Mudbox Lunch Crunch

This week we put our Mudbox skills to the test. Framestore has contests to get college students to compete to get the best models. This time they let us have a 2 hour time limit to create something in Mudbox, the description they gave was 'your specialization'. Considering that this was incredibly vague they let us choose anything that was personal to you but to make a brand new mesh with the idea. You start with the preset mesh of the sphere and model away.

To create this the images that I chose were the 'Dark Souls Black Knight Helmet' and 'Sauron's Helmet' from Lord of the Rings. I tried to combine these ideas into my Mudbox mesh. This was my result, as you can tell my result could have been better than what it was. My main problem wasn't with the pressure the design or the idea. My problem was the program Mudbox, the reason for this is the way that Mudbox operates is that it creates a backup save file that is used for saving the file if the program crashes and allows you to undo the mistakes that you have done in your recent history. The machines I was working on had an over saved memory storage so it couldn't have the back up save file all of the time. This left me constantly trying to fix my mistakes without any way to undo them and trying to fix the program. I eventually switched where the back up was saved, with a spare USB, but by that time I only had 40 minutes left.


The way that I tried to combine the ideas was taking some parts of the designs and putting them together and altering them if needed. Comparing both designs the black knight helmet has a more smooth look to it while Sauron's helmet has much more doing on with additions. However without any form of colour texture you can't see any form of the original designed helmet colour palettes.As the mesh stands on its own however I can say that I am happy with the fact that the glowing orange  worked well with the rough stamp brush that I used to give the outer layer a more rough in certain places (even though it looks more like wood than metal).  One more thing that I am happy with is the lances on the helmet, that they have pointy ends without have in a very random size ratio to the helmet.

Overall, I am happy with what I did do, but what annoys me is what could have been if the program actually worked fine. My mistake this time was assuming that the program will work flawlessly, I need to check the program for events like this in the future. Tool-wise a improvement I can think of is combining tools to have a smoother look for the model without flattening the models surface much. Before I work on this improvement though I need to finish my other work first for now.

HTC VIVE Try Out

Today I tried one of the Virtual Reality headsets (the HTC VIVE). This was my first try of virtual reality I have ever tried. This was basically my first impressions of how it functions and how well my experience went. The game that I was able to go on was known as 'The Lab'. If you do not know what that is, it is a game that was created with the main concept of VR in mind. It is a collection of 8 mini games connected by a hub. All of the different games, use a different functionality of VR. I was able to go on 3 different mini games, Secret Shop, Postcards and Xortex. The way that it works is that the game starts in a hub that can transport you to each mini-game. The controllers represent your hands in the virtual world with a button underneath the thumb, one button controls the movement and the other controls your actions.

Secret Shop was an exploration game of where the play looks around a shop inspired by DOTA 2. The main point of this game was the interactions with the stuff in the shop. You can even activate a few spells. The responses in the game work well and nothing felt untouchable. The sound design also were able to immerse you into the world. The handheld remotes acted as your virtual hands. Although I didn't get to experience the full game of the secret shop but what I did experience was very pleasant and well put together.

Postcards was more of a virtual holiday to some country side, the main point of this was only the movement from my experience. You only see parts of the country side and only get to move to certain places with about a 12 shift movement limit. Other than that nothing else happened in the game for me so I can't give much of an opinion on this, except for the fact that it was rather boring.

The final game 'Vortex', involves using on of your hands controlling a small space ship avoiding other ships and lasers. You use the button on  This was defiantly the most fast paced game that I played. Since your hand is the ship it has major movement abilities, however the screen is filled with hostiles very quickly, and since that it is in a three dimensional space it has an auto-lock feature. This game works very well and controls well. However it is still a simple mini game, when compared to Geometry Wars it doesn't stack up as well.

Overall, this was a nice experience in VR but what I am concerned about is about the longevity of VR. This could be nothing more than a gimmick, like motion controls. The other thing is that the game made for systems like this are going to be in a really niche market, they are really going to have to push for major publicity in the mainstream median. However, in-terms of creating a virtual reality feel the system does have that in certain games and creating unique but uneventful games.

Finishing my Character Model for Now

This is going to be the final update on my Golem for a few months because now we are going to focus on the Environment Design Project.

In this final week, I have textured the model with multiple paint layers and multiple layer types. However firstly, don't paint the model after all of then detail has been because it can erode away the detail. The way that this works, is that the brush that you use has a strength power like the sculpting tools.

 Another point, is that I kept getting this message again and again when trying to paint the model. Apparently, it was because some of the polygons in my UV unwrapping didn't make it inside of the tile border. Although I could not find any proof of this.


The colours that I used were mostly grey and beige to give a rock and stone skin, mixed in with some brown to give an impression of dirt. The light blue was an idea to give the model more life and intrigue. The way that I did this was through different layers of texture. Diffuse was used for the basic colours in the image and a new paint layer 'incandescence'. This new layer adds major shine to the colour you are applying, you can also edit the brightness of the texture to give it more life. Then I applied a stamp to the model, to add extra texture detail, this is the result of the black veins across the model.

