Car... In progress :P

So I've been working on a pretty basic car at the moment, was a bit of a pain at first and ended up restarting when I noticed at some point I'd managed to add a load of vertex's inside the thing and it became a mess lets just say.

Anyway, I made sure to check 'ignore back-facing' was on this time, and have been focusing on mainly getting the shape together before 'prettying' it up.

I'm not really much of a car person so if people know of a particular make that would be suitable (seeing as they're meant to be visiting from the city) to work towards replicating that'd really help over the next few days or so.
Still have some cutting to do to get rid of some triangles and stuff before-hand but so far it's really low poly at 224. Also Tanguy suggested UV mapping when it was still low poly to avoid having to mess around later with potentially strange lines, so if it seems alright I can try an get a map together as well?

FINALLY

Oh god the upload rate here is atrocious D:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnj2a5nejQw&feature=youtu.be

So I made a quick test menu, it was very fussy with the font I wanted to use so I've just settled with it being Arial for now, I thought a 3d main menu would look pretty effective because it allows for some nice ambiance. I might add more sideways movement to the torch so it doesn't look like the person holding it is on a shop. I made a special spotlight cookie for the male shadow on the left :)

Rigging and Animation

Hey everyone,

As you all know I have been working on the character rigging and animation and as requested I am just updating you all on my progress.

To begin with I have learnt something this week... Animation is not easy.

This is the rigged aunt character that Katie made, each join is named accordingly so its fairly easy to work with. All of the major joints have selectors and controllers attached to them, so I can work with them through the mesh.

I did a bit of a test to see how the rig works, just a basic pose, I know she wont be getting into a fist fight but I thought it was a nice, easy generic pose to play with.

I created what is known as IK handles, which can be used to bend multiple joints as a whole. As you can see in the image the knee is bending as I move the ankle towards the hip. Another is connected to the toes for easier manipulation.

A problem I have been facing is the skin weights. Skin weights basically control what vertices move with certain joints. As you can see the mesh has stretched and deformed quite a bit with the movement of the shoulder.

I will be moving on to work on the walk cycle when I can but this week is already a bit hectic as it is, I'm doing some overtime at work, its my birthday on Friday and I will be working on my dissertation throughout the week.

If you want to see anything else, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do :)

Jack - Recap of bunch of work I've done.

So I've done a bunch of work and haven't updated after I've done it, so going just list everything here that I've done.

I've been doing random texture tiles and just features like key holes from some of the reference pictures me and chloe took while in Kent. Some to be just used as a tileable texture or just being ready to be used as part of UVW texture.

My mum got a vase from my grandmothers recently that looks sort of modern so decided to model something similar. Though it could be an object that would pass through the ghost maybe since its contemporary. Just basic cylinder model extruded down to make the well of it and moved loops around to make the lip. Also UVW'ed it and textured it, also has little easter egg on bottom... well for me an Katie its an easter egg.

I also started a broom model for some reason, but when it came to UVWing it alot of edges/seems were broken. 

Failed at Alpha mapping a weather vain, but recon it was because the actually diffuse part was tidy enough.

Started to try and learn blender since a couple my mates want make a game with me next year and want  to try and use 3rd part "free-ware" programs instead of 3DsMax and PhotoShop. So have been trying work out the interface and make a dolls house at same time in it. Blenders kinder like the best parts from Max and Maya combined. Hardest part so far has been trying to work out how to texture the model.

Made a mushroom model and textured, since its all the craze in everyone else's projects.

 

Created a normal map during Tanguy's tutorial about them. But then afterwards realised the PhotoShop Nvidia plugin doesn't work on Mac, so found an alternative. Its not as good but still it works fine for creating them, as I made one for the title screen wall for Katie (she'll probably posting a cap of that soon) and also decided to make one for the teddy bear since I got excited about make them.

So just found this, make the ghost kinda like this? it's pretty much exactly how I imagined it!

ground floor

ok, so downstairs is boxed out, no cellar as of yet, simple holes for doors and windows inc.

