Recorded with OBS
Sound mixed/edited in Audacity (credit to rightful owners of music/sounds used in credits)
Edited in Movie Maker
Engine: Unreal Engine 4, matinee (legacy) used.
The beginning of the process of creating the minion characters; concept, sculpting and retopology.
The first stage was looking at the concept minions as my main point of reference when sculpting the high poly models of the character models.
Minion head sculpt.
Minion body shape progress.
Defining the body and adding the bracelet.
Ears and more detail to the body added.
Minion after more detail added.
Final high poly minion model with skirt added.
First step is to import the high poly objects into Maya, my chosen software for retopology for these characters.
The model is centered onto the grid.
First the objects were turned into GPU cache objects which makes the model run from the graphics card which results in a smoother and better-working Maya with less lag and slowness.
The objects were then GPU cache objects and the program ran a lot smoother.
The objects were then named appropriately to make it easier to work with in the outliner.
Ear retopology
Body, head and legs retopology
Head and body combined is 2202 tris.
Wireframe of the head and body - to be cleaned up.
Ears are 368 tris.
The cuffs/bracelets are 248 tris, the wireframe view is shown in the image above below the normal shaded model.
The retopologised minion skirt, 440 tris.
Retopologised hands, 424 tris combined.
The normal angle then needed to be set once all objects were retopologised.
The next stage of the main characterâs workflow is to UV unwrap his low poly model.
Starting the UV unwrap
Torso unwrap
Leg unwrap
During the unwrap process I realised there were some objects which had faces that would never get seen by the character, therefore, they were removed for optimisation and to lower the poly count.
Leg and body unwrap
Horn unwrap
The horns were unwrapped individually as mirrored objectâs UVs do not overlap correctly.
Unwrapped boots map
All maps lined up
After cleaning up the model, the final poly count is 10,130 tris
The maps then needed to be arranged onto the grid space.
The next stage is to texture the objects in Substance painter.
This post will cover the retopology process of Nooduleg which was done in Autodesk Maya 2017.
The retopologised skirt. Poly count: 184 tris
The retopologised nose. Poly count: 278 tris
The retopologised moustache. Poly count: 240 tris
The complete horns. Poly count: 822 tris
The retopologised helmet rim. Poly count: 152 tris
The retopologised main helmet part. Poly count: 308
Image text: Usually when retopologising a characterâs head - I would follow a strict edge flow for rigging/animation, but because this characterâs head can barely be seen and will not be use for animating facial expressions. I just have to treat it as a normal object and ensure the edge flow is clean.
The retopologised head. Poly count: 308
Retopology process for the hands/gloves.
The retopologised hands/gloves. Poly count: 2920 (collectively)
Low poly head models together with the high poly scarf.
The retopologised braces. Poly count: 448 tris (collectively)
Retopology process for the boots; usually I struggle with retopologising characterâs shoes and keeping the edge flow clean, however, while laying in bed, a sudden idea of using a cross shape at the ankles of the boots and starting two edge flows going horizontally then vertically could be used to make the retopology process of the boots a lot easier and it definitely helped a lot, as making two columns of faces either side of the boot that have an equal amount of faces, made it easy to join them going horizontally around the boot shape.
The retopologised boots. Poly count: 804 tris
The retopologised torso. Poly count: 1484 tris
The retopologised legs. Poly count: 352
Retopologising the belt.
Retopologised hair, 1274 tris
Retopologised scarf, 320 tris.
Retopologised belt buckle, 288 tris
Retopologised boots, 804 tris
Retopologised body, 1612 tris
192 tris
88 tris
Final model
Final model after setting normal angle
Each object was then assigned a different material for texturing.
Nooduleg updated model progress #2 - High poly model
The second step is to create the high poly character model in Zbrush.
This will be shown through a series of screenshots taken during the process of creating the model.
Sculpting the body
I started with a Zsphere to âflesh-outâ the shape of the body.
I extended the Zsphere and added more spheres to it.
And began to shape out a body.
The torso and arms.
Then adjusting the size of the shoulders and waist.
I made the shoulders slightly larger to exaggerate the upside-down triangle shape of the Vikingâs physique.
I then added legs to the sphere by the pelvis area.
I pressed A to check the appearance of the body in polygon mode and it seemed fine to work with and had the right proportions that I wanted.Â
I added resolution to the shape and I could now begin to sculpt more detail into the body.
These images are of the early stages of the sculpting work I did on the torso.
Belt
I then started to sculpt the belt after getting a good start on the torso.
For the belt I didnât want to just copy a design or pattern that I found online, so I decided to mess around with some of the brushes available and created an interesting shape. So I decided to go with it and develop the shape I ended up with.
I then cleaned the clay up a bit.
Once I had a shape figured out, I could start neatening the appearance and developing the shape and detail further.
I then ended up with this design for the belt.
The belt at a distant view.
Nooduleg has quite thin legs and the current legs I had were too thick for his character, I masked the area and used the inflate tool in deformation to shrink the shape.
The edges then needed to be blended in with the hips and smoothed.
A close and distant view of the belt and skirt.
I then went on to create the Vikingâs boots, however, creating the shape in ZBrush would have taken longer than using the existing boot that I had already from the low poly Viking character, the shape would also be more accurate to how the Vikingâs boots are supposed to look according to his concept model.
The imported boot, positioned with resolution and cleaned up.
Side view of the boot
45 degree of the completed boot.
Boots mirrored over.
I added knees to his legs for detail.
Progress of the model so far.
Hands/Gloves
Using the same hand file that I used when creating the hands for my Druid character for my honours project, I will make adjustments to make it suit the Viking character.
