CHICKEN

Right I now have a textured chicken for use as a test for this animation.
This is it below (I think ill make a couple of variations of chickens to walk around just by adjusting the texture)



447 triangles mind you..I didnt think it would be that much but I think that is the lowest I can go for them to look any good.

Right erm after it was textured I rigged with bones but rigging in 2012 is a bit retarded in comparison to 2011 I though.
None the less it managed to get rigged and I was trying to get it to animate - its pretty hard to get it to look realistic. I was trying to emphasize the quick head movements chickens have but everything was looking so fake when I was trying. I appreciate that im not an animation student but I think i need more practice before I work on the chicken. In my level the chicken is going to be the main thing that will animate , Herrons don't need rigged and ducks the only thing which moves really is the head.

For my UDK test it may be better to try simpler animations to import than big complex chickens (which may not work!)

For the ducks I will only model the body and the head - no legs are unnecessary. These will be more in the distance compared to the chicken

Progress

Right well this is progress on the models
Iv started with the smaller assets and also made an effort to unwrap as I was doing them. While trying to make as low poly as I could Iv noticed that more triangles are going into things which I think is due to the fact that there are a few cylinders used for many of the objects, these models presented here in total have come to over 1000 tris which normally I wouldn't think was a good number. If I reduced the quality even more it simply wouldn't look that great.

Ok so my progress:
Iv got about half of my whitebox done, modeled a couple of plant tests which ill use and modeled a few of the smaller assets. These past 2 weeks Iv had trouble getting into the project and although iv been working I don't feel like im deep in the project.
Im not entirely sure what to do next, im trying to lay off the bigger assets until later but im starting to run out of the smaller assets!
I still need to look at how to make water in udk and how to get imported models from max to animate (The chickens and wildlife). I have never modeled any birds before so I could try on that, for the chickens what I was planning was for them to just walk around pecking, no wing motions. This is quite crucial really So I think that will be my next step.

Model the chicken
Animate the chicken
Import and make work in UDK.

Would probably be wise to look at a tutorial before I go ahead of modelling.
The chicken may not be the final one I will use as this would be for testing purposes.


So far iv modelled the head, Using alphas for the "comb" on the head and also leaving it open at the bottom which can be alphad AND to make it easier to rig.





So the majority modelled, ill use alphas for the chickens feet. One thing im thinking about - should I have the Head more or less separate to the body and rig it that way ORR have it all connected. If its all 1 thing It would look more realistic but it greatly depends on how well it deforms.
I will have the head moving, the feet moving and the tail - it may be alright.



Right ill leave it there for now, my next step is to finish the texturing, rig it and then try to get it into UDK. Im hoping its straightforward - I have seen 1 tutorial but its for humanoid characters - its probably going to be a matter of trial and error.



(things I can look at)
Reference

Beowolf
Legion
game of thrones
skyrim
centurian
king arthur - clive owen
Pathfinder - viking camps
Asterix
braveheart
Kingdom of heaven

Plants Continueeeee + other assets

Ok so I have a few plants, some of the texturing will need work but none the less I was able to model a couple. Now as I said before I only wanted a few actual modeled plants as the rest will be alphas, perhaps some flowerheads poking out. Strictly speaking these sorts of things shouldn't be modeled as its an inefficient use of triangles and I do appreciate that. I will be wanting a few plants near the fence areas which the player will see while walking around (more than others) and also I will be placing a few in places that need a bit of colour.

Im leaving plants just for now and ill model some other smaller assets from my reference. I will unwrap as I go along also so its not a bit stress at the end.

Plants..

Ok so i got up this morning and tried to finish my "autumn hawkbit", for this I decided to only have 1 head rather than a big bunch of them to save on tris, I can easily make a couple of planes to give the effect of more heads.
I think it works quite well but the head is a bit of a letdown on this one, that is more of a texturing issue more than anything, this was mainly a test and its sucessfull.

This itself is not going to be a major asset and it wont be that large to the player.



Testing in Udk they are actually alright, that is roughly the size they will be, maybe a little smaller. I think their soul purpose is to add a little bit of colour to certain areas. Ill try some mayweed next (the white flowers).



They're alright I suppose, these would be smaller than the hawkbits but it still reached 224 triangles.

I started on the rosebay willowherb


It was going well, apart from the triangle count. Just these flowers got up to 414 tris which I dont think is reasonable for a plant like this. Only the small flowers I think should be modeled. For plants like that rosebay as they are usually in large bushes it may be wiser to make alphas. I could however continue modelling them and take snaps of them for lod's.

as obvious and as cliche as they sound I could model some poppies to throw some colour around, particularly around the little fields I am planning as they seem to go for more for that sort of ground. According to websites they bloom early-mid summer, as my season is more mid/late summer I will have to be careful with this.