Shed updated texture

Decided add a bit more detail to the texture.

 

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3rw99q/

Jack: What I've been working on.

I final realised I had some pictures from the trip to Kent still on my camera a couple weeks back and have been working on turn some into texture tiles or assest that can be used on a models UVW when the models are done ro even just a texture for flat object (pile of photos).

Also recently got blender which I've started to try and teach my self. But still waiting on getting a PC to use 3Dsmax.

Shed

I was kinder bored so decided to quickly make a really basic industrial shed, to go in the distance maybe. Just a rectangle with extra edge loop pulled up and textured really basic.

Put them together and what have you got

A vaguely alright looking set of models.

all done, for now....

Hair needs tweaking but yeah

Stalker/Bad ghost before death

Stalker (possibly an Alfred, George or John?):
Close shaven hair however it would've been a blonde colour. Brown eyes which have some creasing around them due to too many squints?
Narrow face though a strong jaw-line. Clean shaven and typically "British" nose - see prince Charles ¬_¬

Keeps himself very clean and "prim". - Spoke to Katie about this before but is probably ex-military though
I was thinking air-force?
Often suit-type clothing and always polished shoes.

Rough sketch:

House Renders

Window Tears

Bit of an issue that I found, for some reason faces on the border of the window are missing. Taking me a while to fix this to be honest.

Guess

Ok so just using common sense I'm going to try write out a list of what I think we'll be requiring for hand in. It seems odd to bring this up so late but I was hoping for something more concrete by now.

From looking at previous modules like The Arena I'm guessing hand in will be rather similar to this.

Outcome 1:

Produce a complete production bible.

This should include.

Introduction:
A short description (80-150 words)  of the narrative concept. BLURB
A short description (80-150 words) of the general concept. GAMEPLAY
Write an explanation on why the gameplay is original.

Narrative Style:
write half a page explaining what we want to convey in the plot. Emotions we wish to induce.

Guidelines:
explain what sort of horror we are going for.

Visual Style:
Write a short description of what we want the game to look (80-150 words) like with visual representations from other games and screenshots of a few items we've made ourselves so far as a comparison. We want to pay special attention to the most important areas in the game, while navigation is mostly free we want to focus on the "arena". The most important areas will be the most detailed, we will use lighting to our advantage when it comes to texturing.

Ghosts

Ghost Rules

Character Breakdowns.

Setting

RESEARCH.

What we have accomplished, our starting point. Greyboxed house, example objects and textures. screenshots from unity.

Learning agreement?

List of roles- more polished than the last presentation.

Schedule from the 19th til May.


Outcome 2:
Pdf the blog, showing pre production work progression. Possibly timeline it out, visual representation of workflow.

Outcome 3:

For pre production, submit a short, individual portfolio of at least 4 pages (either PDF of word.docs) containing.

1. A short description, of your role in the project concept.
2. Background research in the form of images or similar projects, games, art and general inspiration.
3. Any test textures, sketches, models that are relevant for your work.
4. critical self evaluation (500 words, not less), you will critically discuss what contributions you made to pre production.  This piece of writing will address the following questions: What were your goals? Did you achieve your goals? If not, how come? If so, what specifically went well?  What would you specifically do differently next time? Which personal skills did you use? Which would you like to develop further?

A lot of this is ripped from the arena project, I don;t think we can go far wrong if we just work on doing this for now. I think there should be 4 individual hand ins, but each with a copy of the power point, production bible and pdf of the blog. 

So I made a person..

But i'm having trouble unwrapping her, I mean I know the basics from Tanguys class but the relax makes it go all loopy. Going to need help on this one. It'd be great to have her all unwrapped and painted for the presentation :) Also eyeballs and hair!

Character Building

Had a go at making a head, might have too many polys....

Door

Cousin/Cheryl

Cousin:
Very similar facial features as the Grandmother, however plumper lips and her cheekbones less prominent
- generally more "healthy" looking.
Her hair, a lighter shade of brown is cut shorter into a bob, slightly cropped towards the back. Her eyes are
also rounder, and a dirty blue colour.

