Failure upon failure

Today was an epic failure for me. I had a good discussion with Jared, and Dan showed me how to UV map (which I'm pretty sure I'll screw up!). But the first failure came with the bump mapping. I tried to retrace Jamie's steps but I couldn't remember properly, so instead of looking really cool like when Jamie helped me, it just ended up looking like poo. No, I actually mean this literally looks like poo, instead of canvas. I then tried applying colour to it, but I could only apply one colour, and not a variation.. arrggggh! I then did a test shot with an occlusion which looked OK. Bad Day, Bad Day!

ANother play with the Toon Shader

I was bored whilst sitting in front of Maya so I decided to have another little play with the toon shader. It looked a little better this time around but I'm still gonna try texturing though.

Cutler Model

Today was spent finishing the Cutler model and redying him for texturing. I had to make sure that I combined the vertixes properly, as the hand mucked up when I mirrored the body and it imploded so I had to make sure that I was care full. Next is Mr X and then its full systems go on the texturing. I'm quite happy with the way that the model has turned out. It's not as good as I think it could be, but my limited skills inhibits me.

Smooth..like Shaft!

Over the last few days, I have been refining the models. Seeing as I am ill today (and off work) I decided to do some Maya and post up my progress. I have mainly spent time on both the characters bodies making the details more refined. When you smooth the model, you loose some of the punch of the drawings, so you have to spend a lot of time playing with the vertexes trying to get the model right. Everyone said, and I agreed, that Cutler's legs are too skinny, so I sized them up, and then proportioned his body accordingly. With both of the characters faces, I had a tough time placing the eyeball in the model (just as Jamie predicted). I had to really play around with the eye sockets to get it right. I can't really explain how I did it, it was just playing around with the vertexes. I did do Mr X's body as well, but the computer crashed so I can't show you any images. Lucky I saved before...that's the second saving crisis I've had this project.

Texture test

Today I consulted Jamie on how to texture my characters. He took me through how to UV texture, how to take the snapshots into photoshop and all that. However, I told Jamie that I was thinking of going for a stylistic look of a canvas come to life. We experimented with UV mapping a canvas texture onto the model but it didn't work out that good. Instead Jamie set the canvas texture as a bump map, to which we can apply colour on top of. As well as that Jamie created a smudge effect in photoshop, which we then applied as well. This gave it another dynamic. I also expressed how I wanted the whole thing to be quite bright like Street Fighter 4. Jamie told me that he thinks they use a combination of textures and ambient brightness with a colour on top. We applied this use of ambient glowing onto the model. I then expressed my interest in the toon outliner, which we both played around with. Overall, I am really happy with this look. The toon outliner needs a little more playing with but I can imagine how these models could look in the end...that's if I don't balls it up! Thank you for you help Jamie, it's much appreciated!

Mr X Hand and stuff

Hey guys, Putting the last updates on the rough model of Mr X. I spent a while trying to get his last two fingers correct, this was difficult because they are not separate but joined together by skin. I achieved this by creating a two fingers, then creating a sixth one, deleting the side and merging them together. Using the extrude tool I defined the edges to his waistcoat, his fly and his pocket. I think I'm done in terms of the rough version of this model. I still needs more tweaking.

Big Mr X Update!

I've decided to proceed with the Mr X model, rather than the Snubbs one. I became worried about how Snubbs would move and how I would texture him, so I decided to leave him. The last two days have been pretty productive with the modelling. I've almost completed the rough model of Mr X. Using the same modelling techniques as I used with Cutler, I made Mr X's arms and chest. What you will notice is that he is allot bulkier than Cutler, this is because he is supposed to be more imposing than skinny old Cutler. I want him to be more muscular than Cutler so I spent some time defining his chest and neck muscles. I then spent A while creating his moustache and hair. It was pretty tricky but I think it turned out OK. My own personal achievement was his foot, I just kept extruding things and adding vertexes, but I think it turned out well. Still needs more work though.