And finally, the moment no one have been waiting for but me! The character model is done.
I added the texture and did a little finishing touch with the glow in the eyes and the liquid on his body! Moss and rock texture to resemble the rocky nature of him! And here we GOOOOO
And how i did the textures?
And finally how I went with the UV mapping
The 3D1 course is done and I hope that this was joyful for people to look at, next i will jump on to 3D2! lets see how that goes!
So I was not able to deliver this post last week as I was not finished with building the mesh, and I wanted to ask for help before posting this so that everything was “right” before I did it.
Now to how far I have come with this:
Now that the structure is almost done, soon I will have to apply the texture. I did some distortions on the picture as you can see, but Nils was okay with it so I continued doing it, and moved the legs a bit so that the golem could “keep the balance” as it was standing.
There, the final update for assignment 3 should be up soon I hope, I need to get the texture done and apply it, and hopefully it will be good!
This week we tried to do some face scanning using photos added into “123D Catch”. One has to take several pictures from different angles and add it into the software which in turn adds all the pictures into one 3D model that one can work on. This 3D model would later on be imported to the 3D coating program. In the 3D coating program we try to apply poly surfaces to complete a human face that can be put onto a 3D modeled body.
As I scanned in my face in the 3D modeling program things got pretty ugly, but it was scary the way it worked. The first few times I had some missing surfaces on my face and I tried to connect everything trough the software, I had to redo it a couple of times before I got it right. After patching the face together I did not get a good result but I thought that I could use it only to apply polys and later on adding the texture. But then there was the problem with exporting the stuff from the “123D Catch” software to the 3D Coating software. I managed to import it once but I could not work on it as it disappeared all of a sudden, I tried it a couple of times but could not get it right, the time was running out so I had to skip working with my face and use an already existing one. Trying out a new software means that you have to learn all the commands for it, this took a lot of time too and also the process of how to actually work with the face to make it loop properly.
This is unfortunately how far I got, I will try to continue with this later when I get the time but right now I got too much on my plate. But as far as I understood the thing is that by using key landmarks one should be able to orient and make good use of the face “muscular” construction, and there are areas in the face that are actually similar to each other. The eyes and mouth follows the same form, but I could not do the cheek part right, I guess that this needs to be read into a lot more before I progress.
We were also advised to read the “Photogrammetry’ in ‘The Vanishing of Ethan Carter” article where they talk about how they used 3D scanning, and reading this game me a bit of insight of how future modeling can be used, it surely are a log way until we can use more polys in modeling but I think that this method would prove to be useful when we want to create realistic environment. They mentioned that they too had to lower the poly count as the original models would be too heavy to use, but they managed to still deliver the reality feeling. They suggest that with the use of 3D scanning we can capture details that we normally don’t think about adding, such as nature based effects on the environments that may have been shaping everything for more than a thousand years (As artist only try to design these things in a couple of days), this is something that may do a large impact on future modeling.
I have started the modeling of Nils character Jorm! And this is how far i have come:
I am going to make some small adjustments but I am afraid to go ahead doing the hands now and head. Some more consulting with the teachers about this model regarding the head and hands would be needed. Another option would be to keep this save file if something would go horribly wrong, and continue with the modeling.
And next ill show you how far I have come with the assignment 2 (as this is assignment 3), which has its deadline this Sunday 19/10-2014.
These are the pictures of the edge flows, it was unfortunate that i missed class as she used this concept art to show how it would be done. But never the less, i tried it on my own and I hopefully did it right:
The next thing we would be doing is to model hands and the head and that is probably the hardest part of this (not thinking of the texturing part of this assignment) , I really would like this one to get the best result and I will try my best on it.
This is how far I have come with the modeling and texturing of the knife.
