Anatomy

As we are starting to model characters in the 3D course this week, we have been going into anatomy for modelling. To see where we are at we were asked to bring 2D drawings of characters, human and animals, and to give each other feedback on where we need to improve.

I think that 2D is definitely my strong point compared to 3D since I have been doing it for so long, but there are definitely areas in which I need to improve, both in anatomy and other areas.

Start screen of Terminal

Considering anatomy I think that I need to work on getting my proportions right, I tend to draw very tall and slender characters that often have very long legs. I have also noticed that I generally draw the shoulder area a little too narrow. Other than that I should keep practicing on drawing hands and feet and to get the anatomy correct without using reference images.

Examples of super long legs and slim shoulders.

Something that has been an issue for me lately is that whenever I draw women, I get asked if it is a man and when I drew a man I was asked if it was a woman. I think it is in particular for the strong jawlines and facial features that I have been giving my female characters and that I am only used to drawing females. I do not think that it needs to be an issue though, it is a result of what I like at the moment and I am confident that I could do differently if asked to.

I wanted this woman to be a hardened soldier who has seen 

many battles, hence the strong facial features.

My teacher pointed out something that I have been thinking about lately, that I tend to draw what I know. I am aware that I almost always draw women, or as she put it – white women that look like you. I have been trying to start drawing things that I have not attempted before and that I do not usually draw. I have started to try to step out of my comfort zone by drawing armour, dragons, animals and men.

This was the main reason for why I chose the character that I did for the concept for the character modelling that we are about to start. I thought that I should do something that I normally would not and went for a boy child. There was another drawing that I started, of a woman in armour, but I felt some diversity was needed so I changed into a young man instead. I do realise that I then gave them both pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes.

Concept of a boy for the 3D1 character assignment.

I have the opportunity to practice this since I have been asked for drawings with different ethnicities. I should do studies of people of different ethnicities and ages since it will allow me to create a much greater range of characters.

As far as the proportions I am aware of my characters having very long legs and thin shoulders and I think that I just need to practice practice practice to get over it. I also think that it is very important with constructive feedback as I am easily blinded when working on a drawing, so that it is very hard to see it until someone else points it out because I am so used to it.

Muscles and hands study from a Life Drawing handin.

Rereading course literature for the 2D1 and Life Drawing courses is probably also a good idea to improve my work. I could also go through old course material for them to refresh my memory as well as attending life drawing classes. It is hard to remember all elements that you study at once, every time I go back and study them again, something new sticks that I can use.

Artemis, 2D1 character assignment.

The main thing to do is just putting the pen on paper and draw until my fingers bleed and study how other people look, move and act.

Chalice Update no 3

I got some feedback on my chalice today and made some improvements. The first thing I did was to fix the normal map as that was what was causing the issues with the cup part.

Previous version to the left, new to the right

I did this by creating a flat normal map and using a layer mask in Photoshop to only show the patterns that I had created.

Old normal map on the left, new on the right

I also decreased the general brightness of the specular map and increased the contrast between it and the highlighted parts as well as added some darker areas between the ornaments where the chalice would not be as polished as the rest. I still have some experimenting to with that one though, as I have been given the advice to try to use the specular map to achieve a brushed metal look. Adding little, lighter scratches will hopefully make the chalice look as if it has been used and polished many times and be more interesting to look at.

Chalice in UDK

I have also been working on the diffuse map, using 3D Coat to paint directly on a High-Poly model. What I have changed since my last update is to add the "dirt" that would be gathered in the creases of the ornaments. As these are areas that are difficult to get to when cleaning and polishing the chalice, they should be darker than and not as shiny as the parts that are sticking out.

Chalice in 3D Coat, new version on the right

Chalice Update no 2

I have been working on my textures for the museum assignment, for which I am modelling a golden chalice. mainly I have been focusing on my normal map this week as I want to use it to get a better result when creating my diffuse and specular maps. I experimented a bit in MudBox but could not get it to work the way I wanted it to so I gave 3D Coat a go instead.

In 3D Coat I increased the polycount dramatically and basically just painted the patterns I wanted on it before baking my normal map.

High-Poly Model in 3D Coat

Here is how it looks when imported in UDK, I think it looks quite good but I am not very happy with how the cup part is looking. Next week I need to bring it to class to ask how I can improve it, other than that I need to figure out how I am going to paint my diffuse map. I feel that I have come to a point where I can continue on creating the diffuse map, probably I will continue to work in 3D Coat and adding finishing touches if needed in Photoshop.

