Monday 26 March 2012

Character Modelling Project

Ahhh, where to start with this one, the good or the bad. I really havn't enjoyed this project. There's probably a few factors involved here, my first impression of this project was that it was to focus on our understanding of basic anatomy and our modelling skills in respect to that, obviously an understanding good anatomy is a challenge to begin with, but that isn't to say I don't like a challenge, and I do thoroughly enjoy life drawing. The project also began quite well and at a good pace I'd say, the actual base mesh of the gladiator was fairly successful, including building the head and hands, the only issue with this was that I had used a few too many tri's building the hands which was easily fixable.

I was also able to put together a few concepts for ideas in regards to armour and weaponry which enabled me to finish the model with ease as I knew how the final mesh was going to look. Unwrapping was also a good step, I do feel the unwrap stage of any model is one of my strongest attributes and I was able to pick up the 'Pelt map' function quite quickly and apply it to the mesh efficiently.

 

I suppose the texturing process went okay too now that I think about it. It was hard to match skin tones on the different parts of the body which led to some minor (hardly noticable) seams.

On the other hand rigging was hard, not only because my version of 3DS Max had an issue with the Skin modifier, which I was advised to use over Physique by many of the second and third years, which led to me using the Physique modifier anyway, but it was also the first time I had rigged anything. Although it was difficult, it was a good learning process and I was able to get to an 'acceptable' point with my character.

So, the modelling went okay, so did concepting, unwrapping. Texturing was fun and looked decent on the mesh and rigging wasn't the complete failure it could've turned out to be. So, the bad? Well, overall I am just disappointed with the outcome of this project. I think I am comparing it to the last (vehicle project) too much, but all along with this project Ive just felt like it wasn't progressing and just hitting walls. The project never felt unique. I think my biggest issue with this project is that I find it really hard to enjoy any character work, its not that its too hard, I just don't aspire to being a character artist, I much prefer environments, vehicles, assets, all parts of a whole environment. It may be because of who I ma as a person, exploring new worlds seems much more interesting to me than meeting knew characters, its just how I feel right now. At the end of the day I don't believe I worked as hard on this project as I could've, especially in relation to the last project, but again I can say I was much more enthusiastic with the last. I'm hoping that these feelings are in most part in relation to this specific project and not character design as a whole. I definitely want to do another character project, sooner rather than later,  either way I know its something I can not and should not avoid.