Texture project

Just a update on the texture project for easter, I haven't added normal maps for either of these as I don't have crazy bump on my computer. I think this pratice has improved my texturing a bit, although I still find it difficult to pack the uvws close together.

 

woman texture project renders

 Woman texture project textures 512x512

Man texture project renders

Man texture project textures 512x512

Summer project part 2

Just a quick update on the summer project, I've completed the diver reseach as well as the paint overs of the final concepts. I've now got the layout of the scene to do and then the othographical drawings of all the assests. Then I can begin modeling. I'm really looking forward to making this, it looks like its going to be a lot of fun.

 

diver research

 

 final environment concept

Final diver concept

Organic Character Project

For my organic character project, I started off with the idea that my character would be based on a mythical creature. I had read about the vegetable lamb of Tartary, a mythical creature which was meant to be a goat that grew out of a fern. It actually turned out that reports of this creature where actually a variety of fern that grew in the forest.

 ' The vegetable lamb was believed to have blood, bones, and flesh like that of a normal lamb. It was connected to the earth by a stem similar to an umbilical cord that propped the lamb up above ground. The cord could flex downward allowing the lamb to feed on the grass and plants surrounding it. Once the plants within reach were eaten, the lamb died' - Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable_Lamb_of_Tartary)

To start off with, I collected reference of ferns. I then drew out some sketches of them.

 Research sketches for organic character

After that, I began to develop my character. I had the idea to make the character a lot more human, but with elements of the original mythical creature. I sketched out some different ideas.

 Development of ideas for organic character

I then produced an orthographical view of the final design, created from elements that I liked in the design stage.

 Final design of organic character

Then I sketched out my composition for the final piece in pencils.

 final piece pencils

After a few alterations, I started to paint my final piece in Photoshop.

 Final piece work in progress

And this is my final piece for the project.

Bradgate Park

For the next of our tasks for visual design, we had to return to Bradgate park to do some drawing. I decided to go on the Wednesday, as I usually try to get all my work done for visual design each week by Friday. However, it was really rainy, and I didn't get too much done. I've been lucky so far this year, and this is the first time I've been rained on while drawing; it's really difficult to draw with pencil on wet paper, and my sketchbook has fallen apart. However, it lucky only had a few pages left in it, and nothing inside has been ruined. Good news thought was that I got the sketches done, and I got the right bus ( I was really worried I'd get lost)

Here are the sketches I produced. I went over and painted them in ink once I got back, as the sketches needed more work and I liked the effect of the ink paintings I did on the last project.

Bradgate sketches

I think, although these were a bit more rushed than the previous ones I produced when going to bradgate, that these sketches came out better

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I then chose the sketch I liked most then redrew it on Photoshop. I then painted it in the program to produce my final for this project. I added the dear to give a focal point to the painting.

Work in progress of Bradgate park final

This is my final piece I produced. I think I've made a lot of improvement in my digital painting since my painting on the previous project:

Final piece for Bradgate park project

Summer project part 1

Started doing some concept and research for one of my summer project. I started when we were waiting for our assessments, even though it is a little early, this project looked quite fun to do. I've chosen to do the seabed project first, as I found the idea interesting. If I finish this one, I will start on another one, as I really need to improve by the second year, in all areas of the course. I'm also going to be doing updates on my progress in this blog.

 Looking through the reference folders, I thought this looked like a good project to do. I looked for some more reference online to add to the reference provided,  and then did some research sketches of sunken ships and fish. These I then used to create thumbnails of possibilities for my scene, then the final idea.

I'm going to paint over this in Photoshop to give a better idea of what it should look like in the final product. I'm also currently working on the layout plan of the scene.

 

 In my finished scene, I want there to be a ship wreck, a diver, a few different types of fish, some rocks and some seaweed. I'm not sure how this will fit into my budget yet, but I'm using this research to create a plan of the layout of the scene and just get a general idea of how my final scene is going to look. I've also yet to do diver research, but I should have those completed soon. After this, the next step would to be to produce orthographical drawings of all the objects that will be in my final scene. I also need to think up my budgets for each of these objects

summary of year 1

I seemed to have survived so far. This assessment went ok, I seem to have passed at least. Think I need to work a lot harder in getting up to speed on the 3d and Visual design stuff as well as this blog. I got everything done on time, but I just need to get better at things. I'm also going to try to add a lot more posts to this blog, recording my progress in other areas of the course, as well as other relevant things to this course. I'll try and updated it at least once a week.

