final
finished my ff7 model, looks pretty good now i think, actual model is alot more detailed than the picture, had to scale image down alot to get it to fit on blogger,
around 3500 polys in the end, aout 5000 tris
im really happy with the amount of detail ive put in with the amount of polys ive used.
alot of spare faces are being used under the helmet as ive modelled the whole head, so the helmet is removable and thers a head and face behind it.
next top model
Decided to make one of the 1st class soldiers from squares final fantasy7 this time, as thyve recently released a new ff7 game, crisis core, thers plenty of imagery to work with, bin working on it about a day so far, i have a model of a ody without the head that i just pull and push into shape now when i want to madel a character.
this is what i have so far
its getting there i think, its got quite a high amount of unneccisary detail though mind, but i have a low poly version made alrady anyway so i can just normal map this onto the low poly once ive stuck it through mudbox and played with it abit.
i decided to quickly rigg and test it before i started mapping it, just to make sure the model itself worked ok, and it moved quite smoothly when i tried it out, so all is well so far.
level creation
So, here it is.... my first serious attempt at the cryengine, rather than make a full level im just trying to make it realistic at the minute, which i think i have acheived so far, im usiong alot of built in models, as it'd take me years to make the amount needed in the cryengine, i must say they make using it quite complicated, as in forgetting to include a save button when u import your own models, had it since before christmas and iv'e only just got the swing of it really.
apart from all that iv'e started importing some of my own models into the engine, its also made me think about building collision meshed when i make my models, and how to texture my models so that the lighting looks ok ingame.
i also have made the ai in game for the birds in the sky, and fish in the sea, i also have a few turtles bummin around on the beach, and a shark out at sea to eat you if ya get too near.
modelling
thort id move away from the modelling of people for a bit and model something fun, so i went for a god old mech, modelling was really easy as its all kind of square shaped, and flat sides, only had a bit of trouble with the head, riggin was awesome too, just had to attach the body parts to the skeleton with rigin envelopes, and as i didnt need any deformation the rig looked awesome, worked perfect, i used the same 4 lights in my scene as i always do, its not quite finished yet mind, textures are still abit land and need abit more detail.
modelling
Now that i think iv'e cracked my body rigging, i thought id move onto the face, the model was pretty easy to make mid you, now that i spline model them i can wack them out in about an hour, not including the high poly though, i kept it as simple as i could and added detail with the maps and bump map.
i also made sure i modelled in a cavity for the mouth, and 2 planes for the teeth, as id be rigging him to open and close his mouth, i also used a few extra polys making him so he could close his eyes, but it was only about 5 or 6 extra.
after making my base model and texturing it, i made alot of copies and changed each one to mave a different part of his face, its sounds tedious but it only took about an hour, and added a morpher modifier, and used the little slidy things to move his face and thn rendered.
i used the same 4 lights for the render as with my full basket ball player.
modelling
First character iv'e made since lotte that has turned out any good, iv'e moved away from the box modelling technique for the face becuase my proportions were just looking terrible, so i tried spline modelling them, as in the eyes, lips, and nose seperatly, and extruding edges to join them together and make the rest of the head, apart from the nose, and lips, i tried to keep it as low poly as i could, as i made a bump map for the details.
i made my high poly version in mudbox, which after trying z brush feels just like using paint, ill get some renders of my high poly model on here too soon.
i'm finding the rigging of my characters alot easier now i have leart how to use the physique modifier rather than skin, my basket ball player can move all his limbs, head and such without any real problems with bits i dont want moving, i did spend a fair bit of time editing the envolopes and vertex weights to get it perfect tho, and im happy with the results.
below is render of him, i have used 1 skylight, and 3 directional lights, one for my main light, one to lighten up the shadows a little bit, and one to give a highlight.
i like how this lighting setup works with the bump and specular maps, so i think ill use it with most of my final renders from now on.
modelling
Been doing few bits keep me busy, made this bin for a level im making in unreal, and another in the cryengine at the minute, trying to decide which one i like better, so-far i find unreal better for indoor levels, and cryengine better for outdoors and such,
think iv'e cracked the modelling though, just gotta get better now, quite happy with how im progressing.
