Inspirational Model Update - Modelling of the legs

This post will show you my current standings with the inspirational model with regards to the schedule made a few weeks ago.

Again, like with the body post, below will be several screenshots that I have annotated; describing the process of creating the leg model and the next step for it:

The first two images show what the character currently looks like within the modelling stage. 

The final image is of a close up shot of the actual leg model itself. Like said in the schedule, I started modelling the leg by creating a basic primitive box and then I added extra edges, converted it into an editable poly and shaped the leg as close as I could possibly get it. 

To create a smoother look to the character I added a 'Turbo Smooth' to the legs and body, however by using carefully placed edges around the model, it allows me to control the amount of smoothness; so that the model doesn't become too smooth and it then looses its shape.

Week 12 - Character sketches 3

Here are some generic character sketches that I did for week 12; again like said before I am trying to do different characters every week to practice and iron out my skills; by sketching different characters it allows me to understand basic shapes and how they fit and merge to create a character, object or building.

Week 11 - Sketch and drawing practice (human detail)

After the lesson this week, I felt inspired to start practicing sketching human elements. I know through my own experience and by talking to artists or watching an interview on them; that getting the head structure and hand structure right is very hard as there is so much detail.

I decided to practice my drawings of heads/ faces and hands:

The portrait sketch that I originally tried didn't work very well as all the proportions were wrong; because of this I decided to research tips and hints for getting the correct structure and proportions, by following the step by step lessons and tips, I understood more on human head structure.
Below is the 'template' for head drawing that I created:

The template lines the have been drawn allow me to see how the eyes line up with the ears and the mouth.






















Below is my hand sketch:

With regards to the hand sketch I just used my own hand as a reference to get the shape and detail down. 

Week 10 - Character sketches 2 (mech designs)

To practice my drawing skills and further develop my skills, I try to make some character sketches every week.

This week I felt like trying to create my own mech characters, below are the designs I came up with:

I drew inspiration for these character's from the Transformer's brand.

I find the mechanics of transformers pretty cool and interesting  because these character's have body parts that can bend, fuse and combine with other to change their appearance altogether.

The annotations within the sketches help to show my ideas for them if I were to develop them further.

Inspirational Model Update - The model of the body

As stated in my Inspirational Model Schedule blog, this week the main section of the character will be modeled.

Below are some screen shots to help illustrate my comments:

Here are the layout panels that I used to start off the modelling process.

I scanned in my sketches of the inspirational model.

By right clicking on my scanned digital image and selecting 'proprieties', it allowed my to see the dimensions of the images.

I then opened 3DS Max; and created two panels, and positioned them like seen to the left.

I then loaded the image files to the corresponding panel by selecting the file and dragging and dropping it into 3DS Max, onto the panel.




By doing this, it allows me to model in a rough, but proportionally accurate shape for the model.

I began modelling the head and body as one mesh, I started with a panel and shaped the oval head, using extrudes. As I brought the head to a close (at the bottom) I left a hole, as this allowed my to extrude downwards to create the neck and then the body.

Week 9 - Sketch Drill Assignment

In week 9 the tutor ran a drill which involved the whole class sketching three images, which the tutor had chosen, within 30 minutes.

Below are the sketches I made and the reference images:

Image sketch 1

Image sketch 2

Image sketch 3

With each of these image sketches (the two buildings and the portraits) I began by shaping in the image; using basic shapes allow me to get a feel for the flow of the image. I then go through an define the lines, slowly creating the shape before adding any final detail. Unfortunately on all the images I did run out of time and I felt rushed to get a fair bit done on each sketch. 

However, performing these types of exercises really do help me in practicing my drawing skills. 

Blogged by Adam Place on 26th November 2013

Inspirational Model Update - The Profile Sketch

As stated in my Inspirational model schedule here are my profile sketches of my model.

These sketches will really help me when I come to model the inspiration piece as I have a front piece and a side piece. Both sketches will allow me to create the correct shape and design of the character; however the side profile sketch will allow me to model the correct proportions and thickness of the character.

