blogger? more like frogger

The character head is very basic and cartoon-ish, and the character is constantly grinning. Because of this, the turnaround isn't very helpful as a head reference. I'm using the Joan of Arc tutorial and references to model the face, then I'll adjust this to fit the character shape better. This way I'll get good face topology and learn how to model a basic semi-realistic head. When I modelled the body, I had already formed a more anatomically-conscious model compared to the reference, so I think a more realistic head shape will fit okay. [no img. didn't make it to uni this weekend - tired :(. ]  The next few Maya sessions for me will just involve following that tutorial before I begin to play around with adjusting those face proportions. I suspect I'll need to make some more concrete decisions on how the eyes and mouth will look.   The group overall is moving at a good pace. I had initially planned for me to model the majority of the character, unsure of how quic...

The 8-side rule:      All tubes should have a number of sides that is a multiple of 8. This makes the topology easier to keep clean and makes things connect better.   The Circularise tool is very useful.      Oana showed me how to use this to round out the arm of my character model by selecting each edge loop one-by-one then using the circularise tool ('g' to quickly use the previous tool). I used this technique in rounding the fingers as well. I also learnt how to increase my selection by one loop all at once using shift + , or . And I accidentally changed my selection tool so it wasn't selecting or something. I did this by clicking while holding 'w' and this was how I was able to undo it as well. For the tank tread: use bezier curve to make the side view curve close with curves > open/close make an object of a singular groove connect to curve animation > constraint > motion path animation snapshot can adjust the graph - make it linear - for ...

  This is  a flat, shape-y digital trace  of the sketch I drew during the lecture, then the original on the bottom. I did this to try to distill my drawing into more basic shapes, which I could then use to rework the scene into a more fantastical environment. I didn't really end up doing this because I ended up getting too stuck into the details and wanting to create something clean and neat. My imagination juices are also just not flowing this week. I would like to try creating fantastical scenes from life drawing exercises but maybe later on and with a bit more research to boot up my creativity. Perhaps I could find a fantasy environment text (not image) generator for inspiration?

I adjusted the body model a little - circularising the arms with help from Oana + slight adjustments to the body, fixing up vertices. Other than the arms needing to be rounded, there weren't really any notable improvements needed, just  some comments on the character's wacky proportions (by design). I've gotten started on the hand (Monday) and have been working quite quickly. I'm roughly following  this tutorial  on YouTube but simplifying some spots. They use 16 faces along the wrist and I want to keep it to 8 to keep things simpler overall since the arms have 8 sides as well and upping it to 16 would make the body unnecessarily complicated. End of Monday: I've finished the main form of the hand. I think I might need to add more edge loops across the fingers (along the top and bottoms) to curve them better, and to create more distinct knuckles. This would also make sure the fingers follow the rule of 8. I'm also meant to make the fingers pointy according to the...

from memory. from reference. I think the proportions from the referenced drawing are better and more interesting but the looseness of the from memory drawing (from trying to get the image down quickly), is actually a little more interesting. some sketches from the lecture using a brush pen that I forgot I had.

I have achieved my goal for this week of roughly modelling the main body.  I managed this at a reasonable pace which I'm pleased with and it gives me an idea of how quickly I'll be able to work.  I've aimed to keep it simple for now, not adding too many edge loops. This way there's less to adjust as I go and it doesn't get too visually confusing. I will possibly add some more edge loops later on to get more detail in the form but I think I'll ask for advice/do some research before committing so I'll know how many to add and where, or whether I'll need them at all. Since most of the body will be covered by the character's clothes, it might not be necessary at this stage(?).  I think the edge flow could be refined a bit but I will need to ask advice on this. I followed the rough shape of the turnarounds but had to use some anatomy knowledge and other references (of real life bodies and examples of topology) to get a more accurate detailed form that mak...

