3D Term 1

Architectural brief: old house

Trials and Tribulations

So last week was a deadline for a fully modelled and textured house.
As someone quite new to modelling it was a fairly daunting task even with such a generous deadline of 4 weeks. But I really feel like all things considered I did the best I could do and put a lot of time and effort into the work.
I feel my biggest achievement was in the modelling process, it felt far more fluid than before and I really started to grasp the controls. I'm really happy with my progress and feel enthused to apply my new skills. I've started to use cleaner geometry and troubleshoot my problems on Max, which are both really useful skills in my tool box to have.

However another thing I've grasped is using tiled textures, which gave me a better understanding of how unique maps work too. While I don't think my textures where 100% successful, I felt that my knowledge of the software has came along way in the 7 weeks I've been using it. I also seem to understand how multi-sub objects and ID’s work. It seemed to click by doing it wrong a few time but once I got it, I found myself helping people as I was able to see the error or solution. That felt great because a lot of work and self motivation went into the model, roughly 75 hours of it. I also really enjoyed the unwrap because I learnt a lot about making it easier and how the unique and tiled textures work. Now I understand Max better I feel very motivated for my next project.

However I wasn't happy with my finished house, my house looks very disjointed, this is from the unique map, because the lighting is all a little different and the colours are a different cast, which I didn't have time to effectively sort out. The UV unwrap I did meant I couldn't get a lot of detail, it was sacrificed because I was learning how things worked and if I could go back a lot of my house would be tiled and I would probably choose an easier building too. 

I think I bit off more than I could chew by choosing something where not only would I need unique mapped walls, but one with a lot of scaffolding I had to edit out to get textures. I would say while it gave me a challenge for my level of knowledge for Photoshop; It did only just covered my needs.

However I also feel I learnt a lot from these mistakes, like what ideal images for texturing look like; and for the future, what I need to take images of for more successful textures. Most of all I learnt how to fill the gaps.

I've become more aware of the creative decisions, like deleting the back of the windows, both to save tries and because none would see the back faces. 

Another useful thought was using Google satellite to see the roof plan, just to give me idea of where the faces meet and how they should meet up, because I couldn't see the roof at all. I think that really helped because without it, my roof my not match the layout of the building at all and look unrealistic. Obviously I didn't trace or use the reference satellite image to texture my roof it was just an idea of how it could look on my model. But if I needed to model a specific building down to a tee and couldn't see the roof at all, I'd'd know a way to get around that issue.

The part of the project I really needed to learn was time management, I used every hour of lab time I could, often staying till lock up and I don’t want to do that again unless it’s necessary because it took a toll on my health. With the huge amount of time I had I really could have timetabled both my time in labs and my progress better. Luckily I've learnt this now, so I intend on using at least two evening and days a week per week in the labs using my time wisely and efficiently. This would both help my learning and progress, as well as feeling it's ok to take a break on nights off 3D work.

Modelling 101

Darleks and Dustbins

Onwards and Upwards

So I started the 3D modelling with very little idea on what I was doing. there's something very demoralising about using new software in high pressure environments, with the bonus that you don't understand a word of what people are trying to tell you and especially when your results look very immature and flawed. There's something soul crushing about glancing at the person next to you to see that, although they started at the same time as you, they have both finished and made it five times better. 
None said it was going to be easy, but I've struggled to get to grips with the program.
luckily I'm determined and shameless, so showing people my wonky cylinder and asking, how do I do the thing? Has become like a greeting, personally I'm hoping it will be an advantage, I will know every single thing that 3ds Max can do wrong and solve it. I have now officially started my journey as... The Max Whisperer.

So it started with a wonky cylinder and I managed to pull through and finish the darlek, I learnt a lot from it in how to make the shapes and easier ways of modelling so my next task was a dust bin and learning texturing. I'll be honest I didn't understand it much and the idea of mapping didn't click this time. I that's why it's called learning, and I have a lot to learn. 

This is one small step for technology, one giant leap for gaming

1947- 1977

Part 2: Growth and Learning

So who else was on that proverbial playing field I mentioned. Well  there is one other contender… 1947 Games on a screen are released.

1947: Cathode ray tube amusement device is developed with military implication in mind however the small game that was demonstrated to show its use was possibly the first person shooter ever made. The idea is to line up the tube, aim for the “plane” and shoot it down.

1947-58 Chess is a mathematical program designed to attempt games of chess, however it unfortunately failed at playing complex games and could only work out scenarios for mate in two.

1958: Tennis for two is a U.S demo game to show the public the contemporary and exciting technology, clearly it’s a massive success as not only did it spark excitement in the otherwise drab lab. But it was pathing the way forward for a computer or, for consoles to be built purely to play a simple interactive game.

A demo of Tennis for two:

1966: Odyssey is in the making, the idea is simple, the task at hand difficult. Ralph Baer Takes on the task of developing a video game, a game that is able to be shown on the television. In 1972 the first home console is released the final prototype “brown box” becomes the Magnavox Odyssey.

