robot love continued

Hi everyone!

Sorry for gigantic delay. Things for Eden Star are starting to calm down as the pitch is getting finalised so all things being well I have a bit of time to get this Robot nice and finished. I have spent a hour or two on high polying this design so far so not really a huge amount to warrant a massive blog post but this is where I am at. I must admit I need to brush up on my Zbrush as my skills are all but non existant when it comes to hard surface sculpting but I find even though high polying in max can be a bit arduous it pays with nice accurate plates that can be transfured to zbrush if needed to add extra details. since working on Eden Star my work flow has changed to much and mostly for the better I think. When Eden Star goes live on Kickstarter I will do a BIG art dump onto here to show you guys what I haver been working on for the last 5 - 6 months. I have been building on my high polying as I will say its not my strongest skill set in my 3D workflow, but as all things you learn something new everyday and every artists work flow is different.

Just taking small details and seeing what you can do with it with some good references it always a good way to build on your skills. I did a quick exercise where I made some cabling and cylinder cog details just to get back in to things.

Making user you keep your geometry clean is always good when Hi poly modelling in max as and dodgy geo normally means pinching and nasty markings in the turbo smoothed results. Flow loops and Swift loops are definitely tools that you should be using for this as it will make creating edge loops and securing lines easier and faster for hard surface panels.

being able to break a complex object down in to subcomponents always really helps. trying to model the whole thing together is unrealistic and will create a really head ache for you.  Modelling things separately and cleanly and with use of lifted geometry is the way to go to give nice results.

I will add up some more images of the drone when I can get more done.... which should be soon but with Eden Star you never know what work is coming and how many late nights you have to put in. AAA games aren't easy to make with a very small team but we do our best =)

check this space to see what's happening with the game http://www.indiedb.com/games/edenstar and when the Kickstarter comes we will be posting a demo up for you so you can play our hard work in its early beta stage. Feel free to ask questions on here or via email =)

Eden Star

Hi,

While I get some stuff together for my next post on the drone, I have written a blog post on Indie DB for my work. Its more or less the first of my work in its first art pass form to reach the public so its a proud moment for me.

http://www.indiedb.com/games/edenstar

Enjoy.

work in progress...

Hi people.

I have been very busy with Flix over the last few months working from 8am till 9-10pm at night on some nights as we are leading up to releasing our IP for project funding (I will let you know when this happens). I am currently working on a High poly variant of the drone so I will post up some tips and tricks for that soon and show some of my process that I do in 3dsMax with turbosmooth and lifted geo. Optimise the model for game reducing the poly and bake off the normal via a cage in Max or X normal will come after that and then Texturing but I will keep you informed on that.

Keep checking and ill get a post up soon. Promise =)

robot creation

Hi followers and welcome back,

Its been a mad month at Flix Interactive as we prep our new game for something special so keep a eye out here or alternatively check out this link http://www.indiedb.com/company/flix-interactive and that will give you a sneak preview of what were doing.

 

Carrying on more or less where I left off I began to model the interior frame which the outer plates would sit upon and the legs attach. The form and function were more or less done so the remainder was now to bolster the believability by having clear attachment and movable parts for the plates to connect to. I added a few extra features such as to the feet with a mechanical foot

 

 I also did a few redesigns to make the whole model conform throughout by changing the tail design (I did a few before choosing one I liked).

  

I took some time making sure the whole models geometry was cleaned up getting the whole model around the 13.5k poly count. I played around with the model also makings sure it fitted nicely with its extremes of movement. This is a good idea to let animators know what kind of movements you intended for the model when you were designing it 

rather than just leaving it to them to guess.

Take the time now to sit back and stew on what you've done. Ask work mates and friends their opinions as its good to know its heading in the right direction. and also that the model is right before heading towards smoothing groups, unwrapping and normal map creation.

Robot love cont.

Welcome back and greetings to all new readers. Continuing where I left off from my previous post I had been looking at the functionality of movement for my model. The silhouette also needed some work to benefit and extenuate the robots character.

