First Year Review

So as the course comes to an end, its time to take a critical look back over the past 6 months of my life as a Game Art student. I can say that overall Its been good! Difficult… but good.

Considering I was oh so close to switching courses to fine art at the start of the year, I believe ive made most progress in the 3d production side. The first few weeks or so were honestly pretty horrible as me and autodesk just didn’t get along, I barely understood any of the lectures and didn’t really ask for any help, just suffered in silence. What didn’t help is that a lot of people already seemed to be familiar with the software advancing through the lectures with ease, which just made me even more useless haha.

I think I started to get to grips with the modelling during the Building Project, however my texturing was still abit dodgy as at this point I was still using tile-able textures rather than unwrapping and using texture sheets, purely because I didn’t know how to unwrap properly. It wasn’t until the van project where Mike explained to me planar unwrapping and everything started to make sense.

What I found weird is that I got more assistance from people around me rather than from Heather, I guess its difficult to help a class of our size and keep everyone satisfied. At least you get to have a personal chat with her when she walks round with the register.

Also I never understood any of her tutorials at the beginning of the lesson haha. Didn’t know any of the terminology and she went through it so quickly I just didn’t take anything in.

I think my main issue this year has been my time management and work effort, often struggling to keep up with the workload expected from the visual design part of the course. Although we are meant to be ‘full time’ students so I don’t really have much of an excuse.

Im just abit jealous, it seems that all of my friends on different courses have it easier for the first year. When im in my room working, my flatmates will be in the kitchen/living room combo having a fifa tournament/getting drunk. It’s just not faaaaair haha.

I guess it is good however that the first year is to test our capabilities, to see whether we can handle the next 2 years of the course so its not a shock to our system. Just wasn’t expecting it to be as intense.

Ive enjoyed going to the various locations, drawing thumbnails to prepare for a final piece. Pumping Station was my favourite, would’ve been Bradgate Park but its too cold, windy and miles away. I think my drawing skills have improved since the first semester, particularly with scale and rendering techniques. I definitely still need to work on my digital paintings. Im not quite sure whether or not this is a skill we’ve supposed to have developing already? But anyhow they are improving as time goes on.

The life drawing classes are useful also. However I feel that it would be better if we got a little more tuition during them, for instance where ive done classes before the tutor would be drawing at the same time, describing the best way to draw the pose. Its good that Chris and Jack walk round everyone giving advice, but a little more general assistance would be nice.

I do enjoy the critical studies lesson, I like the variety of things we do such as talking around the table, watching selected scenes from films or just discussing interesting things. However I do think we should really talk about the blog tasks more, seeing as that’s what I assumed these lessons were about. Would be nice to have more of an idea how we should approach each task.

I’m definitely glad I decided to persevere through the hard times at the start of the year, the course is actually fun and very interesting learning a lot of new skills for a career I would like to pursue. Next year If there is a second year awaiting me, I definitely need to increase my work efforts and reduce the amount of money I spend on nights out and other recreational products. I will take Chris’s advice because I don’t want to become a lazy stoner who does no work haha.

What ive come to realise...

…what this course is doing to me

Whenever I see an object, set of speakers, a Kettle or even an in game asset I automatically think, how would I model this in 3ds max? Haha

And I literally can’t help it. Subconsciously it seems I start to think - hmm yeah id start with a cylinder, extrude there, yep that can be a separate object, until about 10 seconds in until I realise what im doing. I guess its kinda good because its helping me to visualise geometry and how I would re-create it in 3dsmax

So im thinking what I might start doing is over summer, whenever I start thinking these thoughts, when I get a chance ill load up autodesk and model & texture whatever occupied my mind. Just for abit of fun and It will also keep me up to date with the software so I don’t forget how to use it.

Game Design

Graphics and sounds effects aside, lets focus on a games Design

So what is it? Well Game Design covers a lot of aspects such as; the players interaction in the game, the general story and characters, the players connection to it/them and various challenges which the player has to overcome to continue on their quest!

So yeah quite a lot

The process usually starts from initial ideas, or developments from existing concepts, which will then be expanded and developed under 1 or more of the many gaming genres.

