Evil Baby Character

Ok so for the past few days I've been conceptualising my evil baby character and trying to model him. I've looked at many images but the main one which really stood out and inspired me was one I found from deviant art:

After finding a nice orthographic picture of a baby on-line I decided to use it as a base for the character giving it an over exaggerated look to the character with a huge head and small body. I did this because i did not want to fall into the same trap as I did before in making realistic models. It only made life hard especially when using low poly geometry modelling. I figured that since the baby wont be focused on as much as the main character it wouldn't be necessary to have as much detail in the model. Learning from my prior mistakes I realised that I should base most of the detail of the UV maps instead of the model itself. There will be large amounts of babies on the screen at the same time when the game in complete so this also emphasised the point that it did not have to be very very detailed. As long as there was enough geometry in the joints to move and animate I was happy.

As for the texture I chose a nice flaky effect with gave the baby a zombie like appearance mixing dark colours and blood together. I contrasted this with the colours of the nappies to give it a strong aura about the character. It looks scary but at the same time cute. Ultimately I am extremely happy with the final outcome. Instead of painting I primarily used pre-made textures that I overlayed on top of each other to give the desired effect.

                                                                       

Walk Cycles

I have also been putting a lot of my time and effort into walk cycles of the main character. It meant that I had to set up a mirror in my room so that I could watch myself walk across the room. I examined human movements and used this information to make a walk cycle. The first walk cycle went well, however I realised after making the rig that I had not froze the transformations of the controllers which meant it was very hard to make it symmetrical  Not only that but I did not attach a global control to the rig which meant that the model walked across the canvas instead of in one place. This meant that when the model was imported into unity it actually walked away from the camera when you pressed 'W'. 

Because of this I had to create a whole new rig and start the animation from scratch which allowed me to correct my mistakes. In the end this was the best thing for the walk cycle because the final result was far superior than the first. Practice makes perfect. Not only that but from watching the character in the game I realised that in order to go up stairs the character had to jump so I thought it would be wise to add a jump cycle as well as a stationary pose. Here are the final results: 

Overall I am quite happy with it at the moment, the feet look quite static but that's because I used a reverse foot lock technique in the feet, evidently it works great on high poly characters but not so well with low poly. I will keep this in mind for next time. 

Environment Modeling

While working from home I also began working on the crypt model within the game. This modelling is A LOT easier than character modelling as you can block out major shapes with simple objects like walls/floors etc. I'm developing a workflow for buildings where I can reuse objects to save myself a lot of time. This was the first attempt at modelling a building and it turned out better than expected. There are 2 tombs, with stairs in both leading down to a secret room where the player will encounter the 'music box.' This is just one of five scenes in the game that players will encounter. All I need to do is UV map the building and its finished. I have however already given Tim the base mesh for him to play around with and position within the game.

I modelled a few different versions to show the team and find out which one they liked best. Here is the final outcome:

UV Mapping

I was not happy with the colouring of the last character. This was because I was using straight colour shaders from Maya which made the character look very plain and bland (what I like to call Iceblock material). This really made the character feel tacky. I wanted the audience to 'believe' the character in the game world and so I decided to UV map the entire character instead. I also did this so that the group could have some input as to what they wanted the character to look like. With my workload already taking up all my time I figured it might give other team members a part to play in the character. However in the end I decided to do it myself as it was too hard to explain how to paint the UV map and know where to place certain shading to emphasize shadows on the model. To help me regulate where exactly I needed to paint I used the 3d paint tool in Maya to highlight areas where I wanted to add more detail.

From there I imported the files into Photoshop where I used an oil painting technique to layer on the base colour of the character. From there I added details and shadows to the character. The last step was to use the Photoshop function 'Overlay' to combine real life textures of the top of the clothing, skin, and hair to give the character a more realistic look. 

NEW CHARACTER

Ok so I made the decision to make a whole new character because I was not happy with the original character. Not only was it very high poly but the mesh did not distort well when a skeleton was applied to it. I decided to simplify the character down to be sure that the poly count was under 4k. This would ensure the game would not slow down if it was to be run on a laptop.

I found that with designing low polygon characters it was a lot more challenging because you have to use every polygon efficiently so that the character will distort with the skeleton without artefacts appearing on the mesh. This was harder than I thought it would be. I learned what I needed from the first character so not all was lost from that time spent. I also designed the new character keeping in mind the earlier problems. For example, I made the limbs slimmer which would deform better and studied human anatomy to work out which direction muscles flow in the body to generate more life like rotations and bends.

Communication is Key.

