100% uv for the machine!

Well, for the machine i have at the moment i have done all of it that needs to be done i have decided to leave out things like lights and cables as these will be easier to do within maya and adding a glow texture can be quite anoying i have done a few tests with it already and feel that it will be best to adjust the glow in maya instead of photoshop. I have done some tests with the diffuse, specular, bump and reflection also as these will play a big part in making the machine and other objects look sweet. The images already posted are blurry and i know that but i think thats just on the internet from rendering they look absolutly fine.
I want to go into the games industry and i try to learn some of the techniques they use, like baking an ambient occlusion i have tried this for the machine but it only works from set angles so i feel there isnt much point using it in this as this is a short film were we arent comprimised by game engines so the AO can be done at as a single render.
I have learnt so much about unwrapping uvs and also texturing in the first term and these holidays, which is a bit anoying as i look back at my old work and think i wish i did that then, but i guess that is part of the learning process. I have also tried to cut back on the amount of photo sourced images for tecxtures as these can have artifacts within them which will look weird when rendering, so i have downloaded a lot of brushes for photoshop and will try them all out.
I have also decided that each part of the machine their are six in total will have their own texture map so they are all of high quality as written before i will start with 2048 by 2048 and then go up to 4096 if the group feels that we need to do that. I have some other thoughts on it all but for now i will stick to my guns. I have also as always a bit of a tidy freak and perfectionist (maybe not) but have tidyed up the scene in the outliner/hierarchy making it easier for me and the team to see which bits are UV'd and which are not.

Machine New Texture

Well, i know it still hasnt got rust and leaks/stains still working on that but i feel this texture is a lot less blury, do you guys agree? was made just using photoshop brushes, not bad! I know its a bit dark but im waiting for the real lighting and i can easily change the brightness in photoshop!

Half man half machine!

Well firstly is an image i have produced last night this texture has been done using just brushes in photoshop and i think looks pretty sweet.

Secondly, is an update on the uv mapping and what has been achieved so far.

Thirdly is the same image but with comments on some stuff that needs clarifying if you know the answer.

Update

Well after reading the main blog this morning i have been cracking on with work, i have a test that i can show later, however i had a chat with Edgley last night which was very pleasant and i enjoyed it a lot.

I feel i am doing all these test which is great and i am enjoying playing around in photoshop, but ther aint no point doin it unless the model is completly uv'd out, so that is my main task for today to get it all sorted so it is ready for photoshop. As the left side machine is pretty much completed that is the one i have shifted my focus to working my way from top to bottom. I will be anoyed if i dont get it all done today, just need to motivate myself a bit more and some lunch may help.

Also we want this to look amazing so each section of the machine will have its own map i tried a 8192 by 8192 texture map last night for the whole right side, lol. My comp strugled to upload then it kicked into hyper mode and loved it, but im gona start with 2048 this is already four times the amount it has at the moment so will have to wait and see i guess! Also have been thinking of some parts that need discussion may just draw it in photoshop then get you guys to comment but this will be later on, as for now just gona have a drink break, good luck today.

Wow where have i been....

Its been awhile since i have posted alot has happened in terms of polished off and splay this can be seen on the team blogs, but the presentations went really well and we got are grades back, which i think everyone is happy with. I need to up my game so no more cod, lol like that will happen anyway. Yeah so over christmas im concintrating on the skin and the machine, so at the moment the machine is geting priority i have done a few different tests and hopefully edgley will let me know which direction i should be going if he likes any of them i dunno it may not be what he was thinkin and if so back to the drawing board. Eventhough these two areas are the main ones ther are alot of voices in the back of my head about all the other stuff i should be doing uh oh.

Its not like me but i actually wana do some painted textures!!! with actual paints!!! to add small details, that i just cant do with a mouse, oh well!

Enjoy!

Research

SSS

Ok so what are these objects? basicly i was trying to recreate skin and the effects light has on it, so an example is light in your ear, these images show some of the steps of developing it whilsth really dull image is a blinn using the same blue and light, the difference is stupidly different and will benefit the group. I was a bit worried at first as the group didnt see much of a difference it also doesnt have much of an effect on render times the differencxe between sss and the blinn was 5 seconds.

