LO3: Creation Of The 3D Character And Environment

the first thig that i did was to look at the animation that came with the scene and decide in my head what i wanted to do roughly. This then allowed me to think more carefully about the scene and the method and the order of which I wanted to create and add things in. I decided that the first stage was going to be attaching a model to the rig and animating the rig this would give me a very good basis to start with.

Once I had managed to attach and animate the model for the character I then decided to duplicate and add some other characters both in the background and the foreground this was done so that I could have a better sense of scale as I made the scene. I also switched the scene t use a skybox that I would later replace this was so that I could see what effect the lighting would have on the scene.

The next thing that i decided to add was a road. As adding something large that can be changed later helps me to think about the various different elements that I will then be adding into the scene. I downloaded a textures for the road with a height normal and roughness texture map which i then crate the material with using node wrangler to get a much more precise scale on the texture that matched the road more.

I also added a place with a basic texture to act act as the floor for the scene.

Next i added the building which i had modeled and then imported into the scene along with the train tracks. the building were made using geometry nodes meaning that once I placed one block I could then use math to create different variations in the buildings. Allowing me to quickly create unique and realistic background buildings. allowing me to quickly block out the rest of background. I also added train tracks of sorts with plans to create moving elements to the scene.

I the added a background image to show off a planet and add more of a sense of scale the the scene as well as adding trains to the tracks. I added 3 different trains to the scene all moving in different ways. I also added more lights to the scene and switched to the fully rendered view for the tests. This allowed me to fine tune the lighting and the amount of light that was coming off the trains as the moved through the scene. 

The next stage of the scene was to add foreground buildings that I could quickly make and then copy around the foreground to fill it out. This meant that the models in the foreground had to have much more detail because they were closer to the camera. I went for a much more futuristic hangar/shop front look for the models this allowed me to create interesting parts of the scene that had the potential for a lot of little details. Such as shop fronts 

This is the stage before I added the fog into the cne along with the rain and the other post process effects. The image is overexposed and does not look realistic. I also added more variation and rotation to the building to make them look much much interesting.

This is the render before I added all of the little details such as posters and signs the main things that I have changed are adding a fog box/volume into the scene which makes the world get less clear and darker as the camera look further away adding a mist makes the scene look more realistic. I also added a slight amount of film grain to the render as well as lowering the shutter seed and the aperture to make the background look more blurry, I also fine tuned and refined the lighting and the scale of the models. I also added a red tint to the scene which allowed me to make the scene appear more alive as well as animating the models in the background to walk around.

Link to commentary and how I made the scene different camera angles etc.  

Unit 11 Commentary

Connotations:

The scene connotes a sense of adventure and mystery because of the look and the feel of the scene with the scene being made using a made up futuristic world. Allows the connotation of excitement for the audience. The lighting in the scene allows the mise on scene to again represent that of another world and makes the render look a lot more realistic and believable.

LO2: Plans For 3D Characters And Environments

 

Environment Moodboard

Character Moodboard

This first idea was of a group of characters moving through a rural environment with each of the characters having their own animation. I would be able to take a simple background and design and colours and this would allow me be able to focus on the models for the characters and the animations.

The second idea I had was to create a singular character walking through a barren landscape dragging something behind them like the last tree or something. I would be able to focus on making the landscape much more detailed because of the less busy scene.

This is the final idea that I decided to go with. I have decided to use one main character and then have them walking through a cyberpunk era scene. I have also added moving train and vehicles. As well as some background characters.

Top Down Veiw:

this is top down veiw that shows how the character will be moving across the scene, this helps me to visualise and decide what the first blockout would look like. For example creating simple block which represent buildings. Example below.

Genre:

For the genre of the project I will be using a sci fi look using neon lights throughout the scene and taking some of my inspiration from Tron with the use of bright neon lights and glowing parts on charters for example helmets and arms as well as weapons and other parts of the scene. The genre of the render will be sci fi and it will have a character walking through a cyberpunk type of environment.

Visual Ideas For The Environment:

I will use a character that fits into this theme by creating a character that uses neon lights and has a particular look. The character will be able to easily fit into the rest of the scene. Because I have designed the charter and the environment that will appeal to the target audience of teens.

For the character itself there is no face on the model which will mean that the audience will not easily be able to tell what the character may be thinking or expressing. The only way that the character can display emotion is through the animation itself for example in the scene the charter look tired because he has a hunched back which gives the impression of him having walked for a really long time.

Sound:

There will not be any sound in the render this is because I ran out of time. If I had more time I would have added sounds to the trains going above the characters head and sound effects for the walking animation.

Appeal:

The character that I will be creating will appeal to the target audience of young teens and young adults because it is a similar style of character to other popular films such as Tron and Blade Runner. Doing this will allow me to make a much better final product.

Gender Of the Character:

The character is a robot soldier so there fore it does not have a gender or an age. The only emotions that are shown for the character are through the animation these emotions are ones of tiredness because the character has been walking for a long time because of his hunched back.

Weapon And Vehicle:

This is a mood board that I quickly made to illustrate some of the ideas for the vehicles and the weapons along with other details that I will add to the final render. They are all from a sci-fi/steampunk era of design and will therefore fit very well into the scene.

LO1: 3D Modelling And Media Products

3D modelling can be used in a variety of different ways these range from games all the way to making 3D assets for tv and films. 3D modeling is one of the most efficient and easiest ways to create anything such as massive 3D sets for films that would usually take million of pounds to build and a lot of time. They can be created using computers in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.

Film:

3D modelling can be used to create entire films such as the How To Train Your Dragon (httyd). For this movie the entire film was created using 3D modelling ranging form the characters to the environment itself each part of the film was made using 3D. models. Because the film was made in this way it meant that the animators and the models had the ability to create whatever they wanted to add into the film. It also gave them complete creative freedom over the characters and the environment.

The films use a mixture of different types of 3D modelling methods such as poly modelling and sub div modelling. These are used together to allow the film to make realistic and believable characters and environments in which the narrative of the films can take place. in this case the use of 3D modelling has been used very successfully to create a group of lovable characters and places allowing the audience to recognise traits of themselves in the characters that are on screen and allow them to react with more emotions during the film. The models of the characters are designed in such a way that the target age of the films will like and enjoy watching the characters because of certain design choices with the film characters e.g. big puppy eyes on the dragon.

TV:

The show Doctor Who has been around for ages and has seen the use of 3D modelling to crate sci fi scenes throughout the series. 3D modelling has been used to create not only characters in the series but also massive parts of sets that would cost million to make in real life. This allows the creators of the show to create massive other worldly set and backgrounds for the actors. The show has been known for its use of a lot of different 3D landscapes because the show will regularly travel to completely different worlds than earth.

This creates a really efficient and quick way to create brand new worlds for the series. 3D modelling allows for the rapid creation and alteration of many different assets that can then be placed in the scene in a lot less time than making the sets in real life. 

Another more recent example of this is the show the mandalorian. This show is one of the first shows to use virtual production where instead of a green screen a massive screen is filmed directly onto witht the actors acting in fron t of the screen. One of the most common ways that this is done is by using Unreal Engine to create supermassive 3D scenes and then track the cameras movement to the actor. This method for filming save both time and money and allows for more people to create hollywood quality shows. All of the assets in the shw have been 3D modelled and photo scanned to allow the quality that the models need for use in the Tv show.

In this particular product the models that are used focus much more on the environment and making the audience think that they have been transported into this world. This allows the target audience of the product being mainly teens and younger people to enjoy this sci-fi world through their screens and makes them feel much more involved with the show.

PCGame:

The PC Video Game GTAV is a 18 plus rated game which uses 3D models for all of the in game assets ranging from the player model to the landscape. All of the models have collisions so that the player can move between them. Again 3D modelling is being use to create a world for the player to experience and interact with. One of the best examples of 3D modeling in the game is through the use of the very highly detailed cars and guns. The guns in the game have had a lot of attention because they are usually always in the players hands so they need to look very realistic in game.

3D modelling these assets is a lot quicker and cheaper than photo scanning them into the game. 3D modelling can also be split up into different teams with one person making the base model and then another person using the base model to make the texture for the asset. As well a final person to make sure that the final model in detailed enough for the game. All of these models can then be added into the final game. This can be done with all of the models for the guns significantly reducing the amount of time is takes.

The Models in this game allow the player to experience a much more fun experience because of the real life looking models both for the environments and the player themselves. It is able to effectively target its older teen audience through these methods and it creates a sort of imaginary world where people can simulate real life but without the law.

Console Game:

Minecraft is a game that incorporates aspects of limitless building and survival, the game has an age rating of 7. The game uses basic blocks and cubes to allow players to build anything in their world. The models for this game are all very basic usually being a cube or other simple primitive shape. This allows for massive worldbuilding because of the very limited effect that the game will have on the console that it is running on. Although simple shapes the genius of the game is that all of the blocks can be combined together to create something new.