Low-Poly Model with Basic Diffuse Map and Normal Map

This is my first experiment with the diffuse map that I started on last week, it did not really turn out very well. It does not really look like gold and I think that it should look newer, or at least more cleaned, it should be a well kept precious object. The only thing that worked was the "dirt" along the edges as it gave the chalice a lot more character and made it look more interesting and real.

Preproduction Package: Bella

Yesterday I received a pre-production package from one of my class mates that I am to model for the 3D course. The character I will be modelling is a 12 years old girl called Bella (Isabella) who is the main character of a detective aimed at children of 8 years and up.

Concept Art I was given for "Bella"

What I was instructed to keep in mind was that Bella is a quite calm girl, economic in her movement and she does not use any makeup. Since the hands were not visible in the concept art I was told that she is to wear mittens and I was given reference material to how they should look.

When it came to modelling I was instructed to keep the coat and the scarf as one object, the legs as one object and the head, hat and hair as one object.

I was given the freedom to adjust the height of the scarf on her neck, making her neck visible, to make it easier for Bella to move her head. I was also allowed to adjust the length of the scarf on the back if I deemed it necessary for a good result, keeping in mind both the artistic element and animations.

Bella is generally a very calm girl but gets very excited when discovering clues or braking a case. Her greatest interest in life is to read mystery novels and seeking out and solving mysteries. Together with her two closest friends she has a mystery club where they get together and solve mysteries. She is street smart and has an eye for details, it is easy for her to find clues and connect them.

Her main goal in life is to become a great detective and solve mysteries, to do so she must probably get over her fear of the dark. Although her parents knew about it she tries to hide it from everyone and they now think that she is not scared anymore.

She is more interested in comfort than style and has little to no interest in fashion and makeup. Her style is instead inspired by comfort and British, fictional detectives which is something that influences on most of her life.

Bella comes from an agnostic family that might need to think of their economy although not being very poor. She lives with her neurotic mother, calm and loving father and her two years old twin brothers.

The game takes place in the Scandinavian suburb/moderately large city in which Bella lives.  The game world has a cold, dark and slightly melancholic climate, reflecting late autumn and early winter of Scandinavia.  Being early winter it is often cloudy and it occasionally snows, the snow does not stay though, it just makes everything wet. The cold, wet and melancholic aspects of the game world is contrasted by the excitement Bella and her friends feel when going out to solve mysteries.

The platform of the game is PC and the three major competitors are “LasseMajas Detektivbyrå”, “Case Closed: The Mirapolis Investigation” and “Freddi Fish in Kelp Seed Mystery”.

I get the feeling of a low tempo game that uses a desaturated and cold colour scheme in order to achieve the calm feeling that the designer is aiming for. The style and colour scheme of the main character and the description I received of the game world supports this. I feel that the choice of an early winter Scandinavian suburb or city is a very good choice of setting that will enforce the aesthetic goals of the game.

Even though the visual style is set for Bella I feel that I have been given some artistic freedom to interpret it in order to optimize the concept art so that it will work well as a 3D model and be easy to animate. I can make changes, for instance the length of the scarf that can have a major economic impact on the game development, by cutting back on the amount of work hours needed to complete the model and make the animations look good.

I feel that the character description sheet that I was given along with the instructions I received when discussing with my client student gives me a good picture of who Bella is and how she should act and look. I have a clear feeling of what I think my client student is going for. I might need to redraw some of the concept art though, figuring out how the jawline and mittens should look as those parts are not visible. Then I will also need to consult my client student to get her approval.

Something that might cause problems for me is that I have never modelled a character before and I need to learn how to go about it. I believe that if I just learn where to start and where to go from there, most of my modelling will go rather smoothly. I do expect quite a lot of small problems to occur though, just due to my inexperience with modelling and the programs that we use. I will need to expand my knowledge in 3Ds Max and possibly in MudBox and/or 3D Coat as well. I need to explore them and find a way that fits my style of working.

I think that any problems that I might encounter with the model itself, not related to the programs used, can be solved by using what I have learnt from life drawing and think of everything in terms of boxes and cylinders.

Character Assignment: Game World

This week we have begun creating characters in the 3D course, the first step was to come up with concept art and a turnaround for a character for which we would then create a character backstory and game world.

Concept Art that I drew for the assignment of noble son William

The game takes place in medieval England, to some extent inspired by the Sword in the Stone and the village in Beauty and the Beast. The country is divided into several shires managed by lords serving the king. The noble boy William is the eldest son of one of these Lords that has been sent to the castle of another Lord to serve as a page as preparation for knighthood training.

