gravestone and faceswap

Booya!

demo reel

Presentation

Update!

Alright, I finished the furby gun. I still need to add a normal to it, but it's pretty much done. The nail gun is at the same spot right now. Just have to add some normals/bumps and then render them out with some lighting. I'm now turning my attention to the interior scene. I'm modeling as I type this and plan to have the modeling done tonight and start the UVs. I'll probably be able to get a decent chunk of those done as well.

The only thing I'm thinking about changing on the furby gun is the handle. not really liking the handle being the same color as the other braces. i may go back and change that to a darker, almost black, color. other than that, i'm happy with how it came out. i like how the flame looks and it adds a cartoony element to it as well.

weekly update

I mostly just worked on my interior scene this week. It's more fun at the moment. My guns are nearly done. I just have to add spec, bump/normal to my nail gun. The furby gun requires a creative decision, so I'm holding off on that. I am thinking about just making the tube that holds the furby's transparent and actually model a few little balls to go in there. It's too much of a hassle to paint the texture on there. I can't get it to look right. After I make that, the furby gun will go fast because that one is designed to look more cartoonish and I won't have to focus so much on making it down and dirty.

Anyway, as I said, I spent most of my time this week on the interior scene. I didn't get as much done as I wanted to because of other classes, but I'm satisfied. I'm nearly finished with modeling.

The first render will not have that background image. It's the vibe I'm going for with a sunset, but I got tired of rendering out the image with a plain color background. I had to go through and resize my objects and that took some time. Now they're all correct sizes and it shouldn't be a problem. My scene is going to feature a lot of glass. The living room table will have a glass top. The table closest to the camera will have a glass top. The tv stand will have glass door panels. I'm also thinking of making part of that back wall (behind the tv) a glass window. I think it would look cool. It'll give me a chance to work on a glass object (something I haven't really done).

Anyway, I have the couches and the last table left. The plant is just going to be a paintFX. I got the rim of the walls done as well. I hated how it looked when I took a texture and had it run into another texture because there was just an edge dividing it. Adding the brim around the roof will give it a more natural look.

I'm deciding about cutting out the hole in the guitar or just painting it on. Without limitations, I may just cut it out.

I'm hoping to have the modeling and most, if not all, the UVs done. I'm going to give Road Kill a try as well. I'd be pleased if I got started on some texture by the next update. We'll see. I'll try to find time to finish the textures on my guns as well. I think an hour or so of solid texturing should be enough to finish them.

update on projects.

I worked a little on all my projects this week. I was excited to jump into the interior scene, so I started the bounding box on that. I worked on my nail gun and suicidal furby gun as well.

The first update is the nail gun.

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I wanted to add a sense of "use" on the gun, so I went through and gave it a down and dirty feel. I haven't finished with it yet, but I feel like I am getting closer. As I said in my previous update, I am growing tired of these guns, so I am doing my best to complete them. Anyway, I added some rust to the base paint. I got the logo done for the gun and added it to the grade. The only thing that is really left for this is to take the stand holding the gun and add some rust/dirt. Other than that, some more simple textures will do the trick. This is a diffuse only at the moment, but I plan on adding a spec and bump/normal to it. The bump will help to bring out some of the chipped paint look.

Next I worked on the suicidal furby gun.

This one is still in the beginning stages of texturing. I was playing around with some rust texturing under the paint to give it some grime. I also got my easy button on there. I have a general idea of what I want to do with this, but I wanted to talk to Frank about some ideas. My main problem for this project is the ammo holding the Furby's. Since that's the "selling point" on this asset, I want to get it right. My problem is it's a tube, but I want to make it look like the furby balls are inside that tube and I'm having a hard time with that. I'll talk to Frank about that on Monday. I feel like this texture will go much faster after I figure that out. The only thing is the clamps and scope.

Finally, I got my bounding box started for my interior scene.

I decided that I am going to do something that I'd like for my own house. The opening on the bounding box will be an open wall (similar to the reference). My differences are I will have a living room area (with couches and a TV) but I will populate the rest of the room with stuff that I'd have in my own house (like guitars on the walls, and whatever else I can think of to add). I got my camera set where my shot will be. I'll probably knock out another wall in the bouncing box that will be my door. It'll be just visible on the right side. Everything else will be similar to the reference. The open roof (hardwood texture) with the beams and ceiling fans will be added.

I'm going to try and have the guns completely finished by the next update so I can concentrate on this. I feel like if I get the Furby gun problem solved, then it'll flow. The spec and bump/normals will be easy to finish. It's just finishing the diffuse textures that'll burn up some time.

Been awhile.

It's been awhile since I've updated this. Spring Break came then I got sick the following week. In that time, I've accomplished very little. I missed last week completely, so unfortunately, this project got pushed to the back burner so I could catch up with my other classes.