Game Design incorporates so much of the final product, that it seems fair to say the best design team are the ones which are most successful , selling most copies (seeing as its all about the money right?) and by this logic Treyarch are that team releasing black ops becoming the bestselling game, EVAR!

This however looking at a single game, but the most successful company overall is… Infinity Ward

What? Great… Call of Duty isn’t that good! Well I guess its all down to opinion, and hype.

Infinity Wards development team working on Modern Warfare 2 (cough its shit, what?) would have been fairly large, and nowadays the number of people working on a game can be anywhere from 20 to 200 depending on the scale and demands of the game.

Although back in the days when video games became a viable in the commercial market during the 1970s, a single programmer could design and develop a full game. Its only nowadays where games demand much more time and money meaning the task cannot be undertaken by one single person.

Well it could but they’d have to be a very talented individual willing to sacrifice a lot of their life to meet the modern industry standards.

I guess to some extent all game genres follow the same design principles, as they all have to consider the same general elements which make up a game.

And if you think that most games are based on something, that has been inspired by something else from the beginning of gaming history, then all titles are deviations of the same thing (if that makes sense? Does in my brain, kinda)

Although I’m not sure if a games genre is decided before release in the early stages, or after so designers can have more freedom when developing the game?

When deciding to fork out money for games, I do appreciate titles that have a strong single player component, preferably something that has multiple replay value through the solo campaign. But overall I ultimately sold on the games multiplayer component, as that’s where I tend to spend most of my time. It’s just nice to have a solid single player as well.

I prefer the player to player side rather than interacting with NPC’s, they're just not real and kinda freaks me out a little bit. Driving at stupid mph round the Nurburgring In Forza 3, id rather race against real people in another country rather than a car which has been programmed to go round a track.

The same goes for FPS games, shooting wave after wave of AI isn’t as satisfying as earning a kill online where it has an impact to someone. The human element side to the game makes it kinda feel more real.

Game Review

After a long hard think about what game I should review, It dawned on me, as a game art design student, I play nowhere near as many games as I used too. Back home before university I swear I was playing at least 2 hours a day of whatever I fancied.

So what game to review…? I think it’s gonna have to be between something I used to play regularly/the last game I played.

So a review of… Limbo yaaay

This the premier title from independent games developer Playdead studios. Limbo is a sidescroller platform puzzle game which uses a physics engine to challenge the player.

The game opens with the unnamed character waking up in a cruel and sadistic world where everything and everyone wants to kill him. The aim of the game is basically to go right, when a puzzle emerges, solve it, and 'keep on a running.’

The game is paced very well, getting progressively harder as you venture through its world. Its also extremely addictive. With no loading screens just one continuous level, I found myself extremely immersed in this world not noticing the hours go by playing the game.

Get used to dying a lot, the developers described journey through the game as trail or death! How pleasant. Some of the deaths are absolutely gruesome, ever seen a small child decapitated by saws at least 5 times larger than him.

Its weird as even after knowing Ive failed a puzzle, I always found myself trying to keep that little boy alive as long as I could before his inevitable disturbing death.

I particularly hated seeing him get electrocuted, grim stuff.

The games sound track is basically made up from noises made from ingame objects. They succeed to add to the general disturbing atmosphere of the game. Particularly in the later levels set in the factory. These sound effects are also key in solving certain puzzles as you can use them to your advantage where timing is needed.

Considering the game is completely monochrome it still manages to look aesthetically pleasing. Just goes to show that you don’t need thousands of polys and texture maps to make a game look beautiful. The silhouette of the foreground cast in front of a descending eerie landscape makes even just walking through the level is an experience worth while.

The only criticism I found is the water physics. For instance when the water level rises around set terrain it doesn’t always behave realistically. But really I’m just nip picking here, I’m sorry.

The game is full of black-humour. Moments when you’ve thought you were safe after avoiding a fallen man trap to be finding yourself running into another. As the game progresses some of the puzzles are just incredible – switches and levers which control objects, gravity and even the weather always leave you contemplating what challenges you will face next. And the game never fails to disappoint.

