Creative and Techncal Submission

This is the final submission of my creative and technical model I have been working on this for a while and I have gone through multiple versions of it and I have the final product. As what I am creating isn't something that exists in real life which means I have some creative freedom over the design of the model.

The first Lowpoly I made was a lot rougher and harder edges which the low poly you see now is a more smoothed version compare to the original. The high poly is smoother as well as the edges are a lot rounder than the low poly as well. Once i had made the high poly the next step was to design and prepare the extra details which included the spirals. I drew them in photoshop and sculpted them onto the model in Mudbox, it took a few different attempts but I ended up with a design I was happy with.

The final step was the bake and the texture, the bake I had a few issues with the biggest being that the low and high poly models were too different in shape I ended up remaking the high poly model to solve this. Once that was solved I just had to paint the model. The Main colour is a metallic red with gold trims on all of the edges.


Sketchfab

https://sketchfab.com/models/5017c870b2f044e3a153ef7aba971c57

Powerpoint

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16D2-kmLL8WwOTDHvoazETKgjZufWbTt5/view?usp=sharing

MVP Review

We have received the feedback on the MVP of the imagine worlds project and main part of the feedback was to have a proper render available. The main feedback was about our camera set up being dodgy as they were moving rapidly with little coordination this is something we are fixing by reanimating the cameras and we will be adding some translations in after effects when we are done as this will help hide the things we don't want seen and it will also make the camera more fluid together.

Other group members are also adding extras to the scene like more models and adding some texturing to certain parts. Which can be improved upon.

Santa sleigh Texturing done

This is Santa sleigh which is almost finished in the 2 images i have 2 different versions one with the gold on the outside of the spirals and one within based on other peoples feedback will help me decided upon which i choose. all of the Texturing has been done in substance painter. I still have some polishing to do to make some of the edges straighter and cleaner as well as making sure all of the lines are the same size.

Overall i am happy with the progress of the sleigh while they are improvements to make which i intend on doing i believe its a good standard and once the polishing is done i'll be ready to submit it before the deadline.

1st Texturing attampt

This is my first version of what the sled will look like it i have some cleaning up on the edges to do and to straiten up the gold trims i also will need to do the sled tracks. I will also change the red tracks to a more metallic one like aluminium. After that all that needs doing is to get some renders of the model made which shouldn't be too difficult to do. The hardest part of this was getting the baking done as i ran into a few different issues which i finally fixed by getting all of the names updated as Maya was having issue so they wouldn't change.

The Texturing can begin

After having various issue relating to baking i finally got it working it was a mixture of the low/high poly models change too much during smoothing and the naming being set up wrong. Now All i need to do is to start the texturing. Once the model is fully done I'll add it to the scene as an extra animation.

For the Animation its self its coming along to a quality standard and we should have an MVP ready provided we don't run into any issue along the way. By Wednesday the 30th (end of this college week) I want to have everything in place together so i can add the effects and try to get a render done. This will also allow to begin adding other parts like Snow effects and Music to the animation.

Creative and technical and Imagine worlds 2 weeks remaining

With only 2 weeks remaining until the deadline of the imagine worlds project it means everything is finally coming together. The Animation only has some small parts to go so that should be done by the end of next week with 1 week left for improvements and refinement as well as fixing any other issue which pop up last minute. I believe we should have the MVP done within the time constraint



For my creative and technical the engraving is fully done all that needs doing is a quick texture in substance painter which is currently being held up by an issue with being unable to bake i can't do this in either Maya or Substance. I am having other issue as well but these are things i am sorting and should be fixable.

Creative and Technical model And imagine world

8th of November 2017.

I have begun to make the designs the indentations in Photoshop I have some spirals and i have the colors set up to allow Mudbox to imprint them. The background is black and the spiral is white with a gray outline this will make it stick out i added gray border to smooth the transition i want to design some more to imprint in.

I still have some refining to do on the imprint as i want a sharper edge this is something i intend on adding in.

For the Imagine worlds Project I am mostly just focusing on the sled model as thats my main part of imagine worlds but everything is slowly coming together and the animation is starting to take shape.

