Changes to the project

After feedback and thinking on it I have decided to change the direction of my project from character design to asset creation. The thought process behind this is: the style guide that I am following only covers asset creation for the game, this would allow me to follow a more constrained creation process. The assets that I can create following this style guide are: Warframe skins, Syandannas, Liset skins and alternate helms.

Here are the constraints that I would be following for each asset type.

Warframe skin:
6 2048 x 2048 textures:
Albedo (filename_d)
Normal (filename_n)
Specular (filename_s)
Roughness (filename_r)
Emissive (filename_e)
Tint mask (filenameTintMask_d)

Syandanna:
7500 triangles
6 1024 x1024 textures:
Albedo (filename_d)
Normal (filename_n)
Specular (filename_s)
Roughness (filename_r)
Emissive (filename_e)
Tint mask (filenameTintMask_d)

Liset skin:
6 2048 x 2048 textures:
Albedo (filename_d)
Normal (filename_n)
Specular (filename_s)
Roughness (filename_r)
Emissive (filename_e)
Tint mask (filenameTintMask_d)

Alt helm:
5000 triangles
6 2048 x 1024 textures:
Albedo (filename_d)
Normal (filename_n)
Specular (filename_s)
Roughness (filename_r)
Emissive (filename_e)
Tint mask (filenameTintMask_d)

Looking at the time I have left for this project I believe that I will be able to make at least one of each of these assets. I will be making a follow up post explaining in more detail what i will be doing for each of these assets.

- Peter Howell

First Concepts

Before I started to create concept art for my character I decided to look into different things for inspiration. I started by looking into other games, one in particular: Ninja Gaiden. This is what I quickly drew up from inspiration from the main character.

After drawing this I felt as though I needed to strip down my inspirations to a more broad spectrum. Going back to the drawing board I looked into the elements such as water and fire which is when I drew these.

I still wasn't happy with these so I decided to use ice as an inspiration and came up with this.

Now I was much happier with this and was about to start concept art for the body when I remembered that there is already a character in Warframe that uses the powers of ice. I chose to instead tweak this and instead use crystals rather than ice.

In this picture I drew a redesigned helmet using my previous one as reference, i also drew a possible arm design.

Here I cleaned up the helmet a bit and drew a body and legs. I feel as though I can start modelling the helmet from here as I draw up some more concepts for my characters body and legs.

- Peter Howell

Unwrapping and Texturing

I have decided that I would like to texture my character once it has been created, but this leads to some problems that i need answers for. These problems are: how to unwrap high poly models,

Unwrapping UV's

After doing some research I have found some ways in which i can unwrap the UV's, the first method is to import the model into 3DS Max and then unwrap and organise the UV's manually. Another method that I found was a plug-in that you can install into ZBrush that will create a fully organised set of UV's for you. Personally I think I will use the plug-in as it will save a lot of time which will allow me to focus on creating a good texture for my character.

Texturing

I have also been curious to find out how difficult it would be to texture a high-poly model as the UV's would be quite small. But I have found another plug-in for ZBrush which allows you to paint directly onto the model, this plug-in is named Polypaint. I think this would be really useful as it lets you skip past UV unwrapping.

I think that both of these tools will be very useful when it comes to texturing a high-poly model and I would like to use them for my final product

- Peter Howell

Readings:

Pixologic. (2015). UV Master: UV Creation Has Never Been So Easy!.Available: http://pixologic.com/zbrush/features/UV-Master/. Last accessed 11 Nov 2015.

Scherer, M (2011). ZBrush 4 Sculpting for Games: Beginner's Guide. Birmingham: Packt Publishing. p71-83.

Pixologic. (2015). Polypaint. Available: http://pixologic.com/zbrush/features/PolyPaint/. Last accessed 11 Nov 2015.

Poly Count

Now that I have decided what I am going to be creating I need to limit myself so that I don't over scope. I have started by looking at the poly count of models that are already in published games. Here is what I have found:

Samus Aran, Metriod Prime
8,464 Polys

Excalibur, Warframe
6,480 Polys

Julia, Tekken Tag Tournament
7,700 Polys

Kratos, God of War 3
22,955 Polys

Spiderman, The Amazing Spiderman
11,652

Asura, Asura's Wrath
23,139 Polys when character has 6 arms/16,000 Polys when character has 2 arms

Hayden Tenno, Dark Sector
10,671 Polys

Ryu Hyabusa, Dead or Alive 5
30,613 Polys

Civilian, Halo: Reach
15,808

Main Characters, Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders
around 10,000 Polys

Faith, Mirrors Edge
22,000 Polys

Jin Kazama, Tekken Tag Tournament 2
19,272 Polys

Looking at all of these poly counts it makes me realise just how many polys go into creating a game character. I think that my poly count budget for the Low-Poly Model will be 1,000, for the High-Poly Model I was thinking that 15,000 polys would be a realistic amount of polys, but after seeing the poly count of a character in Warframe I have decided that 10,000 polys would be better.