This was the toughest one so far to texture, the modeling part was not that hard to do. But the thing that was hard was to unwrap the UV. The only hard part was the middle one where i wanted to cut it open into one piece, I sat down and tried it for two hole days until I became blinded by the cutting. So i decided to cut it into several different parts and edit everything in Photoshop to make it whole. Another mistake I made was to put the handle UV on top on of one another instead of separating them. My first thought about doing it was to minimize the work space but it turned out to be a a mistake as they didn’t appear to be symmetrical. I had a lot of help with texturing the middle part of the knife by my classmate Nils, as I was unsure of how to do it (I needed to recover some parts that was cloaked in shadow by the original picture).
But I was pretty satisfied by the results I got, and hopefully my teacher too. Wish me luck!
For today we started the lecture about anatomy where we at the end of the class gather in groups of three to give feedback on each other’s work ..
I had Camilla and Simon gave me feedback on my character construction. For the first character they mentioned the length of the legs in comparison to the length of the upper body, the legs where to short and I could not see it before due to my blindness of drawing too much on the body. So I started to count head lengths over the body and I saw that I needed to extend the legs a bit. I also got some notice about the neck, that was too long so I adjusted that bit too and it does look a little bit better now than before. This drawing is far from complete and it was not something I planned to do, I was sketching just to keep the “skills” up. I should have done a before and after picture for this but I managed to save it before doing so but anyway here it is:
The second one I wanted to try out the muscle part throughout the lecture we had earlier today, so I let them look at it and give me some comments on it, as for this picture there was nothing more than the size of the head but as it was a rough and quick sketch I took it as something I had already taken it into consideration and quickly just redid it:
I need to study more about muscle orientation, how they look when they expand or retract. When I draw my characters I try to keep a posture that would be close to reality as I can, but the thing with it is that I learned that only by figure drawing. If I learn how and where to apply muscles I can make a more realistic body for my characters. This would also be applicable on cartoonish characters later on if one wants to not distort from a balanced structure. And if I know how the muscles of humans work then I may even be able to understand the animal world too. Pretty much of the reference I need could be obtained from searching through google for pictures regarding muscle anatomy. I will also keep on reading the book Art Fundamentals, this book gives a really good perspective on drawing anatomy and I think that this is a book an artist should have in the shelf.
Okay so for the next few months I will try to keep on trying to draw muscles from pictures to learn to handle proportions. I guess using my sketchbook more for this matter should be useful as I have to keep this going for future modeling. As going for the next assignment when dealing with character modeling, we are going through the anatomy of the human body, today we had the lecture regarding the body and we will go through the face muscles for last as it is the more complex part of the human body. Hopefully I will get more confidence regarding 3D modeling as I personally think that this business is really difficult, if I get good at this then hopefully it will be more fun to do. The hardest part about all this for me is the texturing, I don’t know if I would call it the hardest but I really don’t like it. But I should just maybe do some modeling of smaller objects just to make it more interesting.
For assignment 3 on our 3D course I will have to model and texture a character that my college Nils drew. Before that I had to know everything there is to know about his character. So I was handed this character background sheet, concept art and turn around:
I will ask him more about the specifics about some minor things about details, but he has managed to make everything look good and not confusing. (And I also want to thank him for not putting on accessories!)
So when I start to model this I may need to build some of the things as separate objects for starters, this is just to be extra careful when doing this and minimize the risk of having to rebuild the entire thing from scratch. I will also ask my teacher for any hints or tips regarding the modeling.
The thing I am concerned about the most is the texturing part, I think that most of the things like the muscles and cracks can be done by using normal maps, and the yellow lights (or cracks) would be done with specular maps. Then I guess that I have to think about the silhouette when creating the head and shoulder parts. The thing with this character that I personally think would take the most time is that it’s not symmetrical so if I would want to duplicate the sides I still have to work on silhouette details on the body, I don’t know what would be wise to do in this situation.
As the character is an ancient “being” he would be residing on a more isolated and nature filled landscape, I have to take his rocky body into consideration and hopefully I will manage to maintain his art style. He would be like pointing out things on my work and I hope that he will be pleased by the results I get from this!
For this assignment i had to draw a character for my peer to model so here i go:
Character Background “Mokhtar”
Name:
Mokhtar (“The chosen” one in arabic)
Nickname:
He is referred to as “Al-Saher” (Wizard in Arabic) by the people.
