So yeah, I did actually plan on working at home on Friday but annoyingly my version of Maya didn't even accept the files cause in uni we're on 2010, and at home I have 2008. This means I can't make screenshots like I planned either, but I'll get you some (hopefully) finished model shots of the main character of Andy's short in my next bloggy. For now, i'll chat a little guff about the experiences I've had this past week getting back into modeling.
Getting back into Maya was surprisingly easy. The majority of the shortcuts seem to be lodged in my brain quite firmly, that's good. And with my new, clean way of working I've had little problems recently. Had one crash but I only lost probably 20 mins of work or even less. My sense of topology is better too, but there's definitely room for improvement. The problem here is that i just literally don't have the experience necessary to work out certain problems. While I do find solutions, i'm positive there are better and faster ways of doing things.
I've officially started working for Andy, on 'Corked' now, in case I didn't mention, where i'll be modeling possibly all three of the characters, and also rigging them. I'm happy to be helping out, and since I have a creative outlet with my project, I can work to his designs exactly without meddling with any of the design choices. The only input I have is in the form of the hopefully careful and stylish modeling. I've really been trying to keep as faithful as possible to the designs, and being most perfectionist because I really want these characters to pop. Also in this process I get to see more what it'd be like working in an actual company as a modeler, as you have little creative freedom in certain jobs.
From a technical point of view, this week the troubles that I've been having are with the face in perspective. I mean I got a good likeness to the original turnarounds in the Front viewport fairly early on, and from the Side it was pretty accurate too. So both views look good, but in perspective something would look a little weird, something just wasn't working and I couldn't put my finger on it. It's weird, and there's no definite answer to the problem that I can think of, but I believe all that's necessary is to just continue modeling, and with a better idea of 3D space it should come. In this instance I just tweaked and tweaked until the guy started to look cool. He looks pretty sweet at the minute actually, his head is fully finished. But sadly there are no pics atm! Instead i'll show you the only pics I do have, in reference to the earzzzz. In a sec though. I'll just quickly say that I had trouble with the eyes of the character, too. They are really large in the turnarounds and look great, but after modeling they seemed to bulge. Need more experience in this area too. Again I just tweaked until they were better.
So ear stuff. Pics:
Here you see the half completed face and two ears. Notice i've not joined up the different parts of the face, I used this technique this time round and it worked really well for me. Easier than plapping in edge loops and having them run around the entire area of the face when you're fiddling around with difficult areas than the ear and the nose etc. The ear that I created first is the one on the left, and I started this with the outside loop, the part of the ear that folds over, and I worked my way in. With the second (and much more successful ear) I started on the inside, in the bowl or whatever it's called, and worked out. Both techniques could be used i'm sure, but I found the second one gave much nicer effects in my case. A much more organic looking and still stylised ear (even though it's not actually anatomically correct!). Also note that the lobe is poking out like that because of Andy's design choice, and as I said i'm being 100% faithful :D I like the ears anyway, might nick em for my later characters!
Here are the turnarounds i'm working from too, in case you wanted to see em. THIS IS NOT MY WORK! Credit to Andy
Oh, also I finished my evil baddie :D And I gave him possibly the best background yet? I think I may frame all my characters cause it just adds a really finished touch compared to the colour reaching the edges of the page. Also played with the frame with the evil lurking arms coming out at you. Here he is, disgusting and slimy:
For inspiration this week I don't think it would be art. It may be a bit umm.. flowery? I dunno, but I just watched Ray Mears in Canada on Iplayer (which I won't link because they take it all down, silly bastards), but I found that really inspirational, the way they were talking about how all of the animals and the trees rely on each other and also death to continue the CIRCLE OF LIFEEEEEEEE. (They didn't say that, but something more sensible) Anyway it was really inspirational and calming sort of. Anyway sorry for talking bollocks, I get like this when i'm hungover, I think it's the remains of the alcohol in my system. Until next week folks!
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