Week 24;-
I have quite liked the way the course has progressed this year, as at the start I had no idea about using 3ds max, or any other 3d software for that matter, I think we were taught very well as the majority of us picked up the basics very fast.
One of the main problems I thought there was with the course is that we weren’t really taught how to digital paint, and I for one have never don e it before so I really struggled with this part of the course.
From reading the blog I like the idea of more physical 3d work next year, such as sculpture.
But also I wouldn’t mind being taught a little bit about the digital sculpting software that’s around such as mudbox or zbrush, as I think we will need these in our future, to be making the best 3d work that we can.
All in all I have really enjoyed my first year and how it has been run, I’m still not fond of the presenting work to the class thing but I think that’s something I’m going to have to get used to and get better at for the future.
One of the main problems I thought there was with the course is that we weren’t really taught how to digital paint, and I for one have never don e it before so I really struggled with this part of the course.
From reading the blog I like the idea of more physical 3d work next year, such as sculpture.
But also I wouldn’t mind being taught a little bit about the digital sculpting software that’s around such as mudbox or zbrush, as I think we will need these in our future, to be making the best 3d work that we can.
All in all I have really enjoyed my first year and how it has been run, I’m still not fond of the presenting work to the class thing but I think that’s something I’m going to have to get used to and get better at for the future.
Week Twenty-two GDC
“Brainstorming in Public: 52 Game Ideas in 52 WeeksSpeaker: Patrick Curry (Senior Game Designer, Midway Games) Session DescriptionTired of the industry paying lip service to new intellectual properties, game designer Patrick Curry (STUBBS THE ZOMBIE, STRANGLEHOLD) started posting original game concepts to his website. Throwing caution into the wind, Patrick publicly brainstormed 52 game ideas, one a week for all of 2006, honing his design skills, inspiring others, and getting some unexpected attention from the game press. In this lecture, Patrick continues this reckless endeavour, giving a full post-mortem on his personal-project, encouraging others to brainstorm in public, and giving tips and tricks to those bold (and crazy) enough to follow suit.”
That is a quote from the GDC, about the 53 game ideas in 52 weeks, I think this is an awesome idea, because out of his 52 there’s bound to be some good ones, rather than just spend ages and make a crappy story to a game, I think this is a better idea.
At least then if someone thinks its crap theirs not months of work wasted, only a few days.
Personally I think brainstorming is a good idea this is an example of why it is a good idea, the more ideas they are laid out the more the chance of the good ideas being stated.
That is a quote from the GDC, about the 53 game ideas in 52 weeks, I think this is an awesome idea, because out of his 52 there’s bound to be some good ones, rather than just spend ages and make a crappy story to a game, I think this is a better idea.
At least then if someone thinks its crap theirs not months of work wasted, only a few days.
Personally I think brainstorming is a good idea this is an example of why it is a good idea, the more ideas they are laid out the more the chance of the good ideas being stated.
Week 21 Where do you want to go, and how do you get there?
Where do you want to go, and how do you get there? I’m still not sure exactly where I’ll be in 3 years time when I finish this course, as it’s not a certainty that ill get a job in a certain company, it’s not even certain that will end up in the games industry(although I imagine I will, and seriously hope so), but I plan on having the skills necessary to have the sort of job I want to get, I understand that this whole process in a 2 way process, and we won’t get anywhere if we don’t put a little back into it ourselves.
Looking at what we have to do from now on, and to get into industry, I think I’ve already learned the basics, I just need to keep getting better at it now until I’m at a sufficient level, and I think that's what the second and third year our for, as I don’t think ill lean anything new now, just get allot better at what I’m starting to know already.
I’ve even noticed sometimes, when I’m not even consciously thinking about, like when I’m in bed or something, in my head something will just click and I understand something in max that I didn’t understand fully before, and I think, I’m making quite good progress with my 3d modelling and drawing.
So in 3 years time, I hop to see myself working in the industry, and that where imp going to aim towards.
