Week Summary - BA3a Week 12

3D Model Project

I had a talk with a tutor this week to work through some issues I'd been having with the model and discuss where I should be going next. It became obvious as we went on that I'd made a few mistakes in my approach thus far, such as making the clothes solid pieces instead of single planes, and I'm considering changing the scope of the project in order to address these issues. Rather than produce a fully retopologised model, I think I should focus more on producing a polished, posed high-poly sculpt, which - while not being what I was originally aiming for - I feel will make for a better portfolio piece than a model that may not look as good as it could do. That said, I have already started some of the retopology, so below are the results of my attempts so far.

The above model was the best result that I managed to produce out of zremesher, but I struggled with trying to preserve the geometry around the protruding sections on the arms in particular and didn't have time to construct these sections manually, which is one of the reasons I think I should change the direction of the project here. I suffered a few crashes this week which limited the amount I actually managed to get done, as well as the fact that I've been going back and forth a lot with the remesher, so I will be using the winter break to catch up.

Wax Model

Adding more leg and hip sections this week, I missed first session due to adverse weather and had to try to catch up at a later session, so I'm still a little behind, but not so much so that I think it will be a problem. Once again I've had some problems with sections staying attached, but I think once I get the model onto the base so that it moves around less this should resolve itself, hopefully. 

Tasks 

No task.

Industry Lecture

We received another industry-focused lecture this week, this time from a more 3D-based perspective. I've been trying to broaden my skill set with this project and branch more into 3D, and I think it's an area I should try to keep improving in to keep myself rounded and versatile. That said, I'm not sure being a 3D specialist is something I want to look at outside of potentially character art.

Week Summary - BA3a Week 11

3D Model Project

I spent most of this week retopologising the lower sections of the coat; they're not the cleanest topologically but I feel like I'm running out of time and would rather have a finished model than a perfect one. I've used a mix of Maya's quad draw tool, deleting faces from remeshed exports using the 'select by angle' tool and using parts of my original meshes to try to get this done as quickly as possible.

For the more organic sections, I've opted to simply use zremesher as I think it will give a quick and reasonably clean result. The process involved a lot of trial and error and I'm still trying to refine my polypaint weighting and remesher guide setup to give me the best result possible.

I will likely do a few more iterations of retopologising to try to get the best result possible.

Wax Model

Adding more surface-level muscles this week, I had some problems with pieces not attaching properly and falling off under their own weight, but I've put them back on and am hoping they stay on this time.

Task

No Task

Guest Lecture

We received a guest lecture from Jake Gumbleton this week which featured an opportunity to receive critique on our work - I submitted this composition exercise from a few weeks ago.

Aside from the fact that the piece could obviously be more tightly rendered, I also received some critique on my colour choices, specifically that they are too literal and could be more carefully chosen to to create harmony in the piece rather than simply being the colour of the object. It's something I hadn't really noticed before in my work and plan to take care of in future pieces as best I can. I was also advised that the boat on the right side of the image breaks up the flow of the composition somewhat, which I also agree with, although I was somewhat aiming for this to try to add some tension to the image. All in all it was a very informative and interesting lecture, and gave a lot of insight into what working in the industry is actually like and what kind of skills I need to be developing to give me the best chances of finding work after graduation.

Week Summary - BA3a Week 10

3D Model Project

I started this week by finishing up the jacket; I had a discussion with a tutor about how best to approach the insets and ended up rebuilding the coat as a solid object and creating the insets as a separate object, to be combined in Zbrush later. 

I've also added some further detail to the hands, as well as making them smaller along with the rest of the forearm. I decided that I would prefer something a little more organic for the join at the elbow, as I don't want to push this too far into mechanical territory, and I like the softness that the clothing folds add here in contrast to the hard planes on the coat and arms.

I also made the accents for the lower half of the coat, and smoothed out the fabric to give it a better finish, while still trying to keep it largely planar, as well as adding some finer detail like stitches to the coat and seams to the trousers. I'm really happy with the overall look of the model at this point, I think that it's landed very close to the level of detail I was aiming for - not too plain, but not too busy- although I am still behind where I would have liked to be by this time. I'm starting to feel like I may have to abandon the idea of having the model game-ready, though I would still very much like to get it posed and at least put some flat colours on it before the end of the project.

Wax Model

This week's session was a little different from usual, using soft wax and focusing on posing and a looser kind of sculpting. We started with an exercise using our smaller models from the start of the year, posing them against a photograph. It was interesting to think about the weight distribution and considering the pose in three dimensions rather than just two. The twist to the spine on this pose was an interesting element to take note of, as well as considering how the movement of the shoulderblade extends the arm.

The second part of the session was dedicated to some more surface-level sculpting, the task being to sculpt a pair of hands posed into the British sign language symbol for the first letter of our name. Mine was 'A,' which wasn't a particularly complex pose, but I really enjoyed the experience. We created the base models using pieces sized against a diagram for consistency, but I found the looser parts of the sculpt very rewarding and enjoyed the experience of applying my anatomical knowledge in a 3D context, as well as the general experience of sculpting like this, which I found very meditative. I would have liked to refine it a little more, but unfortunately ran out of time in the session, but I would love to do more of this kind of sculpture in the future.

Tasks

This week's task was to create a creature design based on one of several creatures from various mythologies. I chose the haetlik to base my creature on, as I wanted to try something a little out of my comfort zone, which is usually humanoid characters. I started out with my usual process, which I think could do with a little reworking to bring up some new ideas, as I think I'm starting to fall into repetitive patterns with my shapes and designs.

I really tried for an arrow/spear motif here given their use as something like a throwing weapon, considering how force would be applied to the body in that situation and how a creature like that would withstand the impact. I settled for interlocking plate-like carapace pieces that support the spine and neck but have exposed sections in-between that allow for flexibility. The feathers are intended for manoeuvring but also help to balance the silhouette. I would have liked to put more time into the design and colour scheme, as well as the final painting, which ended up being rather simple and rushed, but given the limited time allowed for the task I had to condense my process somewhat. 

Week Summary - BA3a Week 9 (Reading Week)

3D Model Project

I've been polishing up more of the sculpting this week, really trying to work on strong, sculptural, Leyendecker-style folds. It took me a few tries to get the folds around the legs looking how I wanted to; even with references the cut I've chosen for the trousers isn't particularly a standard one and required some thought to get to a place I was happy with.

I also finished up work on the hair and the hood and added some detail to the torso; I used masking for this section and the extrusion tool to keep the depth consistent, as well as the morph target tool to bring it back in places where needed. I've added some placeholder joints to the arms for now to come back to later.

I also worked a little more on the coat - trying to figure out how to approach the insets is still something of a problem for me and I've been trying out several methods to see which is most effective and easiest to do.

Modelling

Adding more of the muscles this week, adductor groups and hamstrings. I had some trouble with getting some of the wax to stay on so we'll see how the model fares over the next week and whether I'll have to make any fixes.

TIGA session

I used this material cube (coral) as a way to experiment with how to create some depth quickly and easily. In this instance I used four base layers, working in greyscale, with layer styles to give each layer some depth, followed by a gradient map and then a multiply layer to give the cube some more dimension. The overall effect is one I'm unsure of; I think it perhaps works at a glance, but could do with more painting to really look convincing. At the current moment, I think it looks a little flat and I'm not very happy with the physicality of it.

The second part of the task was a concept painting, once again using alchemy for initial composition and then moving into photoshop.

I think I fell into a similar pattern as I have previously, using too much noise in my initial thumbnails. While I tried to simplify the composition afterwards and I think it has a decent foundation, I also think I need a lot more practise in the area. In general, I feel the values here are very muddy, and the image overall lacks depth, I'm not really at all happy with it and I think I could do a lot better. I may try to repaint this at some point in the future to make some improvements with a fresh eye - I think the piece has some interesting light sources, and could have potential given a rework.

Personal Work

I've also been part of a multiple animator project recently, working on a short piece of animation to appear as part of a larger video. I've been working on it on and off for the last month or so, and while I've dipped in and out of animation projects in the past, this is the first that I've attempted in any kind of colour and to music rather than a dialogue track. I'm reasonably happy with the overall result, though I would have liked to try something a little more complex and in something more than flat colour. It comes closer to an animatic than a real piece of animation, but I worked out some ways of making it feel lively without being incredibly smooth, just by adding some slight bounce to the character movement.