Turntable

It's Finally here! Added some details to the textures and adjusted the weights on some troublesome joints.

Texture 1024x1024

I made some quick changes to the texture.
I wanted to see how far I could take metal in Illustrator.
This is all vectors. Pattern editor + effects.
I'm especially proud of the back of the corset.

Lo-Poly

My model is very low poly with a subdivision surface modifier. With one layer of subdivisions and smoothed faces she looks nice and curvy. There are 445 quads (890 tris).

What did I learn?

I think this module was super valuable for my future career. I know 3D skills are important when applying for jobs in the games industry, even if the job in question is 2D, but it's an asset to have knowledge on a wide range of areas. To sum up some of the things I've picked up during the creation of this character:

• Lots about 3DS Max.
• Even more about Blender.
• I mean I had done virtually no 3D in the past, except for some short workshops.
• Now I can independently build a whole character or building in Blender and produce adequately lit and textured renders of it for further uses.
• Also learned to take regular backups of my work.
• The first lectures and basic info about character types and such were educational.
• I've tried to get better at expressing my work in this blog.
• I actually think my 2D painting skills leveled up during the making of this. :3

Things I want to learn SOON:

• Textures, I need to work out how to make them look nice.
• Textures, how to emulate metal (also in concept art).
• Modelling, figure out how lo-poly joints should be configured to make animating and posing look natural.
• Animation in Blender.
• Lighting
• Normal, Bumb, Displacement, Specular maps.
• Character design. I'm gonna get a pile of heavy books on the subject from the school library and take a dive in the deep end of the pool. <3

Submission Stuff

I've got some renders, and the .obj file of the character.

Still need to render the turntable!

Development of the silhouette

I thought it was interesting how my silhouette formed and defined itself with time. I had the idea of a curvy woman from the start, but at first all my sketches seemed to turn into "normal" beauty ideal heroine body types (see the dark shape, one of the lost designs, on the left). Then when I started over with the caricature type cat thing, I managed to fatten it up, and from there the waistline was found and the butt formed. I like the curvature she has now! :3

After re-concept design on Photoshop, here's the 3D evolution of a big butt. I just had to go back and fix that lo-poly topology. :)

Rigging

I gotta say that rigging was maybe a little bit simpler on 3ds max. I have very little to say about the good sides of max, but here's one. We went through the procedure together with the class and for once I immediately understood what happened.

But I managed to make a skeleton in Blender as well. And I still love Blender.

Pen and Paper

Trying to adjust the outfit design for the new (original) body type.

Rigging and Lecturing

Blender Love!

This is how far I got in one night. I'm pretty impressed! Blender UI is so much smoother, at least for me to use. Here's the tutorial series I started watching to get to grips with the software.

Character Design

I had an epiphany: I've been away and concentrating on my other two modules since I lost my USB stick along my char development. I'm still going to do the warrior motorcycle girl, but first I could try something simpler, just so I don't fall completely off the wagon on the lectures.

Do the planets have a say in this?

This article on the onion cracks me up! Wonder if the moon Europa feels the same...

Sketches for the Main Building

Buildings

There`s Shanghai Pudong, Lyon Opera House, Leeds Town Hall, and the Chrystal Palace, for ideas about my first 3D building. Stay tuned for the sketch.

Atmosphere Example

Character's Vehicle

I'm also doing a Visual Arts module here at the University and within that module there's a workshop concerning vehicle design. I immediately thought of my character in the Victorian Cyber Punk environment and what kind of a motorcycle type flying gadget she could own to get around the moon colony. I had trouble finding references for what I was thinking about but here's one.

Knights of Sidonia -reference

Reference Images by Francisco Perez and Nan Lawson

More Character Moodboarding

I got stuck designing the armature of my half android character (I'm thinking of naming her Eun Chae) so I dug up another round of reference images. Now I want to make her full android.

Notes

Draft of the Story behind all this

In the not so distant future the Earth’s capacity to house any more people was becoming completely exchausted, so a group of brave explorers were sent to find suitable land from other parts of the solar system. A suitable environment was found on Europa, the fourth-largest moon of Jupiter. The project was high profile, no shortage of investers, and they decided it would suit the value of the New Earth Project to build the first city in the new colony in the old Victorian style architecture to show respect to the people`s roots. Soon it became clear that the settlement would need a lot more living space and government buildings to accommodate the huge amount of immigration from Earth. They built around the initial streets first, technologies developped fast, but later they had to build above the old central area, and the Victorian houses got glass and metal floors above the old brick materials.

Sketches.

Okay not finished yet but here's an evolution from a silhouette to a.. more detailed silhouette.