I made the hand thicker to match a âman-sizedâ hand and I will re-position the fingers to have an aggressive or fighter look, slightly clawed. This gives his appearance more of an arcade/fighter type character feel, which is appropriate for the hack and slash style of the game.
The fingers are in the correct positioning, but I needed to make adjustments to the knuckles as they did not protrude out as much as they should have.
The knuckles now stick out more appropriately.
A preview of the hand and arm in polygon view.
I did not need the arm section of the Zspheres, so I removed it.
I then officially made the Zspheres into a polymesh and added resolution.
Then the clay buildup brush was used to develop the shape of the hands.
The hand was then smoothed with the smooth brush.
More clay was added to certain areas to add more shape to the hand, such as knuckles and tendons in the hand.
Images of the progress of the hand.
I needed to re-position the fingers and spread them out more, so I masked each one individually and separated them from each other with the move tool.
I then inflated the fingers as I found them to be too thin.
I added some wrinkles into the hand as his hands are leather gloves and not skin.
Palm and finger lines
Creasing at the edges and in the areas where the fabric would bunch up from his hands being relaxed needed to be added.
Creasing at the wrist
Also, deeper creasing in the fingers where they bend.
Progress of the sculpting the creasing on the glove.
Stitching was then added to the glove using the stitch brush, additionally, using the dam standard brush the seam was sculpted, after doing those things the glove was complete.
Braces
The first step of making the braces was to create a cube in Zbrush, then to use deformation and lengthen the shape on the Y axis. After this, the trim dynamic brush was used to flatten the edges of the shape to form a shape similar to that of Thorâs hammer which was the reference for the braces as explained in the reference blog.
Top view of the edges after using trim dynamic.
A mask was then used on a part of the shape and the size tool in the deformation options was used to pull the unmasked polygons outwards to create the shape shown above.
A Nordic pattern was found on google and was separated in paint and used as an alpha in Zbrush to add patterns to the sculpt for detail.
The alphas were imported into Zbrush.
Design one
Design two
Design three
The alphas were used to create a design on the ends of the shape across the front and back edges.
A few different patterns were then added to the brace sculpt to see which design looked best.
In the end, âdesign oneâ was chosen.
The braces were then added to the rest of the body; positioned and mirrored to the other side.
A close-up of the braces
The next stage was to sculpt or create the objects for the upper body/head. As shown above, the head and scarf were added.
The moustache from the concept model was imported and resolution was added to adjust the appearance to match the style of the rest of the model.
Next, the helmet and horns were imported into Zbrush, the horns were left as they are as they did not need to be sculpted or retopologised, as the appearance was fine as it was.
Resolution was added to the helmet and the main brushes used were trim dynamic, pinch and flatten to make the helmet match the stylistic character of the rest of the modelâs objects.
All objects for his upper body/head area.
Image text:Â âNow I need to appropriately name each object and export them for retopology.
Front view of Noodulegâs final model
Side view of Noodulegâs final model
Rear view of Noodulegâs final model
The objects were renamed appropriately and were to be exported into a folder for retopology in Maya.
I had the concept (low poly Viking model) I created to use as reference when starting to create the high poly model. But there were a few objects I wanted to add more detail to, and for this, I used a few images as reference for ideas.
Gauntlets
I decided I wanted his gauntlets to look like the head of Thorâs hammer, so I based the shape around that.
I also made use of images of ânorse-themedâ patterns and symbols to âdecorateâ the gauntlets.
Gloves
The Viking character also has gloves, for the gloves, I wanted them to be leather, so I found some general images of normal creasing in gloves and some leather gloves with natural creases as my main reference when sculpting the gloves in Zbrush.
Body/Muscles
Lastly, I used various sculpts of a muscular, male body as reference for sculpting the Vikingâs body, He has an âupside-down triangleâ physique, and itâs very exaggerated and stylistic, so I tried to find stylised and chiselled bodies that look like art sculptures.
These along with the low poly Viking model are what were used as reference to create the final Viking character.
The next stage was to begin the high poly character model of the Viking.
Attempt to implement the Viking into the project #2
My next plan for trying getting the Viking into the project.
My last idea to at least get the Viking into the project in some way or at least rigged and animated to show a working character for the hand-in was to create a simple third person Unreal project and setup a series of blueprints, both character and animation blueprints and to just get basic animations working with the original Viking character.
These were the steps I took:
Preparing the animations for Unreal
Rigged the Viking in Mixamo and selected various animations to use with the Viking, then exported them to a zip file as a series of FBX files.
Text in image:Â âUsing a selection of animations I retrieved from Mixamo, I will make some adjustments to them in Maya, such as reducing the amount of frames as they have been set to about 120 frames, but most of the animations from Mixamo only go up to around 40 or so, depending on the animation.
I will repeat this for each animation, and then export them as new FBX files from Maya 2017 and import them into Unreal where I can begin working on animations using the Viking proxy character.â
Text in image: âI must also add a root bone to each of these animations, there are 11 in total.â
The root bone has been added to the block animation in Maya. The method for adding a root bone was shown in a previous post.
I then imported this animation into Unreal along with the character.
This is the imported block animation working with the Viking character in Unreal.
The method of adding the root bone, translations = 0, Radius = 1 etc.
All of the animations were given root bones and shortened to the appropriate amount of frames, I then exported them as FBX files and put them into a folder.
I then imported all of the adjusted animations into Unreal and put them into an allocated folder within the third person Unreal project.
Animation blueprint + Blendspace
I started by setting appropriate values for the axis after creating a movement blendspace, such as setting the speed and direction for the character movement.
