Pixel Art and Western Scene

While applying for some jobs i noticed that many smaller studios tend to avoid 3d and in fact a lot even use pixel art, in order to show i was capable of this (as well as trying something new) I decided to make a set of sprites and test a pixel animation

As well as that, while waiting for my new (delayed) computer, i decided to do what i could. Though i annoyingly couldn't compile my animation or texture, i could still 3d model. So i decided to use this time to kill any of that time i could, starting my long awaited western scene with this building, i haven't unwrapped it yet, i'm still deciding if i want to model an inside seperate/connected and wether i should connect the stairs to the building. Thinking of game engines i'd prefer to leave it seperate so it can be replicated and altered later.

Casting the Net

Although i've had very little to publish this week i have simply been accumulating resources and keeping up to date on other things, as well as doing some 'real world' things.

Anyway, the most notable thing i've been doing this week is looking into is programming and with some open learning areas such as w3schools and the CS50 scheme, it's a great opportunity for some free knowledge, i wish i'd taken advantage of things like this more at university. Even though i really want to focus on a few skills and develop them, getting a job and having a job are 2 entirely different kettles of fish.
In order to get a job so i'm able to develop my art i feel i need to throw a larger net, even if it means catching a smaller or less focussed on my preferences job, after that i can start to work towards my goals.

As such i've begun programming in my spare time as a bit of a backup skill.

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/19927246/

Week0's work for CS50 is to make a game using 'scratch' a program similar to blockly, very simple to use and just gets the understanding of the programming world into 'n00bs', anyway, i think i have (slightly) more knowledge than the average lamen, so this wasn't too hard, though did take a while to fix up nicely, and with the manic autosave, every development mistake meant minutes of time sifting through my work to find the error. If nothing else it has got me a little more experienced as a QA (which is work i wouldn't sneeze at)
Week1 starts me learning C

Another thing i'm starting to look through is tutorials, me just rattling off slightly higher quality works of the same knowledge isn't getting me anywhere quickly, and this is something i really want to get into soon, so i'm going to take some time to spread my talents into several areas working through 'cgi.tuts' tutorials, this encompasses mad ranges of programs, even using some more outdated softwares that have been replaced. Unlike usual where i will use 3ds max as a replacement for Maya, i think i will try to use the programs recommended and show versatility as well as perhaps learning some more unique functions to each program. Anyway, it is a long path to follow and i hope i can learn some interesting things to add to my portfolio and widen my scope for a job.

(PC still being built, maybe a week or 2 until completion- hopefully that will be the catalyst i need for a serious boost to work)

Level editing et al.

This last week and a bit has been a mad mash of different things.
Firstly the job application i was going for got taken in the first week, sadly against my plan to hold myself back and clean up my work before sending it which has given me a bit of a warning. I can see this happening a lot if i don't get my work up to a good standard before the jobs come up.
So in my free time i've been re-cleaning that old mocap data now with added hands, a lot of posing and cleaning and layers.

My laptop can't open motion mixer though which caused me to realise this is no longer just an inconvenience and i've got to buy a new PC. After researching and pricing i've created one with some pretty high quality parts, one of the best graphics cards around, liquid state hard drive and enough RAM to take on any challenge (Except possibly hair/fur/fumeFX) but if i need to i can upgrade.

Secondly! I got given my level to create in UDK for project DarkStorm. The level concept was a fetch-quest to get 3 fuses to return to the central unit and give the player a break from combat, as well as a chance to explore in a desolated lab/cavern area. I let my inspiration take me away and created a large level with some real theory behind it. Unfortunately the team has not yet been blessed with many props for the levels and we're still waiting for the artist side to finish them (ironically as i left that side). So it's still incomplete but a good empty level created.

