Toolkit 2 - Reflective Statement

During the drawing section of toolkit two I feel that I developed my skills somewhat drastically. The life classes were valuable, even though the main bulk of the sessions happed at the end of term due to covid, I developed my drawing skills as well as trying out some different styles. I also found the process of drawing everyday for a week therapeutic as I was able to draw similar poses in lots of different ways. However, it is a shame that these sessions were not all throughout the term as I feel that the figure drawing side would have helped me in my other projects. Overall, I think that I could have been more adventurous with my style but I have defiantly developed my drawing ability. During the character design project I was defiantly apprehensive at first. As we were all given characters and scenarios at random it was a good opportunity to get in the mindset of a commissioned concepts. I don't have a huge amount of practice with creature and animal concepts and especially not in a chibi art style so it was a bit daunting but once I created a few concepts it developed quickly. I think that if I was to redo the character design project now I would be able to produce more work and to a better quality but I am pleased overall with the outcomes. 

For the animation section of toolkit I feel like I learnt a lot in a small amount of time but there is lots I can improve on. My animation comes across as floaty often, and I think in general this takes me a bit longer to grasp. I know there is lots to improve on but I feel that I have improved immensely since the beginning of the year. I found the texturing classes insightful and I also feel like I managed to understand all of the content in such a short amount of time. These classes will be extremely useful for year three. For Jet Pack Jones time keeping was a major issue. I found it difficult to complete the tutorials in the time I had planned because I was became too critical about the head modelling. I hoped to have more of the tutorials done and I am pretty frustrated that I didn't complete more but I plan to complete it all in the next few weeks so I am prepared for my final film. I did, however, find this process informative as I have improved my problem solving in maya and I now know that I need to give myself much more time to complete the modelling process. 

Overall, I am pleased with how my drawing ability has improved over this year and even though my maya based work is more or less unfinished I have learnt a lot of skills that I will be able to transfer into third  year. I do think that being at home for a large amount of the year in person lowered my work ethic somewhat as I am usually really motivated. The substance painter classes were a great asset to the term, as I will be able to apply everything in those classes to my upcoming projects. Although there are unfinished elements to this toolkit, I am happy with what I've learnt and produced. 

Toolkit 2 - Submission Post

 

Animation 

Acting Poses:

 https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/week-1-action-arcs-moom-poses.html

 https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/week-2-dramatic-arcs-moom-poses.html

Weightlifting Task:

 https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/week-56-force-trajectory-loosening-up.html

Lip Syncing Task:

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/05/toolkit-2-in-class-expression-changes.html

Drawing 

Character Design:

Week 1: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-character-design-week-1.html

Week 2: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/character-design-week-2-kaiju-sketches.html

Week 3: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/character-design-week-3.html

Week 4: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/character-design-week-4.html

Week5: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/character-design-week-5.html

Week 6/7: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/01/character-design-week-67.html

Character Bible: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/02/character-design-bible-toolkit-2.html

Life Drawing:

Term 1: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-life-drawing-week-1.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/life-drawing-week-2.html

Term 2: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/06/life-drawing-catch-up-sessions.html

Maya and Associated Software 

Lighting and Rendering:

Part 14: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-maya-arnold-lighting-and.html

Part 16: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-maya-arnold-lighting-and_29.html

Part 17: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-maya-lighting-and-rendering.html

Part 18: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-photometric.html

Part 19: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-depth-of.html

Part 20: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-2-fog.html

Part 22: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-2-sub.html

Part 23: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-2-aovs.html

Part 24: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-2-stand-ins.html

Jet Pack Jones:

Pipeline 1 (Jet Pack Jones) - Body Modelling Part 6: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/06/jet-pack-jones-part-414-head-and-16-body.html

Texturing:

Book Texturing (Maya): https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/02/maya-tutorial-book-texturing.html

Book Texturing (Substance Painter): https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/03/substance-painter.html

Oil Can Texturing (Substance Painter): https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/03/substance-painter-oil-can.html

Dumpster Texturing (Substance Painter): https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/03/substance-painter-dumpster.html

Additional:

Art Jam:

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/art-jam-monster-mash.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/art-jam-ink-blots.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/12/art-jam-character-mash-up.html

Jet Pack Jones - Part 4/14 Head and 1/6 Body

During this Jet Pack Jones project I have struggled with time keeping somewhat. I underestimated how long it would take me to model the head, and I realised a bit to late that I was being too picky on my modelling. Unfortunately, to save time I have not modelled the skull cap, and moved onto the body modelling so I had most of the character completed. Over the summer I plan to complete the pipeline process for Jet Pack Jones as my premise project contains two characters. 

