WIP: Concept art for Human Warrior

In recent weeks I've taken an interest back in drawing with Photoshop. It's been useful for generating ideas for character modelling practice which I have been keen to develop. To get a better idea of how to put my ideas across I've been studying sketch-style concept pieces, trying to work out just how to get a more convincing design and image, especially when it comes to the face.

The left-hand face below is when I started earlier today. Rather dissatisfied with how flat it looked. I looked online to get some inspiration, coming across a rather nice sketchy look. Using this painting as a basis I took a very different approach to create what would become the face on the right-hand side. It started with just the face, blocking out large patches of shadow and filling in the gaps with detail such as eyes, mouth and wrinkles. I thought it came out so well I tried the technique on the hair and headband, resulting in a very different hairstyle (and face) when you compare the two side by side.

It's been surprising to figure our the difference comes from one afternoon of analysis.

There is still plenty to work on with the image. His lower body has only been blocked out. His sword-hand and the attached hilt are somewhat completed and his cloak only has some basic blocking to it. After that comes colour.

(WIP) A Fantasy World Map

One of the projects I've received lately is a world map for the setting of my brother's upcoming D&D campaign. Can't say I've done much of this sort of thing save for the occasional more science fiction like map, but it was good drawing practice all the same.

The current deal is for a map that can be printed on A3, so I'm working in a CYMK format at 300 DPI. It's pretty big. It could have been A2 but by the sound of where he's playing his game an A2-sized map might be too big for the table.

I wouldn't call this finished though. The world could do with roads connecting the various settlements and after some discussion with him I'm considering reworking the locations on the map to better fit the current graphics. Special thumbnails have been discussed representing the world's various capital cities or important locations and maybe the sea could do with something like waves.

Or sea serpents... The world doesn't stop at the edges of the map.

Developments with 3D Modelling: Making Clothes, Characters and Accessories

When I started using Zbrush I had no idea what I would be doing with it after my first year. I had gone in with a handful of ideas and creature designs, and yet one of the most interesting uses I've had for it lately is clothes and accessories. But the versatility has been amazing so far.

The character I have been designing over the past couple of weeks has been mostly of a personal design. A rather newbie sorcerer character I designed for use in Dungeons and Dragons, but made such an impression on me and my friends that I thought why not actually create him in all his adventurer status.

He had a short existence. Having a few adventures, befriending some lizards before dying twice to the same spell shot twice, but that's how you create memorable stories. You do stuff you don't forget. And as a result it's been hard to get him off my mind even after I've given him an existence in 3D software.

The current model has come a long way. I've been planning to rig him for posing as well as looking into a cost-effective renderer for far more polished images, since my current version of Maya is without Mental Ray. With the practice I've recently had with the other elf, it might only take a couple of days. The most complicated area to work out has been how to rig up the robe, as the version of Maya I currently use is also lacking the use of the Ncloth feature. Which means loose items will need their own rig. Such as The large sleeves (not too difficult) and the coat ('challenge' might be an understatement). But what is lost if I do not at least try?

To get him to move, that would be very cool.

In other news, I have had great success in a much fancier version of the character's signet ring. It might be too detailed for a practical model but that's not to say there is no chance it could be used for anything.

I've been musing about going public with these designs. Selling pieces of them, or at the very least their templates, as 3D assets. Artstation has over the last few months offered this as a feature in the form of a virtual marketplace. This I think I can do alongside a possible career in custom 3D character models, where I could set up a website to sell these templates, or specific items, as a separate shop.

The ring is nice, I have had some favourable responses to it. I don't see much harm in offering it ors its template for anyone interested.

Alpha maps, hard surface modelling, understanding hardness, It is all building into what I love about the virtual. That feeling that with the right tricks, anything you can possibly imagine is in fact possible! Who knows, I might be able to submit the ring to a 3D printer or plastic moulder and get the accessory (and others) created in real life. Could there be avenue in costume jewellery design perhaps?

The ring does have an existence in Maya. I had to replicate the shader in Maya as it did its properties translate well when transferring between the two programs. But it still has its shine. Good gold is not an easy material to mimic.

Detail shots of the signet ring can be found on the Artstation submission: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/v1EaqA

YPGTTO: Animating the Audience

Carpe Diem, as the Romans say. I've felt like things are quiet on my end; a bit too quiet to be comfortable so, introducing some more work done for the animation to accompany the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. So fat I have been asked for two jobs. The first, now clear, was to create a series of bows and curtsies that an audience to the king were to perform. The keywords of 'ostentatious' 'slow' and 'ceremony' gave me clear ideas of what I needed: Something elegant, something graceful and dignified. The highest leaders in a baroque realm were being greeted by a grand audience so nothing short of regal was required.

