Assignment Part 1 – Good/Evil Model

The two screenshots shown above show my Character in Mudbox, were it demonstrates both the multiple sculpt layers I used, as well as the reference image I used to get a basic idea of how I wanted my Models to look like, I added the reference image to the perspective camera meaning no matter were I turned the camera I could always get a clear view of the image. The first step I took was to do a base mesh for each section on separate layers, on the lowest sub division then move up the sub divisions adding detail as I go.

The Image to the left shows my model fully rigged along with all the names for which I called each joint, this allows me to see easily where each joint is located and fully animate my model. My model has both forward kinematic and inverse kinematics this is very similar to the last rig I did in a previous post.

Below shows a screenshot of me using the paint weight tool to make sure that when I animate my model the mesh does not deform due to the naming system I used it was easy to locate a specific joint without too much trouble. The other screenshot below shows all my paint layers for my characters.

These two images that follow show my finished good and evil models which was created using different sculpt layers and tools as well as different paint layers, each layer for a different section of the models one for good and one for evil, while the other image shows my level of detail group. This means that when the animation scrolls through the models will change the closer to the model based upon the settings shown in the screenshot to the correct model, the models all have different number polygons which was achieved by using the reduce tool. (see video below of final Level Of Detail) The distance for the Level Of Detail was achieved by using Key Frames

The two images below show different stages of the blend morph, for both the model and weapon. I used the blend morph that was previously shown in a other post and I used a new technique that allows for the colour to blend as well as the actual mesh.

I used the Blend Shape tool to manipulate the different models so they would appear at different times here is an example of the blend shape tool that i used in my animation.

Below are the complete videos for each section the heading before each video tell what the videos are about:

Blend Morph

Level Of Detail

Wireframe Mode

Shading Mode

I have used a variety of new techniques for example the blend colour, to morph the texture of one model and another, I have also used a bump map on the lower polygons to give the the appearance of the higher meshes without having all the polygons this save the render time. In mudbox I have used different paint and sculpt layers, to create my models, I have also used a reference image which I added to my perspective plane to help me sculpt my model into a similar appearance. I enjoyed this assignment very much and would love to to something like this in the future, if I had more time however I would look into applying blending normal maps and perhaps using more maps not just specular, bump, incandescence and diffuse .

fuel,fire,twister

Below are image showing the completion of the fuel and fire exercises:

Below is my Completed Twister using a 3D Container:

I found the first two exercises to be fairly easy and didn’t take too long to finish I was able to easily change attribute settings to get the desired effect, the twister task however took a while as I had trouble getting the twister to keep it’s shape, as when I adjusted settings like swirl to get a better tornado, I had to adjust other settings as well to keep it all in balance. I am still not 100% happy with the final outcome for the tornado however the one shown in the video above was the best I was able to achieve, without it completely losing it’s shape altogether.

Over all I am happy with the end results for this exercise however as I said if I could do this again I would try and make each tasks more realistic by changing a few more settings.