Week 4: Last week of 3D Foundations...

Hi all...

The 3D foundations class is officially in it's final hours now. I'll actually be a little sad to see it go! It was certainly a fun class, though it is not for the faint of heart... There was a lot of material covered in the four short weeks, and for me, it felt less like a "foundation" and more like a trial by fire.

Each week certainly built upon the previous, but the build up was like climbing a sheer cliff at times. Thank goodness for Google, Lynda.com and the many talented peeps on the Full Sail 3D arts Google Hangouts... I certainly would not have gotten as far as I have without those resources.

Anyway, enough waxing lyrical. Week four.

The focus this week was taking the modeling skills we mastered over the first three and adding an introduction to UV mapping. UV Mapping is basically a "second space" in which texturing takes place. If the model is built in three dimensions (X, Y, and Z), the coordinates used to define where an image gets pasted to the model is defined in a separate two dimensional space using U and V as the axes. Another way of thinking about UV space is to imagine creating an unfolded "paper craft" version of your model... turning it from a 3D object into a flat 2D version. This 2D version is then perfect for painting and editing in a traditional 2D paint package such as Photoshop.

There is far more in the areas of UV mapping than just basic textures however. Transparency, shine, reflectivity, surface detail can all be achieved in UV mapping. Those aspects however were not covered in this class.

One thing we did cover was "Ambient Occlusion". This is a technique used to add depth to a model's appearance by creating shadows and darkened areas on a model in creases, much as you would see in reality. Literally, ambient light is being occluded and a darkened space is the result. In Maya, using various aspects of the "Hypershade" window (which frankly, right now seems like some form of witchcraft!), the software can actually calculate the AO and create a texture file that contains that information.

Lastly, we have a final "Presentation Scene" to showcase our work so far and generally show off :) . My scene is as follows...

With all that in mind, 3D Foundations is over. A lot was learned, and a lot still remains... Now onto Art Fundamentals 1!

Week Three... The Detailing gets a boost!

Hi all...

After a successful first two weeks, starting with basic blackouts, then moving on to more advanced techniques (such as extrude and poly-cutting), week three draws to a close after introducing some more considerations.

First up, Cleanup! The more detailed the models become, the more chances of some unusual, or even illegal geometry appearing. Everything from "Hanging Vertices" (Vertices that are simply abandoned and have no purpose, yet still exist), to "N-gons" (polygons with sides greater that 4), to "non-planar surfaces" (a four sides polygon that has its edges and/or vertices not aligned in the same geometric plane). Luckily Maya has tools to help find these and show them on the model itself.

The exercise for the week was to "fix up" a badly modeled object, and try to get as many problems dealt with as possible. I managed to track down all the issues, and fix them, though I will admit that some took some creative thinking!

The main theme this time, it's all about applying details and "edge flow" to our objects. Edge flow, something I always was a aware of but never gave it a name is the basic concept that all edges have a certain degree of "hardness" to them. No edge is ever perfectly square (unless you're looking at a knife blade of course!), so the use of beveling and edge loops can add a degree of subtlety and enhance the appearance of a model.

Additionally, Maya has an option to render surfaces as "hard" (where it takes the edges literally), or "soft" (where it interpolates the lighting between edges for a smoothed effect). Here's a good example on the Hammer... The ground down section between the handle and the head I made "hard" to emphasize the grinding angles, but the head itself in general is "soft" (the face of the head appears as a smooth curved surface, but in reality is a few sections).

Next week, we cover UV mapping... Finally adding some color and texture :) We also create a final scene for turn-in... Watch this space!

So this is a "Two for one" post...

Hi all...

What with one thing or another, I didn't get round to posting last week, so this week's post covers both!

Starting with last week, we got past the "core four" subjects and finally got started with the meat of Game Art. The class I'm in now is "3D Foundations" and is a basic (!) introduction to 3D modeling and Autodesk's Maya package.

The tasks for the week were some basic familiarization exercises (learning how to use and navigate in Maya), parenting of objects, and some basic blocking out. Having used a package previously called Gmax, I found Maya quite intuitive, but like all 3D packages, the logical ways to do things are hidden deep in menus and shortcuts. Luckily, I'm learning these all the time.

Thankfully, I got myself a 100% for both my exercise and main week one assignment, though I did have to redo my week one turn in as I went somewhat beyond the basic block out concept... On the plus side, it gave me more chance to practice ;)

As for weeks two, The exercise was about using the more advanced concepts of Maya; using the three main components of a 3D object (vertices, edges and faces) and extrude tool. This knowledge, along with other research made allowed us to craft much more complex models.

The week two main assignment is to craft five models total, using the techniques learned in the exercises. the models are to use minimal separate objects, and any complex shapes and elements should be appropriately modeled into the 3D objects. It's been a lengthy task for some, and I still have one more to go this week, but so far, I think they look fairly decent... though my grades will be the real indicator there of course ;)

Next week is all about cleaning up and fixing issues with models... of which I am certain there will be plenty of in mine... Stay tuned.

This is just a quick introduction post to explain what this blog is all about. Back in January of 2016, I started a degree in Game Art at Full Sail University. As I progress through my learning, I will be making posts here to supplement my portfolio, and show my development (and perhaps a few cool things along the way!). Keep watching...