When I started the profile sketch of the character I began by roughing in the general shape (as seen above). I used images from Google of the character 'sack boy' and a little figurine I have to create an accurate sketch.

Once I had done this, I then went back over the sketch, drawing in the detail of the character. Sack boy has a unique texture to him; as the has a fabric/ stitched together look. Looking at the image below will help to illustrate my point :

Here (below) is my more detailed sketch of this character:

As you can see, with the detail I have tried to create the fabric look. I have also drawn in the stitches that hold the different parts of the character together. Whilst drawing in the detail, rather than having the character plain with no expression; I added in 'mean' looking eyebrows. To emulate eyebrows on the sack boy the whole forehead of the character folds and moves; the images below help to visualize the description.

Blogged By Adam Place on 25th November 2013

Week 8 - Inspirational model schedule

In this weeks session we were instructed to create a schedule for the creation process of our inspirational model. This will allow us to keep on track with the product and organise our workflows in order to produce a better, more professional standard final model.

Below are the dates and a brief description of what exactly I am planning on doing:

Tuesday 26th November
Week 1 - Sketches

Here I will have a number of sketches for my inspirational model. The sketches will include different variation or the design and positions of the character. 

All the sketches will be scanned into the computer and posted on this blog, so I can further explain my designs and reasons for why I have chosen that design.

These sketches of the character will allow my to study the shape and layout for when I come to model it. By sketching a complete profile (minimum including the front and side) it will make it easier for me to gain the correct proportions.

Tuesday 3rd December
Week 2 - The Model of the body

By this week I will have the main section of the character modeled; which is the head, neck and body.
The method I am going to use is to start out with a plane and extrude downwards, adding extra edge loops and polys to create the smooth shape

Tuesday 10th December 
Week 3 - Modelling the legs

Here I will have modeled the legs of the character, this section is the section I believe will cause me the most trouble as the little ledge at the bottom of the foot needs to be just right for the toes.
To begin with I will create a basic primitive box, align it up, so that it is in the correct place with reference to the character's body. From this I will then add extra edges and polys which will then allow me to shape the box to form the shape of the leg.

Tuesday 17th December 
Week 4 - Modelling the arms

This week I will begin working on the model for the character's arms. I will use the same process as I used to create the legs for this section. The arm of the 'Sack boy' character follows a very similar design as the Lego characters; where their hands are generally in a fixed 'C' shape.

Week 7.2 - Character sketches 1

To improve our drawing skills and abilities and understand more about how character design works, the tutor recommended doing random character sketches as this will help to analyse a character and gain a better feeling of how to sketch our own characters for future purposes.

Below are my two sketches:

Unfortunately after I scanned my images in and tried to upload them to this blog page the quality was very poor and all the black lines were extremely faded; to fix this problem I loaded the files into Photoshop, applied an adjustment to darken the lines and then I saved them as a JPEG file.

This is the character 'R2D2' .

Whilst I was sat down starting my character sketches, I had Star Wars: Return of the Jedi on in the back ground; whist I was sat there I noticed that this character had a very interesting design.

Whilst studying the character on the telly I managed to create this sketch.












This is the character K-9 from the series 'Doctor Who'

This character was inspired by the 'R2D2' character drawn earlier.

After finishing the star wars character sketch, I though it would be good to sketch another mechanical character.





Blogged by Adam Place on 25th November 2013

Week 7.1 - Building sketch exercise

In the last session with the tutor, he set a little sketching assignment, which involved studying buildings and making a quick sketch to capture their design and structure.

Below are my sketches:

Unfortunately after I scanned my images in and tried to upload them to this blog page the quality was very poor and all the black lines were extremely faded; to fix this problem I loaded the files into Photoshop, applied an adjustment to darken the lines and then I saved them as a JPEG file.

When sketching these buildings I decided to do a bit of research into the building's origins. I did this because I really enjoyed analysing the buildings and looks at their curves and shapes.