Few more plants I may do.
Poppies



Pennywort
Milkthistle
Veronica


My Pennywort


Thistlewip


Well thats me for today I think, its been quite slow going really taking a look back but im slowly getting there. Tomorrow I think ill try and finish this thistle then maybe look at modelling some other small assets (take a break from flowers for a bit)

Bradgate n Plants

Right, yesterday I went down to Bradgate in the hope to get reference snaps of the rockey terrain and how it interacts with the surrounding foliage and ground. Now obviously it still is winter at the moment (in photos it looked more like autumn) so it wouldnt technically be what I would use for my project but even so I thought it would help my design processes. Also popped over to Milton Mowbrey which had a little park but to be honest It wasnt all that useful.



Also went to a spot called Borrough Hill which was originally a hill fort, now only seen as the highest point in Leicestershire. Only the terrain remained.



Interesting imagery which ill no doubt use later on.
Today my plan was to try and model a few plants as i had never done them before. I will explore different ways of doing them. While in games you mainly see them as alpha planes but I would like to experiment with other ways.

Now I am by no means an expert on the various flowers that ill be doing in this level, my mother on the other hand is so I asked her to write down species which I could then look at and see how they are. (species present at summer/autumn).
Before I begin I will look around on the net and see what they look like! Flowers are not going to be my main focus in my level but little clumps of them with the various colours will aid artistically as well as realistically.

Dog Roses (ref from google search)

Managed to get a couple of shots of the leaves and the stem, didn't realize these had thorns also but.. they are roses after all.

Rosebay Willowherb


Codlins and cream

Bulrush/Typha


Oki ill leave it there for the time being, I think for modelling ill try the codlins and cream (stand alone flowers). I have got 1 theory for more complex plants for maybe ,modelling them straight then with bones rig them so I can vary the shapes and directions.

I think for the grass I will use alphas definatly but for the little plants an actual model may be good practise.





Experiment 1, using the lofting technique. This would work for the smaller of the flowers, not for a huge bush. The tricount is quite high here but that plant is seen more in clumps, if i was doing a small plant this would be fine.
Perhaps if i try a bush I could still have a couple of stems with heads on I can place. The head of the plant im pleased with, it instantly looked good. The texturing for the stem doesnt look realistic though, not entirely sure why.
Anyway Ill try another test using the same plant this time I think using 2 sided planes.



This is using that technique.. Hmm my thoughts on this.. It doesn't really work in my oppinion. It looks very fake to me compaired to cylinders. Still it was worth trying even if for background LOD plants, or plants which you cannot reach.

Anyway yeah, I had a quick look around for more weed plants (sort of low to the ground ones) Things like Dandelions.

(some sourcing)
http://www.british-wild-flowers.co.uk/H-Flowers/Hawkbit,%20Autumn.htm

http://www.british-wild-flowers.co.uk/G-Flowers/Groundsel,%20Heath.htm



So next step will be to try and modelling specific plants

More

This is a continuation of yesterdays work
Right, today iv started by working on the terrain around the workshop logging area.
Also just changed the environment slightly so its easier to see.





Inserting my log temp asset as well as the fences but also a little hut I made where wood would be stored. Im quite liking how this is going and with proper terrain and texturing it should look quite good.
The sides of the level im picturing being quite rockey with few bits of foliage added while I don't have proper reference at the moment this is loosely based on the fable oakfield village. I will be going to Bradgate tomorrow though as I recall that sort of terrain, also ill get some snaps of plantlife and other things that may be helpfull.

I also just quickly placed my 'chicken pen' and Teapots.. (thought the teapots could represent the chickens)


Next ill place a few of my market stalls.



I did place a few at the start of the level but i decided in the end that I wanted the stalls more in the center of the settlement than crammed at the start. I mentioned in a previous post that i wanted a transition between nature and human elements, at the start will be right from the road to the settlement which will be the natural element.




Im liking how this is going, quite a lumpy terrain.



Right while testing i looked back at the start and it made me think (as I liked the view element) that after the main settlement to have a path with houses on 1 side with trees/view on the other to reinforce this. Perhaps I could have a field as part of the view.. hmm..



This is a little test based on what I thought, changed the terrain slightly and added a few more buildings and trees.

Whitebox continued

Ok well I was continue to whitebox but I was still having the problem of not really knowing what the layout would be.

This is my most recent 'completed' one



Out of the others iv done this one seems the most advanced.. BUT im still not feeling it. I seem to be in a bit of a rut, it keeps looking too big and its not really matching what I was after. I dont feel like 3dsmax is the best thing to use for terrain testing. I think now ill export each test asset and arrange in UDK as its terrain editor was friendlier to use.

Now Rather than importing each asset straight away I made myself another little whitebox but without and ground with just a few buildings.



As shown, in my head this was more the sort of thing I was going for.
And below is taking it into UDK and trying just importing and moving the terrain around.





Straight away I was happy with it as I could see it from the players perspective, I think using UDK in this fashion is the way to go but ill export each test asset individually and place them there rather than on max.

So this is a start, the skydome texture is wrong and isn't mine and I wont be using it, just needed a test so get rid of the blackbackground.

Very plain at the moment but its getting there as a whitebox!