Week 2 _ Still feeling a little slow

This week still feels a little slow.  We had our first Visual structure class and another couple of cancellations but all in all I am finding ways to spend my time productively :)

 I tried out a little curve based modeling but I am not a fan :( Maybe I didn't give it enough time but it felt crazy slow and it wasn't like the topology I was getting from these lofts etc was good enough to be final topology either.  So I went back to a tried and tested method for me Retopo.  I used my block in and tried out Maya's quad-draw tool.  It's pretty slick, maybe not as good as Topogun but still it worked just fine for this week.  I pretty much modeled the essential parts of my car's topology that simply can't change.  These ribbons are pretty fixed now in the sense that they hold the highlights and forms of the car.  The gaps can be filled between them now to flesh out the whole piece.  I have never done this before but if it works I think I will start using this method more, it's fast and hopefully effective too :)

 

For game design we pitched our projects which went pretty well and now we are moving onto creating prototype boards to represent the gameplay.  We are all doing very different games which don't all translate perfectly to table top but I will get a chance to play everyone's games next week which I am really looking forward to.  Above is a shot of Kevin and my level design.  We are developing a fast paced shooter where 4 player characters are pitted against hordes of enemy minions, and while this conflict rages there is a 5th player who controls the environment twisting and shaping the rules with certain cards to hinder the players and buff the horde.   I would have liked to stay in Table Top Simulator for this and spare the 2-3 hours it took to create the board but its done now and should be easy enough to play.

 

I built my engineer droid concept in Maya.  I will be sending this guy into Zbrush later to add some damage and get a quick Keyshot render for my final GDD.

 

I also looked ahead a little in the syllabus and saw that we also have to do some camera exploration... So I made a 3D model of the level so I could get the key shots and paint in my characters and enemies :)

 

Continuing on that vein of thought I also started designing the enemy horde creature.  I was initially going for a cute insectoid bomb creature but after looking through the designs I decided playful was more the feeling I was going for rather than cute.  I think the final concept sketch has elements of this and hopefully feels like a moving grenade.  I will try to model this guy in Maya too like the engineer droid if next week is as light as this one.

Visual structure is still in its planning stage so nothing to show yet but I did finish the book my group chose, 'The book of three'.  I really like the story (except for the rushed ending) the characters are great and the overall messages in the book are right up my alley.  I even found myself duped a little by the book towards the end where I totally fell into a narrative trap where I made the same mistake as the protagonist when expecting something from a character just because of previous stories I had grown up with.

Scripting was pretty easy too this week we have moved onto variables, not really much to report on.

Lastly Zbrush, I think I am ready to start blocking in my character :) I want to start with the head first and then move onto the body next week or so.  No pictures yet but hopefully I will have something cool to show next week.