Last night, I've managed to complete the written work on my research proposal draft and emailed the document to Colin via email (including the proposal cover). Now I just need to wait and see if Colin would email me back with any feedbacks on the essay, and also any changes that I need to improve for the final proposal before the submission after the christmas break in January 2011.
So I can now continue with my sketchbook work for my character concepts, and also do some 3D trials with Maya, ZBrush, and also Mudbox in the Whitespace at the university, or at home during the holiday with my laptop.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Research Question Refined 3
After reading Lynn's feedback about my current project from our last meeting, I've thought about altering my research question that would fit in as a discussion instead of having a definitive answer towards the investigation on concept art theory for my project (using words like 'what' rather than 'is there').
New Research Question
"What are the advantages on using 3D as a creative technique towards concept art developments?"
New Research Question
"What are the advantages on using 3D as a creative technique towards concept art developments?"
Friday, 3 December 2010
Online Log 4
I may have to make some changes to some tasks from today towards next Friday including on supervisor meetings and working on my research proposal for Colin.
3/12/10 - Gather more references and information about define the concept development process (to support the proposal).
5/12/10 - Begin to work on research proposal (abstract, introduction, and the research question).
6/12/10 - Continue to work on research proposal (literature review).
7/12/10 - Refine learning contract, and meeting with Colin Cartwright.
8/12/10 - Meeting with Academic Supervisor, and continue with research propsal (literature revire, method, significance, and miscellaneous).
9/12/10 - Continue with Sketchbook #2 developments, and hand in learning contract draft to Jim.
10/12/10 - Meeting with Technical Supervisor, and experiment with ZBrush.
12/12/10 - Download Mudbox Student Edition from Autodesk Student Community.
3/12/10 - Gather more references and information about define the concept development process (to support the proposal).
5/12/10 - Begin to work on research proposal (abstract, introduction, and the research question).
6/12/10 - Continue to work on research proposal (literature review).
7/12/10 - Refine learning contract, and meeting with Colin Cartwright.
8/12/10 - Meeting with Academic Supervisor, and continue with research propsal (literature revire, method, significance, and miscellaneous).
9/12/10 - Continue with Sketchbook #2 developments, and hand in learning contract draft to Jim.
10/12/10 - Meeting with Technical Supervisor, and experiment with ZBrush.
12/12/10 - Download Mudbox Student Edition from Autodesk Student Community.
Discussion Points from Academic Supervisor
This afternoon, my academic supervisor has finally emailed me a copy of the discussion points describing about our last meeting along with some good suggestions and tasks that we can do for my honours project below:
Honours Project Meeting 1 22/11/10
Discussion Points
We discussed the wording of the research question as it may be better to frame your dissertation as a discussion rather than it requiring a definitive answer at the end. Perhaps you could rephrase the question using 'what' rather than 'is there'.
The research question mentions the concept development process. It will be useful to define this process. What is the traditional concept development process? How does the 3D concept development process differ? Is there a defined approach for 3D concept development? If so, how could we use this? If not, how can we add 3D into the traditional concept development process? The answers to these questions will help to inform our next steps with the project, and will ensure that you are linking research to practice.
There is a need to explore different character archetypes to build on our understanding of character. There are a number of books which will help you to explore typical character archetypes:
- The Hero with a 1,000 Faces by Joseph Campbell
Once we have this information, we can use these to inform choices around the types of character which will be designed and prototyped for the project. It is important to select characters for a reason and to demonstrate exploration of a variety of characters prior to narrowing our search to two or three characters for production.
In the designs you do explore, try to explore shapes, proportions and style. These impact on the effectiveness of a character and also their production in 3 dimensions. Ensure these have also been considered prior to finalising designs.
This is the exploratory stages of your project and your character designs, so try to experiment with as many different character types and styles as possible. The designs you currently have are to a good level, however, we need to be able to use research to inform the characters selected and our process as a whole. Creating a broader range of characters at this stage will help to build your understanding of character design. This will in turn feed into your decisions regarding the characters you choose to create and will help to support the discussion of character design in the dissertation.
Agreed Action points
· Explore archetypes and use this to inform a range of character designs
· Define the concept development process and explore the role of 3D in this process. Create a framework/process which can inform, your practice. Break this into a step-by-step guide of the stages of concept development. Ensure you gather references to inform this.
· Experiment with proportions, shape and style in the character designs you produce
· Experiment with Wacom tablet and Zbrush for visualisation of concepts
Our next meeting is scheduled for 1pm on Wednesday 8th December.
So from this, I'll try to continue working with thumbnail sketches to developp as many characters as possible, and also gather more information about the defining the concept developments with some references before I could work on my research proposal for next week. Hopefully the weather will settle down next wekk so that I can come in to the next meeting with Lynn and show my progress of bith my written and sketchbook work.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Gantt Chart Updated
While I've updated my project's objectives and activities, I've also worked on updating my Gantt chart with milestones before I can work on the Learning Contract this afternoon, and if hopefully if I have enough time, I can continue with my sketchbook work this evening.