As well as this, the crowds needed some variety. As the Trombone and Tuba districts were a mix of golds and blues, so did the people need to match the palette of their surroundings. Some colours form other districts were also thrown in to the bundles to provide a more diverse crowd, which in the final production would speckle the seas of people with odd colours to add variety to the otherwise monochrome palettes.

With these, time was dedicated to some running. The project already had some neutral runs so I was asked to create some runs for characters that would be excited for one reason or another, and thus running to a particular goal.

The remaining sequence to make is one or two runs for the female character Yellow.

Four: Polished Pre-Vis In Progress

 The last couple of days have been busy ones. With the bulk of animations ready I took several hours to re-compose all the audio recordings I had into a more flowing picture, with some additional sounds gathered on Freesound.

  The tunnel segments were added so as to build the scene for the final composition, as there is one moment where Four leaps off a wall, it was vital to get the position of the wall and Four's feet right, requiring the full geometry.

  A re-synced animation is currently in the works, but should not take much longer than a couple of days to construct ready to send off for batch rendering. As of this post, the animations I have more closely fit with the soundscape, all that is really required is for some of the last animations to be built, some expressions added and to finish off some of the textures.

Four: Early Demo Ready for Display

  I am at a stage where most of the animation is in a decent state. There are still some gaps left but the majority of what I had in mind is in a good place for an early update. This also provides a good chance to see the piece in its entirety in current its current state of production.


  One challenge now is to sync the animation with the soundscape. This will extend the piece slightly as there are areas where breaks in the monologues might be worthwhile.and areas where a soundscape could fill in some of the blanks.

Four: Adjusting Cameras, the Grub is Live

  For the past couple of days I have primarily been working on creating animations for the creature to move about the world. 

  More significantly, the camera's focal length has been changed to provide a more natural look. Looking back and forth the previous camera angle felt a little wide, exaggerating the distance between the foreground and the background which made the rooms look enormous. So far it is only the sequences before and with the grub and with the adult form that the camera angle has been adjusted. The camera angles for the juvenile form will need to be updated and that is on my list.

Most of the camera angles have remained the same save for the distance the camera is from the subject, save for one or two minor changes to improve flow and keep interest. Some of the angles had to be re-tilted as they pointed towards the floor but the improvement does feel significant.

Four: Perfecting A Jog

  Animation sequences continue. Much of today was spent in an attempt to get Four's jog/run right. A bit of referencing on otter run cycles helped to correct things after some difficulty and this might be good enough to install into a previous segment.

  A pre-vis section will come soon  I am nearly done with the first pass of the juvenile sections to the piece.

Four: Office Exploration

  More progress done, this time the sequence where Four explores her owner's office as Amelia expresses doubts continuing a relationship with him. A bit of time was taken to get her rise to the table looking right.

The way she pushes the phone off the table, maybe there is a connotation there given the way she pushes it? She's not entirely sweets and strawberries especially as she gets older and the other scientists and the people upstairs start thinking of David less.

Four: Texture Rework Phase One

  Some time was taken today building texture work for Four as well as creating a displacement map to simulate the texture. The greatest focus today was on her fins which graphically speaking required a complete rework. I based the design on butterfly wings, the intention of numerous patterns on such are to intimidate any larger predators but can also be used to attract a mate.

Her head fins are about done, and lay the foundation for how the tail fins work, the techniques I used ot create the textures on the head fins can easily be used to colour the tail fins.

Some work was also done on Thursday too refine the juvenile's animations to make her jump to the floor and her approach towards the incubator more animated.

Four: Refining First Sequence

The final steps are coming along with Four's adult model. With progress made on the model I returned to animating the juvenile. Focus today was on the table, where she jumps up, walks along and then jumps off. I discovered while animating that the sequence felt less jagged and jittery if the keyframes had room to breathe - expanding from a two-frame gap to a three-frame gap during the walking sequence appears to smooth out some of her animation.

Four: Art Of Draft Page

I have started animating (more will some), basics but mindful of time I looked into creating a first draft master spread for the Art Of document.

