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Friday, November 28, 2015

Zacharie Reprint SUCCESS!

After a few tweaks to the Zacharie model, such as reinforcing the stand, broadening the base, and scaling the entire thing up by around 25%, I decided to reprint with Shapeways. The results I am very pleased with.
  




















I am especially impressed with the amount of detail that survived the polishing process from Shapeways. Even the fingers of the left hand are intact, and the hair looks great. I am currently testing different ways to paint the statue, first sealing the porous plastic with primer. I've tried both modeling paint and regular acrylic, and the latter seems to be easier to work with and looks pretty good. I'll soon be moving forward with other characters from OFF to round out the line up.

 
 Monday, October 5, 2015

3D Printing and ZBrush Practice

I have been spending some time working to create and refine models for the printing process. The print of the Zacharie model that I received from Shapeways turned out to be a poorer quality, though this serves to further my understanding of their process, and in turn improve mine. Printed to around 4 inches in height, the figure lacks some some details, with a few fingertips and small decorations arriving chipped. It is also a bit flimsy due to the chosen plastic material and the thinness of the stand, which I will work to correct. Scaling the figure up would be the simplest solution, but its cost, and eventual value to a customer, must be taken into account.

While working on repairs and corrections, I have also been boning up on some ZBrush, retaking some tutorials and walkthroughs. I am for the most part used to using Autodesk Mudbox for sculpting and texturing, but it hasn't been terribly difficult transitions into the other. Once I become a bit more comfortable with the interface and controls, I'd like to get better acquainted with the sculpting to re-topologizing workflow, which I did work with a bit at RIT using 3D-Coat.

Thursday, July 2, 2015 

New Project: Shapeways Model Shop

Over the past few months I have been tossing around different ideas to capitalize on my modeling experience in new ways. It was during that time that I discovered 3D printing, with services such as Shapeways offering many possibilities for designing, marketing, and ultimately selling 3D creations. I have decided recently to shift my attention into the creation of my own shop on Shapeways, and I believe I have found an interesting focus for my new pursuit: the Amiibo craze.

Everyone by now is familiar with Nintendo's big push into the interactive gaming figure space, with their amiibo character figures selling out wave after wave. This latest focus on figures in the gaming community lead me to think of what I could offer with my 3D modeling and printing experience. I eventually noticed that though some of the most well-known games and characters in the industry are represented, there is are plenty that are currently left out. Indie games for instance.

With indie games beginning to receive critical acclaim and commercial success thanks to venues like Kickstarter and Steam, there is a largely untapped market for collectibles from them. It is my hope to help cater to fans who would otherwise never see some of their favorite series represented in figure form.

3D Model concept for Zacharie statue

Over the past few weeks, I have working to develop a process for creating statues of characters for printing through Shapeways. My first subject for this is the character Zacharie from Moris Ghost's acclaimed 2008 game OFF. The programs used include Autodesk Maya, Mudbox, and Adobe Photoshop. As of posting, this model is already in the process of being printed, and should arrive within the coming week.

Once my process has been tested and established, I hope to proceed with creating more of these figures and eventually set up a shop though Shapeways. More to come soon... 

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Hair Modeling and More Concept Art 

After recently buying a new, more powerful laptop, I've been migrating and updating many of my old programs, including jumping into Maya 2014. The past month has been a mix of new modeling and dabbling with more artwork.

I've created the hair strands for the model as well as the braid, which took some trial and error to accomplish. Finding ways to create volume and retain patterns has been a learning experience, as I've researched the many different ways that modelers and studios go about creating hair pieces for characters.

With the basic hair piece finished, I have also had time to start to model the more intricate patterns on the armor pieces, starting with the breastplate:

Finally, I have started to create more art assets that will go towards developing the story and themes of this project. The Stopwatch for instance plays a key role:

I am particularly proud of this little piece. I used the Stopwatch as part of the logo for this project, which may give you an idea of this items level of importance. As an item that has appeared in the Castlevania series since the original game, its ability to stop and manipulate time is well known. In a project that revolves around a character and game that have essentially been lost in time, the Stopwatch may play a significant role.

