This is the END

Hello All,
Well as I sure all you fellow FD students know, it is the end of the course. Some of you will no doubt defer a year and complete the degree, but I myself am off to greener pastures. I am in search for the holiest of grails; a job that I will enjoy. So this is the end of this blog too. I will still be posting but on a new blog, for a new start. I really hope that you all continue to follow my progress as I would really appreciate feedback on my portfolio work and I have kind of got fond of you. Like an old dog, I have kind of got used to you being around. Good luck to everyone and hope to see you at the show on Tuesday.

My new blog is 'jake-ashby.blogspot.com' hope to see you there.

Jake2

Week One At TT Fusion

Oh My Lord.

Imagine that you are working in your dream job for a couple of weeks. You want to create some beautiful models and show some competence but all that you seem to do is flounder in a hopeless stream of miss-understanding? Where are the 4096 textures?

This week has been a real eye opener. Basically I am a useless tool at the moment slowly absorbing information to hopefully upgrade to be slightly useful my Monday. The games industry is a whole world of 'less is more' that makes you push the boundries of possibilty. You are constantly trying to get one polly to look like four, or bully a stamp sized texture to cover a football pitch. There are no liberties that you lavish in whilst in college. This really is something from nothing.

You can't beat that feeling of absolute excitment though. I am working on a real game. Not something that I have made up. What I create has to satisfy the stringent eyes of hardened industry scrutiny and they don't need to be kind. You learn fast so as not to make the same mistake and it is a constant learning curve. I feel challenged at every corner and that makes me frustrated at times but ultimatly satisfied. I want to learn and be better as at the moment I am only too aware at how little I know.

Knowledge is power so at the moment I am a level 1. Everyone else is a level 200. Lets see where I can get to by next week.

Day One In The TT Fusion House

Oh My God. I don't think I can put into words how damn amazing today was. Think of a puppy in a room full of tennis balls all bouncing around each one looking really really fun. Well there you go, I could put it into words. Whats happening on that screen? Or that screen? Or that screen? Not enough eyes................ There is something immense happening everywhere all the time.

Well the day started with a litre of latte, then a quick introduction to Mr Turner our liaison. We then signed our souls away to TT basically preventing us from saying anything that can or could give away the content of this project........so there is my first day.

Well not quite. We had a small meeting with Will Turner, as he showed us where they are up to with the game and what they are working on at the moment. He then looked at the work that we have covered on the course, before we were led to the 'Mr Norris Suite' a meeting come entertainment room where we research the style and background of the game for the remainder of the day. Tomorrow we should be able to start working in 3D as they have organised computers for each of us.

I can't wait to see what an industry machine feels like.

Today was like Christmas when you were young. You wake up early feeling anticipation building up in your belly. You race to the tree that harbours the shiny boxes of complete happiness. You get that awesome present that you really really wanted and makes you feel so excited that you can only make stupid noises and your eyes look like they will pop out your head. You then drink too much free fizzy drink and get really tired, but there is still boxing day tomorrow.............................

TT Character Images

Well, I know that the Character hand in was two weeks ago now but I really wanted to go back and create some nicer images for the TT hand in. I managed to get them sorted yesterday ready to give to Dean for the Monday back. I have used some of the renders that I created for the initial hand in but created a couple more to show off the character in what I feel is a better way. Hope you like them.

Barrels Away

Well yesterday was an awesome day. Dean Organised for one of his Industry friends to come in and run through the Maya interface with us along with some of the basics (thanks Wess). With this new found knowledge I managed to solve some of the issues I was having with my barrel.

It seemed that as I was fiddling with the extrude gizmo I was inadvertently adding hidden verts to my model. This is what was causing all the hassle in the UV window. So with this new found knowledge I have sorted the UV and textured the barrel.





I am not sure how the Normal and Specular mapping works in Maya yet, but that will be something for tomorrow as I want to work on my character images for the TT hand-in today.

Valiant Effort

I endured a horrendous bus journey to college ( I am sure the bus driver hit every pot hole possible) only to find that the technicians had not installed the trial of Maya on the college computers. Blast? As it happened this gave me some time to cast up as get back into the loop of the regime that is dead farm. Adam and Kev are pushing hard to hit their vision for the level and it seems that they have really thought hard about the route they want the level to take.