Like most aerial vehicles most tend to include fins that give certain characteristics to their shape as well as adding functionality. If we were to look at a model of Concorde, a guided missile and a old 1950's style Cadillac each style of shape given by their fin characteristics and styled shape. With that in mind I set out to design some fin like additions to my robot. With the addition of fins to the top and sides it should markedly increase its characteristics to players from the underneath whilst it would be flying as well as front and sides when landed. 

 

 

I wanted to give the drone some flying combat options so copied out the top gun and modified it for the under carriage. I used the space I had left by adding few plating variations that flowed in direction of the face. I hoped this would help in creating a focal point in the over all model in the eyes of the robot.

With the exterior done to at least a good first standard I wanted to block out some of the interior. This would be where all the computer and power reactor would be housed for the robot. With the model I had so far I knew I didn't have to go over the top with core interior geometry as the player would only be seeing this through gaps in the armour or if the drones plates of armour fall off when being destroyed. Any extra details that I would like to include could just be added via normal maps or clever texturing.

 

When modelling the interior I was constantly checking how what I was doing fitted with the current design. I modelled parts that would like to see in the model externally then merged them in the model where they fitted. I built the interior as I went along rather than worrying about extensive designing by paper. At this point in the robots design I had a lot of reference imagery from the model itself so used that to aid the flow of its construction. The images above show the progress of blocking out where the main shapes were going to be to where it finally ended up. I had left enough room in the interior to add a structural frame over the inner body that would provide points for the plates to sit on.

On the whole I am pretty happy with how everything had gone so far so I did a few tweaks to clean up the topology, removed some unnecessary objects that werent benefiting the model and then did some rearranged to a few elements to aid the robots movement qualitys. The model at this point is around  the 14k poly mark. The final game model I guessed would be within the 16k poly range considering the extra additions left to be put in. This wasnt bad for current gen purposes (this also meant I wont have to go back later and rigorously remove geometry and details I would have liked to keep). Its pretty good to set yourself a realistic poly budget when modelling for games as it will only kick your self later if you just go crazy and model every last detail. Most beginners do the mistake of creating over the top geometry. I know I did when I was learning but then I burnt out a laptop so had to learn pretty swiftly after that. Good knowledge in how your geometry positioning aids your texturing is so important when creating assets for games so  to dedicating a bit of time to your understanding if pretty much vital as a beginner artist.

 

 

This takes me up to date with what I have done so far but keep checking up for more updates.

Robot Love...2

Hey all, welcome back!

From the time I have had spare from working (which isn't a lot) I have put a few extra things in to my robot/drone that I want to share. The last post I put up went over my concepts and some of the fleshing out of the main body. I also talked a bit about the importance of silhouette and the players need for quick recognition with enemy types. I will show you what I have done so far and talk you a bit through what I have done and thought about as I progressed. I apologize for the lack of stage by stage images, I just got cracking with it when I could and took images towards the completion of each stage.

Now I had the main body shape more or less figured I wanted to start putting in some of the main functional points of the drone. Modelling something like this you may find that if you don't account for functional parts you may accidentally start modelling things in areas areas of movement.

After playing about with the sketched gun concept in 3D I settled on a more organic approach using a scorpion stinger and also some references from a Anime called Zoids to create a gun with pop up guns. This was in a effort to reduce on the over all length of the gun as I intended the gun to be picked up by the tail. It would need to slip out of its mounted position pretty easily so that design decision would help that. Here are a few images of the modeled gun.

I also had to look at the gun from all angles so I could make sure I would know that the players recognition with it would definitely be an aggressive weapon and it would be time to take cover.