On top of that i've been creating a character for project Manipulators

African american female, the original model was created by the programmer but as well as being topologically messy, proportions and overall appearance were substandard (as he agreed). So i started from scratch using my own references, as well as pausing and teaching some basic modelling concepts as i went.
Right now the model has been completed to a 'satisfactory' level. No minor details and some very basic texturing, next stage is to unwrap to solidly call it completed to the project lead, before i go back and refine it. I should really rig before i claim it to be complete, but i'm worried if i change the topology it will mean needing to reweight it later. I might also add another loop or 2 in the elbow area.
 (TOP. original 14,000 polys)
(BOTTOM. my redo, 3,500polys)

Motion Capture

With a job opportunity appearing for someone with motion capture experience, i decided it was time i arranged some of my motion capture work and refined it for my portfolio, though i'm having some trouble from a corrupted file from long ago, i've added some new motion capture using some BVH files from the internet (essentially taking someone elses motion capture and applying it to my rig)

uncleaned, will be cleaned and mixed with other animations using motion mixer

Long time no post

Annoyingly i've already dropped the habit of posting on here frequently, caught it before it went over a week.
Anyway, given myself a bit of an excuse because i've been working hard this week, started going further into the level design tunnel with the DarkStorm project, all characters and weapons rigged so far, so starting to work on the physics assets within the level.



My 'The Manipulators' project has put me as the character modeler, which i've been putting on the bottom of my tasks as the boss is quite loose with deadlines and i know i can speed through later

This week, been working on dDo some more, but annoyingly it's still frustratingly difficult to apply without crashing, managed to finish my Prairie Schooner like i wanted, by applying the dDo layers, playing with them, adding my own textures then adding dDo again over the top to add an extra bit of procedural dirt and shadows.

My main project this week has been to complete something train-y for my new job application for Train Simulator 2014, i think i have a good shot at this so i'm pretty psyched, anyway, made a train for it which is long overdue as something i hadn't modeled.

[Originally wanted to model some train station/track to show what i can do, but had serious troubles with my station (notably the fact that the majority is under massive construction barring off most of it) Wasted a few days.]

A simple <2000 tris model, originally was going for 2500, but i found that i didn't even need that, punching in at just under 1,900 triangles.
haven't added dDo though i would like to add it, the trains i've seen in train simulator usually are a basic texture, not adding too much dirt or wear, probably because the different routes will have different effects on a train, and a dirty train going through terrential rain would look very different... i'm a little annoyed that my laptop is setting me back on texturing... can't let this happen.

ANYWAY!
that's my gab over. thought i'd just quickly justify my time away.

dDo, NDo, Marmoset

As well as rigging the physics assets i've been running through tutorials for the dDo package including NDo and Marmoset render engine. I'm still playing around with Marmoset and i don't quite know why but my computer keeps crashing when i try to render maps out in dDo, it's a bit troublesome and i can't work to the level i'd prefer with this computer, but for now i'll keep practicing the basics until i get a solid job somewhere and can afford to buy a desktop PC.

I used XNormal to create the bump map, unfortunately the bars i were hoping would press out a bit more from the main chassis, but i thought it might do this, either way the flattened image looked pretty cool.

I was originally going to go for a more wooden approach, but the rusted steel bars really suit this model. I will probably go back and tamper with it, i also want to add more dirt to the canvas sheet that covers it, and might try adding opacity maps and perhaps some alpha planes to use as strings or rope holding the sheet on top.
All in all, as a first go using this technology it gave me less problems than i was expecting, still some stuff i want to try and play with in NDo, as this is my first tinkering with these programs and i want to see what i can do... annoyingly that does mean this project will take a little longer to finish, but i'll come away with more knowledge in the end so next time it should be super fast!
Excited to see this level of detail so quickly and hope it means i can quickly get an industry job and buy a real industry standard computer to play with!!! :D

Ragdoll and Ddo.

These last few days i was given the task of rigging the physics assets for the characters in UDK, essentially creating the constraints for ragdoll

I've also been modelling the wagon or 'prairie schooner' that i mentioned last time, it's now modelled and UVunwrapped, i want to start using a new program called Ddo for the texturing, so that's what i'll be learning this next few days.

 the canvas sheet will be made 2-sided, the wheels are there to show the full poly-count as i will use the same texture sheet on all wheels, although the front will be a slightly smaller size. the hardest part of this was working out how to make it look realistic whilst having the tongue and front wheels work together correctly. The tongue i designed as a separate object that moves independently (although pivoted as though connected by a screw)