However, I think I have improved a lot this year, especially in 3D. Even though I'm not that good at it, I think I have got a lot better than from the first project, the bin, which I had no clue what I was doing. Compared to my last project, the weapon project, which had a similar budget, there is a lot of improvement, especially as I completed the weapon project in less time than the bin.

Top: wheelie bin, first project  Bottom: weapon, last project

I also started painting my textures, which is fun, although I think it works best with a combination of photos and painting, at least until I get better at painting. I think this year I've learnt some of the basics, and hopefully next year I will start to improve properly. I'm going to be working on some of the summer projects over the summer and the next semester, so hopefully I will improve with practice and start producing some good work.

I'm not sure if I've improved as much in visual design. In the second semester I spent a lot more time doing digital paints and on the thumbnails as well, which i think has helped me, especially with colour and lighting which I did not use a lot of in the first semester .

  Top: first semseter first project, Bottom: second semester last project

We also had life drawing this semester, which was difficult at first, but I think I have learnt a lot from it.

Top: first life drawing  Bottom: last life drawing

 I also enjoyed doing the sculptures, which is something I would not have tried doing otherwise .I think the second one turned out a lot better than the first though.

 Top: first scupture  Bottom: second scupture

 It's also been suggested that I use softer pencils, such a 6b and that i need to make my lines for confident. Comparing my work from the second and first semester, I think there is a little improvement though, and I'll keep practicing in the summer.

Over the summer, I am going to attempt to do two of the projects, as I think this will allow me to get some practice and hopefully come back to the second year a little better. I think I'll probably do the seabed one and possibly the gypsy one. I've already started some concept and research for the seabed one while waiting for the assessment, which I'll post up and talk about in my next blog post.

Overall it's been interesting and challenging, and I'm looking forward to next year.

Elements of game design, part four: environment

Level designers are the people who design and construct the environment. They use a variety of ways to help players navigate through a level. The main one is lighting. Lighting can be used to direct a player around a level. A good example of this is half life 2, where subtle hints of light can help direct the player towards where they are meant to be going.

This can be done with the environment as well, as the player is more likely to want to walk towards interesting points in the environment. The designers have to be careful not to make the level too maze like (unless they are building a maze level) as it can be really frustrating to get lost in a game and ruin a players emersion. another problem is making and environment too large. Sometimes designers will want to show a sense of scale, yet large open spaces with not very much in them can become boring to traverse. For example, there were complaints that the wasteland in fallout 3 was too empty and large. Problems like this can be solved by having either smaller and more interesting environments, creating more in a large environment (which can be difficult for developers of a strict deadline) or creating a sense of scale by seeing large areas, but not necessarily having the ability to travel across all of it.

The environment is very important to the atmosphere of the game. Even little things such as weather can affect the mood of a game, for example the silent hill series would not have the same effect if it was set on a sunny day instead of foggy day. Were the game is set can affect the atmosphere, and also how it its lit. As with films, lighting is very important in games for conveying a mood but is often overlooked.  The environment can tell a lot to a player about a games mood and story.

There is a balance that can be struck between realism and stylisation. The main thing to make a game world believable is consistency. As long as a game world follows its own rule, it can be believable to its players. For example, the world of crash bandicoot is as believable that of the call of duty series. 

One environment that I like is the citadel from mass effect 1 and 2.  It's a giant space station made by a civilisation that is long gone, but it functions self sufficiently. I think I personally like it because of the interesting shape it is, a ring with extending arms, with the city built on the arms and inside the ring. The luxurious waste of space in the presidium (in the ring), for example the lake, is in contrast to the poorer and packed in space in the wards (on the arms). Despite its large size, the citadel seems to be based off of real life space stations, and the designers could have drawn influence from  them.