Year 2 week 25

Year 2 week 25

It's all coming together now!

So I’ve finally placed all of my part into the level! I was the last one to do so but now the level is looking pretty good. I placed in my jumping shrooms and some of my VFX I think I’ll need the make more models now though, the level is looking nice but a little bit bare. I think I need to start thinking of doing a puzzle kind of thing. But so far my mind is completely blank! I have no idea what to do and even when I do come up with an idea I just give up because i have no idea how to go about doing it.

I might add some objects that move in and out of the way from Alice. Such as trees falling or mushrooms bending out the way for her to go through. This all seems fantastic in my head but then getting it on paper then to engine is a completely different story! I can’t wait till the day I can just think of some awesome game then just slap in on engine straight away. I know that’s going to take a long time and practise but I’m sure I can manage it! Life goals! 

Speaking of life goals… holy smokes! Balancing jobs, sports and uni is hard!!!! Also need to cook, clean and socialise! My goodness I don’t want to be an adult! I want to go back to the days of worrying if the ice cream van will come back round on my street or not! So I've spoken to Mike my course leader and he says he is in the exact same boat. The way he deals with it all is just to write it all down! Get everything I need to do on one place like a huge white board! So thanks Mike I think that’s the plan. I just need to find the money for that!!

MY TO DO list

Year 2 week 24

Year 2 week 24

I miss first year!

I kind of miss first year. As in the work load or the course structure more like. Last year was a lot more stressful and required a lot more time management. Yeah the work was a lot easier but we had strict deadlines every single week which meant that we had a lot of pressure to keep up with them. Yes this year is a lot more difficult in terms of work and skill level but there isn’t anyone to have a go at you if you miss deadlines but yourself and I hate having a go at people so there’s no way I’m going to have a go at myself. 

Alice project is starting to come to a standstill as I’m out of ideas. There is only so much you can make and put in a forest of trees and mushrooms before all you want to do is climb trees and eat mushrooms. I’ve pretty much finished all my assets and there is barely anything. I need to go back to the drawing board and get creative. I’ll need to make a list of assets I can add such as a path or some signs to point the player the right way. I really want to take control of the cat but I can’t just steal someone else’s work of them. I would love to animate him so he floats about the map telling Alice what to do and where to go. I think I’ll be able to make some really nice animation trails and particle effects for him. I think one member has already modelled the cat so maybe I should ask if I can take over from here that way I get more work to do and I get to learn more about animations!

Year 2 week 23

Year 2 week 23

Engine why you no? 

Unreal engine is just a pain. Yeah its magical and great and all but it just does the silliest things sometimes and because I don’t know all the fancy words for everything I can’t understand what to search for when I need help. If I need to try and do something I'll search it on YouTube first because reading for me is a chore but if there is nothing on YouTube then it’s all up to the UE4 forums and even then there isn’t really what I want. There will always be a guy showing his set up for something and saying yeah it’s really easy but then doesn’t show how to do any of it. I’ve emailed some of my tutors for help so hopefully they can shed some light on the magical engine.

More modelling on the other hand. I’ve been modelling more trees and stuff for my part of the level. It’s taking some time but I’m slowly getting there to a more beautiful populated forest! I’m just so thankful that we have a very easy art style and everything isn’t like super high poly. It also really helps with the lag. Ive been walking around and looking at everyone elses projects and most of them seem to have some frame drops every now and then. Which means I get to play around with more particle effects!! Yay for martin.

Year 2 week 22

Year 2 week 22

Week 22…

Wow I generally can’t believe it’s getting so close to the end of my 2^ND year! I know I sound like an old man saying that but it’s true. All the realisations that 3^rd year will go just as quick will hit me soon and when 3^rd year is gone then it’s time for the big wide world. So to stop myself from feeling as though I have missed out on uni life I have joined some sports teams and started a job! I am now part of DMU badminton, beer pong, Jui jitsu and archery I am now a worker at a coffee shop called Brü! I know this seems all very sudden and over whelming but so far I'm actually really enjoying it all! Even working stupid shifts. This is just what I needed to get my mind off things and to take a break from just doing uni work all the time!