- Peter Howell

Readings:

Farid. (2007). "Yes, but how many polygons?" An artist blog entry with interesting numbers. Available: "Yes, but how many polygons?" An artist blog entry with interesting numbers. Last accessed 9th Nov 2015.

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.

Job search

I have done another job search to try to help me narrow down what skills I would need in order to become a 3D model artist within the gaming industry. This time I have made sure to not look at senior or lead roles as it is highly unlikely that I would get one of them jobs straight out of education. Here is what I have found.

Bungie:
3D Character Artist:

• University or equivalent art-related degree focusing on traditional skills such as sketching, illustration, and painting.
• Two or more years of professional game industry experience.
• At least one shipped title as 3D character artist.
• A portfolio or demo reel that demonstrates an exceptional understanding of human anatomy and a creative imagination with a keen eye towards form, shape, structure, and silhouette in regards to modeling.
• Be fluent in 3D Max or Maya, Photoshop, Zbrush and/or Mudbox.
• Experience creating high-poly models for normal ripping purposes.
• Good communication skills and the ability to work well in a team environment.
• Passion and desire to create great games.

3D Generalist:

• Undergraduate degree or completion of a certificate program that provides an education in the fundamentals of art
• Strong sense of surface development, proportion, and mechanical functionality
• Strong artistic sense balanced with good technical knowledge
• Two or more years of proven experience creating inorganic objects in a feature film or game production environment
• One or more years of experience working as a 3D Artist on a shipped game title
• Sketching, drawing, painting and design skills desirable
• Thorough knowledge of 3D Max or Maya, Photoshop, Zbrush, Mudbox and other 2D/3D applications
• Experience creating high-poly models for normal ripping purposes
• Experience creating rigs and simple animations for machines
• Good communication skills and the ability to work well in a team environment
• Passion and desire to create great games

EA:
3D Artist:

• A strong 3D portfolio showcasing top notch environment and/or hard-surface modeling.
• Demonstrable knowledge of lighting, color, and composition.
• Must have a technical aptitude.
• Experience in creating art for use in real-time 3D game engines.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills.
• A team oriented personality and work well within a group
• Able to create concept art for modeling
• Ability to create 3D models based on ready concepts
• 2D experience and strong Photoshop skills
• Passion for games.

While looking at these applications I listed down what they all had in common, here is that list:

• Knowledge of 3D modelling software
• Knowledge of Photoshop
• Good Communication skills
• Good at drawing/sketching
• A passion for games

Jobs:

3D Character Artist: https://www.bungie.net/en/aboutus/index#page=careers&job=10067. Last accessed: 1st Nov 2015

3D Generalist: https://www.bungie.net/en/aboutus/index#page=careers&job=10100. Last Accessed: 1st Nov 2015

3D Artist: http://careers.ea.com/ea-career-search. Career Opportunities: 3D Artist (62861). Last accessed 1st Nov 2015

Character Designs Within Games

After some discussion have decided it would be best that I design and create only one character. This character will be created for a game which already exists. The reason for this is so that I will already have a defined theme in which I should follow in order to create the character.

Assassins Creed, Fallout 3 and Halo are all games with consistent character design, so lets look at the characters in them games.

The Assassins Creed series is set in multiple eras so the design of the characters change slightly but they still follow the same theme.

The consistencies between all these characters are: their hoods/hats all have a point on them, they have multiple belts/straps, they use light colours and they all have the assassins symbol which is usually located on their belts. So if I was to create a character for this game I would make sure that their clothes are white or light grey, their hood is pointed they have belts and straps and you can clearly see the assassins logo.

In Fallout 3 all the characters are wearing clothes from the 50's. Here are a few examples:

All the clothes seen here, apart form the armoured suits, are all highly based off of clothes that were worn in the 50's. The characters seen above are also all covered in patches of dirt/sweat. If i was to design a character for this game I would research into what clothes were worn in the 50's then create a design based off that research.

Halo has multiple archetypes so lets just use one of them as an example. Here is what the Promethean look like:

As you can see these characters are based off of animals with top ones being based on humans and the bottom ones being based on a dog or big cat. The colours that are used here are light to dark grey and orange. If I was to create a character for this game I would first decide what animal I want the character based off of then slowly start to make it look mechanical and add the orange lights.

I still am unsure what game I would like to design a character for but I will and choose a game soon.

- Peter Howell