Game Art Design and Animation Week 2:Research into Concept Art 4

After playing Batman Arkham Asylum i had found that there is a part of the game which allows gamers to view a 3D model allowing the gamer to zoom in and around the characters from the game from Batman to The Joker and i found that it is a great addition to the research for game art.

Green Lantern Sneak Peak

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 8 Music Video:Choice of Music Tracks

After being briefed on our next project, music video working in a group and due to previous work done with Mark i had asked if i could work with him again which he accepted and because he is similar to me as to being on this course for the games aspect and not seeing how music videos would help in that department would be a good project to not restrict ourselves. Working together we approached this project simliar to approaching projects in the past, with individual ideas to later become joint and so here are snapshots of the tracks i thought could work for our group as we wanted something that wouldnt be over complicated, comedic and would be a good outcome for a group of people who dont see music video as there future ambition.

The track that we have chosen is 'Gorilla Foot' which is by 'The Itchy Creeps':

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 7:Music

I had been looking through  youtube for dark and eerie music and from the many i had listened to these were the main three that had fitted with the mood i was looking for:



However it was this final videos music that stood out from the other two as it captured the dark mood i was looking for, through it's slow tempo and minor base hitting your ears as it slowly progresses through the video and along with this music for the background i will add the fade in and out to and from a black screen:

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Level 5 Week 4:Embodied Mind and Theories

Today we had been discussing the embodied mind and how it affects the perception of the world around us. This perception had come across from the stand point that the mind begins to understand the world  through the limbs of our body by which i mean that when we use certain objects persistantly we become to get use to the functions of that object whether it be a console controller or a mobile phone and because we use the certain object constantly and its physically connected to an area of our body we see the object as a extra length or limb.

With the body realizing the certain objects as another limb that are joint to the body it seems as though the mind also see's the body as expanded from the use of certain objects that are in some form joint to the body because it becomes an easy transition to join the limbs of the body to objects that have been aacustomed to you and which makes the unwanted elements that aren't used become a waste and forgotten.

We also looked at the specific types of theories that could help or improve areas in our newly acquired briefs and with two different briefs running parallel we had to think of thdirection we were heading towards certain theories and found that with the music video theories smoe of the group weren't much of the film makers but found that the discord theory was fitting enough as it looks at how the music extract certain emotions of the viewer through melodies or moods of the sound which can help in the suspense of a thriller or build up an ending of scene. With the character design brief there were many theories that are available and found some stuck out more than others such as the seven basic storylines which  is basically that all stories throughout history have involved some sort of connection to the seven stories that have been used constantly throughout history even though they seem different the sic structure of the story is simple and similar.

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 6:Texture Upgraded and Finalised

After completing the animation and background i had started to tweak the final stages of my process and the obvious thing that needed tweaking was the texturing and from help of my friends i was able to figure out the process to smooth the texture over the chess pieces.

Before tweaking

This image shows the chess piece as it was before tweaking, the problem was the texture being too repetitive and not coming across as stone.

After tweaking

This shows that tweaking the texture made a significant difference as you can tell there is no repetition as well as the texture coming across as stone.








These next two images show the change in texture once it was smoothened out and textured to come across as stone.

Another view of which you can see both sets of chess pieces as a much better visualisation of stone chess pieces.








The final stage that needed to be done was adding the lighting and i had gone for an ambient light as it would cover the focal point in light so it is a direct view for the audience rather than looking all around the chess set and board.

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 6:Clip of New Font

I had finally completed the animation, background texture and the new font placement and here is the play blast tester.

From what i have done so far i can see only a few tweaks that could be done but from the video that you can see, the texture could be fixed up and more of a fluid movement.

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 6:Font Replaced

Here is a snapshot of my text with chess piece and from the feedback i have received many people have told me that the text is not readable as i thought.

Again this shows the text not being able to be readable, the common feedback i have gotten is that the text is clustered with so much extra bits that it's not being clear of the text and also that the letter 's' has bits cut out of its lettering which doesn't help with reading the text.







This is the new font style that i have used instead of the Tfu Tfu font and again this text is readable and has that dark feel about the way the text is written as if it has been carved or scratched in.





From the image on the left you can see that i had started with a flat 2d polygon and then made it into 3d allowing a depth into how far in the text has been scratched or carved in.







The image on the right shows the combination of both the text and the chess piece and i know realise that this is a good choice as it shows the text clearly and is readable, along with it being dark and scary this combination has come out great.

Game Art Design and Animation Week 1:Research into Concept Art 2

Thinking of perhaps doing a robotic type character which could be easier in terms of modelling as it wouldn't need much detail as i was told not to go into detail to which wouldn't be easy to accomplish as i am still an amateur.

With that in mind looking at the design of Ironman which is detailed in showing the human featues through the shape of the metal suit such as the muscles, fingers and the facial design which makes it easy link with a metal human from the design.