 

Life Drawing - Catch Up Sessions

Last week consisted of all day life drawing sessions, in which I was able to practice figure drawing and facial structure. The first few images are digital sketches from throughout the week. The first few days, I produced a mixture of 30/10 minute drawings and some quick 1 minute sketches, all in pencil. 

On Paper Sketches

As the days continued I started to use pen and ink, as well as some colour paint pens for experimentation, and to be a bit more creative. As we haven't been able to do life drawing for some time I found that during the first two days I spent practising and getting back into drawing on paper. 

The next two pages are one line drawings, not lifting the pen from the paper, and outline drawings, not filling in any of the gaps, but following the outline of the model. 

 The last few drawings have lots of colour as I started to draw more abstract shapes and change my approach from detail to shape. I found these sessions really useful as I haven't drawn on paper for a while as I have been mostly sticking to digital work for projects, however, I also found that by drawing similar poses in lots of different ways I started to be a bit less of a perfectionist and started to create some interesting drawings. 

Toolkit 2 - In Class (Expression Changes and Head Movements)

 This week we looked at adding expression changes and head movements. For the expressions, each change is based around a word that stands out in the speech so that there is a reason for the movement. The same with the head movement, leaning in and out for dramatic effect but not alternating so much that it looks too simulated. 

Toolkit 2 - In Class (Phoneme, Visemes and Tongue)

 This week we looked at developing the lip sync further by adding a stretch and pull motion as well as lip curl to create the right shapes for each sound. We started by looking as the muscle structure around the mouth and then moved onto how each letter and sound forms a generic mouth shape. I then added in the appropriate phoneme and visemes shapes to each major sound as well as tongue movement for the L sounds. 

Toolkit 2 - In Class (Jaw Bounce)

This week we looked at facial animation and syncing audio with basic mouth movements. The jaw bounce accounts for the overall look of the animation and serves as a base for more detail. Essentially, opening and closing the mouth where the sounding out of words would cause you to do so. The jaw bounce also sets the rhythm for speech and makes the final product smoother. The next step would be to add more details like lip curl. 

Substance Painter - Dumpster

 During this weeks substance painter class we looked at texturing a dumpster similar to last weeks process. The only difference is a set texture called metal edge wears which adds a worn look to the edges of the surface. I have been unable to get this to work after attempting a few times so I have left this step out. We also learned how to stamp and layers images onto a surface using set paint brushes in projection mode, which was used to achieve the graffiti textures. A plastic texture was applied to the lid, and a rubber texture to the wheels and then everything is exported out and plugged into the corresponding channels in maya. The look achieved is effective and substance painter continues to be a user friendly programme.  

Substance Painter - Oil Can

 This week we looked at substance painter and texturing an oil can model. The process started by baking the maps and adding fill layers with a red colour. There were three of these layers with various grunge/ scratch maps added to generators, which can simulate depth. Rust maps are the last thing to be added, as well as another grunge map to lower the harshness of the texture. The process is relatively the similar to the book texturing however, when plugging the maps back into Maya, the process is a lot quicker. So far using substance painter the outcomes are of a high quality and the software is easy to us. 

Substance Painter - Book

This week we looked into substance painter and the pros to texturing in this software. Substance painter is completely new to me, however, I found this instantly more user friendly compared to the photoshop process. Being able to see each texture build up in both 2D and 3D format simplified the process from me. You start by exporting the existing objects into substance painter, there are lots of materials already provided to texture objects like the one used below. From there settings can be changed to effect the size and scale of the texture, these textures when baked also provide normal maps e.t.c. The gold pattern is added by using a copper like texture and another fill layer textured with the actual design, which is then inverted. This designs height can also be altered to simulate the idea of depth and difference in material. Once all of this is completed it can be exported back into maya, by placing each texture map into the correct inputs. I feel that this process is easier in terms of visualisation and for me personally time saving compared to the alternative methods. The outcome is also of a high quality.   

 

Jet Pack Jones - Part 3/4

I have developed the model further, including finished rough modelling of the of the overall head structure and shaping round the eye. I have also modelled the mouth the a good point. The actual process of modelling is taking me longer than I anticipated. I want to make sure that I properly intake all the information so I benefit from this process as much as possible, which will help me significantly throughout the next projects.

Mouth Modelled 

Character Design Bible (and Location Design) - Toolkit 2

Location 1

Location 2

Maya Tutorial - Book (Texturing)

 In this class we started preparation for texturing the model below. The image below has been lit with three light attached to a constraint aims. The scene was then rendered out and save as a .exr file. 

  

Jet Pack Jones - Part 1/2

 Starting off Jet Pack Jones, I added all of the orthographic images into maya, as well as creating a temporary left eye and a rough outline of half of the face.