Task Six - Evaluation

From start to finish this whole process has been a huge learning curve for myself. I have learned new programmes, new techniques and found out more about myself as an artists and the direction I would like to take this career with. A project like this, give the amount of freedom we had has been such a great experience and really opened my eyes to what is possible with the correct planning. Completing a task of this scale from start to finish feels great and will benefit further on in life.

The research before was quite a secondary task in my mind. I didn't realise the importance of it until now when the task has been finished. Without my research and planning I would have got no where. The countless hours of ZBrush tutorials really did pay off! Discovering the different techniques available and the broad ways of modeling something astonishes me and ZBrush will definitely now become part of my CG pipeline. To start of with when modeling I was a little rusty but I managed to find my own workflow by the end and could work at a constant pace. 

The timeline proved to be my guardian in this production process, it mentally gave myself objectives and told me if I was behind or not. Without a doubt, I would have fallen behind schedule if I didn't have it available to me. I did fall behind at many times during the project, but this was expected, I was using all new programmes, new techniques and just the sheer scale or the project was overwhelming for myself. With a 3D mesh reaching over 20 million polygons proved to be technically challenging too. On the go, I could make tweaks to my timescale in order to regain myself by finding shortcuts and substituting for some of the mesh objects - this allowed me to get back on track with the schedule. 

Of course there would be things I would have done differently and changed when I next do a project of this scale. Importantly, I would like to have a set workflow in my head that would work flawlessly, this would allow me to stick to my timescale better - it was also mean I could work without so much pressure, which would inevitably lead to me producing better quality work. Furthermore, I think I will need to think about specific details more than I did, I didn't concept for more than one angle as an example and by doing this it would have made my life much easier when modeling.

To extend further, I would have liked to have taken my 3D image further with texturing, but as suggested by tutors in the presentation phase I decided against it due to timescale and I'm not so experienced in that field of 3D - but this does give me an objective and something to learn. As i said in my evaluation preparation I would get feedback internationally through successful artists online through forums and other means of communicating, I asked a respected 3D modeler named Kamil Nowicki a few questions in his opinion of my final piece, here is the response I got from him.

"Me: At first impression, what would you change and why?

Kamil Nowicki: As it's a highpoly model, I would increase the detail on equipment parts of it.

Me: Great thanks, and also, would aspect of the model to you like?

Kamil Nowicki: I like how the character looks, at least from this perspective. You did well on the anatomy, however, the hips may be too wide. Hands and forearms are very cool."

Having feedback from someone who has worked on triple AAA titles was very rewarding and he genuinely did raise some points which I didn't notice before, this showed myself how vital feedback is in a project like this one. It also gave me motivation, I want to impress people with my work all throughout the world, wherever it's displayed, through the internet or in a gallery, my number one objective always remains to get a reaction from the audience. 

To summarise, I can say the project has definitely been a rough ride for myself, I had been very close to deadlines but thankfully I managed to meet the criteria through my thorough preparation and planning which was a great relief. Throughout my whole college experience this module has definitely taught me the most, I learned the importance of time management and keep yourself in order. I'm glad that it is over and I have managed to complete it, but on the other hand, I can't wait to begin my next project and taking it those extra steps further then before.

Task Five - Production

This is my initial base mesh modeled in Maya, it is very blocky but is just being used a starting point to start sculpting on in ZBrush.

This is a rough anatomy sculpt I did in ZBrush to get an idea of the body shape and what the muscles will be like on the character, getting accurate proportions was vital in creating the character.

Here is a render of the body sculpt in Maya, just to demonstrate it from all angles.

Here is a rough head I sculpted in ZBrush without and details added, I was merely getting all the proportions and shaping correct. 

Here I added more minor details such as skin pores and eye brows.

Here I modeled out the base of the shoe in Maya, It took quite a while to find the correct shape and making sure that the topology flowed correctly.

Here is a picture of the shoe that was detailed in ZBrush using leather alphas and stitching brushes from online sources such as ZBrush central. 

This is the base mesh I used for the trousers of my character which was basically extruded from the base mesh of my character which then allowed me to take it into to ZBrush to sculpt on.

Here iare the sculpted trousers, the folds in the trousers were fairly trial and error to get right, but was pleased with the results in the end. I then added a few details like pickets and threads of the trousers.

The base mesh of the knee pad was create in Maya using basic box modeling techniques, it was then ready to be sculpted on.

Here I added minor details like scratches and dents on the knee pad like you would expect in real life, I tried to sculpt the materials as realistic as possible.

The belt base mesh was made simply in Maya using some tubes and cubes, it was smoothed out and make ready for detailing in ZBrush.

Here is the detailed version of the belt which is much better positioned for my character and matching my character concept. Furthermore I added a few details like a leather pattern to make it stand out. 

This is the base mesh of the shirt modeled in Maya then taken to ZBrush for further refinement. 

The sculpted shirt was fairly tricky because I had to sculpt around other objects such as the chest rig and scarf, but I was pleased with the final version. 

This is the basic chest rig modeled in Maya using common high poly modeling techniques. I ensure it was fit for detailing in ZBrush before exporting. This part took a lot reference from online images to get a chest rig that I liked and looked accurate.

I added a few simpler details in ZBrush like stitching and patterns you'd expect to see on a chest rig of this type.

The hood actually was all done in ZBrush making use of a feature called Dynamesh, this was used to get the initial proportions. From there I went on and sculpted in the folds using a more trial and error approach until the results were satisfying. 

This was a hand sculpted in ZBrush, initially I modeled it in Maya then sculpted on some anatomy onto it in ZBrush, I didn't go into too much detail for this part as it won't be so noticeable. 

This is the first final render of my character, currently it is without displacement maps which give it all the details, but I will go further ahead with the render and render it with displacement maps, I couldn't do this before because of time and resources. For the pose I took a picture of my dad to use as a reference image, this was very helpful as before I was struggling to find a pose for my character that I liked. The proportions were fairly accurate but could have done with some tweaking. 

The render tooks hours to complete but I would say the outcome was rewarding, after a quick touch up in Photoshop I printed it out and our local art supply. The print looked great on paper, but I still have the intention of rendering bigger with displacement maps as that was my initial plan.