Project #2

I saw the base model that we were given and my first thought was to do a more temple themed. Although I do remember Rob saying that it was more of a sci-fi door, or that’s what he had in mind when he was modeling it. I think the final product came out well enough. I think I managed to get the mood that I was going for. However, because I spent more time than I would have liked getting the stone texture finished, I was unable to add some of the details that I would have liked to added. I was going to add vines hanging from the ceiling. Would have been simple enough, just a plane with an opacity and diffuse map. Although having to draw the vines in by hand would have been time consuming, I think that it would have added to the piece.

To start off, I have to say that I had an unbelievably difficult time getting a seamless  stone texture. So what I ended up doing was recreating one that I had found online and made some changes to it.  After I got done with the base texture I wanted to add the vine work that would give the feeling that the place has been left alone for a while. After that was done the normal mapping played a part in giving me problems again, but I figured out a nice little trick to use with the filter in photoshop.

For the presented piece I wanted to get a close up of the wall with the sculpted out figures on it. It took me a great deal of time to take the base picture I found and make it into a decent normal map. In all honesty, that was the most time consuming part of this piece.

Any how, I hope you like it and get the same feeling that I do when I see it.

Kody Sokalski

Edit; made vines for the ceiling, and it obstructed my lighting to a degree that I did not care for, so I voted to scrap the idea.

Dumpster Project

 

 

I’m not entirely sure if we were supposed to post our projects on the blog or not, Rubric said to, but I haven’t seen any post, other than one, about it. Off the bat, I kind of had this feeling that I wasn’t really going to care for this project, and I ended being right. It’s the whole dumpster thing, not really my cup of tea so to speak. But I rolled with it anyways.

I unwrapped the model and clustered the shells in an order that made sense to me, and when I look back at how I laid my shells out it still makes sense to me, and I can tell what pieces are out according to the model.

As far as texturing went I decided to go with a rather plain diffuse, and a mixed style between Team Fortress 2 and  block painting. I chose to do this style of painting because I felt that it would help simulate that weird slime that I always come across on dumpsters. I skipped out on posting the opacity map as it’s all white, I didn’t want anything to be hidden.  Spec level and color I rolled with the same map. And then I had an idea with the normal mapping. I was hoping to get the impression that maybe some little kid had a field day and throw a firecracker or M80 or something in the bottom of the bin when it was empty and it had some effects on the dumpster. I hope it feels the same way to others as it does to me. So instead of indenting the dumpster like I was originally planning, I blew it out in place. My AO mapping I wanted highlights on the side because I had my render shot planned out already.

And the final product is what you see.

Rubric said to render out a wire-frame but I didn’t see the point in doing so as Rob modeled it.

Kody Sokalski

Case Study#7: Where are you at now?

 

-URL: Google.com first and foremost, http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/tutorials/best-texture-tutorials-photoshop/ <- and places like these derived from google.

Instead of picking just one site to run on about, I thought it through, and figured that with the plethora of sites that I have visited throughout the time of this course I decided that it would just feel better to go over why I chose to do this post the way I intend to.

We have covered a great deal of information in this class, even if we just happened to dip our toes into the water and get a glimpse of what is to come. Looking back at everything we did from in class assignments to the projects and previous case studies, the sites that I came across on the internet and looked into on the topics that we have studied have been vast. It’s safe to say that my bookmark count easily doubled if not doubled in the last 9 weeks. More than likely just from additional photoshop tutorials and guides to texturing, as well as a few sites that I came across that contain good size galleries of high resolution photos that can be used for references as well as texturing purposes.

I would just like to say that whenever in question, or stuck in a tight spot google has always led me to a great starting spot and beyond. Whenever I can’t remember something exactly and my notes let me down, I turn to google, and I’ve always managed to come out on the other side. So, instead of just picking one site and going on and on about it, I decided to go with a search engine that contains it all.

Kody Sokalski

Case Study#6: It’s all about the presentation!

 

URL:  http://www.sagiarts.com/

 

Question #1:  Why do you feel these portfolio pieces are so strong?

