In class | Reality Capture
This week in class we uploaded our videos we created at the Tate Modern to the software, Reality Capture. Serra guided us though how to use the software
It firstly, to the video and broke it up into each frame.
In Reality Capture, once we selected Align, it took all those images and created a mesh from them. There were cameras that projected a bit of an image in all different directions.
Here was the mesh that the software created. I thought it was cool that it managed to get some of the other surrounding objects too.
From there we used the Simplify Tool to reduce the mesh.
I then used the lasso tool to select parts of the model I didn’t need. Although I liked the abstract look of the surrounding area, decided just to focus on the one plant I was looking at for the sake of this exercise.
This is the final result! There were some stems of the leaves that didn’t come through unfortunately but I think the result was really cool. I also didn’t realise that there would be colour and the detail from the pot that the plant was in came through too.
Reflections
It was a really fun exercise and may potentially consider it as help for my final major project maybe for more complex object that I can not model. But, I really get a sense of joy when modelling and and have been really enjoying modelling throughout the course.
Collaborative Work
Tablet
This week Shizra want my to model a tablet / tombstone object as a guide for when the player goes up to them, a holographic message pops out the tablet with a fact about the area/ monument they are standing in.
I thought this was a brilliant idea and volunteered to model this.
Reference:
I firstly went on the search for images I could use as a reference. I couldn’t not find the exact reference Shizra showed me but from what I remembered it was an organic shaped stone with writing etched into it.
Maya
With those references in mind, I started in Maya. At this point I had started to get into a bit of a work flow and a pipeline.
I thought it might be cool to created bricks, as a structure for the tablets/ tombstones to sit on. I created a variety of different stones shapes and sizes. I started of with a Polygon Cube and then reshaped them using then Move tool and in Vertex mode it mode the vertices around to create different shaped stone bricks.
From there I started to create the basic shape of the tombstones. I again, started with a Polygon Cube, then scaled up the cube in different directions. I went in to Vertex mode and using the move tool, I pulled and shaped the mesh into the desired shape. I wanted to have some that were more organic looking and some that were more like the shape of a tombstone. I could then show the others which one they liked before making the same mistake again and doing alot of work in ZBrush that I can’t undo.
I used the Extrude tool alot by selecting the faces I wanted to push or pull in, creating the indents there writing would traditionally go.
I also made sure I added loads of supporting edge loops using the Edge Loop tool add stability to the structure of the stones. I knew once I imported it into ZBrush, I needed to Subdivide the mesh into a few million points and if I didn’t have supporting edge loops that would mean that the structure would become “doughy” like the obelisk had become before I added edge loops to it.
The meeting
This week we had another catch up to discuss where we had got to now. I had told them were I had gotten with the tombstones and that I had downloaded some rocks from Poly Haven. We looked at the Dolphins that Donatella had animated and the snails. We also took some inspiration from a game called Journey and discussed the possibilities of taking inspiration from the aesthetic. Shizra concluded that although the look was good, she wanted our project to have more detail and not to have a low poly look like the game.
Reflections
I felt happy with how the base mesh looked in Maya but was feeling very anxious about creating something so organic in ZBrush. I knew to progress I needed to look at alot of tutorials about sculpting stones and rocks in ZBrush. I also was feeling very stressed this week about keeping up with work in general. But from learning from my mistakes before, I new if I tried to save my progress as I went, there was a better chance of undoing some work if it was necessary.