Evaluation

Evaluation

These two pages will be an overview of my production log and my entire project.

When I first started the project it was simple I go my research without problems, I got a group and asked question about the genre GTA is in. The only problem with my research was that I started lazy and didn’t do most of the online research until the end of my set time. Also during this period my production log wasn’t detailed at all and had no links etc. this was changed as I progressed through the weeks. The research and all the other stuff involving them tasks we’re uploaded to my blog which has been made for my FMP.

After my research was complete I started practicing using bones during the two week holidays we had, this gave me a little bit more experience whilst using them. It didn’t help a lot but it explained how to parent bones and other things like muscle flexing. During this period I was also keeping up to date with my production log and schedule, this is when I was able to start going into more detail about what I was doing and also able to include screenshots of what I was creating and testing.

After this I started on creating the model head for the animation, this was hard as many of the things I had to do were new to me. I ran into problems a few times, most I overcome the rest stayed there as they wasn’t noticeable. I first started by creating the cage (skeleton) for the head, this wasn’t as hard as I had a book which helped and guided me through the entire process. I was also given images to work from which I have not done before it helped me figure out the width and length of where I had to put points etc. There was a few times where I had too many points which affected it later in the creation.

After the skeleton was complete I started patching, again I hadn’t done this before so it was new to me. I started off slowly making sure it was placed correctly, as I got more experience I was able to patch much easier. This is where at some moments to many points affected it, I learned that you can only have 3 or 4 sides when patching and if you had too many points it can make more sides which are not needed. From the book I learned there was a way to merge sides and that saved some time instead of deleting multiple points.

Creating this head didn’t just help me create the model for the head it also helped me hugely when creating the models for the entire animation which was the suit and boots, the hands where made for a precious project so I just simply used them. The first time I completed the head there was many gaps in the patches, this is where most of the issues where. But, not all of them had to be fixed because some were only visible when it was a close up which wasn’t going to happen as the models was not the main priority during the animation. After the head was finished I created eyes for the character this was a simply job as it only took one lesson and I also managed to add the iris etc.

After the head was completed I started modelling the boots this took around one week to create, I also learned that I have to be careful when using reference images as even though two could be the same they can be slightly off and make the boot a little oversized. I decided just to use them as a visual image and not work on them but rather just judge there size and create the points that way. Once the boot was complete there were many gaps but I managed the use textures to cover the little gaps and not let them be visible. This also helped me as it helped me understand how much textures can help fix a model and made me think of how many other things are like that in the gaming world. Once the boots were complete I added laces this took 30 minutes at most but I also learned a tool which could help me again in the future which was the draw the lace with a thin line and when I finished that line the lace would create its self in that shape.

The boots and head was now complete, I used the same techniques to model the top half and bottom half of the suit which I then merged together to create one object. But once I created this I did notice I created it a little wide and created the arms a little long, but this was simple to fix as I just moved the points around the reshape the size and deleted a few sections on each arm sleeve to make the arms more sizable for the body.

After all models were completed I merged them all together resizing a few so they fit into place, this didn’t take very long but it did help me resize a few things which were a little off. After this I started inserting bones into the models which had now been made one entire model. I originally started off by struggling which then I was given a little assistance and shown a few examples, this h3elped me and sent me on my way in which I started to insert the bones from hips, feet, neck bone etc.

Once all bones were inserted I had to parent them, such a simple thing made the bones mess up and make me load my previous version with the bones untouched. The problem was the bones would move out of the place I put them in, the simple solution was a button saying ‘Parent in Place’ I just simply activated this and there were no more problems with this.

Once the bones were inserted and ready to use, I started my animation, I struggled quite a lot as it was my first time using bones. There was also another problem, as I worked at home on my animation as well as in college, I found out that the version of layout I had at home was newer than the one in college which meant I couldn’t work on that scene in college without starting again. So during the college period I decided instead of sitting doing nothing I would get used to the bones more and play around with the models I created. This helped me figure out how the bones reacted and what them done to the object which I could then go home and create.

Once my animation was complete and uploaded to YouTube I realised that the quality of the picture was bad and also was very short, I didn’t want this to be my Final Product so I decided to add more onto the end of it and made it last 4 times as long from the original. I also managed to make the picture look better by giving a better background as the shadows could be seen much more easily and you can see the entire body. This was uploaded to YouTube and put into a presentation onto my blog.

In conclusion I believe my project was a success as I created an animation from bones and managed everything else, although at the beginning I did over face myself with hopes of car chases etc. but realistically I would have been able to do that because of time and lack of experience. But the main point of the project was to be able to use bones in an animation like I have shown. Although there were many bumps and stops I still managed to pull it together and create the animation. Hopefully this has given me some insight into what university projects will be like and help me choose the career I want in the future.