Introduction.
For my first assignment in respect of the 3D modelling class I was to choose one item from a list to create as a proper 3D model which was to be handed in before Friday 5th March at 12.00 midnight. The chosen item would be a new design created of my own personal research and must also incorporate high quality textures and lighting. Because of this brief the assignment would make use of multiple programs. From the list of selected items I have chosen to do the sword and shield, because of my hobby interests with both real world warriors such as the medieval knights, and fantasy worlds such as the ones in the Lord of the Rings and Warhammer franchises.
Research
After I chose the sword and shield I researched my recent hobbies to have an idea for the basis of the design. Recently I was building a group of figures from the Warhammer franchise called the ‘Kharadron Overlords’ which are a band of sky-pilot dwarves with a steam-punk aesthetic. I have a great interest with the dwarven races as they are one of my favourite races in any media. Another key note about the products that dwarves manufacture is the high quality crafts and goods with angular edges and solidity to their workmanship. As someone who was a bit rusty with the Maya Software and knowing my time on the project was limited this angular style could help take some of the production pressures off me whilst not diminishing the quality of the work. At the same as working on the project I listened to some pirate music based off the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise and a location in League of Legends known as ‘Bilgewater’ which inspired me to add a more traditional pirate theme to the dwarven weaponry. I spent over ninety minutes grabbing specific imagery from the internet to help create the mood board for this project. Both the mood board and the links to the references can be found in the documents below.
Mood Board word document:
References
Development
After collecting my reference images and forming them into a mood board I printed out copy of the mood board on my Canon colour printer. I then went over my design with pencil circling and highlighting any detail I liked such as the angular shield on one of the Games Workshop Dwarven mini figures, or the pirate wheel hanging on the back of the Bilgewater Fiddlesticks skin from League of Legends. Using these key points I was able to create some rough drawings of what the shape of the sword and shield would look like before creating a thumbnail drawing of the finished design. Also I went on to create a more professional version of the design for the final concept piece.
My next stage was to create the 3D model in the Maya Program, a program that I was not as familiar with as the Blender program but I had used Maya previously if not in detail. Firstly I created the basic shape of the shield by drawing a mesh and extruding the rim at both the front and back faces. Secondly I used the tools in Maya such as cut edges, extrude, bevel and duplicate to develop the dwarven face on the shield. By using the multiple camera perspectives I was able to ensure the elements of the face were on the same level.
Once the base of the shield was complete I used the same tools to create the rope handles on the rear face as well as the pirate wheel fixed to the side. I created the pirate wheel by producing three different shapes: main circular base, handles duplicated across the wheel and two nails. However the handles on the models would be warped on production which may cause issues for me when I move to the UV stage.
Using the methods as developed producing the shield I made both the sword and blade separately. This helped me design and redesign the shape of the sword blade without affecting the overall design of the sword. It is worth noting at this point in time that the final piece of concept art was being translated differently during its creation in Maya due to technical and skill limitations on my part i.e: the final version of the blade does not fully resemble the one produced in the concept art. Also, the net of pearls was dropped from the final design because producing the net proved too difficult for me to create.
Now we come to the most difficult part of this project for me, one that caused me the most stress: the UV mapping. Initially could not get to grips with it and t was causing me problems, especially due to the warped handles on the ships wheels as mentioned earlier and how to operate the mapping system What I mean by that was the difficulty n getting both sides of the UV map on the same page without them overlapping. However with massive thanks to both Michael and Alec I was able to learn new techniques that helped me get through this problem eg: deleting unseen faces to clear up wasted space on the UVs and how to cut half a model’s UVs open and unfold them.
This assignment was the first time I used a program called Substance Painter, basically it does advance texturing for models created in programs like Maya and Blender. Of course he first task I had to complete was export mu sword and shield model into a compatible file format and upload t into a new project in the program. Aside from learning how material layers worked within the program I found substance painter to be a fantastic experience. It gave me great control over some high quality textures, an excellent selection of brush tools, isolate certain areas for more effective colour separation and best of all, the ability to generation effects such as scratches and cracks in the shield. Because this process went much quicker and smoother than the UV mapping I used the brush and effect tools to add back in some flavor that was lost between the concept art and modelling phase.
