This will be a detailed insight in design choices, layout decisions, font considerations and colour schemes chosen on this websit. This will also show how my sills have developped over time, and why the assets have been chosen to showcase this.
Introduction
The client for this project is unruly ember we have previously worked with these on another project, the aim of this is to get young people aged between fourteen and twenty one years old interested in the stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) sector to help it grow. I will be required to create an asset which can be a 2D sprite sheet, a 3D model, or a mechanic with the theme of soft sci-fi.
Interstellar
Interstellar is a film where a NASA pilot who is tasked to find a place habitable for humans as the current planet is dying and becoming impossible to live on, it is set in the near future. the main characters use a device called the tesseract to communicate back in time to help them survive, they also use specialized suits to help them survive in conditions they wouldn't normally be able to.
I've chosen the film Interstellar as they have a suit that helps them survive on unknown planets this helps with my idea of a space suit and what it should look like, it also helps with my communication device as they have one inside the film.
Transformers
Transformers is a film where robots from another planet arrive at earth as their planet has been destroyed due to a civil war. The Transformers use technology to turn into things from the planet so they can go unrecognised, they also use this to travel as they turn into things like helicopters, planes and all types of cars.
The film transformers links with my idea sets because the robots in that can turn into whatever they want this helps with how my multifunction vehicle will work.
Star Wars
Star Wars is a film about 4 main characters Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo and his Wookiee Chewbacca try to save Princess Leia from the clutches of the tyrannical Galactic Empire. they travel around the galaxy using a spaceship that has a feature to move faster than the speed of light.
Ideas For 3D Models
This film links to the idea of a multifunction vehicle as during the film one of the characters uses a bike that hovers and can shoot missiles.
Multi-use Vehicle
Communication Device
Drill
Super Space Suit
Feedback
This is a pie chart from survey I did on google forms asking people what asset they want me to make, based on feedback I will be making super space suit or a multi-function vehicle. however, I will not be making a drill, an energy container or a communication device.
Here are 5 other pie charts that ask the Surveyors if it meets the overall theme, if it meets the target audience, if it demonstrates STEM, if it can be done in the timeframe and if it fits the theme., based on answers given the ideas meet all needed requirements.
Conclusion
With all the given feedback I have decided that I'm going to produce the super space suit as a 3D model originally it was going to be a 2D spritesheet however I feel as the spritesheet could take too long, I've chosen this over the vehicle as in my opinion it better fits the brief and and I don't think I could get it done in the timeframe. The ideas fit all the requirements of the brief so I won’t make any changes at this point however if I feel like something needs changing I will. I will be making the 3D model inside of Maya2020. The amount of time that i have could be a constraint as I might not be able to finish it time more constraints will consist of lack of internet, Polly count and lack of software access. I don't want to use more than 10,000 Polygons so the size of the file isn’t to big. the files I will be using is a FBX file and an unreal file to present my work on.
I have fixed the problem of being distracted by removing everything I can be distracted by when I start to do work. I have improved time management by creating a timetable and rewarding myself if I follow the timetable and complete work. I've also put practice into photoshop by watching videos and practising at home I've also done the same with unreal.
I've decided to spend 1 day on understanding the brief because it shouldn't take long and is a simple task, next I researched about other games, films, books, and TV shows so I can get a general idea of what my asset should be like and only spent a day on it as it’s a quick and easy task. After I decided to get asset and environment idea generation done and put it onto a mind map on the same day as they all relate to each other and I had enough time to. On the next day I made a detailed description of 5 asset ideas I had and got feedback on them to get an idea of what asset I will be making so I can start planning on how long it’s going to take the risks there are the next day. Next, I started to make a detailed mood bored for the asset I was making to get ideas for what size colour and shape it's going to be to help start with the concept designs after completing the concept designs I decided to get feedback so I can make sure what I'm creating fits the brief. After receiving feedback, I decide to reflect and create more concept designs to make sure it fits the brief. Once I was happy with the concepts I started to write the law behind the suit. Afterwards I planned on how to create the suit and then finally started to make the asset.
Mood board
Super Space Suit
I have chosen this image of a space helmet because I liked the overall shape of the helmet and is how i want my helmet to look like
This image of a space suit legs has been chosen because I think the shape of the legs look good and I will base my model's legs around the size and shape of them
I have chosen this image of an oxygen tank because if the person wearing the suit is on planet where they don't have oxygen they have some to use and would be useful to have on a space suit.
I chose this image of an among us character because of the shape of the vizor on the fronT of the suit
I used this image of a space suit to draw inspiration from for the general size and shape of the body for my model, I also like the colour of the suit.
Here is feedback given on my concept design, from reading this feedback I understand that I need to improve my moodboared and get more ideas on there I also need to make a variety of designs and show how the design as improved as I've worked on it, also I need to use the ideas that I add to the moodbored to help further develop the concept design.
I have chosen to go with the black suit as I feel that it better fits the brief of soft sci-fi it would also help as the character would be able to hide in dark spaces.
I've chosen this image to base my texture for the asset around because it fits the brief and works well with the colour I feel best fits the brief.
I will make wires for the suit and will use the standard colours of wires so the people who use the suit can learn what the colour of wires are.
