Museum floor plan

Next I will start work on my Museum level. This will be a small 3D environment where I could maybe put my characters, but the primary reason for doing this is modelling practise. Every time I model something, I always learn something new. Hopefully modelling this environment will be no exception.

I have drawn a floor plan of how I want my environment to look. It was inspired by an image by an artist called Benjamin Pongy:


I would like my jewel museum to look very modern, but at the same time, quite feminine and stylish to match the aesthetics of my game. The enivronment will contain a huge diamond that will be in a glass container will ropes around it, various paintings which I will make in PhotoShop and a crown, smaller jewels and a sceptre which will be inside another glass case. I am interested in doing a concept drawing of this environment for my portfolio.

More Texturing

I then went back into Photoshop and painted the textures to try and achieve a painted effect. Here are some iterations ...

Here is a render of my model. For my portfolio, I would like to add these effects to the model I made last term.

Lady Danger 3D Model from Sophia George on Vimeo.

Texturing

My next task was to texture my model. This was done in various stages...

Firstly, I took a UV snapshot in Maya’s “UV texture editor” and painted it using Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. The painted file was then imported back into Maya using the Hypershade.

I then added a contour shader, which was also used for my last model. This helps create the cartoon aesthetic that I want for my game concept.



To expand on a cartoon aesthetic, I thought it would be best to use a ramp shader, as well as the textures I painted. Therefore, I had to use a “Layered Texture.” This was done in the Hypershade editor in Maya and it was fairly complicated for me to use.

Here is my model with the Ramp shader and Photoshop texture.

UV Mapping

My next step was to UV map my model in preparation for texturing. I did this in Silo, as I had no access to Maya at the time. For my next model, I would like to UV map in Maya, as the process is slightly different.

This was a fairly easy process, and I created 3 different Maps as my model is made up of 3 separate objects – the hair, the eyes and the rest of the body.

Modelling Finished

To model the hands, I used a tutorial from YouTube, as well as a few tips and tricks and tricks I learned from other students. One trick was to add small gaps in-between the fingers and also to create the right amount of edges on the wrist to connect with the shoulder.

Here is the tutorial I used for the hands:



Then, I finished the arms and shoulders and attached them to the rest of the body. The arm and hand was done in a separate file to the rest of the body, so when it was finished, I imported it by pressing File>Load into Scene.

The last stage of modelling was to give my character eyes and eyelashes.

Now my model is complete and the next step is to create UV maps.

Shoes

When I modelled Lady Danger’s shoes, I found that I worked a lot quicker than the last time I modelled shoes for Vegas Volt. Although I prefer the first set that I modelled, the new shoes have simpler topology and will therefore be easier to texture and animate (If I decide to).

Modelling Hair

Next, I worked on the hair. Unfortunately, I had to completely change the design, as I found it much too complicated to model. Instead of big curly hair, I modelled Lady Danger’s hair up into a bun, with a bit of hair falling down from the side. I also modelled an Alice band, to make the process easier.



Despite the fact the hair had to completely change, I like the new design, as it compliments her formally styled clothes.

I also managed to fix her bust...

Modelling the rest of the clothes was fairly easy. The front of the skirt will have buttons which will be applied through bump maps or Mudbox. The most difficult part of this stage was modelling Lady Danger’s knees. I looked at reference from http://www.Pig-Brain.com/ to help.

Modelling Clothes

After modelling the head, I started working on her body and clothes. At first, I started modelling the clothes, but I realised it might make the typology difficult to animate, which is was a problem with my last model.

Instead, I decided to not model the details of the clothes, leaving this step for bump maps or Mudbox/Zbrush.

So far, my model still needs a lot of work. There is still some bad topology and the bust needs to be a lot smaller.

FGA6: Modelling

Since I have set myself an ambitious project, I thought it would be appropriate to start modelling straight away. I started by modelling Lady Danger’s face using the orthographic I made for my character sheet last term.

I am pleased with it so far, but it still needs fixing in certain areas.

It is very important to make sure the edge flow in the face is good, in case I want to animate it in future. Therefore, I used a tutorial from youtube to help with my topology.