Answer #1: I personally feel that these portfolio pieces are so strong because they include key pieces of information that employers would be looking at. The Darksiders sword has the poly count, all mappings, diffuse, normal, and specular. Both pieces are named, and have a complete side by side of the model from wire frame, to finished model. All elements are labeled, and are placed neatly and nicely. I feel that the side by side of the model going from step to step really pulls the piece together.

Question #2:  What can you take away from what they have done with their portfolio?

Answer #2: I like the way the portfolio is set up as a whole. The portfolio has full pieces like the above, and then more renders of the model from different shots.  All the work presented in the portfolio is in descending order from latest work to oldest. The page itself is also very clean, I feel that reflects that work that is hidden within. I feel like I can take away their set up as far as putting together the final presentation. Especially the model going from step to step and progressing towards to the final product. I also like the more than just one rendering for the model. I feel like it gives more to the model. I feel that it gives it justice.

Kody Sokalski

Case Study#5: Ao’s, Normal’s and Cavity’s….oh my!

Normal Map URL’s;

http://www.fuelyourmotionography.com/normal-maps-how-do-they-work/

http://www.game-artist.net/forums/spotlight-articles/43-tutorial-introduction-normal-mapping.html

Ambient Occlusion Map URL’s;

http://www.game-artist.net/forums/support-tech-discussion/5488-whats-ambient-occlusion-map.html

Cavity Map URL;

 

 

Question#1:  Where in the design process does this technique belong?  Why?

All of these techniques should be used in the design process, in order to help define the model without contributing to a higher poly count, although these techniques should still be used on higher poly count models as well. Normal maps give the illusion that the model has fine surface detail when it’s not in the model itself, this is done through what I conclude as dynamic lighting effects.

Ambient occlusion is used to help reinforce and highlight features that are on the surface of the model, and texture. We know this technique as baking-in the light to the model.

Cavity maps in contrast, from what I gathered, it takes the portions of the model that is hidden from light and applies more darker tones to assist them in being less evident to in-game lighting.

All of these techniques and maps help to improve the model, or texture in one way or another, without adding to the poly count of the model.

Question#2:  All of these techniques will work with one another, of the three, which one is the most beneficial to the artist?  Why?

I feel that this question is rather unfair. Reason being, I feel that all of these techniques are beneficial, and even more so when all three are used together. It’s like having the three musketeers and taking one of them away, when was the last time you heard of the two musketeers? Sure, there are the two amigos, or even the lone wolf, but the point I am trying to make is that when you have 3 techniques that work so well together and are all beneficial it’s difficult to make a call on which is the MOST beneficial. But if I had to make a choice, I would go with the normal mapping as it can had increased detail to the surface of the model with adding more poly’s to the count, which is in turn less strain on the engine.

Question#3:  According to the article(s), how have these techniques improved the quality of work for the artists?

These techniques do a multitude of different improvements for the artists. The main one that hits home for especially is the simplification in the work flow. Normal mapping cuts out having to actually model some more elaborate details that might appear on a model, for example. With that comes less poly’s which mean less strain within the engine. Then there is AO maps that can cut down on the lighting which again saves more stress on the engine’s part. The combination of the usage of these maps also creates more realistic textures and models, in comparison to just using nothing more than a diffuse map.

Kody Sokalski

Assignment#5: Mood board and color palettes

 

 

For the mood board, I set it up to reflect the life of a Red Giant Star life. Finishing with a spectacular supernova, and finally into the vacuum of space and darkness. After thinking of what to base the weapon as well as the mood board on this became increasingly less difficult to put together. With all components of the weapon each representing a different “stage” in the stars life, the blade became the life phase full of vibrant colors, and what I was going for on the the little painting on the blade, is that it would be an animated flow of yellow and orange, constantly fluxing. The gems would serve to be the short phase of the supernova, although the colors of supernovas vary depending on how large the star was, and how much helium it consumed before it collapsed in on it self, I simply went with a small amount of white, slowly reaching into a deep purple. And afterwards, the metal would represent where the once mighty star would lie in emptiness forever, so I went with black, seemed like an obvious choice there. Anyways, that was what I was thinking as I was putting this together.

