Saturday, 27 March 2010
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.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 22 March 2010
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
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
Saturday, 20 March 2010
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
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
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
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.
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.
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