Evaluation of Unit 2
In Unit 2, I aimed to learn the process of character creation and gain a variety of new skills. I set out to learn each step of the process of character creation, from initial ideas and pre-production to a fully fleshed out 3D models, and to develop skills in concept art and 3D modelling. To demonstrate this, I was to take my own ideas through this process to create a 3D model of my character which would be ready to animate and then be imported into a game engine.
These skills are important because they are used professionally within the game industry - 3D modelling, UVing and poly control are all essential for 3D games. One of the ways that game developments studios assess the skills of potential new employees is through speed tests in 3D modelling; therefore the more practice I have in 3D modelling and the more skills I acquire in this area, the better my job prospects will be.
Through this unit I learnt a lot of new skills in Maya. To keep track of what I've learnt I have made a blog post called 'Maya Tips and Tricks' that I have been (and will carry on) adding to whenever I learn how to do something new in Maya, so I have something I can reference back to if I want to see what I've learnt or if I want to see how to do something that I might have forgotten how to do. The sculpting tools were new to me and I found them really helpful and fun to use - sculpting skills in maya are definitely something I think I will re-visit and work on improving my skills in that area in the future. I've learnt about Uving and high to low poly bake, including different ways to do these e.g. using auto UV versus manually UVing and using maya versus mudbox for the high to low poly bake.
To choose what I wanted to make for my high poly model, I thought about what would be useful within my game - something that would be a standout model, not something that would just be part of a mod pack. I chose a tram as it could be used as a mode of transport within my game and would fit well in the context of one of the levels. I stand by my decision to make a tram - however, I see now that it was quite an ambitious choice. I am happy with how my work came out and think it could be imported into a game engine as it is, but I think that for it to be game ready it would need a lot more work on it - more detail, materials and texturing. That is why after making my bench I moved onto using my bench as the main model. However I found that the tram with the benches was over the 8000 poly target and the bench on its own was under the 8000 poly target - this taught me the importance of keeping an eye on the polys during creation and adjusting accordingly. If I make my model again, I would observe the poly count more carefully as I was going along, rather than just checking it at the end.
Overall, I enjoyed this unit and felt like I learnt a lot. Even though I don't feel that my model would be game ready, I feel like I would now be prepared with the skills needed to make a better model in a professional setting.