I modelled for my assignment for Mike’s module a helmet.

I wanted to make a simple helmet design largely inspired by Middle Ages helmets and also stereotypical ones such as those from the video game series Dragon’s Lair.

I created the helmet using a sphere, and removed half of the faces, and then created the ridges and face guard of the helmet using extrusion.

By putting the helmet’s handmade UVs into Substance Painter, I created individual layers for each of the materials of the helmet and then put a black mask over each, and then polygon filled into those masks. I then applied a layer for blood and dirt, and gave them both black smart masks. Right after, I exported the textures into Blender, and using Nodes to connect them I integrated them into the original model. This is the final result and textures for my mask.

We used Substance Painter to texture a warhammer. We were taught a new technique during this task, polygon fill. By applying a mask to the fill layer, by selecting certain polygons, we can reveal or hide parts of that layer on our model. I applied several layers and converted some of the layer masks to spherical projection from UV projection, and then exported the textures for use in Blender. I then went into the node editor and connected the Roughness, Base Colour, Metallic and Normal layers to the Principled BSDF node.

This was the result.

For homework we were tasked to texture a sword of our choice. I decided to model a Dwarven Longsword from Skyrim and then create my own textures in Photoshop for it. Getting the textures right for the hilt was a bit hard, as I marked seams down in a way that made some parts of the UV texture that resulted identical. After applying the textures, I upped the metallic on it to make it seem like it was made of metal.

I found texturing and creating a map for the sword to be quite fun, and I utilised my knowledge of Photoshop well to help complete the assignment.

This day, I participated in more group discussions with my friends, and had a better idea about the type of world we were to create.

Our concept was not to have personified versions of the fears we have chosen, and also, we were going to have the lighting odious shades of yellow, and to also have it be more light-hearted and comedic, as the lecturers preferred it to be more that way, rather than the action-packed epic showdown I had in mind.

I also did some colour palette tests on a concept. I drew the colour palettes from pictures taken of outside the university as well as from illustrations and used them in my tests.

After making these gradients, I created the tests using the character I plan to use in my part of my group’s project. It taught me well in what colours could be used for what part of an image, and what colours complimented others. In addition, it was useful for learning how to work around limitations and with what to work with.

Today we learned a new technique in Blender, assembling UV maps. By unwrapping the original map of the blender model, and also making seams for use in making a new map for the model, we were able to make texture maps for the models we were making. We made a dice by moving the UV maps over the appropriate dots to make the dice’s faces, and a cola can by first applying a metal texture over the main body, and then after selecting the middle parts, applied a second texture for the label.

We also applied a UV texture to a Mjolnir hammer which took a bit more work. we first had to create seams for the hammer so that its UV maps looked tidy, and then we had to process the actual textures in photoshop. By using a mask, we were able to create an appropriate texture map for the mjolnir.

I modelled in Mike’s Class several different things in Blender. The first was a Milkshake, which involved a lot of different processes, such as bevelling, extrusion, duplication, solidifying, and face deleting in creating it. The milkshake’s body was created with a cylinder whose base was shrunk to serve as the bottom of the cup, and the faces at the top were removed to serve as the inside. The very top was then given edge loops and then extruded to form the lid.  The dome on top of the cup was created using half of a sphere and the top faces were deleted to create the hole for the straw to go into.

The straw was created using a Beizer curve which was then solidified and made into a mesh. I modified certain parts of the curve so that it was posed like a straw and then taking some edges and scaling them I made a bendy part of the straw.

The second was a flower in a vase. I made the vase by fattening one end of another sphere, removing the faces of some of the top parts of it and extruding the edges of the resulting hole to create the neck of the vase, bevelling some of the faces to create smoother edges.

Like the milkshake straw, I made the stem by using a Beizer curve and then solidified it and then manipulated its curves to create a convincing stem. To make the petals I made one petal by solidifying a plate primitive and then using subdivision surface to smooth it out and modify its vertices. Then I duplicate it several times to I have enough petals to cover the face of the flower. To make the leaves, I solidified another plate and then used subdivision surface to modify its shape. Both models made use of a Beizer curve which had to be solidified and made into a mesh to complete their respective models, a straw for the milkshake and a stem for the flower in the vase.

These are the completed models.

For Mike’s class this week, I modelled a Zubat and animated it flying around in a 3d space. I made use of several different techniques, such as subdivision and mirroring, to create the model, and used a Bezier circle path and constrained the model to follow it around.

I created the main body of the model by distorting a sphere into a pea nut shape, removing half of it and then using the mirror tool to create a replica that follows any changes made to the original piece. then, I used the knife tool to cut a mouth shape in the model and then extruded the inside of the mouth.

I made the fangs using cones, which I applied a subdivision surface tool to and then mirrored on the other side.

The wings were created using a plane primitive and Beizer curves that are then turned into meshes and merged together. They are then mirrored with the rest of the model.

Here is the finished animation.

Zubat Blender Animation – YouTube

Modelling the Zubat was quite difficult, as I was still learning many of the techniques to make modelling many parts of the creature easier. I also had some trouble parenting the finished parts after modelling them, as parenting them wrong could cause the parts to move incorrectly.

Animating was also a bit difficult, as having the Zubat move its body around a set path could cause it to break dance in mid-air.

Zubat is, by some distance, a pretty easy Pokemon to model at this stage of the course. I hope to model more Pokemon in Blander in the future.

Due to having recently contracted COVID-19, I was forced to work from home for this week. I modelled using several different primitives, such as planes, cubes and cylinders, a TIE Interceptor from Star Wars, and then animated it flying around a set path by setting it to follow the path. Setting up the camera to take the full cycle was quite difficult, as the interceptor was quite big, as was its path.

I extruded parts of the sphere and then separated from the original sphere mesh to create the window for the TIE Interceptor. I then created the wings of the ship using a plane that was then solidified and its edges extruded and by moving its vertices I modified the shape of the extrusions. After joining the finished wing to some cylinders, I then mirrored the finished part on the other side.

The details of the wing were created by using the inset faces tool, and then materials were added to each part of the wing in kind, to give it colour.

There also was the issue of how much the camera can take in an image. By greatly extending the clip end distance of the camera, I was able to fix this issue. Another issue I found was that the camera motion tracked the sphere. It had been parented to the craft while I was working, so I unparented it. This is the final video I made with the Tie Interceptor.

TIE Interceptor Animation – YouTube

Next, I made a skateboard in Blender. The modelling used a lot of various features such as bevelling and extruding for the front and back parts of the skateboard as well as assigning multiple materials to certain parts of the model.

Part of the work we did for Week 2 involved creating a snowman out of primitives such as cubes, cylinders and circles. For our homework, we had to animate this snowman doing simple actions, such as lifting his hat and waving.

The task introduced us to an invaluable technique called parenting. Simply, we parented the various parts of the snowman together all the way down to the base of the snowman’s body, so that when it moved, the rest of the snowman moved with it.

By parenting each part, from the fingers to the hands and from the hands to the arms and from the arms to the body and so on, I was able to make it so that when one-part moves, the others move in tandem with it while also allowing them to move about on their own.

I made my snowman wave, hold its hat, and even fix it as he wobbled form side to side. Using knowledge on follow through and straight-ahead action, I was able to make an appealing animation for my snowman.

Snowman Blender Animation – YouTube