Looking at what we have to do from now on, and to get into industry, I think I’ve already learned the basics, I just need to keep getting better at it now until I’m at a sufficient level, and I think that's what the second and third year our for, as I don’t think ill lean anything new now, just get allot better at what I’m starting to know already.
I’ve even noticed sometimes, when I’m not even consciously thinking about, like when I’m in bed or something, in my head something will just click and I understand something in max that I didn’t understand fully before, and I think, I’m making quite good progress with my 3d modelling and drawing.
So in 3 years time, I hop to see myself working in the industry, and that where imp going to aim towards.
week 20 CREATIVITY
Creativity, mike has told us numerous times over this course about creativity and that school bashes the creativity out of us, and university is in some way teaching us how to be creative again and over the course of my 1st year in game art I’m beginning to realise just how right he was.
It’s actually quite hard to get out of the routine and rules set down by the schooling I received when I was younger, it’s like learning to talk again or something along them lines, I remember in gcse in my art classes we were supposed to in a way be doing our own stuff, but it still had to fit in with what the teachers wanted, and on this course now our projects seem to be completely free, to do what we want.
As well as the arts and such, I think games is one of the areas that can benefit most from creativity, and can show it best, as in games, pretty much anything is possible, there’s that many games out there I’m sure anything you could ever want to do, and cant, there’s a game u can do it in.
In modern times, with how schooling in a person’s earlier years is handled, is seems that they are having their creativity beaten out of them, by school and teachers and such emphasizing that maths English and science are the most important subjects in school.
And also any child with the slightest behavioural problem is labelled dyslexic now days, I was talking to my mum the other day who has recently been to a typing course of some sort, it’s not typing, but it’s something to do with excel and computers, and she has never really been able to spell, and neither ha vi for that matter, but after talking to her teacher she found out that she’d be classed as slightly dyslexic just for being able to spell some words that well.
It’s actually quite hard to get out of the routine and rules set down by the schooling I received when I was younger, it’s like learning to talk again or something along them lines, I remember in gcse in my art classes we were supposed to in a way be doing our own stuff, but it still had to fit in with what the teachers wanted, and on this course now our projects seem to be completely free, to do what we want.
As well as the arts and such, I think games is one of the areas that can benefit most from creativity, and can show it best, as in games, pretty much anything is possible, there’s that many games out there I’m sure anything you could ever want to do, and cant, there’s a game u can do it in.
In modern times, with how schooling in a person’s earlier years is handled, is seems that they are having their creativity beaten out of them, by school and teachers and such emphasizing that maths English and science are the most important subjects in school.
And also any child with the slightest behavioural problem is labelled dyslexic now days, I was talking to my mum the other day who has recently been to a typing course of some sort, it’s not typing, but it’s something to do with excel and computers, and she has never really been able to spell, and neither ha vi for that matter, but after talking to her teacher she found out that she’d be classed as slightly dyslexic just for being able to spell some words that well.
Week Nineteen; Life Changing or Career Building?
I think the reason different companies want either experienced game artists/programmers or wanting individuals with a good art background depends on situation.
Some companies might be more pushed to meet their deadlines, in which case they might not have time to train up staff with the skill level they need for their games to work as they want it to.
Whereas companies that can afford and have time to take people on and train them up might end up with the sort of modeller/programmer that they want rather than possibly a generic modeller, and they can have exactly what they want in their staff.
Personally I’d much rather work in an environment where people are still being taught, given drawing lessons and such, rather than just left to do what they have to do.
Some companies might be more pushed to meet their deadlines, in which case they might not have time to train up staff with the skill level they need for their games to work as they want it to.
Whereas companies that can afford and have time to take people on and train them up might end up with the sort of modeller/programmer that they want rather than possibly a generic modeller, and they can have exactly what they want in their staff.
Personally I’d much rather work in an environment where people are still being taught, given drawing lessons and such, rather than just left to do what they have to do.
week 18 sound in games
Sound in games, I think that sound plays a very important role in games; it can completely set or in some cases ruin the mood and playability of the game,
Sound is used in games to create tension, emphasise a character, let you know if you are doing something right or wrong, and hundreds of other things.