This design got me interested as its a human design  covered in cloth to give out the detail of the human through the creases and something as basic as human shape covered in something which distinguishes its features is a possibility as it wouldnt seem difficult to model.

The Assasins Creed concept was a great design from the character being well liked with him being covered adn mysterious and i found that detail is one of the key elements of showing the characters design.

After looking at the basic design of the Assasins Creed concept art i wanted to carry on the theme and looked at the basic design of Captain America and found that with the basic design you can add extra features to make the character more in Captain America's case military with the pouches and military boots. Along with the extra features of pouches and others you get a great understanding of the character as him being a 'good guy' with the involvement of bright colours and involving the American colours which would come across as a hero.

Looking at Dead Space's character design was to see how they got the characters armour suit to not manifest over the characters body which allows it to be variation of armour and clothing which can show off features of the character through clothing whilst the armour can be something which makes the character have that certain aspect to distinguish him and the enemy or other people.

When you look at the many basic character designs, superheroes such as Captain America and Thor are ones which spring to mind as they are characters which are covered in their costume which distinguishes them from other superheroes antheir designs which are either utilised through their features or colours that are used and the the weapons they weild make them stand out. But i look at Thor as one of those characters which because of his armour type suit makes him that strong hero character and with the use of things like a cape and chest guard makes detail shown such as muscles or the shape of the character when covered with the cape.

The next couple of images that i researched and found were one which had that whole armoured character design in mind but also allowing certain arreas to get the  shape of the characters body across or even showing off the characters tech based equipment through the colours.

 With each of these design you get the main character design with the colour at the front but in the back of the images you see the different turns or views of the character which allows you to get an understanding of the characters design.

 With each of these characters what distinguishes them from other characters is all of them have dark base of colour which with the individual colour wether it be green, blue or violet that helps to show the character is not of the same design to the others.

These concepts were also chosen as they are basic in both the shape and colour and because of that it seems like this could be one of the main aspects when designing my character by utilising the colours i can limit the amount of colours and modelling i would need.

Game Art Design and Animation Week 1:Research into Concept Art 1

So beginning of this project as you would always is by researching some of the concept art and character designs and i have found one of my favourite games Prince of Persia's concept art that stood out and from the visual perspective with the use of colours and contrast makes the concept art a piece of beauty because of the colours used to create a beautiful bit of concept, and how the colours are bright and lightly painted on creating a smooth and relaxing bit of concept art.

Each of these Prince of Persia concept arts carry on through their colour balance into the game which makes it stand out, making it simplistic and adding the shading through its layers of colouring through the range of contrasts and i like this piece of concept art from the way the image is coming across to the viewers as basic shades of colours and because of it being shades of colours the detail of the character is shown through the colours contrast.

Again another cooncept art from the Prince of Persia games series which was chosen due to the use of colour used for the concept as it depicts the muscle tone through the detail of the colour shading adn because of the pose that is shown is one of the poses that i have used throughout many of my chracter designs, throughout my courses.

This piece of concept that i researched into was in the time that i had been waiting to see Tron Legacy and throughout all of the trailers that i've seen, you could see the use of lights on the costumes which look amazing because of the limit of colour throughout the film makes the lights stand out that much more. From this piece of concept that i had found, i had thought it would be good to involve this because its is so basic and one which i could use as having a human shaped body with a costume that stood out through the use of colour.

This Concept from another game in Bioshock which i was looking at gave me the idea of maybe using a robot character design and in this concept you can see how basic the design of the robot is and how it wouldn't be difficult in modelling this type of character in Maya to a character design which would maybe be advanced in terms of modelling.

The various types of chracter design that i could do made me look at more variations of characters and most of my designs in the past have been with detail and attachments certain pieces of the concept which make the character stand out and looking at this concept art i see similar designs which could be created.

This concept shows a great design in keeping the character hidden in the personal features of the character but because you have the character covered with his assets of guns, pouches and clothes.

Another piece of concept art that i have looked at is the rough design of a medieval type warrior and from that i get ideas of doing a warrior which is shown up by the use of weapons and armour and just pieces of art that create a difference of outcome from looking at this chracter design and someone like a Captain America design as the Captain America design is more of a hero with the bright colours and having a basic design but comparing the character to the design of this concept character you get the idea that he is evil, someone who will kill anything to get what he wants and because of the design of him being built and with weapons and armour that notion is shown.

Looking at the varous designs of characters i came across this design of Medusa from Clash of the Titans which is one that is great through the level of detail from the characters scales and body markings but because of this concept being not a normal type of character in the normal human based shape, i saw it as an opportunity of maybe going out of the boundry and making my character being excluded from other designs because of its detail and extra features.

