Online Forum Notes: Michael Jenson

One of the good example of using ZBrush as part of developing a character is this Brute Mech character by Michael Jenson.

I'll be sending him an email to ask about how he actualy started on concepting this robot character, such as using 2D, 3D, or both at the earley stages. I'll also ask how he would do this during the development process for his character.

Hopefully, I would have a reply from the artist and that he can also answer my question towards supporting this in the dissertation.

Link to Michael Jenson's Forum Topic (CG Talk): http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=132&t=960366

Project Tasks 5

28/02/11 - Gather information about dissertation structure, and continue to experiment/practice in ZBrush/UDK.

01/03/11 - Meeting with Lynn

02/03/11 - Reference Research for Dissertation, and start posting the topic on the online forums.

03/03/11 - Continue with 2D work for Character No.1.

04/03/11 - Meeting with Gordon, work on 2D and 3D concept pipeline list, and create a UDK plan chart for April.

Robot Character Developments: Rough Details

Based on the chosen two silhouettes, I've worked further on the colour and rough details for the two concepts in Photoshop.

I now need to choose one of the two rough detailed concepts above for the final development stage on the 2D Robot Character.

Learning the basics in UDK

This afternoon, I've been exploring and learning some of the basics in using UDK including on constructing a basic environment, applying textures to the environment, and also add objects (from the UDK assets folder) into the environment.

The next step is for me to learn and experiment on applying an animated character in the UDK environmen. And also add the movement controls to test the character animations, in order for to help me make preperations for the testing stage in my project.

Feedback on Invitation Layouts

From yesterday's Lecture about the Showcase 2011 Project, I've been told that the Portrait design looks more suitable to develop further on. It also works better towards producing the invitations, especially for the layouts of the logo in the front, an other informations including the text and location map for the back view of the invitation.

I now need to wait for the location map and other informations to be completed before I can proceed to develop the invitation further, and also try out a range of colour schemes on the layout too.

Showcase Invites Layout Concepts

From our last group meeting, I've been selected to work on the Invites for the Showcase graphics group, and I then got to work on creating two layout designs for the fron and back sides of the invites.

These are some of the two concepts layouts for the Showcase Invites from Photoshop that I've worked on last night (just after I've worked on my robot character concepts in Photoshop).

I now need to present my concepts to my group for this afternoon's meeting for any feedbacks on them, and hopefully I could then move on to develop the invites further for next week.

Concept 1: Front

Concept 1: Back
Concept 2: Front

Concept 2: Back

Robot Character Developments: Silhouettes

This afternoon, I've been working on the robot character's silhouettes from Photoshop. I've mainly developed each of the silhouette's form and proportions until I've ended up with eight versions.


The next step is for me to choose the tree designs from the robot character silhouette, and work on each of the desigm's detail and rough colours (either in a sketchbook or Photoshop).

Dissertation Notes 1: Quotes/References

Quotes 1: 3D Artist Magazine, 2011, Issue 24, Image Publishing

"It would take me ten times the amount of time to do this in any other traditional standard 3D app." Furio Tedeschi, 2011, 3D Sketchbook: Furious Sculpting, p.21.

Quotes 2: 3D Artist Magazine, 2011, Issue 25, Image Publishing

"When I use a sphere or primitive I'm building these forms from ground up - a useful practice, in my oppinion!" James Van Den Bogart, 2011, From the ground up, p.19.

"The concept phase...establishes the visual identity of a game, which is so important that it is classified as 'key component' or 'pillar'." Phillip Morales, 2011, The Art of War, p.48.

"I took time to push the details to the max to give life to the creature." Ali Zafati, 2011, I made this...Ali Zafati, p.51.

"Take advantage of ZBrush, an amazing sculpting program that allows artists to increase the polycount to millions without losing control!" Ali Zafati, 2011, I made this...Ali Zafati, p.51.

Quotes 3: d'artiste: Character Modeler 2, 2007, Daniel Wade and Paul Hellard, Ballistic Publishing

"With technology driving today's games evolving, so is the process of making assets for these games." Kevin Lanning, 2007,Kevin Lanning: The Artist, p.11.

"Not to burden myself, but to push possibilities that further evolve the whole way of creating digitally." Timur "Taron" Baysal, 2007, Timur "Taron" Baysal: The Artist, p.80.

Revised Aims and Objectives

This afternoon, I've worked on revising the aims and objectives (including the activities) for my Honours Project in order to make them more suitable and makes sence towards my project's research. The first and second objectives are the same, but for the third and fourth objectives, I've made some changes along with their activities to blend in better with the character development process and again research for each of the concept art methodologies.

Aims

To explore and practice concept art with 3D towards developing game characters.

Objectives

Objective 1: Identify and discuss the methods of creating Concept Art from 2D traditional ways to the digital age of 3D.

Objective 2: Identify the different methodologies that were used in game development pipeline for concept art between 2D and 3D.

Objective 3: Explore and practice the identified methodologies towards the game character developments.

Objective 4: Present the final character designs including one based on the chosen methodology and tested in UKD in a showreel, and evaluate the results from each process in the dissertation.

Objective's Activities

Objective 1 Activities

1.1: Explore and identify the 2D and 3D concept art process.

• Look into resources, such as books, online website, and articles to find and compare the differences between 2D and 3D concept art processes for games (e.g. rough designs, colour/texture work, and detail concepts). Also to find any key areas that would help researching the advantages in utilising 3D into concept art before practicing them on this project.