Custom shelf      I've made notes on the custom shelf before (including on my master post of Maya tips and notes). The custom shelf is good for keeping all your frequently used tools in one place, making them much quicker to find.  ctrl + shift + click  to add a tool to the custom shelf.       You can also click and drag a menu out to rip the entire menu off and have that easily accessible on the screen. Things I'm learning as I get started on my character body 3D model: I'm using the Joan of Arc tutorial as a guide for my character model. I'm gradually memorising the different views through more regular use. I'm still getting used to the shortcuts and movement keys since I'm so used to the shortcuts and object movement in InDesign and similar 2D design programs. I find myself sometimes accidentally creating multiple vertices and needing to select and merge them later on (I think this is from accidentally extruding more than once). Hopefully ...

What makes the design unique? Discussion of Aesthetic The design is very extravagant and intricate. This contrasts with the wild west cowboy vibe; chaotic and wild vs. decadent and wealthy. What are some examples from the commercial space (TV/Film/Games etc) that are in the same general idea as the bible you are working from? A lot of the features draw from Western/cowboy aesthetics in general. The wealthy, old-fashioned train-goer vibe of the character makes me think of Murder on the Orient Express.  How cohesive are the vehicle and character in the provided bible? The colour palettes of the character and vehicle don't exactly match but are very similar - maybe this could be adjusted to make them more cohesive. They do look like they would exist in the same world although the character is quite cartoon-ish while the vehicle is very detailed and technical. Because of the scale of the vehicle, this could be okay. Why are you either making changes to the provided bible designs or lea...

-We've been assigned our groups and given the design bible for this next assignment. I found that the character turnaround would have been difficult to work with so I roughly redrew it.  I mainly fixed up the symmetry and alignment, as well as clarifying the costume. I made some minor changes/decisions with the costume and tried to base these off of the 2D team's variation sketches and aesthetics.   - It was unclear to me whether the tail was a coat or cape and whether the belt was under or over the coat. In their earlier variation sketch (shown on the right), the belt went over the coat so I went with that.   - I made the wrist cuff areas fluffy - this is how they appear in their hero image.    - I attached the spiky parts to the collar, making the spikes around his neck more of an upturned collar.  - I connected the six feathers to two spots at the base of the back of his collar just because that seemed to fit while I was working on it. I h...

Chindogu Challenge I was able to better familiarise myself with very basic 3D modelling tools with this challenge although I don't think I've learnt enough Maya for this exercise. I learnt how to use the multicut tool further. Holding shift snaps it to increments of 10%. Holding ctrl creates an edge loop. I utilised the extrude tool (ctrl e) and moving the pivot point (d) quite a bit to create the bends. I used the bridge tool quite a bit as well to fill gaps. Camera stuff Change one of the orthographic views to the camera view. To undo or redo camera movements: use "[" and "]" respectively. "s" creates a keyframe.

I planned to learn much more Maya over the break but alas, I got very sick.    Random notes from lamp tut:  g - go to previous tool always go back and forth between smooth preview and not (keys 3& 1), to check for errors mesh display > reverse to reverse faces Notes from the Introduction to Maya resource on Learn and this  YouTube tutorial The YouTube video is effective at guiding you through the UI very slowly. I got about an hour in. I've updated some notes on my master post and made some of them clearer.  I added some snapping shortcuts and noted that these can also be toggled using the magnet icons at the top (imgs yet to be added). Shortcuts+ for pivot point adjustment and duplication methods. Special Duplication can be used for making repeating copies in equal distances apart e.g. wood plank surface  Info about referencing images - file placement and importing. I realised that the shortcuts for the main selection and transformation tools are th...

Study page.      Reference Image. Kei Nishikori photographed by Hiromasa Mano.   Note to self: Action poses for tennis and other sports with bats/racquets can be good for sword-wielding poses. The full pose could possibly use more movement or fluidity in the legs and hips, but I think it's really good - I only spent 10-15min on it with minimal digital manipulation (only for the eye placement)!! I'm actually really happy with the whole study page! Something I do know that I need to improve on is facial expressions and simplified/stylised faces. I've had quite a lot of practice with drawing faces but only really in neutral expressions in realism. The face I've drawn here is quite good although it took me a fair bit of adjusting and it's actually at quite a different angle from the reference. It still reads fine though, except maybe the headband and hair should be adjusted accordingly? It's still not very expressive or stylised but the original facial expression ...