In this image, one can see in the centre I have labelled how the animations will be placed on the movement blendspace, starting with idle, then walking, jogging and running. On the right of the image,the list of animations can be seen.
I then started dragging animations across the grid as appropriate. Placing them on each part of the grid where the grid lines meet.
Text in image:Â âI now need to connect the blendspace to the animation blueprint in the anim graph, so that the character can use the blendspace when moving the character.
Then create a float variable called speed.
Then place a âgetâ of the speed variable and the blendspace, I then connected them together appropriately.
I then add more variables that will be used later on: âCan jump?â âIs Left?â âIs Right?â, these will be used later for an alternative method I was going to try.
Text in image:Â âWe need some variables in the third person blueprint so that they can be used as targets with the variables in the animation blueprint.
Variables were then added into the third person character blueprint in the project.
I then add the variables I added earlier into the event graph.
The completed series of nodes in the animation event graph.
I then created a state machine for the Viking with different states: Jump right, Jump left, Crouch, Attack, Block and Jump.
Text in image: In the jump state, one drags the animation into the space and connect it to the final animation pose.
Then in the transition graphs, I set up some nodes with Not and And booleans as well as using the isRight and isLeft variables, this is for the transition going into the jump state. Movement > Jump
The other transition from the jump state. Jump > Movement
The block and attack animation is next, I needed to remember the sequence length for the attack.
And also remember the sequence length of the block animation.
In the project settings I then added the necessary inputs
The crouch and block nodes in the ThirdPersonCharacter blueprint.
The attack and walk nodes in the ThirdPersonCharacter blueprint.
This is the event graph of the animation blueprint.
I also created a state machine for his animations and made various states for different animations
This is an example of the type of nodes I used in the transition from one animation to another. This image shows the transition from idle to jump.
This is an example of the type of nodes I used in the transition from one animation to another. This image shows the transition from jump back to idle.
Video of final Viking animation
The next stage is to start creating the final Viking character model.
Attempt to implement the Viking into the project #1
Throughout the project, I was trying various ways of getting a prototype/proxy version of the Viking into the project.
I first tried by rigging the character myself using ARTV1, then I planned on using the rigged Viking with some Mixamo animations, however, as was shown in the previous posts, there were strange problems with the model after publishing the character, with both the basic low poly Viking and the smoothed out Viking model with more polys, however, the result was the same, which made me think the strange appearance of the rigged characterâs arms was a result of the direction the character was facing and making the control rigs have a strange influence on their rotation.
The next thing I wanted to do, was to try and replace the proxy character that was already in the project, with the Viking character, to do this, I had to make both the proxy characterâs skeleton/bones and the Viking, similar in the sense that they shared the same amount of bones, I believed this would make retargeting the character much easier or allow me to replace the character mesh in Unreal if possible.
Export the proxy character from Unreal
I first exported the character from Unreal and imported it into Maya, I then added a root bone to the proxy character as it was missing a root bone which Unreal usually requires, however, the proxy character was using the spine bone as a root bone and the pelvis bone was using the head bone, it was completely jumbled up and I wanted to fix it by adding the appropriate bones in Maya.
Adding a root bone
1) Click create a new joint in the rigging options of Maya.
2) Click anywhere on the grid then set all axis transformations to 0 and the radius to 1.
3) Rename that joint and call it âRootâ.
4) Click the skeleton first (Hips) then click the Root bone.
Then click âconnect jointâ in the options, and ensure that the option is set to parent joint and not connect joint.
The character now has a root bone and it can be used in Unreal.
Re-targeting and setting up imported characters in Unreal Engine
As shown in the image, the current bone placement is all incorrect and has not been targeted correctly at all. Therefore, I wanted to fix it by assigning the bones correctly in the newly imported proxy character.
These were the options I imported the new proxy character with.
The original proxy character has a shield and sword; therefore, I will need to also add this to the new proxy character.
To do this, I need to add a socket to both the hand and lower arm.
I then copied the location of the previous proxy character and positioned it appropriately.
I then made an actor blueprint for the shield and sword to use it with the character:
I made this blueprint twice, once for the sword and once for the shield. It gave the objects a collision box and made them usable in the level for different purposes.
I then added some nodes to the event graph:
This part of the blueprint allows the player to pick up he shield and have it attach to the socket; which was just a random function I saw and decided to implement.
After giving the new proxy character a shield and sword, I then needed to manually assign the appropriate bones to the humanoid rig that Unreal has in the skeleton settings.
I then imported the original Viking character mesh and did the same bone retargeting as I did to the new proxy character.
I then needed to match the pose of the Viking character (which is a T pose) with the proxy character mesh. To do this, I needed to save a new pose for the proxy character.
I adjusted the arms of the character upwards 65 degrees on the Y axis on both sides to get the character into a T pose.
The character in a T pose after moving the arms.
This is the correct target pose and the correct bones have been assigned as necessary according to the bones in humanoid rig within Unreal.
Matching the pose and bones of the Viking.
I then gave the proxy character the same T-pose also.
As shown above.
After doing this, I attempted to re-target the original proxy character with the new proxy character, however, it did not work correctly as the bones and skeleton were very different, I assume this to be the reason why it did not work.
I then tried to re-target the proxy character and the Viking character, however, that did not work either.
In the past I have re-targeted characters and meshes the exact same way when I was improving character meshes over time and constantly updating them within the unreal project, however, in this case, it did not work with the character meshes and skeletons that I was working with for this project.
Therefore, I gave up on trying that idea and moved onto a new alternative, a plan C for the next attempt.
