Last post today!

Decision has quickly been made to add some stills of my third year work to better display wireframes and textures etc. Feel free to gander through!

The Waiting Room:
Film Version:

Showreel Version:

 

 Outmode Props:

 

Pursuit Environment:

Captain Hook Character:

 

 

Pirate Ship:




Quick project

Perhaps not so in-depth as first thought in terms of an idea for a project. but I realised that the style in my showreel is all quite similar and contains nothing based around childrens film or game who, it can be argued, are the main audience for animation style productions.

As a starting point, I've quickly made a barrel. Not overly ambitious, granted, but more is to come. Promise!

I'll stop blabbering, until the next post here is the barrel!



BarrelTurnaround from Laura Swindells on Vimeo.

The end is nigh!

Everything is handed in , the projects were finished and I'm beginning to slowly catch up on lack of sleep! Looking back on how the 3 years have gone, specifically the 3rd and last, I have learned so much! My skills have developed noticeably and, to be honest, I'm a little lost without an upcoming deadline or on-going project...

However, without further ado!

Presenting my showreel!


LauraSwindellsShowreel from Laura Swindells on Vimeo.

Now just to get started on a new project... Suggestions anyone?

Inspiration: Ubisoft

After staring at alleyways and texture maps and so forth, the eyes needed a quick break from the computer and were swiftly relieved by Far Cry 3 via the PlayStation. I'm only at the start really so can't say much about the overall plot or story-line, however, in terms of the environment, it is outstanding. In keeping with Ubisoft's reputation of large, open maps, Far Cry 3 certainly does not disappoint! The vast size and range of environments is actually insane! From beaches, to forested, thick vegetation to hut styled villages the game oozes with cast away imagery and is therefore completely captivating.

Far Cry 3. No copyright infringement intended

Other than Far Cry 3, Ubisoft are responsible for Rayman (1995), Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (2000), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (2002), Assassin's Creed (2007 - present) and Just Dance (2009) to name but a few.

Founded in 1986, Ubisoft is now the third independent publisher of video games worldwide hiring more than 9,200 team members worldwide including 7,800 dedicated to production with offices in 29 countries. To further prove the success of the studios, in October 2013, Ubisoft invested $373 million to create 500 new jobs over the next 7 years in Quebec, Canada. 

Assisin's Creed IV Black Flag. No copyright infringement intended.

 Upon looking through the website, there are graduate schemes available in programming and game production which sound fascinating! However, through looking at the high level of detail in the environments and the characters I need to get experience and land junior roles to be part of the designing team!!

The Pursuit: More props and shots completed!

Apologies for the lack of posts here, progress is being made thick and fast and without making excuses, I've been in the "groove" of modelling, texturing and churning out everything from graffiti planes to bins to help fill this scene!

Here are a few renders of the finished shots so far, feel free to click on the image to see an enlarged version.

As you can see, extra bricks have been placed into the floor to help break up the tiles and add extra 3D detail to the shots which I think works well. Greater detail would be added if using a displacement map, however, in these shots the character's faces dominate the scene and extra detail in the floor does not warrant the added render times which average around 5 minutes. (The highest being 7:16 for shot 3 with the ivy).

Upon studying these shots as a group, it seems apparent that the lighting colour is not consistent, so the next step is triple check the RBG values are the same for each light and then onwards and upwards to complete the scene by Sunday - two and a half days and counting - yikes!

Wish me luck folks!

The Pursuit: We have IVY!

This is just a quick post to say that I'm blown away by this free software which real-time grows ivy over any obj object imported into it. It is created by Thomas Luft, and here is the link where you can download it for free along with tutorials on how to use it:

http://graphics.uni-konstanz.de/~luft/ivy_generator/

Although I really want to let it grow everywhere over my scene, I realise that this is unrealistic for backstreet alleys and have therefore kept it to the first alley where the creature appears from. This keeps the ivy to one shot and also adds a wild visual to the introduction of the animal before the chase begins.

Although the door on the left still needs a texture adding to it, this shot is finished unless there is further time to add more detail. However, because I am having to tweek 20+ shots in such small space of time, I need to force myself to move on to ensure consistancy of quality in the film as far as the environment is concerned!