Assasins Creed Brotherhood

Although Assasins Creed Brotherhood isn't the third game in the series it is a sequel to the 2nd in the franchise and for a game that just gets better and better just by looking at this video you can see some new gameplay and from this trailer the game will be one of the best games of the year, November 19th mark it down on your calendar:

Sintel

I was just looking through sites and found this brilliant piece of animated short, with a really good plot that was created by a Blender based software company which began creatin short films and this is the latest one:

Here are the other two short films produced by the same company:

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 5:Rough Cut of Text Placement

This video is just a rough cut of where i have placed the text i will use and how they will be viewed by the audience and i have just placed them in their final view, they are not yet animated along with the chess pieces but from what i have done so far i can see the text going well with the pieces and with the final tweaks to finish the piece of it will look like a great combination.

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 5:Tfu Tfu Font Style 1st Shot View

From the previous blog i had worked on the positioning of the text and placed it right where i wanted and found that i was right in wanting the text to be placed upon the chess piece rather than embedding the text in the chess piece as it wouldn't stand out as much and so here is the font style that i believe stands out and is placed with the chess piece, the 'Tfu Tf'u' font style.

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 5:1st Shot Text View

This clip is a short one of the first shot of the rising of the chess piece and showing the text within the piece but as you will notice the font is a basic one because i wanted to get the positioning of the text within the piece right and found that whilst placing the text on the chess pieces inside rather than embedding the text it stands out alot more and with the font i have chosen the text wouldn't be much of anotice if it were embedded within the piece.

Tron Legacy Music Video by Daft Punk

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 4:Text Rendered Textures

Here is a basic texture of stone which i thought looked good but i didn't want to go away from the traditional two coloured board and only used this texture to see how stone would look if i used a grey scale.

This stands out the best from what i've worked on, textures wise as the colours go well in contrast of black and white but because the textures had looked out of place as to what i have been going for. The textures don't look like a stone texture but just a basic plastic board and i had thought that because the textures go so well i could use it as a final piece example.

Again these textures go well but because the textures look too repetitive in the markings in the stone but the textures go well together. The problem with the texture as well as the repetitiveness is that i had wanted a much darker of a chess board and the textures that i had used makes the individual board spaces stand out.








The texture that i have chosen is the one you see in the image on the right and i had chosen the texture which i found fit my search description, with the dark fossil red and a dark creamy white. With this texture theres the problem of it being repetitive  but also a bit blurry but after i complete the animation i will begin to improve on the texture.

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 4:Animating Chess

So i have started to animate my chess set from the camera angles shown in my storyboard and this is just a test of the animation, to see what needs to be improved and i can see that i will need to pace a few of the shots more quicker yet having the chess pieces move slower could set th epace of the movie which is a gradual build up of the meeting of Lord Loss and Grubbs, but i will add text and texture along with the pieces as i progress further with the completion of the animation.

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 4:Chess Board Textures

When using the hyper shade i began to do some practise texturing and found that the hyper shade was easy to use, just link the process together.

The hyper shade allows me to go back into the tool and allows me to change the colour of he objects after i've completed the project.




The next couple of images are of various views of the texture i have chosen, the reason is i have chosen this is because the book is a dark and eerie mood and i wanted to capture that mood into the chess board and pieces and i had picked the dark fossil red as it goes well with the black and white traditional board and fits with the fossil red and creamy white.




Top view as shown in the image to the left, shows how well the texture will be viewed, the reason for this is because you have the wide view of the chess set and board.

Being able to see the chess board and set gives you the better scale of the objects and you can see how the individual textures go well with the colour but not the stone effects as the textures i had chosen had come up as blurry once zoomed in.

With the textures being used upon the chess pieces although they seem repetitive you still get that stone effect as its showing carvings or markings into the stone which come off.

You can see in the image to the left that texture on the chess piece is repetitive but comes across as a stone piece and the texture is similar to how the creamy white texture on the chess board is and so fits with the mood.

Digital Film Production and VFX Week 3:Texture Tests

So i began testing the textures i had chosen to represent my chess pieces and from a further out show these textures go really, really well with the models and below are some of the various view of the textures on the chess board and set. From what i can see is that the textures become repetitive and that is something that i would want to sort out once the animation and text aspect of the project is complete as it doesn't take much time using hypershade to change the pieces to the texture i want.

As you can see from the image there is a huge texture problem and it is visible on the front side of the knight as it looks as if the texture is metal and shiny which is not what i had wanted although the rest of the Knight worked out as being stone with the visible markings yet they are a bit too blurry.

But the bottom of the Knight comes across as a piece of patterned stone which i like but feel again that its too repetitive.

Now from this whole texture process i felt that the best outcome from it so far is the creamy texture albeit that its not what i had wanted but the repetetive effect comes out as a great stone pattern for the other half of the chess pieces and the colour comes across but has the dark aspect with the patterns and i feel it works.

The tiled chess board is a great combination but as its shown they all seem too blurry, from a distance great but close up blurry, however the colours mash up well as you have this dark fossil red with its markings and the other a creamy white and shows that the combination of colours go together but i need a much smoother looking texture to use.