After the first time rigging a character, I followed my tutorial and done the same process with the same Viking model, except smoother to see if it would influence the strange twisting problem I had with the previous character mesh.
1) It is only necessary to put clusters on one side of the character then to use symmetry and mirror the joints onto the other side, however, the joints were bugging. So, I manually positioned both sides of the legs, rather than using symmetry.
2) This is the smoothed Viking (more polygons) with the joints all aimed and positioned respectively.
3) I then checked over all the bones to ensure they were all in place.
4) I then bind the skin (Join the character mesh to the skeleton).
5) Flood the root with 0 influence, then as I go through each joint, flood every bone with 0 and paint it in appropriately one by one.
6) Example of spine_2 bone 100% influence area.
7) Example of appropriate weight painting for the upper arm. 100% in the centre, then the percentage should get lower as it goes outwards away from the upper arm area.
8) (text in picture) âAs Iâm painting in the âreplaceâ operation, I should be careful when painting the vertices close to the joint which should be at 100%. As if I paint the vertices at 25% near the edges, it will cause weird movement/creasing when moving the characterâs limbs.â
9) I then continued to paint the weights for the hand.
10) Text in image:Â âIf there is influence in an area where there should not be. I used the replace operation and replace the area with 0, but, I realised this re-allocates influence on random joint as every value must be equal to 1 or less, but not 0.
I believe this is a setting in Maya and can be charged.
However, I left it on to be more diligent with painting weights and paying attention to where influence is.
11) Text in image:Â âThen continuing to paint weights after mirroring the arm weights across to the opposite side. Using the new technique of only painting in 1.0 or more than 0 works much better.â
12) I then finished painting the weights, and the next thing is so make last amendments and test the objects while adjusting the weights as needed.
13) When rotating the head, there is a lot of clipping on the upper back/lower neck area.
Therefore, I made some changes to the influences around the head, neck and spine area.
Now the head rotates correctly without the vertices clipping into each other (in this direction - moving the head backwards)
There is minor creasing in the hair when rotating the head sideways, therefore, I used the smooth brush which basically relaxes the faces and lowers the influence percentage gradually and slowly.
This is the adjusted head with the correct percentage of influence.
Testing the neck influence, there is slight clipping.
The fixed neck influence.
When testing the spine bones, the influence among the spine bones is too sharp and do not blend towards the edges, therefore, I needed to make halfway points, e.g. 50% influence on Spine_3 and Spine_2 in the same area between the two to make up 100% of influence of total.
I then got to the fingers and needed to adjust the influences further.
The completed index finger.
The legs were bending too low, just above the boots, so I saved the painted weights, went back to the joint placement, and moved the calf joints higher to the knee area, I then went back to the deformation setup and imported the weights I had already painted thus far after making necessary adjustments.
The leg now bends in the correct place on the leg.
I then made some adjustments to the foot and ball mover weights of the foot.
Once I had tested all the Vikingâs joints after painting weights, I published the character.
Text in image: Consistent issue with the character rigging through this program. The bones are acting as though they are twisted, as when they are rotated the other way, they are no longer twisted and deformed. This may be a problem with the direction the character is facing, but it is uncertain.
Therefore, I will use an alternative method.â
I figured that there must be an issue with the model I was using as I had not yet tested it with another character model in a new scene. However, I will need to for both modules so I will find out the reason then. However, I am hoping it is a problem with the character model I am using as I followed along with a video of someone following closely with similar steps to the ones I took, and their character had no issue.
Regardless, as character art was my main focus, I decided I would focus on getting the characters modelled and textured, then use a website such as Mixamo, export the animations then import and make adjustments to the animations in Maya in order for them to work with Unreal, as I know that Mixamo stopped supporting model and animation exports for the Unreal engine, therefore, the animation and rigged character model are usually missing bones that Unreal needs, therefore, I usually import Mixamo animations into Maya and add the necessary bones so that they can be used in the Unreal engine.
Throughout third year, I realised I will need to rig the characters I create either for showing the character for rendering purposes or for practices such as to be used in Unreal, since Autodesk Maya is my default 3D program that I use for ânon-sculptureâ modelling, I heard about the ARTV1 toolkit which works with Maya and Unreal.
To use the program effectively each time I should rig a character, I decided to create my own âtutorialâ for myself, to work as a workflow to follow when rigging a character, I came up with a series of steps to follow because of of watching videos on YouTube which consisted of tutorials for ARTV1 by Unreal or tutorials by character riggers and modelers. I also read some posts online to come up with the best options to use when using certain tools within the toolkit.
The series of steps that I use with the ARTV1 toolkit are as follows:
Character rig tutorial using ARTV1
Preparation + Skeleton placement
1) Open the ARTV1 character creator option within Maya.
2) Input the number of bones needed for each option.
(if metal â wouldnât have a twist bone, e.g. cyborg)
3) Once the amount of bones has been input, click âskeleton placementâ, this will create the skeleton and place the mannequin.
4) Then import the character as one would usually input an object into the scene.
5) The character has been input into the scene.
6) Setup the layers to have more control over the character mesh. I simply called it âmeshâ in the âlayersâ tab.
7) Then choose the necessary options needed for the layer by clicking âedit layerâ.
8) I then organised the outliner by clearing the history, these transformations come from the history being left from the characters. I then named the character mesh as appropriate. However, in this case, I left the transformations just in case they were needed and grouped them together and renamed them.
9) This is the organised outliner.
10) I then created a group for the clusters I created in the scene (which will later be explained.)
