Some fun inspiration

Referring back when I posted about the walk animation and the connection to the music video

I researched the french artist Jeff Le Bars out of curiosity and found his showreel which parts of actually reminded me of a previous groups work: Cope

But I also loved the style and the colours that were used in several of his animations.

There was also the fun video on how ZBrush is used to create character models, seen in the link below. It’s made me want to try and dabble in mudbox or even ZBrush itself to try and create full body models for myself.

ZBrush Video Link

I also found an artist on the website Tumblr who had a few amazing animated pieces that was great for a four legged walk cycle, and is great both artistically and for movement.

http://katieomeara.tumblr.com/post/129374825989

https://secure.assets.tumblr.com/post.js

Katieomeara

The whole scene together

After everyone in the group, Clare, Courtney and Siobhan, had modeled what we wanted for the village, we set about putting it together for the final rendering.

I had started importing the models and such onto a scene but each time my maya would shut down, so thankfully Courtney was able to take over and managed to get everything together. It was then sent to Clare, who set up the cameras and took some final images.

Unrendered Images from my computer

Rendered images from Clares set up.

Sculpting

For modeling I had considered using mudbox to create buildings and creature models for our village.

The tools are fun, handy, and I enjoyed creating face models on it. There wasn’t enough time to however, but I did get to make a few attempts

The first mudbox attempt creating a face model. Its not too bad for a first try I think, but looking back there can be a lot to be improved on.

Second time modeling, and to make a wolfs head for our village and getting the hang of mudbox some more.

Third time, and redoing the wolf head again. Finally got the basic outline and overall shape, and even managed to make the jowls a bit realistic.

Fourth time, and after the previous model I tried adding in fur bumps, an open more and tried doing up the nose and eyes again. But more than that I tried to add emotion into it, to let the viewers know what the model is feeling. I think I caught this guys enthusiasm very well

 

The Shack

Every village needs a shack to store its random items and livestock, even if its a run down one at that.

The shacks in skyrim have made me want to create a more detailed, spacious shack, but due to time pressure i’ve had to stick with the simplistic version.

As well as adding on the ambient occlusion I tried to render the shack in a few simple colours for future texturing.

Well i’ll be

Although I didn’t get to model as much as i’d have liked to due to unseen circumstances, I did do a few miscellaneous models for shacks and adding in a well to go with an interesting fact Courtney had found about Vlad the Impaler, and how he left a goblet at the well in the courtyard, threatening that if anyone touched it there would be hell to pay.

Thankfully the UV wrapping was a bit more easier to follow than with the house, since the model itself is simplistic.

The Caravan

As well as the house I also made a caravan to fit into the scene. Going back to the Fable games as research I based the vehicle on the old fashioned gypsy carts that would have, to some extent, been around medieval Romania/Transylvania.

Starting again with a simple base I I built it it up from there, creating an underbase for the wheels to be attached.

Using the guidelines for these Fable caravan concept art, I kept the designs and models simple and easy for the UV wrap and eventual texturing.

Same as the house, I added on the Ambient Occlusion to make the caravan stand out a bit better for rendering.

 

The House

After building up the references for the house, it was down to actually modelling it. Keeping in mind of UV mapping, instances were used on planks and such to keep the uv planes intact and tidy.

I started of with an easy base:

I modeled the outline and moved the edges and vertex to make a nice shape and after that, start building it up with planks, boards and a door etc.

With the added planks and door, the house is slowly starting to take shape now

Also keeping track of the UV mapping, it’s starting to make a little more sense on how to work it and how to keep it clean, but its still a bit tricky on how to grasp it.

Adding all the final touches to it I added in the ambient Occlusion to make the whole model stand out a big more and give it a nice look.

 

Building the references

We chose the piece by Katie Nobel and her NightScene  for our setting, in a medieval style.

Our ideas were set in medieval Transylvania for the houses and the lore surrounding it with vampires and werewolves.

We planned our simple wooden buildings and village, and started our research into how we’d make it all.

Skyrim Inspired:

Picture link

The small villages, wooden houses and shacks are perfect for inspiration for our little village to model. But to some extent they are a bit too basic for a medieval Transylvania, so I started looking at other inspiration to suit the style.

Fable:

The houses in Fable are more suited for the old fashioned buildings and have a nice mix of the fantasy and real life that gave me a few ideas for possible houses.

Pinterest Images:

Aside from looking specifically at Fable, Pinterest also had a wide range of images for medieval, fantasy houses that were both fun and useful to look at.

The Fable games also have great castles in their games that can be great inspiration for our castle with some nice designs and simple topology.

Bringing this into effect I started modelling out my house model.