Robot Dog Progress Showcase

Robot Dog (not really robotic yet)
3hrs

672 Polys

1310 Tris

/* Notes: This fella will be the playable character of the solo game I'm currently working on. I want him to exude strength and stability, but he should also be lovable. He is a caretaker. He'll need to be expressive, but within his limits of robotic movement and gesture. Finding the right balance of organic and robotic design elements will be crucial... and slightly difficult for me. 

Structure changes for upcoming progress updates should include:

-Major revisions to the general shape of the head and neck (he kind of looks like a mule from the front... something from Viva Pinata maybe... Not ok)

-A closer look at how the back legs of a dog are actually shaped. His are pretty chunky, and oddly angled.

-Addition of purposeful design to points such as the eyes, nose, jaw, ears, tail, joints.

My thanks to Micah Moore, my new Maya teacher for this semester, for his already helpful advice. I'll be designing Robot Dog throughout his class, so his input will likely have a pretty big influence on the game's feel. */

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The Newest Model: Lil Fuzzy Dude

 

 Concept for the newest character. His requirements were that he were little and fuzzy and a male creature. Hence his name in all files to date: LilFuzzyDude

  

LilFuzzyDude in snazzy 3D
3hrs
1018 Polys

  

 Ellie, no longer horribly sunburned. Textured in a style after JM's design of Main Character, seen below

 

JM's impressive work on the playable character and some environment modeling

So I think it's time to explain why I'm modeling a naked chick. In case any of you were nervously wondering. JM and I are planning on entering the Indie Games Challenge sponsored by GameStop, the GuildHall at SMU, and the Academy of Interactive Arthttp://www.deciel.net/s and Sciences. (And no. I do not attend either of those schools. Maybe I should? Last time I entered something awesome to a contest sponsored by MY school, we spent several weeks waiting and pestering the organizers of said contest as to what was going on, with no response. Absolutely. None. But anyway.) The game is set on an island in the Bermuda Triangle, there is a dude, a chick, and a smallish saber-toothed tiger... thing. That's all you get for now. If you're as excited as we are about this, stay tuned to both of our blogs!

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Finally, A Worthy Showcase

Unity Demo

The dream comes true!

Since first dabbling with Unity last semester, I've desperately wanted to use it to showcase my models - it seems silly to have 2D pictures of 3D art in my portfolio. Well I bit the wallet last week and bought the Unity license, and I'm sure it'll be well worth it.

Since we're on the subject, I'd like to thank Tom Higgins at Unity for helping me out. I only exchanged a few emails with him, but he's an awesome guy and exemplifies the fun but down-to-business attitude I've gotten from all my experiences with the Unity team. So check out the new raptor walk cycle and look forward to future Unity showcases.

/** Coding note: The animation is, unfortunately, not as it was keyed in Maya... There was an inconsistency in the way I animated the model and how Unity reads animations, resulting in a loss of the raptors vertical and side-to-side motion. I ghetto-rigged it to look fairly decent for now, but I will continue to look into the problem. **/

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Aibo

Toy Robot Dog "Aibo" (Sony)  

11 hrs  

Low Poly: 3990  

High Poly: 15678  

Notes: This was just a fun practice project inspired by all of the little robots my dad and I have been playing with & building lately (I'll post on that too in a bit). It was the first time I created a high poly version of any of my models, so that was fun :) There are a considerable amount of smaller details that I glossed over, but I'm content with the final product. Perhaps when I have a bit more modeling skill under my belt I'll do another robot with all the tiny components. 

P.S. Two whole posts in less than three hours! Holy crap!

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Naked Chick Progress

6 hrs
2342 tris 1196 polys
Notes: She's not naked anymore! Don't worry, her nakedness may be recurring. I'm starting to actually like how she looks. I'm happy with overall shape, in my opinion she's pretty true to the female figure. Changes I'd like to make will probably be to the hair, face, hands and lower torso, but not as drastic as the changes were since last post. Also, she'll probably evolve as we (JM and I) work on style. Think more cartoony (I'll try too).

P.S. She doesn't have a nasty sunburn, in case you were wondering. Color coded models.

This chick was referency:

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Ellie

Short post with small hint - new game? ;) Stay tuned, and keep an eye on deciel.net

2.5 Hours
932 tris
Notes: Her torso is not quite as feminine as I'd like it to be in the final version, but hey. Two and a half hours, she's not looking too bad. Expect revisions, especially to the face, hair, and boobs. In the final version I'll be working toward more character.

