Ramblers Auto Repairs

Finished!

2009-03-16T06:23:00.001-07:00

Really pleased with the project and it was really cool working with you, cheers matie.

More Writing...

2009-03-15T03:58:00.000-07:00

Sammmmm Please write up in black stylized writing (probably best to keep it all black) ....Also I changed your 2nd focus... would probably be better for you to get marked on Texturing surely as you textured loads!!!! compared to modeling?? buuuuut its up to you :p I've highlighted what I changed in RED..... If you could get it on just one A5 side for the insert would be cool.... if not we can scale :p

Notes from the Authors:
SSaunders:
The main areas I was primarily concerned with was the 2D concept work which provided a consistent style to work with throughout, alongside the texturing of the majority of the piece, inside and out.

DW. Shufflebotham:
My main areas of focus for this project and what I'd like to be graded on are the Visualisation (and modeling), and the final output of the finished piece eg the Rendering and Visualisation and overall atmosphere we have managed to achieve throughout.

To play the Interactive Piece please enter the folder 'Site' and then scroll down to 'FrontPage.html' and from there the computer will use a web browser to do the rest... click away.

Please Note, this Interactive Project will play best on a particular Internet Explorer (Rave computers - not the big screen one though) and the sound is in Sync however on Safrai (Mac) or older versions the sound may differ and be out of time - to sync them would have required a lot more coding which I didn't understand and have time to get my teeth into. DW. S

Sam can you also check its not Front_Page.html.... I Don't think it is but can you check when your typing this up as I'm at work at the moment and won't have a chance to look until 4ish... will change then if you haven't replied :p .... buuuuutttt I Don't want Jared to get confused lol.

Intro Titles

2009-03-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

Let me know what you think. Make sure the spelling is ok also. Cheers mate.

Convertion of Text please Sam

2009-03-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

DW Shufflebotham focused mainly on the visualisation and modeling within the Interior of the Chop Shop as well as the final visualisation and presentation in terms of texturing and rendering. Creating the majority of the flash buttons and making this project interactive Daniel worked closely with Sam to get the renders out the way they saw fit. Adding more and more buttons as time went on, the restraint of time never really took full effect as the team was so strong in terms of communication and trust.

SJ Saunders, the 2D mastermind behind the project and primary concept artist was focused on creating 2D conceptualization of Ray and the Chop Shop in general. With DW Shufflebotham's aid to developing his modeling and texturing skills he continued on to do the majority of texturing within the interior (other than the Vehicle and Character) which he will also be marked upon.

Team Profile

This is the first time SJS and DWS have collaborated on a project. During the project DWS learnt a great deal about Photoshop, layers and 2D work in general from SJS. Meanwhile SJS himself was learning about Maya in terms of texturing, lighting and rendering from DWS. With a very give and take partnership the pair were a perfect match from day one resulting in good communication and trust within one another.

(take out the bit about communication and trust from my bit as its added in the team profile)

Also e-mails - in case we decide to include them somewhere.

dwshufflebotham@rave.ac.uk

sjsaunders@rave.ac.uk

Text Updates

2009-03-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

-Resurrect Ray text and audio
-Total Reset
-Continue
-Rewind - arrows/image?

*Jeep concept and screenshot also added to extras page in flash.

To do list...

2009-03-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Short post to highlight what needs to be finished by the end of tomorrow.

-Jeep concept image text
-Front page for Flash project
-Ramblers Header, Black for background.
-Tomorrow, Finalise project with audio ready to export to disk.

Sams Post really....

2009-03-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

Sam....Edit this post and add all the other bits and bobs to it and delete this bit obviously.

Need Name writing for opening screen -
DW Shufflebotham
SJ Saunders
Ray 'insert surname here' - thinking we could do a little bit of background about him as well eg his backstory - worked alongside the character and go to for customizing your car etc.... voiced by Lewis... all that jazz. Possibly have in the same writing as thoroughout the project - eg chalk board style.
Hope your good buddy!

Lewis Speech for Ray

2009-03-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

'Alright mate, how you doing.
What can I do for ya?
Good Choice
Looking PIMP
VERRRY NIIIICE
HOLY SHIT!!! -being robbed
I thought we was mates?!?
Thats all I got!
If thats what you want *shrug*
Should Think SO
Nice GLOW
Sweet

Others - Impatient ...waiting ones
Come on mate....
When ya Ready
See Ya later then buddy'

Also Lewis... we need a kind of getting shot sound... as in... the noise he'd make when he gets shot... eg... EUGH! quick and dramatic but in his tone and voice if ya can.... we'll work with whatever. Yeah if you could just do a couple of takes of each would be cool.

Thats all for now...Cheers man

Shots left

2009-03-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

I THINK this is what we still need to do:

Maya Shots that need work next week:

Car - Neons Blue

Car - Neons Red

Car - Wheels Standard

Car - Wheels Elite

Extras - Transition TO and FROM extras (simple Pan but needs to be done)

Extras - All images within Extras and transitions within Extras - have a think about this one.