Except however for the rather abrupt ending, literally just didn’t see it coming. But I still remember the first time I played through to Limbo’s epic final moment, sending chills down my spine and standing my hairs on end, has to be one of my favourite game endings ever. Although there definitely could have been more or a build up to its climax. Definitely hoping for a sequel as the ending suggests, hopefully ICO style with the girl (apparently your sister) as your accomplice.

Limbo offers something original, atmospheric and totally enthralling. Although its campaign is somewhat short you will love every minute that this game has to offer. The verdict - if you have an xbox 360… BUY THIS GAME! If you don't, get one!

an interesting article also about the game, worth a read.

Environment

There are lots of different genres of games which change the layout of the environment. Platform games are traditionally set on a 2d landscape, literally meaning there’s just lots of platforms and you have to jump a lot to get to them. Or you dieee

But as time went on and technology got better games moved into the Third dimension, meaning environments could be more expansive, and better!

It seems in modern games there are two different types of game genres which influence level design.

Sandbox games and rail shooters.

I guess there are some games which do create a balance between both. Bad Company 2 for example. Yes you were lead through a straight path from one checkpoint to another, but the game was kinda split into these big sections where you could choose which way you wanted to go through the level. Giving a small extent of freedom. The game also had gorgeous scenic backdrops.

These two types of level design are better suited, and can be used to influence the style that the game strives to achieve.

Horror games which want to scare the player usually force them through corridors conforming to the rail shooter genre. They are also normally heavily scripted so that certain events will happen when the player walks past a trigger.

The environment is usually adapted so that the player will be more likely to see the event. Moving/falling objects, lights and sounds can all be used to attract the player’s attention.

Then to scare the shit out of them…

Plus games are generally scarier when set in small dark corridors. A zombie stumbling across a field isn’t half as scary as one jumping out of a vent infront of your face!

Compared to purely sandbox based games such as ARMA II and Just Cause 2 where the player has complete freedom in the games world. The sandbox genre suits these games really well.

Seeing as ARMA II is a realistic modern military shooter, the sandbox suits this games aim really well

The game places you in its virtual world and gives the player objectives. How you get to and complete them is entirely up to you. For instance you and your squad might be asked to infiltrate a village of a known enemy position and retrieve a key asset. How you get there and what approach you take to achieve your objective is entirely up to you.

The game feels realistic and is always tense due to the fact it doesn’t take a lot to down an enemy soldier, or vice versa. You always feel vaulnerable standing

This game is definitely suited to the more hardcore gamer. Playing COD to prepare yourself for this game is not advised. You also need a really good PC. I can play Crysis on very high but my brain starts to hurt after playing ARMA for more than 10 minutes due to the stuttery frame rate rape…

Whats interesting about environments is that developers can create stunning landscapes which can only be seen and explored in games.

For this world to be believable I think there needs to be a high level of immersion into its world. A game which does this really well is Bioshock. Set in an alternate 1960s the player miraculously survives a plane crash to discover the massive underwater metropolis that is Rapture.

SUCH an amazing city.

Rapture is essentially based on the Manhattan borough of New York with a network of reinforced (waterproof) tunnels connecting buildings.

Some of my favourite levels come from Battlefield 2. I think it was the scale of the game, not just the 64 player count but how huuuuge the multiplayer maps were. Wake Island Particually stands out. I believe that Forrest Dowling was lead designer, after hours (not hours) of searching the internet his name seems most prominent.

The map is a remake of the original from Battlefield 1942, which was based on an of shore Japanese island where attacks took place simultaneously after the bombings at Pearl Harbor 1941. In both versions the maps are littered with wreckage from downed planes, boats and vehicles.

I think for a career path environments seem a lot more interesting than characters. But never know might change my mind.

Gladiator Project

Well here’s what I think is my worst project so far this term from the 3d side of my course. The gladiator. Well ill first explain why I think it went o so horribly wrong... not enough time…

I left a week for texturing the body and rigging the model. Didn’t realise how frustrating rigging would become.

This is my gladiator anyway. As we had a limited amount of 300 tris to add additional weapons and armor, I thought I’d try and cover my gladiator in as much armor as possible. Was pretty pleased with my efforts. But when it came down to putting an animation on him, bit of body were coming through the armor everywhere. I didn’t really understand the enveloping. Something about keeping bits of geometry within the envelope so they moved together.

But despite my efforts, nothing succeeded in working.

So in heinsight… I should have really spent less tris on armor and more on weapons (and made a baddass helmet).

The pose in the above picture is pretty much the only one in the animation where his skin isn’t through his clothing and bits of elbow left behind.

Up to this point however everything had gone smoothly. The first thing to do was to search through the many pictures of Heathers naked men on K drive, to find suitable ones for front left and back to model over. Then follow tutorials on blackboard for the best way to create the human form.

This project was after the van, so a jump from creating a box with wheels to modelling a human figure was pretty big, but ive become a lot more confident with the software and to my surprise I didn’t find it toooooo difficult to complete this part.

Next step was making a head separately to the body. Learnt another new technique here to add to the bag - Box modelling, yaaaaay. This worked out well compared to my first attempt before looking at tutorials. I did find it difficult however to create lips, still unsure of how to this properly.

I am pretty pleased with how the head turned out. Thought he was gonna be an ugly mo fo, so I decided to cover most of his face with a helmet. At the time I thought we were allowed to spend leftover tris from the body to use on props and armor. Turned out, we weren’t. So I had to begin the task of cutting down geometry on the armor to stay within budget.

He actually has no ears but shhhh he doesn’t need them :P

I also followed the tutorial on blackboard to create low poly hands, using a similar method to creating the head. I did have abit of trouble making these but nothing to serious and they turned out alright. Although I have learned from looking back on this project, there are lots of verts which need to be connected together. I didn’t know at the time that polys can only be 4 sided.

Texturing was abit of a nightmare, visible seems literally everywhere around arms shoulders neck, everrrywheeere basically. But I just didn’t have time to sort it out if I wanted to get the thing rigged. Ive learnt my lesson from this one. Don’t leave things last minute

Time management is crucial…

Characters

It seems that after the COD period, focused on trigger happy killing, more and more games have started to focus on a story driven element.

Some games, such as Heavy Rain, have even gone so far as to have a completely story driven game where you control multiple characters actions. The game is basically like watching a film but the player gets to decide upon the outcome, resulting in multiple endings and fair amount of replay value. Except for the start however where you’re just responsible for hauling the guys arse out of bed and brushing his teeth.

Characters are what drives a story forward, whether in books, TV or films. The personalities created can make the viewer feel all kinds of emotion towards them.

Some of my favourite characters I’ve encountered come from the film ‘This is England’ and 86’ the mini TV series which followed. The plot tells the story of a 12 year old boy Shaun, raised alone by his mother during the Thatcher period. Having a hard time at school, Shaun joins Woody and his skin head friends and is essentially adopted by them.

All is going well until Combo, the darker, more political side to the gang returns from jail and re assumes his place.

Woody represents the happier side of the skinhead movement, up for having a laugh and listening to SKA. Compared to combo who is the grim underbelly representing all the negatives of the skinhead movement.

Shaun looks up to combo, idolising his strength and power as he quickly becomes a figure of authority due to his sudden & dramatic entrance. Soon Shaun starts to follow in his footsteps. Mimicking his every move, spray painting racist slogans, attending political rallies and issuing threats to Pakistani shop keepers. Totally unaware of his actions and events which would later unfold.

Milkyyyyyy noooooooooo :’(

The film is mainly a story of coming of age and a great depiction of right wing nationalism which emerged from the Thatcher years.

Great characters don’t always have to be nice. One of my all-time favourites is Jules Winnfield played by Samuel Jackson in the movie pulp Fiction. Killing shouldn’t be cool, especially not whilst quoting the bible . Actually no this scene was on scale of epic proportions.

Each character in this film represents a different way of viewing the world. Jules’s perspective is from spirituality. He make decisions based on his innate feelings, causing a lot of arguments with his parter Vince who takes a more logical approach.

When a hiding gunman emerges from a door, fires at them and misses all 6 shots, Jules disagrees with Vince’s logic, arguing this is an act of god, divine intervention. Causing him to leave this lifestyle and seek redemption.

So what makes a good character? Script, acting, appearance?