As the title states, I am finding that as we draw closing to the due date me and Tim are having to communicate a lot more which is changing the dynamics of our workflow. Because we are both learning the programs we have no idea what will and wont work. After creating a whole new model and walk cycle animation I gave the FBX to Tim which produced some very interesting results. Results that transformed my character model into something that resembled a retarded Tweedledum.

I was trying to solve the problem for days, remaking the rig, altering scale ratios of the rig controllers, changing units. But nothing seemed to work. Surprisingly enough after a bit of playing around I found that the problem could be solved by changing the settings in the actual FBX file from inches to cm. This fixed the problem because unity works in metric units and was being confused by the FBX format. We sighed with relief because it meant that Tim could play around with the animations.

That is another issue with our workflow, it seems that for a specific task to be done it means that someone else has to finish their task. Its like a hierarchy. I cant model till I know what exactly is in the game and Tim cant progress in unity until I finish specific models. If someone doesn't work it means that all of us suffer.

Insane Workload.

I think we should definitely have thought more about what roles were assigned to people. Im unsure of what everyone else is doing. The only people in the group with a solid role is myself and Tim. It seems every time I come into uni people are just doing their own thing instead of focusing on the project and hacking away at things which really need to be done. I keep coming into uni and seeing conceptual drawings being done by other members in the group but it is far too late to keep producing them. I think the group needs to focus on the final product and stop drowning in concepts. I keep saying that we need to actually start producing items which are going to be USED in the final presentation. Such as the animation cut scene at the start of the game. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated when team members play games during studio time where I'm working my ass off all day everyday till 2am trying to learn Maya. This seems to be an everyday thing and I cant stand it any more especially since we have so much to do in so little time. I know that with only 2 people on the technical side of the game we are going to bare the brunt of the majority of the workload. With that said I am getting a lot of work done and I am now fairly fluent with Maya.

This also bring up an important issue that I am having. Because I am working so hard to learn this program it does not really allow me get too involved in the conceptual side of the project which worries me. We agreed at the start that we would have people dedicated to sorting out the story but it has just taken far too long to get a clear idea as to what exactly I need to model and animate because things keep changing. I wish I could partake more in the conceptual side of things but with 5 people in the group things are just getting way to complicated. In a way I am glad that I have a concrete role in the group because I know exactly what I need to do for the day when I wake up in the mornings. There's no "wondering where to go from here" thoughts which is absolutely great.

I  think from now on I will just work from home as I just get far too distracted at BCT, its not a good environment for me to work in especially modelling on a small laptop. I haven't been to uni in a week and I have accomplished more than I have in the entire semester.

Assignment 1b

Nicholas Hodgson 1113154    176004: Intellectual Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

1A:   (1198 words excluding bibliography)

The two most influential entrepreneurs I have choses are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steve Jobs. These two men have greatly changed the way I think and act in more ways than one. All throughout their lives, these two men have faced hardships and many hurdles and they continuously break down the barriers in front of them. They both have a very unique and individual ‘never say die’ attitude to life and its possibilities.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is predominantly known for his bodybuilding career however, many people fail to realize that Arnold was actually a millionaire before he even considered Hollywood at the age of 22. Arnold represents pure determination, and this determination he applies to every aspect of his life. All throughout his life to the present day he was an unstoppable force. He set ridiculous goals for himself and conquered all of them. He applied the same mentality he had for body building into his business ventures also. In 1968 Arnold and a friend founded a bricklaying business anticipating the demand following the Paris earthquakes. Following the bricklaying business the profits were invested in a mail order service where fitness equipment and instructional tapes were distributed. He also invested in property in his early 20’s which has led to him owning hundreds of millions of properties to this day. (Carlos Lim, 2011) Arnold quotes, “The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.” (Michael E. Angier, December 1, 2004) This singular quote truly has altered my mentality towards life in more ways than one. It shows that literally anything is accomplishable no matter how impossible the goal may seem as long as you want it enough.

 Arnold solely has taught me to crave perfection in every aspect in life. If I do not put all my efforts into something I feel ashamed and disappointed in myself. After all, I am representing myself and only myself in this world, and my efforts in life are what define and reflect who I am as a person. Another important philosophy of Arnold’s is this, “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.  When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” (EDBERG) This quote of Arnolds made me realize a long time ago that life is not perfect; it is the imperfections and hardships of life that molds who a person is. When you get knocked down, get back up again and realize your mistake and improve upon yourself. Arnold has taught me that determination and perseverance is something that should be applied to everything in life. I have learnt a new found respect for myself and my potential. We all have inner power to drive us forward but we must visualize success before we can reach success.