I have started on some simple assets to further my Maya skills, but was unable to continue in college, so after updating what still needed to be modelled went home in the Swiss Taxi, and continued to shout at Maya for the afternoon.

The issue I have is that I am approaching the program the same way that I use Max. I am looking for Max primitives and not finding them where I expect them to be. As the afternoon went on I decided to look over a couple of tutorials and 'read' rather than 'do' where items were. This break really helped me sort myself out and even after a little run in with the Hide/Un Hide feature, the latter stopping me flat as I had no geometry to model with, I really started to enjoy working with Maya. I am finding that the commands are more at your finger tips through the HOT BOX (Space Bar)and slowly I am starting to use the menus rather than spend my life in them.




Anyway here is a little something I started, textured then decided to develope. I created this Pallet using straight box shapes, so that I could practice UV Mapping etc, then decided that I wanted more of a challenge so have begun to rat it up a little. Slowly, but funnly. I will get there in time for TT,and I will enjoy it. I just hope my stomach is with me well before then. develop

Week 1 Dead Farm

Well, one week has passed on this Dead Farm project and I can honestly say that I have not felt out of the loop on a project for a long time. I have been trying to learn Maya the best I can for the up and coming work placement. Primarily I have been watching tutorial videos to try and gain an understanding of the screen layout. I would really like to model items for this project in Maya and at least become comfortable if not competent with the program over the coming weeks.

On Monday we discussed how the layout of the Farm would work, covering playable and non-playable areas and the general size, asset list and so forth. Kev and Adam were assigned as project leaders and led the discussion. As myself the other Jake and Mike and Guys are off to TT in three weeks I put forward the idea that we could collect reference images for the farm as this could be something that we did to help at the start of the project. This was agreed upon and further discussion continued.

On Tuesday and Wednesday Swiss, Myself and Mike and Guys went in search of our Farms. Using Mike's farm knowledge we quickly discovered some really nice run down buildings.

http://s972.photobucket.com/home/deadfarm/index

Thinking about the discussion the previous day where entrances needed to be blocked off and a general run down feel was my understanding I feel we really hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately it was a sunny day so not the best for texture images but still good for ideas and reference. I am particularly pleased with the barns and out buildings as they give reference for items that can be space fillers. Things that I would not necessarily have thought of otherwise.

Unfortunately I have caught a tummy virus so was unable to attend college on Friday and as previously mentioned feel a little out of the loop but I hope to be back in on Monday and with the addition of Maya on a couple of computers (thanks Dean)I can hopefully model some lovely assets. Nothing too complicated to start with. I fancy an oil drum then maybe a gas canister. Something that can be easily textured too......then the world

Done and Dusted

Well, the hand-in was on Monday and it felt good to give over the Character Module and really bad at the same time. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend who has been to visit but you didn't do as much as you had planned. The character has become part of my day to day life and it will be missed. But hey ho, the next step is here amd it is in the form of Dead Farm.

The group has been turned into a production company to make a level using the theme Dead Farm. The layout of the farm has been designed for us by the Art Directors 'Deanamus Bettonious'and'Grahammathius Bettonfriendious'. These two world respected designers have also supplied a loose back story that fits with out previous two projects.

Rufus Clawe, super galactic villain has decided that a run down farm is the best place to hide and regroup. Little does he know that his ultimate evil lair is well known to the perusing bounty hunters who have sought him through the fabric of time and space.

Will this farm host the end for Rufus Clawe his goons and ultimately the galaxy or will a lesser evil prevail and the bounty hunters leave victorious. Only time will tell.

Rigging

This week we have been learning rigging.  This is how you allow your character to move and have weight in a game environment.  This method uses a skeleton that has been pre-rigged to bend on the natural joins using a simple bone structure.



Using this skeleton we had to aply our charcter to the whole rig, informing Max what part needed to be attached to which bone so that the folds, bends and stretches would look as natural as possible.

Bed Time

Well here is a tired entry.

