The area of specialism I chose was 3D modelling, 3D modelling is a skill that I have used and developed the most and I want to further expand on it by learning new skills and gaining more knowledge. 3D artist use software such as Maya, Blender, 3ds max and Mudbox to create and sculpt 3D models and use rendering and lighting to create visual effects and textures and also animate to give 3D models movement. The software that I used in past projects and used in this project is 3ds max as it is the software that I feel most comfortable with although I would like to lean to use all the other software.
What I did in preparation of making my model I researched by looking at sites such as CGSociety, Sketchfab and looking at videos on YouTube that could help me gain new skills and knowledge and guide me into applying them to my projected because I made a model of a creature/animal instead of a structure or object research was essential, as creating a creature/animal was outside of my comfort zone in 3D modelling and the only way to successfully execute my ideas was to research and learn new skills and techniques such as creating hair/fur, symmetry and importing a reference image all which were useful and helped me succeed in making my model. One of the things that inspired me to specialise in 3d modelling and create the model that I made was dauntless, dauntless is a free to play online game crated by (Phoenix Labs, 2019) that is similar to another game called monster hunter in dauntless you can join other players to defeat huge beasts called behemoths, the behemoths are the main focus of the game and for a good reason each design is different from each other and the style of the game is sharp and vibrant and that’s why it played a big role in me deciding to make a creature.
The other thing that inspired me to make my own creature was because of the movie (Godzilla: King of The Monsters, 2019) which is a movie based on the famous monster Godzilla the movie also introduced two newly created and designed monsters called behemoth and methuselah both were created by Legendary Pictures who were the creators of the movie and the overall VFX was a done from the collaboration of studios such as MPC, DNEG, Method Studios, Raynault VFX, Rodeo FX and Ollin VFX which shows that the technology and software used to make games is useful for multiple other purposes. In the movie Behemoth and Methuselah are both more slow moving monster and have a more sluggish nature which I really like this made me want to create something that would have that kind of nature after doing more research on Behemoth and its heavily inspired design of a mammoth I then decided to base my creature of a elasmotherium which was a prehistoric rhino and just like a mammoth was woolly and lived in the ice age (Pleistocene Epoch) era after coming to a decision on what I want my creature to look like I then did some research on elasmotherium’s and finding a template of one to use as a reference image which is a crucial part of modelling a character or creature. Many 3D artists use a reference image to get a general shape of what they’re making by getting a template of the side, front and sometimes top view of whatever they’re making and that’s when I needed to do some research on how to import a reference image properly into 3ds max which I wasn’t too sure how to do.
(Sart learning, 2018.) Has videos and tutorials on how to make animals, to see what the best way was to make my creature I was looking at how people make elephants, rhinos and horses in order to see how each of the modellers made them and see if they do things differently from each other and how I could apply it to my work. One of the most important things about a 3d artist is that they are creative so before I actually began making the model I gathered a few images of other creatures I liked or had something specific about the design that I liked and imported all the images into Photoshop and then edited all the parts that I like together to form together my own creature before I began making the model, kind of like concept art but I used Photoshop to put it together then in in 3ds max I began making my 3d model utilizing the reference images that I imported. I started with a cylinder and used the extrude tool, creating edges and moved around the vertices and edges to line up the shape of the model to the template.
Once I created the general shape of the creature I then used turbo smooth to test what it would look like and it looked really good so I went back and forth between the low poly and high poly versions of my model to make sure that the high poly looks good when I changed the low poly version, after creating the body of the model I went through the process of making it symmetrical by deleting one side of the model and then using the symmetry tool to make the side I deleted appear identical to the opposite side and from there on it acted like a mirror and will display everything you do to one side on to the other this was a perfect feature to begin doing the legs which I did by extruding out and just like the body using the vertices and edges to form and shape the foot. Using the same technique I added a bit more detail by adding some tusks which I wanted on my model from the beginning and I added a mouth and some eyes which did give my model a bit more life. I had completed my model once I did the eyes and mouth and decide to place some hair onto the model. (uzziu, 2016.) Was where I watched the video on how to put hair and fur onto my model and how to use the tools to make the hair and fur look how I wanted it to look like changing the root thickness, manipulating the hair and cutting the hair. I played around with the hair trying different styles and different amounts of hair like covering the body in hair and covering sections of the model in my final version of the model I decided to only cover the upper body and the back of my model and when I finished adjusting the hair I rendered it to see what it looked like.
There were still a few more things that I wanted to do and add to my model but hopefully I will be able to carry it over to my next projected and potentially add more to it such as a texture or implementing an animation for the most part I am really happy with how the model turned out as it is the best model I’ve made that isn’t a object or structure just like behemoths in Dauntless my creature may become the main focus in my next project I may create a game that could represent a boss fight where my creature could end up as the enemy.
There is still a lot I want to learn and improve with 3d modelling because 3d modelling is an important part in making games and not just games it’s important in movies, architecture and It’s used in 3d printing which is also important, it’s a tool that will become more essential and more advanced as time goes on. I also want to try and improve my texturing and animating because both skills go hand in hand with 3d modelling and will allow me to create more impressive things and will better my understanding of 3d modelling.
To summarize, through research I have learned more about 3d modelling what tools are used and how they are used and applied some of what I learned to my work such as symmetry, adding hair and fur and properly importing reference images. I’ve looked more in depth of the two things that I like that have inspired me to make the model have made and incorporated some of the things I like about them whilst also applying my own Ideas. I also believe I have had success as have accomplished creating a 3d model that isn’t an object I also believe I could have added more to make the model feel more completed but I feel I have got a good portion of what I imagined in my head across through to this model and I hope to expand and improve on the model and possibly add an animation and hopefully texture in my next major project.
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