Pipeline

Over the past week I have sat down and tried to think of games in which I really like the character designs, so that I have something to base my character design on. The game that I have chosen to create a character for is Warframe. The reason for this is is that there is already a art style guide which has been created to help people create characters for the game. This guide states that the characters need to be: Sleek, Technology and organic forms mixed, Elegant Curves, Minimalism and Flowing Silhouettes. There is also a quick bio to help with the design of the character: "We are a mix of high tech warrior and ninja.  We wear the distinct techno-organic Warframes dating back to the old war and beyond.  With our Warframes we command unearthly power and our skill with gun and blade is legendary."

Looking at 3D modelling pipelines online i have found out that that the order of work is like this:

1. Concept
2. Low-Poly Model
3. High-Poly Model
4. Unwrapping
5. Texturing
6. Rigging
7. Animating
8. Rendering

What these consist of:

Concept
This is a drawing/painting to grasp the style and look of the character I will be designing.

Low-Poly Model
A Low-Poly count model of the character I am creating. This is usually done in box modelling software such as 3ds Max.

High-Poly Model
A High-Poly count model of the character I am creating. This is usually done in sculpting software such as zbrush or Mudbox.

UV Unwrapping
Separating and placing the UV's into groups to make texturing easier.

Texturing
Painting the UV's to give the character a skin.

Rigging
Placing bones into the character to allow for animating.

Animating
Posing the character over many key frames to make the character move.

Rendering
Exporting the character to work within a game/movie.

Personally I think that i will only be doing Concept, Low-Poly Model, High-Poly Model and rendering. As i want my project to be based around modelling and not texturing or animating. So the pipeline that i will be following is:

1. Concept
2. Low-Poly Model
3. High-Poly Model
4. Rendering

- Peter Howell

Readings:

Pipelines:

Bokaja. (2009). Character Modeling Pipeline. Available: http://www.interstellarmarines.com/articles/development/character-modeling-pipeline/. Last accessed 9th Nov 2015.

Tironeac, G. (2013). The Pipeline Behind Modeling and Animating a Game Character in Zelgor. Available: http://assist-software.net/blog/pipeline-behind-modeling-and-animating-game-character-zelgor. Last accessed 9th Nov 2015.

Boudon, G. (2013). Understanding a 3D Production Pipeline - Learning The Basics. Available: http://blog.digitaltutors.com/understanding-a-3d-production-pipeline-learning-the-basics/. Last accessed 9th Nov 2015.

Style Guide:

Warframe. (2015). content creator art style guide. Available: https://warframe.com/steamworkshop/help/index.php?page=content-creator-art-style-guide. Last accessed 9th Nov 2015.