The idea I have had discussed is that the Art Of resembles a dossier, a document on Four herself and the research on her, so I went with the idea of going for something that looked somewhat official. The stress David feels as the story progresses would manifest in this document as more hastily-constructed pages with more post-it notes, tilted images to reflect the pressure he is under.

Four: Last Few Controls

  So far almost everything has been linked up. The last few elements required are the fins. As I found the IK control system quite handy, I decided that barring other suggestions I use that to make controlling the fins easier, as I had to get rid of a few controls for the old method when rebuilding the neck.

  There was some minor warping when I linked up the blendshapes to the model, but a loophole I found to reduce the severity was to reduce two of the shapes - one for the lips and around the eyes, one for the cheeks, are working at half-strength. While this does mean their controls need to be moved further for a better effect, it seems like a worthwhile compromise. 

The counter-roll for the spine's IK also works effectively. However since copying the rotation for the core joint overshoots the counter-rotation it might have to be controlled on a by-eye basis.

Four: Animation Buildup

A rework of David's lines are in the works, for now I felt it was worth my time to continue the animation, and then re-synchronise the footage to the new lines once a full reading of the script comes back to me.

There was one benefit - while it looks like the movement of Four has errors, these gave me the opportunity to go back and make some corrections to the model, fixing a few errors (the bending of the neck turned out to be an off-zeroed curve, once the values were all reset the spine worked correctly) and attaching some of the finer controls.

Four's initial movements in the animation, that of just sliding round on the ice, will be the foundation. With the grub complete, I can add that one in to better ground the camera and its focus.

Four: Signing Off The Grub

  The grub is almost ready to sign off. Controls are in place and tied to their bones while a basic skin has been added, and a texture map is to be in the works. With time in mind, it is fair to say that I am ready to start animating with this model.

  What is slightly jarring that might be coming from the glossy reflection is the skin appears to be reflecting the body around it, something that I've noticed skin to not really do. Turning off the model's ability to be seen in reflections does appear to remove this mirror effect however this is likely to make the creature's  invisible in the reflections any of the chrome surfaces in the lab (such as the floor of its incubation unit).

  The grub, compared to the others, is quite a simple design. Only one key control is needed for opening and closing the mouth. I might need to devise some teeth to provide something for inside the mouth, although it might not be as easy to see as other 

Four: Finer connections.

With some planning, Four has a slightly nicer eye, something that is a little less human

  I may go a little larger with the iris but at present the iris' coverage is quite solid, leaving only a small amount of white. The eye could be signed off.

  Four's boy also needed some simplification. Going over I removed controls that could be covered by a spline IK, which bend the joints along a curve tied to control joints.

  The eyes are rigged and controls are set, the eyelids are connected and the membranes are set as well. So the priority for the weekend is to link up the last nodes, the digits on the and and feet and the fins, tying the controls for the tendrils on the head, then limiting everything so the pose corrections don't break.

In hindsight, this was a more important model, as it will be present for much of the second half of the animation.

Four: Juvenile Almost Complete

  Four's juvenile form is nearing its end. The last deformers have been modeled, the controls are in place, most of them are rigged up to their respective joints and the deformers have all been connected.

  What remains are the finer controls - the channels for the digits, same for the fins and jaw, and the replacement of the eyes with a better model and texture.

  I feel optimistic that I can sculpt out a base grub form and set up UVs and bones by Sunday.

Four: Weighting the Skin and Facial Deformers

  I set myself a deadline for about the end of this week where my primary assets would be completed. So much of today was centred around binding the skin to the body and hopefulyl signing off and starting on the grub before the month is out.

  I tried a technique for blending the weights where the skin is flexible, such as on the webbing, to make it flow more organically between the toes. For the most part it appears to work, the skin blends and moves more smoothly than on the adult model (which may need revisiting at some point).

  Also in need of creation were some of the key blends for the face. In addition to the setups I created for the first model, I added a set of deformers for the cheeks, to allow Four to visible puff and huff. These deformers are set slightly inside the mouth so that when she motions, the interior of her mouth will hopefully move with the exterior.

  One problem I had previously rigging the eyelids was that when rotating, the control joints would move slightly in a direction that I didn't need them to. To alleviate this I considered an alternative method, where an EP curve would be constructed to find the midpoint.

  Stretching between the corners of the eyes, the EP curve was rebuilt with two segments, a cluster deformer was created so that a locator could be snapped to the middle, which was then moved slightly up and down depending on whether the lid was for the top or bottom. Then the joints were attached.