Creating assets for my Demo 3 (14/5/2013)

Once again I decided to model more 3D assets for my demo.

Chair:

I was able to complete my chair by using the inset and bevel tools to make the seat of the chair appear more comfortable to sit on. I then also used the inset tool followed by the bridge tool in order to link the chair's back support together.

Bar Stool: 


Wanting a variety of seats I decided to create a bar stool.

Creating a cylinder I then used the bevel tool to make the cylinder slope upwards before using the extrude tool to give it the pole part.

Using bevel, extrude and then bevel again I was then able to create the seat for the stool.

I then finished the bar stool by creating two torus's and then inserting three cylinders into them in order to make the foot rest for the bar stool.

Street Lamp: 

Creating a cylinder I then used the inset, extrude and bevel tools in order to create the base of a lamp.

Using the same tools I was then able to create the vertical pole of the street lamp. I then added spheres on either end of the top sides of the lamp.

I then created a box and edited it with inset, bevel and extrude in order to make the basic shape of the lamp itself. I then used the material editor in order to create the glass for the light by reducing the textures opacity and increasing the specular level and glossiness.
I plan to add the lighting to it in UDK as the lighting will look more realistic that way.

Door:

Creating a box with three length segments and five height segments I then used the inset tool to create equal sized squares on both sides before using the bevel tool to indent them.

In order to create the door knob I used the same technique as I did for my desk before copying it so it would be on both sides. I also reduced the thickness of the door in order to make it look more realistic.

During the making of the door however, it accidentally saved over the model of the desk I made. Therefore I need to check to see if I have a saved copy of that 3D asset. Otherwise I will have to recreate it and learn by my mistake. 

Creating assets for my Demo 2 (7/5/2013)

Continuing with my 3D assets I decided to make the following things:

Filing Cabinet:

First of all I made a long box with three height segments.

I then used the 'inset' tool to slightly reduce the three front faces, thus when I used the 'extrude' tool three individual squares would pop out instead of just the whole of its side.

I then used the same technique as above to make the simple handles before extruding the bottom of the cabinet so it wasn't just on the floor.

Work Desk:

Started with a box that had three height segments as I did with the filing cabinet above.

Using 'extrude' and 'bevel' allowed me to make it look like a basic side for the work desk.

I then extruded the top of the box in order to add an extra section before using the 'bevel' tool to make the drawer

Copying the box and using the 'Attach' tool to make them one object, I then cut out a face from each one and connected the edges by selecting the edges and using the 'Bridge' tool to connect them.

After connecting the two boxs I then added another drawer in the middle and added a more detailed surface to the top of it.

Creating a cylinder I then extruded it and used 'bevel' in order to create a drawer knob. I then used 'auto smooth' in order to make it more realistic and then added multiple ones to the desk. Afterwards I added a plane to the top of the desk to add another colour and add authenticity.

Chair:

To make the chair I first made a box with three length segments in order to get four small corners. The bottom ones would be used in order to create the legs as seen below.

I then selected two of the top small squares in order to start the back rest as seen below.

I then extruded and enlarged the front in order to make it look more like a seat for a chair. Afterwards I enlarged the chair in order to make it correctly proportioned.

Sadly this is as far as I got and therefore I will continue to work on the chair and other assets the next time I get the chance.

Creating assets for my Demo (30/4/2013)

Replacing the Sound Theory module with 3D Modelling we looked over the work we would be doing during the rest of this term.

June 3rd will be our deadline for when we have to create a number of assets to put into the 3D demo we made last term.

The assets I would like to create for the game demo include the following.

• Work cabinets to replace the plain wooded boxes that represent them. 
• A desk to replace the blocky one in the detectives office.
• A type writer for the detective's room. 
• Glasses to replace the shrunken barrels I used to represent drinks.
• A coffee cup for the detective's desk. 
• Chairs to replaces the crude substitutes I had to make. I may also make stools for the pub.
• A car or two if I can find the time in order to tell the player what era the demo is set in e.g. 1930's/40's. 
• Even though my pool table made from odds and sods gets the job done, I may want to replace it with one that has the correct amount of balls on it.  
• Different doors so as to add variety to the scene since I only have one type at the moment.
• A hat stand to add extra detail to the detectives office. 
• Street lamps to add further lighting to the scene.  

I decided to make some simple things first since I haven't used 3dsmax in a long time. Therefore I made the following using the methods mentioned below.

Coffee Cup: 

First of all I made a cylinder before using 'inset' alongside 'extrude' on the top of it to make it a hollow cup.

Using the 'line' tool I was able to make the handle for the cup. It started as just a line however, therefore I had to select the option under 'rendering' in order to get a thicker version which I did by increasing the 'Radial's 'Thickness' to 4.0. Also in 'rendering' I had to select 'enable in renderer' and 'enable in viewpoint' in order to see the handle.

With the coffee cup pretty much complete I then selected the cup and used the 'smooth' tool and selected 'auto smooth' in order to make it look less blocky. 

I plan to texture this coffee cup another day.

Beer Glass:

Using the 'line' tool I made the rough side of a beer glass.

I then added some more lines to the existing lines when I realised I didn't have enough to make a realistic looking beer glass.

