FMP: Character (Surprise!)

I did a little work on a character I hope to use in my environment.  I don't want to spend lots of time rigging and animating as I am already doing this with my colossus and is a chore.

I created the head from my Asaro Bust, then I used the Unreal main character as a reference - Importing the rig into 3DS Max ready to skin.

I liked this speed paint I did so developed it

I simply expanded the original paint to help visualize other parts

I really enjoy sculpting digitally & thew this old guy together & though I should use it maybe

Quite happy with the guy - the fibres will make way for a helm

After I have finished sculpting the main details I will retopo in 3D Coat & 3DS Max to create different objects & Elements.  After that I will bring it back into zbrush for fin detailing (scratches, chips etc).

I still have little to no idea how to replace my character into my project, but should be easy enough.  I will be using 3rd person perspective and have been setting up the camera and other elements in the mean time.  My plan is to have the character running around by 5th April, and waking up my colossus.

FMP: Materials in UDK 1

I've been working on my Materials in UDK - creating a decent set of master materials so I can make variants of them and apply to my meshes.

Paramitors & Controllers
The main thing I found with master materials is to have the appropriate variables/controls you might want to change over different meshes.  So you want a "peramiter" to select different texture maps for starters.  Then you might want controllers to change the tiling, contrast or colour balance maybe.  You can very simply invert a channel for example (common in correcting normal maps from different applications), or tint a diffuse.

Here is an early version of a multi-layered material

Blending maps

Blending maps are grey-scale, and depend from asset to asset on what you want to blend together.  Most map blending will be connected to the height or its features - the cracks may have grime/foliage gather, the outer corners may get worn and corroded with age.  Because of this it is a good idea to create height maps, & cavity maps.  I have been stowing these in the alpha of my diffuse maps.

Multiple Layers
By using tiling textures you can add the impression of detail.  Say I have a standard material I can then tile textured detail on it.  Below is an example of layering rock textures 

Here I changed the tiling and intensity of a second normal map to add appropriate detail

Vertex Painting
Vertex Painting is pretty cool - Apparently every vert already has colour information so vert painting is "free" -resource wise.  I think it is great as you can add variety where there would otherwise be none - Breaking up the uniformity & repetitiveness of game engines - is pretty new gen.  For these blending layers to work though you really need a "blending mask" or two.

I will be using a main material to create most objects.  The foliage and others will require different materials.

Here is a variant of the material - with a second normal map and vertex painted moss

Here's a screenshot of the nodes in the material editor - Is too much as a whole, even though it is organised it is big, & a little confusing to look at

...Pretty confusing?!

There are little tweaks I may do - like adding an option for the "mix" normals to be ignored - at the moment he moss overides the rocky texture which is not what I fully want.

Designing the Colossus 4: Finalizing the design

I'm starting to get happy with my design and am breaking down what parts need finalizing to create it.

Out of the Colossi designed I think this kind of design would fit & look cool

Most of my design time has been spent mentally ripping down each idea and reducing it to be makeable and managable.  Having the colossus visually matched to the environment is something to be aware of.

Here I am breaking down the materials - RED= Architecture, Yellow=Rocks, Blue=Unique, White=Fur/Foliage

The mock-up model feels good in level

I have of course fallen behind my ambitious time-scale and have to focus.  To help I did a coupla paint overs - and am looking for short-cuts to simplify & minimize work that is needed.

I don't want the colossus to be there already, I want something to draw the player in & have a sword in a stone/alter

If I could change the lighting to be more dramatic,  which would be cool

Over this weekend I will get my animation rig to fit in the level & have a wake up animation hopefully.  As a way to make things easier I may dettach/remove it's massive arms - Which I would of liked to be towers integrated with the level.  Im still seeing the limbs as events to defeat the beast.  But before that I need the alter, which will start at today... I'm gonna recycle a part from my sword

I'm fond of the highlighted parts on the hilt and will try adapt them into an altar

Anyways - Spending too long writing-up instead of working.  Back at it

The Asaro Head

I have been working on a head study of an anatomical reference bust - A head by John Asaro. [REFERENCE]

Here is what I am studying

I find 3D is a great way to understand stuff like this.  I may hopefully come out with a decent model I can use as a base mesh for future sculpts and renders.  First off I made the bust in Zbrush - This is pretty quick, using a sphere and dynamesh.  In 4R6 you can make the screen semi-transparent and reference from behind it - making the process quicker and easier.  I also did a quick manual retopo in 3D Coat, re-imported the mesh into Zbrush and projected the sculpting detail back on top

Here's my sculpt - Is a fast process as no topology to worry about & sculpting is fun of course

Retopologiszing with 3D Coat is quick and easy (with practice) and
is more reliable than auto retopo/Zremesher

I decided to take the study further... While my first sculpt was alright I wanted to try and make a really "tight" version in 3DS Max, It could be a great example of using smoothing groups and to flex a bit of what I have learned recently about optimization.