The environments are made up of lush deciduous forests and vast open moors used for farming and for cattle to graze. There are many small villages spread out in the shires and the occasional larger cities, there are only three very large cities in the land, one of them, the Capital, the home of the King.

The inhabitants of the world are humans although there are many legends of dragons and other fantasy creatures, no one now alive is known to have seen any though. There are a few witches and wizards in the land, but they are sure to hide away from the church as it is not looked mildly upon.

People living in the world has an expected life span of 60 years, some can become as old as 100 but it is very rare. The population is very well distributed between infants and elderly and men and women, since there have been no wars recently that could change the distribution.

Highest up in the hierarchy is the King, after him there are Dukes, Counts and Barons holding steadings of sizes according to their rank. Priests are also considered very high in rank, although they have their own line of hierarchy, answering both to the Lord and the King.

There are many types of people and professions, merchants, craftsmen, soldiers; you could find pretty much any profession that you would expect in the medieval time. The knights are very high ranked and are almost with no exception the sons of noble men that have served as pages and gone through knighthood training.

Occasionally someone from lower status may become a knight for performing exceptional service for the King. There has also been a few female knights, they are very few though as the noble families do not tend to want to send their daughters away for page service and prefer to educate them in other areas, trying to keep them safe. Apart from holding the titles (which only knighted people can) the knights are as high as you can climb in the hierarchy and it is a great honour and achievement to do so.

Since it is placed in the medieval times the Catholic Church has a great impact on the people living in the land. They are very religious, have great respect and appreciation for the priests and go to church regularly without question. The people believe in witches, fairies, dragons and other magical creatures, even though no one is known to have encountered them, and because of their religious beliefs often assume them to be evil.

The shire that the main character lives in, as well as the surrounding shires, has not seen any wars or problems lately. It has been peaceful for quite some time and the weather has been kind, this means that the land is prospering and there is little to none famine or disease.

Chalice Update

As well as finishing up my crates I have completed the model for my museum assignment this week. I have optimized the model and created the UV map, now I need to finish the texture set complete with diffuse, specular and normal maps. Here is a visual update of what I have done so far.

Reference chalice from Gotland Museum

Finished Model

Model with UV Checker applied

Finished model with wireframe

UV set as seen in UV Editor in 3DS Max

Medieval Crate

Crate as seen in UDK (back and front)

I was working on the diffuse map last week but something was just not right with it, when I started to think of and work on the other maps I came to realise that the fault I had probably made was that I was trying to do the work of the normal and specular maps because I wanted it to look complete and finished.

A diffuse map should only hold the basic colour and not any lighting or surface details; I think I was trying to do too much with it just because I was eager to see how it would look when it was done. I fixed this by decreasing the contrast of the metal parts and making the edges look more worn rather than shiny and polished.

Previous diffuse on top, new one in the bottom

A specular map is used to tell the game engine how different parts of the metal should reflect the light, meaning how shiny things are. When creating a specular map one should keep in mind what materials their model would be made from and how they react to light. In my case the wood would not be very shiny at all and therefore needs to be very dark in the specular map. The metal on the other hand needs to be shiny, but the surface of my metal is quite rough, implying that it was handmade with crude materials and tools in the medieval times, so it should not be super shiny as it would be if it had been polished. I also have two kinds of metals so the darker one that is used on the corners are not as reflective as the lighter metal used on the rest of the crate.

How an object is used and how old it is are also aspects that need to be taken into consideration with all the maps. Since my crate is contemporary, used often by its owner and has been around for a while the edges should be worn, as I drew on the diffuse map, and therefore polished and shinier than the rest of the metal.

Highlights and shininess could be added to the model through the diffuse maps, but by using specular maps the models will be affected by the light in the game in real time. This makes the models very much more diverse, as they can be placed anywhere in the game instead of needing a fixed place where it only looks good if looking from the right angle.

Specular map

The normal map is used to create surface details to keep the polycount down on the model itself.  I used it to create the rough surface on the metal parts of my crate and to add veins in the wood and gaps between the planks. If I were not using a normal map I would have been right when dong my first diffuse map, but it is unnecessary as the normal map gives so much more depth.  

I started with a black and white version of my diffuse map, quite similar to the specular map as the darker parts will be deeper and the lighter part will be sticking out. I did decrease the contrast both in the wood and (mostly) the metal to get a smoother surface. Then I tried to think of at what depth each part should be so that it would look even and right, for instance I made the gaps between the planks very dark so that they would be clearly visible to fit the medieval look.

Everything that does not change the silhouette of the model should be created with normal maps as it can minimize the polycount dramatically, meaning less pressure on the game engine and memory space.

Normal map

Crate as seen in 3DS Max