Once the textures were fully applied, I then move a high and low poly version of the model back into Maya. The models were then baked together on a normal map low give the low poly version of the model the detail of the high poly model, just like with the cube 2 weeks ago.

This was the result, from this angle they appear very similar even though the low poly version (the one on the left) has less poly's to work with.

Even with the extra lighting effect, they are remarkably similar. Plus, in the lower light some of my original detail got through the texture.

After this long road of work I am happy to end this stage of my character modelling here for now, given that we will be working on other projects this going to stay here for now.

My high points are that, the detail and modelling in Mudbox went well, the texturing went well with the model, the overall look is pretty good for a first character model and I finished this project before its deadline. The bad points are, while the UV editing is better in Maya than in 3ds Max it still took a while to get right, the first stages of modeling could have gone better (with multiple errors) and remembering to save my work around 20 minutes every time in Maya to be safe from it not crashing and losing a lot of work. So overall I think that it turned out good but I can do better.

The Beginning of the Environment Design Project and Plan

If you don't know we are starting a 3d environment project. The theme for this is mixing Norse Mythology and Future Technology. The first stage for this is to create concept images and thumbnails for ideas in the final environment.

This is a very difficult theme to do, without making it seem to be a Norse concept and shoehorning in technology for the sake of it. So it took me some time to get a way around this problem.

Before the development of the major project, the main work that I have done is to make thumbnails of ideas that I want to include and the first version of the environment that I want to create. I will have to finish those thumbnails nails in the next few days.

The end goal of what I am going to do for this project is to create a few 2d environmental images and landscapes, while creating a few 3d assets based of the thumbnail ideas that I have done. Considering that this task seems to be given extra points for the variety in the final project, I am hoping that this will pay off. The deadline is on the 30th of this month, I hope I can get this done with juggling everything else at the same time.

Starting Logo and Using Particles

This week we started to develop the logo in after effects, and had a try of using a few particle effects.

Firstly, we started to create the assets that we need in all of the different logo designs. I sketched out my idea for the logo first on my drawing pad before creating the assets in illustrator then importing them to after effects. What I want to create is a small plant on a hill that becomes engulfed with bright light as the night sky draws in. Then the bright light clears to show the moon in the sky behind the plant with trickling light from the sky. Then the logo name appears.

The first step (aside from having the idea), is to complete the assets that you want in the VFX sequence. This is the first version of the created assets that I want in the sequence (considering I need more practice at drawing programs I don't know how well I can improve them), the moon and the plant. The best thing I can say about these assets is that they have gradient colour coding.

The other part of the session was learning about the particle effects in after effects.The way that these usually work is from a null object in the scene, but these were created by adding a solid object layer and adding a layer style to it making the center of the scene a different colour than the rest of it.



With this we were able to test out, a few of the particle effects such as CC bubbles and shatter. We had a fiddle with the ones that we could use in the settings to see what we could create. These could prove to be useful and fun to use, but the problem is that only half of the particle effects we could use, the rest would not correspond with the solid layer.

So we are making progress and making new skills in this task, but I feel that given how little people in our group have used this program and the freedom of this small project it can cause you to feel lost in this program with no real guidance.

Masking Effects in After Effects

Since we are trying to create major projects in after effects, this week we were masking multiple layers of one composition to create a moving, effect heavy animation using shapes an backgrounds.

The main reason for this attempt was because the first project that we are going to work on is creating a company logo, like you see at the beginning of cinematic movies.

Firstly, something to keep in mind when you are using adobe after effects, the program does not have a copy of the file that you are importing, so if the file goes missing in your drive (even if you have a copy in another memory drive) adobe does not contain the file anymore so it becomes a complete error for everything that hasn't been done with a tool in after effects. I will need to remember this in the future because of the consequences.
This animation was also made in 3D space allowing more options of using the layers of shapes. Aside from rotating the layers, the other effects that I was able to add was changing the opacity of some layers as the animation goes on and brightening certain places in the layers to seem to add more to the animation. The idea of creating this was to make a somewhat obnoxious TV add that you can sometimes see that causes your eyes to strain. Just to try out all of the features and timeline capabilities in after effects.

The only point I want to do better on (that are in my control), is to try more distinct effects in the animations to give the clip some unique charm. I am happy however about the fact that I was able to blend the layers well together (when I had actual colour since the files got deleted).

Moving from Maya to Mudbox for my Model

After I have finally finished unwrapped the model I have been working on for a while now. The next few parts will be to detail the model in Mudbox,  import a low and high poly version in Maya and 'bake' the high poly model on the low poly version with a normal map, just like the box last week.