Objectives, and Activities Refined
Project Objectives
Objective 1: Identify and discuss the changes about the methods of creating Concept Art from 2D traditional ways to the digital age of 3D.
1.1: Explore and identify briefly the evolution of concept art.
1.2: Identify the changes of creative techniques such as technologies used to create concept art.
Objective 2: Identify and compare on the existed Artists who uses 3D as their main techniques to create and develop their concept art such as character design in the game/animation industries.
2.1: Investigate on any existed artists with visual samples of their digital artwork in Sketchbook #1.
2.2: Investigate and explore on the types of technologies, hardware, and any other creative techniques used to develop their own pipeline on concept art.
2.3: Create and post a topic about creating concept art in 3D on online forums to gain answers and personal thoughts from existed artists to help support the investigation.
2.4: Research and gain any other sources from existed artists such as tutorial DVDs, magazine headlines, and also artists who are currently working in the industries to support the investigation for the project.
2.5: Apply the research findings and recorded information towards the Dissertation to support the project's investigation.
Objective 3: Discuss and develop 4 characters (including creatures) with their own visual styles and characteristics with the use of creative techniques, methods, and the technologies learned and researched from the existed artists as an influence towards practice.
3.1: Sketch out rough thumbnail drawings of at least 8 different characters/creatures in Sketchbook #2.
3.2: Work on basic 3D meshes for the 4 chosen character/creature concepts from Maya.
3.3: Develop detailed concepts and create a moodboard with chosen textures/materials for each of the 4 chosen character/creature designs.
3.4: Work on High-Poly modelling in ZBrush/Mudbox for each character/creature concepts with the use of their own basic meshes.
3.5: Create each of the character's/creature's retopology (e.g.on clothing, skin, props).
3.6: Work on Low-Poly modelling for each of the characters/creatures in Maya.
3.7: Project UV/Normal mappings for each character/creature models in order to apply textures on them for rendering.
Objective 4: Present the final character/creature designs by producing a 1-2 minute showreel to show the concept art and modelling techniques learned from the investigation on the project.
4.1: Baking renders of any Normal map projections from high-poly to low-poly on each model
4.2: Test the UV/Normal mapping renders on each model with Unreal Development Kit (UDK).
4.3: Final Rendering on each model, and work on character/creature poses for turnaround showreel.
4.4: Put together the final showreel video with audio in Final Cut Pro and burn the movie on a DVD.
Objective 1: Identify and discuss the changes about the methods of creating Concept Art from 2D traditional ways to the digital age of 3D.
1.1: Explore and identify briefly the evolution of concept art.
1.2: Identify the changes of creative techniques such as technologies used to create concept art.
Objective 2: Identify and compare on the existed Artists who uses 3D as their main techniques to create and develop their concept art such as character design in the game/animation industries.
2.1: Investigate on any existed artists with visual samples of their digital artwork in Sketchbook #1.
2.2: Investigate and explore on the types of technologies, hardware, and any other creative techniques used to develop their own pipeline on concept art.
2.3: Create and post a topic about creating concept art in 3D on online forums to gain answers and personal thoughts from existed artists to help support the investigation.
2.4: Research and gain any other sources from existed artists such as tutorial DVDs, magazine headlines, and also artists who are currently working in the industries to support the investigation for the project.
2.5: Apply the research findings and recorded information towards the Dissertation to support the project's investigation.
Objective 3: Discuss and develop 4 characters (including creatures) with their own visual styles and characteristics with the use of creative techniques, methods, and the technologies learned and researched from the existed artists as an influence towards practice.
3.1: Sketch out rough thumbnail drawings of at least 8 different characters/creatures in Sketchbook #2.
3.2: Work on basic 3D meshes for the 4 chosen character/creature concepts from Maya.
3.3: Develop detailed concepts and create a moodboard with chosen textures/materials for each of the 4 chosen character/creature designs.
3.4: Work on High-Poly modelling in ZBrush/Mudbox for each character/creature concepts with the use of their own basic meshes.
3.5: Create each of the character's/creature's retopology (e.g.on clothing, skin, props).
3.6: Work on Low-Poly modelling for each of the characters/creatures in Maya.
3.7: Project UV/Normal mappings for each character/creature models in order to apply textures on them for rendering.
Objective 4: Present the final character/creature designs by producing a 1-2 minute showreel to show the concept art and modelling techniques learned from the investigation on the project.
4.1: Baking renders of any Normal map projections from high-poly to low-poly on each model
4.2: Test the UV/Normal mapping renders on each model with Unreal Development Kit (UDK).
4.3: Final Rendering on each model, and work on character/creature poses for turnaround showreel.
4.4: Put together the final showreel video with audio in Final Cut Pro and burn the movie on a DVD.
Production Document and Learning Contract
Over the last few days, I've managed to write up my Production Document and going to email Gregor if he can have a look at it and send me any feedbacks on the writen work for any improvements. As for the Learning Contract, I'm still working on any refinements for the Objectives, and the Activities along with my Gantt chart before I submit the rough draft to Jim in order to gain any feedbacks on it before I could submit the final version on the deadline after the Christmas break.
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