Other:

Film your hands and a fake gun (have a look for a fake gun somewhere coz that'll be a sweet touch man and we'll blur it a lil and fit it in :D

Photoshop:

Concept work of jeep

Any other concepts you want to make the film

Sketchbook:

Original Sketches Compile the images (scan them in)

If you think of any thing please add it in - I think I've left somethings out so PLEASE have a think lol cheers.

Todays Notes

2009-03-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

Ok Sam.... We are doing well again... but as you probably know theres still more to be done to get this tip top!:

Dans Jobs:

Preview text fly over... different styles.

Build Wheels (just hubs)

Neons (learn how to use it - familiarize ones self with it.

Wads of cash...?

Collect Audio (collect different sound effects for different areas of specific areas eg lock opening on safe... police cars etc. Also keep ear out for any other audio.

Sams Jobs:

2D concept and lots of it.

Collect Audio - Main background sounds (eg audio track with a good beat) also keep an ear out for any other useful audio.

Heres the AE/Flash Notes for the day man - hope you took it all in... I hope I did as well to be honest.

AE - Render 4 flash.

Audio do seperately later on.

File - Export, 730x500

Export image sequence of JPEGS 25fps....Options Med Quality.

Flash NEW FLASH everytime NEW flash

Import to stage start at first frame ALWAYS. Mod Doc - 730x500 pxls

Export SWF when ready.

Last Frame is Stop...

??On Hit Get URL?? - Not sure about this one... I think thats all we need for now and should get us the majority of the way if we can do all this before we continue!

Sam

2009-03-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

Update again on the post below....sent it off to the Batch render..should work on the render farm. Figured I might as well render it over night if I could :D lol

Good render

2009-03-05T09:14:00.001-08:00

Today we got a good render out which I think Sam and I are very happy with.
Sams started to compile them now as well tweaking things as we go. We have rendered the same shot now twice and they both came out great!!! our rendering is going to be Batch Renders as files it appears are lost when my External Hard Drive isn't present (eg Jeep Texture/Character Texture) This means that Sam and I are rendering a LOT a lot at uni without the use of the Farm. It's going well in general. Today I have been playing on flash for the latter part of the day sorting out files and files and files and files. Havn't quite done the extra's buttons yet but I've done everything BUT that so far. Happy with the way its going and think that so far we have completed the required objectives in the brief. Now time to add Sam and Dan's own personal touch :) Interactivity. Hope it works. If it doesn't go ahead I think that we'll just have to hand in a Mov file of which everything is compiled into showing different options. Lots of renders to get through but it's going to be nice when it comes together next week.

I think Sam and I are excited to see whats going to happen tomorrow and are well on target for the deadline!!!! WOOOOP!

Writing/Text needed

2009-03-05T07:23:00.000-08:00

Sam, in your special little font if you could do this tonight - it'd be pretty awesome!!!
Car Parts - Missions - Map - Hold Up Ray - Extras - Leave Garage
Neons - Tyres - Body Work - NOS
Standard - Elite - Racing
Blue - Red - White - Green - None
Rob Ray - Let Ray Go -Cap Ray
Back

Cheers buddy

We spoke today...

2009-03-04T08:11:00.000-08:00

Sam mate, I really can't remember what we spoke about now... not guna lie. I know I'm supposed to write somethings up here but really can't remember.

Was it the text for the images?? I think it may have been and maybe something else as well.... anyway:

I don't know how many images we have but I know the kind of shots we have - if you follow me.... anyway... this is pretty much a run down of them all so far I think....

LOD Medium = 2500 and we got 2218

LOD Far = 500 and we got 286

These are both excluding the background and the train etc.

Not sure about the Near LOD so leave that one for now.

Theres a close render OF -

The sign and the train passing (blurred)

The Back door with the lights infront of it.

The stack of tyres on the corner with the oil can on it and the wall.

Possibly do some wireframe shots as well? what do you think?

There are two Far LOD images I believe and just one Medium LOD image.

I suppose the titles for them could be like Near LOD - Poly count '*****' and then Medium LOD poly count '****' etc just for the initial shot and then go into the other ones with titles of stuff like you would title your own photos (eg 'Sign outside Ray's' or 'Ray's tagged back door' or 'stack of tyres outside the front') what you think?

And then when it gets to the concept work just have like Ray's Garage concept outside. and inside and office and whatever.....

Was also thinking of taking a couple of screen shots of the jeep and getting that in the album as well.

Also Sam...don't forget Map - if no time scrap this as its not a neccessity!!!

As I'm seeing Jimmy Carr tonight I doubt I'll get anything done but I'm going to stay late tomorrow and get cracking with the animation.

Tomorrow is animating Ray and begin saving different cameras and exporting them so we know the angle of ray and how it moves etc.

It'll Be Tough...

2009-03-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

If you really wana add more to your plate as your more of the 2D man... but I'll give it a go as well man... If you really want to we can do it.... add a photo album style thing... possibly have a magazine on the floor or something with pages turning each time... ok maybe thats a bit ambtious but that would be SO nice to have there... 3 main buttons.... Customize, Rob and Album... I'd like to create a few pieces myself but I duno how good they'll be considering I'm a very 3D person...obviously. If my work isn't up 2 scratch by all means it can be cut... as you've got the majority of the skill and the concept work it'll be mainly on you though - if your up for it... we'll add your button ...the SAM button haha.

