Interior Drawing - Traditional Art Practice Week 4

This week I worked on an interior drawing using three-point perspective. After taking reference photos, I made a number of preliminary sketches to come up with proper framing and perspective. This was the first time I had worked on an interior on location, and so I really struggled with my line quality.

 

My first sketch had wrong perspective and the proportions were wrong. I also didn't like the framing.

I fixed the proportions in this sketch, as well as the positions of individual elements.

I decided to go for the design below, with the pillar acting as the left edge of the frame.

To figure out the perspective, I implemented a basic perspective grid. This helped me to place my lines into proper perspective.

For my finished drawing, I implemented all the elements from my sketches, measured the perspective and added some simple shading and line weights. 

In order to further my techniques, I made a second drawing in three point perspective later on. 

Finishing Up Chest Texture - Digital Art Practice Week 5

This week I focused on finishing up my chest texture. 

I first began by creating a more detailed sketch, consulting my reference frequently. 

I went through the same process with other wood surfaces.

I added color on top to test out how the model looked. 

I exported the model to Unreal Engine.

After completing this project, I feel more ready for what's to come in the next one. I feel confident regarding the basics of texture painting.

 

Unreal Engine Intro - 3D Game Production Week 5

 

This week I worked mostly on my texture painting to finish the treasure chest. I also learned the basics of using Unreal Engine 4. Specifically I learned about importing meshes and textures, navigation in the engine and the UI, as well as lighting my objects. With this new software, I will be able to properly light and render my models, as well as use them to create larger scenes.

Texture Painting - Week 4 Digital Art and 3D Game Production

This week I focused on fixing my UV Map. My previous map had many problems, such as empty space everywhere, and repeating islands even though the texture would be the same. 

I exported a separate PNG from Max to make the process of picking individual islands easier. This also saved me time as I didn't have to lasso every island myself. 

I first started from painting only the textures. I made the background color green, as that is close to what my chest will look like at the end. I also created separate layers and layer groups for each individual step of the process and named them accordingly. 

At this point I had a look at the textured model in Max.

I added a basic sketch and painted in some values. I made sure to think of ambient occlusion when placing my darkest values.

I added more implied lighting and some highlights to further enchance the values.

I added some simple colors to the values.

This week taught me the importance of values and organizing my project files. 

Vehicle Modelling

This week for my personal project I worked on an old Soviet truck. This project in particular taught me a great deal about different modelling techniques I had no idea about. Some examples are the bumps on top of the covering, basic surface detail modelling, tires, and grouping objects together to manage large numbers easier.

Straight away, my biggest mistake was not importing a blueprint and just eyeing the proportions on the model. Especially when modelling something that already exists, and something as precise as a vehicle, I should have imported a reference. With my next project, I will be sure to do this first thing before modelling at all. 

I did some basic modelling by utilizing the basic tools. Halfway through the project I realised that I had made another mistake: I had added too many polygons from the start, instead of connecting edges as I needed to. This made my poly count unreasonably high. I noted this and proceeded with my work. 

After watching multiple tutorials, I settled on a simple way of modelling the tires. I selected the one of the outside edges, and moved it downwards, creating the shape seen above. I believe this is close enough to the original.

I added a texture for the ground. Overall, this project was my most ambitious yet, and taught me a large number of things. Vehicle modelling has a lot of sides to it that I would like to explore, and with every project I am finding new challenges to face.

UV Mapping and Textures - Game Production Week 3

 

This week I worked on UV mapping. I learned different ways to optimize the process, and to avoid wasting texture space while keeping quality on the highest. The only trouble I had was with  unwrapping round objects, which I overcame by thinking of the 3d objects as real objects I had to unwrap. 

I redid my chest model from last week to fix some of the bad topology. 

For my unwrapping, I utilized the isolate selection tool to make it easier to see. I proceeded with selecting faces and peeling them. I stopped to check my work frequently as I had trouble with this last time.

With my model unwrapped, I rescaled and moved the islands around to the most optimal positions. I exported the file, and imported it into photoshop to do some basic texture work to check if there were any problems with the topology. 

I noticed some anomalies, such as the handles and the feet being unwrapped incorectly. I decided to work on those next. My UV map needs to be completed before I begin any actual painting, and so I will be working on this, as well as the texture next week. 

Texture Painting - Digital Art Practice Week 3

 

This week I learned the basics of texture painting and the process that goes into generating ideas for the design. I never used to do reference boards such these before, but I now see the value in using one.

For my reference board, I focused on getting only relevant references. I picked out specific parts of each reference I wanted to use and explained my processes.

I did some sample texture studies from the photographs to get a feel on the kinds of colors I would expect to use. 

 I did a basic texture paint to figure out the process. I realised here that I would need to adjust my workflow, to include more layers, as well as better selections. My UV map is also not optimal, and I will produce a better one next week.

I exported the map to 3dsmax to see how it would look like, and was satisfied with the result.