Character Concept

Main Influence on Character Design

Little Big Planet (LBP)

These are some of the most simplist characters I've ever seen. I needed to work with in my limit on this project because I am working by my self. Simplicity was the key this term, as I was doing different parts of the production of making a character.

The LBP character is very appealing. I think that there large heads give them the most appeal. With large heads you can get alot of emphasis on the facial expressions.

Resistance 2 Concept Art

This is the concept for the Chimera (Aliens) that you get in Resistance 2.

This concept art use's the same technique as the Mirror's edge art work but the have stylised it a bit more with heavier shadows.

Check out the Ultra large image of it @:

http://z.about.com/d/playstation/1/0/9/A/01_sketch-3zombiecolor2_psd_jpgcopy.jpg

You will be able to see all the brush stroke detail.

One day I'll be to painting like this :-D

Mirror's Edge Concept

This is one of the characters in Mirror's Edge who helps you out in the end of game... can't remember his name though. It's been along time since I played it.

If you look closely at you will be able to pick out some of the brush strokes that make up the complex tonal work. Most of the obvious brush strokes are on the clothing.

Final Concept

I've got back into painting again which is one of the things that I wanted to do on this project. I've been inspired by alot of the Mirrors Edge Concept art and Resistance 2 concept and lighting. The aspects that I liked about the Mirrors Edge art work is that the brush strokes are very loose and free when you look closely at their paintings but as soon as you move further away it looks more realistic. I enjoy drawing with alot of energy and freedom so I thought that I could adopt some of the Mirrors Edge technique.

I didn't want to draw with lines for my concept because I didn't feel that it suited the character. I feel that by having no out lines will make the character look more subtle and softer than bold and brash heavy outlines. I have been looking into Digital Painting for along time but nether attempted to learn it properly because.... well it Hard as Hell!

For this piece of work I just used Photoshop and a Wacom Tablet. I've become very comfortable with using a tablet now that I can't use Photoshop with out. It definatly helped.

Jump 1

Walk Cycle1

I'm going to try another one. So far I like it but I need to speed the arms up.

Animating Now! (Just Done a Jump Cycle)

Thanks to the success of the rigging and weight painting (Not as bad as people claim it to be) the animating has become a lot easier.  I am supprised at how flexible my Rig is.  This has given me the free needed to animate this walk cycle that I'm going to do.  I'm so happy that i have chosen to do the Character Design Project and take on the Rigging head on.  I'm more confident than I have ever been on Maya now and I feel that I'm starting to develop range of skills.  I will keep practicing my rigging as I think it's a useful skill and opens up opportunities to animate your own character.  

It has been along time since I last did an animation in Maya, so I turned to the Richard Williams book for reference.  I have animated  jump cycle and will post it up shortly (just need to put the tiffs in to AfterEffects).  I have been using the line graph in Maya so that i can control the slow and slow outs and do my some Rig justice.    

Rigging Finished (Very Flexible)

Pinch in the Arm

The skin and the bone were not weighted together at first when I binded the skin.  I over came this by weighting the elbow joint to the skin and then painting the weights around it.

IK Handles are in!

The IK handles are in and working. I have tested the Rig and overall the influences are pretty good so far.  The I just need to take away some of the influence from the left hand on the hair and polish up the elbows and i'll be ready to Walk Cycle.

The End is near. I Have decided to work from home this week so that I could divide the labour between my Post Production Project and this one.  I maybe able to finish this by Monday. 

I'm ahead of schedule at the moment.

Using a Simple Rig System

Nothing Flashy. I just want a walk Cycle so I have used a simple rig set up to do that.  In My Body language book it says that these types of Rigs are good for background characters or characters that are not doing anything dramatic.  

I have placed some rib bones in because my book says that it would be easier to paint the weights around the Torso area.

Blend Shapes are in!

I have put a few blendshapes into the face. They were not as hard as I thought they would be. The Deadline is looming and  could spend another month putting in more and more facial expressions but i've got to push on to the rigging. 

Hair Band

Character is now fully textured.

