3D week 8

For this week, we scanned photographs and created 3D models of faces, from pictures of faces.
We were given the opportunity to work with our own faces and to create 3D models of our selves, this was something I agreed on doing. We took something around maybe 10 pictures from different angles and were then supposed to use Autodesk 123D Catch to create the mesh of our faces. Unfortunately, this proved to be difficult to do with the limited amount of knowledge of the software and the limited amount of time to do it in.
So in the end I had to use someone else’s face. When doing this we were supposed to redo the topology of the mesh, we did this by using 3D coat.

Unfortunately, most of the work I did was centered around the eye socket and I got no further than this. The reason why was because I actually recreated the topology around the eyes 3 times. This was because of the first 2 times ending up weird and ultimately unusable. The main issue I had actually came from a poor understanding of the way that edge loops worked and their importance when modelling something organic. So most of what I did was centered around getting a better understanding of the edge loops and in the end I got about as far that I was just about to start breaking the loops and start with the rest of the face and connecting the eye geometry.

 

When I read about ”The vanishing of Ethan Carter” nothing of what they did really surprised me. The reason was because all of what they had done with their photo realistic models was already something that I understood to be possible when we first started dabbling in it.
This is not to say that I’m claiming that I would be able to do something similar, it was just obvious to me that it would be possible. The first thing I started thinking about when we started with this was ”how big could I go?” and considering that the requirement is to be able to take photos all around the object, then houses and such seemed very possible.
What is impressive however, is that they appear to have done it so much, and considering how time consuming  it must have been. The whole idea of using this method to create meshes is very interesting to me and it is something that I would like to explore further, although, I’m not sure I would take the risk of trying to create a game with it as a base tool. I would probably just use it to experiment and to see what I could do with it.

Part 2: assignment 3 update 

This is what the finished mesh for assignment 3 looks like!

 

The tricount I reached was 2900 which I am quiet satisfied with since the goal was 3000. I’m feeling satisfied with the work so far, hopefully I wont have as much trouble with the texture this time around!

 

3D week 7

For this week we were supposed to bring some of our 2D drawings to try and see how well we knew our anatomy. Naturally this meant that we were supposed to bring examples of our character drawings, not environment drawings.

So this is the character that I got the most feedback on:

(Once again, the resolution of the image appears to be bad, sorry)

So the major part of the feedback that I got from the people who looked at it was regarding the way I angled the character. The shoulders are twisting in a strange way in comparison to the lower body. This was something I was aware of from the 2D course we took. It is worth noting that this is the ”best” I’ve achieved and I don’t think this is a lack of knowledge regarding the anatomy of the human body, but rather an issue I have with illustrating things in 2D drawings. The length of the body/legs/arms appeared to be correct though, even if the area where the legs start is hard to define. This is because of the chainmail that is hanging over that area of the body.

The main issues I might have with anatomy is the way the faces are built and just looking at this picture, it is obvious that I spent a lot more time on the arm than on most of the rest of the body. The issue with creating bodies that can do things that a regular body can (in other words, not bending in a way that would be impossible for humans) is something that I can easily work on and get better at. What I would need to do is simply try and make the poses myself to try and see what my body is capable of, this of course, along with a lot of training.
The issue regarding the anatomy of faces however is going to be far more tricky. This is something I have realized when working with both 2D art and 3D modelling. In 2D and 3D I have a much easier time drawing/constructing objects than I have with characters. What I have realized with the help of the art courses since I started studying was that I have a hard time imagining a face. I do not know the reason behind this, but to try and explain this in a more understandable way: When spending time with someone I know really well (friend or family), if I close my eyes and try to envision their faces that does not present any trouble for me. However, if I were to leave them for around 30-60 minutes, that’s when trying to recall their faces begin to give me trouble. When imagining objects however, I do not appear to have the same problem. This is something I have tried working on but the only solution I have come up with really, is just a need to study faces and try to get a better hang of what a face ”usually” looks like.

That whole segment became hard to explain! But hopefully it is somewhat understandable.

Part 2: Assignment 3 update

So given what I was just talking about as well! Here is the update on what the character (work in progress) looks like.