Editing the lines slightly and using the 'lathe' tool I was able to make the lines wrap around into a rough beer glass.

I then changed the view from 'wireframe' to 'realistic' in order to see my 3D model.

Going into 'material editor' I then made the glass texture by selected a light blue and reducing its 'opacity' in order to make it more transparent. I then messed around with the 'specular level' and 'glossiness' in order to make it more shiny and glass like. 

Realising that the lines inside the beer glass only made it less realistic I then decided to remove the inner lines.

I then messed around with the lines further in order to make the glass more realistic. 

Not content with just having empty glasses for my demo I decided to make a version with beer. I did this by copying the glass itself and then reducing its size to fit perfectly in the glass, using the 'cap' tool. I was also able to give the beer a top, to do this I cut the top of the beer in order to make a frothy top. I was able to make the contents look like beer and froth by using the same technique that I used for the glass texture.   

Hat Stand:

Deciding to create a hat stand I first of all made a line in the shape of one side of it.

Increasing its thickness to 2.0 I then made it brown and copied it four times. Rotating it where necessary in order to get four sides of the stand. I then added a torus (ring) to the top to make it look authentic.

Overall today was very productive and I was able to make four useful models. Therefore I look forward to importing my models into my demo and seeing how effective they are as 3D objects. 

Finishing Deadlines (20/3/2013)

Since our lecturer recognised that we needed to finish our work in time for deadlines I spent the whole of this session working on my Harvard Referencing.

Speed Sculpting (13/3/2013)

This session our lecturer showed us how to speed sculpt which proved to be a very enjoyable task and allowed me to get more confident and familiar with the program, especially since he provided us each with sheets that listed the hot keys in ZBrush.

We also looked at work by Mr.Yoshi (who makes 3D monster models daily for a living) in order to have an idea of what we would be doing today. 

Here is my speed sculpture which my peers really seemed to like. It took me an hour and a half to make.

Afterwards I worked on finishing my hammer before cropping its images and putting them onto my power point.

Putting together the Cthulhu Hammer (6/3/2013)

After tweaking the tentacles on last week's Cthulhu head I decided to add some more detail to my hammer as I felt it was rather boring.

First I played around with replacing the rings for round coral shells as they had a pattern similar to wrapped around tentacles.

 
Unsure of whether or not these shells would hinder a user's ability to wield the weapon, I decided to delete them.

My friend Jon showed me how to add a spiral around the stick which not only looked more practical, but also more interesting. I was then able to stretch and edit the spiral by using the tools under 'Initialize'.

After doing the above however I was unhappy with the shells as I couldn't get them to fit in with the spiral. Therefore I removed them from the model.

Deciding to go back to my first stick I decided to remove all the rings except for the end ones and made them longer and larger in order to cover over the spiral.

Having lost the base for my hammer for some reason this week I decided to redo it using ZSpehre's which you can see below. 

It wasn't until after I had spent a while trying to mould the spheres that I discovered that I couldn't, thus I will have to try another method next week.

Overall while I recognise that I am still getting used to ZBrush and that this is only my first year on the course I feel as if I didn't accomplished enough in this session due to a lack of knowledge of the program and lack of a final product. However, I am probably just being too hard on myself and getting stressed as the deadline is approaching.

Having talked about this with other people perhaps I need to recognise that the process I am going through to learn more about the use of ZBrush is equally as important as an end product. After all, people in the games' industry must spend hours working on things that never make it into the final game.  

Modelling my Cthulhu Hammer... Again (27/2/2013)

After being reminded of the work that we needed to do for this module I tried to find my saved Cthulhu Hammer model only for it to be missing! Unable to find it I was forced to remodel the whole thing.
You can see this process below.

I first of all tried to copy my original stick with the nine rings on it. Unable to get the stick to look the same height or width as my previous one, however I decided to make the stick longer and add two more rings onto it in order to make it look more like it was originally. 

I was then going to go on to copying my process for the hammer and the hammer head when my lecturer came over to look at my work. Showing him my presentation again and explaining that my original model was lost he helped me. Unable to find it himself he recommended that I do each bit of the hammer separately before sticking them together. Therefore he made a start on the hammer head that you can see below.

After which I then added to it a more bulbish forehead in accordance to Cthulhu's head whilst making sure to add detail to the model by 'raking' it.

Looking over how to design the tentacles for the hammer head I added a sphere to the scene before adding a 'CurveTube' as I did originally for my hammer head tentacles but didn't like. However, this time I smoothed the tentacle to make it look less cylindrical and added rakes in order to give it more detail.

I then duplicated the tentacles and added them to the hammer head, also adding spheres in order to create eye balls. 

I also made a start on the hammer itself which you can see below.

By the end of the session my lecturer had sent me his notes having looked over my work. His notes are as follows.
'Looked at powerpoint, good reference material. Getting more confident with ZBrush but still feel more comfortable with 3dsMax. Grenade is very good with textures. Current hammer stick has been lost but already has good idea of how to get back to that stage. Looked at using claybuildup, rake and standard brushes to sculpt Cthulhu. Use curve brushes to get tentacles again.'