Week Summary - BA3b Week 10

Low-Poly Model

I've started adding some basic planes (highlighted here in red) that I'll be combining with a transparency map to create fur tufts that I hope will add a little volume to the figure and make it appear more fluffy and less sleek. I saw this technique used by Danette Beatty in a few of her models, and I thought it would work really well here despite the style not being exactly the same.

The actual model geometry is pretty much done now, I've been making sure to check the silhouette often with the model flat-shaded to get a better feel for how it's going to read; this was really helpful for placing the teeth in particular.

Below I've added a few more fur planes just to round off the distribution to something a little more natural.

I had to redo my UV map a few times, as I kept seeing places where it could have been better laid out, and adjusted accordingly. Because of the fact that my texture includes a lot of gradients that have to align at the seams, the more in-line I can keep the edge loops on the texture the better. Below is my initial UV followed by my most recent one. 

I've also been very careful about the texel density on this model, because I ran into some issues with that on the last one. It helps that I'm not painting on the facial features this time, but I still wanted to be careful, and with the fur being painted across the whole figure rather than it just being a block colour, it's important that the density is consistent across the model.

Below is my initial texture - used just to block out my colours and identify areas where seams might be an issue - applied to my new UV layout.

In terms of timescale, I'm slightly behind schedule, but I'm still confident that I can get everything done. Ideally, I'd like to have my rig finished by the end of next week so that I have the next week to animate, and then submission week to construct showreels and put together my work for submission.

Wax Model

This week, we were adding shoulder muscles and the beginnings of the upper arm muscles. I found the inverse relationship between the way the biceps sit on the arm and how the hamstrings sit on the upper leg really interesting, and that similar functioning also helps me to remember the positioning better. I'm curious as to how this is reflected in quadruped animals, as their limb construction isn't so dissimilar in terms of what bones are present even if their lengths and positions are varied, so I'd be interested to see how this applies to muscles as well.

BlueZoo Application

I also applied for two internships at BlueZoo Animation this week, for the positions of Visual Development Artist and 3D Artist. I feel that either one of these positions would be incredibly helpful to me in developing my skillset in their respective areas.

I'm aware and have been told by a mix of people that it would be best for me to pick one or the other area to focus on, however as I'd prefer to work at a smaller studio over a larger one, I feel that breadth of ability will serve me well. Depending on what path I do end up taking, I may well end up specialising, but for the moment I'd prefer to keep my options open. 

Week Summary - BA3b Week 9

Low-Poly Model

I've made a start on the second model this week, really trying to stick to nice blocky shapes and strong forms. Continuing my folklore theme, this character is based on the Buggane, a large ogre-like creature who's famed for tearing the roof from a church time after time.

In a game situation, I would be using my initial character as a player character or potentially a friendly NPC, whereas this character would be used as an enemy to be avoided, and so the overall look is a little scarier while still keeping to the same simple and fun visual style as the first. I've also tried to design this character as a strong contrast to my fae character; keeping the silhouette top-heavy, giving it big, long arms and smaller legs and using a more monochromatic colour scheme to provide a foil to the other character. 

While I started with symmetrical silhouettes, I found that I really liked the idea of making the character a little more off-kilter, which is quite visually fun and lends the design a certain quirkiness I really enjoy. For the overall shape, I drew from gorillas and other designs of large and intimidating characters, and I think the final result has a good balance to it despite being lopsided. I also made a point of roughly planning out my topology in 2D for this design, to make it easier for me to visualise when I came to the 3D part of the process and to double-check that the design was one that would translate well to 3D.

I skipped creating a rear view or full model sheet for this design in favour of trying to get the actual model started as quickly as possible. In a studio situation I would be putting much more care into making the design as clear as possible for others to work from, but in this situation, where I'm going to be the only one interpreting the design, I felt that this was sufficient to move on with. 

Making sure to keep my initial model in the scene as a reference for the visual style I'm aiming for, I started constructing using mainly low-poly cylinders, making use of the bend and flare deformers where needed to maintain a smooth variation of shape. Given the short amount of time left for the project, I've decided not to rig the hands and leave them just as fists. I've been making sure to consider my rigging options throughout this process and think ahead, and I may have to rethink the arms when it comes to that point given their curve, but this would be a fixable issue, and I should be able to surmount it without having to edit the geometry by using locators to place the joints. 

For this model, because it's a lot chunkier and because I felt that the last one looked a little flat from some angles, I've decided to model the facial features into the geometry. I like the look of it so far, and, may try to rig the eyes and mouth instead of the hands when the time comes.

I constructed the teeth the same way as I did the hair on the last model, using bend deformers on a merged cylinder. The final result for this method looks really good I think, and I'm overall very pleased with the 2D to 3D transition so far. 

Wax Model

The humerus is now constructed and the lower arm bones have been coated in preparation for muscle additions.

Aside from the above, I've added the serratus muscles, another part of the anatomy that appears to be fairly variable between people in terms of how it connects to the ribs, as well as the shoulder girdle, consisting of the scapula and clavicle, which were added together for the sake of ease and simplicity. I'm finding this whole shoulder area very interesting to study, as it's one I've often struggled to understand in the past, and I'm looking forward to fleshing this area out more.