Rosanna's Advanced Computer Game Design Blog

Final image to show off my game character designed for Project...

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:12:00 +1200

Final image to show off my game character designed for Project X.

Important: I’ve applied a basic texture to the model, but this will not be used in the final game as I am not doing the texturing for the game.

Final Feedback on group work and contribution from my behalf:

Role: Modelling/Rigging/Animating the game characters.

I’ve decided to do all my modelling in Maya, and the animating in Blender. This includes creating the basic meshes in Maya, and rigging the the characters in Blender, then finally animating them in Blender.

Started off with designing fun characters like a cowboy or a mafia boss. However, this idea was rejected and the idea of creating mannequins was favoured.
Created initial male and female models for the developers to work with. However, these models looked too humanoid, and feedback was to make them more mechanical like crash-test-dummies.
Created at least 3 versions each for the male and female models before the group and I were satisfied.
Rigged and animated the male and female models, and got feedback from the group.
Fixed models and animations as required from feedback.
Had to ditch the female model because the texturing took longer than expected, which was sad.
Created a help/instruction screen for the game. It outlines the game objective, and player controls.

**Here’s a link to some slides I’ve created for the final presentation. Unfortunately, this was never used, due to last minute group decisions. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10624074/Project%20X%20-%20Final%20Presentation.pdf

Overall, I thought that the process of creating a model took longer than rigging and animating.

I feel that I’ve come a long way in this project. Learning new skills along the way, and refining some skills that I already have.

Group evaluation/review:

Game: In the end, the game came together very well. The textures and lighting were well done. The designers and programmers also did a very good job in incorporating the assets together, networking, and bringing the game together as a whole.

Final armature and model. The model starts off my ripping his...

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:22:00 +1200

Final armature and model. The model starts off my ripping his arms off, and runs around with only one arm for the rest of the game.

Help screen design for Project X.

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 17:22:00 +1200

Help screen design for Project X.

The left arm of the character is the weapon for the game.

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 22:28:00 +1200

The left arm of the character is the weapon for the game.

Project 3: Things to do for the final implementation.

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 22:10:00 +1200

After the most recent play-test, here are some feedback for the models and animations:

Unfortunately, as a group, we have to ditch the female character, as the texturing took longer than expected, and we are fast approaching the final presentation. This is quite sad on my behalf as a lot of time and effort has been put into developing this character. However, it was fun and I learnt a lot from creating the female character.
The jump animation needed fixing, and the head needs to move less as it makes it disorientating for the player during game-play. (This now has been fixed).
An animation is needed to show the character ripping one of his arm off to use as a weapon.
Revise all the previous actions to show that the character only have one arm.
Fix the pick up weapon action for the character.
Fix the jump action, so that the character does not clip through the camera in the game.
Make the character drop the weapon when he dies.
Create a help screen for the game.

A fair bit to do, but it seems manageable.

Applied a very basic metal texture onto the woman dummy, so that...

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:07:00 +1200

Applied a very basic metal texture onto the woman dummy, so that it looks okay for the beta demo. I’ll put this texture on the man dummy too. Still waiting for Chris to apply a proper texture on them.

Metal texture from http://th09.deviantart.net/fs4/PRE/i/2004/233/a/7/Metal_Texture_PLUS_Metal_Grid.jpg

Animating the woman dummy. She should be able to do something...

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:52:00 +1200

Animating the woman dummy. She should be able to do something while she’s idle, walk, run, jump, pickup objects, kill, die, and crouch - Same actions as the man dummy. However, I made her slightly more feminine in the way she moves. For example, swaying her hips more when she walks, and putting her hands on her hips when she’s idle.

A couple of screen-shots showing how my man dummy looks in the...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:07:29 +1200

A couple of screen-shots showing how my man dummy looks in the game. Seeing it in context is pretty cool, even without textures. The textures will be done soon by other group members.

Thinking out loud: Hairstyles for the woman dummy.

Wed, 30 May 2012 14:18:08 +1200

Thinking out loud: Hairstyles for the woman dummy.

Some inspiration for my woman dummy. Image...

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:11:00 +1200

Some inspiration for my woman dummy.

Image sources:

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/content_images/fig/0870270202006.png

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cScjZKJ3u3g/S4gTEUkV_tI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/9_4i9KNau0s/s400/Lincoln1992_CrashTestGirl-01b.jpg

Modelling the final version of the woman dummy in Maya.

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:02:25 +1200

Modelling the final version of the woman dummy in Maya.

Poses from the “kill” animation for the man dummy.

Sun, 27 May 2012 15:50:24 +1200

Poses from the “kill” animation for the man dummy.

Redoing the rig for the man crash-test-dummy in Blender. This...

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:42:53 +1200

Redoing the rig for the man crash-test-dummy in Blender. This time using b-bones. I feel that I have more control over this rig, and I’m quite happy with it.

A pose from the run cycle of the crash-test dummy. Still trying...

Thu, 17 May 2012 02:16:18 +1200

A pose from the run cycle of the crash-test dummy. Still trying to think of a way to kill/terminate other players. One of the ideas from the group was to rip off the dummy’s own arm and whack others with it, but this would require more time to research, plan/sketch, and animate.

For referencing when rigging the hands. Images are under a...

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:10:25 +1200

For referencing when rigging the hands.

Images are under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand

A (low)-poly model of a man crash-test dummy. Took me a while to...

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:03:00 +1200

A (low)-poly model of a man crash-test dummy. Took me a while to convert most of the polygons to quads in Maya. But this should do for now. Going to animate it in Blender now.

More sketches for referencing in Maya.

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:32:44 +1200

More sketches for referencing in Maya.

Project 3: Research on Crash Test Dummies

Wed, 09 May 2012 09:53:35 +1200

After showing some of my previous models to members of my group, feedback included that I should make them look more mechanical or crash-test-dummy-like. Right now, my models look too human-like. Taking this feedback into account, I did some research on precedents in how I want my following models to look like.

Wikimedia commons
Source: http://endeavors.unc.edu/a_rebuttal

Image under a Standard Royalty Free License.
Source: http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/lightwave-crash-test-dummy-hibrid/589059

Image under a Standard Royalty Free License.
Source: http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/536682

Yet another low-poly version. Looking more like a crash-test...

Tue, 08 May 2012 16:27:53 +1200

Yet another low-poly version. Looking more like a crash-test dummy.

Run cycle reference. Image...

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:27:51 +1200

Run cycle reference.

Image source: http://www.erain.com/img/RunCycle.jpg