1971: Computer Space is released after a game called Galaxy Game, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney come in second with a new coin operated gaming system.

The battle between the arcade format and console format has begun. Money once again fuels the fires or development.

1972: Atari pong is out and about as the team of Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney continue developing arcade style games, this time taken from the format of tennis for two or the later developed pong Dec.

1973: Graphics tablets become viable and a more formal digital art world emerges. Along with lots of new technology that also becomes readily available at home, printers and Ethernet cables become marketable.

1973: New technology and growth in possibilities arrive making the launch of Maze wars possible, computers are reasonably sized now and Ethernet cables can connect computers so gamers can play against each other on separate machines.

1975: Atria release a pong at home game to keep up with popular demand, even paying licensing fees to Magnavox to break into the home market.

1977: The Atari 2600 sweeps the market a console capable of playing many different games that were preinstalled. In many way the shear popularity of pong allowed Atria to wipe out competitors, it didn't have a good plot or graphics or even really out do its competitors in pushing boundaries. Pong had novelty and most importantly, people who would pay for it again and again.

Why?

Personally I think the competitive side of pong allowed people to have fun with friends while doing something new; but just the sweet aftertaste of being better at something then your mate made the money roll into the slot and straight into Atari’s pocket.

1977: Spaced Invaders launches, there's a lot of controversy over weather Atria teamed up with oversea companies to introduce them to the market or made space invaders themselves. No matter which it was in 1977 the overseas producers are coming to town.

130 years in type seems to fly by so fast.

History is the foundation for the future.

So study it I shall.

Part one: The miracle of computers

Here I shall give my rendition of the 130 year development of space invaders and also computers in general.

Lets us begin in 1805...1805: the jacquard loom is build and the first program is running, although a simple weaving system, the idea of a system has been invented. The system is in place and the programs are sure to follow.

1849: Charles Babbage and the difference engine.

The desire to have perfect sums, untainted by human error becomes the driving force for the difference engine. The engine itself merely works out complex sums but mechanically. The idea and the plans are entirely feasible and the engine does in fact work perfectly creating a hard and ink copy of an answer. But the passion and creation fall upon two minds… one I feel ignored from the history books sometimes, one Ada Lovelace. Lovelace was Britain’s first true programmer, a young Victorian lady and the only legitimate child of Lord Bryon. However most importantly the second brain behind the engine, Lovelace would spend a lot of time with Babbage working with and coding complex sums into the engine many of her mathematical inputs would have made the machine work. Truly a noteworthy woman.

Demo of a working Difference engine:

 

1939: The Audio oscillator is born into the world with Hewlett Packard as the metaphorical womb. However I believe this massive gap in development is Due to lack of financial need and lack of conflict. Without war and money there’s no room for progress in an industrial world, life becomes about working and physical growth rather than technology and advancements

1939: The world is at war and computers are seen as a potential weapon, technology is reinvested in.

1941: Zuse is created in Germany and z3 becomes the world’s first programmable computer.

1943: With the help of Polish Intel to Bletchy Park, a few British women finally crack enigma code after months of hard methodical labour using a total of 10 of the UK’s Colossus mark II machines.



1946: Finance takes over as the driving force for computers and programmable machines, up until at least 1965. Finance and business application are almost the sole investors in the technology of computers. In a way we know this, we know who started to make tech for profit so who else was on the playing field?


well thats for the next post...

Introductions and First Impressions

Where did all the good games go?

and where are all the god 

tiers, Late at night I toss and I turn And I dream of what I need. 

I need a career.

My name is Freddy Canton, a just about still 19 year old student studying Game Art Design at DMU (or De Montfort University) and it would seem as though my journey through boot camp and my ascension to the cintiq labs has begun. So let me introduce myself by taking you down memory lane...

November 1999, the millennium bug was a real concern, computers were still not in every home, my copy of land before time was on VHS and game boy colours had just come out. 


A young girl of six is walking around with her mother looking at possible birthday presents; when she spies Pokémon red version in the window of a toy shop. It was the perfect gift and the start to my passion and training as a game artist. 

I remember scrawling until I started drawing so I could imitate these strange new creatures. I vividly remember creating my own and dreaming that one day maybe I could make games, maybe I could design things for them… what if I could design Pokémon?

Of course the idea of working in Game Freak was once Farfetch'd, but after all this time, James Turner, a British graphic designer, currently works at Game Freak. In 2010, my dreams started to feel less distance as he became the first Western person to design Pokémon.

And now, in 2013, I’ve started the next stepping stone across the ocean that is my future. I've hopped onto the Game Art Degree and I'm jumping, falling, reattempting and succeeding crossing from stone to stone.

So this is what my blog will be about, my quirky yet bountiful journey through Game Art Design at DMU.

See you on the other side.