When the dust settles

Well, looking at Walle ther is a nice shot of Walle after the ship lands and the dust starts to settle and it looks rather 2d, using photoshop and after effects i have created the image below by using opacity, postion scale and an effect called turbulent distort.

polisher Texture

Found this texture free to download on creative crash might be useful for the polisher on the bottom which cleans the floor, could look quite nice if the right colour.

more bed sheets please!

Cable

I havent gone on to the new test using particles but as i said i have gone back to the old test i now know i shouldnt play with gravity field something i did before as this can really muck up everything else in the scene that has weight to it. So i have changed some of the attributes within the spring constraints which is basicly the stiffness and bounciness.

Dust is all around!

Ok two tests i have done on the building falling over quite happy with my initial tests on maya there is still a lot to learn in getting the dust correct, as it is suppose to disperse and then settle in the air and not really move this can be tricked by the camera angle but i would prefer to see if there was an actual way of doing it, i feel the later test is much better and will work on this one for now. I tried to teach Alec a lil bit about it and he gave me advice as well which was taken in.

polisherSmoke

By no means is this anywhere near the finished thing i can say it myself that looking at this video gives me a headache not because of the smoke but the colours i have in the cakground, oh well bit of fun. This test was done through the help of a tutorial on how to create smoke in maya. Needs tweaking and stuff in terms of speed, opacity and spread. The first two are pretty easy to tweak the later is done through a turbulence field which is a bit more tricky, it is done through emitting the particles through an object by using the verticies. Oh the video is really short will change that as well!

Expo

Went to London last Friday for a games Expo which was fun, played some unreleased games and some in 3d which was pretty cool. The main reason for it though was the companies from the games industry it was good to talk to them about the projects i was working on and how to get in to the industry. We also handed out leaflets about the degree show, so hopefully they will come along next year, also thinking about fund raising, its gona be hard but i believe that we can do!

Tutorials

Being RnD i decided to look into tutorials Grigs helped out a lot here giving me tonnes on cd, thanks for that. I spent pretty much all of monday and tuesday looking through them and taking notes and seeing which ones are relevant i was mainly looking at particles and dynamics. It has helped alot i have some initial tests which will be in later posts.
Having this role has really helped me understand maya a lot more and has broaden my skills and knowledge which is a good thing.
I have a lot of time to perfect these skills which will be needed if we want to get to industry standard. Areas i need to look at are steam/smoke for the polisher, dust and debris for Splay and general fog, i think we can get away with some stuff in after effects, talking to Alec and agreeing with him that tests are needed in after effects and maya for the same jobs to see what software will work best, looking at WallE has helped a lot with this and has given me some inspiration and ideas which will need testing with photoshop and after effects.
The cable is still looking floppy something that i dont like and it is fairly hard to control, im going to try a new way of doing the cable by using particles and hopefully see better results, i have been working on this and will posts will come later.
nCloth is fun i enjoy using it and experimenting with it once you get a grip of it its actully ok, my initial tests were fluidy since then i have looked at more tutorials and have changed some of the tabs/tools for it and i feel its getting there, this will also be posted later.

Fire Extinguisher

Well, had a bit of free time so thought i would do a lil model as i felt like it and there is obviously stuff to model in Polished Off so wanted to give it a go and see what the team thought. So below is an image of it, its pretty simple used cylinders and cubes whilst using bevel, extrude and insert edge loop to give the desired effect.

nCloth

Ok well they guys looked at the test and well pleased with what i was able to do i knew a lil bit about it already, so that helped. But in polished off our patient goes wacky so the guys wanted to see if that could be done and the duvet would go crazy, basicly wheather or not i had a flook or it could actually be used in the final stuff, i think this may just knock there socks off. It spacks out a lil but not much. I also tried adjusting the thickness off the colision so it didnt look like the duvet was floating invisible and there was a barrier.

nCloth Initial

Ok well from my task from Edgley, i have looked at a few basic tutorials on it and have used those to come up with this test, havent shown the others yet but from what i understand on nCloth it may be easier to model the duvet around the character then have the nCloth working or that there is a way of baking the nCloth so it is ready to do its thing instead of floating, dropping down then render it and it will be sorted, but there is plenty of time to look into it and perfect it!