The next major moving part will be the legs. Legs for mechanical characters can be created in many ways as they don't have to conform to the ideals of organic structures. They can extend and spin in 360 degrees if the designer so intends. In my drone I needed the legs to fold up neatly to accommodate a flying model of a sort of manta ray like shape but also retain enough mobility to create believable walking movement. I pulled some more references to aid me deisgn how the legs would work from spiders, Final Fantasy 8's spider drone (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb57887/finalfantasy/images/c/c3/FF8_X-ATM092.png) , Gundam (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE095vYEJzwJH7tv-ZpruEZOTuUTgBvjewQvNCw01W8nQVM_8BXbaMot2-ch4BJFuwVfjE-7ec2yaWBjJL8b0EAUp10zv-dgvJ-pSDi4ZLtSwo_bD3Fht-zU2EPphDymgCtfnfOnareO95/s1600/5.jpg) and from Zoids as a solid starting point.When got into modelling the legs I did so in their extreme positions so make sure that at all extents sat nicely with each other and didn't cut.


Once happy with the shape and design structure I had created I did a quick Hierarchy Rig on the legs and played with them to see if the design was lending as much movement as I wanted.


I then attached the leg plating onto the mechanics followed by attaching the whole legs onto the model itself. Its pretty important to keep things simple until you have the main moving parts in. Adding extras to bolster the characteristics before this will only ever lead to problems further in to the modelling process.


This is all I have at this point but keep checking back for more at later dates and I may have posted more. Thanks all and feel free to comment or leave constructive feedback. I am also free if people have queries or proposals for tutorials they would like as well. Cheers =D.

Robot Love

Hey,

For those that have been following I haven't really posted up much work lately to show you people what im actually doing with my life. That is about to change at least today.

I have been very busy working at UR, or rather Flix Interactive (http://www.flixinteractive.com/) after the company was closed down and reformed under a new name. I have however been very active working away, designing, building and testing all of our up and coming IP's as well as helping with the concept development of all our current contract work. With the company also having moved location its been a great new change for all those involved in our team and a exciting one too.

As I mentioned earlier in my post I was going to give you guys a update as to what I am doing with my own work now and here it pretty much is. It is a concept I begun to build as a side project to what im doing at Flix. Doing my jeep side project I realized the importance of really push your boundaries with each project to try and learn as much as you can about technicality of building and refining in different styles. Most of my work has been very rustic so I think its about time to shake things up and start doing some nice sci fi to start bolstering my portfolio and show how flexible I can be with my work. I like to share with the community that follow my blog what im doing and how im going about it as I struggled with a lot of things when I began in 3D and its good to see other people's work flow.

This is a design I drew up after working with UR and began doing my own designs in my spare time. 'The Spire' had a robot incorporated that really inspired this design. I wanted to put my own twist on things to give  the robot a real organic feel as well as keep the silhouette in something a person could relate to. I think its good practice for a 3d artist to be able to convey their art work in lots of ways especially in drawing. Drawing is a great tool for cracking out ideas in a preliminary stage and figuring out in your own mind how to create things in 3D that will have functionality. Many new 3d artist fall into the trap where they lack the skills to draw or intentionally skip this essential step. Its good practice to get into a life drawing class or doodle at most opportunities you have. It's all good practice in the end.

Having done some drawings and selected a design style I took this straight into Max to start fleshing out the basic design. I normally go through lots of trial and error at this stage to get the right direction for my work. The greatest thing about computers at this stage is definitely the undo Ctrl+Z =D. I normally make tons of decisions that I like to change and change again so if your doing work keep in mind that blocking out doesn't need to be perfect at first.

After a bit more blocking out and decision making I look at the over all shape in 3d to see how the silhouette is shaping up. In designing for games its important to remember about the silhouette as this is what the player will relate to when a enemy is approaching. It helps the player determine the threat and also their strategy. As a designer in any respect this will help in developing your designs too. I can see at this point the shape is slender and long but I will end up having to put more defined features such as spikes fins to increase its flying silhouette.

This is as much as I have so far so I will post up more soon as I have more to share with you. I hope you liked the post and feel free to leave feed back, suggestions or ideas in the comments segment under this post.

Thanks