Evaluation
The World of Warcraft project encouraged me to go out of my comfort zone, i knew from the outset this was going to be a tuff but yet enjoyable project for me. The reason for this was because i had never created a 3D character/creature before which did cause problems throughout this project as it effect my time management, however the reason i knew it was going to be enjoyable as i knew World of Warcraft has some bizarre creatures as it currently stands which enabled me to go all out with this the creature. The requirements for the character or creature was
- 6000 Polygons
- Art Style (WOW)
- Fit into the land of Durotar
When the project began i started collecting research, i gathered information about Durotar to get a better understanding of the world. Durotar is a dry, red soil land. It inhabits many creatures and animals. My original idea was to create a lizard, spider, scorpion type of creature. I then continued to gather research about them three animals.
Secondly i began my sketch's, i created quick sketch's of lizards and other hybrid creatures such as half spider half man, half scorpion half man. I began to think that these ideas where to basic and not original. So searched the WOWWiki for animals which lived in Durotar, from there i thought of animals which may not currently live in dry dessert environments, and develop them to be able to survive in that type of land. I thought about Gorillas as they are a very strong and dangerous animals, from there i started to sketch a few ideas down, but it didn't look right. I gathered research about how gorillas stand and look. This helped me and from here my idea started to come to life. I got to a point where i now wanted to give my Gorilla the ability to survive in the dry land of Durotar. I created a dry tree gorilla, cactus gorilla, rock gorilla and dry soil gorilla.
Thirdly i made a final of my concept, it was a gorilla which had formed into rock and soil to survive in the environment. I then edited a few bits and used Photoshop to add colour and bits of detail here and there. It was time to take my gorilla into Maya and create a basic mesh.
Fourthly, i began my basic mesh in Maya. With help from Simon i was able to create a basic but effective mesh. I then sent it over to Mudbox, from here i started adding in details for where i wanted major rocks to be. My gorilla started to come together, however i did get stuck on how to add detail as it was taking me very long and i also wasn't pleased with how it was looking. This is when Simon gave me a 1 to 1 tutorial on how to add major detail points, he showed me how to use stencils in Mudbox and also how to use sculpting tools such as Wax and Fill.
Afterwards i began to use the tools Simon showed me and i started seeing major improvements in my 3D sculpt, i started to become pleased with my sculpt. As days of sculpting finished i was finally happy with my 3D sculpt. I spoke to Simon and Drew about retopolgy to get a better grasp of how it works and how its used in the games industry.
Finally i began my retopolgy, it was a long and mentally painful process. It took me ages to get the basic form of my gorilla. It was continues pushing and pulling of verts. I got very frustrated as it just wasn't going how i planned. My time management had gone straight out the window once i reached this point. It really slowed my work process down, due to how hard it was to get the mesh to look somewhat of a resemblance to my sculpt. As the project drawn to a close i wasn't finished, which left me with a unfinished retopolgy and a untextured model. However i was still pleased with the work i had to show.
If i was to do this project again what would i do?
I would expect the unexpected, i wasn't expecting retopolpgy to take so long, so i would make sure i get my retopolgy finished and textured. I would also time mange a lot more efficiently, I'm normally well time manged however due to this project pushing me further and the retopolgy making me forget what day it was, i fell behind and this caused me to be unfinished.
What have a learned?
I think i have learned a lot in this project, i have understand the form of gorillas more. Also i have learned how to sculpt in Mudbox efficently and i know understand how to use more tools that the software offers. I now also understand retopolgy, i may not be very quick at the process however i now understand it.
Chad Greenway