Tasks

Look at cable more, Grigs tests for smoke etc on Splay and nCloth for bed!

That crazy polisher, look at him go!

Initial test of the polisher and how it could work, the objects were build in maya in seperate layers then put into after effects and using masking to subtract from the dirty floor to the clean one. There are obvious mistakes with it, but atleast we know we can achieve something in the final film! May try feathering it so it doesnt look so bold but more subtle!

Something from the weekend... and today

Well did a concept for Spaly in a whole different direction to what Phil has got, but hey thats what concept is for different styles working together to mold an amzing film that will blast your socks from your lil toes and will be so amazing that dogs would understand what is going on and weep in its emulsive story. So, here it is have a cuppa and let me know how you feel.

Formative and other work

Well today was formative day, it went ok in terms of work done for me it wasnt much havent been performing to well recently, but im gona pull my finger out. Im kinda stuck on what i can do i want to do tests like dust and stuff but ther just isnt enough computers, but in terms of work done i think the tutor was happy didnt have any negative so i guess carry on with what i have been doing! Essays are starting to come closer and whilst i have started them my head isnt in to them to much yet and weekends are useful for them. I am also thinking about the degree sho its on my shoulders and i want it to be as great as it can be!

Finals?

Well, they are finally modelled to a standard the team are pleased with Phil greatly helped with this, which was needed as it his film and if his not happy Im not happy and that is the same with Dan. The tweaking is the most important and it is good to rest looking back at the feet for the characters they were so flat and needed more height in them and look like the drawings Phil had done. The others chipped in from time to time to give their opinions so cheers for the support guys, appreciated.

More Modelling

After the success of Squ i went out on to model Splay and boid once again Phil was spoilt for choice on design the image below shows that! I had an idea for the feet, but with discussions with everyone they changed dramaticly. Using a Lattice to deform the character is very useful instead of trying to move every vertice. I think the majority of the team are happy with the models for now, may need a bit of tweaking though.

Clouds

Well these were tests i tried out by tinkering slightly with some of the tools you can create some nice clouds, but these still need tinkering with, this is the first time i have really played with fluid containers so maybe there is some success with more time to develop. well here are the images of them boi!

The progression of Squ

Well in the earlier post i said i modelled Squ it took a while to create but i think we are happy with it for now. I used Phils character model sheets from his blog and adapted them slightly, i took into consideration what he believed the shape should be which was a muffin top. So this shows images below of how Squ came to be.

Havent put much on recently but a lot has happened over the past few days...

I am now one of the class reps for the end of year degree show, which basicly means sorting it out in past years it hasnt been so successful with getting people in from the industry, this is hopefully something that will change this year. Got a lot of ideas about how to do it so hopefully they will work.

Essays and dissertation have also been getting a bit more time in them and im thinkin of what to write for them, my dissertation is pretty sound which is good.

With Splay and PO i have been doing various tasks and looking at other shorts mainly burning safari and oktopodi and the makings off to see how they have created ther work. some of the team members are saying dont look at it we wont be that good. Well your already shooting your self in the foot, you may as well try your hardest and try, whats the point of quitting now. Im definatly not gona quit and im gona make it my goal to try and get the films to look as good as we can through render passes and compositing, I believe we can do it, if gobelins can do it why cant we? What makes them so different to us if its workstations and power then we are just gona have to make sure we have enough time for rendering.

Ok in terms of work i have been looking at clouds for splay, they are kinda working but nothing i am happy with yet and it is my role to model Squ, Splay and boid. Its gona be hard a lot is on my shoulders i have been working on it today and with the aid of Edfley, Alec and Phil we have created a design the team are happy with at the moment.

Plug Test

Well, done a cheeky modelling test looking at ales modelling and Edgleys drawing my initial test came up of the image below, its ok for now. Reckon it will need to be changed or for alec to modify a lil bit. But i am happy with it and will put it in the scene hiding if they wont let me, will set the transparency to zero. Yeah how you like that.