Well I think I combination of all 3. How’s that for sitting on the fence. I’m actually surrounded by 3 fences and don’t know which one to jump over.

Well If an actor’s appearance suits the part they play, not necessarily acting like the stereotype of what the media expects them to be… but can adapt to the role they have been given and act realistically to the situation, then a believable character can come from it.

And decent characters don’t even have to have that many lines… Let’s take The Terminator for example. His script is so small and yet an amazing character has come from it. Making the Terminator utterly terrifying and seemingly invincible.

Just if youd like to know, Mr Schwarzenegger for fact made $7.1 million per word! throughout the terminator series. Not bad ay.

I think that stories from real situations makes for better story telling. Creating believable characters from events which once took place can make the audience relate to them and make them think, what would I do in that situation. Or WWJD ahaha. But yeah this doesn’t necessarily just mean dramas, but can include thrillers, action and war films. Band of Brothers - I’ll say no more.

Art Direction

Art Direction in games is very important; its main purpose is to immerse the player into the games world. This is done by setting up scenes in the environment, and using colours and textures correctly to convey a certain mood/atmosphere.

An Art Director basically crafts the desired feel for the game and is responsible for how this is communicated to the player. Making sure that from every possible angle environments are correct. They are basically responsible for everything in the game, the presuuure…

A good example where art direction has a great effect on the game is Fallout 3. The environments are very Grey and dull with rubble from destroyed buildings littering the landscapes, subways which are dark and gritty creating a very threatening atmosphere.

The game is set in 2277, 200 years after the nuclear apocalypse. Washington D.C has never progressed passed the 1950s.

However without even knowing the story, just from playing the game you can tell where and when you are. Particularly with the use of propaganda posters - which have a very distinct Art style from that era. Also all of the buildings and assets in the game world all look as if they have survived from a 50s apocalypse

Another good example is Red Dead Redemption, when im roaming the West on my trusty steed there was not one occasion where the surroundings did not look absolutely stunning. Hats of to rockstar.

Environments, props, textures, colour, lighting – all decided by the art director. The use of colour is very important. Colours can be assigned to characters and environments to convey a certain message/feeling. This is also very similar in film as art direction helps a film to develop its identity. Creating a unique style to distinguish itself from other titles.

Although Art direction doesn’t necessarily make a good film, acting, script and story line are generally more important, it could just be a bad film that looked nice. I often remember certain scenes from films purely from a visual perspective.

I think the art direction in Wall – E is amazing. This film relies heavily on visual ideas as there is very little dialogue between the two main characters.

The contrast between a destroyed Earth covered in towers built with rubbish to the pristine spaceship with technology controlling everything. In this way an Art Director working on a Game is very similar to the same position working on a film, as they will have to make the same decisions based on artistic judgment.

The main difference in art direction between these two mediums is that where a film is a 2d image where the director can force the viewer the information, a game has to stand up against a fully playable 3d environment.

So is art direction for me? Well I do like art :P but what skills would I have to develop to accomplish a career in this area? Well I think already having a good eye in spotting techniques which games and films use, so that they can then be used in suitable situations within games. Knowing the atmosphere and creating a suitable environment to fit the scene.

Art directors should also have good communication skills due to their position leading a team. Even if they have the right ideas, but cannot convey their message correctly, then the outcome may not be as good as the directors intensions.

Assessment numerous 2

What a fucking waster

Well reaching the end of semester 2 and the end of the year, it was once again time for assessments. The one thing I was glad about was that my work wouldn’t have to be presented in front of the first second and third year game art students. I think I might have died.

The day started off in the labs, working on my gun project as the deadline was that day (managed to finish with plenty of time to spare and actually write a half decent design document)

I was surprised that people were being called in in alphabetically in order of FIRST names. Which meant I had like no time to upload my work to Facebook. I was still editing pictures before my name was called and I was summoned into room 8.7.

I’ve progressed slowly but surely in game production which is nice to hear seeing as I was close to dropping out of the course at the start of the year. I’ve felt my work on 3dsmax improving over the year gradually becoming more comfortable with the software. Although there are still a lot of things I don’t understand. But over summer my aim is to go through all of the tasks on blackboard and bring myself up to scratch, and also not to forget how to use max over the ridiculously long summer.

