Finished Tree Models

Here is a screenshot showing my finished models for my trees. I think the low poly look has come out really nice and the patchwork design works a treat. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was thinking of getting rid of one of the models and I think now I can see how the texturing looks on them that the rounded tree benefits more from the patchwork than the crumpled version. 

These are the textures used on the trees. As you can see the patchwork has a neat stitching effect around the squares which I feel adds a really lovely touch of detail despite the simple concept. The trunk has a very subtle speckled design to it to add a bit of texture but I think I'd still like to experiment with the size of the dots as well as other designs.

Here we have a screen shot of what they look like after being taken into Unity. As you can see, the low-poly effect has disappeared after importing them in. I think it's mostly to do with the lighting but considering I want to have a dark blue/purple kind of hue due to the time of day I think I'm going to have to live with it. Other than that I thin it looks really nice with the Toon Shader.

New Trees!

Due to the big change in aesthetics, I've decided to model some low poly bobble trees fro my environment. These are just some examples of models that I took inspiration from. I really like the set on the right because they have an origami-look about them and I think that papery aesthetic would very much suit my textiles aesthetic. I'm also really drawn to the simplicity and how such basic modelling can still get the message across about what it is suppose to be.

Now this screenshot shows the models that I created. As you can see I tried to mimic that low poly look and I think I did quite a good job of it~ There are 3 different tree models and the first and second are obviously just slightly different versions of each other. One is perfectly round and the other is a bit more crumpled. I'm planning to get rid of one but at this moment in time I'm not sure which one.

I have quite a few inspirations in terms of how I would like my trees to be textured, some of which are games I have previously mentioned.

In Yoshi's Story, they use very rounded shapes and a really nice patchwork effect in the environment including the trees. I think the bobble tree style would really benefit from a patchwork design so this is something I'm definitely leaning towards using. 

Here we have the different trees from Animal Crossing. Now, what I really like about these trees are their simplicity and the trunk designs. I much prefer the spiral design but the speckles are equally as appealing. I would really like to experiment with different trunk types again just to add a bit of variation between the different types of trees and to add a bit more interest and colour. 

Winter Island

So I decided quite some time ago that I was going to be creating an island upon which the seasonal Gods live. This has now changed to a specific season, Winter. I previously posted a small thumbnail picture of the layout for this island which I have now modelled and textured.

Here we have the basic model. For UV mapping and texturing purposed I split the island up into two different sections, the island base and the cliff.

My concept artist created quite a few different versions of texturing as shown below. The one that was chosen was the top left.

At first, things went wrong with the texturing because I had flipped the UV Map therefore parts of the texture disappeared because the shape didn't match up.

It took me a while to realise this but after messing around and making lots of mistakes, I eventually got the island textured properly. There were some changes that were made after seeing the textured island such as adding bits of snow around the edges.

After adding the snow in all the necessary places, this is the finished model.

As you can see I have added the ice lake by just selecting some vertices and lowering the middle of the island. I then put a plane over the top which is then textured accordingly.

These are the textures used for the models. On the left is the cliff texture and the right is the lake texture.

UV Mapping

Although I had done some UV Mapping for some early test models I did, because I didn't continue doing the process frequently I started to forget how to do it again. After some bad attempts at UV Mapping and a few confusing results due to my non logical approach to it, I soon got back into it but in turn I wasted a lot of time as well as my concept artist's time. Lesson learned here is to refresh in all the necessary processes instead of expecting it to come back to me and for things to run smoothly.

I found that working with my concept artist for texturing surprisingly difficult because I totally forgot that I have to explain how UV Mapping works in order for her to understand what and where to apply colour. Explaining the process of UV Mapping was actually quite difficult for me despite my good communication skills so I decided to provide visuals in the form of labels.

A Change Of Direction

I've most recently had a chat to one of my tutors regarding a change in direction in terms of a career. I've now accepted that I don't really want to work commercially or in the media industry and am more interested in doing social and community work. I think part of me has known this for a long time but learning to accept it and talk openly about it kind of scared me because I feel like I owe it to my course and tutors to continue in the media direction because it's what is expected of me. To my surprise my tutor was very understanding and encouraging about it. I feel like a great weight has now been taken off me and that I can relax, be myself and continue to look forward and search for work in order to help me get into a position I'm happy with. I was advised that I should strongly consider doing voluntary work as it will give me experience and help me move in the right direction in terms of doing my part for the community. These are some of the things I'm hoping to do some research into...

