This week, I worked on a bit of the thesis project. During testing and recording a demo, I discovered some bugs with the attention grabber, and if the character goes from active to idle – the sentence would not return to 0 (the intro audio). I also know I need to add a breathing animation for the character as he is too static while interacting. So that is in the process for this coming week. I might be adventurous and try to do a few animations and import them. For only 2 weeks left, I might shy away so I don’t break anything and rather only add in keywords to help the interaction.
Tag: graduate
Research & Project Updates – 2020 #13
This week I was under the weather for a few days but got a bunch done regardless. On the character creation class here is the final link: http://www.mdhopkins.net/virus-ara-prototype/
On my thesis project, I finished my to do list. I adjusted the characters arm for the normal pose and sad pose. I had issue with the user voice search. It ended up being the index changing in the list. I swapped it out for a dictionary and reworked the code to get it to work. Another issue, was when it had to pick another story to tell, it would cause and error. I needed to set the sentence ID to 0. The last major fix was the issue with the head rotation in late update. I updated the animations so there is blending between it all but the head would snap when locking onto the user. Found help on the Unity forums. I had to create another rotation var in the start() and then call it again. All the original code worked as well. As of now, I need to do some long run testings aka over night testing for idle to see if it breaks. Hopefully it all works as intended. After that I am not sure what is left, I could do more voices with different emotions for the different moods but I am not sure how the writting would be. To be honest, I am gatekeeping this project because it is on the home stretch now…
Research & Project Updates – 2020 #11
The stuff I worked on this week: Character creation, Thesis project, and personal project.
Character Creation, I messed with textures and made sure the hi res was done. Here is an image:
Thesis Project:
I fixed some bugs during test. I am still polishing but also working on the audio and lipsync. I realize how difficult it is to blend the sound to make it feel right. I am still not sure of my voice with it but I think it adds to the piece.
Personal Project:
I worked on a Winchester Rifle for fun. I was hoping to finish most of it in a weekend but I had to put it on the side for a bit. I returned to it and did a quick texture test and bake. There are some issues still but its not bad! As it stands, it is about 3,600k polys. I will come back to it and finish it up once I get time. Most likely after graduation.
Research & Project Updates – 2020 #10
This week I worked on the character creation class. I am at the point of finishing up the detail work in zbrush and bringing it into substance Painter. As for the project, I fell behind and did not get the audio recorded yet but all the code is working. Just need to add in the content. On top of it, I finished the family canvas image and added into the project. One less thing done. Here are some of the weeks work screenshots:
Quick testing: more to come –
Research & Project Updates – 2020 #9
This week I finished up the character retopo and uving. I made sure I brought it into zBrush and re projected. I am looking forward to texturing the creature.
For my thesis project, the major struggle to finish the code is now done. The only real test left for it is to use the kinect and see if there are any bugs. I am guessing the only thing that could would be the switch when it check if a person is present or not. The rest should work pretty good. I’m actually excited to move on and start doing the audio and animations. My mind is burnt from this rewrite… Here is all the functions that are required to make the magic happen.
Research & Project Updates – 2020 #8
Thesis Project:
I made a lot of way on re-coding the way the program runs. I schedule some time this week to finish it and do a full test to make sure its 100% working.
Character Creation Pipeline:
The character is getting there. Slowly but surely. I am retopoing the creature before I add the fine details. Here is a screenshot so far in Blender:
Research & Project Updates – 2020 #6
This week I worked on re-working the story and the character responder script. The main reason for the change was the complexity and scope of the project. Now, the project is easier to work on without the fear of fall too fear behind. Here is the algorithm: I made for the AI.
I am about 50%-65% done. All of isIdle is true is done. On the false side, I got the main run with random sentence selecting working. I have a plan to combine everything which should speed up the workflow to finish this. Hopefully next week, I can finish the code up and move on to the next part which would be recording the audio.
Research & Project Updates – 2020 #5
This week, I met with my mentor and discussed the status of my thesis project. After the meeting, I reworked some story. Currently 5 is “done” for now. I am going to ask my studio writter to help on this. Hopefully he can follow the layout the way I have it. If I get the go, I will start to rework the code to make it work out correctly.
I also worked on the character for the concept class. So far here it is:
I am dreading the polish pass of the sculpt. I will need to do some hard surface modeling and detailing. After that, it should be pretty easy to retopo and uv up.
Research & Project Updates – 2020 #4
This week I worked on some of my character in zbrush – he is coming together well. I need to clean up the muscle grouping and finalize the back armor. I think I am at a good point as of now, Worked on and 3d printed a part for a vintage Fuji camera, fixed up my thesis paper from suggested edits, and worked on my presentation outline.
