So obviously the lighting is a bit orange and there is some white light behind Ma, but that should be adjusted soon. There are no reflections in the image in order to save time rendering (yet it still takes a good 5 minutes to render each frame- idk what is up with that). The blue lighting feels a bit too soft for the dramatic scene, but this is an update for how it is going so far.
Learning a lot about lighting- that’s for sure!
Alongside rigging, I’ve started to make a scene for the rendered still picture competition for Skills, which I also plan to use as a poster image for Don’t Tread on Me.
I am currently working on the lighting for the room. The mouse is still missing and Ma’s pose is temporary till I get a rigged version of her in. The space in front of the jar looks empty, which is where I will be putting the mouse who will be reaching for the breadcrumbs behind Ma’s back, like my sketch with his pushed pose.
Might or might not put stuff in the background eventually, but I am mostly focusing on getting the lighting feel right now.
Also, I must thank Derek Jenson for the free IES Light profiles he has on his blog: http://www.derekjenson.com/3d-blog/ies-light-profiles; they make a big difference.
So I have gotten the skeleton of the mouse done, using a flexi-rig in order to have the spine flow better.
Now on to skinning! ^^
New year, new goals – or at least listing them.
Animation related, I am promising myself to try drawing random things once a day- not just people poses. Perspective is important to practice too, especially with dynamic camera shots; this practice includes watching and reading tutorials, and testing them out. Next flaw I wanna fix is documentation. I don’t document enough, something obvious from my lack of blog posts and how little the game design document is filled out. I am going to try to start out weekly before moving onto something more frequent (depends on how much progress gets done within the week). Lastly, with an upcoming due date on the video game, I need to start working at home- twice a week would be good.
Life wise- I intend to get into the Vizualization department at A&M and getting an undergraduate there by 2021. With that, I think it would be important to learn to study… something I’ve failed to learn so far, but it will help me pass more rigorous courses in college. Then lastly, time management is a big deal. Any free time should be put to something educational – such as when playing a video game, take in the details of mechanics and ambiance to see what works and what does not- or better to write them down (document!).
So here’s to 2017 and gitting gud!
I said I was finished before, but wanted to get more detail in the front paws and a smoother finish. He has 3726 faces, so a high poly version.
I have Mouse and Ma both UV mapped out to be textured and surfaced.
For the past couple of months I have been working on asset creation for Don’t Tread On Me (still a working title). For November I had been modeling Ma, finally finishing yesterday. Yes, there were a lot of minute tweaking between the two posts of blocking out and then finalizing Ma, but I had to make sure she was animator friendly, properly proportioned, not falling into the uncanny valley, and overall just looking nice.
The two basic assets created so far is Mouse and Ma, able to be seen in the links. They are currently just models, but before the winter break I plan on having their UVs ready for my teammate Connor to texture.
Other things that need to get done are starting to form some basic furniture models for the game, such as a dining table and chairs. Another important piece would be the radio. All of this is something I need to make on Houdini to use its node editor for quick changes if needed. Again, things I plan on finishing for version one of the game.
Wish me luck.
I just really love her hair and face, so I wanted to give Ma a close up! 😀
Here is Ma’s topology, with and without the skirt (which I made double-sided for normals to always face out).
So I am still modeling Ma. Obviously she has no hands yet and the body is really sketchy still, but I’m working things out; the head is not connected to the body yet. Working on cleanup.
Josey Meyer 