Once I was satisfied with my work in Substance Painter I exported both the model file and the texture files into my newly created student version of Sketchfab. Firstly I had to re-assign each element of my textures back onto my model as while the detail was there i.e: the white entirely on the shield had not been lost, they were not applied to the model. The reason for this was because the were split into elements like base colour, roughness, height etc. This allows small control to these elements on the model such as having the rope made to look rougher than the gold rim of the shield, or how deep the cracks would appear. It also allowed me to set the overall lighting to see what the model would look like in: different times of day, locations and viewpoints. I would use the lighting to make my model appear more professional in appearance so it presented a better product for the people assessing it and after I was satisfied with the final result I would send this work to my tutors for feedback.
Application of Theory
When the project began I asked myself several questions: firstly, how complicated did I envisage the project to be, because while we are constrained at home through lockdown, I still had online classes to attend, duties at home to complete as well as remembering to take exercise and breaks to ensure good mental health. These constraints ultimately settled me on the angled look of the project as they are easier to complete as opposed to using rounded edges. Secondly I had to make sure I was designing and developing a model within my own abilities, especially as I had never used programs such as Substance Painter and Sketchfab before. I decided to draw a piece of concept art that had lots of flavor and adapt it to a finished project working with new tools I encountered, such as: the ability of Substance Painter to add ‘cracks’ to the model and removing the pearls from the net on the shield to fit within my skill level and the time constraint. I also would also post my model onto the Discord for feedback from my fellow students and would attend a One-on-One session with a 3D modelling expert known as Michael. Additionally I learned new tools in the class times with my tutor Alec. The key feedback notes I picked up and used were :
- Deleting unseen faces in Maya to make the process of UV editing easier.
- Learning how to cut and unfold the UV textures of a model to get to all sides.
- How to automatically lay out the UVs in a single square.
- How to create bevels manually and,
- How to create and apply textures in Substance Painter.
I printed out a mood board during the design phase of my model and highlighted key areas or designs that I wanted to represent in my model and I would also use that same page to note down the key elements of the feedback I received. This can be seen in the images below.
Outcome
After I completed the project I looked over it and recorded my findings to impart into this document. I think the final product looks good but there things I would have improved had I developed more experience.
I particularly liked Substance Painter as a whole, as whilst I have never used the program before I found it easy to apply high quality textures onto my model with great control. Combined with that was the ability to see how the materials looked with lighting as well as automatically being able to imprint elements like: scratches in the wood or cracks in the shield makes me wish I had encountered this program in previous years on my career path. Additionally I personally enjoyed creating the model in Maya due to my love of developing new designs and in particular the angular style had chosen to work with. Finally I liked after uploading the model to Sketchfab for editing the creation looked very professional giving me no small amount of satisfaction.
However thee were areas I was not happy with, these included: Having to remove elements of my work due to lack of my skills and the knock on effect that had on the time to complete the project. For example, whilst the sword looks great it is missing the waves pattern on the hilt, removing some of the pirate design from the sword, leaving only the anchor shape. In addition to that the UV mapping in Maya became quite stressful for me as I could not cut the UVs properly to access both sides until I was able to get some help from Alec and Michael. Finally, the handles on the wheel were warped at the end causing the textures to look off, however it is only when you examine then closely that this is evident.
Link to Sketchfab
Conclusion
Overall, I am very satisfied with how the project turned out, not only have I enjoyed working on the project to improve my skills of making/creating designs in different programs but it helps in increasing my confidence and abilities and makes me feel more reliable to a games or animation studio. This is because prior to the project and the course, whilst my previous work was well received, they did not appear to be anywhere approaching industry standard. For example, my 2d animations were not bad (still good) but compared to the animated shorts online or a cartoon on Nickelodeon, it felt that I was missing some lesion or years in a college or university. However, thanks to the use of programs like Substance Painter I now feel like my work might be able to reach an acceptable level for the industry, in relation to design and production quality. Additionally, I feel much more confident in my ability when using the UV texturing process now I know how to better cut and unfold each shape, saving me both a lot of time and stress. I believe all the skills I have leaned will benefit any future projects I tackle in 3D design.