Animation Relaxation
[Animation At Ulster University Second Year Blog]
By Matthew Kane
Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/matthewkane
Showreel: https://vimeo.com/matthewkane
Finding inspiration and trying new things:
Mudbox: Creating test armour inspired by monster hunter game armour sets
Turn around videos:
I got inspiration for this from monster hunter. I know it is rough and the proportions are incorrect but it was just to help familiarise myself with sculpting again and learning what not to do so i could then develop a better character for my real personal project:
I also looked at the concept art and armour design here:
Starting my character:
Style research:
https://80.lv/articles/realistic-vs-stylized-technique-overview/
Research Anatomy art and Character sheets:
I used this reference sheet to draw the overall physique of my character and i tried to make it as realistic as possible for a sketch and to use as reference images if i am going to have time to model it in the near future.
My Character Sheet :
Tutorials for Digital painting :
https://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/?fbclid=IwAR2qPaPVy_3CtyPhW84xDVM4-l1JU8-
XMjCcljA7uJPgloXLmPlewNYxN-s
Concept Art:
I used this Udemey tutorial to help refine my drawing skills and to help develop my character and create the realistic cartoonistic anime, stylised version that i ended up with.
Armour concept art:
Game of thrones Armour references:
Armour concept art inspired by Game of thrones:
Experimenting with custom shapes and trying to create an environment and atmosphere where the character belongs trying to make them blend seamlessly into the scene. I might come back to this and finish it of and make it better but i don't have time as it is.
My design for a Game of thrones Crow Armour references from bloodborne some fan art and looking at other designs and work and the early Prince of Persia games for inspiration:
My Rough Crow Armour/ Cape and cowl design:
I then stopped this and wanted to do something else as i felt like the time it would require to complete a character from start to finish that it would take to long and i was being presumptuous that i would be able to learn all the processes involved and managing to get it all done without problems or issues this would have been impossible so i opted to learn some of these processes before rushing in as i have wanted to learn how to 3d sculpt in Zbrush and texture in substance creating my own maps and learning how to bake textures and high poly geometry onto a low poly mesh. So i then attempted several different areas to learn from creating some cool designs and sculpts to learning how to use new features like xgen and creating a low poly base mesh inspired by reference images.
Inspiration for sculpt
Devil May cry 5 Dante's Devil Form: I had just saw the intro cutscene to the game and loved the aesthetic and design of the character and the colours they used to show his transformation to
Zbrush Practice
File:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j0PeCZIGjo3oU1GgBBIie4bxY60S3B1f/view?usp=sharing
I was quite happy with the way it turned out as it looks very cool and different like Darth maul from Star wars or the Night's king from Game of Thrones i just wanted to see what i could do with the software while getting used to the user interface and the different tools .
I am well aware that it would be very difficult and insanely time consuming to retopologies this mesh as there is just way to much detail and it would take forever capture all the different layers of intricate detail. I though it would be better to attempt to keep the mesh as it is rather then retopologising it to a low poly mesh as i was only familiarising myself with the different features of Zbrush and i just wanted to see how difficult it is to learn 3d sculpting coming from modelling and i was learning how to interact with it very efficiently as i learnt more the longer i used it. It was very difficult at the start and nerve racking as it was very intimidating to learn and has very different commands to Maya and requires alot of back and forth and this resulted in me forgetting the controls and short cuts if i didn't practice them often enough so i tried to jump between the two as often as possible so it wouldn't be as daunting to come back to them as you can forget everything very fast if you do not practice or maintain a ongoing workflow. I found it very easy to be distracted and lose site of what i was wanting to do and thought more of what i wanted to test and see how to do things that where attainable in the time frame as with all the other work it made it very difficult to tie everything together. This is the reason why i dropped my original idea from first semester as i was way to overly ambitious and i was working to precisely that i was never going to get it done as it was taking to long to complete other work and it was very arduous as i didn't understand everything in the process or the methods in which to create such a character in the correct way and the different variety of features in varying software to make it the best and i was still very much limited to what i knew. So for the personal project i wanted to explore 3d sculpting and all the varying ways to complete various processes using this in zbrush. I wanted to continue using Zbrush for the easy of creating and concepting and designing sculpts that are much easier to manipulate than modelling something from scratch, i liked to see what i could create using different inspirations just to make something that looked cool new and visual impressive.