With Low Poly Hair

I like how my character is turning out. I'm going to change the eye brows and I'm also going to change the colour of her hair so that it is darker.

Render Shots of Textured Body

I'm pleased with the renders so far.  Next thing to do is Bump Map the clothes and make them look separate from the skin.  Tomorrow, I will Map out the head and start the hair.  

Everything's going according to the Time Schedule. XD

Legs and Feet Textures

I'm very happy with the legs and feet.  I have also textured the soles of her shoes.

First Arm Textures

I didn't like these textures at all. They made my character look like Lisa Simpson which isn't what I wanted. I also used a Blin shaders which gave the skin too much specular glow so I have discarded that for a Lambert.

Arm Textures

These are my final arm textures.

Render of Textured Dress

Perfect! Just need to do the rest.

UV Texturing for Dress

I'm really happy with my texturing and I like the logo as well because it gives my character more personality. I gave the dress a denim look in Photoshop. The denim and fire textures were manually painted in Photoshop whilst the monkey design was from the internet.

UV Maps (Dress, Legs and Arms)

Body UVing

So far so good. I'll map out the UV's for the head on Wednsday. I'll texture the clothes and arms tonight which will be the main bulk of texturing.

On Wednesday, I'll also start on the hair as well. My new Time Table is going to plan! XD

LoL Old Time Table

I have taken a look at this old Time Table and noticed that I have been sticking closely to it with out realising. Well, I'll be following the new time that I made instead.   

This week and beyond

This week has been a great week. The Formative assessment was positive so I'm going to keep on doing what I've been doing but speed up the work rate as well.  I found out from the Formative that I need to compare my work to people in the industry. As I'm into gaming, I will be looking at computer game characters that are similar to mine.  Only one week until Street Fighter 4 is released which means that this week I'm going to finish the texturing and hair by Friday.  

This will leave me with 4 weeks to put a simple Rig in my model and to animate a walk cycle on the spot. 

My New Time Table:

Mon 16th-20th_ Texturing and Hair (UV's are Done hehe)

Mon 23rd Feb- 6th Mar_ Rigging and Weight Painting + Blendshapes

Mon 9th Mar_ Animate Walk Cycle (Should take less than a day to do properly)

Mon 9th Mar- 13th Mar_ Render shots and Render Walk Cycle 

HOLIDAY! Ha Ha ha  

I like it! It's start

The highlights give the more depth.  I'm glad i have taken out the black shadows in the hair.  It's time to variate the sizes of clumps of hair and to create a complete hair style.

I've got the hair shape

This is a test of the new hair clump I made.  I'm pleased with the shapes.

First Clump of Hair

I don't like this clump of hair because it looks too 3D and too dark.  I'm going to take out the shadows that I added in photoshop change them to dark purple. 

Wireframe

Just showing you the wire frame to let you know that it's legit! LOL

(Low Poly version)

Smoothed Wireframe

I have joined everything together and its taken form. I'm going to experiment a bit with the hair and then make a start on laying out the UV's.

More Pencil Concept(I will colour these)

Front view High Poly

High Poly Version

When it is finished it should look something like this.

Low poly front view

Modelling body and head

This is a low poly version of where I am at it this present time. As you can see I have extruded out the dreses from the body and then modeled it to my concept work.

With the head, I started with the lips and the eyes because those are the most important parts of the face to model. The rest of the head is not finished yet. I need to add on the ears and the nose and then face will be ready for texturing. The body is ready for texturing.

I'm going to mirror the body to save time and then smooth it after I have done the texturing. The reason why I'm texturing before smoothing the model is that it is easier to select faces when they are low poly.

Rough Model Sheet

I like!

This is it! Finaly Cracked it!  This is the design that I wanted.  This version of Pocohantas is just a slight variation on the Pocohantas without pony tail.  I've taken away the bob hair cut because it looked to old and replaced it with the pony tail.   I have also replaced the gorrila costume with young and simple clothing that my target audience can relate to.  The gorilla costume made her look to bulky.  Her body has also been made smaller as well so that the attention is drawn towards her face.

I'm happy with this design. On to the Model Sheet!