Just two render sheets of my character.  Calling it quits now.  Lots more that I want to do and no doubt will do later on but I feel it is adequate enough for the time being.  Really enjoyed this project and I have leant so much.

Review-Revision

Well after the Half Term break my tutor looked over my character and told me a list of things that needed to be addressed.  There were not too many but enough to keep me working hard.

I need to........................
                                      look at adding a few pollies to the legs to take the hard edge off,
                                      Change the scuff marks on the orange panels to metal rather than yellow,
                                      Complete the Normal and Specular Maps,
                                      Finish the wear and tear on the Diffuse Map.

Today I have been working on the Normal and Specular.   I have decided, after talking to the other Jake that I am going to add more wear and tear using the Specular Map so that there will be a contrast between softer gray marks on the Normal Map and the reflective shiny marks on the Specular.

Sort of There

I have put some time into the head of the character today and am now getting short of happy with the texture.  I still need to create the normal, specular and emissive, but some only need to be ready when I take the model into the Unreal engine.  I have once again learnt a great deal in this section of the project and I could probably get to where I am now in a week if I had to start again.  That is the point though so I am glad.  Anyway here is a render sheet that I have done for myself to review where I am up to and what needs addressing.

I am really pleased with how the head has finalised and how well the colour scheme goes together.  I am well aware that I need to texture the soul capsule and add edge wear to the arm and shoulder pads but apart from that I think that I am nearly there.  I am however going to Devon until Sunday so we shall see what a couple of days away does for the eyes.  I may very well get back and see some glaringly obviously mistakes that days of looking at the same texture has hidden from me....................like now, where I have just noticed the right strut on the boot is gray not black.........................oh well, what shall Sunday bring.  Please let me know what you think.  Cheers

Tortoise and Hare.

I am making steady progress with my diffuse map.  I am putting in the hours where I can but I must admit I am feeling pretty tired after work today.  I am stopping now as I am starting to make mistakes.  I am living by the motto
    
         'Less Haste More Speed'

or my adaptation

         'Less Sleep More Coffee'

I have added the edge ware to all the panels on the legs now and I have started to work into the belt.  I have tried to leave the lower panels unscathed to add depth ( I think I may need to work a little edge wear in to add dimension) as well as to break up the character.  I am looking forward to working on the torso as there is quite a lot of detail there and this should really bring the model to life.

Oh and yes Stas I need to work to a time limit on each part to get more done.  This I try, I always seems to come back later and tweak. Tweaking is a devourer of many hours, but it is the road to greatness.

New Tricks

Today I was shown a nice little method in photoshop by fellow student and name stealer Jake.  It deals with the darker areas in my texture but allowing the introduction of wear and tear on the metal panels.  It is quite simple really but very effective.  Here are some renders showing the results.  I am really starting to get back into the texturing now.

I really like the richness that it brings to the textures.  I can really start to work into the panels now adding the wear at the edges and breaking up the large areas of flat colour.  

Texture HO!

I must admit I have not enjoyed this part of the project as much I usually do when it comes to texturing.  I think it is because I can not texture to the level of competence that I want yet.  Patience lad, good things come to those who wait.  Stupidly I was really letting it get to me and this has stopped me progressing as far as I would have liked.  It is ok though.  You don't have to worry because I have been a busy little bee today and have really started to work into my texture.  I am still a long way off completing the texture and I can see myself never being completely happy with the outcome but I know that the next time I create a texture it will be that little bit better and on and on until I reach a point that I am happy..................................maybe.

Anyway here are some small renders showing what I have been up to.  I can't wait to see what a Normal, Spectular and Emissive map will do to help.

Hope you like it because the whole model will be scuffed and covered in these orange glyphs...............oohh the mystery.

Texture Torment

I have managed to do almost nothing this week.  Not that I have been lazy, I have been very busy, but I have progressed to the point at which I began........................................................'Less Haste More Speed?'

I have been trying to create an awesome texture to use as the main armour colour.  That my friends is the first mistake.  I have been adding layer upon layer over each other with no planning or research.  I have just been charging at it like a bull in a china shop and it has to stop.

Tonight I have been through my research images and chosen areas from some that I want to replicate in my character.