11) I then scaled the character as appropriate according to the size of the mannequin, this is appropriate as it is a humanoid character, however, if the character was a robot or creature with a scale very different to a human, it is not necessary to scale the character, the joints would be moved respective to the characterâs jointâs locations, after they have been moved, the âaimâ option can be used in the character creator and the joints will all be aimed at each other, which is the only important thing.
Clusters
12) A very useful tool that can be created in Maya for character rigging is making use of clusters, to do this, I opened the script editor and went to the shelf editor.
13) I then wrote the sentence shown into the space within the command tab.
14) Then to this part of the script editor to make Maya create a cluster which can allow an object to âvertex snapâ to a cluster.
15) Then using the CVC script, I can select for example an area of the characterâs body. In the image above, I have selected the whole upper arm area for the upper arm bone, when I click the CVC button that I have placed in my custom tab, it will create a cluster at 0,0 of the selected volume. This creates a cluster right in the centre of the selection.
The idea is to do this on all the areas that the character has joints on.
16) In this image you can see the CVC button at the top and the description âCreate a centred cluster based on selected volumeâ as I described in the previous step.
17) This is a front view of the character with all the clusters placed for the joints.
18)Â This is a 45-degree view of the character with all the clusters placed for the joints.
Using the CVC is a much more efficient and quicker way of placing the joints, as once you place the clusters, you can snap each joint to the respective cluster then aim the joints and use symmetry to mirror the other side.
Joint placement/Alignment
19) After placing the clusters, in the joint outliner, starting with the pelvis (ignore the root bone), you can place them one by one, from the pelvis to the three (or more/less) spine bones, the benefit of using CVC specifically for the spine area is that you can easily get the natural curvature of the characters body as it will always be perfectly centralised according to the volume selection when placing the clusters.
When Iâm lining up the pelvis bone, I use the â+â key to extend the length of the movement control arrows to perfectly line it up with the top of the characterâs lower back area; I then line it up in the side view so that the legs (which are attached to the pelvis bone, drop and follow the curvature (if the character is defined enough) of the thighs below the pelvis, assuming itâs a standard humanoid figure, the character would not have legs that are far from the pelvis.
20) The leg joints naturally fall quite close to the characterâs leg, I then just needed to select the rest of the leg joints and snap them to the clusters, by holding V, the vertex snap.
21) Then, proceed to line up the joints one by one â using symmetry for accuracy, unless character is asymmetrical, in which case one would use symmetry to line up bones such as the clavicle bone, then turn off symmetry for the arms if the character had different shaped arms that differ in structure drastically.
22) For the hands, one would simply grab the movers and snap them to your clusters which were placed previously, if the character has more than 4 fingers, as this tool-set is limited to 4 fingers and 1 thumb, you can make use of the âextraâ joints and use a leaf joint which is essentially just an extra joint that can be placed anywhere if needed.
23) All the joints have been lined up by working down the outliner and snapping them appropriately, the last thing to do would be to give it one final check-over by eye and make sure they are placed well then go to picker > aim, the joints will then become âjointsâ, it will re-adjust the boxes in the correct way, setting the rotation of the boxes so that they âaimâ at each other and line up with the flow of the skeleton, after this use symmetry, then one final check-over before going to the next stage which is âDeformation setupâ.
I now delete the clusters in the outliner, and select the character model and freeze transformations and delete the history.
24) Deformation tools > create rig pose > save pose > no to proxy mesh skin weight because I will be using my own custom character, if I was using the mannequin as a temporary proxy mesh for prototypes, then yes.
25) Now I need to bind the skeleton to the character mesh, first, select root in outliner, then right click and select hierarchy, then select the mesh in the outliner, then in Maya go to the animation/rig options in the top left (differs by Maya version), skin > bind skin > smooth bind (options):
Keep max influences on â3â
Bind to: joint hierarchy
Skinning method: Dual quaternion
Normalise weights: interactive
Weight distribution: distance
Select the root bone, then body, then apply, the colour of the skeleton will change, then finish with > bind skin.
The characterâs finished skeleton.
Painting weights
Select character > paint weights in deformation tools, proceed to paint weights as necessary.
In the âprofile section of deformation toolsâ it controls the size of the brush, thereâs 3 round brushes with different falloff shapes and then 1 solid square brush, there are also skin tools to help speed up this process and mode controls which allows switching between weight painting mode and selection mode.
When painting weights, itâs important to be very aware of the value that one is painting in, itâs never good to paint in 0 value, because if you paint in 0 value Maya will automatically reassign influence to a random joint (this is an option that can be changed, but I leave it on to remind myself of practising proper weight painting and also it prevents any vertex from having 0 value, as if any vertex has 0 influence, it will make the animation look very strange and would cause problems later as the vertex without influence would not move with the rest of the model.) For example, if you notice the lower_arm_r joint has influence on the thigh_l joint, if you paint over it and replace it with 0 value, the influence can randomly be assigned to say the head joint. therefore, itâs better to just replace it with 1 value on the correct bone/joint and work oneâs way down the joints outliner.
*However, in the following steps, I had not yet figured out painting weights completely as I only knew what I had researched up to that point, which wasnât too much, just the basics, therefore, I did not follow the ânever paint in 0Ⲡrule, and had a lot of issues with the influence being randomly assigned to different joints. But I later painted weights onto another version of the character that was done better than the first time and would be a better example of how I painted weights onto the character and for it to work well, this will be shown in a following post.
26) I usually start by flooding the root with 0 (as the root is supposed to have 0 influence on the characterâs mesh.) I then go in using 1 value and replace, then paint in 1 on the major areas around the joints (like the volume that was selected when the clusters were placed before), by selecting each joint one by one starting with the pelvis then spine bones, similarly to before.