Armour & Helmets

Character Creation Progress

• Internally Struggling Anti-Hero
• Female
• Red hair (stock stereotype of that) all over the place (model with the helmet on)
• Scifi - Futuristic (Victorian settlement on Jupiter's moon)
• Partly Android Character?!
• Cute? Scary? Not traditionally beautiful but striking nevertheless (hips!)
• A bit cartoony, exaggerated features
• Textures
• Colorscale feels like grey, light hues, but.. Should I not go caramel? Yes I should. Star contrast with the orange hair and the cold blues, violets and greens.
• Then keep the background kinda less saturated (need to watch that tutorial video again)
• Oh by the way I thought the environment should have the Victorian buildings as a base, but as the moon community quickly grew and techniques developed they started building on top of them in metallic neon stuff, and then there was the china town in there somewhere at the bottom too
• Asian influences
• Korean face for the girl
• Tech in her eyes not just the helmet visor
• She has a hovering motorbike or some kinda vehicle (Visual Arts module, submission 2)
• Sidekick dragon wise old mentor (Badass Teacher, Distant Father Figure)
• Damsel in distress kid (half) brother needs saving
• What prevents her from saving the brother?
• Fairytales have always been a safe place where to examine dark things. (Ian McCraig, The Skillful Huntsman)
• Weapon, other props
• I feel like she's on the defense somehow
• Don't go too far off the beaten path, let the audience have a grip on something familiar

Character design - sketching

Task: Define Character Types

You need to be able to recognize the character type from the silhouette alone.

Character Types

Symbolic

"A symbolic character is any major or minor character whose very existence represents some major idea or aspect of society." (Types of Characters in Fiction: http://learn.lexiconic.net/characters.htm)

Foil

The foil is the character who with their opposite personal qualities provides a contrast with (usually) the protagonist in order to get deeper into the personality of the other character and show them through a wider perspective.

Anti-Hero

The hero or heroine who doesn`t conform to the norms. They`re on the good side but they take the route less travelled to get to the end. The type appeared as a contrast for the traditional hero. The audience is attracted to the antihero because they are not perfect and therefore much more relatable.

Antagonist

Situation or character the protagonist has to encounter for the story to develop. It or he or she is the problem or difficulty in the story. They do not need to be a villain or evil, they just oppose the protagonist.

Protagonist

The main character. The protagonist is who the story is about. Can be the hero or the anti-hero, as long as they attract the audience's involvement and preferably empathy.

Stock

Stock characters are the stereotypes we have seen so many times that we have come to expect them. The website lists for example the following: the femme fatale, the cynical but moral private eye, the mad scientist, the geeky boy with glasses, and the faithful sidekick.

Round

Like the name describes, the round type has a wide and complex personality, like an actual human being does. There are many sides to them, even conflicting ones.

Static

The static character's personality remains the same throughout the story, they do not grow or evolve.

Dynamic

Opposite to static, the dynamic personality changes as the story arch proceeds. They're not immune to the moral of the story.

Minor

Minor characters are not what the story is about but they're there to help it along and offer different perspectives.

Central

What the story revolves around. The antagonist could not be encountered if it weren't for them.

Preliminary Character Design Moodboard

I made a note of all the sources so just ask if you need one.

A Story Together with the Digital Enviroment Art Module

Here's my moodboard for the environment.

I made a note of all the sources so just ask if you need one.

Task two - attack of the fox/fish sketches!

Task 2

Create a mind map that best represents your character`s personality, you can come up with and create as many as you like, try to think about their personality and the different frames of mind a hero would have in compression to a villain.

BE CREATIVE IN YOUR APPROACH TO THIS EXERCISE.

• Is there some emotional pain in their state of mind that affects their personality?
• Is there something that drives them and gives them passion?
• Are they tormented by events in their past present and future?
• Are they happy - what makes them happy?

Foxfish

I haven't drawn anything in a while. :/

Task One

This is a learning diary of an exchange student at the University of Salford, Semester 1 2015/2016, Animation

Project Introduction

Learning Goals

It seems I will first need to learn how to concentrate on tasks while the classroom is full of noisy second year students.

My experience with 3D is limited to some basic modeling / animation on Blender and a short workshop at TAMK for animation on Maya and a three day room scene workshop on Cinema 4D. I opened 3DS Max for the first time yesterday. I hope that this module along with the one called Digital Environment Art will give me a good base to start working on my 3D skills. I need to learn how to make solid geometry and work a little bit with the specific areas of 3D art like rigging, animation, texturing, lighting etc.

I intend to write a blog about my progress and use that for the final task and report. I`m also on the Visual Arts module where we will be working on some portrait sketches and character design. I hope to learn how to create believable and relatable characters this semester. Hopefully there will be a lot of concept sketching, art, theory, and some fun design. At the end there should be something to add to my portfolio.

Creative Ownership

My artistic style has not found its own path yet, but I intend to work on that. With all the sketching and drawing I will become more confident with my work. At the end of the semester I will have a consistent portfolio to show off my new skills. I will start with my natural playfulness and creativity and get better at speed, professionalism and technical skills. If there`s also some theory about character design and general guidelines for example for what to do with different target audiences I`d be happy to listen.