Kody Sokalski

Assignment #4

Starting with the UV render, I stuck with the half model just to see how it plays out in the end, as I have down full models in the past. Honestly, doing half of the model really threw me off, as odd as that may be. The whole while I felt lost? Sure, let’s go with that. I put more emphasis on the shoulder than any other piece of armor, then the helmet. Reason being, is because I always look at the shoulders first. I can’t really say why, I just do.

I prefer to scale the UV’s up for at least one of the shots of it on the model, just to see that layout that is there. Far more difficult to do when it’s packed in the UV space. But here is the other one.

 

Kody Sokalski

 

Case Study#4: Do you have any references?

Artist’s Name: Kekai Kotaki

Their blog URL: http://www.kekaiart.com/about-me.html

Company(ies) worked for: ArenaNet 8+ years

Games Worked on: Guild Wars Franchise

Role for said Games: Texture Artist, Concept Artist

Images of some of their texture work

Question #1: What about their style is exciting or inspirational to you?

Answer #1: In terms of his concept art, I love the way he portrays and runs with scale. A sense of awe alone comes from that aspect. You can also get a very good sense of how everything would actually feel just by looking at it. The way he does armor in general hits home for me, from the simple cloth to the heavy plate. His concept art is amazing, and I am blown away on how it translates into the latest game he worked on, Guild Wars 2. I’m awe struck by it as a whole, it’s exciting and inspirational at the same time.

Question#2: What did you take away from this person that you can use to help yourself?  Was it a texturing technique, a piece of advice, or something from their art style?

Question #2: As I said before, his armor work is awesome, and even more so that’s it for an mmo. Which as we know typically requires lower resolution texture maps to account for the vast world, and the vast player base. I e-mailed him just to see if he had anything that he would like to comment on, but I have yet to get a reply. However, even with that said I think it is fairly easy to stare at his work and get lost, all while taking careful notes of course. I really like his art style as a whole, I think it will have to be an inspired by case for sure, so if I take anything away, it’s that.

Kody Sokalski

Case Study#3: Your face is a UV!!

Question#1:  What was their method of unwrapping?  What steps were taken and why?

Answer #1: He began by cutting apart the model so that it would be easier to work with. One piece of the puzzle at a time if you will. He made and applied a checker pattern on the model, just as we do. In order to assist in seeing if there is any stretching on the texture. Then he went to a side view of his model over the texture, and took the vertices on the edge of the model and pulled them way out so that he could “play with” them. Then he took all the vertices and made them as level as possible. Then he aligned them. From there he went into the unfold tool, Maya’s unwrap, and began to tinker with the options. He pinned the vertices and cranked the bias up. I was actually pretty blown away on his second try. It came out pretty damn well.

Question#2:  From what you saw in their tutorial, was there anything from their technique that you found interesting or unusual?  Why?

Answer #2 At the start of the video, he explained that the unwrap, lighting, and texture all work together to improve the quality of aesthetic value of your model.  It didn’t seem like he used many “techniques” within his video, but if it counts the tools in Maya for unwrapping seem far, far more powerful than those in Max. I’ve seen a few other Maya unwrap videos, and have come to that same conclusion. That program has, in my opinion, far better tools for the job than Max does.

Question#3:  Knowing what you know now, and seeing others working on the same material you are, what are your expectations or feelings on the matters of unwrapping?

Answer #3 Knowing what I know now, my expectations of wrapping in Max remain as they did. But  Maya on the other hand, I would like to get into a little more, even if it is just for the unwrapping. The process as a whole seems more efficient, as well as less strenuous.

Kody Sokalski

Assignment#3: Spaceship UVs

I went for a space saving UV pack, which in some cases would be practical in a game. I would easily be able to fit additional assets onto this single UV space. I stacked similar pieces on top of each other, and I kept all the UV’s scaled to one another. As a result of doing so, I left seams alone which would make the actual texture process a bit more of a challenge to complete, but at with that said, I feel as if it cut down the amount of stretching that occurs on the model.

I did scale my UVs up for the picture of the checker texture to help illustrate the point of less stretching.

Kody Sokalski