3D Art Week 14

Cannon Project Part 6

This week we created a proxy of our diorama for our cannon.

Here are the references that I used for inspiration. I went back to more Sea of Thieves concepts to get a better understanding of their stylized plants. I also used real-life reference of a shore.

Here is the proxy setup in Maya that I was able to put together.

For efficiency, I plan on sculpting one kind of leaf to later duplicate on the palms as you see in the picture above. Below is the in ZBrush (not yet sculpted).

As for the trunks of the palm trees, I plan on bringing them in to add texture. Below is a progress shot of what I have so far for one of the trunks.

3d Art Week 13

Cannon Project Part 5

This week, we brought our game res cannon into Unity, added any additional nodes and lighting to help with the appearance of the model, and rendered out a sequence of our model using the game engine.

I first solidified the texture of my model.

After exporting my textures out of Substance Painter, I brought everything into UE4.

And here is my sequence render of my finalized cannon.

3D Art Week 12

Cannon Project Part 4

This week we focused on creating our game res model and bringing that into Substance Painter to bake and texture.

My game res model came out to be 4957 polys.

3D Art Week 11

Cannon Project Part 3

This week we worked on our cannons in ZBrush. I tried editing the geometry in a way that it would look closer to how it does in the concept.

Before

After 

Below, the model is color coded to help when applying textures in another program such as Substance Painter.

Goals

Personal Goals

1. Would like to work in the game industry but wouldn't mind working in the film industry.

2. Would like to work for an established company and eventually work in a triple A company.

3. Would want to be a concept art and later work towards being an Art Director.

4. I would like to put more emphasis on characters but know I need to work and practice on environment.

Extra Studies

- FDZ School --> See how they go through the process of making their concepts

- Make a collection of your top 10 artists on ArtStation

- Have a DEEP understanding of human anatomy

- Create assignments for yourself each week to practice and improve --> Concept artists have to be good at drawing everything

Additional things to look into

- Explore more silhouette and thumbnailing stages

- Look at "The Skillful Huntsman"

- Consider making modular shapes (to scale) for your 3D concepts --> They can maybe be used as proxies later for your team

3D Art Week 10

Cannon Project Part 2

This week, we focused on up-ressing our cannon and exporting it into ZBrush.

I first started by UVing all the geo in Maya. This especially helps me later for when I need to bake the high poly mesh onto the low poly mesh in Substance.

After I was done, I began to up-res the cannon by beveling the edges and making parts of the geometry crisp so that they would hold in smooth mesh preview. I also added a blinn material to everything to improve presentation and see clearly where the shiny edges are.

Before Up-Res

After Up-Res

Once I was done in Maya, I exported my cannon as an FBX and brought it into ZBrush. Parts of my geometry no longer looked smooth like in Maya so I went and subdivided them to bring back a more polished look.

Before Subdivision

After Subdivision

3D Art Week 09

Cannon Project Part 01

This week we upgraded from building a crate to building a cannon. We only built a proxy though so that we can set it up in unreal and establish the 3D art pipeline. Below is the concept I chose for this project. This concept is from the game, "Sea of Thieves" (could not find artist name). I wanted to try doing a slightly more stylized model.

These orthographics were especially helpful in making sure all the pieces were the right size in relation to each other. 

I also made a texture board for how these materials would react to light. I definitely plan on staying faithful to the design but this gives me a better understanding for when messing with the attributes of the materials.

Below is my proxy.

Here is the size relationship between my proxy and the UE4 mannequin.

After creating the proxy cannon, I modeled the ground and some plants.

All these assets where then brought into UE4.

It seems like there are some UV issues to fix as seen with how the light reacts to the opening of the cannon and parts of the wood pieces. Those will be addressed later in the next blog post.