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: project
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 #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 #3
This week I have worked on fixing some locking bugs. I got lipsync, audio, and animation to work with the storyID. I have a method developed and now have to implement it into the project. I am expecting a couple of hours to work it out. The major issue right now is locking the system so it does not loop but rather wait until it is finished animating.
Character Creation:
I worked on the base mesh. I am pretty happy with the overall character. I need to rework the torso and armor shapes but it is going in the right direction.
Research & Project Updates – 2020 #2
Concept art for character creation course:
Studio To Do List:
- Designer find some free fx sounds
- Art – 3 Canvas photos
- Programming – Content adding in Keywords and expressions
- Programming – Fix random switcher for response
- Programming – Add mood responses
- Writing – polish current work and add in mumbling
- Matt – Animator state creating and audio | AUDIO voices
Set design sketch (ROUGH) for the installation: 
This week I will be focusing on trying to get some type of demo voice for the character done. I am not quite sure what he will sound like but I will be voicing him. Hopefully I can a few done to start work on the state machine. I am hoping it will go smooth considering the time and effect we put in last semester. It will be exciting to see the character to finally talk…
Work done over winter-break – Blog 2020 1
Back to classes for the last semester of my MFA. Lots to do in a short amount of time. I am excited to get to this part of the journey and I am looking forwards to the installation of my thesis. But as of right now, I am focus on finishing the last parts of the project.
Over the break I went ahead and modeled, re-lit, and adjusted the scene. Here are some screenshots of that work:
I am happy with the overall scene and now have to look at what is left. Off the top of my head, I know I need audio for the old man and to setup the animator states. I will dive deeper into it later this week and create a to do list to cover all that needs to be done.
Personal Project
Over the break, I wanted to flex my modeling abilities a bit. I figure why not make another weapon. This time I decided on a Winchester 1866. As of now, the high res model is about 85% done in less than 24 hours. (It was separated between days, a little here and there – originally I wanted a weekend showdown…) Not much is left on the model, most of it is polish and some micro details. After I finish that, I will make a low poly version.Here are the screenshots: ALSO all was done in Blender 2.81 (that was a requirement for myself, I do miss parts of Maya though…)
Thesis – Project Blog 13-14
Procedural Modeling
Me this weekend with Houdini:
Over the past few days, I have been hard at work finishing up my car generator. With the crashes with Houdini and Unreal, it was frustrating to say the least. Luckily, I swap over to Unity, and fix some code which saved time as it was not crashing as much. Besides the craziness, I believe the experience was worth it. I finished the project and got to learn Houdini in the process. Here are some Screenshots and Video:
