Exhibition Plan

Other artists using my techniques display their work on screen as all of my artists that I have chosen are 3D artists and they display their work online, on blogs and websites for example. The ideal way that I would present my work would be on a presentation board with a size of A0. I would use this to display all of my best pieces of work I have made throughout my time on this course. My ideal audience would be industry professionals as I would like their opinion on my work and how I could possibly improve it further to a better standard. I would also like friends and family to see my work to show them all of my work and creations I have made. People I am going to invite to the exhibition will be family so I can show them the level of work I have achieved throughout the final assignment. And how much I have improved skill based. I could also advertise the final exhibition online to gather people attention, to do this I could use websites like Facebook and Twitter as they are popular social media site that are constantly used. I could also advertise on art station or polyfoum as these websites are relevant to my work. 

This is a visual plan for the final exhibition to show what sort of work I would like to be presented on the A1 space I am allocated. On this I will show off some work I am most proud of and some development work to show how far I have come in the project. 

Visual Plan

Evaluation

The theme for my project is a Katana as this is what I will be making for my final major project.

I have developed ideas for my project by creating mind maps and mood boards to gather ideas for designs, and then I started drawing sketches for rough ideas of designs for my katana model.

Some of the reference material that I sourced from one of my tutors that managed to gets these images as they own a katana. This was useful for my project because this also gave me ideas in which I could use for my design/model, it also gave me an idea of colour schemes that I could use for my design as I was unsure of this before. This affected my work because I used elements of katana in the reference images like the tsuba for example and used the model because I liked the design to it.

My research has informed my skill development because I have gathered photos which I have used as reference; this has helped me understand the form of katanas which has also help me throughout my project with modelling for example.

Some of the artists that have inspired me from this project are; Chris Nichols, Peter Nowacki and Andrea Giordano. All of these artists are 3D artists and have made some sort of 3D art that has inspired me. For example, Chris Nichols’s work has inspired me because of the amount of detail and effects that he has included within his work. All of the artists that I researched create their work on programmes like Maya, 3Ds Max, Photoshop and V-Ray for example. Typically programmes like Maya and 3Ds Max is used for modelling and then Photoshop would be used for texturing, then Maya or V.Ray for rendering.

Some of the materials that I used in my project are, Blinn and Lambert, I used these materials because this determines what is reflective and what is not reflective on my model. For aspects like the blade for example I have used Blinn because this material is reflective and will give a more realistic look if my blade is reflective. But for other aspects of my katana like the handle for example I have used the Lambert material as this is a non-reflective material and will give the handle a matte look to it.

Some of the techniques that I used throughout my project are, box/subdivision modelling, this is you start off with a basic shape like a cube or a sphere and then refine it until you achieve the shape you want, an example of this is when I created the tsuba for my model. I started out with a cylinder then I started modelling the cylinder until I had the desired shape and added more cylinders and that is how I created my tsuba for my katana model. Another technique I have used is the use of ambient occlusion; ambient occlusion creates realistic shading on the scene.  I have used ambient occlusion twice on my model, the first time was when I rendered my final piece without textures, and then the second time was when I applied ambient occlusion in the Unreal Editor 4.

These techniques and materials influenced my outcome because using the different types of materials like Blinn and Lambert, and also adding the effect of ambient occlusion has added more detail into my model which makes it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye also making it look more realistic which is what I wanted to achieve.

My work has not changed that much throughout the project as I have stuck with the same idea throughout. The only thing that I have changed from my project is the tsuba, Firstly I was going to design a basic tsuba for my model, but then later changed it after deciding that it needed more detail and didn’t really fit the rest of my model. Then I made a more detailed and overall better looking tsuba that fit the look of my model.

There is no research I wish to have progresses further; this is because I feel like I have researched everything that I need to for this project; however I would have liked to look into online tutorials and apply them to my project then use them as reference to improve my model further.

I have used formal elements of art like colour in my developed sketches where I applied color themes and chose the one that I like the most. I have also used shape also in my developed sketches and initial sketched as well as I used shape to create my katana ideas for my model. I have also used tone in my initial sketched as I shaded on some parts of the drawing to show the light and dark areas of the katana, I have also included pattern on one of my initial sketches as I added patterns to one of my sheaths to make it look more traditional.

Some of the visual language elements I have found through research are the dominant and sub dominant form. These are the things that catches your eye first and what you first look at when you see the image. For all of the images I came across on the internet the dominant form was the katana as this was the first thing that you see, and the sub dominant form was the objects in the background, some images didn’t have a sub dominant for as the katana was the only thing on the image. I purposely used the element of dominant form in the creation of my design so people are drawn towards my katana straight away.

Overall I am very happy with my final piece and it turned out better than I expected it would. The part I am most proud about was the UV ing because at the start of the project and before this project I was very unsure about UV ing and wasn’t sure how to go about it, however throughout the project I have managed to teach myself how to UV in Maya. I was then able to UV all of my assets of my model by myself without help which I am proud of and then this allowed to me texture the UVs on Photoshop.

I have compared my final piece to one of my early models of my katana, I can see that there has been a big improvement in detail as the early model was very blocky and didn’t look very realistic, however, compared to my updated final piece which I have textured, the final piece is very detailed and looks a lot more smooth and realistic. Also with my final piece I have added effects like ambient occlusion to add to detail and realism.

There is nothing that I would change in my project as I am completely happy with all of the work I have created and how far I have come.

Throughout this assignment I have learnt many thing, some of these things are; new skill on Maya and learning how to use new tools such as the soft select tool. I also learnt how to use Unreal Editor 4, which I had never used before up until this point. I had managed to mess around with some of the settings and found out how to add ambient occlusion to a scene. I have also learnt about rendering in Maya, because I knew of this before but did not know what most of the setting were and what they did; now I have a better understanding of rendering and what the settings mean.

I think this work is very important to my games course and will help me in a future career because this 2 year course will give me real experience on various things like modelling, rendering, UV-ing, animation and texturing. This will help me in the future if I need to re visit any of these elements as I will know what I am doing because of the experience I had during my college course.

I gave my assignment my best effort I could possibly give, I done this by using my time very wisely and making sure that all of my work was to the best of my ability. I also planned out a table of 14 weeks which told me what I would be doing every week for the 14 week period of the assignment. This helped me with time management as I was able to plan everything out ahead.

Some of the things that I feel I don’t really well was texturing for example, I feel like my texturing was good and very detailed however I felt like I could have improved it by increasing the resolution of the texture so it was more clear and detailed. I also feel like UVing was another thing that I done really well considering I was very unsure about UVing at the start of the project, and I was able to successfully UV all of the assets of my katana by myself.

Some of the mistakes that I have made throughout this project are, I had multiple vertices for one point on my model. This was causing me problems what I attempted to start UVing. To resolve this I had to highlight my entire model and merge all of the vertices to make sure there was only 1 vertex per point.

The one thing I would do differently in my project would be to up-scale the resolution of my texture, at the moment the resolution is 2048x2048, I would upscale this to 4096x4096. This is because I felt like my current textures are slightly blurry and low res. By increasing the resolution this will increase the detail of the textures and make them more crisp and detailed.

The classroom activity that helped me learn was when we had to leave a piece of work on our screen and we had to walk round and give different people feedback about their work. This was helpful because it gave me constructive feedback that I was able to follow and further improve my work.

Some of the materials I used that I had previously not used consist of ambient occlusion; I had never used this before but had heard of it in games etc. I found this relatively easy to use considering I had never used it before. I had also used the soft selection tool which I had also previously not used; this tool allows you to bend objects as you want. I also found this very easy and simple to use.

I could use these techniques again in future projects as they are very simple to use and come in very helpful for modelling.