Gender:
Male.
Place and time:
Middleages, “Al Qariya Al-Hurra” (The free village), Kingdom of “Memlaka”.
Age:
Unknown. He has lived for a long time. Generations that has passed has seen him but he has never grown in appearance. When asked he answers: “A wise individual would not count his age in numbers, rather in the amount of wisdom one have”
Physical health/ attributes/ handicaps:
Even if he looks small and harmless, he possesses a great deal of power. He is a skilled user of ancient magic. It is said that he cover his eyes to strengthen all the other senses. “A man distracted by his sight is a man that cannot see past the shell of the reality”.
Movement:
Usually walks as a human, but when in battle he hoovers for better mobility and reach.
Appearance/ Hygiene:
Mokhtar wears a lot of expensive fabrics, he can afford it as the king would give him a lot of money for the bounties he brings in. Keeping clean is a top priority as he has to present himself in high standard.
Favorite food:
“He eats pretty much anything, but he seems particularly fond of apples, I wonder why that is…”
Intelligence:
He posses very high intelligence, he does a lot of research of new spells and incantations, trying to understand how everything works. He has a great thirst for knowledge.
Culture:
He has been around for a long time, even if he does not live as the villagers does he still knows of the customs. When researching people he often sits down in the village café and smokes “shisha” (Water pipe) and eavesdropping on people.
History:
They rumors say that he is a child of a great wizard and has manipulated time and space so that he can live on for ever. Some others claim that he is evil and he is the reason for the djinn appearing is because the mistakes done in his secret researches.
Religion:
It is said that he only knows one god, but he never attends at churches or mosques. He is mostly at his home whenever he´s not out hunting abnormal creatures.
Income:
All his money is gained by collecting bounties, so all the income comes mostly from the kingdom, but he also manages to collect some valuable stuff from his journeys.
Education:
This man is self-educated. He has a demand from the kingdom to provide with both gold and research material. He sometimes finds mystic books that contain a lot of new and valuable information.
Why did he/ she/ it (had to) choose this occupation?
He saw it as an opportunity to achieve money as well as gaining experience throughout his journeys, the funds was only achievable through the bounty hunts.
Hobbies:
Trying out new spells and going out on journeys collecting new stuff or searching for new clues for greater spells.
Procreate:
He don’t have time for that.
Family:
None people know about.
Friends:
Friends as a distraction.
Inner rhythm:
To keep his magic in check he also need to control his feelings, but he sometimes gets to excited when he masters a new spell… let’s say that he had laid places to waste.. as some accidents tend to happen….
Psychology:
He has found his inner self pretty well. No enemy seems to shake him. But one…
His main goal in life:
Replace the creator
His biggest secret and why:
He is actually not human, he is a Djinn himself in disguise, and the reason why he fancies apples is because it reminds him of the apple of eden. He was created before men was created and he was angered when god created man. And he wants to create man and prove to everyone that man is worth nothing. No one knows of his secret yet, as he is the oldest of the “humans”. But the djinn knows who he is. The djinn wants to stop his plans that is why they appear in the human world.
About the game:
What platform(s) is it aimed at?
PS4, PC, XboxOne.
Who’s your target audience?
Exploration third person role-playing game. Ages 10+
Who’s your direct competition?
The legend of Zelda, Kingdom hearts, Fable
Parts
So the diffuse map is the basic texture with all the color needed to make this “basket” wear the right colors. This is the first step and most basic texturing you need to do and will determine the outcome of the later maps. When you create a low poly count model you will still need to have some depth in your model, with the help of a normal map you can achieve that and it gives the illusion that it has a real texture. I used it to bring out the markings on the wooden plank as well as the nails keeping the wood together. The illusion of this makes the nails look like they are popping out of the crate when it actually is a flat surface if seen from the side. In a real game you do not use a high poly model, you reduce the amount of polys and add a normal map to achieve the final “illusion” result. The specular map help me to lower the shininess of the basket, as I do not want the planks to shine I drew these planks darker, and I added light to the nails so that they would get the shininess I was aiming for
The thing I realized and later on in the mapping became a problem was that I could not predict the outcome of the different maps (as I did not attend the lecture). So I had to try it out for myself. As I wrote before; the different maps has of course different “rules” and I started with only the diffuse map laying out the wooden texture, after I completed all three maps I realized another thing.. what holds a basket together? Nails…
I did not think it would matter at first, but it looked so fake that I could not live with it, so I did some editing in Photoshop, iterated a few times until I got it almost right. And then I was a bit satisfied with the result (for now).