• Community centres
• Charity work
• Teaching 
• Mentoring
• Counselling
• Retail
• Customer service

With this list, I hope to find out what I need to do to help get me into these positions and necessary skill set I will be needing or improving on and hopefully this will help me get started.

Just to briefly talk through some of the bullet points above, I feel through my years at college that above everything my communication skills really shine which made me think that one of the above positions would suit me well. I've thought about mentoring and teaching kids before because I really like the idea of sharing my love for creativity whether it be through art or computing. I have also considered working with adults (College/University) because I feel I would serve as a great support and encouragement for people during their studies. I think the student council is more the area I would like to be in in terms of supporting students because I am a very good listener and am good at taking on and helping solve other peoples problems whether it be personal or work related. For this it might be a good idea for me to get in touch with the student council downstairs and ask about their experiences.

What do I want to do?

What do I want to do? That for me, is the question right now as I'm still trying to work that out despite being in my third year.

The PPP module for this year has been really hard for me purely because it's more focused on career paths and the after college life. So I've finally decided to come out and be honest about how I feel starting from the beginning.

I joined this course because it covers a variety of different media and the course's diversity is where I found the attraction. I hoped to find out what area I wanted to specialise in after trying my hands at all the different mediums over time but to this day I'm still a little stumped on what I want to do. There are many areas of the course that I have taken a liking to but I don't feel any of my interests have that spark I'm looking for. I want to find something I'm passionate about and I still don't feel like I've found it but I don't want this to put me off. So, for now I have decided it's in my better interest to stay as a generalist and keep my options open in terms of a career path.

In terms of where I'm going to be located after college I know that I'm going to be staying fairly local because I'm to be moving in with my partner over the Summer hopefully. I have spoken about this briefly to one of my tutors and have agreed in terms of work that I should be willing to commute as far as Manchester.

I know this post has been delayed for way too long but I feel like I've come to terms with my initial problems in terms of career path and that I feel ready to move on do some research into various companies and looking at how I can utilise my skill set. So hopefully I should be posting a bit more for this module despite it being late. Better late than never though!

Project Changes

It's been a while since I last posted but following on from the feedback I was given after my Research & Development presentation, there have been a lot of changes to my project.

The main change is the aesthetic of my environment. In the presentation I delivered a paint-like aesthetic paired with the Unity Toon Shader as the look I was aiming for after discarding the textiles idea. My feedback based on this was that my reasons for scrapping the textiles aesthetic weren't really justifiable and that I should revisit that aesthetic as a whole and give it another try. Since then, I have now decided I'm going to use this textiles look and continue to use the Toon Shader. 

Another big aesthetic change is that my environment, going hand-in-hand with the textiles aesthetic is looking more cute and child friendly following the likes of Ilo Milo and Kirby's Yarn (two games I have briefly looked into before). This change meant that I had to consider a different approach to modelling and instead of doing detailed and complex models I am now aiming for a low-poly look.

These are some examples of work I've taken inspiration from and that I feel would look great paired with that thick black outline the Toon Shader provides. 

Another issue that was raised in my presentation was a lack of planning in terms of a floor plan for my environment. The original example I was given to follow was Windwaker's Outset Island as it's only a small area that offers many things for the player to do.

Although I'm aiming more for an exploration type approach to my environment, I tried to consider terrain and various places to wander around to keep it interesting enough to continue to explore. Although it has gone through a lot of changes I have drawn up a rough thumbnail of what I'm hoping to create.

As you can see there are a few bridges with various water feature and other small islands. The island is going to be a floating island in the sky now instead of in the ocean therefore my shipwrecked idea doesn't really apply any more. Another big change is that I was told the scale of my project was too large and they would rather see a small but really polished area rather than a big unfinished and rushed looking environment. Therefore my island is only based on one season now which is Winter. I decided on Winter because a character design for Winter was created a while back but due to a change in aesthetics the character has also gone through some changes which I will post later.

Kitsune Concept

These are the designs so far that have been done for my Winter Goddess. Here you can see different variations of costume design that have been influenced by some modern fashion trends because although the Kitsune myth is traditional and with Japanese origin, my concept artist wanted to steer away from the cliches which i was in agreement with.

CV Workshop

I did a CV workshop quite some time ago now but I feel like the information given was really important to consider when writing up my CV which in my opinion needs revisiting as I am currently very confused as what to do for a job.

These are all the notes I took down about the information delivered in that session. They are probably even more so important as the information came straight from within the industry about what they specifically like to see and don't like to see in CVs.