After this was Chris’s turn. Honestly I’ve been a bit of an idiot this year. Finding it difficult to find the time to keep up with the workload and I wasn’t at all surprised with the outcome of – I need to do more work, or I’m gonna fail! So I’ve got 30 days to catch up and so far so good. My aim – to complete at least 1 or 2 pages a day which should hopefully bring me up to date, hopefully. Oh and take Chris’s advice about my habits. If you’re reading this, yes I am gonna cut down, and not let it become an issue. Get high AFTER I’ve done work.

Things just got worse from here. Over the year ive been neglecting the blog, and to no surprise I ‘achieved’ a fail grade for that. Sorry Mike. Not only have I got to complete the mandatory tasks but I only wrote about lectures once in the whole year. So im gonna try and catch up on this too.

I can tell its going to be a nice relaxing Easter. Hahaha nooooo chance. Ive really got to work my arse of if I want any chance of staying on this course next year, which I really do even though it may not seem so at the moment. But I do, really. I need to sort my priorities life out.

New Games Journalism

There are lots of different types of Game reviews/reviewers. Whether it’s published in a magazine, video reviewed on a website or posted to an internet blogging site. All reviews strive to the same purpose, to analyse and criticise, usually ending in something out of 10

A term for this is ‘New Games Journalism’ which incorporates any material which has been created as a response to a games experience. This can include the gamers thoughts about its playability, experiences within the game world, interaction with other players online and even the gamers anecdotes.

So, this week’s task - to review a review, very inception like! Except without all the guns and mindfuck.

I guess I shall start with this article from eurogamer ( as it is the most amusing)

A review of Project Gotham Racing 3, by boomboxdan

He does point out at the start that - ‘this is my first review so go easy on me!’ but I’m sure he won’t read this so… let’s not. The first thing I noticed when reading through was the complete lack of correct punctuality, making it awkward to read, and his opinion less valid :P also ending sentences in, ‘and all that’ just seems a bit half arsed, and all that…

I found it amusing when he was talking about the how good the visuals of the game are, and as further evidence, ‘his two mates, Woody and Scott’ also agree, which means they must look good! Using technical specifications in this situation would have been much more appropriate, rather than opinions from his friends.

However this is just a consumers article so it does not have to stand up against a professional review which would be expected to meet much higher standards. Hey, it’s not like he’s getting paid for this shit. But it is however a good example of NGJ

There are opinions that NGJ is affecting sales magazine companies such as PC gamer. Magazines are used primarily for looking at games to make a decision before you buy. Kind of like a catalogue for games. However why pay £5.99 for someone’s opinion when you could go on the internet and find this information for free! I guess if you’re a fan of glossy pages, and the cds with game content and patches may swing it.

(I remember I used to get my mum to buy them for me, but the cd’s used to just pile up in my room, and then I discovered that pretty much everything is on the internet!)

So where do professional reviewers earn their money from?

Well let’s use PC Gamer as an example. Their articles are typically written by in-house editors and free-lance writers, publishing the final product monthly. Earning money from advertisement and sponsors but mainly sales.

PC Gamer also has various websites, forums and even blogs which help advertisement.

The company has worked its way up to becoming the bestselling PC game magazine in its respective countries (UK & US)

I think that NGJ is good in the way that it allows anyone to express their opinion and also make a name for themselves and be recognised against their peers for something which they presumably enjoy.

However to some extent yes it can have a negative effect on professional companies which review games to provide writers with an income. But if these companies adapt to the situation and provide fans new ways to enjoy their product, such as blog writing then NGJ won’t be so much of a threat to the larger more successful publications.

Trip to Bradgate Park

The aim of going to Bradgate at the end of the year as our final project from visual design was to show how much we have improved (or should have) however as I was probably too hungover last time (sorry) so i missed the first trip there and never found the effort to go.

We got to the bus station but couldn’t for the life of us find C14, our desired stop. But after lots of confusion and a sandwich we eventually found it.