This week, was trying to do as much as possible in Mudbox with the tools and techniques with as little time possible. Firstly, a while ago I had a problem that Maya and Mudbox's scaling are very different, because Mudbox down scales models massively. You can upscale the model with the scale tool in the select/move tools, the problem is that if you do not take notice of how much you upscale the model it can crash Maya if you re-import it. The other main point is that if you use something like the inverted sculpt tool, if you dig to deep in the mesh it distorts the polys in the dip. However a good way around that problem is to add a slight dip in the mesh and use the grab tool to pull the edges over the dip to make the valley seem sharper.

Since we are now trying to add detail, the main points for this model that I have to add cracks, dips, creases and adding rough rock textures all over the model. This going to take up the next week or two of modelling to get it done well enough. The main points of detail that I have begun to do and what I am going to do is add slight crevasses all over the mesh(as shown in the full view), deepening the cracks around the joints, use the stamps with the sculpt tool to add slight geometry with a rough look and add slight parts of plants across the mesh such as moss.

Preparing for Environment Design 02/11/16

To prepare for the major environment design for the 30th November, we began to use Mudbox again for a few small projects to prepare for the major task.

The task is too create an 3D environment in Maya or Max based on a theme. The theme that we were given was Norse mythology mixed with future technology.  I have a few ideas of what to do for the project. Even though it is a very difficult thing to connect together without it being a mess.

To practise Mudbox we created a rock... Sounds kind of stupid but in a way it works. The way that this worked is by using most of the major tools to create the mesh, but the texture was created by using the paint brush and adding stencils on the mesh, this adds a texture onto the mesh. We found our own textures to 'stamp' on the mesh.

The texturing works the same as in most other drawing programs with layers with your textures. You can also add extra detail with stamps for small cracks and eroded rock.

The only other point is that since this only a model that will not be used in a scene is that I can add as many layers of polys that I want, the more mesh layers you have the smoother it looks and the tools seem to look better as they carve into the mesh however it takes more processing power to not lose frame rate or freeze the system. Finally, considering that there is no wrong answer for creating this I did not find anything difficult , so it is just using the tools in the future.

Normal Displacement and Bump Maps

This week we had to learn the difference and properties of different uv maps. The main focus was on using normal maps, before we are going to do this on our character models we tried this on a cube because the way that it is done can get overwhelmingly complicated fast.

The overall task was to create a cube (the left) and create a higher poly version of a crate (the middle), then 'bake' the high poly crate onto the high poly crate. Once the cube is 'baked' all of the detail is then imprinted on the regular cube
(the right). Even though the geometry of the cube is not altered at all, it acts like the higher detail model, including the effects that it has such as lighting and casting shadows. Even though up close you can tell the differences in the models, from a distance or a tiny scale it would not be apparent to the viewer. This logic lowers the amount of polygons that need to be in a scene.


Normal maps, a map of what your geometry's normals are, This can create an illusion of anything form height to to lighting. This takes advantages of real-time rendering of how your model maybe affected by different angles of effect, in all three axis' in a 3D space. The only main problem with this map is that it is difficult to texture because of the way that the colour is done on the uv map.

Bump Maps, a map that is greyscale that acts like a pseudo-height map. It creates an illusion of raised or lowered details on a surface. Anything above 50% appears to pull up out of the mesh while below 50% appears to push into the mesh.  A problem for these maps is that they can easily be broken if the camera views the map from a wrong angle.

Displacement maps, this is a height map that affects the geometry of a model unlike a bump map that only gives and illusion. This generally applied to lower poly versions of models to have high quality detail while keeping the mesh easy for animating and rigging. A big problem with these maps however is that they require major processing power to create all of the alterations on the mesh because the geometry additions are rendered in the scene.

An Odd Technique in Illustrator 15/10/16

 This week we tried a new way of creating concept art ideas. The way that this worked is we created a image (in our case a rock) that we used like a brush to create an image.

To start (we did this in Photoshop), I used the lasso tool to create a random polygon. I then filled it with grey. Then I split it down the middle to split into a lighter and darker grey to signify the light and shadow on the rock.  To enforce this I then took a small brush and made it white. I then drew all across the lighter gray.

On the other side I drew across the darker side for cracks on the shadow side.

This way that I drew this gives the impression of one of the slender posters form the horror trend from 2011-2013, because of the styles in both images.

After creating the rock and transferring it into a brush I then went on to create a layer by layer image using this brush. The image on the left is what I created. This is all created with the brush transferred from the rock image. The different layers are represented by the brightness of the paintbrush and the brushes opacity. They did not given an idea of what to create however.

The final point was to colour the image
The purpose of this exercise was to try to work with the tools in illustrator, considering that the animation and gaming industry use a large variety of programs and learning as many as possible is impeccable.

The main improvement that I could have done is what the final image appeared to be, even though it can be seen as nothing more than interpretation, The task itself however, ignores all of the detail in the first image.

Once again I don't know how this will be relevant with the rest of the course aside from using tools in certain ways.