Summer Project - Cyborg Assignment

For our summer project we were set the task of designing and modelling a cyborg character. The brief was to follow the design process to design a cyborg character of our choice and sketch out this character in multiple views including front, back and sides with proportions and create a backstory for this character. Once designed we then had to take this character forward and model this creating both a low poly and high poly version with mapping and textures and shading.

To start off the project I first looked into creating a visual board for inspiration with various cyborg and robotic images that I can use to inspire my own piece as shown below.

I then began by sketching out some rough studies from my inspiration board trying out shapes and colours to see how I can mix and match within my own design to create a realistic and aesthetically interesting piece. From my studies I noticed how a lot of the current designs for cyborgs and robots have themes behind there design and lots of lights and glowing colours which give off a futuristic type feel which I will incorporate within my own designs. I particularly like the idea of keeping my design plan with various shades of grey to give that robotic feel and then add pops of bright colour to tie in with a theme and bring the character to life.

After creating my studies I then went on to create some silhouettes to rough out my own ideas for my cyborg design. Looking between my references and pulling pieces from various pictures and combining them I firstly created my stage one of silhouettes, keeping them basic just to get quick ideas down. Once happy with my five initial silhouettes I then took my two favourites (labelled in red in stage one) into stage two, duplicated each one.  three times and then edited and worked into each duplicate, trying out various styles and details to make the silhouette more interesting and unique. Once happy again with these silhouettes I then chose my final silhouette, based on the brief of a cyborg, I felt my chosen design (the one in red under stage 2) would allow me the most freedom when working up the final design to create that part human, part robot look. I will now take this silhouette forwards and begin working it up into my final cyborg design, referring back to my initial visual board for inspiration to bring the silhouette to life.

I firstly began by blowing up my initial silhouette larger in size before working up to create a better canvas. I then began working the silhouette up by applying base colours to lay out the rough design I wanted to create referring back from my visual board and applying the grey colour scheme with pops of colour as intended. Once happy with the base colours I then began adding layers and creating details such as shadows and highlights, face details, hair details, cape details and body details, referring constantly back to my original visual board for inspiration and tips to bring my own design to life. Once happy with the overall design I found it looked a little flat so I added a background colour, grounded the character with some floor and added some basic metal and cloth textures to really liven up the design and lift it off the page. 

Overall I am mostly pleased with my silhouette as I feel the overall design and body and details work really well to create an interesting cyborg design sticking to brief of having at least 20% flesh and 20% robotic components. However I am not 100% happy with the head and hair as I feel it's a little flat compared to the rest of the design and looks off but after playing around and changing up the face and head this was the best outcome. I will now continue forwards and create the back story and details for my character and then start modelling my low poly and high poly model and if I have time I may return to this design and continue to play around with the head and hair until I am happy with the overall design. 

Spring Game Submission - Group Project

For this project we were set the brief of working in a group of 3-4 and designing and creating a flying, shooter game. In our group of 3 we decided to take the idea from this brief and create a 3D flying space shooter. We all focused on various areas of the game in the group as well as all doing a piece of art and scripting each.

My job within the team was to work on the artwork side of the game, so I mainly worked up the original concepts for the game, paint overs, one sheet and texturing of models including the main game menu. I also worked on four scripts within in the game including the high score script within the game, high score display on the menu and the pause menu. I then also created some basic models for the game as I am not as confident with modelling as the other members of my team, but I did however try and model some space debris to fill up the levels, I created 3 basics box models in Maya and then took these into Mudbox and textured to bring them to life ready for the game.

Overall I am really pleased with my work within the game and feel I have worked well as part of a team focusing mainly on the art side but also doing a bit of everything including modelling and scripting to demonstrate I can do a bit of everything within a game. I feel our team has worked really well together and we have completed the task set in the brief and more by taking our own spin on the game and creating a fun, playable and visually appealing final outcome.

One sheet for game

Initial main ship concept

Alien AI ship concepts and final chosen concept

Rough planet concepts for the game levels

Paint over concept of the main ship for the game

Basic box models for space debris and textured models

Various scripts for game including high score system, high score display on main menu and pause menu in game

Final game main menu including textured main menu model I worked on

Main game levels in final game

Game play examples in game

Character Modelling Assignment

For this assignment we were set the task of box modelling a given character model from a concept to a finished, game ready model. We were set some limitations of not going about 8,000 Tri's in the basic box model and then texturing the final model in either Mudbox or Photoshop. I found this assignment difficult as a character is a lot more complicated to try and build out from the basic box model than the Trex, however I am really pleased with my final result and I have stuck to the given brief and feel as though I have completed the assignment to a good standard.

After I had completed the basic box model using the same techniques as used when modelling the Trex, I then UV unwrapped the model using the same technique as used when we modelled the Trex by using the cut and slice tools in the UV editor.

Automatic UV Unwrap

Planar UV Unwrap

Final Manual UV Unwrap ready for texturing

After I had completed the basic box model UV unwrapping, I then took the model into Mudbox and tried to texture the model using the paint over technique but found this unsuccessful and very flat looking, so I tried the Photoshop method, by selecting a face on the model, finding which part this was on the UV unwrap and then on the same UV unwrap in Photoshop using the selection tool going around and selecting the part of the model, filling with colour matched from the original image and then saved and reloaded on the Maya file. I felt this method worked much better and gave a more realistic look and feel to the overall model.

Unsuccessful Mudbox textured model

Final textured model using the Photoshop method

Anthropomorphic Design Assignment

For this assignment we were set the task of creating a anthropomorphic design using a exotic frog or toad as reference for our concepts.

To start off the assignment I first began by creating a visual board of all my reference and inspiration for my own designs looking at real life images of exotic frogs and toads along with other artists concepts of frogs and humanoid frog characters.

I then created some rough studies in Photoshop based on my research of real life frogs and toads and created three studies from some images from my visual board, looking at what makes a frog, frog like and what features I would need to bring forwards into the final design.

I then created some rough silhouettes to get some basic shapes going for my own frog design, I tried three different ideas, the first looked as though he was standing and holding something, the second standing with his hands in the air in an excited stance and the third crouched down on the floor.

I decided the first silhouette looked the best and gave me the most options for my final design so I then took this silhouette forward and started by creating an outline and then refining and adding details to create my final frog concept. I decided to keep the style of this painting cartoony with quite flat colours and basic textures to appeal to my chosen audience of children/young adults.

Overall I am really pleased with my final design and feel as though I have approached this assignment effectively and created an unique and interesting outcome that clearly shows the idea of a frog/toad with the anthropomorphic design to add that human side to the concept.

Street Scene Texturing

For this assignment we were set the task of texturing a given alley/street scene with provided textures using the UV snapshot method from Maya and then taking this into Photoshop and applying the textures and painting to create the overall street scene. Within Maya we also learned to use different layer methods to add different effects such as diffuse and specular lighting with the textures we had created to create metal and more simple textures. I am really pleased with how my final scene came out as I feel it shows I have learnt this method well and added my own take on it with the texturing to bring the scene to life and it has also encouraged me to try this method again in future as I found it to be a quick and effective way to texture a model.

Given street scene model

Final textured street scene model