There has been a lot of progress lately.  I’ve been holding off posting because the new stuff is very similar to what I’ve shown already.  I’m waiting to post an update that will hopefully show a marked improvement over my work so far.

Here’s a pic of a slightly disgruntled Taren.  Her hair shader needs work but just playing

Thanks for checking by.

Cheers

Arron

This is just a we post to let my loyal followers  (all 3 of you) know that I’m still getting shit done!

I’m pleased to announce that technical wizard Paul Boyd will be taking care of character rigging for TRi.  All effort at this stage is focused on getting the characters finalized so Paul can start bringing them to life !  Ewan has also been hard at work on the rifle to be used in the film.  It’s a sick looking prop that sets the benchmark for the rest of the films look.

Here are some new pics of some different areas of progress:

Some rough environment layout and blocking in:

Render testing with some more realistic eyes:

An early, w.i.p.  look at TANK ROBOT!

… TANK ROBOT !!  I love this job

Cheers

Arron

Hello!   I’m as good as finished with Lennons blend shapes!

I’m struggling with Taren a little bit.  I had hoped to have her finished by now but it’s been pretty tough finalizing her head (I can’t go back and change it once I start doing her blendshapes).  I’m struggling with the generic, fake as hell look.  Trying to get the balance right between style and realism.

So to get away from her troublsome face I’ve gone and looked at giving these guys hair.  After I bit of testing I’m getting happier with the results.  Which you can see in the following video of Adam twitching like a loon and the pic below.

I really need to get the teeth and gums sorted out for these guys soon, it looks weird when they open their mouths.  Can’t wait to get stuck in and do some proper animation with these face setups!

Cheers

Arron

Been powering through Adams blend-shapes (wot makes his face move ‘n’ that). Here he is looking a bit smarmy, I’m not sure why. His texture is a temporary one for testing. He will look quite different in the end.

It’s nice to see these characters slowly coming to life!

UPDATE - 31st July

UPDATE – 3rd August

I’ve finally finished Adams blendshapes.  It’s been a lot of work but it’s so worth it when you get to see him mush up his face like so

Now lets see if I can get Taren and Lennons finished before the end of the week !

Cheers

Arron

Been working loads on getting my heads looking good,  but I don’t wanna post them just yet .

Here’s what I did to break up the monotony.  I’ve gone and roughed in some proportions for the other characters.  It shows off where I’m trying to be smart (lazy) with the work needing to be done with this project.

Once I get into the textures good and proper it should be alot less obvious that they share the same mesh and displacements

UPDATE – July 20th (1am)

The aforementioned heads,  with added improvement !

Cheers

Arron

Spent most of today doing new textures from scratch.  Got a decent work-flow going now, though it still takes  a lot of time. The jacket and trousers are basically done.  I’ll be re-using these for two other characters.  Once I take care of that I’ll go in and do a final pass on them all to add a bit of personality to each costume.

Unfortunately there’s is a bit of ugly texture distortion going on around the inside leg, near the crotch.  I’ll maybe roll my sleeves up and fix the uv’s in that area.  Might not be worth it however, there are no crotch shots in this film !

Cheers

Arron

I’ve been working away on the clothing for this guy.   As with the heads, I’ve got a basic topology going on and I’ll be adding further detail love soon.

Then it’ll be time to reuse what I can for the other characters, who happen to be dressed in the same uniform.  Convenient!

UPDATE – 13th July

Right,  I’ve been to hell and back on this body thing.  I’ve re-modeled and re-proportioned my heart out.  Here’s a little test that shows off the beauty of displacement maps (and bump/diffuse/specular).

I’m pretty happy with the results I’m getting at render time from such a low poly mesh.  Now that the work flow is sorted, time to get going with the real thing!

UPDATE – 13th July (after a 10 hour sesh )

UV’d the trousers and boots today.  Took them into zbrush for their displacements and had a quick bash at a material for the boots.  Next I’ll be trying to refine the displacement for the boots so I can get some laces and straps in there.

I like doing these renders after a hard slog, it’s nice to see things coming together!  Right, time to eat !

Cheers

Arron

Much of today was spent taking the head I’ve been working on and making it girly.  I’m going to get three rather plain but (hopefully) well proportion heads that I can sculpt further at a later time.  The idea is to get away  and return with fresh eyes.

Next week I’m gonna start sorting out bodies and clothing for these freaky heads to get acquainted with.

UPDATE – 22 June 09

Here’s the three main characters from my 4th year project.  In all their mannequin like glory.

That’s as far as I’m going with these for a couple of weeks while I sort out their bodies.  When I return to them it’ll be time to give them much more character and um…oh..I dunno… proper eyelids/hair/pupils ?

Cheers

Arron

Here’s a little of what I’ve been up to lately.  Yes, he looks wierd, but there’s been a fair bit of effort to get to this stage.  Now that the topology is there (lines ‘n’ that), it’s now about sculpting him to look like the character design.

I’ll also be able to use his tricky bits (the nose and ears etc) as starting points for the other characters.  ‘Cause I’m lazy like that.

This post was a way of taking a break from modeling this guy.  It can be hard to see the problem areas after a while.

I see plenty now, those eyelids are next !

UPDATE – 19 June 09

Less lumpy now but still a fair bit to go for sure.

UPDATE – 20 June 09

Some rendering for fun after work

We like subsurface scattering !

Cheers

Arron

Here’s an environment concept from my 4th year project.  The bottom part is the basic 3D layout done in Maya to get the perspective sorted, top is the paintover so far.  No refs so far but its a w.i.p.

Will have more bits and bobs like this to post soon, deadline is upon us !

Cheers

Arron