I have chosen Gordon Freeman from Half Life because he has a very simple colour style and it works really well.  I wanted to have grey as my primary colour and I really like how he is just grey, with scuffs and scrapes using the orange to in certain areas.  I don't want that much colour but some accentuating colour, like the bottom two images.  I also like the top and right image as is has one colour for the entire character with simple scuff textures over the top.

As you can see from the Mass Effect image they have used strips of colour to accentuate parts of the the armour.  This is nice.  I also want to have the pipes on my character illuminated as seen in the bottom image, and the pies de resistance, is the Soul Reeving Gauntlet.  I would like to add in the texture his weapon that removes peoples souls to the capsule on his back.  I want it to have an emissive light too. 

Well the plan is to have an evening away from it tomorrow night and come to it a fresh on Monday.  Then create a bloody awesome, but simple texture.  Then of course I can make it more awesome.

Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes......................

Well head actually.  Just a quick update of a little addition.  Also Dean may be right with the old addition of some veins, reds and blue to the face so I will give that a go too.  I have felt that it needed something else to give it that extra omfgh.  Anyway here is a little picture of how the head is progressing.

I like the transparency of the visor as well, so this may stay the same.  I think that a lack of pupils of something un-ordinary will work also.  

Heah to Head

Well today was a good day.  I started to texture my character and I am really quite happy with it.  I am really enjoying it too which is nice.............................

I have started on the face as this is the first part I modelled and I feel it is an important part to get right as it has a lot of detail and gives a lot of information about the character.  I have gone down the putrid flesh route as my character is very very old and does not moisturise.  Moisturising is not something a soul eating bounty hunter does.

I have removed the pollies that are hidden by the breather mask and plane to add robotic computer textures to the purple cranium.  I was just having a play really with the face texture but I really like where it has gone.  I may need to play with the intensity levels a bit but I think this is roughly  towards the result I am looking for.  Of course I will have to review it when I have textured the whole model.

I am also going to work over the top of this texture to enhance the features and give him a more rough look, with unhealed cuts and bumps.  I think it is a good base though.....................................

Unwrapped

Well a day later than planned but I have completed the Unwrap.  I hope that it is good enough but I am sure I will be informed tomorrow if there are any areas that need altering.  

This is the head unwrap.  There is a lot of wasted space but you have to stick within certain areas allotted to each section of the model.

There is a lot of free space in the bottom corner but there is less detail in that section of model.  If I model a weapon for the character this is where I could put the unwrap.

Using some quick flat colour, I have started to plot out the colour scheme of my character.  There may have to be some modelling changes but nothing drastic..

Renders

Well the hand in for the modelling was uneventful and we have now seemlessly moved into the texturing part of the project.  Oh how I with I had modelled something a little more simple.  Well I don't really, but I am looking at a long unwrap.  I always feel that I need to get better at unwrapping my models.  I seem to rush the process and when it comes to texturing there is stretching and what not.  Not this time, oh no.  I will be an unwrapping god by then end of this week, which coincidently is when the model needs to be unwrapped.

Anyway, here are the render sheets that I created for the hand in to show off my character.

        

        

Loooop Hole

Well here we are drawing close to the end of the modelling section of the project.  It has been really really enjoyable and I am not in the slightest stressed.  I can't wait to get started on the texturing and even though I know it will be a bugger I am looking forward to learning rigging.

Today I have been working on the concept sheet design.  I have been bringing the images that I created for the concept and blueprints together onto one sheet to show of the design side of the project.  I am reasonably happy with the result, but I have been away from conceptual art for a while so am a little rusty.  I am happy enough though.  I still need to finish off the original concept design.

I have also been working on a stand for my character.  As we have to show our character off through renders and it is not textured it was suggested that a stand could help.  Dean never mentioned a poly count for the stand so there is a loop hole for indulge myself.  I have added a further 8000 polies but I think that it is worth it.