For the future, if I see an interesting building I will defiantly consider making a quick street sketch and the research more into it.

This exercise defiantly has sparked my interest in buildings and their designs.

Blogged by Adam Place on 25th November 2013

Week 6 - Photoshop image manipulation drill

Within the week 6 lesson of Visual Studies (for video games) our tutor conducted a drill.
This drill was a miniature assessment so the tutor could assess our skills within the software 'Photoshop' and whether or not we had watched the tutorials he had given us.

This drill consisted of finding an image on the internet and manipulating it to look different, with affected assets. The tutorial that was set to prepare us for this drill was the 'Photoshop homework task' that was set last week; and was also blogged and spoken about last week.

He gave us one hour, within lesson, to complete this task.

Below is my manipulated image that I created in this drill:

These are the raw images that I used to create my fantasy manipulated environment.

This, above, is the main city that I had chosen to manipulate; I chose this because I loved the colours and how the buildings were placed, I believed that I would be able to change the sky for a more futuristic atmospheric effect, and also add extra buildings and objects. 

This image above is the planet that was used to create the futuristic sky; the reason why I was drawn to this planet was because I though the rich redness would stick out when applied to the sky of the main city. This would then allow me to introduce some red sky into the scene. 

This image above is the flying ship that is seen within my scene. As I was editing the image of the city, it started to look like an alien planet with a mysterious feel to it. During this process I noticed the sky looked fairly plain, so my idea was to cut the ship out and use it within my scene. This adds to the effect that the planet's city is alien and futuristic at the same time.

This ship stood out to me because it looks alien but yet low in technology, it doesn't look like something that would be seen in a year 5000 city because it looks basic and organic. I though the ship really suited and flowed with the city's image.

The image below is my final produced image:

I felt relatively happy with the result and believed it had a professional finish; although there are sections that can be improved or changed but I believe that will come with more practice.

Below I have also re added the original city image so that you can see the effects and changed assets I produced during the drill. 

Main city (original image)

This is my manipulated image from the one hour drill.

Blogged by Adam Place on 05th November 2013

Week 5 - Homework task - Photoshop

Within week 5 our tutor set us a homework task to follow a Photoshop tutorial, and try to produce something similar and at a near professional finish.

Below is the link to the tutorial that we have to use for reference:

http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/photo-effects-tutorials/fantasy-city/

Below is a JPEG image of my final piece:

Overall I am fairly pleased with the quality of work, seen as how I don't really have any past Photoshop experience. 

I felt a little unprepared and that the homework task was to difficult for me as I, really, have no talent within Photoshop. However, after spending some time working through, researching and watching tutorials in Photoshop I was able to finish the homework task to a fairly decent level. 

This task has helped me learn, and begin to understand more about Photoshop's editing tools; also this task has helped me learn a new skill inside of Photoshop... 'Layer masks' ... these allow you to edit an image locally; rather than it affecting the whole image. 

Blogged By Adam Place on 2no November 2013 

Week 4 - Texture maps

Although our inspiration models will essentially be modeled and created within a 3D software, such as 3DS max, it is important to understand textures, how they are applied to models and what effect they have on the model itself.

When a model is left un-textured it takes away any life and emotion from it. Designers will spend roughly 40% on the model and 60% within a texturing software, such as Photoshop or Zbrush; this is why it is important to home your skills with texturing and understanding color pallets, what works and what doesn't.

The third session with our tutor was all about understanding and setting the foundations for the texturing side of 3D modeling and designing.
Websites such as 'Mayong.com' and 'CG textures' were used for us to collect a:
- Brick texture
- Nature texture
- Metal texture

The task set by the tutor was to collect these textures and create a 'tile map' from each one; this gave us a better understanding of how tiling textures work, it also helped with further familiarizing ourselves with Photoshop.

To begin 'tiling' the textures an offset had to be placed which sort of loops the image round revealing a 'seam' where the texture connects back to itself. In order to remove this seam we had to use the clone tool within Photoshop and manually remove it.
After the seam had be successfully removed we now had to shrink the canvas size down to '512 by 512 pixels'.