Overall the team is working effectively and we are getting everything ready. The animation is forming well. For Time I believe we will hit the deadline if we keep working well however we don't have much time to spare. Looking at other members work everyone is working effective. I belive i have been managing my time well as my C&T and imagine worlds tasks overlap it means that i can tick off 2 boxes at once. While I still have other imagine worlds tasks to do i think they are minor and i should be able to get then finished off quickly.

Sound

Sound comes in both diegetic and non diegetic sound

none diegetic is things which the actors can't here like sound tracks and over narration

diegetic is what charcters can here like conversations

Sound can be used to enhance a scene and add tension to it 

Carrot

The Snowman Finally has a carrot nose i put this together using a cylinder edits the color might still be adjusted.

1st November Imagine worlds Update

Update for the Imagine worlds animation project Everything is coming along fine we have begun the actual animation with 6 weeks left to do it at our current pace we should be able to make the deadline with polishing time left over for us to use. The Scene and all the models are coming along as well. Most models are either done or the modeling is done and we are moving onto the texture stage. We have planning for the animation prepared as well.

My Creative and Technical model is also being moved to Mudbox or Substance painter to have the more detailed sculpting done and the texting placed onto it i should be able to get my model finsihed and dedicate more time to the imagine worlds.

Overall the group is working well and effectively.

A Successful Human Morph

This was mostly done as I tried it some time ago with little success so I returned to it to improve as I now have a better skillset. I did the practice on plastic toys so humans were a different issue, the main difference was due to the camera shakiness which I fixed with a tripod.

A Old Style Comedy Short

Recommended with Sounds on and In fullscreen

Made in after effects Inspired by Old Comedy Such as Laurel and Hardy.

          Effects Used

• Add noise (Make it look older)
• Add Grain (Make it look older)
• Fractal Noise (To create the lines effect over the video)
• Colour Correction  Tint

Santa's Sleigh Low to High Poly

This is Santa's sleigh On the left is the low poly version and on the right i have the beginning of the High Poly version currently i am smoothing it to keep some of the edges which i want to look more metallic i am creasing them so they hold the position better. For My high poly i also intend on making indentations to add a effect. (see below for example)

I will be trying to attempted something like the white spirals but my own one which i will indent it into the sleigh to make it look more 3D and high quality.

Peer Feedback

Asset Owner Name	Ryan
Assessor Name	Georgia
Preproduction
Do they have enough research images to inspire them?	There is a number of different sleigh references.
Do they have enough reference images? If so how can you tell? If not why and what should they do to fix this?	There is enough references to build a model from including drawings.
Do they have a plan for what their high model will look like and what their low model will look like? Do you think this plan will work, if so why? If not what would you suggest?	There is no plan so far, however there is drawings for the model.
Should they have drawings for this model? If so do they have them and are they sufficient? If not why and what should they do to fix this?	There is a sufficient amount of drawings referencing the sleigh model.
Production
What is the topology of their model like?	The topology is stretched in certain places. This should be fixed in order to make the high poly model simpler to create.
Are there any technical issues with their model? (Overlapping faces, n-gons, tris, isolated vertices, etc.)	No, there is no technical issues occurring.
What is good about the quality of their model?	The quality of the model is good, it clearly looks like a sleigh. I like the minor details and the symmetry of the model and it looks as if it’s carefully been modelled.
What could be improved with the quality of their model?	When the high poly model is built, I think some of the harsh edges should be smoother and edges should be bevelled. However not all of the model should be smoothed as that would give a cartoon effect.
What should they do next and why?
Once the low poly model is unwrapped, you should focus on adding more detail to your model. It looks really good right now as a low poly model but it should include more detail later on.

As a Result of this feedback i am going to Go through the edges and straighten them up as well as add more where need to reduce the stretchiness on them. Currently I am UV mapping the low poly model which then I'll begin to bevel and some extra things to the sleigh. I have  already fixed some of the edges which didn't noticed were issue until overlaid the Checker board UV map on them.

Santa Sleigh Update 4th October

This is the updated version of Santa Sleight Since last time i have added The lamp which is still going through changes as i can't settle on one which i like, The Presents and the Bar for Hooking the Reindeer to has been Improved a bit. by giving it more space.

This is what i would consider to be my low poly work done and i'm going to start the uv mapping for the high poly model i am going to bevel the edges and Do some Bump or normal maps which i will likely do in substance painter.