Clothes would be more modern but smart what with the times and city work, so I was thinking A blouse or
simple shirt, with some full length slim jeans or 3/4 length paired with some simple pups (maybe with
a bow on them?)

(Was thinking of suggesting Cheryl as a name, for either grandmother or cousin (it has french origins
however - but wasn't sure if that would work what with British/French alliances but im not sure which war)
Any who it means Darling so I dunno...)

Rough Sketch:

Windows

This is from the course handbook, there is no unit handbook.

The Portfolio submission will comprise of these assessment tasks:

 Task 1: A presentation of your ideas [min 10 slides] for your task 1 of this portfolio in 

week 2 or 3 [10-15 minutes] using PowerPoint or other approved formats.

 Task 2: You will be required to submit a number of outcomes which should include 

workbooks, research files, work in progress using processing, character or environment 

design in the development of 2D art, 3D art, drawn, diagnostic development of story and 

treatment of devising a working game.

This is all the information we have about the actual hand in on the 19th of this month.

FUCK EVERYTHING. Bother. Going to have to bug a tutor about this. 

Grandma

Grandmother (before death):
Deep brown hair which would fall towards her chest when let down, pulled into a low bun.
A small nose with a slight inwards sloping bridge.
Slightly narrowed hazel eyes and visible cheekbones and a small mouth.
Very much a "lady" in appearance.

Typical house-wife clothing for a woman during the war-time. However she would often have boots instead
of shoes due to farmland.

Rough Sketch:

Teddy Bear Texture

Just though it would be best to share the UVW texture, to show I'm actually doing work. First texture I've done on a UVW template.

Collected a few sample furs from CGTextures, only ended up using 2 and warping, cloning, painting on to and burning to make the texture.

Need ask Tanguy how using other channels works so can add eyes on separate channel. May just add eyes to current texture, if it isn't worth the hassle. Still would like to know though.

Popped the little guy into unity.

Ok for some reason whenever it's imported as a .obj the size is fine, it's as it is supposed to be in max, real world scale... but when it's an fbx it comes in tiny.

So I knocked this up quickly before sending it to jack just so all parts are labelled and hair/ fur direction is clear for painting

after a little work-Jack

Lookin' good

So uhmm, managed to unwrap the bear alright, going to send the uvw to Jack to paint, see what we can get.

Layout Seperate

This is the layout of the house built in Maya, as shown in my previous post, but with the different floors seperated.

Progress

I have been working on the house when I am not working, at this stage I have completed the layout and placed the walls and door. All I need to do now is take sections of the outside and model them individually. This should be completed well before the 17th like Katie wanted.

Bookcase

Simple bookcase that we can use throughout the house.

MC/Aaron

MC/Aaron:
Short dirty blonde hair with a hint of a quiff at the front, (kept short for less hassle?).
Small Light blue eyes, a slightly arching nose, thin lips and a squared jaw. Faint stubble and hint of a
dimple in his left cheek (for character?! :D)
His eyes a shadowed slightly due to work tiring him out.
Generally smart clothing however a bit "ruffled" or just untidy.
Probably a dress shirt and jacket with no tie, any kind of trousers and old trainers for comfort.

An approachable guy, though a little cynical. He has a hard time believing in things unless they show them-
selves to him. He's also pretty collected, reacting to testing situations calmly or at least logically - for
example when the power runs out he goes to fix the problem, and upon his first encounter with the ghost
rather that run, his response is to get rid of it.

Rough Sketch:

So I had a little play in Unity

I had a quick play around with lighting and whatnot, I realise the scene is a little too dark but that was to try and make up for the starry night skybox, we're going to need a darker cloudier one for sure.

I made a working torch and attached a flash-light cookie to it. Overall the mood is alright, I'd like to try and make the base of the garden with someone elses help, no trees or anything but just the road leading up to the house and all the other flat features.