As this was a pretty “simple” kind of crate, I did not need to think a lot of how and what had to be modeled and what to texture, our teacher showed us many times what should be modeled and not. So instead of actually modeling nails into the crate I just needed to texture the model with normal maps. So depth or stuff that needs to pop out does not always need to be modeled, the minor details done with texturing will become a good replacement for the loss of polys.
For my crate I wanted to skip the specular map as I heard that it makes stuff shiny, and I had wooden planks… I did not want them to shine, but actually it works the other way around too, if you darken the areas you do not want to shine, you will get a more matte material. But I also made use of the specular map for the nails I added to the basket.
So this crate was the final result, I rendered it in 3Ds Max at first but I was advised that i should import it to UDK instead to see how it would be presented in a game environment. I am pretty proud of this crate and i can see how much normal mapping does to an object, most of the “basket” is textured but it feels like I have modeled every little bump in it. one can achieve much through texturing only.
The next assignment will be a tough one, we shall model and texture a knife. wish me luck!
This time its all about learning how to use textures!
As I stated in my previous posts is that the style I am referring to is the one seen throughout the game Skyrim. I tried to achieve some reality feeling as someone actually made this basket by hand, taking the materials from trees and crafting it. This basket would be used like a container for like flasks or anything smaller. This prop would fit either on the floor or in a shelf.
To match the medieval style for this “basket” I had to go with wooden colors. As one can see in the Skyrim game there are basically metal, wood and stone that do most of the game. With that in mind I tried to color the basket with different level of brightness on the wooden planks, and just make it a bit more lively I tried to add some details like scratches at the edges and a bit of dirt on the inside of the basket.
The brown color would be the dominant color as I try to achieve the wooden texture feeling. And I also planned for it to be in dark environment like a wooden house or a hut lighten by candlelight’s. Combining it with the similar colors but not the same color as the objects would melt together and one can not distinguish one from the other.
Why did I use this colors? Well this was simply to try to bring out the realism in wooden boxes, but I still have a problem with colors from previous work (still struggling with it), and that is the use of colors overall in my artworks. I did not use any saturation in the coloring of the basket or any adjustments at all, I only applied the colors I needed to demonstrate a wooden basket and at the same time try to understand the functions of texturing.
But at the same time I wanted to give the box some of the warm feeling to it as I did not want it to deliver a wrong message in a wrong environment. I want it to be in places where this basket would be used regularly, and most of the time this would be used in inside of inns or cottages. There may be possibilities that it would be used to transport materials between homes and stuff so I will have to take some considerations to that.
As you can see the reality part of it was pretty hard for me to reach, the use of color was not that good, all in all it did not look realistic. I also tried to import it into UDK (Unreal development kit) and this is the result:
As you can see here I did not like the way I painted the texture for the basket, so I also tried to apply real wooden texture to see if it fits on to the basket. The result was not optimal but I was aiming to get the real life feeling to the texture, here I got some immediate feedback and that was about the resolution and the use of the textures. First of all I need to use materials that correlate to each other and actually make it feel like a united object. I need to pick a texture and make some adjustments, I was imagining that this basket was being used, so I had to add some dirt and stuff later on to make it more realistic. Rearranging the textures and make it so that it does not look like it has been duplicated, so I need to work on the texture detail on different places
Well that is all for me for today!
A Student Game Design Blog - By Ahmad Ali 