Brynmor Soper GS
Creative Project
In the Creative Project brief, we were asked to create a sci-fi theme asset for a client named Unruly Ember. We could either choose between a 3D model or a game mechanic as long as the stem is demonstrated from the asset. The asset's target audience is the age range between 14 and 21.
Firstly We needed to manage the time. We were told to create Swot Matrix which outlines strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. We were also told to create a Risk Assessment highlighting the risks, hazards and how we will improve on them. Finally, a Gannt chart showing the management of time of when the tasks are done.
First, we were asked to think about a whole bunch of different concepts all following the sci-fi theme this included grabbing ideas from other games or movies that are sci-fi related.
With this I decided to create a 3D model and was asked to come up with five different ideas for an asset for the sci-fi theme these assets were:
1 - Space Suit
2 - Space Shuttle
3 - Rover
4 - Futuristic Weapon
5 - Alien
I also made Mind Maps for all of these ideas.
For the final idea, I was asked to create a survey with a minimum of seven questions In which my class peers answered what idea best fitted the brief. The result was a split decision between the rover and the spacesuit so I made up my own mind and decided to create a spacesuit for my Creative Project
Now that I had my final idea I needed to come up with a design for the spacesuit. These ideas were inspired by actual videogame space suits/space armours and the images were extracted from the internet however these suits needed to have something from them that is important.
Now that I have looked for inspirational ideas online I needed a sketch to know how the 3D model was gonna look when it is created. I actually made two sketches. There will also need to be other sketches to show all perspectives of the suit.
The first one had some problems, while the sketch did have a sci-fi theme I was supposed to create a space suit that a human can fit inside however mine just looked robotic and the legs were too short to go with the upper body so I had to re-create the sketch and formulate a second design.
The second design was better as the design actually is much similar to the first design however it actually looks like a human can fit inside. I started by drawing a human shape and then started to add the suit on top. The legs are long enough to fit the upper body and the arms look buff and the legs actually have kneecaps.
Now that I had created the sketch I needed to gather the mood board and the sketches so I could ask for feedback one of the responses was pretty valid the fact that I hadn't done a sketch at the back so I don't know how the back of the model will look or at the sides and also the fact that I needed a detailed explanation on the suit so for instance maybe there is a function that could be explained about a specific part. The other comments were pretty positive.
I decided to actually take these improvements into account so I edited the sketches by putting in a back perspective and highlighting specific parts and saying what these parts do so people know why they are there which then gave me my final drafts.
Here is a description of what the attributes on the suit do. First, on the helmet, there are two one way air vents on the bottom and top of the visor this is meant to keep the wearer cool in the hot environments and also to keep the wearer warm in the cold environments (that also includes spacewalks so the user doesn't feel cold on a planet with no atmosphere). The suit also includes an O2 tank on the back so the wearer has access to oxygen while on a spacewalk however, this does mean that the suit is not for combat at the moment. For protection against the harsh environments that might meet the wearer at any point, there is Armor platting at the front, back, legs and arms to keep the wearer safe at all times from harsh winds and projectiles that the environment throws at it. There are also boots which are meant to travel over all rugged surfaces and protects the wearers feet from jagged rock formations in the ground. Lastly, the suit includes a light that is merged with the helmet which allows the wearer to see while they look around in caves or dark environments.
Now that the planning stage was over I needed to actually develop the asset. This was the progress I made on the 11th of May. The asset is been created in Maya and this is only the helmet of the suit, not a lot but it is a start. The visor of the helmet was created using a Boolean called difference which cut out an area that a shape has filled in, of course, both polygons had to be selected before difference could be used. I also had to use rotation and combine tools to connect the shapes together allowing me to make what you see now
This is the Finished product after creating the helmet, of course, this is only the head, and the body still is in the progress of completion. The rest of the helmet was completed with the addition of vents placed at the top and bottom the vents themselves were created using loads of cube polygon primitives and as before the difference in Boolean to create the vent pattern. Also, two decoration designs for detail had been added by creating polygon pipes and re-sizing with duplicating to get what you see here. Finally, an addition of light at the top was simply created using the combine tool and re-sizing of the polygon cubes.
As you can see from the progress of this photo I got a little carried away and finished the entire upper body not only including the torso but also the arms. This asset so far was constructed this time using an insert edge loop to add new edges to the shapes, I mainly used these with the torso and the upper arm to create muscle. I also used extrude to add in some detail and especially to add in the Armor for the chest plate and for the arm. While I can admit this is nowhere near accurate to the sketch, I needed to change things so I could complete the whole asset within the time as I am now on the 18th of May.
In this progression I had finished the legs of the suit, this construction was created first with a belt implemented. Then I constructed the top and bottom half of the leg by using extrude and the polygon pipes I was able to add a sort of SCI-FI detail to them. Of course, the leg was in need of a knee cap which was a simple sphere created and was combined with the leg. Next, I simply mirrored the legs so they were both exact and then the boots were created by using bevel and the movement of edges to complete the bottom half.
Here is the completed version of the suit, it was created by using a separate model in which I created a hand using the extrude tool for the fingers, this was then combined with the suit. Now that the modelling was completed now I needed colour which would help it look more SCI-FI however due to the lack of time I simply just used Lambert, for now, to adjust the colour as it takes long periods amounts of time to layout the UV's especially with the amount of detail on the suit though I can say I am overall proud with the asset I created.
I actually created a PowerPoint where I went into much more detail about the construction of the suit showing off how each individual part of the suit was made.
Now I needed to make a final review to talk about what went wrong and what went right with the overall construction of the asset. Overall the tools used and the amount of detail that has been placed on the suit really demonstrates the SCI-FI theme. However, there are improvements that could have made the suit look more realistic for instance the hand and feet were a bit rushed as you can see they both look a bit blocky while retaining the human-like features of a foot and hand however they could be smoother. Another problem is the textures like maybe I could have added a glassy effect to the visor but due to the time, I knew my asset wouldn't be feasible in the time given, as it has complicated UVs that would take too long to layout and then making the textures on photoshop I decided to make it feasible I went with a shorter solution by assigning a new material and then adjusting the colour on Lambert which still worked quite well. As I said I am happy with what I created overall.
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Now in a demonstration to STEM, I feel like it somewhat does this as I added an O2 tank and explained its function otherwise I am not sure but I feel like it does. It most likely was feasible in the amount of time I had and it was completed but without textures still looks impressive none furless. Here is the rendered version.
I also decided lastly to import the asset into unreal as FBX to see how it would look in Unreal with shadows and light. This actually looked really good but there are a lot of lamberts which means colours in the Asset folder and quite a lot of objects that have not been properly named.