The Alice project is going well, not as well as planned, but well.  I have been finishing up on those mushroom models and making sure they look nice in game engine. I have also made the water effects for our level and I’ve been playing around with a lot of VFX like dust and magical embers! I think that when I'm done with my part of the level it’s all going to look very nice and shiny!! 

I’ve been slacking on my life drawing unfortunately as I've takin up all these new things I’m being worn out by work and sports! I am going to have to find the balance in order to feed myself and stay on top of work.

Playing around with sprites

Year 2 Week 21

Year 2 Week 21

It’s going…

It’s getting there but im starting to lack motivation, this project just isn’t making me excited enough. 

Designing these mushrooms have actually been pretty fun but that’s all I have. I can’t design mushrooms for the rest of my life I need morrrreeee!!! 

I keep looking back at the book to try and make sense of what the level should look like but it’s harder than you think because what I imagine is completely different to what the rest of my group thinks about the scenes. So having to re-do many concepts is starting to become the norm. This project is really starting to get frustrating as most of my ideas and work has been thrown away. I’ve spent way too long on engine stuff like how to camera works and how to change the material of any object that might be in the way of the character. I have probably spent around 3 weeks trying to figure these things out and by the time I lift my head to see what everyone else is up to they have got loads of models and concepts done… so sorry team but I got carried away.

In other news my life drawing is still doing pretty well as I'm attending almost every session and keeping up with what’s going on in labs. Last year I tried to stay away from labs as working from home was just too easy and so much better as I had everything around me that I needed. But seeing as this year contains more team work I'll need to come in more and keep up with my attendance.

Year 2 week 20

Year 2 week 20

Just as I thought.

Yup. They gave away every part of the map to everyone but me. I am left with nothing to do but VFX again. I’m not complaining about the VFX part but I think I’m going to have to steal some of the map from someone. There is a large mushroom area that Alice wanders through so I’ll probably take that area as it seems very shiny and magical! I’m thinking about making some magic embers floating around which could be fun. I can also make some really interesting mushrooms that Alice can bounce on to jump over a puzzle.

So I’ve spoken to one of my team members and taken control of the large mushroom forest area. I have started looking at different shrooms and conception them. Imogen (team member) has come up with a really nice simple art style for us all to follow its basically all low poly a bit like the game “Grow Home” I'll post a picture up so you can all see what we are working with.

Other than this project I’m currently going through some personal troubles which I shan't go into but its taking up allot of my time and causing a lot of stress. So to release some of this stress I have decided to join DMU badminton as I find this rather therapeutic and I really need to get out of my house and meet some new people. I have also started applying for some jobs as my bank account is scraping the barrel!!!

Year 2 week 19

Year 2 week 19

Pizza?

Now that what seemed like the longest project ever is over, it’s now time to start on our new and last project of the year! I’m not going to lie this project sounds a bit different (not good different) to what I was expecting. We need to make a 3D side scroller for over 10 weeks which makes every other project seem babyish compared. This level that we need to make needs to be fully playable and needs to be based on the Alice in wonderland book. So this can be very interesting! I love the way that Lewis Carroll as portrayed the wonderland. If you think about it, it’s probably one of the hardest things to do. Translate an image that you have made up completely from your own head onto pages that people can clearly read and make some really amazing things out off. So I guess it's our turn!

I have been placed in a team of 6 including myself. I really enjoyed working in my last team so let’s hope these people are just as fun and easy to work with! We got off to a great start allocating who’s doing what. But all we have really done this week is loads of mood boards and reading the book the get to grips of this artistic story!  

Like I said in my last project I really need to grab as many job roles as possible so I can get the best mark at the end of the day. But they are all having a meeting next week when I’m not going to be here to assign jobs. I’ll be in Italy with my parents :/.

