Assessment Progress
GAMA2000
Embedded Files
Milestone One
Milestone One
The module begins with character creation that will have to be modeled, rigged and animated.
The character must be:
- Human
- Adult
- Based on a real person
- Any genre, but with realism
- Must fit into a game world - can be self-designed or an existing one
- Concept art must include references and posing to the characters personality/purpose
Produce several A4 sheets clearly showing initial ideas. The deadline for this milestone is in week 12.
On session task: Initial ideas and discussion
On session task: Initial ideas and discussion
Real people I initially thought about basing the character on:
- Rowan Atkinson (More specifically his Mr Bean)
- Conan O' Brian
- Nicholas Cage
Reference material:
- Pictures of these people - it is easy to find plenty from each as they are well known TV personalities.
Techniques:
Create a character which represents the chosen real persons personality (or TV personality). For example, Atkinson and O' Brian would necessarily not fit into a super serious game, but rather into satire or comedic ones. At this moment I don't have an existing game in mind that would fit this assessment so I will probably have to come up with a new game.
Assuming I will pick comedy/satire as the genre, I will try to combine it with something else as well, such as Action, Sci-Fi. This will also have an impact on the characters clothing - for the Sci-Fi genre the character could wear a spacesuit, for example.
Combining Comedy and Sci-Fi with Mr Bean esque Main Character
Combining Comedy and Sci-Fi with Mr Bean esque Main Character
Initial idea for this combination:
"Epica IV, a spaceship belonging to the intergalactic government, has been stranded in outer space after it was hit by a mysterious space storm that caused everybody on the ship to be sucked inside an ominous black hole. The only survivor was the ship's janitor - an incompetent, strange man who had gotten the job through sheer family relations alone. He must now step inside Epica IV's cockpit and bring the other crew members back although he has no knowledge whatsoever about space ships."
Initial Character Ideas
Initial Character Ideas
- Male
- Space suit, colour theme made fitting for 'maintenance'
- Lanky movement
- Large, bulging eyes
- Dumbfound expression
- Thick eyebrows
Character design and modelling workshop
Character design and modelling workshop
Finished designs due for next week.
Considerations when modelling:
Considerations when modelling:
- Texture or Geometry
- Level of Detail (Based on how close you are to the object/character)
- Character movement
- Material properties - cloth, metal etc.
- Polygon count
- Animation - not only movement but also attitude and personality
- Deformation - how many edge loops in areas that bend
- Clipping
Character customisation workshop
Character customisation workshop
- Take an existing character design or a character concept
- Using it as a basis, imagine how the character can be visually redesigned
Character turnaround sheet for modelling
Character turnaround sheet for modelling
For this week we needed to have our turnaround sheets finished for modelling. What I have here seems quite simple (and the face is absolutely horrifying), but after receiving some feedback I learned that it should be suitable for this assessment, expect it needs a couple of changes:
- The hand should be more relaxed and in a straight position, instead of what I have now
- There will be no facial animation for this assessment - I can think about different options for the helmet
Modelling Progress
Modelling Progress
Face and Head
Face and Head
There were different kind of options to do create the character hair. I opted for the kind of approach where the hair is a solid object directly connected to the head, as it was simple to create and worked with the kind of hairstyle my character has.
Helmet and further details
Helmet and further details
The Helmet problem and how it was resolved
The Helmet problem and how it was resolved
With the helmet, there were some troubles when I first created the HumanIK skeleton. As you moved the head, the helmet would move and deform with. The deformation was fixed by putting the helmet under a separate set than the main mesh, and the movement was fixed by parenting the helmet to the spine instead of the neck bone where it was earlier. Now, the head moves inside the helmet while the helmet remains still, and the helmet moves with the body as it should.
Updated boots with a more sensible shape than before as well as some extra detail.
This version of the model has all of the ngons fixed.
Move List
Move List
The model will eventually be animated with motion capture, and it is required to have a set list of movements ready for the actors to perform.
When thinking about the actions my character would perform, his personality, theme and outfit had to be taken into consideration. Since the start my character had been based upon Rowan Atkinson - more specifically his Mr. Bean character - which immediately gave me a solid idea on how my character should move and behave.
There needed to be a certain level of humor, clumsiness and awkwardness to the character's movements. The helmet, which is a big part of the model, needed to be taken into consideration and I planned many of the movements accordingly.
Here is a screenshot of the Word document I used when directing my character's moves with the actor, Ryan. Overall he did a great job and I was happy with results, although there were some issues with the helmet later on.
The Control Rig and the problems I had with it
The Control Rig and the problems I had with it
Adding a control rig to my model was a bit harder than it was supposed to be. Before adding the Human IK skeleton, I needed to adjust the model's arms so that he would be standing in a T-pose - I managed in this well enough.
The issues began when skeleton was in place and I tried to add in the control rig - it caused the entire mesh to break. To fix the issue, I had to save the mesh as a separate file, export it as an fbx, and re-import in a fresh Maya project. I was then able to add the control rig.
After finally having a working control rig, I moved on to the next step which was to paint the weights on to the skin. I understood the process behind this, and managed to paint working skin weights despite the fact that sometimes some areas were a bit weird.
After the skin weights were complete, it was time to move on to Motionbuilder.
Motionbuilder
Motionbuilder
After the motion capture data files were imported into Motionbuilder, an actor needed to be created and the markers needed to be assigned and positioned correctly. This process took some time but it was easy to understand.
As it's apparent from here, there are a few issues with my project.
- The head moves way outside of the helmet in all of of movements. This is something that should be fixable by manually moving the head back inside.
- The helmet is not at all transparent here. I am not sure how to include the transparency at this stage - if it's even possible - since using materials was not covered during the module as it's not relevant for the animation itself. As of now, I am considering to remove the helmet completely from the mesh.
- There is a yellow skeleton standing there in all of my movements. I do not know what it is or if I did something wrong I can't see a similar thing occurring in any of the guides.
Progress
Progress
I used story mode to trim the looping animations, and copied + pasted the the poses to create seamless loops.
Cleaning up the data
Cleaning up the data
Getting my head around using key frames for animation has always been challenging for me, although I understand the basic principles behind it. Moving the head inside of the helmet using animation layers was simple enough - adjusting the hands and feet proved to be more challenging. What made it more difficult was the fact that my model is not very detailed. Due to computer limitations and time constraints I only made essential cleanup on the animations.
Unity Export
Unity Export
Exporting the mesh and the animation files to Unity was a simple process and I managed to do it without further complications. As I hoped, the transparent material for the helmet carried over from Maya, meaning that the character's head could finally be seen again.
I'm especially happy with the transition of the run animation into the stop animation, as seen here.
Summary
Summary
What went well:
What went well:
- Choosing a simple, skin tight costume for the character was a good choice for me since modelling a human character is something I find tricky and there was a minimal amount of clipping through clothing
- The helmet is a fun detail and I'm happy it worked
- I'm fully happy with how Ryan portrayed the movements of the character
What could have gone better:
What could have gone better:
- I could have explored more options for the design of the character's outfit before I started modelling
- The overall quality of my model is low, especially with the hands
- I need to update my blog constantly while doing work to ensure that everything is documented, instead of updating it later
- I managed my time poorly towards the end due to distractions with the pandemic
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