27) If I separate all the arms and legs out, then I can see how the joints are influencing each other at the beginning.
28) I move each bone one by one, and paint influence as appropriate. I also test each bone by bending them in different directions (only naturally moving them, for example, I wouldnât bend the leg upwards beyond 180 degrees in front on the Z axis as that isnât a natural movement of the human body.
The above image shows the amount of influence I painted with.
This influence worked well and the skirt lifted with the thigh and did not clip weirdly.
The leg is too stiff and is being âcreasedâ by the current influence values.
The leg has been fixed appropriately and is no longer creased weirdly; It was difficult to make it look completely natural as it was a very low poly character and so getting fluid movement, was less easy to do, but still very possible to an extent with what I could do at the time.
This is the completed leg with the correct influence on each joint bone, the bends are natural and there is no strange creasing.
After this point, I finished painting the weights and went to publish the character:
Build control rig > Select project  - new project name > Character name â CharacterName > build > pose character as appropriate for picture, full view at 45 degrees works best. Then click the camera button > then click close on the new box that opens.
The following images show these steps.
ArtV1 > Add character for animation > select character > add and close.Â
To modify the controls, open the original rig file, then switch between object selection and component selection by pressing F8 and carefully select each respective vertex on the each of the controls and scale them around the areas of the character appropriately, then save it off.
This is the character control rig file after publishing the character, in this scene, I can rotate the control rig and move the characterâs joints.Â
*Side note: However, there were strange twists in the characterâs arms, the reason for this was not solved but I think it is to do with the rotation of the character or the controls, as when I rotate the controls, the arm does untwist and look normal.
Additional notes from note document:
Painting weights
1)Â Â Â Â Â Flood 0 influence on the root bone, when pulling out characterâs limbs, you can see the areas that are being influenced by the movement; it helps to see the problem areas. > Paint skin weights tool, select root, drag âvalueâ to 0.
Show > hide joints > vertex mode.
OR
2)Â Â Â Â Â Select character MESH, then go to Skin > paint skin weights, then tool settings, paint operation > add or replace is predominantly used, value is how much weight is being painted (how strongly is the influence of movement in the painted area).
âBâ key adjusts the brush size, then paint the areas around the joints with a .5 value setting around the immediate areas of the joints, and smooth it out by holding shift and painting the areas on the outskirts of the .5 area. E.g. hip bone would have .5 value on the hip area and about an inch or two outside of that area would be smoothed with a softer value. This same method would be used for each of the joints of the skeleton on the character mesh.
3)Â Â Â Â Â After painting the areas of influence, if the character is symmetrical, one may want to mirror the weights to ensure the movement is the same on both sides:
Skin > Mirror skin weights > Mirror across: YZ,
Direction: Positive to negative
Surface association: Closest point on surface
Influence association 1: one to one
Influence association 2: one to one
The first game prototype was a third person story, puzzle game experience based on a monk who is on a journey of self-transcendence and overcoming his bad doings in his past to become a more committed and a more spiritual monk that is in touch with the magic that comes to successful cleansing and transcendence as a monk.
The work I would have had to complete for this prototype would have been to create the monk character and some animations for his magic/spell casting and potential some small animals for the environment.
Additional work would have been to help create 3D assets for the environment such as Buddha statues or any organic/human sculptures or models.
The second prototype was a third person adventure game following a Viking in his afterlife given to him by the gods because of their disappointment of his death and failure in battle during his life, therefore he is on a journey to appease the gods by following the path they have given him after death.
The work that would have had to be done was to create the Viking main character as well as rigging and gathering animations for him and assisting in making them work, along with any other NPCs or enemies which may have been 3/2 minion type enemies and 1 boss. In total around 5 character models that are animated or rigged in some way with the most appropriate method.
Additional work for this would be assisting in creating 3D assets for the environment.
The third prototype was a first-person arcade, item hunting, fast paced competitive game where there would be 2-4 players in a race against a timer and each other to find all the items on their shopping list as fast as possible and get to the checkout first. Rewards for winning would be upgrades to their shopping cart or temporary enhancements/boosts to help them in the next rounds. There would also be random drops that the players could pick up to aid them in beating each other and becoming the winner.
The work that would have been done for this prototype for myself would be to create a shopping cart with 4 different textures to be specific to each one of the players, as well as 4 unique characters.
Animation and rigging would be needed for the shopping cart and characters also.
Any additional work may have been modelling and texturing 3D assets for the environment.
Final selection
The group decided that the prototype we would pick for our project is prototype #2 which is the third person adventure game. The reason we chose this idea is that we felt most attached to it as a solid idea that we all liked the sound of. Moreover, we had discussed ways that we could all display our skill as our allocated roles and found that this idea would display our capabilities the best.
The work that I should complete for this idea has not changed, a main character, a boss character and a sort of minion character or characters are definite essentials for the final project.
What went well
The way we work as a group is quite good, our ideas flow well and we are quite flexible and open minded to each otherâs thoughts and ideas, this helps to make our work less difficult as we can communicate well and have avoided any type of conflict thus far.
We are also considerate of each team memberâs capabilities and are not setting a scope that is too extreme for any of us, we have a mind that we will do the bare minimum to the best quality that we can, then any additional work can be buffering or small additions to further enhance what we have created.
I personally feel that the prototype we created for prototype #2 was the best out of the 3 prototypes, it was quite easy to see how the game would be in its final stages from just the prototype; the style was already evident and the mechanics were mostly in place to an extent where a spectator could understand the things that the player can do.
