Ronnie Leah, BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester.

 Today I created my art of for the Minor Project which can be seen below. If the slideshow does not load click the three dots, select more and download PDF. Reflective Statement  I found the Minor project to be an interesting experience as it was a continuation of the work I did last year. This meant I did not initially have to come up with a concept for the project and could instead begin producing the work I said I was going to complete for Minor. My goals for the unit were originally just to have all of the 3D  models completed however this idea quickly shifted as I started the project. After receiving a new tutor for the course, it was interesting to see what their interpretation of my project was. Having a different background in the industry they advised me to focus my attention away from the modelling and instead insure my project had a solid foundation.  This caused me to take a step back surrounding anything 3D and instead focus on what it is my projec...

 Today I completed the test texturing for my Cyberpunk character in order to show the direction I want to take my project in leading into Major.  I knew from my texture map for the Cyberpunk character, that I mainly wanted to experiment with its textures once it was actually in the software. This meant I could add wear and tear to the metal in different ways to get different results of the character. Below is a compilation of some of the ideas I was able to explore in the substance. I really like how the character's eye is glowing and you can see parts of the glowing effect through the mouth and ears. I feel it adds an extra level of deadliness and emphases it is a machine   Below I have uploaded the images for a better look at them. I started by texturing the character with clean materials in order to see what it looked like rendered. I then slowly added more and more wear to the character to see what effects it had on his look. I think it might be a cool idea to sl...

 Today I rendered out images of my characters in order to show off the final models. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and feel I did a good job of transferring my ideas from 2D to 3D for both models. At the beginning of the project, I did not feel confident in modelling a full character on my own, let alone doing two. However I learnt a lot through trial and error while I made the first version of the Samurai as well as through tutorials and watching video's online. I gained a lot of confidence with modelling the Samurai through the research I did surrounding the construction of the armour. This helped me a lot to visualize how to put the model together and as soon as I had a basic block-out of the character I was easily able to build it up from there. I was then able to take what I learnt from the modelling of the Samurai and apply it to the cyberpunk character.  Out of the two the Samurai is my favourite as I really like the attention to detail on his outfit. On m...

 Today I added the additional detail to the Cyberpunk character now that I now the test model is usable for the animation.  I started by fixing the chest piece on the character to be more aligned with the actual design.  I then moved onto the hands which I modified to look more like the characters in the drawing.  I'm really happy with the final look of the character and feel I have been able to capture my drawings likeness in 3D. My favourite part of the model is the head as I feel like this translated the best into a 3D format. In terms of the body, I had to make creative decisions to ensure that the character worked in 3D. This meant slightly altering parts so that the would look good at all angles of the model. I found my drawings to be very limiting, however they were only meant to be a guide for the final thing.  Overall I feel I have managed to capture the spirit of the character and look forward to taking this further within the texturing process in Majo...

 Today I added the additional accessories to the Samurai, finalizing the model. After experimenting with the test model, I now know that the character is usable for the animation as it can be effectively rigged and skinned.  Overall I am happy with the final look for the character and I am excited to continue developing him in the texturing process, which I will do in Major. I am proud that I was able to complete the character to the same level of detail as the drawing. My favourite part  of the model is the back of the armour. I like how everything connects up, which I was able to understand through my research of Samurai armour.  The method in which I create the character, by building the armour up in layers, makes a lot more sense to me as I was originally trying to create the character by making everything from a single layer. I now understand that the easiest way to create a model is by applying real life logic to how you construct it in 3D. 

 Today I was finally able to complete the pre-viz of my animation. This ended up taking longer than I thought however this was due to me wanting to convey the events of the animatic as closely as possible.  I found that the test models worked for what I wanted them to do however the rigs themselves were not optimal at times. This mean certain parts had the characters arm moving in strange ways. However this would not be a problem if a proper rig was created with limiters as well as easier access of the controls. The same could be said for the skinning which I did alter to fit my needs to a point, however could take this a step further with more time on the real models. Overall I was pleased that the models were not breaking and instead worked to help create the pre-viz. I now feel more optimistic about creating the final animations knowing now that my models work for what I need them to do. I can now finish the two models with this in mind.  In terms of animation I tried ...

 For the pre-viz environment I already had a fair amount of assets from last year. However this time instead of making all of the models fit together as one large map, I instead want to recreate the animatic shot for shot.  When testing for how I can create my environment, I thought of using heightmaps. I found one online which I ended up using for the pre-viz.  Link To Website Where Image Was Found:  UE4 Heightmap Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Landscape Heightmaps for UE4 In terms of  environmental shots, the environment is only actually seen in all of the images below. This meant I could just recreate the shots seen below for the pre-viz. I also had the map I had made in order to help visualize the placement of objects in the environment.  The 1st shot required a tree which has the character sitting in it. I managed to make the tree by taking a cylinder and extruding it along an EP curve I had drawn. I then had to repeat this process every time...

 Today I brought both of the test models into the same scene and used Maya's auto rigger to rig and skin the character's.  I had never used this feature before so I watched a video in order to understand how it worked. After seeing how straightforward it was I completed both my characters. Before skinning I made sure to move the joints around to ensure they lined up with my character's.  I also coloured the characters using lamber's in order to get an idea what the full bodies of the characters looked like.  This process turned out to be quicker than I had imagined. I was surprised Maya had this inbuilt system which I had never even heard of which fulfilled what I needed to do perfectly. I am now able to begin testing my models through the pre-viz.