In this picture, the model is still in the middle of stitching the arm to the shoulder, I’m hoping to be able to add more details to the arm in order to make it look more organic, but this all depends on the polybudget and how much I am going to have left when I’ve finished the details on the gasmask as well.

3D week 6

Part 1:

This is the character that I wanted my ”client” to model for me (note that this is not my drawing, this is a concept I found online and it is not going to be used in any way except for educational purposes). The character background I wrote down for the character goes something along these lines:
She is a mummy who died at a very early age, that was in training to become a priestess when she grew up. She was later ”sacrificed” because the priests were afraid of her developing clairvoyance.
Soon after her mummification she returned to walk the earth again.
The character herself has lost most of her humane parts, she does not ”care” if she has to hurt a human (which she does occasionally have to do), but she does prefer not to. Her main motivation, keeping her going is to figure out the meaning of ”life” and to unveil the mysteries of the world. The main ”evil” act she commits is when she steals an eye from a human in order to keep her vision, she is however, kind enough to only steal one eye from any given person. this is

The game itself is a puzzle game, where you play as ”Lady”, the nameless mummy. The game is set in a variation of the real world, in present time. The ”varitation” comes in the form of a slightly more mysterious world, where nothing is impossible. ”Lady” has over the span of her lifetime, found out a lot of things about the workings of religions, miracles and the supernatural. These are the kinds of things you search for in the game as well. The world is mainly inhabited by humans, with a very restricted amount of supernatural creatures and with ”Lady” being the only one of her kind. There have been known sightings of Vampires as well (among other things).

Her own religion has lost meaning at this point, but her upbringing as a priestess and the rituals that were included in that education, still weighs heavily on her personality. There are plenty of reasons why she has lost faith in her old religion, among those are the fact that she has investigated all religions, both present and past, during her lifetime. In this research she has found that the miracles connected to religions, and certain parts of all religious texts, have elements of ”truth” in them. This has lead her to believe that there is no ”god”, rather that what humans create can become reality, depending on their own faith in it. In other words, she has reached the conclusion that all things living are, in a way, divine.

Other relevant information regarding the game include that it would be primarily a console game, the camera perspective would be third person. Since it’s mainly a puzzle game, ”rivaling” games would be games like Portal or Antichamber. The game would, however differ from those two titles in aesthetic, perspective and setting.

 

Part 2:

Quick update on the second assignment! This is what the dagger is looking like now!

And since I sort of missed out on the update with the UV last week, here’s what the dagger looks like with the UV checker as well:

(Excuse the resolution, I don’t really know what’s going on with it).

And here is the UV map:

While the UV map has a lot of empty space, there is really nothing I can do to fill it in at the moment, if I were to enlarge the parts more, the blade would stick out of the picture.

 

Part 3:

This is the character that I’ve been given to make a 3D model of, the main thing to take note of is that I won’t be modelling the robot parts of the creature. Instead the model is going to look something like this:

The only non-organic part to be modeled is the gas mask. The creature is called a ”Slig” and is from a world called ”Oddworld”. The creature with all of it’s lore is taken from the game with the same name as the planet ”Oddworld”.

The slig is a disgusting, malevolent creature, that was just recently discovered to possess any kind of intelligence.
They are squid like humanoids that work as henchmen and bodyguards for the “Glukkon Industrialists”. They are supposed to be lazy, violent, cruel and dull minded. In spite of this, they are social beings that enjoy gambling, sports, card games and hunting.
The slig that I will be modelling is around 15 years old, given their lifespan of around 20 years this would be considered “old” (taken into consideration that the years on Oddworld are longer than our earth years).

The parts of the model that could potentially be difficult are for starters the arms. They will consume a large portion of the polycount budget we have been given since the fingers will be modelled individually. Worth noting is that the middle finger is far shorter than the two fingers next to it.
Another thing worth noting is that the proportions in the concept art varies between the pictures. The “tail” on the side view is longer than it is in the front view. Same goes for the top of the slig (the area that would be the spine), it’s locations and proportions are different depending on what view of the concept art you are looking at.
The gasmask might become difficult as well, being uncertain of the amount of polygons that will be consumed on the body as a whole.
The tentacles sticking out from the front of the gasmask might be easy to model and put into place, however, these might also be consuming a lot of the polycount in order to make them look round and organic.