What did not go well
The ideas for game prototypes became difficult to think of after the second prototype; we struggled to find an idea that we felt we could build on with a lot of depth.
Moreover, one could say that all members being present at the same time was also slightly difficult to work around; as if there were personal issues occurring away from university; it was difficult to make everyoneâs schedule work together so that we could discuss and develop our idea and move forward with the project.
Plan going forward
I would like to communicate more effectively as a team and figure out ways that we can share ideas and progress even if we are absent from lessons or from team/group meetings. We can make use of Trelo, Google Drive and any application with a group chat to do this.
I think we should outline all objects, sounds, mechanics and characters needed for the level that we would like to create; moreover, we should cut out each otherâs work and set deadlines to help each other keep up to date with the teamâs progress; this would be best for a solid and smooth work flow.
During the prototyping stage for âFor Valhallaâ I created a low poly version of the Viking character which acted as a â3D sketchâ or concept art for me to work from when creating my final character model for the Viking.
Using the low poly basic version of the Viking, I will export the objects from Maya and import them into Zbrush where I will use the tools and brushes in Zbrush to add more detail and create high poly versions of all parts of the Vikingâs character model.
After the high poly objects are completed, I will export these from Zbrush, and re-import them into Maya where I will use quad draw to create simpler versions of the high poly objects; Once this is complete, I will export both the low and high poly objects and move to substance painter where I will create various maps that will enhance the appearance of the low poly character model.
I will then use Photoshop or substance painter to hand paint the textures onto the character.
Rigging and Animating
For the rigging and animation of the character, I will make use of the Animation and Riggings toolset (ART) for Unreal which is a toolset that will take a character through the skeleton creation stage, skeleton placement and rig creation that works with Maya. This would be a perfect toolset to use as Maya will be the main 3D program after using Zbrush and it is for a workflow that would go from Maya to Unreal which is useful to my team as our game is being created using Unreal Engine.
Using this toolset for Maya and Unreal, I plan to use the low poly character model to create a rig that can be sent to my team and used in the process of creating the game while they create mechanics or assets that will interact with the character in some way.
Then after I have finished creating the final character model for the Viking, I will swap out the mesh and it should work well with the existing rig as the shape of the model will not change very much if at all and therefore, they will work together quite well and the animations should not distort the model. If the new Viking model distorts with the animations, then we can create a new rig and retarget the animations or skin the joints from the rig and bind them onto the new mesh.
Any problems expected
Regular problems with models such as N-gons, double sided faces, holes in geometry etc. Any things like these I should be vigilant about looking out for; I should also consider any time needed for the rigging and animation of the character.
Lastly, one may consider any in-software, PC errors or storage issues that may occur, to prevent this I should make frequent back-ups and store them in multiple places at the end of every work session.
XB3001 - Professional game practice: Monk character - Plan
Research
To research how I should approach designing the main character, I used similar methods Chris Solarski used when he was designing a Fauna character which was shown in his book Drawing basics and video game art, I found the technique he used very creative and useful for getting a better result when designing the character by considering the personality or culture, which would define how they will look.
When researching for the Monkâs character, I first did research into the different types of monks that exist and took note of the outfits they wear as well as their way of living according to their different beliefs. This helped to give me an idea of the type of clothes I could use on the Monk character and any other distinct traits of a monk that I could use to influence his design and possibly his story also.
I made a character brainstorm which Iâll use to take information from which I can use in creating a concept for his appearance. I also looked at some 3D models for some inspiration when thinking about an art style and how to make it match the world that the team is building.
The type of images I collected as a little moodboard to brainstorm ideas and gain inspiration:
This image helped me to think about the proportion that I want for the character as we decided we wouldnât make him a full average full sized human, and instead we will do possibly 70% body 30% head, similar to the model shown in the image.
This model was created by Kieran McKay and the cartoon/stylistic features would be useful to use for inspiration when creating this character for a stylised world.
Similarly, in this image, the character created by carrillo40 has a similar cartoon/stylistic design and this will also be good inspiration when creating the concept for the Monk character.
This will help me to create his front, side and back view which I can use when modelling for reference. The character shown in the image has the same proportions as what the Monk character should have.
In this model, I was inspired by the fabric over the characters shoulder and the neck beads which can be seen on some types of monks. Moreover, the hand painted texture of the fabric would also be useful for texturing the clothing on the character.
The style of this character is an overall good reference from another 3D artist; as it shows their creative perspective on a Buddhist Monk which I can use for inspiration.
This Monk model would be great for reference as the proportion is similar to the character I aim to create, as well as, the style and fashion of the character can help when creating concepts for the Monk character.
Additional images for the clothing, culture, appearance and fashion of Monks
The next stage is to begin using the reference images I gathered, as well as the information I put into a brainstorm and use these resources to draw a concept sheet followed by a turnaround of the character model that can be used as reference when creating the 3D model of the character.
The brainstorm I created was based off of Chris Solarskiâs Fauna character concept design sheet in his book: Drawing basics and Video game art.
I created a similar brainstorm and began to add multiple points about monks that I could pick from and use these points to take into consideration when designing the Monk character.
This is a scan of my brainstorm:
TBD
This is the concept sheet:
TBD
This is the turnaround:
TBD
Method
Create prototype models
The first thing I need to do is to create a placeholder character model to use in the prototype as we work on several prototypes before deciding on the final build we will move forward with.
I will do this using Autodesk Maya and Z-Brush, once the character has been modelled, I will move it over to Mixamo and rig the character and set up an animation for it in Unreal that I can bring to my team at our next meeting.
