Final Year Project - Week Two: (6th February - 12th February)
- Ryan Harlee Jones
- Feb 13, 2017
- 7 min read
Final Year Project - Week Two: (6th February - 12th February)
Monday:
On the Monday morning, I walked into my weekly supervisor session with an idea of how I wanted to progress with the week. This changed after the session due to speaking to both supervisors which I shared the session room with.
After discussing the previous weeks progress and mentioning what kind of project I had planned, I was advised to instead of doing all the modelling in one group or sitting, to create one asset and head straight into the sculpting stage so that I could get some practise in and see how difficult or time consuming things would be for me. This is a much better idea in the long run, as it can prepare me to take any contingency plans if I find I have great difficulty.
Fig 01. Personal Blog Page (Jones,2017)
The rest of the day was spent once again, how I didn't expect it to be, I began creating the previous blog entries which I have posted up and came across an issue, the website I was prior using for blog entries during one of my previous years was not suitable anymore for a multitude of reasons. This meant I spent a fair amount of time during the day researching where best to set up my new blog for the final year project. After coming to the decision of using Wix, I created two blog posts, an overview blog post, and my first week overview which can be viewed alongside with this entry.
Considering I had moved website, I then spent the rest of the day learning how Wix functioned and creating myself the blog page for how the blogs would be viewed and how the page was laid out and designed, along with a partially finished front / home page.
Fig 02. Website Front Page (Jones,2017)
Finishing the creation of my website became one of my new tasks, this task took precedence in my mind because of the mention of ExpoTees, and how entry to the event was very selective depending on a variety of things, one including blog entries.
Tuesday:
Tuesday was spent working from home, the first section of the day was spent updating my proposal document via feedback from my supervisor. Following the pointers made by my supervisor I managed to add in some extra important information which had been overlooked, making my document much more in depth that it was prior. Additions included areas such as a more detailed contingency plan, narrowed down deliverables and an actual ethical debate section.
Fig 03. Project Trailer (Jones,2017)
I then continued the rest of the day by building up more of my website, I focused on getting my three group projects their own pages for individuals to briefly view and understand. These pages would class as overview pages so that the viewer could watch the associated trailer to view the finished product, and also look at captured stills with a description of the project. These pages would show the project as a whole, while another page would show the work I specifically did in that project. My Journeyman project, Game Jam project and Advanced Games Development project all had overview pages created for them with the appropriate stills and trailer uploaded.
Fig 04. Screenshot Gallery (Jones,2017)
Wednesday:
The Wednesday I took a break from developing my website as I started to feel quite guilty that I hadn't made any more progress with the actual project. I created myself a black and white 2D image for reference when creating the next asset, which was to be a decorative pillar.
Fig 05. Pillar Panel 2D (Jones,2017)
This is the same technique I had used the prior week for the floor panel, I then continued on to create the 3D pillar mesh, which in the end design wise I was quite pleased with, although didn't quite fit the style I was going for.
The design of the pillar followed characteristics of the floor panel, but I had trouble finding what the issue with the pillar was that was throwing me off, I tweaked the mesh for a short while before deciding to get a fresh look at it the next morning.
Thursday:
The Thursday morning I went straight back to the pillar mesh that was mentioned before hand, I found the issue with the mesh that was changing the design so much fairly quickly after having a nights rest. I found that with the design of the pillar, I had made the platonic solid emblems 3D rather than flat planes that rested alongside the rest of the surrounding geometry. This gave the emblems the impression of gems which instantly made my pillar design look very Arabian in nature compared to temple like. After I flattened the emblems out the design seemed to sit much better in my environment, although the floor panel looked very simplistic compared to the complicated nature of the pillar. I have noted that I may have to come back to the floor and change the design slightly to better match up with the pillar.
Fig 06. Pillar Asset 3D (Jones,2017)
After I had finished the asset I came back to the website again and made progress on some of the contribution pages. The contribution pages are where I place up work that I personally accomplished in the projects, so that people can understand how I applied myself to a team.
Two and a half of the pages were accomplished, most of the time was spent on gathering my pieces of work and then taking images of them to upload to the website.
Fig 07. Contribution Page (Jones,2017)
Friday:
On the Friday I once again took a break from working on the website so that I could get on with project progress. I decided to create a set of 2D images in preparation to model a select set of them. During this day I managed to create three and a half of these images, so that I can begin modelling any of these whenever I see fit. This also allows me to block the world out mentally so that I can make sure all of the designs are consistent and fit together correctly.
Fig 08,09,10. 2D Asset Designs (Jones,2017)
I also during the week gained a second set of feedback for my proposal hand-in, which was on this day but at midnight. The feedback was once again useful, although at this point it was smaller comments such as document formatting, and making sure Harvard references were in alphabetical order. These changes were made fairly quickly, and submitted in good time for the deadline.
Saturday:
Saturday was my day of rest for the week, I didn't accomplish anything on this day from being personally ill. Although at the same time, having a day of respite was obviously needed, as over the week my mental fatigue had been drained heavily, and my work ethic was waning more frequently. This allowed me to take the day off without feeling lazy or guilty, and the free time was healthy for me. Sunday:
After taking my day off, on Sunday I was prepared to have a go at sculpting one of my assets for the sake of experimentation and practise. After speaking with a number of people who had a little more practise in this area, they advised that I made my pillar mesh lower poly than it currently was, and then attempt to normal map some of that extra detail on for the sake of poly count. I created a lower poly variation and then did some normal baking tests between the two of them.
I found that the normal maps being created had a large variety of errors, and spent an hour or two looking up different tutorials and error posts in case I missed something simple in the process. I found that I couldn't figure out what the issue was after some heavy digging, so I decided to progress on for the moment to get some sculpting practise in.
Fig 11. Low Poly Pillar Asset 3D (Jones,2017)
The sculpting practise that ensued was very stressful for me, at this point I felt behind on my project because of the amount of time I had spent on the website over the week, so considering that I needed to remind myself of simple things such as camera movement, and learning how to place a reference image in the scene, I found myself getting impatient because of the lack of progress. Eventually I managed to centre myself, and correctly set up a scene and also started to get familiar with the controls of the application. I spent the rest of the night approaching the model in different ways to see the effects, mainly through practise of sculpting rock textures. I attempted smoothing out the edges so that the model looked like worn rock, while then attempting afterwards to make progress by making the surface on the front panel uneven with a few sculpted chunks and cracks. I personally got as far as making the surfaces uneven before deciding to head home.
During this work session I had also spent a large amount of time looking up different tutorials depending on what I came across while working, these tutorials include how to go about sculpting rocks and what techniques are useful, how to make use of reference planes, how to model and create environment pieces in Zbrush etc. Overview:
Overall I feel quite guilty with my progress this week. I have made progress, and I have, looking back accomplished quite a bit of work. But considering that a good half or more of my week was spent on setting up my new website in anticipation for ExpoTees selection, I haven't made a great deal of progress on my actual project.
Next week I need to allocate only one day to website creation and make sure to stay very focused on what I do with my time. I am going to need a lot of time to understand how the sculpting process is going to be accomplished to a good standard, and cannot afford to waste time if necessary. I wasn't lazy this week, although I do feel like my energy was misguided.
Comments