An Update Before I Leave.

So tomorrow I leave Leicester for Christmas. I have a 4 and a half hour train journey to look forward to, Devon is a long way away. I'm one of the last to leave my halls, most of the students left last weekend. Experiencing the rapid disappearance of the ambient hum generated by over a thousand other residents has been rather strange but it's making me look forward to seeing my family all the more.

The latest Game Production task has been to model 2 different species of tree. Initially I didn't enjoy the task because I very much enjoy the modelling aspect of 3D and I felt trees didn't allow for much creativity and exploration in this area. However I was wrong and I found enjoyment in researching the many different processes people use to create foliage in games. Here is what I ended up with.

While I prefer the small tree, I'm very happy with both of them. The budget for these assets was 1000 triangles and 1 256 x 256 texture sheet. I was concerned that the texture budget was not enough to create adequate natural variation so I decided to build my canopy with 2 different triangular cruciform planes. Through a conversation with my tutor I also learned about padding and I created a script in Photoshop to generate it automatically in the future.

Large, Low Poly Tree 256 x 256 Texture sheet.

The Large tree had a lot of colour variation and the size increased the importance of the canopy looking good from underneath. I decided to have 1 triangle be a 'silhouette branch' (top, left) and the other be a 'bulk branch' (bottom, right). The silhouette cruciform was used to define the shape of the canopy in the early stages. As it would be less visible when the player is up close, I designed it with a preference to being viewed from the side. The bulk cruciform formed the greener interior of the canopy. Primarily visible up close and underneath the tree, the branch was designed with a preference to being viewed as such. Because this method of modelling trees is extremely efficient, for the first time I did not feel at all restricted by the tri budget. I was extremely pleased with my small tree, completed in three quarters of the budget and overall I feel this project went very well.

In Visual Design, I've been focusing on rendering and varied lighting which is currently one of my weaker areas. We visited Leicester pumping station and the Space Centre which was very interesting. I very much enjoy being encouraged to explore different parts of Leicester through drawing on location and going to places that I wouldn't otherwise take the time to visit.

Still Life, Objects on my desk.

Machinery at Dusk, Leicester Pumping Station.

Astronaut, Leicester Space Centre.

I am particularly happy that I have explored 3 very different scenes in terms of environment and lighting for my final pieces. I will continue to vary my finals as much as possible to develop my skills and identify areas for improvement.

Looking at the final outcomes, I feel I need to take care not to neglect fundamental elements like composition, tone and line weight so I will focus on that in future projects. This was confirmed by the feedback I received in my formal assessment which was invaluable in helping me set targets for the next term.

I haven't updated in a while, it seems I've gotten a little distracted so in the new year I will set a regular posting schedule. More goals for the next term are to better manage my time, work more efficiently and overhaul my presentation style. It's going to be a busy second term! For now though I really should start packing. I wish you all a very happy holidays and great new year. See you in 2014.

Aargchitecture.

Finally! The architecture project is finished and handed in. This one was a bit of a nightmare and it was completely my fault. I disregarded all advice to choose a small, fairly simple building and chose the building at 2 Kings Street, currently the XY club. When I chose it, I was told how many people had abandoned it and how it was a ridiculous choice but I'm a stubborn moron so I 'took it all under advisement' and did it anyway. I was on full speed ahead mode after my bin project and the rational was; more complicated building, more learning opportunities. Learning things the hard way will be a running theme in this blog.

So here it is. 1 Triangle to spare. My main mistake with this project was putting so much effort into the model and neglecting the textures. I underestimated how important textures are to create a convincing model so I will allocate much more time for that in future projects.

Even though it was time consuming and I got a bit obsessive, I'm really proud of the mesh. I used everything I learned on the bin project and learned twice as much again. While it seems obvious now that it has been pointed out to me, I was advised to build up detail as uniformly as possible. I will endeavor to adopt this process for my next model to quickly build up the essential details first and 'build up like a drawing'.

Also on the to-do list this week, my final drawing of a car. I drew an Audi A6 in the local shopping center where it was fairly warm and dry. The drawing went well considering I didn't spend as much time on my final as normal due to finalizing the building.

Audi A6 Saloon Car Final.

It was a good exercise in 'speeding up' but there are things that can be improved. Most obvious to me is the incorrect perspective. This is particularly annoying as I noticed it about halfway through but by then it was to late. I should have taken greater care when laying out perspective guides and mapped out more of the drawing in the draft stage. I've been recommended some DVD's by Scott Robertson so, as usual, it's time to study and improve!

How's it Bin?

I've just dried off. I'm relishing the feeling of dry feet. Kettles boiled so I figure it's a good time to post an update. I've just returned from the infamous Bradgate Park Game Art trip. It wasn't as horrifying as I was led to expect but more on that next week when I have some finished, accompanying drawings to upload.

Highlight of the week was finishing my Wheelie Bin. It was definitely a challenge but I'm really happy with the result. When the project was set, I had no clue how to go about it and this 3D malarkey was still pretty alien to me. 

So I spent many many hours playing around with various buttons in 3ds Max and learning things just for the sake of it. I wrote pages upon pages of notes so I retained as much as possible and then took what I'd learned and applied it to the bin.

When hand in day rolled round I felt like I really had done my best in the time that was given to us. My understanding of 3ds Max improved ten fold and for the first time I feel like I'm not fighting the program anymore. At least until the next project and I'm exposed to a whole new set of tools...

In Visual Design, we moved on from one point perspective to two point perspective. Our task was the usual body of thumbnails and a final piece, however depicting a scene of a building with two point perspective. I opted to draw the campus center students union building because those thumbnails were the most interesting.

Figuring out the perspective so it looked believable was really enjoyable. I was really happy with the base sketch. I felt the shape was well established and it sat nicely on the paper. However when it came to shading I began to regret my choice of building. Shading the front in particular was very time consuming. I felt like I was destroying a lot of the detail I'd worked hard to establish in the line work and it quickly became frustrating.

Overall I was content with the outcome but mainly because I felt like I learned a lot. After completing it, I received some extremely helpful critiques from tutors and class mates. In particular it was suggested to me that I look at the atmospheric perspective and contrast so now I have something to take away and brush up on. Really, this is of greater benefit to me than if I drew a perfect image. 

I remain ever determined to continuously improve but most importantly, I'm still enjoying myself. Next time I'll have some sodden sketchbook scans for you so stay tuned.