One of the problems I encountered during this project was, making the handle for my katana, I knew how to make the base handle as I just used a cylinder, but was unsure about how to add the wrap on the handle, and this was because I was still new to Maya. To solve this problem I asked for help of one of my tutors as they were a lot more experience in Maya than me. They helped me create my handle wrap in the way I wanted and it fit the look of my katana perfectly as well. Another problem that I encountered was, I was having trouble with the lighting in Maya when I wanted to render it with the textures applied. I created a box, and put my model inside the box so that when I created lights they would reflect off the walls and show the reflectivity of my model, like the blade for example. However the problem was that when I tried to apply light in to the scene they were not illuminating. To solve this problem I went into the settings for the light and discovered that the intensity of the light was very low which mad the light very dim, by increasing the intensity it would make the light brighter. I then increased the intensity and was then able to render my final piece. 

Comparing my work to my original proposal, I have discovered that my work has not changed at all throughout my project and I have stuck with the same ideas and designs throughout. This shows that I am comfortable with my work and after trial and error I have reached the desired standard, maybe better than I originally planned for in this assignment.

I have developed personal skills throughout this project, one of these skills include confidence. This is because I have had to engage with new people and communicate with them about the project and also give and receive constructive feedback about one another projects. I have also gained new skills and knowledge in programmes like Maya and Unreal Editor for example. Unreal I had never used before and now I can assign different materials and add ambient occlusion to my scene. In addition now in Maya I can confidently UV assets without the need for help.

Unreal Engine

I have imported my 3D model of my katana into the Unreal Editor and added some effects like ambient occlusion for example, and also added other things like roughness and specular and also metallic to give the blade a shiny realistic metal look. I took 2 screenshots of different perspectives to get a good view of my model. Some of the problems I encountered while using the Unreal Editor was that I had never used it before so I was unsure on how to use it and how to navigate around the editor, my solution to this problem was to mess around with the editor and see what some of the features do and weather it would fit with my katana. some of the choices I have made; For example I had to decide what effects to add to my model to make it more realistic and detailed, I also had to decide the positioning of the lights that I used and where they would go so that the light would be spread evenly. 

Final Piece (Textured) 

This is my final render that I have rendered using Maya 2016. I have also added an area light to my scene to show the reflectivity of my model and to also create shadows to make it more realistic. To create the texture I used Photoshop as I made this texture by myself. I have rendered my model in several positions to give a good understanding of what my model looks like with the added area light. Some problems I encountered during this part of the project was making the material for the model, for example I used blinn which adds reflectivity to the texture applied to it, and lambert is the same but without a reflectivity, I had to assign different parts of the model to different materials for bits that was reflective and the bits that wasn't reflective. My solution to this problem was to just take the time and to go on every piece of my model and assign the specific material that was needed. Some choices that I have made during this project; for example 1 choice I had to make was to decide what materials to assign to different parts of my model, I also had to make the choice of  what sort of texture would I create, as I was going for a worn look on my model, I had to decide on how to make that piece of the model look worn.

UV's

These are the UV's that I created using photoshop, to create these texture I first took a snapshot of the UV's in Maya and then saved it as a .tga file. I then opened this file in Photoshop and immediately added a new layer. Then I set the UV layer as a screen layer which still makes it visibly through layers that are on top, so you know what you are texturing. I then just used the paint tool and applied the color I wanted according to the different parts of the UV. After applying the color to the UV I then used another brush that was the preset '59'. I then used this to give my texture a worn effect, to add more detail I also used a white color and added engravings into the blade to add history to it to make it look used. 

I also have a snapshot of the UV's without textures to show what the standards UV's look like. 

Final Piece

This is my final render that I rendered using Maya 2016, I also added an ambient occlusion to the render to create realistic lighting on the actual 3D model. I made this model also using Maya and also made the sheath as a separate model to go with the Katana. This model took around 1-2 weeks to make including all of the detail and assets I had to make during this process. I still have to UV and texture this model and potentially put it into the Unreal engine, but this is the final render of my 3D model. Some problems that I encountered were; trying to add an ambient occlusion effect to the render which adds realistic shading to the model. To solve this problem I researched about how to add AO and also asked for help of my tutors. after this I then was able to apply AO to my model. Some choices I have made for this part of the project were; what position I wanted my model to be in when I render, and also how much detail to include within the render to make it look better.

