Help With Modeling The Character/Advice

I started modeling the character in Maya and began by blocking the main elements of the torso region. I pad careful attention to the lower abdominal region as well as the pectoral muscles that would really help define the character. I then extruded some faces to create the upper arms and legs. I must admit that I have not much knowledge in character modeling and I was using many reference images to help me create the right topology, which would help when rigging the character. Once I had blocked in the main elements of the torso I decided to consult Clym Smith, a fellow student who understands topology and rigging. Rather than model the entire character and hope for the best I decided I needed a more experienced opinion to put me on the right path. I sent the base mesh to Clym as an OBJ and he imported it into zbrush to check the topology and edge flow. He mentioned that the deltoid muscle region needed a bit of work to get realistic arm movement when rigging. However, he did mention that the crease points where the legs meat the torso was good. While on skype we created a chat channel and shared screens. By doing this he could show me how to add detail to the base mesh in Zbrush in real time. Using my base mesh he quickly pulled out muscle and bone structures to fill out the box model after sub dividing it.

Clym mentioned that by using a 5 edged star you can redirect edge flow to create certain shapes and forms. This was extremely helpful information as I could use this method on the characters head where polygons flow in sometimes three directions instead of two. Clym gave me a better understanding of how the muscle structure works and how to translate this into a three dimensional model. I will use the techniques to improve on the model so it can be rigged efficiently in the future. The task of modeling the character as well as everything that comes with it is a daunting task, but I must take one step at a time and concentrate on getting the character modeled.

Redesigning Frank/Character Sheets

I recently started to redesign the main character in Chris’s short film. This decision came about because we needed to design something that was workable and fairly straight forward to model. In the light that character modeling is quite difficult my brother and I decided that it would be better to design a character on the lines of Mr Incredible rather than going with a more realistic character. This would make the rigging and modeling process easier. However, Chris still wants his character to have the same traits. The difficult part will be translating these aspects into a stylized form. We also came to the conclusion that by creating a more stylized character would be quite appealing in contrast with the very realistic setting.

I started out by making a few character busts in Zbrush to get an idea of the characters facial build and tone. Mr incredible influenced me because he is the embodiment of a middle-aged male who is slightly overweight. When designing Franc’s face I tried to accommodate for all the elements that Chris wanted. For example I wanted to bring out some strong shapes and forms that would indicate that he was a professional boxer before he became a hit man. I had the idea that he would have a pronounced, strong chin and a prominent brow. I was very pleased with the outcome and I really got an element of character appeal. The character appeared as if he was a strong person while his expression indicates certain despondency, which was what I was looking for. I presented the material to Chris who really liked the stylized look of the character. I used the models I had created in Zbrush to create a character sheet that we could use when modeling the box model of the character. The character sheet is essentially a guide when modeling to acquire fairly accurate forms and shapes. I will be using the character sheet to literally trace model the main character. The character sheet took a little more time than expected but would help me tremendously when trying to model the mesh in Maya.

Dan Dali's Feedback on the Apartment Interior

I bumped into Dan Dali (one of my tutors) and he told me that he was very impressed with the work that I had produced for his unit. While doing my main project I was also exploring lighting within Maya using area lights and spot lights. For this unit we had to learn an area which we had not explored before and record our progress. I produced many lighting tests by observing the works of industry professionals. I eventually grasped the techniques used to create realistic and atmospheric lighting. Dan told me that he was very impressed with the overall quantity and quality of work that I had produced for his unit. He also mentioned that I had made a lot of progress with regard to the apartment interior that I had modeled and lit. He mentioned that the room now had a very moody atmosphere with a contrast between the light and dark areas, which reflected not only the mood of the story, but the character as well. This was the effect I was trying to achieve, to add a certain amount of character to the room itself to enhance the mood of the story.

This is Dan's Feedback below:-

You have demonstrated the effectiveness of this unit by taking full advantage in applying new techniques and skills. You have pushed yourself in to new territories and overcome fears by experimenting, researching and working hard to achieve some excellent results.

You initial research on lighting was a little text heavy to begin with but very relevant and you focused your skills to what was important to the film. By giving yourself a clear objective you quickly showed some professional and creative tests that had shown progress in your learning.