Year 2 week 18

Year 2 week 18

Done and dusted, lots of dusting.

Probably one of my favorite projects so far all because of the right job role and a great team. I was dreading working in a team but the guys I was working with were really nice and got stuff done. The only issues I had in this project was not having enough to do! Next project I need to set out a list of what needs doing and what I can do. I need to grab as many parts of the map as I can so I'm not just left with a few VFX graphics and some assets. The bigger the roles the larger my reward will be! When we presented our finished map they were all really surprised and had lots of great feedback! They both said that if we had more time we could have made something really special. So maybe when I'm bored I'll revisit this project  and just see how well I can make it!

I would like to start seeing some feedback on my course as so far none has been given. It's annoying because it stops me from working harder on the next project in what ever subject category I failed in previously. Or just some numbers so I can either sulk or brag on how well I'm doing!

I also need to get more organised! I need to buy a huge white board so I can write all my thoughts down on one place. I sort of did this last year and it basically saved my first year! I just think that my bank won't allow me to have nice shiny things at the moment in time.

Oh and also I think I forgot to mention this is my previous blogs but I have been doing some inspirational decoration in my room! Take a look!

Year 2 week 17

Year 2 week 17

Man make fire!

Ah yeah! My fire is all done! And might I say it looks pretty damn good! I am really happy with it and so is my team which is more important. I spent a lot of time on this fire effect but as we are using it all over the level it's definitely worth the time and effort. I've also finished making all of my particle effects so now I'm onto modelling and texturing some props and the containers. Playing around with the containers was pretty stressful because unreal was being unreal which as we all know isn't fun. So I got Callum (team member) to give me a hand in the situation because all I was trying to do was have a different colour for each different container.

To be totally honest I'm a Bit disappointed in my critical studies because it just seems like they don't really have anything to give us work wise. They kind of just say here you go, here's a website to post your blogs and get to it. Yeah they offer some really great advice on how to make a CV and how to apply for jobs and stuff but I feel like there really isn't a need for this critical studies. Or at least make it so that it's not 33% of the course. I get that writing is good and all but at the end of the day I hope to be employed because of my art skills and it's judged because of how well I can write and spell. Albert Einstein said "everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live the rest of its life thinking it's an idiot"

ME MAN ME MAKE FIRE

Year 2 week 16

Year 2 week 16

Shipment.

Our container city has started off pretty well! We have a solid idea and we have all assigned ourselves parts of the map to do. We made it pretty easy for ourselves by making 4 rooms of the level, so there was one for each team member. I was in charge of the second last room which none of us knew what we were going to do with. I’m thinking of making it a preparation room for the alter room (last room) our art style is really interesting and I think it’s going to stand out. It’s going to be based on a tropical island where the natives have taken all the tech from the ship and turned it into what they think it’s used for. So for example they would use a flat screen TV as a table or iPhones as tiles.

I also had some really good fun doing some secondary research on this project because we want the whole map to have lots of sand everywhere so we looked up abandoned houses and building that’s been taking over by the desert.

I’ve placed myself in charge of making all the VFX for our level and ooh boy does that make me happy! That means I get to do fire and particle effects! I’ve gotten started on some touches to be placed all over the level but the tutorial is so long! It’s going to look really amazing when I’m done with it though. I’ve also started making some gentle particles floating around like dust.

More concepting

Year 2 week 15

Year 2 week 15

Feels like forever!

Yes I’m back from the holidays and oh boy am I ready for some work! My Christmas was really nice as I spent it with my friend’s family and ate far too much! I didn’t get much work done over the holiday though I’m afraid as I was stressing over my bank balance at -£1500… yeah. But I was very bored and couldn’t wait to start with uni again!

What?! They are asking us to make a city out of containers. We are all a bit confused as to how they want us to be constructing this city as they said it needs to all be modular. We have been told different things from different teachers, some say it can be stylised and some say it can’t. Some are saying we can do anything we want and go wild but then some say we have to make it linear and straight forward… I hate being confused.