Santa's sleigh

This is Santa's sleigh which is being used a model for both my creative and technical as well as my imagine worlds project I am making the sleigh so i have the basic slay done and i'm beginning to start making the lamp to go on the front as well as some presents. This Sled is the low poly version i have so indentations and other things to make it look better for the high poly version. I also will be adding some more Bevels to smooth it out a bit.

Storyboard of Faster than Light

Faster than light is a rouge light which is randomized levels but they follow a pattern for each encounter.  At the Beginning you arrive at a destination and you have your characters and the environment  which could be a Exploding sun or an Ion storm or even nebula. These all have effects on what will happen in the battle. The battle its self varies depending on the enemy but once defeated or wounded you could spare or kill them for difference rewards some of them being quest specific. Then you go back to picking your next destination slowing advancing through the map repeating the previous steps listed. They are many story based encounter wild cards which can effect the game play as well.

The game has many quests and various things that can change the way you play most of the time you have the core loop of 

Chose location

Fight

Quest/other things

Upgrades/Repairs

Repeat

A game storyboard is has to be more verity compare to a movie/TV show storyboard as with a game the thing your seeing is able to change so that needs to be accounted for.

Creative and technal

For my creative and technical model i will be making Santa's sleigh which will also fit in with the imagine worlds project i will give it a basic animation as well. Its your a simple sleigh which i hope can get looking good currently my issue is designing the bag as making a good bag is harder as i need to get all ragged and fabric bag parts as well. All of the modeling is done in Maya and i intend on doing the texturing with substance painter as i have found it easier to use.

Character Design

Its a Butler with a cape, the idea comes from my bigger idea of superhero Butler

Structure of a story

Most story follow within the same genres follow a similar plot even if the story is different. For example in adventure films you have an old grizzled veteran who is knowable and would send you off on the hero's adventure. then you have a side kick who is either a awful fighter but has other skills or the other way round nominally it is the reverse of the main character.

They is Then Normally a point where the hero needs help from an opposing faction and needs to make friends with them or they need to team up with someone they don't like

Hero or Hero's accomplish gets capture and needs rescuing

They get rescued

At around 3/4 of the way in the hero and the party lose all hope and are planning on giving up on the adventure until someone gives an inspiring speech. 

Villain is defeated

A lot of these point you can apply to a wide range of story's as most follow the same formula with the hero who has an object (Defeat bad guy or return object to a place and do a thing). Most Horror films have the trope of someone moving into a abandoned/old build or an old object is haunting them. 

Romance is Girl and Boy meet, Fall in love, Hate each other, together again. 

The same Plot points exist throughout most films as they are successful

Substance Painter

In Substance Painter

Render

I Have used Substance painter to bake the Turtle model which is just using the baking tool and 

selecting the high and low poly models it's easier that Maya to do successfully. I spent the rest of the time working on painting the model and tried many different methods to make what i ended up with.

One tool i used was the Paint layer and the layer masking tool Which allows me to make big changes to the model quickly as you can change the color scheme when needed this is useful if you were to have a new idea or you needed to make a new skin/recolor of the character.

 I have found Substance painter to be more Useful and less Tedious than Photoshop or mud box to texture with as it can do large arears, you also have a large variation of objects and materials to use to be able to add to the model without needed to Look and Download them off 3rd party sources. When Exporting you also have the option to export in different ways to fir the software your using to display/animate it also the maps and other individual parts can be exported as well.

Naming can also be used to link certin layers by useing it you make it so that layers you dont' want to interact with each other don't

I'll likely be using substance painter in the future for other models i make as it will the models i make easier to texture and i'll likely be able to do it to a higher standard. 

Colour Change

This shows The colour change effect in after effects shown off on an apple i used the recolour tool within a adjustment layer to make sure it would not effect the table. I used a second mask to show off the effect where the blueness fades over by pulling it over the original footage. I also used Mask trackin and noise removal to compensate my the shaky camera.

Testing Substance Painter

Substance Painter is a tool which allows you to texture UV with a wide range of brushes and effects it has a UI which is close to Photoshop to its not hard to pick up and it allows for a large veariation of effects and patterns to be created. For example I have used a wooden Material on the base and added a red tint to it. The Model its self i Put a full Metallic spry on it to make it more shiny. This is an alternative way you can texture UV.

