Gladiator Project Update

Starting this project it was incredibly daunting to think that we have only four weeks to make and rig and fully fledged game character complete with accessories, but at the same time exciting due to the creativity given to us to in the brief, full rein over how your gladiator will look and the appearance/ visual style of the armour as well as weapons, and with reference images from the show Spartacus, how can you not get creative??

The modelling, as always was the most enjoyable part of the process, perhaps looking back I spend too much time on that part of a project.

I originally wanted the character to have a sword and shield, however later on I realised how cliché  that was and perhaps dual wielding swords was a little less over done, this also freed up some tri’s to make the armour a little more complex.

Starting the unwrapping was another daunting part, as the PDF document can only explain so much, luckily I found this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjqY8i_-Xe0

It helped me tremendously, making the task actually quite enjoyable as well as answering every question and problem I had.

Texturing was the next phase, this time I planned to hand paint all of the textures then use them for the basis for the specular and normals. Although one this that I noticed is that if you paint correct highlights and shadows of the materials in the diffuse the normals have little effect and in some cases it was just easier to go back into the diffuse and add more fine detail with paint.

Now I just need to finish the texturing and design document, better get back to it!

Transit Van Project Update

Finishing the transit van project in itself was a big milestone, since before Christmas I 

had wanted to make a car in 3D, I tried over the break but just couldn't get the hang of it, so throughout the project -apart from the fact it was a relatively boxed shaped van instead of a sleek modern super car  I was very much into every part of it, perhaps in hindsight letting 2D completion drop as a result.

Now that the project is finished I am very happy with the end result, the end product is one of realistic appearance and the interior is accurate.

Although the main criticism for myself I have is that the textures were mostly photos and very little was hand painted, hopefully in the future I can set aside sufficient time to change this.