Sound is used in basically every game, and can make or ruin them, I think this is because a good soundtrack, even just making the guns on a game sound more realistic, helps add allot more feeling and playability into a game, there has been some games where I’ve just though it sounded awful and it annoyed me so I’ve not enjoyed the game as much as I could have.
I think the biggest sonic moments for me in gaming is either the final fantasy 7 soundtrack, final fantasy 9, the metal gear solid one in general, or the new devil may cry 4 one.
I think the soundtrack can give an amazing feeling and experience to a game that might even lack in playability and story, some of my favourite games, are only my favourite’s party because they have such a great soundtrack with them.
Sound is used in games to create tension, emphasise a character, let you know if you are doing something right or wrong, and hundreds of other things.
Sound is used in basically every game, and can make or ruin them, I think this is because a good soundtrack, even just making the guns on a game sound more realistic, helps add allot more feeling and playability into a game, there has been some games where I’ve just though it sounded awful and it annoyed me so I’ve not enjoyed the game as much as I could have.
I think the biggest sonic moments for me in gaming is either the final fantasy 7 soundtrack, final fantasy 9, the metal gear solid one in general, or the new devil may cry 4 one.
I think the soundtrack can give an amazing feeling and experience to a game that might even lack in playability and story, some of my favourite games, are only my favourite’s party because they have such a great soundtrack with them.
week 17- gaming engines
this was supposed to be the blog i do tomorro, but i really liked the look of it so im doing it now.
game engines, most of us first years now know that in the second year we are going to have to use the unreal editor game engine. when i first heard this, and someone even said we have to teach it to ourseles, i nearly poo'ed myself.
but over the last few weeks, ive noticed that when i bought the games unreal tournament 3, and crysis, they came with fre copies of hte games engine, these being the sandbox2 editor, and the unrealed 3.
i found them quite difficult to start with, as my models wer all invisible, i could walk through then, or they bwer just grey, but if solved that now and learnt how fun they are.
as far as additive and subtractive engines go, i no additive is where you add geometry to and open abys, and subtractive you get a large block of what i can only describe as matter, and u subtract and scupt your levels within it.
the sandbox2 engine is an additive only program, and unrealed has both options for use, i prefer addtive at the minute, unless im doing inside places, like my bedroom.
as for as game developers go i think the best way is developing ther own game engine, (or using the cry2engine/sandbox2 as it can do anything, its magic). as what ive seen of the unreal engine so far is seem to be set towards pretty much one sort of shooter game, unreal, and gears of war, which i think could get abit dull.
game engines, most of us first years now know that in the second year we are going to have to use the unreal editor game engine. when i first heard this, and someone even said we have to teach it to ourseles, i nearly poo'ed myself.
but over the last few weeks, ive noticed that when i bought the games unreal tournament 3, and crysis, they came with fre copies of hte games engine, these being the sandbox2 editor, and the unrealed 3.
i found them quite difficult to start with, as my models wer all invisible, i could walk through then, or they bwer just grey, but if solved that now and learnt how fun they are.
as far as additive and subtractive engines go, i no additive is where you add geometry to and open abys, and subtractive you get a large block of what i can only describe as matter, and u subtract and scupt your levels within it.
the sandbox2 engine is an additive only program, and unrealed has both options for use, i prefer addtive at the minute, unless im doing inside places, like my bedroom.
as for as game developers go i think the best way is developing ther own game engine, (or using the cry2engine/sandbox2 as it can do anything, its magic). as what ive seen of the unreal engine so far is seem to be set towards pretty much one sort of shooter game, unreal, and gears of war, which i think could get abit dull.
week 16 - gaming culture
i'd like to say im not really party of an intense gaming culture, but only after reading this blog post have a realised how much i take part in gaming culture, well, used before this course started any way.
but after lookin back id be playing my ps3 like everynight online against people, even having a handful of freinds, that i only know through these games and the internet.
gaming culture seems to be everywhere nowadays, films, tv, most games nowaday feature and online system, where u may be playing againt people, or your score may just be put into a leader board.
i play call of duty 4 on the ps3 and iv'e noticed people even form clans and strong freindships just from playing together on these games, as well as that some people seem to generally hate some people on these games too.