This is my Asset list that I created to show all of the assets that I need to make during this project, and a rough estimation on how long that specific asset will take to make separately and also to UV and texture, this will then give a rough estimation of how long it will take me to complete my model. 

Asset List 

Asset Name	Asset Construction Time	UV Mapping Time	Texturing Time	Total
Blade	2 hours	5 minutes	1 hour	3 hours, 5 minutes
Tsuba	1 day	5 minutes	30 minutes	1 day, 35 minutes
Handle	1 hour	5 minutes	10 minutes	1 hour, 15 minutes
Sheath	1.5 hours	5 minutes	30 minutes	2 hours, 5 minutes
Handle wrap	3 hours	10 minutes	15 minutes	3 hours, 25 minutes
Sheath strap	1 day	10 minutes	10 minutes	1 day, 20 minutes
Total	2 days, 7 hours	40 minutes	2 hours 35 minutes	2 days, 10 hours, 15 minutes

Final 3D model (Textured)

This is my final 3D model that I have created using Maya 2016. I have also applied a completely custom texture to my model after UV-ing all of the components. I created my custom texture for my model by using Photoshop. In total the textures took me about 2-3 days to complete and apply to my model. Some problems I encountered during this part of the project was UV-ing my model so I could texture it. I was very unsure about UV-ing when I first stared to UV as I required a lot of help. The solution to this problem was that over time I managed to get the hang of UV-ing and was able to UV the majority of my model without any more help or assistance. Some of the choices I had to make during this part of the project was, deciding the reflectivity of the different parts of the model, if they were reflective at all. I wanted parts to be reflective but too reflective as I wanted to keep it as realistic as possible, just enough to make it realistic. 

      Unit 9 Communication and Presentation survey.

This survey is to help you to understand the ways that you have communicated on this course. This will show us what you think of these ways of communicating and if we need to change anything in the coming years.  You can let us know what the advantages and disadvantages of these were.

Please answer each question as fully as possible.

 Verbal presentation skills.

In what ways have you verbally communicated your projects or ideas during this year? –

I have communicated verbally about my project when I previously presented other projects to other classmates to explain what I will be designing / making in the project.

What were the difficulties in communicating in this way?  -

Difficulties in communicating this way are that maybe not everyone may pay attention when you are presenting your work.

What were the advantages? –

The advantages of communicating this way are that people can voice their opinions and can give you ideas to help you in your project; they can also give you feedback which is also very helpful and an important part of the project.

How do you think using these skills will help you in the future when furthering your education or going into employment? -

Using these skills will help me in future projects as this will get me used to presenting my work to other people and strangers, and will therefore make me more of a confident person which will help me greatly.

Visual presentation skills.

In what ways have you visually communicated your ideas throughout your project? -

One way I have visually presented my work is when we had we had to leave our computers and visit 5 other people’s computer and visually observes their work.

What were the difficulties? -

The difficulties were choosing a piece of work for the observer to look at as they could only observe what was on the screen.

What were the advantages? -

The advantages of this were that you got various different types of feedback and ideas that could help you in your project or future projects.

How do you think using these skills will help you in the future when furthering your education or going into employment?

I could use these skills in future projects as it will help me think of other ways to present my work to people and help me gather various feedback and ideas from people which could help me in the future.

Final exhibition

How do you plan to show your work at the final exhibition?

I plan to present my work in the final exhibition by gathering some of my favourite work I have created over the past year and present it on a white board spreading out the work so people can see it clearly.

What other ways can you communicate to the exhibition visitors who you are as a games student/artist so that they understand who you are?

I could also communicate to the exhibition visitors by handing out my business card which I created, this has contact information on it so if they are interested in my work or like the look of my work, they can contact me.

How do you think using these skills will help you in the future when furthering your education or going into employment?