The Pursuit: Final Pre-viz

Here's me talking about new lighting and realised that I haven't posted the new updated shots up yet!

These are the shots I am now working with in the form of a pre-viz made by Claudia Staelens, our director. Hopefully this will help you gain a greater idea of the film and, in terms of the art, an idea of the scene needed.

What is also obvious from these shots is that the character faces take up alot of each shot, meaning that the detailing of the environment needs to be positioned accordingly to avoid being hidden, unseen and needlessly ramping up render time.

The Pursuit: Oh, hello old friend!

So the last of the pursuit was left with, lets be honest, less then okay lighting, minimal and highly repeated props and repetitive textures (especially on the walls). So I have around 2 weeks to turn this project around and most importantly, get it ready to render as soon as the team congregates after the Easter break.

Firstly I began revising the lighting as this will dictate what detail will be needed where, for example, it would be pointless having a high quality graffiti design plastered all over a wall hidden in shadow. To keep the lighting realistic, I wanted the scene to be lit mostly from sources seen by the viewer. So in this case, the street lights/lanterns. Theoretically this should also be inkeeping with the Caludia's (director) pre-production of colour keys and schemes she desires for her film.

Not my work! Examples of colour scripts created by Claudia Staelens

As you can see here, the difference of lit and shadowed areas are emphasized and extreme. Therefore, lighting the scene through the positioning of the street lights should be ideal. However, the shadows need to be light enough to ensure that all action is seen at all times and not hidden through lack of light. Therefore, ambient lights coloured dark blue and navy are placed above each alley in order to facilitate this. This gives the following result:

A slight fog has also been added to the spotlight rooting from the center of the street light to help emphasize the light rays making the source of light obvious to the viewer.  

Captain Hook: Time to add some hair!

So as a character, he has been built, clothed and brought into the world of colour. The only thing missing now is his hair! To create hair I decided to stray away from modelling it as less detail in terms of hair flow can be added and produces a static look to the model. Instead, I transferred the model back to MAYA through exporting the maps in ZBRUSH to create nHair.

In terms of how the nHair system works I'm very aware that I am beginning to only scratch the surface on the software. Especially when taking into account the extra plug-ins that can be purchased on top of the extensive options already available through MAYA. Thankfully there are really good tutorials on youtube to help beginners like myself in explaining how to structure and compose the hair to give the most realistic results possible. However, I had to stray from these tutorials slightly, mainly because of the unrealistic volume in the pre-production design:

And also due to the tutorials creating healthy, well trimmed hair (not to mention for a female character) which as a homeless man, would not fit for this Captain Hook!

To try and achieve this result I added scraggly curls to the hair flow and tried to shape the original nurb planes into the closest shape of the design as possible.

Here are the rendered results of some of the steps taken:

So first was building the hair and fitting it around the character. This was followed by ensuring it wasnt protruding through the hat in anyway. Lastly was styling the hair around the pre-production with the previously mentioned ratty look.

The final render shows the scale of the hair but also the issue that followed exporting the maps from ZBRUSH into MAYA as the majority of the sculpting detail has been lost. Therefore, I need to re-export the maps or find an alternative method such as x-normals. However, as this is a working model at this stage I need to move back onto the Pursuit project to ensure it is completed by the end of Easter break to get the rendering started ASAP!

Captain Hook: Texturing

So here is the progress so far for the head of the model in ZBRUSH. I'm happy with the detail so far which has been achieved by constantly flicking from ZBRUSH to reference images of aging men to help understand the skin folds and detailing. I think extra detail is still needed to added texture to the skin rather than looking so smooth and the obvious detailing of hair shading. After this, the detail needs to be added to the clothing which includes stitching, creases and folds as well as dirt to help portray the "riches to rag" homeless characteristic.

Captain Hook: Completing the modelling and beginning the texturing

Below are the images of the completed model with the extra details to be added in ZBRUSH. Proportions of the face have been edited to be more consistent with the original design. Additionally, the clothes have been added through duplicating the original body mesh and extracting the necessary polygons to create each item of clothing. These will be imported individually into ZBRUSH as subtools to enable maximum control of details (for example, clothing folds) for each part of the costume. 