Snow effects

I was testing out a snow effect for a future project and i made this. The top is the original image and the bottom is the finish project the effect is easy to do with little requirements, i have full control over the size,amount and shape/color of the snow flakes so i can tailor it to how i need. 

They would also be potential to add other effects in the same way like ash or leaves i could mess around with the settings to make other effects.

Storyboard of a chapter of "A scanner darkly"

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This story board shows the chapter from the book i have all of the main parts sketched out with a brief description to show off the important notes. The sketch were done to get the point across and to make sure the next person in the production line can read it and get their point done.

Update: I have also tried out using 3D Models to make a storyboard to build a live scene, I have Incorporated the rule of 3 which is a grind where the focus of the image should be kept to the lines or within the main square.

Imagine worlds project

For our imagine worlds project my group will be working on an animation of a child and a parent building a snowman which will come alive at the end. In the group we have 2 main animators and 2 3D modelers. I'll be one of the modelers as well as added some extra stuff in after effects like text and snow if we decide upon it. We have the project planned out on trello with assigned tasks and jobs for everyone to do.  We have storyboards of the animation made to keep the group on track of what we are doing, and a Facebook group chat has been made so we are able to contact each other outside of college.

Establishing shot Hogwarts

This is the establishing shot of Hogwarts from harry potter philosophers stone it shows the main setting for the entire series.

VFX Morph

I have produced a morph effect within after effects the main parts is using the reshape tool and the opacity tools. to make this effect i masked both objects (Dino and Solider) and reshaped the masks into each other. While reshaping i dropped the opacity from 100 to 0 and vice verse as the other object fades in to take its place.

This one is mainly a prototype I'm planning on doing a full size one with humans as an improved version this was mostly to test the effect. To improve i could tidy up the morph as during it the morph stretchers outwards a bit this is something i can fix by adding more morph points to keep the masks together better.

Jobs Within the VFX Industry

Making special effects on blockbuster movies requires a team all having their own specific task which helps the next person achieve theirs this all together is what makes the massive blockbuster effects.

Within the VFX Industry they are many roles all with different jobs such as

Digital Preparation artist

A Digital prep artist takes the footage and gets it ready for the next stage to do their job. Their job is to remove markers and things that aren't meant to be there including such as making "invisible wires" actual invisible.. 

Layout Artists

A Layout artists job is to take the plans for the effects and set them up in the real world they make sure the Actors know what they are doing for the effects and they 

also sometimes serve other roles such as Cinematography.  

Matte Painter

 

A Matt Painter makes the scenes and environment digitally such as burning building or a spaceship they work closely with 2d and 3d artists to make real looking environments. A Matte Painter is the closest thing to an Artists and require a more Art like skill set.

Rotoscope Artist

Roto Artists have the job of preparing and make the areas for where the edits will take place they also fulfill other duties like wire removal and getting rigs ready for animation. They will also provide assistance for other tasks.

From what i could research A Roto Artists is the base level and how a lot of people start of within the Industry an alternate way into to the special effects industry is starting off as a show runner which is basically an assistant who will learn about the job while working 

The Requirements for most of these jobs are similar with an artistic skill set and having experience with Computer animation. The University course which i would want to do is Computer animation which would provide me with the skill set. 

Duplicating my self

By using layer masking i was able to make my self appear within the footage 3 times i recorded it it one take and moved between the actions and masked my self. Having one Playing on the Xbox, one reading and one listening to music.

The Vanishing Behind a Towel trick

This is me vanishing behind a towel it was made in after effects using masks to remove me from the shot the mask edges follow the towel edges as it drops they was an issue as the sides of mask were light so i feather the mask to hide it. I was having issue with the mask as i could not Fully get rid of the light this is something i will look into in the feature and maybe incorporate into a Improved version of my VFX project.

VFX Wizzard Project

This was the original vfx project this is not the final edit

These images show the most recent progress in my VFX project have added the magic shield as well as the fireball and laser I composed all of the footage and now i need to do the eye replacements and make some of the effects blend a bit better specifically the laser.