I think this will help me when furthering my education as I will have more of an idea of how to present my work more professionally make it more engaging to the visitors so it grabs their attention. 

Tutorials

I have researched tutorials online to help me with some difficulties I was experiencing during my project. This tutorial that I watched was on YouTube (Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brh1JRL9OoY ) This tutorial was on Maya and was showing how to UV a cardboard box, this helped my because I was having trouble UVing and did not quite understand it, however this tutorial helped me understand UVing better. By watching this tutorial I have now started to learn about UVing and gathered a better understanding of it. 

Another tutorial I have watched is a tutorial again on YouTube. (link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsUU-1EiH3U ) This however is a tutorial on rendering using mental ray in Maya. This tutorial has helped me render more detailed and realistic renders for my model during this project. By watching this tutorial I have learned about some settings and features withing the renderer that I previously did not know about, and have also gathered a better understanding about rendering and what more of the features and settings do and how they also impact my rendered model in different ways. 

Katana Sheath Strap Experiments.

This is an example of the straps that was created on my sheath for my Katana, one of my tutors showed me how to do this so I can experiment and find the right pattern and design for the strap so it fits my Katana design. To do this I first have to highlight the faces I want to use, then I extrude these faces outwards until I am happy with the thickness of the strap I want. After this I then extract it to make it its own object and make it separate from the actual sheath. I then bridge back the missing faces so there are no gaps in my sheath, after this is done I then experiment with the straps using the soft selection tool to curve it and move it about until I am comfortable with the design and feel like it fits with my Katana design. I will try to design the strap on my sheath based on my final design I created in Photoshop.

This is my final product of the strap that I created in Maya for my Katana. I also added some extra straps to make it look like there was a knot on the strap with the straps hanging down. I also made a slit in my sheath for where the blade would fit to add extra detail. To do this I first used the multi-cut tool and added more dimensions at 80% by holding down the shift button. I then selected the vertices that I wanted and pressed R for the scale tool, I used this to straighten the vertices. After this I then extruded the edges to create a case inside where the blade would fit into so it’s not just hollow inside. Here is a screenshot to show my work.

Some problems I encountered while experimenting with the sheath strap was, again, I wasn't sure about how to make my sheath strap as I still wasn't very experienced with Maya and didn't know much about the programme. To solve this problem I asked for help of my tutors and this tought me new ways on how to use maya and different techniques that would help me in the future. Some choices I had to make were choices like how I wanted my strap to look like, and where on the sheath it would go.

Katana handle wrap experiment.

For my Katana’s handle wrap I was experimenting and tried to create something similar to final design, however my attempt failed  and I decided to research how to co create something similar.

After researching I finally created a design I am very happy with and I am going to stick to this design as I feel like it fits my Katana very well. 

Some of the problems I encountered with the katana handle wrap was, firstly I was unsure how to make my handle wrap as I was still new to maya and didn't know alot of the tools or their function. To solve this issue I received help from my tutors which then taught me about some different tools and techniques I could use in my model. Some of the choices I had to make for this part of the project was, how I wanted my handle wrap to look like and the style of the wrap, also how big or small I wanted each individual wrap to be. 

Software research

This is my software research, I have looked at how other artists have created a 3D model of a katana, I have created these pages of information about 4 different artists that have also created 3D models of katanas'. I have stated the programmes they have used and how they have used them to create the model, along with examples of their work. 

Asset list

Asset	Time to create
Katana	3 days
Sheath	1 day
Katana carry strap (Wish List)	1 day
Sheath wrap	1 day

Chris Nichols - Artist #1

Chris Nichols is my chosen 3D artist that is involved in modelling and texturing and is based in Vancouver, Canada Chris started out as a prop modeler at Bardel Entertainment on ‘Viva Piñata’ and has just finished 9 months at CIS Vancouver as a texture artist on the Clint Eastwood film ‘Invictus’. 