On the right, is the model with the checkered pattern to show the unwrap of the model. Although the unwrap is not completely consistent in terms of size, this is on purpose to enable greater amounts of detail on different parts of the model. For example, the jacket and trousers which require extra folding in the material. 

Captain Hook: Progress on the Base Model

After half a week of tweaking, I feel that I am finally coming to a model that I am happy to progress with. Although additional adaptations could be made, due to time restraints of the project I really need to get on and begin modelling the clothing and accessories.

As you can see, the upper torso is more prominent and as well as adaptations to the facial features. I have kept the enlarged chin (although slightly minimised its prominence) in keeping with the initial designs. The arms have also been lengthened and the hands enlarged which makes the model feel more accurate in terms of anatomy. Onwards and upwards, and now to start the clothing!

Captain Hook: The Modelling Begins!

The past few days have been spent slaving away in an attempt to create a base mesh of Captain Hook which, as similar to that of an essay, will undergo several drafts before being transferred to ZBRUSH were the really magic happens!

Here are few quick renders of the model to give you an idea of progress so far, baring in mind this is the first draft and many improvements are still to be made!

(Click of image to view enlarged version).

As I'm sure you can see on even first glances, the proportions are wrong. They need work, and alot of it! However, as a first draft, the basics are now laid down and time is now needed to perfect loop flow and the characters anatomy and proportions. In particular (but in no ways limiting to), the arms seems too short, his hips are too high, the torso is not exaggerated nor wide enough at the top (near the arm pits). Also, more definition is needed in the muscle values of the arms and legs. And last but no least, the legs are too close together and too thin.

Although the majority of Captain Hook's body will be hidden under clothing, the more accurate I can get the body now, the easier adding clothes through extracting the faces of a body duplicate will be.

More pictures of progress to follow!

Inspiration: Anthony Vaccard

During some slight procrastination on my part, I came across some game environment work with perfect colour schemes for my redo of the Waiting Room which will have stronger sci-fi influences.





The dark greys with orange and blue make the scene immediately sci-fi to viewers. Also, the high level of detailing is achieved without displacement maps but rather leaving the normal map to do the work which brings down render time. Therefore, will work with normals for the re-do of my project. The modelled piping/wiring also adds a technological feel to the scene which, given the intended nature of "The Waiting Room" will be highly effective for my scene. Grand!

Captain Hook: An Introduction

Because all my collaborative projects are hard-surface modelling, I wanted to ensure through the personal projects that I had chance to create a high poly character to have organic modelling on my showreel. Other than that though, I was stumped in terms of what to make. This quickly turned into google image searches looking for inspiration. This was when I came across existing characters whose designs had been changed and adapted to fit into a new scene or style. For example:
(Press on each image to enlargen it!)

Disney Hero's as fashion models

Disney turns hipster

Disney Villains as a fashion line?

I found this really interesting as not only through art am I giving life to a character, I'm giving it a different life and purpose. I really like the idea of building a pirate ship for my other personal project and wondered if there was a way to incorporate the two projects together as a final render. Boom! The idea of Captain Hook was formed.
Now, how could I adapt him? The options are endless, anything other than a pirate right? So through more google searching I came across a lyric from "New Math" by Ben Burnham:

"What's a Pirate minus the ship? Just a creative homeless guy". And this got me thinking. What if Captain Hook was homeless? What if, abandoned by his crew, he had lost his ship? Where is the line of him being a pirate captain or a homeless guy in fancy dress? This is the basis of the project.

Through pre-production development, I came to this design:

Heavy wear and tear in the textures of the clothing, dirty skin and shaggy, unkept hair was emphasized to show the loss of money and hierarchy. However, I tried to keep the main features from the Disney design to ensure as a character, he is still recognisable to the audience.

The modelling is to start as of tomorrow morning, and progress will be added as frequently as possible. Enjoy the updates- me hearties!

So there's a slight change of plan...

Here is the situation, as of next Monday, there are 9 weeks until the dreaded deadline. The trouble comes when the Pursuit environment is not to a standard I am anywhere near happy with and there is yet a high poly character to build and a whole Pirate Ship!
After talking to tutors they see the size of the environment the Pursuit requires and have agreed to let me minimise the pirate ship project to a small scene on which I can render my character and have the remaining time to perfect the alleyways. Sounds like a plan? Excellent, I thought so too!
Therefore, I need to have the Captain Hook modeled and ready to be placed into ZBRUSH by next Friday, this will leave me 2 weeks to make a small scene and an extra 2-3 weeks to get an environment together. Although this is a lot of work to get done, it is definitely a lot more manageable and, more importantly, possible to do to a high standard.

Onwards and upwards, onto the modelling of Captain Hook!!

Outmode: Lights

Forklife, check! Crates, check! Lights, Check!
Unlike the forklift, the purpose of the lights are to fill the scene, not to obstruct gamers and therefore need less detail polys and data to serve their purpose of decoration. I was asked by Will (director) to make a variety giving him the freedom to use where necessary to avoid repetition in the scene of the Warehouse. Challenge set!

Here is a give render of the models as well as the lights with diffuse, normal and specular maps added to them:

Outmode: We Have Crates!!

With the forklift all finished and ready for export the time came to make some crates. These were quick to produce which is another box ticked - something definitely to be relieved and grateful for!

Each diffuse was enhanced with AO maps and had a normal map added to, similar to the forklift, add some detail.

I feel they look sufficiently "knocked about" especially with the normal map added to give some definition and purpose to the grain of the wood.

Coming up next, light models and then finally sorting out the lighting for The Pursuit ready for the first submission in a couple of weeks time - Yikes!

Outmode: Forklift is Textured!

The last 3 or 4 days have been spent staring at a forklift, and as perhaps boring or odd as this may sound, I've actually really enjoyed it! The challenge has been to cut down polys as explained in the last blog and to also texture the forklift in such a way that it can be believed to have been used. When showing the pre-production design to my director, (Will) he preferred the idea of a yellow forklift, similar to those of present day. Hence the slight design change! Also, I decided to get rid of the headlights as the forklift is not going to be working and there is no need for the added polys which can be placed elsewhere for the added detail.

Through the images above hopefully you can see the stages used to create the texture. It began just blocking out the colour to ensure it worked as a finished product. Following this, layers were added in PHOTOSHOP to add the needed wear and tear. The hardest of this was to texture inside to make sure the difference between cloth on the seat and the harsh metallic surface of the controls could be seen and recognised by the gamer. The scratches and splashes also added a particular challenge however, especially trying to get the UV shells to match up without seams showing. However, through trial and error switching between MAYA and PHOTOSHOP I believe this has been achieved successfully. Another challenge was making the glass look glass. A transparency map was added to achieve this.
I then added a normal map to help add subtle detail into the surface of the model:

After the diffuse got to a point I was happy with, I began adding a spec map to it which produced the following results:

With the Spec added, it adds a professional feel to it and will mean that in the game it will have a metallic gloss to help portray the texture of it.

Outmode: The Forklift

With The Waiting Room project completed, it was time to move onto the futuristic forklift. The purpose of this prop is to act as an obstacle to stop gamers venturing off where they shouldn't be on the map. This means high resolution textures as before finding the object can't be moved, the gamers are going to get extremely close to it!

Because the game is set in a futuristic land of robots, I didn't want to make a bog-standard, modern day forklift but one that would fit into a scene of duelling robots and technology. However, guessing what forklifts are likely to look like years from now, proved a bit of a challenge! Therefore, the design was based on the projection of car and vehicle designs instead.

And what became immediately obvious? Curves. And lots of them! Therefore, for my design I tried to bring this idea into the shape of a traditional forklift.

Obviously the actual forklift part had to stay right-angled to give the impression of strength and durability, but the main body of the design is all rounded like the car examples.

First began building the base mesh using as little polys whilst retaining as much detail as possible:

So far, although a good start, poly detail needs to be distributed slightly. For example, extra detail is added in the tires but on reflection, the eye level of the players will be the mid section of the exterior as well as the interior. Therefore, this detail can be left to normal maps to portray. Also, I'm not happy with the steering wheel, the shape feels off and needs figuring out. Update to follow in the next couple of days!

Inspiration: Rockstar

I knew that research for studios to aspire to working for would need to begin pronto given that graduation is coming up and, well, I need a game-plan/next move. Although third year is daunting and, as a graduating student, we are expected to be "heads in books" or (more appropriately) eyes locked onto the computer screen with our life revolving around Maya. But, for a week, I allowed myself odd breaks to to play and watch Grand Theft Auto V. And just, WOW.

The detailing of the environment was absolutely insane! Not just the actual map size, but the quality of textures, the number of different models (for example, how many different types of vehicles). The extras and crowds. The characters. And the range of styles from environments in the outskirt/desert environment to one of a beverly hills. Jaw droppingly fantastic. So, here I am speeding down the pavements thinking, I need to work for these people. I need to be apart of something that through skill, passion and dedication (it took Rockstar 5 years to create with over 300 designers) they are able to create a game which, in my humble opinion, is flawless. Here's some examples from a quick google!

No copyright intended, I do not own any rights to these images!

This intrigued me to look into how Rockstar became the superpower of gaming that it is today...

It all began with two English brothers striving to work in music video production named Dan and Sam Houser and landing a job with the music label BMG in London. However, in 1933 BMG opened a new department named BMG Interactive with the aim of creating new video games. Realising that music videos were not their true calling, they began searching elsewhere for another outlet of their creativity. Enter the world of gaming!
During this time The Lemmings, Courier Crisis, Fire & Flawd and, most importantly, Grad Theft Auto were created. The Daily Mail took an instant dislike to Grand Theft Auto because of the high level of violence. However, despite the bad press, Take-Two saw its potential. And after buying BMG Interactive from BMG they shipped the studio over to New York and Rockstar was born!

The games released after can be found following this link (http://gta.wikia.com/Rockstar_Games) but the most famous and note worthy are as follows:

Grand Theft Auto (1997-present)
Red Dead (2004-present)
Manhunt (2003-2007)
The Warriors (2005)
Max Payne (2001-present)
L.A. Noire (2011)
Bully (including 'Scholarship Edition') (2006; 2008)
Table Tennis (2006)
Midnight Club series (2000-present)
Oni (2001)
Wild Metal (2004)
Smuggler's Run (2000-2002)
The games themselves are produced using the Rage engine (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine) developed by the RAGE Technology Group at Rockstar San Diego, with contributions from Rockstar North.

Now, Rockstar North. They are a studio to be reckoned with!
http://www.rockstarnorth.com/
Founded in 2002 and now the main studio behind the Grand Theft Auto series, these are responsible for the modelling and texturing of the characters and the environments and my gosh, do I want to be part of it!

The Waiting Room: Finished!

With the "skirting boards" in, a diffuse added to the walls and the lighting fixed (the models of the light fixtures were being totally washed out with the glow effect) I believe I have reached a finished first project ready for rendering!
Here is the finished render with base models for the Outmode game to follow shortly :)

(Please press on image to view an enlarged version).

The Waiting Room: Skirting Boards

Here are quick renders of the wires and skirting boards being crudely placed into the scene to get an idea of what they could potential add to the scene.

Wires:

Skirting Board:

Personally, I think the skirting is much more effective, subtly breaking up the walls without taking away attention from the displacement map, but more importantly, characters once added. 

The Waiting Room: Almost There!

Looking back quickly, a lot has developed since my last post, [insert small promise to update more often here]  displacement maps have been added to the walls and colour management settings have been put into place so the end of this project is in site and rendering is soon to begin!
Looks wise, the displacement map is more prominent and withstanding to the lights in the scene compared to the normal maps. However, averaging around 13 minutes per frame, the render times are being sacrificed for this, especially the long shot (included in this blog), the close up shots take around 2-3 minutes which is more acceptable.

In terms of finishing this project and making it the best it can be, it has been suggested to add "something" to the corners of the scene where the walls meet the floor or ceiling. So brainstorming this, I came up with either a simplistic skirting board design or better yet, wires to drive home the technological sense of the scene. Also, Chaitan has requested adding "Art of" books into the scene next to the wooden mannequin of the right hand shelf which shouldn't take to long. And then onto Will's project - Outmode.

The Waiting Room: Progress!

So, the props have been built (well most of them), placed into the scene and lighting has begun! This is just roughly placed in to get an idea of what the final image is going to look like and, more importantly, to check the maps are in working order. Especially for the wall which is the main texture center piece for the scene.

It began with adding in spotlights originating from the point lights modeled in the scene which isn't yet obvious as the lights themselves aren't lit. Also, the decay on the lights needs to be added and adjusted to create a more realistic light set up and also a lighting that won't wash out the floor or the potentially the characters when moving to the center of the shot. What else needs to be managed carefully is that the texture is not lost on the floor which should have the same amount of detailing as on the walls.

After adding decay and glow effect onto the lights, it is much more obvious to the viewer where the lights are originating from and the scene is no longer washed out. However, the floor detailing is still being lost. Therefore, the normal map needs to be changed to a displacement to key the detailing in the scene. In terms of props, a spare rig arm is to be added on the shelf on the left and pillows in the shape of the MAYA 2012 logo are to be added to the benches as well as the final textures to be added. The only major experiment now needed in terms of lighting is that the logos above the door need to light individually to display loading times of the rig into MAYA which will be sorted this week to start Will's project next week.

Inspiration: Martin Teichman

I came across Martin Teichman's work in Crisis 2 whilst researching cg examples of back alleys for Cloud's project. Although not necessarily a back alley, being a rooftop, the scene does have the style and feel of an alleyway. If you look at the Rooftops - Interiors 2011 work from Crisis 2 on his website (http://www.martinteichmann.com/), there are the following examples:

What is interesting is the repetition of windows which I have in my scene. However, they are not as obvious in Teichman's work because of the other props added into his scene. For example, the air vents or fire escapes.

Inspiration: Tim Spanjer

While looking for low poly environments and props and more importantly, the best techniques to create them, I came across this artists whose attention to detail really exited me.

A cg artist residing in Atlanta, Georgia, Tim Spanjer works mostly on game environments. Everyone should check out his website at:
http://timspanjer.com/

Here are just a few examples of his work:

Notice the added objects/bricks on the floor tiles to avoid the floor seeming flat.

I especially like the format of presentation of the work here showing the breakdown of the prop. 

Although I'm a long way off from finishing clouds project, this has given me inspiration and further understanding of the possible quality for the final outcome which is really exciting! So, thank you Mr Tim Spanjer!

The Waiting Room: Introduction

This project is a short film poking fun at the differences between the old and new rigs in MAYA. It is set in hardware storage as if the two rigs are waiting to be loaded by the MAYA user. Therefore, a strong look of futuristic/technology is needed. However, it is also at the request of the director for the scene to extremely minimalist avoiding any distraction from the characters and acting which creates the challenge of this project.

This is the brief layout agreed between me and Chaitan earlier in the year.

As you can see, there is one door, one light, two beds/benches, two shelves and then a sign on top of the door to display when the characters need to be loaded which isn't overly obvious in this render. In terms of modelling, Chaitan wants animation themed props. So this could included wooden mannequins, animation books and he's suggested a spare part for one of the rigs to place on the shelves. Op top of this, replacing the cylinders with chains to add extra detail to the scene. Other than this, all detail is to be added through texturing as shown in the pre-viz below:

Although this will serve as the main inspiration for the project, it has also been said that a brighter, sterilised, hospital feel would be more appropriate and maybe spotlights instead of one main light source to avoid shadows in the top corners of the scene.

Yesterday was spent creating the props as shown below:

The lighting has been changed to spot lights. All that remains now is to add the texture - which is todays job!

After that it is perfecting the lighting which may prove an issue with the spotlights, but time will tell!

You can see the progress from the director's point of view through Chaitan's blog at:
http://chaitan-joshi.blogspot.co.uk/