Gwyn WIP Update #1 - Work since graduation

Coming back to my blog since I've completed school! I'm trying to get back into the habit of updating weekly on my WIPs. Since then I have been working on a new character, Gwyn the monk! Her design is inspired by an old D&D character of mine. 

First came concept work. I love baggy clothes and sashes * v * I gave her a warm palette because her personality is very upbeat and perky and I felt like it fit. 

Next was modeling a base mesh in Maya 2017. This is my first time with Zbrush so I didn't want to start an entire character from scratch.  

Zbrush is a monster of a program, I hope to learn more about it the more I work in it but for now I'm satisfied with what I've done! I got really stumped by it for the longest time, but after some trial and error (and fuck ups) I eventually cranked her out! 

killmeplz

Finally I brought her back to Maya to retopo! She's sittin' at 12.8k tris. A little on the higher side, mainly because of the braid, but I couldn't find a good way to retopo the braid properly other than reducing the edge loops. I changed her design to only have one braid because of this.  

Now I'm in 3D Coat working on her bakes and textures! More updates soon!

Weekly 13 - Almost done!

The end is in sight! We've made a lot of graphical improvement this week. We're mainly doing small touches at this point that really make the game more polished in my opinion. Cleaning up animation, getting props in, title screens, menus, textures, etc.

The character models and weapons are completed and textured. Models such as the tree, rocks, ground, and grass are being textured by me as well. I've also been posing them for animation for the title screen + poster for Sebastien's presentation which will be placed on the second floor wall. We're posing them in a field sitting on a stump. To their right will be a sign that cycles through all of the title options (New Game, Continue, Credits, End) with a moving camera. Awesome idea from Seb, programming extraordinare :)

Finn and Isa, modeled and textured placed in Unreal

Tree!

Stump!

Grass!

Maxin'

Relaxin'

List of completed in-game animations:

Presentation

Tobias

Concept art, modeling texturing, rigging, posing

Tobias by Kristen on Sketchfab

Rally

Concept art, modeling, texturing, game design, and mocap for this assignment.
Programming and Animation tweeking done by Sebastien Hutt.
UI done by Vinna Chan.
Mocap actor Karissa Neves.

Weekly 12 - Finalized Portraits

I finished the portraits for the two main characters. We've decided to cut the game down further so we might not make portraits for the bandits and revise the script accordingly. I will be adding additional portraits for facial expressions (I'd like to have an angry, annoyed, happy one, but it will be dependent on our revised script). Animation is my next top priority so that is what I'll be focusing on for the next update.

Weekly 11 - Finalized Portraits WIP

This week I am revisiting the dialogue portraits. I decided to reference my concept art from a while back because I realized it had the pose I was looking for. I'm pretty slow at digital art and lineart isn't my forte so it's been taking me a while, but all I need to do is Finnian, Isa, and two bandits. I'd like to have them all done by next week.

I've also gotten all of the mocap data out of Motive and into Motionbuilder. There were quite a few track data errors sadly so there will be some necessary cleanup.

Last weekend we met up with our group (Vinna Chan is joining us to help with the UI) and decided we wanted to alter the scale of our game in order to finish this by the end of the year. We will decide then whether or not we will want to further pursue this or leave it as a demo. We've scaled it down to just creating a tutorial level with basic combat introduced.

By next week I'd like the portrait art all done and, if I have time, I will need to create the weapons for the characters (broadsword and shortbow).

Weekly 10 - Modeling + Texturing finalized, Mocap

This week I spent my time refining my existing models and textures. As per the advice I received last time, I made the warrior's armor a big bulkier on his hips and legs to match his bulky shoulder armor and gave his hair a couple of loose strands. I also added a very simple texture to him in order to give him a bit more shape, though I want to keep it simple in order to retain a simplistic cute style and avoid texture hell. Along with the warrior, I've updated the archer's textures and mesh as well.

We also got a lot of mocap data for our game (thank you Karissa for getting in the suit!). Earlier this week, I've been patching it up all up in Motive and Motionbuilder. We have a ton of clips (over twenty!) so I've been slowly chugging out fbxs, however it's going to take me longer to clean up the animation since it's not my strong suit. Sebastien has been helping out with rigging while we get the clips cleaned.

Next week I would like the portraits completed for the Warrior, Archer, and Bandits. If I complete that, I need to begin modeling the sword and bow props for the characters.

Warrior Finnian

Archer Isa

Mocap hell