This Month’s Overview

Pre-production now can fully commence,  While it seems strange that the most work heavy and time consuming stage of media creation is taking place in December, traditionally the month that is the most disruptive due to the festive season, I look forward to finally beginning my own created animation.  Especially when I finally have input over elements of the production through working on my own.  After this month we will be off for most of January on holidays, and whilst I will work throughout this month not everyone in University is available for assistance so I need to plan my resources and their times carefully.  Part of the time will also be taken up by my dissertation as it also has to be handed in this month so planning time is of the essence.

 

Models

For the modelling, substance painter and texturing I am splitting them into three sub categories, they are: environments, categories and assets.  It will make the structure of information better coordinated and will not involve constantly scrolling through pages.

Assets

To clarify in advance, when I say 3D assets I am referring to objects in the environment, rather than the characters or the sets themselves.  Think of it as a box in a warehouse, rather than the warehouse itself.  This makes it easier to decide how I wish to decorate each environment and how those characters can interact with that environment. e.g: Attractor picks up and throws a box.  Because these objects have no advance forms of movements they do not need a rig, leading to a very simple basic model construction.  The exception to this would be that some of their UV maps are more difficult and as UV mapping is not a skill I possess to a high level I will need to work on this.  I used my asset list to create objects that would be found in a standard company warehouse\manufacturing facility such as computers, boxes, trucks and others.  This Week the objects were a Computer Station and a Forklift.

Screenshots

 

Environments

The environments were larger and more complex than any of the assets.  At this point of my production I got myself a template of a human form in order to scale my environments  I also would go back over my assets and using this human template rescale them.  A reason it took a bit of time to model these environments was not just how large they were, but how many UV maps I had to create due to all the differing shapes and objects that existed within each location.  To give an example: while the top floor had its computers separated into an asset file I had to model a generator, lights, windows, glass, framed pictures, door to separate room and more each with their own selection of assigned material and UV maps.  The environment size also meant I had to be careful taking time to make sure it all looked coordinated and was not just shapes thrown together requiring elements like the pillars in the ground floor to be beveled otherwise they would appear two dimensional.  When texturing these models I will also come to realise that not all their UVs were lined up correctly, but this would be at the end of the month requiring me to set aside time next month to fix that problem.  I was able to complete most of the ground and first floor but I need to use next month of finish the outside of the warehouse.

Screenshots

   

 

Characters

I will not be spending too much time on characters, since most of them are created next month, and it is easier to finalize the details of their creation as I will have more information.  To give some context now in relation to next month while I was able to get Density modelled and textured and also most of Blaster Woman was modelled I kept running into numerous problems that through my lack of experience and glitches has delayed the characters creations.  I intend to step up my work schedule to fix this over the next two months ensuring the characters are complete.  In order to do this I will need help from my tutors and may need to wait until February and our return to university.

Screenshots

 

 

Substance Painter

Along with Maya for model making, Adobe’s Substances Painter would be the most relaxing part of the assignment so far which feels nice compared to the organic modeling above. The only hurdle in the way were some of the UV Maps needed to be re-formatted and laid out in a more organized way. The program Substance Painter, made it easy to apply and alter high quality textures.  I worked with all the models whereI have to make all textures, and when they are to the levels I wanted, I would export each of the new texture files into a series of they own, organized folders. I can go back over any models’ textures later if I have time to update or improve the texture work. (Note: I did go back to improve the resolution of all textures as my Tutor (Mike) showed me I had them at a low setting).

Assets

Some of the Assets (like the trucks and the forklifts) won’t be full visible or require a close up shot in the animation.  Their textures therefore won’t be as important as elements like the McGuffin, so any lower quality textures may not be noticed.  Despite that I would still work hard to make their textures look clean and fitted into the scenes.  As many of the assets like boxes and barrels are repeated multiple times over the three locations, either as set dressing or active environmental hazards, I avoided using any unique marking like numbers on them.  However I included a company logo to show the warehouse belongs to a specific organization. Also the McGuffin is the only asset that breaks this rule as the item is meant to be one of a kind and the main item our villains are after to steal.  The purple texture also helps show off the item is not a natural chemical and that there is something more sinister going on.

Screenshots

               

Environments

The only Environment I could start working on the textures for was the upper (2nd) floor of the Warehouse.  I went for a cleaner aesthetic than the rest of the environments as office spaces are usually well looked after and clean for the comfort of those who have to work in them.  The office however is is still tied to the industry building by the exposed power generator. The textures are muted but primary colors (e.g. red, blue) and designed to reflect a painted look. The windows will be transparent glass designed as a sky box to reflect the night light outside. The same will be for the model lights, but to reflect the lighting in the final version of the scene in either Maya or Unreal Engine.

Screenshots

 

For Next Month

Next month I will not be on Campus as it is the winter holidays which lasts a month. I will be trying to create the characters in my project with the tutorials I can find online and the information and lessons passed on to me by all three of my major tutors. I will also be attempting to rig and weight paint those same models as well. The Substance Painting work should be completed next month as well.  The only exception is if I can’t complete the character models this month so I will complete it the month after.