You willingness to challenge yourself with UV mapping and texturing was excellent and again this was evident in your final test. You evaluated your progress well and clearly demonstrated this term how much you can improve and learn when you apply yourself to a task. I hope you continue this progress throughout this year and that it has given you the confidence to keep pushing yourself and challenge problems that will arise throughout your time here at Ravensbourne and hopefully in industry.

Joe's Matte Paint

Toward the end of the previous term I discovered that Joe Steel needed a matte paint for his short film. He already had artists working on the backdrop at this stage but was unhappy with the progress they had made with regard to the images. He told me that he wanted the buildings to have a certain three dimensional quality. Looking at the current images he possessed I realized that they lacked any kind of atmosphere and distance and there was no sense of the image being three dimensional. I showed Joe some of my matte paints and showed him what I could do. Although I showed him various images that had a science fiction element to them the same techniques would still apply.

I told him that not only could I produce something that had an element of distance an atmosphere but I could separate the city layers as well as the atmos and smoke layers so that he could animate them when it came to compositing the image in post. With these options available to him he would be able to create something that apperared to be three dimensional and believable whilst being able to manipulate certain aspects of the painting with regard to the animation side of things. Joe supplied me with the relevant material I needed to create a believable atmosphere. He suggested that I use red, blues and yellows to capture the beauty within the city. His story was all about finding beauty in things that we would normally overlook, so it was important to harness this and add a element of character to the painting. I was only too happy to help as this was my area of expertise as I loved painting landscapes and I wanted to take a break from Maya.

While working on the painting I kept Joe informed of my progress and updated the painting to suite his needs to be consistent with his three dimensional work. When I sent the image via email Joe was very pleased with the outcome and the effort that I had put into the piece. I was pleased with the work and thoroughly enjoyed working on the painting. I learnt that by keeping a consistent dialogue with the director I was able to accommodate Joe's needs for what he wanted to achieve with regard to the visuals and animation. By having constant dialogue I was able to generate quick results to a professional standard. I knew exactly what to do because all the information was available to me which sped up work flow. Because the information was made available to me I was able to juggle Chris's project while doing Joe's. This allowed me to work effectively despite a short deadline.

I have included some screen grabs which should show my thought processes and progress towards the final image. I was very happy with the final image. I believe that it demonstrates my skill as a painter who is able to translate the vision of a director from fiction to a reality. I believe the image boasts some strong composition skills as well as good use of colour and light, however some of these aspects took some trial and error. The priority when creating this matte was to satisfy the director. Joe was overjoyed with the results, so I think we can assume that my efforts were successful in achieving his targets.

Interior Composite and suggestions

Over the Christmas break I took it upon myself to add some detail to the interior room by adding some more furnishings and props to help give some scale as well as some believability. After some discussions with my parents as well a my brother we agreed that if the room remained the way it was it would appear too bland and empty. The room itself required some detail to break up the lines in the room. To do this I added some wires and piping on two of the walls as well as a chest of drawers which filled the empty space on the right side of the room. It is on this chest of drawers that the vinyl player will rest along with his phone and various belongings.

When discussing the room with my father he suggested that I put in some detail like some final demand letters that would help the story and suggest that he is overdrawn waiting for the next hit. We get the idea that he is struggling to survive as he works for the mob. Adding a phone as well as a picture of him as a boxer would suggest that he had a past. By adding these things Chris and I could suggest a large amount of character while not having to suggest too much through animation.

This is a composite of the room as it stands now. I used Maya to render and light the scene. I then imported the image into Photoshop and added a certain amount of atmosphere and mood by changing the colour balance as well as the brightness and contrast. I also added some smoke to suggest that the character who uses the space is a heavy smoker. By adding a film grain I was able to achieve a certain film quality and roughness to the scene which gave the room some randomness and character. By creating this composite I was able to see what the final picture may look like with a small amount of post production. I was overwhelmed with the result as the space appeared to have a certain elemnt of character and the contrast between the light and dark areas was really interesting and moody. I presented this composite to Mike as well as Dan Dali who all had positive things to say about the appearance of the room and the way in which it would impact the story. Dan Dali highlighted the fact that the room now had a certain element of character with the contrast between the warm red colour of the walls and the cold blue of the light outside which mimicked the emotional struggle of the character.

The Exterior

I took it upon myself to apply the necessary textures to the exterior of the apartment. I built the model of the street earlier on in production and had little time and little experience to make the object look half way decent. Now, however, with the new knowledge obtained I feel confident that I can produce a good quality image using UV mapping and texturing to my advantage.

Having already created the model of the street it was just a case of realigning the Uv's on the object ready to be textured. There were a few objects within in the scene that did not need to be Planar mapped like the iron fences as well as the stair wells and window cills. These objects required simple lamberts. This object would only be lit from the street lamps below, so it was important to be economical when texturing the surfaces as may would be in shadow. I concerned myself with texturing and planar mapping the brick work on the facades facing the camera. When modelling the buildings I deleted most of the back walls as these faces would not be seen in the film.

Again I applied a checkered texture to the walls and made sure that the squares were evenly spaced on each facade. I then started to acquire some brick textures which I later manipulated in photoshop and then sharpened to get a better quality image.

I applied a bump map to the existing texture which would bring out the recesses and cracks on the exterior. This would enhance the overall appearance of the structure making it more believable and adding a certain amount of character to the building. The bump map will be hugely beneficial when lighting the scene as the light will pick out the lighter areas and you will be able to see the individual brick. It is quite amazing how a simple bump map can make a huge impact on an object.

Here are some of the later composites I created in photoshop to observe how the textures and bump maps could look in a final render. I was very happy with the results and was impressed with the model's realism. Chris was also very happy with the outcome and several tutors commented on the models saying that the images were stunning. Having learned a bit more about UV mapping and texturing I am confident I can UV all kinds of hard surfaced objects.

The images below show my progress from modeling the components of the exterior to the planar and uv mapping of the facades.

Texturing and UV mapping

have already touched on the texturing side of things when I applied a wall texture to a plane in one of my previous posts. Now I need to expand my knowledge in this area and begin applying high resolution textures to the exterior as well as the interior set which we will be using for our film.

I decided to model a chair that would sit in the back of the room. I knew that the chair itself was going to be partially obscured by shadow. However, I knew this would be a good opportunity for me to broaden my skills and augment my existing knowledge to produce better quality work in preparation for industry. Here is an image of the chair I will be working on.

I began to model the basic shape of the chair in Maya using simple primitive cubes. Once I had blocked in the main features and created the lips in the fabric I then smoothed the image to see how the geometry worked and the mesh reacted to a smoothing node. It is important to note that the modelling phase is key. The model must be properly modelled and must have no n gons or holes which can disrupt the texture.

Once the modelling phase was dealt with I then began to re align the UV's. To do this I applied a checkered texture to the entire object. I then began to adjust and planar map the individual faces of the constituent pieces. I was careful to make sure that the squares lined up to corresponding facades and that they were equal all over the object. This process was very time consuming as I had to align the UV's on the finer details where the fabric overlapped. Originally I aligned the UV sets of individual faces but soon realized that I could UV all faces that were orientated to a particular axis. That is to say all the faces on the object that faced the x axis for example could be planar mapped at the same time which saved huge amounts time.

Once all the relevant pieces were UV'd I started to apply the texture to each individual facade. However, I soon realized that the fabric texture I created in photoshop could just be applied to the entire object. Once an object is planar mapped properly and if the object has one whole texture the material can be applied directly to the object. I could then use the UV texture editor to then adjust the resolution of the image using the scale tool.

I was very pleased with the final image but I suppose I was more excited that I had gained new skills which would enhance the way my work looked. Here are some of the composites which I created in photoshop which show the fabric texture applied. When I first rendered the scene I realized that certain areas, in particular the overlapping bits of fabric would appear stretched. This was easily solved by spacing out the necessary polygons which would prevent twisting when smoothed.

There are still a small amount of discrepancies regarding a certain amount of stretching, however the chair itself will be partially obscured by shadow and I can't waste too much time getting the perfect chair. I am happy with the outcome and my new found knowledge should be beneficial to the rest of the objects within this short film.