Research
Complete research for the character in order to result in a more accurate and interesting design as opposed to approaching this project without any references. This would be in the form of text, images, brainstorms and concept sheets.
Modelling
Once I have created a turnaround sheet for the character, I will use this when I begin to start sculpting the character in Z brush, once I have finished sculpting the character, it will be moved to Maya, where I will use the quad draw tool and create a low poly version of the character.Â
Unwrap / Texture
The next stage will be to unwrap the low poly character which may be done in Maya or UV layout, and then export the character along with the UV map and place it into substance painter or put the texture map into Photoshop and work on it that way with hand painted textures. I can also hand paint in Substance, and I will try to do so for the fabric; when texturing the fabric I will use some photos of other models or find some hand painted fabric textures tutorials online.
Another technique that will be used in this stage is baking the high poly character onto the low poly character. I can make use of the baking technique by baking the fabric-look from sculpting on the high poly character from Z Brush onto the low poly character.
Rigging / Animating
Once the character is modelled and textured, I will export the character with the textures and move it to Fuse, for rigging and animating. Once I have done this, I will export the character FBX file with the animations and move it to Unreal.
I will then set up the animation blueprint in Unreal and ensure the character works and moves correctly.
Implement into game
The final step will be to move my completed character with animations into the final build and make any necessary actions to get the character functioning correctly in the game.
XB3001 - Professional game practice: Game idea and role
Introduction
For this module I will be in a team of 3 and we will be creating a game/level as a team and each of us have our own roles that we will each create content as and contribute the completed content into the finished project.
In the process of working towards the finished project - multiple prototypes will be created as mechanics and assets are implemented.
Game idea
A third person puzzle game and visual experience: A monk is on a journey of transcendence to reach a higher level of spirituality and peace within himself.Â
The aim is to rebuild a temple through puzzles in the game; the setting will be in a dream-like world of floating islands in the sky.
Role
My role for this group project is a character artist and secondary prop artist, all team members will contribute as game designers in thinking of mechanics, story and visuals.
I will be creating the main playable character which will be the monk; this will be done in 3D software such as ZBrush and Autodesk Maya, unwrapping in either Maya or UV layout and lastly texturing in Adobe Photoshop and Substance painter.
I will document my progress and design of the character via blogs and screenshots.
I will also be creating statues for the temple which will be inspired by various images from the inside of temples and the statues that can be found inside them.
Additionally, if any help is needed with creating assets for the level; this will also be a part of my contribution.
For the game/level I have created, I decided I would make a character from scratch that will be used as the main character of the game, this post will show all my progress and steps that I took in creating my main character, Shin.
Shin: The concept
The very first thing I did before going into the physical creation of Shin was to create some concept art of how he would look and how I imagined he would act and the kind of expression he would have.
After doing the âprettyâ version of Shin, I made a very basic and simple body shape that I could use as influence and follow along with when creating his 3D model.
Using these rough drawings of his side, 45 degree and front shot, I attempted to make clear where things would begin and end, for example, his hair, I knew his hair would be long and i needed to draw exactly where I would sculpt it down to.
The body type that Shin needs to have is slightly toned, especially for his seemingly young age as it shows his preparation for military training at a young age and his experience also in Judo.
And thus with these drawings, I had a solid idea in my head of how I wanted Shin to look, so I could then begin creating him in a 3D space.
Step 1: Create the high poly model in Zbrush
Starting with the head, I began to pull out parts of the sphere in order to make a head shape, I then make dents and used the necessary tools to achieve the desired look for a very basic face shape. From the beginning, I knew that I wanted him to have an art style that was halfway between cartoon and realism. So I paid attention into making his eye sockets larger than usual, his nose very button-like and perky, and his lips quite small yet defined.
Here are some progress images of building up his facial features:
After creating his face to this point, I was content with how he turned out and so I moved onto the hair, further adjustments may have been made to his face after this point during the process of development of his model.
This is a four side turn-around of his hair created in a 3D space:
In order to create his hair I used a sphere shape and pulled it out to the rough shape of a ponytail, then made use of the tools within Zbrush to created a layered and smooth edged shape that still had a stiffness appearance that is seen in cartoon styles. I repeated this step for each piece of his hair.
As for the hair directly on top of the scalp, I duplicated his head and flattened the shape so that it only covers the scalp area and shaped it around his ears and nape to create a realistic hairline.
The next step was to create his torso:
After this, I began to create his limbs, starting with his arms:
Using this very simple arm shape where I have outlined the elbows and the wrists (the joints), I could start adding and sculpting to create the arm shape I had in mind which was slim but still toned.
These are more images of this:
These are the completed arms at this point; the next step is to create his legs.
Creating the legs:
Using really exaggerated shapes as shown in the image above, I sculpted and smoothed around it and used the extra âclay build-upâ to achieve the look that was needed.
These are the complete legs at this point:
The next step was to create the extremities of the limbs:
Hands:
The next thing to do was to create the feet:
Final renders:
*These renders were done in Zbrush
The next step is to re-topologise Shinâs model to make him usable in a game engine.
End of step 1
Step 2: Re-topologise Shin to be usable in a game engine
I will show the retopology in screenshots shown below:
I started with the head and after importing the OBJ model into Maya and I began quad drawing:
I retopologised the body a couple of times until it could work with the animation program, this is the first retopology body:
The final topology of Shin is this:
These are some additional progress screenshots that were taken while working:
The next step is texturing the model, I will also bake the high poly body onto the low poly body during texturing also within Substance painter 2.
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