I've some progress in the direction I've decided to go. The last update had excitement for Substance Painter, but it's still in beta and are adding features that I didn't realize needed to be added. I was looking around for the eye dropper tool for an hour, and it turns out it wasn't even in the program yet. They've since added it, but I don't want to devote time to the program if they're still adding very basic things. So, I've decided to skip Painter for a bit and just finish this project up. This week I will finish texturing my two guns so I can move onto my next project. I've already talked to Frank about this, but I am mentally over this project and want to move onto something else.

The next thing I will be doing is an interior scene. I will attempt to light it was VRay. I've never used the program, but I really wanted to use this class to try different programs/plugins that I've never had the chance to play with. I've found reference art for the interior scene. I had an idea of what I wanted before I even started searching reference so it wasn't hard to find what I wanted. I wanted a Hawaiian vibe. Open walls, with the beach in the background. I wanted the chance to use some knowledge that I gained from the Lighting and Texturing class semester. I settled on these reference images:

The last one is the actual look I am going for. Instead of the statues, I'll be modeling some guitars to throw on the walls and create my own vibe. I like the open ceiling and the way that it's lit. 

I expect to have it completely boxed out by next update with some models started and possibly finished. I'm going to try and move fast on this project. I will also be allowed to model in higher poly this time, so I will be less concerned with limits (that I've had all semester). I'm looking forward to this project. First thing is first, though. I will finish the two low-poly guns this weekend.

Jumping into Substance Painter

I got Painter this week and have been playing with it. Information on the program is being released slowly, so it's hard to do things that shouldn't be that hard. They finally released a mask video to show us to use their quick mask tools (They're a bit clunky right now). It's a paint to select certain areas to mask, but they've said they expect an easier tool within the next few weeks.

Anyway, I finally got to play around with it a bit and got some basic colors down for my Suicidal Furby gun. I was going to try and texture this exclusively in Painter, but I decided that would be counter-productive and will use Photoshop as well. I'll actually use Photoshop more for adding image-type textures (logos, text, ect...). Until I learn Painter more, I feel like this will be better workflow.

Here are two screenshots of where I am. Just the basic diffuse materials on there right now. I'm liking the way the scope is coming out. I'll take that into photoshop to add a glass texture for the ends of the scope. I also like their shinny plastic preset. I used that for my "easy" button. I'll also take that into Photoshop and throw the text on top of there. I haven't fully decided on what I'll do with the ammo chamber (silver area in the back). Probably take that into photoshop to color in the furby balls. I also want to make it look "down and dirty" so I'll try to do that in Painter. They have some cool physics brushes that I can try, but I may also just add some detail in photoshop as well. I'm also still deciding on some colors for the pieces of themselves. I want to change the brackets to a different color, so I'll play with that. The handle will also be a rubber, but I have to decide if I want the full bracket piece to be rubber or just the handle.

Overall, I am starting to get a grasp on the program a bit. As more information is released on how to do basic things, I feel like I'll be able to produce more things in a decent amount of time.

quick start with Painter.

Saving is a pain in the ass with Painter.

Substance Designer 4

Hey guys,

Alright, I decided to make another change. I talked to Frank and I'm moving on from my original plan and will transition into learning Substance Designer 4 and Substance Painter. There are a few reasons for this: I think learning these new programs are a more valuable use of my time. Instead of texturing my items with Photoshop and moving on with the go-cart, I'll use that time to learn these programs. I will then use these programs to texture my two video game assets. The other reason I am moving on is I am getting bored with the workflow that I am doing currently. I am doing the same exact thing in another class and it's just not what I want to do for a portfolio class. Plus, I feel like being able to texture these items with Substance Designer will only enhance my portfolio and allow me to add another valuable heading to my demo reel and portfolio.

Alright, so my new plan is to learn these two new programs. I still want to do an interior scene with vray (another 'program' that I'd like to learn) so as of now, I'd like to continue with that. I'll see how Substance Designer and Paint go. I may get into it and decide to press forward.

I've purchased a copy of Substance Desinger Paint out of the Steam beta and will start playing with it. This past week I've watched a ton of youtube tutorials on the programs. With the release of Painter on Thursday, some tutorials are starting to trickle out as well.

Frank told me about this program on Tuesday, and since then, I have watched more than 10 hours easily.

Here is a list of a few that I've watched:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ETs6v9HlVk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71V6Vi6OpbM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hh_Zb676RM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TU7LKX3IWg

I also downloaded a few hour tutorial off of the internet that talked about texturing a barrel in Substance Designer and Unity. I've put my time into learning this program because I am genuinely excited to learn it.

Now that I have Painter, I'll be playing with that over the weekend. I'll try to get something at least started for the presentations on Tuesday.