There are also different mobs in the game which have also been 3d modelled. The game is meant to be played in a more peaceful way and the models in the game are able to represent this. The models are also simple to recreate and repurpose.

The game is aimed a younger target audience and the models allow a younger child to be able to understand a enjoy the game making it successful. Most of this success is due to the simplicity of the models in the game that make the game accessible to everyone who plays the game.

Audience:

The models can be made to appeal to many different age groups for example models can be created to be used in child films such as thomas the tank engine where the models are used throughout the series and have a very different target age demographic to that of models that would have been used in 18 games. The models will be of the same quality but can be used and presented in many different ways depending on the use case.

LO1: Modelling Techniques

Polygon Modelling:

This is another basic modelling technique the idea is to split up the model into individual polygons (triangles) creating a mesh. This mesh can either be very complicated with thousands of different polygons or the mesh can be very simple with only a few hundred polygons in the mesh. The more polygons that a mesh has the bigger the file size and the longer it will take to render the scene. The technique is used for both landscape modelling and brush modelling in characters.

An example of this type of modelling is the cars in FH5 each car went through the process of being scanned and then modeled to give the final result that could be utilized in the final game.

This method of modelling is usually the second stage after basic extrusion so there are not that many other steps that can be taken after this model is produced except for texturing and animation.

In terms of disadvantages for this type of modelling the biggest disadvantage is the amount of computing power required to create and render these models. Because modelling is done in real time there is a need for capable hardware which is both expensive and sometimes hard to find.

NURBS Modelling:

This method is similar to polygon modelling although instead of using manual inputs it uses the computer to calculate the meshes curves instead of having the manually make all of the small details in the mesh. This means that the models can be scaled without losing any of the detail meaning that the models are much more versatile than traditional polygon modelling. They are used for large scale landscapes and are more increasingly being used in characters and other smaller models.

An example of this type of modelling is using NURBS to accurately convert a scan of an ear into a 3d object that can then be used in an animation.

Although this method of modelling will be able to yield better and more detailed results it does require and enormous amount of computing power and time to be able to use the method correctly. This is why NURBS modelling is not used in games and is only used in very large projects where making a polygon model would take too long.

Divisional Modelling:

This method is used after basic shape modelling and extrusion it allows the artist to create more polygons from the same shape to allow both more detail to be added as well as allowing a scalable model that keeps all its definition.

An example of this type of modelling is:

This method will be used in making a lot of different assets for games and other 3D art it is usually and integral way for modelers to create complex shapes quickly and easily. It helps to bridge the gap between professional work and hobbyists who only make art for the fun of it. 

The main disadvantage of this method is that if the artist creates too many subdivision in the shape the 3D program may crash because it doubles the amount of polygons in the shape. This means that the artist has to be careful when using this method.

Spline Modelling:

Spline modelling also uses maths to create lines and then add thickness and polygons around that line. The lines are created using similar maths as NURBS modelling. This means that artists that use this type of modelling will need more powerful system to be able to effectively use this method.

An example of this type of modelling is:

Creating curves for cups and other models with handles as well as using the method to create hair on models providing a quick and easy way to create hair instead of creating hair simulation which take both a lot of time and system power. The only disadvantage is that the technique is used in only very limited use cases. This means that both it is not suitable for all uses but it is heavy refineed and works better for its specific use cases.

Extruding 3D Shapes:

This is one of the most primitive and basic modelling techniques that exists. The idea is to take a primitive 3D shape and then extrude the shape to create more complicated and interesting shapes. This is a quick way to create and block out a scene that can then be later refined and edited depending on the style. Of the project. This technique is most commonly used for creating landscapes instead of characters.

An example of this is objects such as guns in games such as arcadian rift:

This gun has been created using this modelling technique. It has started as a single cylinder and has then been inset and extruded to extend and extrude different shapes and faces on the gun. This is a fast way of creating a lot of different assets and in this case is key because of the projects low budget and small developer team.

One of the main disadvantages that this method has is that the models that can be created are always limited in the amount of detail that they can contain this is because of the way that the models are created. However using extrusion modelling can then be linked with division modeling to allow the artist to add more details to the models. This is a good way to add more detail to this way of basic modelling.

All:

All of the models are able to be used in games and other various scenes. They can all be textrued using uv maps and they can also be moved and rigged in the scene as well as emitting light and reflections from the rest of the scene. The detail in these models will vary depending on the use for example a car adverts model will have to look photoreal to the audience. While a model in a game does not need to look as real as the model in the car advert. The models can be anything from the player models with full animation and rigging to background assets to low poly buildings.