3D Weapons Modeling
To learn the programs and process of sculpting on Zbrush, we created weapon models. I chose to do a dagger and a sheath.
I was inspired by the dagger blades that’d have elaborate decorations on it, sometimes including a carving of an animal.
Initially, we made the shapes in Maya. This included the leaves, monkey, dagger, and sheathe. I needed to create a foundation to do the sculpting on.
In Zbrush, I was able to add more details to the model. I could use alpha prints across parts of the blade to give it more texture. I also tried to create a fur effect on the monkey.
We then colored and rendered the weapons in Adobe Substance Painter. i chose to make my dagger shiny. I’d like to imply that the dagger wasn’t made for fighting in it’s world, but a status symbol for a family who adored monkeys.
3D Environment Modeling
We interact with furniture and decorations everyday, but a lot of the engineering and design that goes into these necessities go unnoticed. I explored the creativity that goes into the logically designed elements of our lives. The furniture upgrades from the game “Hades” inspired me, so I created my furniture scene with the idea of steadiness of stone and the delicateness of flowers accenting the piece.
I used Maya to model the flowers in the face as well as on the plates and jars. I used large shapes for the eye to rest on and the finer details to explore. The audience is encouraged to imagine the lives of the people using these furniture pieces with the props I’ve put in the set.
3D Character Modeling
I created a 3D model adaptation of my original character, Dakota. In her original design, she had the feathered ears and tail for a fantasy, post apocalyptic world. I removed some of her features for an easier translation to 3D.
3D Character Animation
To made our characters move, we had to make a rig skeleton for our 3D model characters. In Maya, I used the skeleton rigging technology. I’ve purposefully chosen to make my character have proportions as close as possible to a human for an easier rigging process.
We also needed to use the MoCap feature and do lipsync. I took a clip from Maroon 5’s “Misery” song for this. The dance just happened to match the song’s pacing. We had to create mouth shapes for our character to then lip sync to the audio in Maya.
I’ve deeply enjoyed my 3D animation experience. I came into this year with very limited knowledge and I’m proud to say now that I’ve produced my own 3D animated works from scratch. Doing Animation II has taught me the value 2D art still has in a medium like this for building character in designs, movement, and scenes. I loved learning all the different programs and pipeline for our projects and will continue blending these digital mediums.