Industry Standard Model Low Poly Version

This is the low poly version of my steampunk submarine controller i have a mix of leavers and cogs to make it seems more complex as well as the pipes which were made using bend deformers which are one of my personal favorite bits as it helps to make the steampunk aesthetic. As its Low poly all of the tubes and circular objects have visible sides the exception is the bend pipes as they needs the subdivisions to bend. The Entire model has been colored with lambets his is to help the individual parts stand out more as otherwise it would be hard to tell it apart with it all being grey. This also helps as i color coded it for example all of the pipes are green buttons/leavers are pink and the base model is yellow this makes it easier to see what is connected to what.

VFX Project

This is one of the first parts of my VFX project the base idea is a fight with two wizards one shoots a laser the other blocks it and shoots back, i will be using effects to make the attacks as well as eye replacements for the close ups at the beginning of the shot. On a later clip i have zoomed in on some footage to get a close up view of a death which also hides an unwanted guest from the shot appearing. My Next step is too add the ward which blocks the laser i might also rework the laser effect within after effects to make it look more real/natural..

Dog Stealth Game Finished

This the finished stealth game made in unity it has all the required features such as line of sight which you can see in use when one of the guard stop moving a starts shooting when the dog gets within his line of sight. The Projectile was made using a Prefab which is a tennis ball which will end the game on contact with the dog. Finally they is a way to end the game by collecting the bone at the end of the level you will win the game. The major problems i had while making the game was getting the line of sight system to work but i manged to get it working due to the tutorials available.

Moom And Ident Animation Submission

Moom Walking
https://vimeo.com/215885313





Moom Getting Hit by a ball
 https://vimeo.com/215885242

Improved Ident
 https://vimeo.com/215885282

Game Design and Their Limitations

A lot of games gain their features from having limitation placed placed upon them and that when most developers get the most creative to try and work within limitations and still produce a fun experience.

Some games and made with a specific control set in mind for example most RTS's are made with a mouse and keyboard and moving around the map is harder with a analog stick also having a keyboard allows you to hot key units. While Racing games and Fighting games some people believe that its better with a controller. For Example The motion controller might be the best way to play Will spots as you have the most realistic controls that feel immersive.

The Audience Also Is a big factor in game development for a game marketed to children you would be avoid large amounts of blood and gore and going for more bright and colorful images. Also Children would need more simplistic controls compared to dark souls which you need 3 hands to play on the hardest difficulty.

Mario 64 (DS) 

Mario 64 was a one of the DS's biggest games for a reason and that is because it was a massive innovative game on such a small system with tons of different worlds and boss's all with their own strategy on fighting them it made up a Fan favorite which apart from graphically has stood the test of time. The Reason the graphics haven't stood as well as we would hope is the small scale 3d world with technology it made Mario look very rough but the rest of the game stands well. The game was known for how innovative it was at the time with strong graphics for a DS game and fun gameplay.

D-Pad and touch screen plus buttons

Command and Conquer (RTS) (PC)

Command and Conquer is a franchises of RTS games The most recent main game release Which was generals and its DLC Was a strong game which was well balanced compare to previous irritations and had plenty of content. And for a RTS game it had Great graphics with Fun game play. As an RTS it plays a bit different to other games on the list and if you play plenty of attention to the AI you can find some easy ways to expolite it which is a common them ought all strategy games.

The game is old and has it's issue like most EA Published games they took down the servers after the popularity decreased so to play a multiplexer game with a friend you are required to play through 3rd party programs to connected to friends

Mouse-Keyboard (Hotkeys)

Rainbow 6 Siege (Console)

Rainbow 6 siege is my most played game on the Xbox one and that is for a reason, with its constant free additions with new maps and characters as well the way the game can play out can be different every time. It's a fast Pace Close quarter combat game based on special forces around the world Its a 5v5 shooter with dynamic maps and a mix of abilities. With The Dev team at Ubisoft behind and the plans for another few years of free content it could eventually becoming a game capable of taking on the Giant Known as CSGO.

Rainbow 6 siege is a tactics based shooter where team work and good communication is key having multiple people breach a building from different sides will be a lot more effective that a single person running in firing wildly. This is a great team game where playing smart over playing fast is encouraged.