I have incorporated the housing for the soul containers.  The idea behind this character is that he harbours souls and uses them to sustain his immortality.................................................................
Something nice to think about

Polly Palava

Well yesterday was an interesting day.  I have reached a natural conclusion to the modelling and decided to sort out the smoothing groups.  This opened a massive can of worms.  Not ordinary garden worms but some mutated monster worms.  I collapsed all the symmetries and sorted all the smoothing groups out.  Feeling quite pleased with the result I suddenly noticed that my polly count had risen to 9222.  From where?  I had not even hit 8000 before I collapsed the symmetries but an increase of over 1000 pollies?  Apparently you don't get a true polly count whilst using symmetry.
Anyway, as this increase frustrated me I decided to revert to my primary save file that I started the day with and repeat the process but this time watching the polly count.  At the end this time the polly count was 8600.  Bizarre.
After a minor tantrum I decided that I was going to hit my self given polly limit of 8000 so began to remove unnecessary information.  I now have a 7986 polly count but don't know where the additional pollies came from.

Long Time No Post

Where have I been? Modelling........................................
I have been working through the more detailed parts of the model.  I am quite close the end of the modelling section of the project and I am pleased with the progress I have made.  I think that I am close to where I want the model to be.

I have been quite busy finishing off the main detail and resolving the issues that have been raised. 

The boots were an issue for me as I felt that the character was top heavey and didn't quite fit together.  I have bulked out the boots and defined the calf adding the support on the back.  They are now my favourite part of the character. I am really pleased with the shape and definition I have modelled.

I have changed the way I modelled the arm fins.  Instead of them being part of the arm I have created them as separate pieces.  This allows a smoother flow in the arm edges and a crisper finish to the fins themselves.

I have really enjoyed modelling the hands.  I have spent a long time adding the detail but am still not finished. I need to define the finger shape in the profile and add the armour plate on the back of the hands.  I am really pleased with the outcome so far and am glad that I have attempted to model the hands rather than using the Unreal set.

Finally we have the head.  I have deviated from the original design a little here.  I have added a mask over the eyes and developed the straps on the head to hold it all in place.  This design although it has been likened to an epileptics helmet, does solve the issues of space travel as my character can now have no fear of loosing his eyes ( like the scene in total recall).  I plan on adding lots of detail to the head where I have inset, using the texture and normal maps for depth.

Slow Progress

The New Year has brought a lull in my design achievements.  I am not sure if it is the vast quantities that I have eaten and drunk, or the inset of old age, but I find myself warming in front of the fire with the constant drivel that is British TV enticing me away from my work.  Maybe I have ground to a halt like the whole of Britain because of the snow.  It defiantly has nothing to do with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.  Oh no, I am not in the slightest addicted to that game.........................except between the hours of 9am and 2am, where I can be found shouting at some random 'SeargentPaiN_123' or 'Amonkey:)' who has just annihilated me only to professes that he is off to do his homework.


Well what have I achieved.  This ........................

"Not much" I hear you say.  But vitally important.  I wanted something that would not inhibit the movement of my character as he is a bounty hunter after all.  I am not pleased with the side view yet, but development will pre vale. I may need to develop the edges at the front to allow full arm movement but as this is my first character model and I am not completely sure of the Unreal Limits/Parameters I will have to wait until tomorrow when I see my tutors.  Anyway, let me know what you think as feedback is always greatly appreciated.  

Getting Back Into the Swing

Ok, so it has been over a week since I last posted but hey, there has been a lot of meat eaten in that time and a fair bit of chocolate too. I sat down today and tried to sort out some of the issuesmentioned by a class mate, that could improve my character. I have wanted to get the hands modelled as well so that I have all the basic detail completed. This took me a lot longer than I had first thought. I couldn't get started. Every time I began to model the basic shape I couldn't get going. In the end I looked at '3ds Max Modelling for Games' a book by Andrew Gahan. This was very helpful and after taking a couple of photographs of my hands for screen reference got the simple shape modelled out.

I then started to work on the shoulder pads. I know I want something to bulk out the arms and carry on the shape of the backpack but I am unsure what that is yet. I modelled these simple shapes over the shoulders in Max to see how it affected the feel of the model. I think that it works from the back, but needs to be different for the front. I don't want the shoulder pads to hinder the movement and I don't want suite to end up being too big.

I drew these few designs trying to work out in my head where I am going next with the design.