people seem to depend alot on online games nowadays, and i will admit they make the whole gaming espeirience alot more fun, as well as expanding gaing culture, as i used to hate online gaming, and now i love it.
but after lookin back id be playing my ps3 like everynight online against people, even having a handful of freinds, that i only know through these games and the internet.
gaming culture seems to be everywhere nowadays, films, tv, most games nowaday feature and online system, where u may be playing againt people, or your score may just be put into a leader board.
i play call of duty 4 on the ps3 and iv'e noticed people even form clans and strong freindships just from playing together on these games, as well as that some people seem to generally hate some people on these games too.
people seem to depend alot on online games nowadays, and i will admit they make the whole gaming espeirience alot more fun, as well as expanding gaing culture, as i used to hate online gaming, and now i love it.
week 15 games industry
up until just recently i never knew much about the games industry, but just lately i have been watching and leaning abit about whats going on, i don't know why, but i have been browsing around looking at requirements of jobs in industry.
i have mainly been doing this because i want to have an understanding of where i need to be when i finish this course, iv'e found it quite interesting looking at what they want in industry and how the coursed seems to be iming us atraight towards what they want.
as far as i know the industry is quite well at the minute, but thers also alot of game art courses around at the minute, so with this amount of graduates that will be around at the same time as me i know that if i want the jobs i have to work hard and in a way make myself better than them.
also iv'e noticed ther is the whole serious gaming thing thats around know which i find quite interesting, which i beleive is an opportunity in iteslf as it offers a few more jobs in this expanding industry.
week 11 - gameplay
gameplay, i think this is abit of a hard one to define, as gameplay pretty much differs for everyone, weather you like sports games, shooters, or role playing games, you all like slightly different things right?
and as far as gameplay goes, i think it is the amount of fun someone can have playin the game, or how much they can emerse them selves in the game.
and some games have this, and some don't, for example im a fan of rpg's, and shooters, some of them i love, but then others i can completely hate, and there might not be much reason for this, some games just seem to work and others don't.
i think good gameplay is acheived, by lots of hard work, and abit of chance i think, because i think that its not the game as a whole tat gives a good gameplay expeirience, but all of the small factors melding together.
if the game is well thought out i think it will more than likely have a good amount of gameplay, but some games you just get the feeling they have been kind of half arsed and didnt bother because they knew it would be good.
and as far as gameplay goes, i think it is the amount of fun someone can have playin the game, or how much they can emerse them selves in the game.
and some games have this, and some don't, for example im a fan of rpg's, and shooters, some of them i love, but then others i can completely hate, and there might not be much reason for this, some games just seem to work and others don't.
i think good gameplay is acheived, by lots of hard work, and abit of chance i think, because i think that its not the game as a whole tat gives a good gameplay expeirience, but all of the small factors melding together.
if the game is well thought out i think it will more than likely have a good amount of gameplay, but some games you just get the feeling they have been kind of half arsed and didnt bother because they knew it would be good.
week 10 - storytelling and character
in the recent years games seem to have been lcking in the storytelling and character department, this is mainly due to the advance to next generation hardware, offereing highly increases graphics and gaming.
so much so that all games seemed to have been competing for the best graphics and such.
but pretty soon the graphics and game engines are going to be so good that all that is leftt is the story, characers, and how cool the game is.
don't get me wrrnog, i love the newer games with the graphics, but iv'e also noticed a handfull of games now that handle and even look exactly the same, so if i was to choose between these games, i'd want to pick the one with the best story line.
there is some games coming out in the near future that i look forward to, mainly because of the characters and storylines, as in metal gear solid 4, the final fantasy 13 games, and gta 4, but these are already known game series, their seems to be no new games coming out with that interesting stories and characters, which in some games, is the single most important thing
so much so that all games seemed to have been competing for the best graphics and such.
but pretty soon the graphics and game engines are going to be so good that all that is leftt is the story, characers, and how cool the game is.
don't get me wrrnog, i love the newer games with the graphics, but iv'e also noticed a handfull of games now that handle and even look exactly the same, so if i was to choose between these games, i'd want to pick the one with the best story line.
