Maya - UV Unwrapped Alien Pulse Rifle

After finishing up the low-poly model, next was to UV unwrap it. Using the same groupings, I created 3 separate UV maps for the model.

Each of the finally texture sheets will be 4k resolution.

Maya - Low Poly Alien Pulse Rifle

With the ZBrush stage of development out of the way it was time to start the low-poly version of the rifle. Using the Quad-Draw tool in Maya, I replicated my original high-poly model.

I only created one side of the model then used a symmetrical transformation and added (or remove) ares for the asymmetrical parts.

This model consists of three separate pieces; the barrel and under-slug shotgun, the magazine and trigger assembly and the last piece was the whole casing. In total the model came to just under 4000 tris, this number is smaller than I would have liked, but I wanted to try to get it as low as possible.

ZBrush - Alien Pulse Rifle Re-done

I went back to my ZBrush model to add some more additions, this included some extra wear and tear around edges. This is with a chrome material to better show the definition on the battle damage.

ZBrush - Alien Pulse Rifle Finished

Next step was to move the high-poly model from Maya to ZBrush. At this stage, I will be adding a textured surface and adding definition to things like screw heads or battle-damage. I used a wide array of alphas to accomplish the model seen below, most of which I created myself through Photoshop.

After finishing with the alphas, I colour mapped the entire gun so that I could define the various materials. This model was exported as a single piece as opposed to my low poly that will be in several.

Modelling Project - Alien Pulse Rifle

These screenshots below are a show case of my currently progress into the AAA asset for the winter modelling project. I chose to recreate an Alien pulse rifle from the alien movie series; using photographs, drawn schematics and a real prop, I think I have faithfully recreated the iconic weapon.

For the most part, the rifle wasn't too complicated, a lot of the casing for the gun is box-like and was quickly put together. The difficulty was the under-slung shotgun and also the trigger assembly, these two areas are made up of multiple pieces full of complex shapes. The grill for the heat shield at the front end was very time-consuming, this was made even-more-so because it is in fact asymmetrical, on the right side is a shell ejection port that proved trouble-some. 

Though I am pleased with the outcome of my high-poly model, there are a few areas which could be improved. Firstly is the grip; though the overall shape is correct, it doesn't flow very well, it appears rough and too geometric when it is supposed to be smooth and more rounded.

The second is in a similar area to that of the previous; the rear of the trigger assemble has an odd curve that meets bottom of the receiver. I did the best I could with this, but it doesn't match what is on the real rifle very well. 

The Jongleur - Title Screen Art

Here is the title art for the games main menu. This white image is what I first created in Adobe Illustrator. I created this first so I had something to work on top of when I finalised it in Photoshop. The second image is the final version finished in Photoshop, again, like other elements of the GUI, it uses the same material texture so its consistent across the rest of the game.

The Jongleur - Cursors, Menus and Buttons, Oh My!

These are the developments in a few of the GUI element currently present in game. Every asset has gone through multiple concepts and revisions so that they fit the games style, but also stay consistent with other GUI elements.

These are some cursor designs. The above shows what I originally had in-game. The problem I had with this design was the cursor was going to be so small that it needed a much simpler shape, with this design, its form wasn't strong enough to be distinct among objects in the game world.

I revised the cursor to the design below. I  much simpler and distinct shape in comparison, I also had it at a 45 degree angle so that it didn't blend into the game world, as well as making it wider.

The buttons above show some early concepts for the in game menu. The idea was that the candles would be animated, flickering slightly. As with the rest of the GUI, its very ornate and comprised of a lot of warm colors to further the importance of candle light. The button below is a later concept in which I have beveled the corners to make it appear less harsh. The cloth drape is no longer present so that we could increase the font size without having to need a larger icon, the area the drape covered was wasted space and didn't add much to the design anyway.

This next design was more-or-less the final GUI. I kept the beveled edges, as well as the wooden backing and gold trim. To add a little red to the icon, instead of the drape, I inserted a red channel through the border, this breaks up the shape and colour somewhat, making it less yellow/brown. The candles underneath are what will sit on top of the various elements in the menus.

This next icon is fairly self-explanatory, this will be the in-game button to access the pause/settings menu. This uses the same material textures I created for the other GUI elements and game.

These couple images some some mock-ups of the menus. The above is the title screen and the below is the in-game menu.

The Jongleur - Textures

Originally for my own use when creating textured GUI buttons, menus, etc. I decided to go ahead and make a bunch of high resolution textures for use on the various models. All the material textures I've made so far are fairly generic and will be fit into most of the games level. So far I've created these material textures.

Fabric

Gold

Marble

Wood

Wood Panels

Wall

Lock

The Jongleur // Winter 2015 Game - Keys and Candles

A major part of my teams game project (The Jongleur) is finding items to continue progressing through the level, simple puzzle solving. So I made some initial concepts for a set of keys that would appear on screen. Seen below are a gold, bronze, iron and empty icons to communicate to the player how many and which keys they have acquired. These first concepts were created in a pixel-art style, they were quick and easy to mock-up, this was the initial art direction.

After a few discussions the team agreed that we wanted the GUI to look almost hand-drawn and ornate to fit with the setting of the game (Victorian opera-house). These were a keys a eventually came up with after a few revisions, you can also see I have continued with the variations, as well as a blank icon to portray a missing key.

Like with the keys I initially created these concepts for a candle icon in the pixel-art style. This icon was to be animated and be a way of informing the player as to how much time they had left to complete the level. Under the concept images is the first sprite sheet I put together for the animation, is wasn't to be smooth, but rather tick down every few moments.

Also like the keys, here is the revision of the original art style. I've kept the look of the candle almost exactly the same, the animation is also a lot smoother that before.