With this in mind, this rough piece of concept art helps to allude to the direction that I plan for this project. The plan from here on is to clean up this image in particular, add more details to the model's armor, and start to create the textures that will make it come to life.
 
Tuesday, September 16, 2014

 Friday, September 5, 2014

Concept Art

Over the past month, I decided to take a break from modeling and shift my focus more illustration and concept artwork. This has given me the opportunity to brush up on my Photoshop skills, and even learn a number of tools and general shading techniques.

 Creating a side-by-side comparison of the original and redesigned Sonia Belmont has been time-consuming, though in the end incredibly worthwhile. Having the redesign in the same pose, and even creating a nearly identical profile as the original, really helps to visualize the similarities as well as the upgrades.

 Creating a new Vampire Killer whip was also interesting. I wanted to add more heft to the otherwise wimpy version in Castlevania Legends, so I decided to draw some inspiration from the Combat Crosses used in the Lords of Shadow entries in the series (shown below left). 
 
With these as a base, I also felt that using a leather whip, instead of the chains that Combat Crosses use, would give the weapon a more organic quality. Combining the two elements resulted in the Vampire Killer that Sonia now has in the above concept art (also shown right). In the future I plan to design different attachments for the whip's fall/popper, which will give it different abilities.






Friday, June 20, 2014

Coat

Modeling of Sonia's coat has finished, which took a fair amount of trial and error in creating. I approached modeling the coat as one would designing a coat from fabric, at first making it out of a single polygon. The flaring design of the coat however created mixed normals when I exported it to Mudbox for examining. While the normals of the purple section of the coat are naturally facing outward, the white collar's normals also needed to be facing out as well, reversing the normals of the coat at that point. To solve this, I extracted the white collar from the main coat and then combined the two, which enabled them to retain the normals they need while becoming one object again.


Some tweaking needs to be done for the gauntlets and breastplate strap, but otherwise the basic clothing and armor sets are complete. The next step will be either to begin modeling the head or creating the more intricate patterns found on the pieces of Sonia's armor.

 
 Sunday June 1, 2014

Breastplate, Minor Tweaks, and Facial Art

Progress is slow due to work and different obligations, but proceeding. I have finished creating the base mesh for the breastplate, shown below:

 

I also decided to go back and cut up the finger sections of the gauntlet. Previously where the metal plates met the hand the program attempted to blend smoothly between faces, warping the hand. Having the metal be separate polygons, and later combined with the hand, this will no longer be a problem.

Additionally, I have been working on concept art for Sonia Belmont, most notably facial expression.

I will hopefully have more time in the near future to work on concept artwork to invigorate this project and create a more fleshed out visual aesthetic.  

 

Friday, May 1, 2014

Gauntlet and Midsection

Moving upward from the boots, I've completed the midsection of the model, complete with a belt and buckle set.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

The main buckle has a high number of polygons right now in best represent and eventually mirror the intricate design of the concept art. The loop on the side of the belt is a ring frog, designed to hold the Vampire Killer whip.

I have also begun the modeling of the gauntlets, and have made a significant amount of progress.

 

I am very happy with how close the current model is with the concept art.

There still need to be some minor tweaking of edges on the hand, but overall the gauntlets are heading in the right direction. Soon I will also model the different designs and patterns on them to give them an even more striking appearance. 

 

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Beginning Basic Modeling and Learning Unity

I have begun basic modeling of Sonia Belmont starting with her boots. 

 

In order to expand my skill set and learn more about the production process, I have been learning the Unity game engine. I recently concluded the Space Shooter tutorial and have produced the game. Along with continuing with the modeling of Sonia, I will be moving on to other Unity tutorials including a stealth game which involves more character animation.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

New Project: Dark Night Prelude

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything, mostly due to the fact that graduation and the lack of class projects, along with work.  Now that I have something to work on, I plan to post more regularly to get myself back into the habit.