there is some games coming out in the near future that i look forward to, mainly because of the characters and storylines, as in metal gear solid 4, the final fantasy 13 games, and gta 4, but these are already known game series, their seems to be no new games coming out with that interesting stories and characters, which in some games, is the single most important thing
week 9 - gaming technology
gaming technology, well im guessing this means things such as ease of use and comfort of using the console and such, so ill get started.
my favorite has always been the playstation. i like the others but thats my favorite, easy to use, nice small comfortable controller, and not the mention the ps3 is nice and shiny.
but in the past ive tried a few consoles, iv'e like them but theyv'e never been that great.
i remember the sega megadrive was my first one, it was fun, as u'd stick the game in and press the on button, and it'd work, no loading screens like today, but then ther was that damn controller, that i couldnt even fit my hands around, some times even resorting the using it in the same fasion as a keyboard.
iv'e had quite a few goes on the x-box, in honesty, is exactly the same as the playstation nearly, apart from that uncomfortable huuuuge controller that i cant even reach half the buttons on.
gaming technology has came along way and nowadays games really are more lifelike.
but aswell as that more and more ways are being developped to interact with the game, such ass the nintendo's wii remote, and the playstation 3's sixaxis controller.
my favorite has always been the playstation. i like the others but thats my favorite, easy to use, nice small comfortable controller, and not the mention the ps3 is nice and shiny.
but in the past ive tried a few consoles, iv'e like them but theyv'e never been that great.
i remember the sega megadrive was my first one, it was fun, as u'd stick the game in and press the on button, and it'd work, no loading screens like today, but then ther was that damn controller, that i couldnt even fit my hands around, some times even resorting the using it in the same fasion as a keyboard.
iv'e had quite a few goes on the x-box, in honesty, is exactly the same as the playstation nearly, apart from that uncomfortable huuuuge controller that i cant even reach half the buttons on.
gaming technology has came along way and nowadays games really are more lifelike.
but aswell as that more and more ways are being developped to interact with the game, such ass the nintendo's wii remote, and the playstation 3's sixaxis controller.
Week 8 - story telling in games
i think that story teling in games is a bit of a weird subject, as how i see it there are predominantly 2 types of gamer.
some like the games for the story, and some like it for the gameplay, such as online gaming against freinds and such.
as for online gaming, i don't think there is much need for a story line, as most of the enjoyment comes in playing with your freinds and against other people, so the gaming expeirience is most often differenet in certain aspects everytime you play different people.
but as for single player, and non online games, i dont think story is all that matters,
for example some games that i play i might really enjoy the story line, but if the gameplay isnt very good, i could just watch all the cinematics or cut scenes from the game, or the game even might aswell be a film.
but on the other hand, i think games can be quite boring without story lines, as sometimes the main reason i will play a game untill 4 o clock in the morning is cuz the story line is so interesting, that i cant wait to see what happns, or if there is a major plot twist of some sort.
mostly what im trying to say is that what i think is that setting aside online games, games need a good mix of gameplay and storyline, but if it has decent, fun replayable gameplay, then the story can just get better and better, making the game better and better.
some like the games for the story, and some like it for the gameplay, such as online gaming against freinds and such.
as for online gaming, i don't think there is much need for a story line, as most of the enjoyment comes in playing with your freinds and against other people, so the gaming expeirience is most often differenet in certain aspects everytime you play different people.
but as for single player, and non online games, i dont think story is all that matters,
for example some games that i play i might really enjoy the story line, but if the gameplay isnt very good, i could just watch all the cinematics or cut scenes from the game, or the game even might aswell be a film.
but on the other hand, i think games can be quite boring without story lines, as sometimes the main reason i will play a game untill 4 o clock in the morning is cuz the story line is so interesting, that i cant wait to see what happns, or if there is a major plot twist of some sort.
mostly what im trying to say is that what i think is that setting aside online games, games need a good mix of gameplay and storyline, but if it has decent, fun replayable gameplay, then the story can just get better and better, making the game better and better.
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