Retopology

Retopology is the ability to change the topology of a model or mesh to clean the surface by recreating the existing surface and creating a new surface that will be easier to texture and meld.

This makes animation and texturing easier to due to the lower amount of faces with sustained detailed throughout, the most common use of retopology  is to make quick and easy quad based meshes.

This allows you to model how you like and easily deal with the consequences later, making the final product clean with larger faces, making it more manageable.

September 26, 2017September 26, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan

Hacksaw Ridge

Characters:

• Desmond Doss – Andrew Garfield
• Teach – Richard Pyros
• Sergeant Howl – Vince Vaughn
• Captain Jack Glover – Sam Worthington
• Smitty Ryker – Luke Bracey
• Tom Doss, Desmond’s father – Hugo Weaving
• Lieutenant Manville – Ryan Corr

Setting:

The film starts in Lynchburg, Virginia where Desmond Doss was born and raised, the film progresses within this setting until he signs up for the military and is moved to Okinawa, Japan on the battlegrounds of Hacksaw Ridge where the story unfolds.

Plot:

The lot is that his man, Desmond Doss had an incident when he was a child in which he almost killed his brother therefore he decided to never do no harm, the story progresses until he decides to enlist as a Combat Medic however as said before he refuses to do harm to others, so when they land at their appointed position they climb Hacksaw Ridge and are attacked by an onslaught, despite this Desmond stays behind due to enemy fire as his allies retreat. This leaves Desmond on the battlefield as the enemies cross the field killing his wounded allies, therefore he decides to rescue everyone, he then rappels them down the Ridge to his fellow officers whilst risking his own life.

 

September 20, 2017September 21, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan

Establishing Shots

An establishing shot, generally long or extremely long range shot to depict to the audience where or when the story is taking place. This one shot allows for us to set the scene which in turn grants us a quick sum up of the stories location or timeline of which the rest of the story is based upon, this shot is usually the opening scene to a movie or in a comic may been the start of a chapter or possibly the entrance into a new location.

September 6, 2017September 6, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan

Substance Painter

Substance painter is great program for texturing or painting a model, this allows for some really high quality easy to make textured models that can really accent your modelling ability and further the detail within a project.

I really enjoyed how easy Substance Painter was to create nice textures for easy or hard to texture models, it’s just as easy as drawing a character and their design or detail on paper, except that it’s automatically applied to a 3D model allowing for fast and easy texturing. I have spent the last 30 minutes to an hour playing around with the features trying to learn how some of them work and what sorts of tasks they would be used for.

 

September 6, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan

IW – Wizard World

This is a Group Project, those partaking are;

Callum Cook (Coding, 3D Modeler and Asset Manager)

Fraser Gibson (Model animator and Coder)

Oliver Fleck (2D Pixel Art and 3D Modelling/ Level Design)

Myself (3D Modelling/Level Design and Texturing)

Our project is a Make believe Wizard World, where we start from scratch basing our ideas off of previously decided concepts which will greatly influence the style and the way the assets and textures are created and how the final outcome will look. We hope to have an idea of how we wish for the project to turn out soon, whether that’s the final look or what  we hope to achieve  part way through we have  yet to know.

We have yet to work out the kinks of who is specifically doing what so far, I am (at the moment) focusing upon Modelling and Level Design, creating various objects and miscellaneous items scattered across the level, designing some of the environment whilst helping to decide upon the textures and helping create those also.

We have created a Google Drive and a Discord channel to allow for us to talk whilst creating our project, we will create checklists to determine what we need to make/create and what has already been made to make sure nobody creates a duplicate unless we decide that a model has to be redone.

This is what we have planned so far and we are polishing who is doing what and whether that is what everyone wishes to do but so far this seems to be planned completely.