Weekly update.

Alright, this is what I have done this week. Last week I was finishing up the UVs for the suicidal Furby gun. I finished them, but somehow lost that work and had to redo a portion of them this week. The UVs for that gun are completely done and ready to texture.

The UV picture is coming out blurry for some reason. You can get the point, though. The big object to the top right is my easy button. I made it bigger because I am planning on putting some decent detail into it.

Next I moved onto my Nail Gun. I had the Furby gun modeled and UV'd for the most part and I needed my nail gun to catch up. I spent a lot of time this week on modeling, UVing and even started to texture it a bit. I had a problem early on of weight distribution being a problem. Frank helped me with equaling out the weight to make it look balanced.

I got the UVs done. 

My diffuse map. I've been playing around with different color patterns trying to make it look cartoony, but realistic at the same time.

I was also playing around with adding rust, dirt and overall nasty stuff to it. I just added this layer of stuff towards the end of my work tonight. This blog was due in about an hour and I had been working on it for the majority of the day, so I decided to call it for the night. I want to add that same yellow stripe to the other side of the gun as well. I want to add the grime to patchy areas of the gun that make sense. I really want to get into the crevices more and give it a worn look (more on that later).  

Overall render of the gun so far. I haven't adjusted anything in Photoshop, yet. I am still going to tweak the levels and give it a more darker contrasty feel. This is color only with minimal change to the spec options (no spec map yet). I plan on adding some rivets to the sides and using normal and bump maps to make them "bump." 

The crate will also have a decal on the left side that has some kind of funny picture (logo) of a guy and rail road spikes. It'll also be on the right side of the crate as well. I just haven't came up with the logo yet.

I'm also considering dropping my go-cart project, with Frank's approval, and really getting into the texturing of this and the suicidal furby gun. I am having more fun with texturing than modeling at the moment (I am doing a lot of modeling in other classes and getting burnt on it). I am really interested in learning to use dDo better. I was watching a video on how a guy was texturing a chainsaw and it's interesting. I've never messed with dDo, but I think this would be the perfect project to get into it. I'll talk to Frank about it on Monday.

Weekly update.

Here are two images of the Suicidal Furby gun:

It was fully UVd, but my last save didn't make it to my flash drive and probably got deleted off of the school computers. I just have to go back and UV the scope and handle. It's coming along nicely. I'm excited to start texturing it. I'll have the texturing done by Thursday.

Here are two images of my Nail Gun:

Still have a little left to model on this one. I am going for a cartoony vibe on this as well. The box will be a crate that is being held together by duct tape. Rusty train spikes will be sticking out (probably alpha cards). There will be a hose/tube underneath the main turret part that is sucking nails up into the gun. I'll try to have this UVd and ready to texture by Friday. That'll give me a few weeks to model and texture my cart.

I ran into problems this week. Mostly due to other classes requiring my time, but I also ran into a problem when it came to modeling. I'm having a tough time getting the model to look good at 500 tris. These are portfolio pieces, so I want them to look good. The main problem I am having right is the structure of the suicidal furby gun.

Excuse the concept art. I was working off of a sawed off shotgun look. The idea is to have the bottom front part be a tube that holds the furby's. It would work as a ammo cartridge. The first problem I am running into is for the gun to be "practical" (I use that lightly because it's shooting suicidal furbys) that whole front assembly would have to be one tube. That way the furby would go from the chamber on the bottom to the top barrel part. When I do this, I go way over my 500 tri limit and it leaves me no room to adjust the handle or even had the trigger. My new step is to lower the quality of the cylinder and see if I can make it look good while still hitting my 500 tri limit. The idea still works the same; I am going to paint the furbys on the camber and give it a stylized look.

Frank, I know it doesn't look like I've put that much time into it, but I have. I've thought about the practicality of the a bit and even modeled out a few pieces that I've since deleted. I may bug you on Monday or Tuesday for some help on this if I cannot get it going over the weekend.

Quick note about the second gun. It's the nail shooter. I am going to scrap the idea of dual-cannons and just go with a singular cannon with three barrels. Less tris, leaving me more to add some detail.

Not as much progress as I would have liked this week. I made some important decisions, but it doesn't look like that much work. I originally was going to go with a more realistic look on my textures for this project, but after working on a video game from another class that uses a stylized art style, I've decided that will be the approach that I use for this project.

The textures will be hand drawn and have a more cartoony look them. I've been thinking about asking Frank if it'll be worth it to try modeling and texturing more game assets with the same style. It would be good practice for the other game I've been working on.

Better updates next week. I'm going to try and get the models up.

The two weapons I've decided to do are the nail gun and suicidal furby.