The suit has been in development by NASA since 2033 they started making as they saw an extreme rise in pollution which could be fatal for the human race with the earth was becoming impossible to live on and needed to travel around other planets trying to find another planet for humans to live on, they have recently had to speed up the process as the pollution levels are getting to high and need to find new habitation quickly. The suit is equipped with weapons that will help neutralise any foreign creatures they might bump into. It also has an oxygen tank that last 7 hours before needing to be changed, there’s also space to hold extra oxygen tanks if required. The suit will have cooling mechanisms in case the suit gets too hot to stop malfunctioning problems. There’s also a cooler for if the planet has extreme heat and the person inside is getting to hot they can cool down, it also has a heater inside as if they’re in a place that has extreme colds they can heat themselves up this allows them to always be 100%. The suit will also have a backup way of getting oxygen from the process of electrolysis, this is where iconic substances are broken down into simpler substances, this will be powered by a battery pack on the back of the suit. The model will be made in maya and saved as maya binary file file and exported into unreal as a fbx file.
I've made this model using the scale tool to get parts of the model to the size I wanted, I've also used the move and rotate tools to line things up so the model connects. I've also use the extrude tool to create outdents in the model and to make certain polygons bigger in specific areas. I've also used the bridge tool to connect areas that needed connecting. the fill tool also got used to fill holes where large areas was missing.
This is the first design of the arm that I made using the torus and cylinder tool I deleted three quarters of the torus to create the bend and added the cylinder at bottom then combining them so they move as one.
This is the second model of the arm I made the top bit of it shorter as the added polygons wasn't needed.
Here is the final version of the arm to make this I deleted edges and vertices that wasn't needed and put the uv's in the right place so the texture looks right.
Here is the first version of the back of the suit which was made by creating a cylinder and resizing it to an appropriate size.
This is the second version of the back of the suit I added a rectangle and resized it to fit, after I created a torus and deleted half it to have a half pipe to use as the oxygen and energy pipes for the suit.
This is the final version of the back of the suit to make this I added a square polygon and resized to the size that best fit and copied it to the other side, I then created a cylinder and rotated it to face the way I wanted and resized and duplicated it 3 times and move them to be symmetrical and added a texture to it by lining up the uv's tom the correct part of the texture sheet.
Here is the first version of the front of the suit which was made by creating a cylinder and resizing it to the shape I thought was good.
This is the second version of the front of the body i added a square to the front and resized and lined up so it was in the middle.
This is the final version of the front of the body I made this by extruding the selected areas to to the perfect length and lined there uv's up with the texture sheet.
Here is an image of the final model of the legs I made these by creating a cylinder and resizing to fit on the body I then used the insert edge tool to create edges to extrude so I could make the top part of the leg bigger and the lower part smaller I also used to to create knee pads.
Here is the first version of the model's head which was made by creating a sphere and deleting the bottom quarter.
Here is the second version of the model's head this was made by extruding the front part of the mask creating the visor on the suit.
This is the final version of the helmet I deleted unneeded edges and vertices to lower the poly count and then aligned the uv's with the texture sheet to create the texture.
Here is the final design of the bottom part of the helmet I used the extrude, rotate and move tool to create this.
Here is an image of all the uv's put in place without a texture on it up some are overlapped as they're the same colour and it saves space for the others.
This is the first texture layout I made however I made the mistake of keeping the uv layout underneath so I had to go back into photoshop and hide the layer the uv was on.
Here is the second texture that I made without the uv showing however after seeing what it looked like in the models uv layout I decided it needed changing to make it easier to line up with the uv.
Here is the uv layout with the texture behind as you can see all the uvs line up with the texture
This is the full body of the model I had to combine all the the different parts of suit together using the object select and combine tool before I exported otherwise when I put it into unreal it would've been in pieces and not very practical for what was needed.
This is the front back and side of the model fully textured inside of Maya I applied the texture by assigning a new lambert and attaching the texture that I made to the lambert and lining up the uvs
Here is a zipped file of all the version saves from the Maya model.
Here is a zipped file of the different version of textures
All my files are saved in a folder that I made for the creative project, inside the folder there's folders for concept designs, gannt charts, risk matrix and swot analysis, images of different versions of the 3D model, unreal saves of the model, the uv textures and version saves of the model in Maya encase the current one I'm working on gets corrupted I wouldn't have to start from the start
Whilst creating the model I ran into multiple issues, one of these problems was when I imported the texture it also carried the transparency over so the model looked see through, I asked Chris for help and found a solution by braking the transparency texture from the lambert. another issue that encountered was when I forgot to save my work and had to redo the legs on the model. I also ran into a problem whilst working on the Gannt chart from home and the electricity cut out and I had to redo the Gannt chart fortunately I had just started to make it.
This is the asset inside of an unreal project
This is the asset in a FBX format
Here is how I organised my files inside of unreal, I had a folder for everything that was required including an asset, texture and material folder.
Here is my model inside of unreal there is a front back and side view. It's the same size as the character.
I added the texture on the asset inside of unreal by applying the material I had made onto the texture which you can see on the right side of the screenshot.
The final outcome is fit for purpose as it loads into unreal and can be put straight into a game, it has changed from the original plan due to feedback I was originally going to have it blue and red however due to feedback from people of the target audience I have changed the colour scheme to be black and white as they said it better fit the brief, I also used feedback to decide what asset to create and to see if it fit the brief or not. I ended having less than the number of polygons I wanted and used a fbx file to import my model. I also use photoshop to create the texture on my asset I exported as a PNG file and was 1000 pixels by 1080 pixels.