I was stunned by the park, and also by the prices in the café (£1.60 for water!! What a rip, but as I was hungover I gave in, desperately needed water)

We got a few sketches done but it was way too windy. Seriously need to invest in some clips for my sketchbook so it doesn’t flail everywhere whilst I try to attempt work. eventually I surcame to taking pictures . Heres a couple of prep sketches I did that im particually proud of. My final at the moment a WIP from this image. I started the final sketch there and I plan on using this image to fill in the detail.

The day did turn pretty catastrophic at the end however. We knew the buses came over hour but not sure when. But wating at the bus stop for 40 minutes I started to get a little suspicious about wether or not it would come. So I decided to ring the travel company for the bus times. After describing where I was and where I wanted to go, I was horrified to hear the woman respond ‘sorry no buses till tomorrow morning’

Oh, shiiiiiiit…

So great, stranded in Cropston, 8 miles away from home, cold, tired from walking the whole day, penniless due to a pint of Peroni and it was getting dark... I need a cigarette. We contemplated walking, hoping we’d get picked up on a dual carriage way by traffic police. Luckily I was meant to be going round my friend’s house from Leicester of uni, i got a phonecall from him as at this point it was getting late. I explained the situation and he agreed to come pick us up, yessss. Just had to wait another hour for him to come find us.

Heres just a few of the photos I took from bradgate.

Weapon of Choice – Final submission

Unlike previous projects, I decided this time to stay on top of time so I didn’t have to rush things before the deadline, so the day that our gladiator project was due, that night I got started on my weapon.

I first tried to model a L85A1 rifle but due to the limited tri count of 700 tris, I thought I should do something a little easier like a handgun, so I chose a M1911 Colt instead. That night I pretty much finished the basic model and here’s what it looked like. I was pretty pleased with this, particually with the geometry around the barrel of the gun. All of this was modelled in the side view port and I had to pretty much guess the width of the pistol.

In hindsight I should have really made something a little more complicated/interesting. Looking at other course mates work, I liked the idea of taking an existing weapon than conceptualising it changing geometry and adding crazy shit, but hey ho nevemind.

After modelling the weapon, its time to UV unwrap! Yaay. Well actually seeing as I can do this now it wasn’t so much of an issue. Barely took any time at all. This is my finished texture sheet and imho I think it the best one so far. Not in the way of layers, textures and colours but maximising efficiency on the texture sheet.

I did struggle to find suitable textures for the gun, hunting around for black metal proved difficult so in the end I played around on photoshop until I came up with something which vaguely resembled the real thing (im still not great at texturing, particually on my gladiator model which I will upload at some point, I just hate it so much! Visible seems everywhere) but heres the final product anyway

Finished this project with plenty of time to spare, so for the rest of the lesson I got to play COD, good timesss!

Transit Van project - final submission

Well finally finished my transit connect project, the task – to realistically model and texture a For Transit Connect, whilst keeping within a Tri and texture budget.

Specifications:
Tri count – 5000
1 1024x1024 Diffuse map for exterior
1 512x512 diffuse for interior
1 128x128 texture sheet for lights
I used 4298 Tris, and 1 of every texture sheet allowed.

This is a final render of my van, looks alright eh? Well I like it, I’d employ me!

I felt this project helped me a lot as im gradually becoming more and more familiar with 3dsmax. Particually in this project I’ve felt my unwrapping and texturing skills have improved. With help from Mike (deserves a medal because of his approachability and the amount he’s helped me and others on this course) he showed me an easy way to unwrap assets using the planar unwrap. Rather than my first attempt at using flatten mapping and trying to sort out all of the millions of tiny little planes.

These are my final texture sheets for the exterior and interior. Trying to find suitable Transit connects parked in the open, not in dark places and not driving around proved surprsisingly difficult. Eventually I did find one that I could take pictures of, although I was being glared at by the builder who I assumed owned it.

OH and I also took photos of the DMU transits until I got harassed by security and was told ‘I cant do that’ jokes on them though as the number plate on mine is from one of their vans haha.

Not gonna lie, I did run short of time in this project (work handed in 5 minutes before the deadline) also I had to allow time at the end to write a design brief. This resulted in me not being able to add any specular maps to the Transit therefore all the different parts on the van (wheels, metal, sponge) were the same material and all as shiny as each other. But overall, I think this project went ok J