Synthespians update

Just finished my Synthespiens presentation wow, no updates on my blog over the last week :p it's been pretty insane! I'll post some retrospective updates to show how it turned out! Spoiler!! but despite some crazy bugs and pipeline insanity I managed to pull it off :) modelled textured and all yay!

Photos some time over the weekend once I've had some sleep! Bye!

Synthespians Update

So onto stage 2 of Synthespians.  For this part of the project we have to create a small interactive scene with a character who performs a virtual piece of music or speech etc.  I chose to do a Zombie Karaoke bar in which our protagonist is competing for the title of best singer and dancer.  The piece I chose for my character to dance to is Thriller by Michael Jackson... obviously :p

I'm going for a low poly painterly environment kinda like World of Warcraft style.  Ideally I would build unique characters to match that environment but within the time scale I am choosing to focus on the environment and animation rather than character design.

Deadline is the 24th so only 1 week to put this all together... and I have to complete a separate Games Design Document in that time,,, and Riot started a 3D fan art character challenge, like the one I did for BlizzardFest that I totallllly! want to enter... sign no sleep for me then ;)

Will keep you posted as to my progress, wish me luck!

My most recent late night work :)

Having completed the grey box a couple of days ago I thought I would move onto props... not the usual progression but I was waiting to get the go ahead for the concept first and figured I could use the props regardless :) I have been given the go ahead for my concept so yay! 

All my extra props for my Zombie Karaoke dungeon have been modeled and UV'd and I have completed my first painterly texture!

I'm pretty happy with the models and very happy with the texture :) looking forward to seeing it in game.

Next stage is to build a few more textures e.g wood planks, stone walls and repeatable metal then I will have some v cool models (I hope).

Synthespians

Starting the penultimate project for my first year at the NFTS!! A little nervous about how much time is left and how much I still want to do.  For the Synthespians project we were introduced to IClone.  It's a pretty good piece of software for quickly generating characters, animations etc but I'm not a huge fan since there is not quite as much customization as I would like for my final projects.  Our first task was to, using IClone, create a 3D version of ourselves and have them do some form of interaction in Unity.  I wound up creating a scene in which my 3D alter ego acts in front of a background, and if you change the background the music and animations change for the character.  It was pretty fun as an exercise but for my final project I am hoping to only use IClone for adding certain time saving animations to characters I create myself.

So this weekend I got a jump start on modeling the main character for my final project "Moments of Consequence."  My wife, Jen, did some great concept art for this character and I stuck as close as I could to the original sketch (with my current Zbrush skills).  Planning on learning TopoGun for the next stage in the pipeline before texturing and rigging. :)

I have actually decided on a concept for my final project but it has taken me since... July I think and has gone through several iterations.  The final concept couldn't be more different from my original idea :p but that's how it goes I suppose.  I wont divulge any plot or themes yet ;) but don't worry when I meet with my writers and producers in a month or so i'm sure i'll blog about it.

Anyway here is Cass:

Concept art by Jen Killick

Initial T-Pose made with ZSpheres

 After this weekend :)

 She spent a long time in the Uncanny Valley but I think I just about pulled her out for the "Toony" final look I was going for.

 You may notice the hand wraps from my first Zbrush project! they just look so cool I think Jen added them just to keep me happy :)

I got very close to heading into Max for the Converses but I stuck with it just to learn more Zbrush and i'm glad they don't look that great but i'm quite happy with the end product and I learnt a lot :)

BlizzardFest Submission

Ok... I'm done!  12 days from concept to final render, textured, modeled, posed (multiple times...ugh)
I am so happy with the result! the whole process has been a blast! even the very late nights.
I do know I am not competing in even the same league as some of the other guys in this competition but for me it has been a fantastic learning curve! I have learnt so much and now cant wait to apply what I have learnt to my future projects!

Looking forward to seeing who wins! good luck 3D Total team!!

Original reference images including Braum from League of Legends :) and then the colored concept image.

After going back and forth between max and Zbrush this was the final mesh for the character! not great but next time I know how to make it much better :)

Normal and diffuse texture channels, this probably wont interest the majority of you but I do love a nice texture sheet :)

The final textured sculpt of the Terran Sentinel... maybe now that I have a low poly version I might give rigging and animating this guy a shot :)