1.2: Identify the key areas in both 2D and 3D concept art process from existing artists.

• Finding examples of the creative processes from existing artists in books, magazine articles, or tutorial DVDs to understand the concept art process between 2D and 3D. It’s also ideal to sum up and record the information in a diary/blog in order to support the research findings in the dissertation.

Objective 2 Activities

2.1: Investigate and explore the types of technologies, hardware, and any other creative techniques in the pipeline for the process in character art for games.

• Finding out on how these artists have created their own concept art with their chosen hardware and creative software (e.g. Maya, Photoshop, and ect) by looking and recording the information in books, tutorial DVDs, interviewed articles, and online videos or blogs as resources. The recorded information will then be added in the diary/blog.

2.2: Create a topic in different online community forums to gather participants for the project’s research.

• Create an online topic that explains about the project’s research question, aims, and purpose in a range of online forums to gather some participants, such as artists or art students, to gain their answers and opinions about the project’s research. If there are no responses from the first post, then create other topics that are related to the project to eventually gather some artists who would like to participate in one of the online forum’s discussion group. The information from each participant’s thoughts will then be recorded in a diary/blog, and then towards supporting the project’s dissertation.

2.3: Find and hire an animator for character animation tests in UDK.

• Start creating advertisements (e.g. posters, emails) to find an experienced animator who is familiar with character animations in Maya, and using Unreal Development Kit. If animator could not be found by the testing stage sometime in April, the character animations and UDK tests will have to be done alone.

2.4: Experiment the creative techniques with Maya and ZBrush.

• Experiment 3D tools/plugins from tutorial books or online videos, to enhance the 3D skills and knowledge before working on the character designs for this project. Also record any experiments and techniques learned from tutorials in diary/blog.

2.5: Experiment with Unreal Development Kit (UDK).

• Experiment and familiarise with the UDK package from the tutorials in books or online videos, including on how to test the model renders, and run character animations in the game environment. Record these practices from tutorials in diary/blog.

2.6: Evaluate the research findings in the project’s dissertation.

• Explain what advantages and disadvantages have been identified about utilizing 3D in concept art. Also explain the identified key areas comparing 2D and 3D methods, and how they would benefit towards practice in the character design process.

Objective 3 Activities

3.1: List of four characters with concept art processes for each one.

• After previously chosen the four character designs out of the eight from semester 1, create a list for each character with their own concept art methodologies, and also choose the fourth character that will not only be developed based on the chosen concept art process from one of the three, but also go through the final modelling, texturing, and also the testing process in UDK as evidence for the research findings in this project. Record this in a diary/blog.

3.2: Character No.1’s developments in 2D only.

• Development work only in 2D for Character No.1 with sketchbook and Photoshop (mixing up with traditional and digital methods). Record these processes and evaluate them in a diary/blog/sketchbook. Takes between 1-2 weeks to work on this process.

3.3: Character No.2’s developments in 3D only.

• Development work only in 3D for Character No.2 with Maya/ZBrush, along with using the appropriate 3D tools to do this. Record these processes and evaluate them in a diary/blog/sketchbook. Takes 2 weeks to work on the 3D developments for this character.

3.4: Character No.3’s developments in 2D and 3D.

• Development work in combining 2D and 3D methodologies towards Character No.3 in Maya, ZBrush, and Photoshop. Record these processes and evaluate them in a diary/blog/sketchbook. Takes between 2-3 weeks to work on this.

3.5: Character No.4’s developments in the chosen concept art methodology.

• The final development work for Character No.4 based on the chosen concept art method out of the previous three character developments. Will also go through the modelling and texturing process with Maya, ZBrush, and also Photoshop. Record these processes and evaluate them in a diary/blog/sketchbook. Takes between 2-3 weeks to work on.

3.6: Evaluate the final designs and the practical process in the dissertation.

• Discuss the evaluation with the recorded information from the overall process in each character development work, including the comparisons between the 2D and 3D methodologies. Also evaluate the experiences and the practices based on the previous research from existing artists towards supporting them in the dissertation. Takes 1-2 weeks.

Objective 4 Activities

4.1: Test the UV/Normal mapping renders on Character No.4 with Unreal Development Kit (UDK).

• The texture testing process for each of the character’s UV/Normal maps in a game engine, and to find and fix any texture errors. For example, arranging the specific texture file towards the target model and upload the coordinates in UDK, as part of the testing process before presenting the final model in showreel. Takes between 1-2 weeks for this, depending on the completion of the character modelling stage, such as timing of low poly modelling, or even the UV/Normal mapping transfers for each model which can be more challenging to work on.

4.2: Test Character No.4’s animations in Unreal Development Kit.

• The animator works on the character’s animations from Maya. Once complete, the character animations will then be tested in UDK, along with appropriate control functions in place (e.g. setting up commands to move character straight, left, right, or back). Record the test findings in diary/blog. Can take about 1-2 weeks to do this.

4.3: Creating the final showreel DVD and presentations for the End of Year Showcase 2011.

• Create and present the showreel and digital work in an interactive platform. The showreel will present all the four character developments in both 2D and 3D forms, and will also show the fourth character’s animation video from the UDK environment. Also create an A3 boarded posters to demonstrate each of the character developments and outcomes in this project. Takes between 1-2 weeks.

I now just need to present these revised aims and objectives to my academic supervisor for approval before I can work on revising my Gantt Chart, and also to write them in my Learning Contract (downloaded from the Honours Project module folder in the Abertay Portal) have both me and Lynn to sign the contract.