The final stage of this assignment was for me to pose my completed model in Blender, and to then upload both it, and my props, to present an interesting, expressive, and visually appealing scene in Sketchfab.
Having first added armatures using the process set out in the tutorial video, mindful that the eyes had been created as a separate object; to ensure they remained in the correct position when exported to Sketchfab, I parented these to the main body of my model.
Next, to help me pose my character, in keeping with the storyline, I searched for online images to include in a story board of people who had tripped, and were in the first stages of falling.
Using these references, I then placed my model in a similar, dynamic, pushed pose that drew attention to his exaggerated, bulging muscles, and to highlight his shocked expression, also turned his head to the position where he would helplessly watch the prop items I’d created go flying into the air. While I’d originally hoped to use all of the tea set items as props, doing this would have not only made me exceed my 50K polygon limit, but would have ruined the visual impact by making the scene appear much too cluttered.
Considering the staging of my final scene was also important at this time, and meant me deciding where, and how best to place my props within the 3D space, that would both reflect the storyline, and achieve the maximum effect when my model was rotated through 360 degrees. I therefore envisaged the trajectory of the items flying off the tray, and took into consideration that, being the heaviest item, the teapot needed to be placed lowest within the scene. Finally, thinking of the prop’s proportions, and perspective in relation to the bull’s exaggerated form, I also scaled each item to match this, and the scene.
Happy with the outcome, I then hid the armature, and exported the project to Sketchfab as an .fbx file. Once processed in Sketchfab, I adjusted various settings to achieve the best presentation and required mood, such as the lighting, background colour, and shadow display. However, when I checked, the amended roughness values that had given the tea set item their glossy glaze, and had mimicked the oil worn by the bull, to like bodybuilders, define his extreme muscle definition, had not carried across into Sketchfab. However, with a little guidance from my tutor this was easily amended, by adjusting the values of each individual component in Sketchfab.
Also, it was only after my Sketchfab upload that I realised, despite be so careful when creating my final design, I has unexpectedly exceeded the 50k polygon limit for my scene. Knowing something untoward had happened, I investigated each item in Blender to find that, for some reason, my teapot handle had been duplicated during the creation process, and removing this duplicate, which I hadn’t initially noticed, took me back to 48.8k, and well below the limit. While this meant changes, and having to reupload the file, staying within the brief is essential, as is rectifying any small issue to improve my work going forward.
Here’s the link to my final, updated Sketchfab upload, which after adding categories, tags and a short description to increase discoverability, will hopefully attract attention, and create interest in my work.
Overall, I’m delighted with the outcome, which I feel fulfils the brief, and relays my ‘bull in a china shop’ idiom, and the backstory that my waiter, with his bodybuilder aesthetic, has tripped, and in true Hotel Transylvania style, something catastrophic is just about to unfold.
My character was also easy to move and pose, as I’d taken time and care during the construction process to verify the geometry was correct, retopologised every issue, and ensured that my armatures were well placed, symmetrical and balanced.
Also, spending so much time developing my character and his back story, as well as taking the time to really understand both him, and the art/animation style of Genndy Tartakovsky before I started modelling, genuinely helped smooth, and speed up the creation process. However, although it didn’t tie in with my planned storyline, choosing a later stage of the fall may have allowed me to push the pose more, but could have affected the believability of the scene, as by that stage, my props would have broken.