Week Summary - BA3b Week 5

Low-Poly Model

The model geometry is now finished, and I've completed an initial UV layout which I think is reasonably well done. Certain areas are a little rough, but as this is going to be a flat-shaded model I can allow for a little of that in the UVs, although I have tried to keep things to as professional a standard as possible. 

I had a couple of discussions with a tutor about proper topology flow, below is the topology before tweaks.

In particular, I'd made a lot of adjustments to the side profile since last week to keep a strong line of action intact.

Below is the initial facial topology I had, and then the tutor's example of proper edge loops that I worked my edited version off of.

Below again is the finished geometry.

I've opted to model in the nose and mouth instead of painting them onto the surface because of the effect it gives to the face profile, making it much less flat and giving it some visual interest, though I will paint the eyes into the model's texture map. This approach means I can animate the eyes fairly easily if I want to by making gif animations for the model's texure and applying them to the model in Unreal, without having to spend an excessive amount of time rigging eyes present in the geometry.

I've also started on the texturing of the model with an initial UV map. I've kept the colours true to the original concept for now, but may tweak them moving forward.

Wax Model

This week was a review session going over the anatomy of the leg, it was a really useful exercise and really helped me to mentally nail down the muscle groups and locations. I feel like this knowledge has definitely made an impact in my work so far, and will continue to moving forward.