Blogged by Adam Place on 18th October 2013

Week 3 - Lighting solution of my inspirational model

Lighting within a 3D environment or on any 3D model can be extremely powerful, it can display emotion and set an atmosphere; which gives a more realistic feeling to the model.

Within the second session the tutor talked about the different lighting solutions that can be used on 3D models; such as directional lighting etc.

At the end of the session he set another assignment, which involved us looking at the different lighting solution and finding one that we may use on top of your models. This isn't a fixed aspect, we are allowed to change it and develop the final piece as the year progresses, and as we grasp a better understanding of the visual studies.

This is my first idea on a possible lighting solution:

I have chosen this type of lighting solution because it is quite a diffused light source. 

The diffusion of the light will land softly on my model's skin and clothing.

Blogged by Adam Place on 09th October 2013

Week 2.5 - Critical feedback on the inspirational model

Within the second lesson the tutor instructed us to get used to giving critical feedback and receiving it. To do this he asked us to turn to the person next to use and provide this feedback and then also to get feedback on our choice of model.

This post are the notes that were taken during the feedback session:

Critical feedback

Jonathan Horner:

His view on my design: 

Thinks my design is ‘awesome’, he likes the colours and the concept of the design.

He thinks that I will struggle with the mouth section, and that I need to be careful to get the correct shape and design; as this area really shows the emotion of the character.

To possibly improve this Jonathan thinks that I could change the stance to make it more personal and tailored to me. If I were to change the stance I will experiment with change by drawing out sketches and see how they affect the overall image of the character.

My view on his design: 

Jonathan’s inspiration has come from one of his sketches. He has sketched a jester holding a cane.
The design is really nice and clean and I think it’s a clever idea.

However, the positioning of his character was in a ‘happy jump’, almost reaching to the sky with one hand. The emotion of the character is quite sinister and I told him that I believe the emotion on the face doesn’t match the current positioning and stance of the character.

Also he originally had the character’s hat off; I expressed my opinion that the hair might be difficult to cleanly and professionally model and texture to a professional level. My improvement to this issue was to keep the hat on the character and have it slanted downwards creating a drop shadow on the character’s face; this would help to support the sinister emotion.


Blogged by Adam Place on the 09th October 2013

Week 2.4 - My inspiration model

Within the first lesson of the module we met our tutor and got to know what we will be doing within this module.

Our first assignment was to find an inspiration scene, character, object or vehicle that we want to strive to model in 3DS Max by the end of the year.

The image above is my inspiration model.

By the end of the year I am wanting to model all the aspects of this character, however I may change a few elements and the positioning of the character, but that will be decided as I work through the year.

I chose this character because I think it is something unique and different; and I feel extremely determined to model this to the best of my ability. I look forward to modelling this character.


Blogged by Adam Place on the 09th October 2013

Week 2.3 - Character Design: the next step

After my talk with the teacher I have decided to move on from the spiderman model and focus on something that I believe will be more achievable with my skills; in no way did the teacher knock my confidence and put me down, he helped me to critically evaluate my drawing skills and understand more about modelling a character like that involves.

Therefore, I will look for something more my ability at this moment and keep practicing my drawing abilities throughout the year.

I began by researching images of smaller, cartoon characters; below are several images that grabbed my attention and interested me.

During the research of these types of characters, I also doodled  a design that followed this similar pattern:

I felt as though this type of design is more suitable to my skill set.

Blogged by Adam Place on 22nd October 2013

Week 2.2 - Environment design research

Although I have decided to have my inspirational model as a character, it is still extremely beneficial and educating to research into environment design, as it explores the different aspects of being a 3d modeler.

Below are just some images that I searched the internet for and for interesting:

All these images are indications as too, if I was going to do an environmental model these are what I would use as reference, inspiration and motivation.

Blogger be Adam Place on 22nd October 2013