So let's talk about Castlevania Legends for a moment.

Released in 1997 in its native Japan and '98 in the West, Legends was an entry in the Castlevania series for the Game Boy. It starred Sonia Belmont, of the legendary Belmont clan of vampire hunters, as she sought to destroy the evil of Count Dracula in the 15th century. Since the time of the game's release, the events of that game have been removed from the series continuity by then producer Koji Igarashi, who deemed the game as somewhat of an embarrassment for the franchise.

Because I've always thought it a shame to waste such an interesting concept and character, I've been meaning to do something meaningful with them for some time. For a small personal project, I plan on redesigning and modeling Sonia Belmont, the game's heroine and the lost legend of the Castlevania series.

The past weeks have been devoted to researching and creating concept art for the redesign.  

The original Sonia Belmont as shown in game manual.

Artwork by Daburoku

 

 

 

 

 

 Originally Sonia's design was reminiscent of an anime style, which might have influenced the art direction later in the series with entries like Rondo of Blood, Dawn of Sorrow, and Portrait of Ruin. With this project however I want to bring the design closer to the style of Ayami Kojima, whose art direction helped define the series. I eventually found a piece of fan art by an artist under the moniker Daburoku, which almost exactly captures the spirit of Kojima's work, and has served as a springboard for Sonia's redesign.

The resulting concept shown above I believe advances the original to a more realistic realm. I wanted to keep the overall color design of the purple and green, but change the clothing design into something much more practical and appropriate for the time period.

The breastplate is rusted green, echoing the original clothing.

 In the coming weeks I will be beginning the early modeling stages of production, as well as working on more concept artwork for the character. More to come soon.

  Thursday, November 8, 2012

 Progress Report: More Colors

Work on Ardha's colors is wrapping up. The additive color palette adds a nice rainbow tone to it, with the black and white sections creating some rest areas. The shaders also have some glow on them to create a more other-worldy appearance. Still working on the head piece, which incorporates a number of shaders and is tricky to work with due to its complexity. This projects is finishing nicely, and will be completed very soon.

  

  Monday, October 30, 2012

 Progress Report: Colors

 

 Monday, October 22, 2012

 Progress Report: Displacements

The modeling phase is mostly complete, save for a few adjustments need for the displacement maps. The maps for the musculature have been added, as well as for leg pieces. I may add more maps for the"skirt" portion of the model, though this isn't an abosolute necessity. The next most important phases towards completing the remodeling is the inclusion of fur, which will go on parts of the main torso and hair piece, and color shaders. The previous model had an additive color palette (magenta, yellow, cyan), and this model will be the same.

 

 

 

 Monday, October 15, 2012

 Progress Report: UV Mapping & Mudbox

This week I focused on laying out proper UVs for geometry to be sculpted in Mudbox. I downloaded the Maya Bonus Tools from the Area as per one of my teacher's recommendations. The Auto UV Mapping utilities have been a great help in quickly and accurately cutting up and laying out UV shells. Focus was paid to the musculature of the arms and legs on Ardha, which I want to improve on. My understanding of different mapping in Mudbox, and how it is exported and used by Maya, is thankfully increasing, which will undoubtedly help in the future.

 

 

Monday, October 8, 2012

Progress Report

I have made some progress blocking out the major shapes of the new model for Ardhanarishvara, the composite god of Shiva and Parvati. In keeping with the Hindu tradition, I've decided to double-up the arms, which I will eventually reform to create the optimal curvature and creases for musculature. Compared to the previous model, this one will display more ornamental decoration, such as the skirt and more ornate legs.

 

 

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Choosing a project

The project that I will be expanding upon a previous work that I was not satisfied with.

With this project I will be adding more detail and redesigning the overall form of the character. I will be redefining its figure to create a more organic form.

 Saturday, September 29, 2012

Creating a Blog

Testing out new posting system.