Character Mesh Fixing

After texturing the satchel and placing it in engine with the character a bug developed where it would not move with the character animations. I trying parenting the satchel with the character, which didn't work and after talking it through with Jemila realised that it must be because I'd imported it as a separate object.

So I went back into Maya unbound the skin from the rig and combined the satchel with the character and merged a couple of vertices to make them one object. Then rebound the the combined character with satchel to the rig and imported it into Unity. However this process had broken the satchel texture.

To fix that I adjusted the satchel UVs and placed the satchel texture I made onto the same texture sheet as the character. Fortunately there was enough spare room and I didn't need to readjust the character texture. I'm glad I was able to fix this and keep the satchel in game and I will definitely remember to keep rigged characters as all one piece in the future.

Heather

Character Texturing

To start with I set up a base texture with flat colours, which I made by assigning different coloured materials to the mesh in maya and baking out the result. This sped up the process because I didn't need to set the base colours manually. The picture above shows the base after I had edited the colours to match the reference image, there are a couple of details in the reference that I wasn't able to model because that image was produced after the model sheet.

While painting on the detail I got feedback from Jemila about the face and changed the expression to better match the characterisation.

This is how far I got with testing the texture in Maya before I moved on to test it in engine. The reason I started out in Maya was because it's easier to assess the details and faster to switch between Photoshop and Maya.

The finished textures in engine, using a basic outline toon shader. After testing the textures in engine I edited them to emphasise the the shadows and highlights to compensate for the toon shader's lack of lighting. I also textured the satchel to match. 

The process I've used to make these textures is painting them by hand in Photoshop using a combination of standard and custom brushes, this method matches the art direction more than a photo based approach would have. Overall I'm very happy with how the textures have turned out and how quickly I was able to produce them, They may need revising at a later stage if the shader gets changed or if the environment textures don't match, but that would be relatively simple to fix.

The one thing I would change if I were to do this again is the UV layout, which I left as what was generated by the automatic layout in Maya and I know that isn't optimal.

Heather

Character Rig

I rigged the character using HumanIK, I think it looks good when animating, although I may go back and add more edge loops if necessary depending on how it looks in engine.

I did try to get it in engine but I couldn't get it working quite right, so I gave the rigged character to Jemila and she's going to put it into our game level.

Heather

Character UVs

I set up my UVs and cut the seams, but when I used the automatic unfold it made everything asymmetrical.

I corrected this my hand using a combination of automatic unfold, scaling and moving the UVs, and using the smooth UVs tool.

However after speaking to one of my tutors I figured out why the automatic unfold wasn't working, it was using the legacy setting as I needed to turn on the Unfold 3D plug-in.

So I remapped the character using Unfold 3D.

Then mapped the satchel as well.

I'm aware that the layout of these UVs could be better optimised but due to the time lost because of technical difficulties I'm going to move on to the texturing as soon as possible

Heather

Character Model

Here's the model sheet I was given to work from.

To start with I blocked out the entire figure, starting from the torso with the arms, legs, and head extruded out from there. At this stage I was focusing on getting a solid form to work with and following the model sheet as closely as possible.

I made two major deviations from the model sheet before carrying on. I restructured the feet to be more anatomically correct, and made the breasts smaller to be more in line with the front view and more finalised concept art.

Adding edge loops and refining the shape. I also added the hair by extruding off the head and down.

To make the face I hid the figure I'd already made and followed the method described in this tutorial, but at a lower level of detail.
http://www.3dtotal.com/index_tutorial_detailed.php?id=1804&catDisplay=2&roPos=1&page=2#.Vi094PnhCUl

After combining the face into one piece I deleted some of the edge loops in order to simplify and refine the topology.

After mirroring the face I altered the proportions to be more anatomically correct whilst retaining the style wanted. This meant deviating from the model sheet but that had not translated into 3D very well.

To finish the model I combined the face with the body and hair, editing edge loops as needed. I then added more detail to the hoodie, belt, shoes, and hair, then finished modelling the satchel.

Overall I think this stage has gone very well, it has been an excellent opportunity to hone my modelling skills and I'm pleased with the outcome. If I were to do anything differently I would try to keep the edge loops more even and perhaps try to think of a different method for making the hair.

Heather

Modelling and animation practice

Just making sure I'm prepared for when I need to model the character.

I started the model last week and finished it off today, not being ambitious with it just getting the process down. I'm happy with how the body went but I need to figure out a better way of doing the head.

Then I quickly rigged and made a test animation to make sure I know how.

Heather