The games main let down is the servers and the server tick rate which sometimes is abysmal with regular outages and times where you shoot someone and the server decided you didn't do that this is one of the reasons the game is not as popular as it could be.

Controller (Analog Sticks) (Buttons)

These are all games from different Eras of gaming which have stood the test of time for one reason or another i i hope they will continue to last another 10 years.

GDI Juggernaut Base Model

This is the Untextured  Unrendered Model of a GDI Juggnaught from the Command and conquer series, My next Step is to texture it.

Bouncy Teleportation Ball

In Unity We had a large amour of balls and we had to add our own custom script to it so what i did was use the Random Range to set the ball so on contact with other balls it will teleport upwards and horizontally within a set of parameters

The add force part of the code is what makes the ball bounce The If statement is what controls the colliders so on contact with a tagged ball it will activate the next part of the script which will teleport the ball within the parameters. They are decided by a minamum and maxim value as shown within the brackets matched to the X,Y,Z axis

MudBox Charter design

We learned to use a mix of tools within Mudbox to model using the sculpt tool to move and extrude parts #, the knife tool to cut in which allow me to add in extra detail. I can use these tools to easy make certain parts bigger and add more to it this allows me to make features like armor. Once completed i transferred my model to Maya which i used the quad tool.

The Quad tool allows to place Quads which can be used as markers to extrude from.

Force Push

This was made in adobe after effects using motion tracking and a mix of effects such as Bulge to make the hands grow a bit during the push adding a nice effect. I used a pre made shock wave effect for the main effect but i have some things in the background such as a feathered layer mask which is used for tracking.

I did this in front of a green-screen which i used keylight 2.1 to remove the green screen and replace it witha background from skyrim as it fitted the effect.

Planning the Scene 23/03/17

For the first part of the Industry standard model project we had to come to a decision of a theme to use after some discussion we decided upon doing a steampunk Submarine with us building the insides and the landscape around it. We are taking Inspiration from crash Banicoot and Rachet and Clank for the style of the models.

I'll be Making the control panel of the submarine with big button and leavers with plenty of exposed cogs to give it a nice steam Punk feel.

Dog Catcher Game Stage 4 Rotation of objects 23/3/17

This script i added makes the dog rotate and face a specific vector this is done inside my player movement script the director the player is moving in will make the sprite rotate to face  the direction. I'll be adding the script to the enemy as well as the player.

An issue i had when writing the script was the messed up with the brackets and did not put one where i had to this made it so the new rotation script only worked if i was moving downwards as i never had an bracket between the new code and the last "If" statement.

Planning for Solo VFX Project 22/03/17

This is the basic plan for my Solo VFX project it will be a laser shoot out which will end up in a fire ball once one of the lasers hits an fuel tank which causes a big explosion taking up the screen. I'll likely be making some additions to make it longer as in its current stage it feels shorter that it should be.

Plasticine Head modeling 22/03/17

We modeled some Plasticine heads. I started with the eyes to build the shape of the head and worked downwards from it. The nose came out the best of the different parts. I was unable to get the eyes to look how i wanted as the shape and depth were a struggle when using Plasticine. When completed i gave him a straw hat to complete the unintentional farmer look the model had.

Text Crumpling In After effects 22/03/17

We returned to using the pin tool in adobe after effects to set key frames and move the text to the correct position to give it the effect of being crushed by the bolder. When applying the pins i use starch tool to make it move separately to other parts. I went through and applied it to each letter. Next I will be making my own version to use with my own text and item.

Normal Map Research

A Normal Map allows you to add depth to your texture this means you can add more detail while allowing a lower poly count this is useful for low poly models to still be able to have detail. The Detail is Created Through the use of shading and light to create the illusion of the higher detail.
The Bump map is an older version which uses RGB and gray scale values by using this Bump maps are easy to modify in Photoshop as well.



I have been Doing Normal mapping with Some Unforune results I have attempted to get something and i have basic Normal map with some depth intentional ir look like some sci-fi box with wires all over the place

I 'm going to have another go at making the box and make it more simplifed as then mesh is causing problems with the baking.

Unity Game Dog Catcher Stage 2

This shows the Dog Catchers which now have way points giving them movement once you hit one of the Catchers it will bring up the start gave menu this is done through the Unity UI script.