustrating and unsatisfactory. With only having learnt some Photoshop basics in the penultimate week of college (which I had to ask for), I only had 3-4 days at college to make use of the tablets. The same goes for watercolours, for most people.

All in all, I'm unhappy with how this module has been laid out. Organisation was low, we were being given tasks that we didn't know about half way through the 6 weeks. We spent many sessions being left to our own devices, when many wanted to learn software techniques that'd be helpful to us. A full "to do list" was only presented to us on the 5th week of the module. This would've been nice to have on day 1. It felt like there was a lack of communication between each of the tutors. And whenever I asked for critique on something, I often just received a shrug. I feel like criticising the technicalities of a drawing, or the quality of a model's mesh is important to progress. Being told that "it looks alright" is far too vague.

I realise that this is less of a worklog now, more of a complaintlog or something. And I'm aware that this probably isn't the best place to be expressing how I feel about the course, and instead I should be speaking to tutors directly. But I guess I'm a coward.

Anyway, I look forward to the start of the next module, and to hopefully see that it's handled better.

Oh, lastly, I definitely didn't take enough notes on this module. I need to grab me a physical notepad and whip it out ALL the time. I've been using my iPod's notepad, but it's too limited.

Primary and Secondary Resources

Firstly, a primary resource is an image that you have taken yourself, or even something that is right in front of you, like a fruit bowl, or a nude woman. A secondary resource is an image that someone else has created. Images in a concept art book, for example.

                  (An example of a secondary image)

Primary images are a great reference, since you've taken them yourself, you will be looking at exactly what you need to be creating what you desire - angle, scene, objects will all be how you want them. Even the colours and mood will all be set by yourself. All be-it, they can be tougher to get a hold of. Firstly, you'd need a camera, but more importantly you need to be able to find/create the sources you want to capture. For example, primary observation for landscapes would mean you must explore in order to find what you are looking for. For the image above, some research of stalagmites would perhaps be useful. Finding a cave full of stalagmites isn't an easy task. This is where secondary recources come in.

You can pool together a large collection of other people's images very quickly nowadays, thanks to search engines. If you need 20-30 photographs of stalagmites or stalactites in a cave, it will take a matter of minutes to amass what you require. This amount of reference is incredibly useful. However, the downside is that you didn't take them yourself, therefore they might not be to the taste of what you want. Perhaps all the photos you find are of concrete stalagmites, when you really wanted more pictures of limestone stalagmites. Maybe the angles of the photographs aren't interesting enough, and you would have liked a different persective. Or, on the contrary, they're much better than any image you could have put together yourself, and prove a higher quality reference.

A good balance of the two is perfect to create an accurate and belieavable scene,object, or creature.

                     (I don't have any way to add a primary image of my own in to here, so here's another secondary instead.)

Worklog #1 - 30/09/2013

Breaking Ben
So, it's been a few weeks now, and the course is coming along quite interestingly. The first drawing exercise I did was to practice sketching basic shapes of the human face. We gradually built up to being tasked to spend as long as we liked on a portrait. I chose Bryan Cranston, as Walter White (Breaking Bad). This is as far as I got with ~2.5 hours. The shape of the head is way off (top-right), and the beard looks too neat, with many hairs going in the same direction. However, it is striking at first glance (light/dark contrast), so I'm happy with that.

After this, we moved on to practice perspective. Starting with 1 and 2 point (later moving on to "2.5" point). This was an enjoyable exercise for me, as it has been a while since I've drawn something accurately in perspective. I realise now that it's a technique I should be practising much more often, as it will help greatly with transferring concepts in to a 3D space.
I also greatly enjoyed working with the felt markers, to recreate a horror-themed bathroom. My goal was to work as quickly as I could - as I have a habit of taking a lot time on my work, as a result of caring too much as to where my next line goes -, giving a much more fluid and natural feel to the piece. (No picture as of yet, I intend to retrieve it for the blog).