The nail gun functions the same as my last post:

- It'll be two separate chain-gun barrels (total of 12 barrels). There will be a hose that sucks the nails from a broken down cardboard box. The nails themselves will be railroad spikes that have a down and dirty rusted look.

this is the look I'm thinking about:

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I am only going to use the dual barrel design and the top part of the base. I'm going to go for a more rusted, down and dirty look for this whole gun, though. The base, barrels and railroad spikes will be rusted up.

The suicidal furby gun:

- This idea basically replaces the idea of the facehugger (from aliens). The gun would shoot out a furby that expands after being shot (a ball of fur when in the gun) and eventually blows up. Along the way, the furby just mumbles about random angry things before blowing up.

The longer barrel is the cannon. The bottom is the "ammo clip". The middle part of the bottom tube will be transparent (glass?) and house the furballs. The cannon part will be a little more detailed. I'll attach this to a base so it's ready to be attached to the go-cart.

The decision has been made!

Frank and I decided on what I should do for my portfolio project. I'll do two different weapons based in the game reality of Fuzzy Riders. They'll be fully modeled, textured and use basic lighting. I'll focus on modeling for game design and will keep an eye on my poly/tri limit.

I haven't decided which weapons I'll do yet, but I'll make that final decision by Friday. 

After this, I will build a go-cart also in the realm of Fuzzy Riders. The idea is that one, or both, of the weapons built previously will be attached to the cart in some way. The cart will be stylized, but also have a rugged, "used" look to it.

I'll write up a more detailed report on this when I decide on the direction I am taking. This portion of the project must be done by March 17th.

The rest of the semester, I will be working on an interior scene. The focus here will be realism and possibly exploring alternative renders like VRay and Arnold. Concept art will be added at a later date for this project.

The first idea for my portfolio project is to work with Daniel Troxel for an idea we had a few semesters back. We came up with a game called Fuzzy Riders. It’s a game that would mash up Mario Kart and destructible Fuzzy’s (think of a more mature Mario Kart). Through the past few semesters, we’ve created different assets for the game in various classes. The idea, a previs game board, actual 3d models of characters and we would like to add some more.

This semester I’d like to model a few weapons from the game. Some are iconic versions of other video game weapons and some are the more generic weapons. They’re all mounted to the go-cart that the Fuzzy’s race in and we would model with that in mind.

I’d like to do three or so of these weapons to start out. After that, I want to model a go-cart that is specialized for one of the racers in the league. I then would take one of the weapons I modeled before and attach it to the cart.

Some weapon ideas:

Weapon Decoy – 

Our item boxes to pick up a weapon (question mark box from Mario kart) are still up in the air, but the decoy would be a little different than the normal box.

Personal note: I think a little bunny holding a present box floating off of the ground for the actual weapon box would be awesome. When you got near it, if it were the decoy, then the eyes of the rabbit turn red and a bomb jumps up from the present.

Animation note: The eyes turn red, steam comes out of the ears (old Looney Toons style), the bomb jumps out of the box with a smile on its face.

Spike Strip – 

Standard looking spike strip. Made out of rubber with nails sticking out.

Personal note: I’d like the nails to look more haggard and just overall dirty looking. The nails shouldn’t be uniform. Different sized nails, pointing in different directions, some rusted, ect… I’d like it to look like someone did it at home.

Ol’ Switch-A-Roo –

Switches places with the person one place ahead of you. Modeling for this could be fun, but ideas are slim. Maybe a futuristic looking cannon that has a Recyclesque type of circular arrow signaling a switch or change. This would be hard to model and make it distinctive, so will probably be avoided. 

Nail Gun – 

A gun that shoots nails. 

Personal note: I’m thinking of a chaingun type design with six barrels that pops up from the trunk. Attached to the six barrels is a giant bag full of huge, rusted nails. The bag is a brown sack with holes (nails sticking through) and nails sticking out of the top. From the bag is a tube that attaches to the gun feeding it ammo.

Facehugger – 

Our first “iconic” weapon. The Facehugger from Aliens. Plenty of references for modeling.

Personal note: May be a bit too tough, and time consuming for this project. 

Animation note: I’d like to see an animation of the driver pulling out an alien egg, it then hatches and shoots after the targeted driver. The targeted driver looks back just in time to catch the facehugger to the face.

Shotgun – 

Standard shotgun. Nothing too special. Many references. 

Personal note: I’d like to go with an old-time sawed off look.

Energy Sword –

Sword from Halo. Modeling wouldn’t be too bad. Add a glow over the sword to give it the “energy”

Personal note: The character would use this when getting close enough.

Animation note: whips it out and slices at the tires or character model.

ASHPD –

Portal gun from Portal. Modeling probably wouldn’t be too bad and many references available.

Personal note: It’s recognizable enough that people would get it.

Animation note: Shoot a portal in front of your target, they fall through the ground into the start portal.

More to be added later.