So apart from all the confusion I’m actually looking forward to it because I think we have a strong team and idea. Our idea is to have a ship crash into an island with natives and start to use the containers as building materials and to make a alter for tribal uses. I’ve described it as cast away mixed with lost. This was my idea to start with and my team members seem all too happy with it and are just as excited as me to get started!

Mood board Sand taking over.

Mood board containers

Island buildings

Islands

Year 2 week 10

Year 2 week 10

Last week of my character project. 

I can safely sit back now and say that I have finished that project pretty well, I’m very happy with my outcome and am confident that I’ll get a good grade for it. Not only do I think that my robot ended up pretty well but I think that my other character (the inventor) looks and fits him pretty well. My main issues with this project was simply not being able to play as the character. I managed to rig and animate him how I wanted to but that was about it. I know it’s a bit of a stretch goal but if I pulled it of them my character would stand out from everyone else’s!  

My life drawing is just the same as usual but I fear that I’m starting to loose motivation to draw as much as I used to. I really like going out and drawing random people from the street so maybe I can re discover my love for the locals. It’s just all about time. Although I keep mentioning time as a factor that holds me back I’m actually going to get a whole lot busier next year! 

I’m thinking of joining some sports and starting a job so I can feed myself because noodles and other peoples left overs isn’t fun. How I will manage this time I don’t know but that’s the fun it all!

Now it’s time to get fat on Christmas meals and stress over Christmas argument.

My rebellious Robot! in Unreal 4

Year 2 Week 9

Year 2 Week 9

The robot is looking promising.

So; I’ve settled on the idea of having a government robot that’s been taken over by the people. I think I not only have a strong back story but also a strong character. He might be little but he will have a lot of character to him. The materials for my robot is mostly going to be iron metal that’s painted but that will look damaged like rust and dents etc.

I’ve started doing some primary research by going out and looking at rusted cars and other metal work. I also spoke with my tutor to see what advice he has to give me. By the end of this week I have fully concept my character and started with modelling. I showed off what I had done in my presentation and everyone seemed to really like my idea and story, yay for me!

I don’t know what it is but shiny things and lights really make me happy so I think that’s why I’ve got a good amount of motivation for this project! I’ve decided to make it a bit festive seeing as Christmas is around the corner. With this in mind and to add abit of character I’ve wrapped some Christmas lights around the robot giving him some colour!

Start mood boards

Found this little guy and used him as refrance.

For next week I would like to aim to get my model completely finished and textured so I can move onto doing some rigging. I can’t really tell if I’m excited or not to get on with this rigging but we shall see. I would say I’m perfectly on track to finishing this project with no problems!!

made my own versions

came up with this after asking for feed back from friends.

Year 2 week 8

Year 2 week  8

Beep Boop

Time to get cracking with this character project! So; the brief says to do completely opposite characters. To do this, I’m going to start with the shape of them. Our lesson on Tuesday showed us how to use simple shapes as a type of language to express what kind of character he or she may be. By starting with sketches in my book with simple shapes I saw what my lecturer meant by this and I was actually surprised by the way people's opinions are shaped and how basic shapes has a lot to do with this. Once I had finished playing around with these shapes I wanted to start on a background story in order to have a strong character for this project. 

By the end of this week, right before my presentation, I had such a strong story behind my two characters the they didn’t actually think it was necessary for it all and that I was drifting too far from the original brief. So taking their criticism on board, I changed my ideas completely from two brothers looking out for each other to an inventor and its invention. I'm feeling very confident that next week I’ll get great feedback on this idea and that it was more than suitable with the brief. I’m glad we had that presentation because now I’m actually really excited by my project and motivated.

My life drawing is actually going pretty well I’m keeping up to date with my lessons; it’s a lot more enjoyable than last years as heather is keeping it more laid back. But there is always room for improvement, as my proportions are starting to slack behind. I think I’ll need to give the pub a visit and draw some of the locals!

My sketches