Summer Project - Cyborg Character (In Progress)

             When conceptualizing the character, I knew I wanted him to be agile and to have a very clear distinction between his organic and mechanical parts. To compliment the more streamlined shape of the cybernetics, the character would have mutations that were both odd in colour and varied in shape, almost like trails of smoke and flame made from the characters skin. This also led to the idea of giving the character fire powers or fire based abilities.

            Of the sketch I lined up, Sketches B, F, J and L seemed the most interesting and made the most sense from an anatomical perspective. They all have a very agile look to them and both their clothing and mutations would complement their movements, which would be important in an action game. F looked like the best choice since it more resembles a humanoid despite its augmentations and would be able to fill the role of a playable character.

            To better draw in the details on the coloured character, I created the 3 Perspective View image first, to serve as an accurate guide for the character. It also let me adjust the characters proportions, simplify some details and determine which parts would have to be modelled or simply be left as textures.

            For colour, since the character's mutations closely resemble fire, I gave them a red, burnt colouration, which could be further built upon in modelling, by adding a texture reminiscent of burns or burnt skin. This also lead to part of his clothing also being red, to give the look a certain flow along one side of his body. The characters armour also needed to be clearly mechanical, so it uses a lot of silver and black colours, as well as a dark saturated green. These parts also feature a hexagonal pattern, particularly on his shoulders and chest, both of which could be applied in the texture phase. The characters skin also had to have a clear distinction between its mutated parts and the cybernetic additions, so it's a notably sickly pale colour and any parts leading into mutation would be bordered by black veins on his skin.

            Initially I used a cube to construct the body but during this, I realised that I was having to subdivide the mesh so much that the polycount would be far too high for this point in the project. Also, this method made modelling the head very difficult since I couldn't accurately adjust it, again due to the unnecessary faces and vertices.

            For the second attempt, I used a more traditional figure modelling method, using cylinders as a base and constructing the features of the face separately from the rest of the head. Since the character has asymmetric components to his design, the symmetrical elements took priority. This also extended to parts of his body such as his feet. These were modelled as separate meshes and attached rather than simply extruding them from the rest of legs. This also helped create more even meshes for parts such as the shoulder plates and the armour on his right arm.

            The legs also needed some consideration, since they had to be designed for an additional point of articulation. This was resolved by simply looking at some reference of 3D models of Raptors or other creatures with similar legs.

The cloth strips on the back of his belt were made from a single flat plane.

T-Rex Modelling - Re-Submmission

NOTE: Screenshots of the earlier stages in the models creation were lost due to technical difficulties.

I found that without reference, it was difficult to judge the width of the model, which lead to it appear much thinner than I would have liked. The tail also tapers to a weird point which could be solved by ending it with a face and a flat end rather than grouping the vertexes together.

Completed Claws

Completed Feet

Smoothed Model

Finished UV Map

The UV mapping was difficult to get my head around due to the irregular shapes and the more finicky details. Since most of these problems came from trying to work with a whole model, I split back into two halves and created the new UVs, with the Automatic Mapping Tool and some minor adjustments to the edges and faces, particularly to the mouth and the hands.

Finished Model with a UV Edges Visible

While the model still closely resembles the guidelines, I think that using a combination of straight and curved edges would improve it's appearance. I also felt that the hands seemed to flat in places and could have benefited from additional polys if not for the limit on the poly count. 

Alley 3D Model Textures - Re-Submission

I chose to give the bricks a more red hue but also to tone the colour down to make them so that they'd look more aged and worn.

All Textures added

To vary the wall, I added a second type of brick texture below the stone border. I also made the arch over the grate part of the walls texture since I could add better lighting with the emboss effect in Photoshop.

With Specular and Normal Maps added

I think that if the Sewer Grate was actually raised off the ground, it would look better than the flat texture and make better use of the Specular Map. I did however, alter the individual lights and darks of the Grate on it's Specular Map, to give it better depth and lighting. I was very satisfied with the effect that they created and thought of ways they could be used in future work, such as the Summer Project.

Class Work Re-Submission - Lizard "Dude"

Darks and Shadows

Lighting added

Colours and Scale Textures added

Spring Submission - Blackbird: 2D Retro Space Shooter

For our group project, I was in charge of designing the enemies and any potential bosses. I tried to create a mixture of organic and mechanical inspired designs, with a wide variety of shapes and colours. I also decided that the basic enemies would have either red or blue glowing parts and the bosses would have purple.

16Bit Sprites

I also came up with a concept for the bosses, that they would have a primary stage that would shatter, revealing the 2nd form underneath. Unfortunately we weren't able to implement any boss battles, so this concept was unused.

Boss Transformation Sequence

Another unused concept was the Rival; A ship that would appear at random intervals and would get progressively stronger. Like the boss battle, time prevented us from implementing this.

Unused Rival Ship

As for the coding, I was able to insert animated sprites of explosions into the enemies scripts. 

Sprite Sheet for a Blue Explosion

Winter Submission - Re-Submitted

Devoid One-Sheet

The environments need to be cramped and claustrophobic, with the jagged and frayed edges jutting at the player threateningly. Any open areas need to show of the enormous towers that seem to be looking down at the player.

Environment Design

Escape Pod 3D Model

Since the player has crashed at this location, they would need an escape pod. The pod is designed with 3 individual boosters so it could steer past any debris.

Potential Weapon Designs

Map of the Level

This level is designed so that the players will have to explore the area and backtrack to find the solution to the exit. There are also solutions to the puzzles hidden around the level in the form of text items.

Room A: Crash Site - Where the player starts next to the ruins of their escape pod.

Room B: Atmosphere Control Room - A room that has equipment that shows the player that the station is damaged.

Room C: Storage Room - A room filled with crates and containers, several of which are breakable.

Room D: Ruined Dining Room - The room containing the exit to the area that must be triggered by throwing an item at the door lock.

Room E: Living Quarters - Ruined habitation rooms containing a dispenser for throw able items.

Storyboard

Visual Design Assignment: 3D Human Character Modelling

Feet to the knees

Waist down

Body + Legs

Body + all limbs

Body, Limbs + Head

Hands, fingers and facial features added

Smoothed down model

UV Sheet

Final Model

While I overall satisfied with my finished model, I feel like a could have improved both the overall shape of the head and how the face texture sits on it.