I feel as though I'm having trouble tapping in to my creativity, during lessons with Ben, I need to free up my mind a little. However, I think that it is quite restricted by my inexperience with Maya, as most of the things that I like to create are biological and organic.

Photoshopping
Our first Photoshop lesson was interesting. We were left to our own devices, with the only direction being, "grab some images and manipulate them". I ended up with this (Right).
The week after, things got even more fun. The tablets were unleashed upon the class, clearly over-loved - covered in bruises and scratches. My task that lesson was to use the mouse to draw something for 1 hour, then to use the tablet to draw something for another hour. I decided to pick something that made picking out differences between the two tools easy to spot; a sphere. I spent a full hour, drawing a sphere with the mouse. It came out okay, kinda rugged, not well shaded. However, to come out with a better result with the tablet, it took around 15-20 minutes. So, for the rest of the lesson, I doodled some other things, like portraits, eyeballs... y'know, guy stuff.


Maya and Me (and Simon)

Throughout our lessons with Simon, we've been learning new techniques in Maya. Extrusion was a big one, in our first real task, which was creating a chair (accurately, from reference). Now that we've been given our first grand project of designing Sci-Fi assets to a game, I'm now working on coming up with concepts, leading to authographics of said concepts, and then finally, the 3D model.
My first concept of a weapon (Left). This design was critiqued by Ben and he, thankfully, pointed out that it was just too close to my reference (Crescent Moon, RWBY). When the base sniper-rifle image was my own (Right), the concept and shape of the scythe attached to it were too similar. I argued that the shape of a scythe isn't going to really change, but it couldn't be disputed, and the idea is being altered. Currently going for a more "blunt" approach. Other than this weapon, I have ideas of sticking with a law enforcement (or just enforcement) theme. Steampunk shackles/hand-cuffs have been doodled, a sci-fi whip (likely to drop this), and also a steampunk cane - because gentlemanly law enforcement is the future, Sir.


Drewday Tuesdays
Sitting at the front of the class, with the teacher chatting away about art history sounds like a bore. Not with Drew. So far, the most dreaded part of the course, has been sufficiently stimulating, and quite enjoyable. Powerful PPPs from Drew on some of the most iconic art, and relevant artistic movements, have led me to seek out some of my own enlightenment. I sat, and I watched Blade Runner. Throughout the film, I could see how so much influence has come from it - I was nearly lulled in to re-installing Deus Ex. Some of the scenes were truly awesome. I particularly liked J.F. Sebastian's house; creepy.
I digress. Drew has set us on a quest to forge an art gallery, to step in to the curator's shoes. We formed groups - Myself, Chris and Chad - and picked a decade from the last century (the 80s, for us). We split the research up between us. I took music, Chris looked at general disasters/tragedies/historic events, and Chad looked at films and games. Through my research, I've discovered extensive amounts of British New Wave music, and Rock 'n' Roll. However, a track by David Bowie called Time Will Crawl has struck me most, as it's based on the Chernobyl incident, which was a huge tragedy in the 80s. Thus, linking historical events, and music together. Showing how it can influence art.

Worklog-Bot will see you in a week or two!

Bzzzzzt-bye!~

3D Modelling

3D Modelling

3D models have been around in our games and films for decades, slowly evolving, growing more and more polygons. Until we get to the incredibly detailed, hard-to-determine-if-real-or-not 3D work that we have today.

In a game, set in an interactive world, such as the Elder Scrolls games from Bethesda, 3D models are brought to life with animation. Unlike animation in a film, where it's all scripted and the animator knows exactly what his model needs to do. The animator for the game would have to take in to account all of the inputs that a player has at their disposal, and give many animations to one model that flow together, ready to be performed in any random sequence that the player desires. In turn, this makes it tougher to create an immersive universe in a game, rather than in a film.