 Re-modelling to get the surfaces correct is like solving a puzzle - closely using the reference and making the best guess.  Lots of the planes are now really flat planes, every transition intentional and cared for.

By altering the geometry I already made I  tightened up the model.

This chizled look required a lot of smoothing groups and triangles

Resulting Mesh in a startup file in Zbrush

Testing out the new base mesh - It seems the more impression I leave from the planes and hard edges the more stylised n cool it gets

Out of interest I wonder how easily I can export the new bust/s and get into another program... Turns out its quick :D  Below are some exported

I have unintentionally created a set of files/workflow which means I can setup a "Studio" in Marmoset which will auto update from zbrush with a single click - maps and base mesh alike.  This could be very handy for quickly presenting ideas & sculpts which are also "real-time" and game viable.  I quite like this possible workflow - I'm not a big fan of compositing from multiple images/renders from different passes.

An old man from the Asaro bust - Needs hair & surface detail still

Seeming I spent a couple of days on this I thought it would be prudent to use it for my FMP/Portfolio.  I have started to do a detailed head, which can also be used for my Knight (whom will be mostly armour).

FMP: Level Design... a sword

Last night I made a sword.  The sword is based on the wanderer's sword in Shadow of the colossus, but with a bit of a Greek/Roman feel.  In The Shadow of The Colossus the sword is named "Sword of the Ancients".  This sword will become a focal plot element - Used as a tool to trigger and resolve events.  I was thinking of having a "Sword in the Stone/Excalibur" type feel, having a nice scene where the sword is inviting you to retrieve it.  This will trigger the awakening of the Colossus and then be a tool to activate other triggers to help defeat the boss/colossus.

The shape of the blade is similar to Iron age Celtic blades and the Greek Hoplite - With a leaf shaped two edged blade.  The Sword of the Ancients is exaggerated with the tapering occuring much closer to the tip - This contradicts the swords use in the game Shadow of the Colossus - as in reality the shape is used to aid swinging and not thrusting.

I made this in 3DS Max & Zbrush - Single pass render from Zbrush

I was having a go at using the Multi-Map Exporter in Zbrush - You can change settings here to project & export maps from multiple objects (or sub-tools in Zlanguage) and also to flip the vertical axis and green channel to match 3DS Max.  This is a big time saver, and combined with being able to fluidly push 30 million triangles about makes it pretty useful for high definition textures and speed sculpts alike.

I did a little more work on the sowrd - Giving it two distinctive sides - The Sun and the Moon

Optimization

I'm actually spending the day today working on this - Texturing and optimizing at the mo.  There is a handy script called ubervert count - which analyses the mesh and its UVs and normals even.  You should convert your mesh into an editable mesh (from editable poly) first to save time.  It seems the optimal way to model is with a single smoothing group, weighted normals (to prevent bi-normals and unwanted doubling vertex information).  also if the UV seams match up with geometry seams this seems better - Giving you the chance to get 100% optimization.  This can be confusing as by using multiple smoothing groups you need to split the normals to create the separate groups - End of the day it is all personal choice, smoothing groups seem more redundant the more polys you use.  Anyways - I'm aiming for 80% plus and don't want to cut the geometry up ilogically just to accomadate seams.

I made an incosistancy going between 3dS & Zbrush - I was lazy and forget to fix the subdivion levels - You can only really tell on the tip of the blade here with the oval/distorted Sun symbol and the grip (I can tell on the grip anyways)

It's an idea to split your objects into smaller objects/materials within Marmoest - Here I allocated one material (giving my leather grip a "metal" feel.  I guess you could use masking maps an layer the materials - Maybe laters

I spent a bit of time with Marmoset & After Effects - Trying to get decent materials to work in a PBR environment, pressing all the buttons and playing with the setting in Marmoset in Particular.  I might alter and improve the design (and model) to accomodate for level interaction - But is an idea not to spend too long on one thing - I'll get it in the level and see what needs done