September 5, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan

Reaching the Industry

There a many different ways that I could reach a job role within the industry from the ways that I have researched, however the most basic methods include:

1. Posting your work across various forms of media i.e. Discussion boards, games sites, industry pitches, etc.
2. Starting a gaming blog, to just dive straight into the deep end
3. Create small indie games and release them hoping that they get seen
4. Working your way up, start as a games tester and attempt to work your way through to your aspiring jobs, maybe review in specific detail
5. Participate in Game Jams, preferably ones noticed by large companies, because even if you don’t come close to winning you might still get noticed

And after this point I would be dragging on the point, however these are some of the most successful ways that I have found throughout my research, obviously also attempt to educate yourself towards what is required within the job roles which is a standard thing to do.

These ways have worked for many people, this is how most indie game creators and large game developers get started and have gotten started before, by slowly making a name for themselves possibly getting hired or bought out by larger more economically well versed companies which design and create large well known and made AAA games.

June 23, 2017June 25, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan

Research of Job Roles

I am looking to pursue a job in the games industries, that is why I have pursued an education in game creation and design. This will further my chances at acquiring a job within this industry. Ubisoft, which is a large games company, has a page upon their website which allows you to apply for a job role in which you want to pursue, the list of open job roles and destinations are all listed and show which required qualifications they want to see for you to apply and be accept for a place within their business.

I would be aiming to acquire a job within the level design and creation sector as I prefer modelling and 3D creation as a whole in comparison to other aspects of game creation, therefore I would look at an available sector of work that they have open and strive to achieve those required qualifications to the point where I would be hired over someone else.

June 22, 2017June 25, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan

Portfolio Reflection

In my portfolio presentation I got a merit as my grade, so it wasn’t outstanding nor was it abysmal, I got an adequate amount of feedback to the point where my mistakes that I had realized I had made weren’t as important as I had once thought.

They commented upon the layout and style of my portfolio saying that it was well organized, however somewhat overcrowded, which means next time I need to focus more upon separating and elaborating upon a single piece rather than quickly going over a few projects at once.

I received and obvious yet vital piece of information about my models which was to focus upon finishing and texturing 1 high quality model rather than completing multiple medium quality models to achieve a vaster amount of production quality models for future portfolio presentations.

Unfortunately, I had recently lost a large majority of my VFX work therefore I hadn’t  had any VFX footage , except I had very few older sky replacements which was something they commented upon, they did say however the things I did have on my presentation were good however they would have preferred if I had some footage to see how good or bad I am at altering footage, adding effects and changing scenery, etc. I have now done my VFX project which isn’t to a production quality standard, I am not all that well versed in editing footage and adding visual effects to an environment however my vfx lecturer said it was a job well done which was an improvement upon my previous outcome.

The art aspect of my portfolio was somewhat lacking, the variety of drawings that I had wasn’t very vast and was somewhat bland, they had commented upon the quality of my drawings saying that for someone that doesn’t focus upon aren’t they weren’t bad and that I will just have to keep practicing to improve their quality in the future. The main focus that they pointed out was definitely the quantity and variety of what I had though, they noticed that my images seem rushed, mainly because I make rushed drawings when sketching just because for a concept I don’t like to actually sketch it out even though it is recommended, I’m someone who prefers to get right into the creation of something and go from there which is something of which they noticed as they commented on the quality differences between my models and drawings.

June 21, 2017June 25, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan

Retopology

Retopology is the act of recreating an existing surface with more optimal geometry. One of many common uses of retopology is to make clean quad based meshes for animations, also for models to clean up all meshes and or textured surfaces.

This is the first attempt that we have had at using retopology, at the moment we have only started to use it for making armour and clothes.

April 4, 2017April 4, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan

‘Light’ Illuminating Text

I have created a base text within photoshop, exported said text as a png then drag and dropped it into an After Effects composition. My goal was to turn the text into a virtual bulb, where it would have very little light left shining, however it is then struck by lightning which is forcing electric current through the lettering which brightens the glow of the bulb and the intensity.

The main improvement I would make is an electric current that follows the edge of the lettering and discharges when going around the lettering.

 

April 4, 2017 by NextGen - DMcClennan