Geologists will sometimes create 3D renders of land. Here you see a landscape split in to tiers, so to aid their study of it. Earthquakes can be simulated, so that the scientists know better of the destructive capabilities, if an earthquake were to hit the land they were studying. 3D modelling, entertaining and protecting us. Unlike modelling in a creative field, scientists must remain accurate and precise with their work, so to create reliable findings. So, the modeller must stay true to the geography of the land. If a mistake were made, that makes the results far less reliable. However, if an artist were to make a mistake on a film or game, they would only lose the audience's belief.

Architects have been using 3D models to demonstrate to their clients how their design would look when it's complete. The 3D render also allows the client to see it from any angle desired, giving a much more accurate representation of the complete design. Unlike a modeller in the games industry, an architect doesn't need to animate his design, nor do they need to create a fully fleshed out universe to envelope their design. Only a partial look at the surrounding architecture would be required, in order for the client to have an idea of what their building would look like in it's real space.

3D modelling in the film industry is different to most, in the way that the models (in many cases) must be thrown in to a real world, our world, and still look like they exist there. Whereas in games, the models are all built around each other, creating a believable space. A modeller in a game can create his own light sources, bend and manipulate how his scene looks with no restriction. In film, there are restrictions. For example, this screenshot from Cloverfield is set at night, and so most of the light that will bounce off of the monster will come from the street, where the lamps are on. There will be some light from explosions, and lastly the spotlights from the helicopters over head. If the artists didn't take in to account all of the light sources on the set, the monster would look out of place, and wouldn't scare anyone.

Of course, there are other films that are completely comprised of CGI, for example, Avatar. An entire world designed as a film set.

A Fleshy Moodboard

Sci-fi, to me, means slippery, mutated limbs. All of these images have a common theme of organic tissue. Sci-fi can craft evolution, whether in the future, or in an alternate universe. I think it's great because biology isn't very restrictitve. As long as you can loosely justify a creature, and make it look as though it functions (proportion, movement etc), you basically have free reign over it's design. On the contrary, metal panels and pulsing lights of Sci-fi ships/buildings can only be arranged in so many ways to fit a purpose.

Curation

My group (Myself, Chris and Chad) have decided to look at the 80s. We have decided to split up the task force in to seperate research groups. Chris has taken the liberty of looking at disasters in the 80s, such as Chernobyl. Chad was looking at film/media. And I researched music in particular. I concluded that there was a lot of hair in the 80s. Soon we will pool together our research and spot the links and messages that rippled through the 80s.

Art Movements

The Gothic Period

The looming spires of the Cathedrals, inspired by Gothic design, give a real sense of power and fear. They give more meaning to the term "God fearing Christian". Similarly how the giant arches one must walk under in order to enter "the house of God" compell you to believe that something much bigger than mere man walks through them. The vast detail on each face, window and arch is awe inspiring. Yet, also shows how far too much money is thrown at out-dated ideas and imaginings, and how willing people are to contradict their own teachings.

The Gothic era is heavily apparent in games such as Assassin's Creed, where cityscapes are littered with Gothic style religious and political buildings. The vast detailings and sculptures smartly disguise the game's parkour mechanic. Colossal bell towers become a playground, along with pidgeon droppings and bales of hay.

Have you found JC yet?

Justin Currie is a Canadian artist whose artwork has struck me in the past week. His most recent pieces have been roboticising comic book characters, such as Batman, or TMNT. There are obvious steampunk influences in characters such as Joker, with corkscrews, nuts and bolts. But what yanked at my attention the most was how clear his brush strokes were. You could see the direction of his hand, giving a big sense of motion, even on a static image (in a static pose). Harsh, jagged lines create sharp edges that portray a real sense of evil and hatred, which of course is what the Joker character embodies.

Jen Zee dwells in the US, working with Supergiant Games on their upcoming title Transistor. However, Ms Zee caught my eye when she developed the stunning art of Bastion. Her concepts of The Kid were also riddled with steampunky references (the musket and bellows). The cold colours of the piece reinforce the world of loneliness that The Kid is thrown in to.