Arnold completely altered my work habits by making me realize that while “I’m out drinking partying, someone out there in the world is working harder than me, and someone is getting smarter than me.” (Schwarzenegger, 2009) I have focused a lot of my energy learning 3d design, spending more than 4 hours a day studying it in my spare time. I asked myself, what do I want to be? Not what my parents and teachers want me to be, but what makes me happy?”(Schwarzenegger, 2009) I want to break the rules, and I’m not afraid of failure. It is out of these failures of mine that will ultimately lead to success. Steve also reinforces this showing me that even the darkest moments of life can bring about prosperity, creativity and innovation. Even after he was fired from his own business, (Jobs, 2005) he realized that he was free from overbearing colleagues and able to think in a completely different way. Life is not a straight road, and Steve has taught me to use my curiosity and inquisitive nature to deepen my knowledge because no matter how small or insignificant it may be. It may well be one of the “dots” that connects your life together. Just like Arnold, I love to be told by the “naysayers what I can’t do.” (Schwarzenegger, 2009)   It simply fuels my desire to succeed to prove people wrong. When I set my mind to something I want to be the best at it, I don’t want to be like everyone else, “what’s the point in living if your goals are the same as everyone else’s.” (Schwarzenegger, 2009)  

I personally relate to Steve early life because just like him I also dropped out of university. I knew computer systems engineering was not for me, so “what was the point?” I did not want to settle in life doing something I hated. However this taught me something valuable. Having to do what I absolutely hated for a year and a half taught me a great deal in work ethic. Although I was only just passing, it was a huge accomplishment having never studied physics or programming. Steve quotes, “The only way you can do great work is to love what you do.” I believed that there was no way I could have excelled because I never truly had my heart in it.  “Believing in the dots will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when they lead you off track.” (Jobs, 2005) I have faith in my dots; after all, if I had not left engineering then I would not have discovered my passion for 3d design. For once in my life, I do what I love and love what I do. I now completely agree that “the only way to be truly satisfied in life is to do what you believe is great work.”(Jobs, 2005)

These 2 entrepreneurs’ paths in life could not be more contrasted, however at the same time they both apply a very similar mentality to their lives. They not once rolled over and accepted defeat. Both these men followed their dream and what they loved. Ultimately because of this, it gave them the drive to push themselves in life and accomplish great things. I once viewed myself as an embarrassment and a failure, however my mentality has changed and I have adopted a whole new perspective of my own life. Arnold fought tooth and nail to become what he is today, having not even being able to speak English when he came to America. Steve also managed to regain his foothold despite being fired from his own self-created multimillion dollar company. If I have learnt anything from studying these two men it is that if I have a dream I must chase it no matter the cost. However there is a difference between these two entrepreneurs and their practices, Arnold used casual reasoning, diligently seeking ways to achieve a goal. Steve on the other hand harnessed effectual reasoning as he did not believe in following a prescribed path or predictions; he took in everything that happened on life’s journey into consideration.  (Relating to the quote about life’s dots)This showed me that once again, the path to success can be reached in more ways than one.

Bibliography

Carlos Lim, R. C. (2011). Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger Biography. Retrieved from arnoldaloisschwarzenegger.com: http://arnoldaloisschwarzenegger.com/biography.html

Cristina. (2009, May 15th). Six Rules on How to Be Successful. Retrieved from GraduationWisdom: http://www.graduationwisdom.com/speeches/0067-schwarzenegger.htm

EDBERG, H. (n.d.). Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Top 5 Tips for Building the Life You Want. Retrieved from PositivityBlog: http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2010/08/19/arnold-schwarzeneggers-top-5-tips-for-building-the-life-you-want/

Michael E. Angier, S. P. (December 1, 2004).101 Best Ways To Get Ahead

(2006, March 6th). Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005. Retrieved from 

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

Jobs, Steve (2005, June) Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech, Stanford University

Schwarzenegger, Arnold (2009, May) USC Commencement Address, University of Southern California

Assignment 1a Video Presentation

KARBASFROOSHAN, A. (2012, May 17th). Why Entrepreneurs Fail And Most Startups Are DOA. Retrieved from TechCrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/17/why-entrepreneurs-fail/

Buchanan, L. (2011, Feb 1st). How Great Entrepreneurs Think. Retrieved from Inc.com: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/how-great-entrepreneurs-think.html

Jobs, Steve (2005, June) Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech, Stanford University

Schwarzenegger, Arnold (2009, May) USC Commencement Address, University of Southern California