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8 hr Shotgun Model

Wow, first thing I've actually finished since I left school. And here it is:12 Gauge Shotgun (Modeled after SPAS 12) Production time: 8hrs Polys: 161 Tris: 308 It was fun. I started around 8 this morning and worked nonstop, just finished a bit ago. I made sure I kept track of the time it took and even documented my progress! Finished the model at about 4.5 hours, spent the rest on animation, 'rigging' and texturing. It doesn't have a skeleton, but it has driven keys for pump, trigger, and foldable stock actions, as demonstrated below. I may update this post with in-progress pics, but I really should put everything in my portfolio first and that may take a few days. I've also been working on my raptor, his walk cycle is complete. It's not perfect, but I've come to the conclusion that I do NOT want to animate at all if I can manage it. I don't feel like I'm terrible at animating in general, but I just can't get into it. I'd much rather make a flawless model, or even better an awesome rig. Rigging calls to me - it's so much like programming, I love it. I can just see JM shaking his head as he reads this :-p I'll post raptor... when I feel like it. Projects on the horizon: -Finish raptor animations and showcase him in Unity -Finish Spidergirl model -Model Industrial Tech stuff for my Dad -New game with JM -New solo game for Intro to Games next semester P.S. Can't wait til I can make a shotgun like this

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Submitted

*Phew* Wow. Done. And, here is the playable version:

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Mods

: Third Set :
2pm April 16th
With the third set of mods I finally tossed in some original models. It's starting to look like a jungle! So far no legitimate textures.

Play

Features Added-
-Instruction Menu
-Log obstacle model
-Vine obstacle model
-Snake obstacle model
-Mesh collision
-Decrease in functional level design - I don't quite have the feel for the new obstacles. This makes the difficulty of certain layouts harder to predict. Important to remember for final level design.


: Second Set :
3am April 16th
Second set of mods is done!

Play

Features added -
-Start Menu
-Pause Feature (p)
-Checkpoint System
-Press enter on buttons


: First Set :
Did some more work on the Llama game - hoping to have it done by April 19th for the Spring show :-O Dunno yet if it's possible, but I'm going to try my hardest.

Play

Features added -
-Long jump by holding jump button (up or space)
-Duck button (left ctrl or down key)
-Inclusion of how those mechanics can be implemented (gameplay)

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This One Goes to Dad

When I was a little younger, my dad started picking up a comic regularly so we could read it together. It was the first time I realized how much I appreciated the American comic book style, and I think it's influenced my own personal style since I started doing the art thing myself. Occasionally my dad still sends me cool comics, but that first one will stick in my heart and my mind forever. I've started on a new model, and I'm really excited to see how it turns out. Thanks Dad :)


P.S. Found a convenient collection of all the covers here

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I Really Do Accomplish Things...

... I just don't ever put them on my blog. So now I'll spam a bit and update with what college has been doing with me. Er, what I've been doing in college.

DINOSOR.ma

In CAPS we've been working on creating a character and rigging it for the first time. We're using the rigid bind process, meaning the character is all separate pieces that intersect each other. I decided to do a fox (heh surprise, surprise), and was then told it needs to be a bi-ped... Darn it Jim Bach. If I wasn't so scared of your fireballs and laserbeams... So JM says "Do a DINOSOR!!" and that became the new plan. Now my raptor is all modeled up at 5412 tris, (a bit much maybe) stretched out, and ready for bones. The skeleton as you can see is all set up as well, I'm just waiting to learn exactly how to do IK handles for all the joints before I can bind his skin onto it. By the end of the class we'll have animated a walk cycle and lip sync (oooh, lips... hmmm, could be a dilemma. haha).

If I Only Had a Brain

She's winking? We're working on busts in Figure Modeling. I like the profile better. Fun fact for people like me who don't know much about sculpting - she's hollow.

Museum Spot

Vine & compressed charcoal in Figure Drawing. Not happy with the class, the teacher, the methods, the teacher... But I am happy with these two pieces. The first was done in class with an awesome model, the second as homework. Kudos if you can tell me where the old man is from :)

In Other News

This was on my dorm's bathroom floor. Ew.

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