I then went on to create some armour that looked very reminiscent of the armour from the elder scrolls games the daedric armour:
Armour Sculpt:
File:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12Jz9z59EnHohcfzKvkie8rM2p4G2-HfB/view?usp=sharing
My Sculpt that i tried to keep similar to the head bust to keep it consistent i also used a free base mesh i found online at https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/mike-freeman-free-human-basemesh-1914b58b562349798c54dd0229473051 and refined the body to get the dimensions i wanted. I ended up generating the armour off the mesh rather than creating individual components as this would take alot more time and planning than i had to create it. I was just trying to flush out some ideas and design aspects that i might try to use in my future work of creating a game ready character over the summer while working on a summer internship on the side where i will be trying to learn new things and i will be using new, different techniques and software. I just got caught up with the fascination of 3d sculpting and completely forgot about creating something functional that i could use more than once. Thats why i attempted another sculpt, this one i tried to give it more directions and give myself parameters and limits. I started off creating a low poly base mesh which i tried to minmise to as low a polycountwhile still retaining the shape, detail and features. I then created another subtool head which i used to merge togther to produce a higher level of definition and realism. I tried to do this piece as a anatomical study and overlay of some clothing based on the fictional character Riddick played by Vin Diesel.
Modelling and sculpting:
File:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nVnEpLIFr6zSiKXalNxXnQ4hOJk9Ok2O/view?usp=sharing
I tried to keep it low poly while retaining bone structure muscles and physique and even work on the defining face and the iconic tank top clothing he wears with an armour plate for when he is doing battle or free running. If i was to continue on with this piece i would refine the torso mesh under near the shirt as it is very bad due to a mistake where i had thought i had masked the area as such that's why i created the vest. I think it is good but i feel like i would like to redo it and re create the legs as they are out of proportion especially the feet and if i had time i would have liked to create trousers and boots for him along with his iconic weapons.
Xgen: Hair and Beard Fibre mesh
Hair:
https://humanalloy.com/create-amazing-digital-hair/
https://forums.cgsociety.org/t/best-3d-software-for-fur-hair-rendering/1829814
http://www.paultosca.com/varga_hair.html
Beard:
Animating hair:
Final Fantsy 15 Noctis Hair:
https://cghow.com/the-last-samurai-breakdown/
https://www.mikecauchiart.com/
Attempts at working with fibre mesh tests :
Inspiration Carnan from lord of the rings shadow of war:
Fibre mesh on top of zbrush female stock model and some manipulation of the settings and manipulating renderer colour scheme
Riddick character messing around with fibre mesh
Texturing:
https://masterclasses.iamag.co/ian-mcque-painting-a-vehicle/
I also helped out a final year Gianni Francesco with a few models that would help populate his scene in his final year short as his scene was looking a bit bear and he asked if i could model some assets to help flush it out i then began by doing my research and taking reference photos for his carpenter scene, i then went to my uncles house who is a joiner to get some source images to work from as he is a joiner and a carpenter where he had many different old tools and wood working materials that i took photos off.
I also had a go at xgen learning how to organise files and the naming conventions and then i got to work creating a feather using groom this was quite fun as i was also shown it could be used for a range of possibilities like bristles on a brush. I was also shown how live linking works between unreal and substance painter and how to operate unity and how to navigate it and organise a workflow properly in a game engine so that you can get real time renders.
I then went on to do some models of the reference photos that i had taken but while doing this i was sick with a very bad chest infection and my asthma had flared up so i was feeling very tried and i wasn't thinking right. This is why my models turned out to be of poor quality the basis ones anyway as i was sleep deprived and was unable to focus. However the harder models to do i managed to do them correctly. These where for two different areas the theatre scene where there would be glasses lamps and other objects which i attempted top model but i found it easier to model the stuff for the wood working scene.
Files:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11kEU3rFiMs7rcMUiPeoGwPSl5Vtqlpkl?usp=sharing