Chris Nichols’s work is relevant to my work because Chris is a 3D artist and makes 3D models, and I will also be making a 3D model, which will be my katana. Chris's work has effected my work because of the use of screen effects that Chris has used, an example of this is the lens dirt that you can see on the top left of the image below. This has inspired me to try and use screen effects on my work, one of the effects that I have applied to my model is ambient occlusion, which adds realistic shading to my 3D model. this has taught me to try and add screen effects of possible to again increase the detail and realism of the 3D model.

I chose this person because I am inspired by his work and the models that he creates; my favourite piece of work is, 

This is my favourite piece of work purely because of the level of detail and creativity used in this piece and because of the screen effects used like the particles and lens flares. I also like this model because of the realism used on the face and how photo realistic it looks. This image look similar to some pieces of art that are created by Cal Redback, this person designs art that combines people with nature to make it look like nature is taking over peoples’ bodies. 

Here are some other pieces of work that Chris has created; 

Peter Nowacki - Artist #2

Peter Nowacki is a 3D artist that is from Poland and is currently living in Warsaw, which is the capital of Poland. Peter is currently working at a production studio called Ars Thanea which is also based in the capital of Poland, Warsaw. Some of Peter’s skills include:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Autodesk 3ds Max
• Autodesk Mudbox
• Pixologic Zbrush
• Unreal Developer Kit
• Cryengine3

Over the years Peter has featured in such things as:

•        Creative Blog
•          Expose 10
•          3D World Magazine
•          Computer Arts Magazine

Peter Nowacki's work is relevant to my work because Peter is a 3D artist and makes 3D models, and I will also be making a 3D model, which will be my katana. Peter's work has affected my work because he has inspired me with the amount of detail he includes in his work, this has made me go over my work and include more little details in my model, for example I have included engravings on the blade of my model for that extra detail. And for more of a worn effect which is what I was originally going for. This had taught me to take time with my work and not rush it, also to include as much detail as possible to make it look as good as possible. 

Peter stated that, “Graphics came to me in a really amazing way because everything stared from fantasy books and games that I used to play with my cousin when I was young. I'm an only child so, in my opinion, fantasy was my way of escape to magic worlds in my imagination.”

This is my favourite piece of work that Peter has produced because of the incredible amount of detail that he has included within this model, like the detail on the actual model of the lightsaber, and all of the detail in the background like the match boxes and all of extra metal pieces lying about everywhere. I also like the effects that he has added like the depth of field effect, I also like the lighting and shading he has used on this model as well as it also adds realism to the work.

Here are some other examples of work that Peter has produced:

Andrea Giordano - Artist #3 

Andrea works on digital art, visual effects, film, texturing and also 3D modelling as well. Andrea completed her Art and Design studies in Barcelona back in 2001 with a masters in animation, Andrea worked for 5 years as a creative designer, Andrea then started to focus on making something more enduring, which as a result made Andrea move to Vancouver where she graduated with another masters with a main focus on character modelling and texturing. 

Andrea Giordano’s work is relevant to my work because one of Andrea's strengths is digital sculpting which is the same as 3D modelling. I will be making a 3D model, which will be my katana. Andrea's work had effected my work because of the use of lighting Andrea has used on the 3rd image below. This has effects me because this makes me want to use lighting on my model as the lighting in Andrea's work makes her model come to life. I think that adding lighting would benefit my model as it would add more detail to my model and increase the realism which is what I am aiming for. This has taught me to try and learn how to use lighting in Maya and other programmes to use on my work in the future to bring my work to life. 

Andrea’s background in art and anatomy and her keen eye for detail has allowed her to follow her passion and work on a variety of different projects on the games, film and TV industries. 

Some of Andrea’s specialties include:

• Texturing
• Digital Sculpting
• Character and Organic Modelling
• Film and Games

Andrea’s talents have been recognised by many as she has worked on G.I. Joe: Retaliation as the lead texture artist at Digital Domain, Reliance MediaWorks, London. 

Andrea has also worked on:

• Game of Thrones (Season 1)
• Great Expectations
• Sherlock Holmes 2

Here are some examples of Andrea’s work: