Now that our group knew what we were animating, we focused on making our 3D models. We split the work up evenly, and I was tasked with modelling, texturing, and rigging the assassin snail (since I designed him). We used Maya for the modelling and animation, so I opened a new Maya file.

Firstly, I created an image plane with my concept art to use as reference. I wanted to make the body first since it would be a base for all the other parts of the model. I started off with a simple cylinder, stretched out to the right size compared to the reference. I shift-selected the vertices one row at a time and began to drag them to create the body’s shape.

I used the multi cut tool on each end of the cylinder to have four-sided polygons instead of triangles. At one end of the cylinder I gradually shrunk the edge loops to a point, to create the tail.

Once I was happy with the tail, I moved and rotated the edge loops at the opposite end to make the snail’s neck. I made the neck rise upwards and get smaller towards the top, then I extruded the end faces and widened and narrowed the extruded edges gradually to create the head shape.

Now that the basic body shape was blocked out, I started making some of the details – starting with the antennae. I selected two polygons on the snail’s head in a position I liked, then extruded them. I extruded the left polygon longer than the right, as the character has a missing eye with only half an eye stalk.

I created a default polygon sphere for the eyeball, I would go back and work on the eyelids and brows once the rest of the model was blocked out.

To add more detail to the blocky eye stalks, I created horizontal and vertical edge loops which I could then manipulate to round out the shape. When I was happy with the rough shape of the antennae, I got rid of the n-gons on the top face using the multi-cut tool. I also rounded out the tip of the right antennae by moving the vertices, like how it appears in the concept art.

On Chloe’s model for the victim character she modified a sphere for his shell, however the assassin has a conical shell to mirror his real-life counterpart. The shell is stacked in layers as this is simpler than creating a true spiral, but gives off the same effect. I decided to make the shell out of toruses and a cone for the tip merged together into one object.

Before I merged them, I selected the edge loops of the toruses and manipulated them to create a more natural shape – larger loops at the bottom, smaller at the top. This would make the narrowing of the shell towards the top more gradual and natural. I also added more edge loops to the cone at the top to soften the shape.

When the parts of the shell were merged together, I got rid of some of the geometry inside the shell where the camera wouldn’t see (to reduce unnecessary polygons on the model). I softened the curves where the segments of the shell met until I was happy with the shell’s overall look.

On the face I created the two feeler antennae using the same method, extruding two polygons then adding more edge loops as needed. On the ends of the antennae, I used the scale tool on the edge loops to create rounded tips like in the concept art.

For the eyepatch, I modelled the strap and the patch separately as this would be a lot less complicated than doing them both in one object. For the strap, I started off with a torus and scaled it to be roughly the right size for the character’s head. I rotated it to match the angle of the strap in the concept art, then added more edge loops with the multi cut tool so I could manipulate the torus into the shape I wanted. I went around the model’s head and adjusted each vertical edge loop as needed so the strap would hug the head in a way that looked natural.

For the eyepatch, I created a cube with more X and Y divisions than Z divisions, and scaled it to be very thin along the Z axis. Using the reference art, I manipulated the vertices along the X and Y planes to match the shape of the eyepatch. When the eyepatch looked enough like the concept art, I used the soft select tool to grab one of the vertices in the middle of the object and move it forward, giving the eyepatch a bent shape that would sit on the face nicely. I then moved the eyepatch to rest on top of the strap.

I wanted the character’s eyeball to be able to move freely so he could look in different directions, and I also wanted his eyelids to be able to move freely to make the character more expressive. I decided to use a default sphere for the eyeball, then clone that sphere and cut it in half to make an eyelid. I took my hemisphere and used the extrude tool to create faces inside the hemisphere so it wouldn’t become invisible when viewed from the wrong angle. I then cloned this hemisphere to make the lower eyelid and positioned the two lids over the eye, encasing it like a shell. I scaled each lid as needed to make them resemble the concept art while still functioning as I intended.

For the eyebrows, I started off with a cube which I scaled to the size and rough shape of the brow. I added more edge loops and shift-selected the edges around the sides of the shape to start manipulating them into a rounder shape. I made the eyebrow narrower on one end and wider on the other, and used the soft selection tool to pull on the middle vertex of each end, giving the eyebrow rounder ends. When I was happy with the eyebrow, I cloned it and flipped it to create the other brow.

Finally, I worked on the salt packet and the rubber band. I went about making the rubber band much like the eyepatch strap, creating a torus and scaling it to the rough size before adding more edge loops and shaping the torus around the shell. I also selected the middle horizontal edge loop and scaled it down to make a dip in the band, adding a little more detail and realism.

The salt packet was a little more complicated than the rest of the model. I started off with a cube and scaled it down on the X axis to make the shape quite slim. I added more edge loops and adjusted them to make the packet narrower at the ends and wider in the middle, then narrowed two of the edge loops near the ends to create a dip where the packet would be sealed. Once that was done, I worked on the tear in the packet. I made this by moving the vertices where I wanted the rip to be one by one, first making a “V” shaped dip then adding more details. When I was happy with the shape of the packet, I used the soft selection tool on the vertex in the middle on the Z axis and pulled it forward to curve the packet (so it would fit the contour of the shell). I moved the packet onto the side of the shell then adjusted the vertices on the rubber band to accommodate it underneath.

After looking over my model and fixing any mistakes, I moved on to the UVs.