Cheeky Suggestion

2009-03-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

The timetable is cool. Think we can get everything done if we stick to these days. Quick post just to say i thought about the map and looked a few up on google. No success as they are all crappy, and don't leave much space to edit, ie add names and things. So i thought about what you said a while back about including a concept art button instead. Let me know what you think. I'm also thinking about other small details we can include.

Progress Report Again

2009-03-03T11:45:00.000-08:00

So we got all of that done and did a couple of quick render tests to check nothing is glitching too much/at all (preferably). It seems that everything is going ok at the moment however things can change quite drastically in the land of Maya. Tonight I have to look into sound for my AE project for Gareth and therefore will keep an eye (or ear if you will) for some sound for Ramblers and Ray. I also would like to look into a little texture of 'Ray' in swirly writing on his jacket and texture that on. Think that'll be quite nice. I know its only a minor thing but minor things make this project :D Today was fairly productive considering we have got to grips with what we are doing and I think I've finished the layout of the Flash file and therefore just need to lay things over what I've done (buttons upon Buttons) I need to tweak the positioning of them obviously as no cameras have been officially keyed into position however I did mange to get the rough layout positioned correctly. I stayed later than Sam to finish this however it really was a one man job and I by the end of the day was feeling so Eugh - 9.30 - 6 is a LONG day to be working away in such a manner... I have work tonight and therefore will not be doing too much other than what I've blogged about. I think lack of sleep may be winning me over sometime soon and I might get ill *or more ill considering Sam was ill last week and I'm feeling a bit dicky now :p*

Anyway... back to the project... Think we are on track. Really need to get all the animation done and all the shots sent to render this week/early next week. Jared has allowed us a two day extension which is nice of him. Now have until Monday. Just gotta keep beavering away at it really. I am enjoying it. Special thanks to Alec who aided us in lighting - he really is knowledgable on a few topics like that :D If we have credits he might sneak a name in haha.

Things We still need to remember to do

- Lets not get cocky - not over til its over!!

- Get Animating done and rendered either Batch (preferably) or Farm

- Build the other tyres and Neon lights (possibly at home?)

- Build money - shelf in safe

- Loading Bar

- LOD 2-3 (MUST NOT FORGET - possibly when the other is AEing different shots/compositing)

- Build Radio and place it in scene.

- Compile sound / record if time.

- Map (minor detail)

Thursday and Friday - Animate the shizzle out of Ray

Saturday and Sunday - Loading Bar / Map / FIND SOUNDS!!!!

Monday - FINISH ANIMATION - RENDER RENDER RENDER - Compile

Tuesday and Wednesday - Sound/Composite in Prem/AE

Thursday - LOD 2-3

Friday - LOD 2-3 / tweaking final shots

Monday... Hand in

Sam...I will be staying late on Thursday and Friday night this week and everyday next week but Wednesday and Friday next week as I have work. I'll see you tomorrow where hopefully we'll get Gareth's project done and dusted.

Man love

What we are doing:

2009-03-03T02:26:00.000-08:00

Sams Jobs today - YOU DON'T LEAVE til its done!!!
Move barrels for safe.
Texture Uprights
Texture Jack
Duplicate Spray Cans - Make Tube Of Lube...
Start Animating

Dans Jobs today - Lots of things to do!!!
Sort out Safe into file ... correct positioning.
Texture Spade etc on Jeep
Start Animating

:)

Message for Sam

2009-02-27T10:59:00.000-08:00

Sam... Just so you know. The character and the Car could probably be called done on Monday if you want to start animating with me? Or perhaps sort out a Low LOD and Med LOD with me? Remember we have to render in seperate layers on the inside to make it all work the way we want -

Main Background all lights (excluding character, car and Blackboard) - Occlusion if need be (would be nice but if we do one we have to do the transitions with occlusion too otherwise we cant use it obviously.)

Forground - The Blackboard. - focus piece considering its the selection screen. Need to render this seperately as the Car can go behind it -alpha channeling (less rendering time involved)

The Character - Again alpha channeling where the main animation will be in the movement of his arms. Considering we are not doing an animation brief we don't really need to worry how animated he is but obviously we'll do our best :D

Finally the Car - Jeep needs to be animated in terms of BOUNCE as tyres etc go on... wont take long to do, wont take long to animate but we still need to do it and render it and NOT forget about it.

JUST BECAUSE THE JEEP IS NEARLY DONE WE STILL NEED Tyre set 2 and Neons...? Guna look PIMP! haha.

Please note - we will need to save ONE file somewhere where we have the camera in and how the camera will move so we know about where the shots will be from different angles (locking off shots)

Hope your getting well soon mate. Hope today hasn't been too Maya filled :p

I realised...

2009-02-27T05:07:00.000-08:00

We have nearly finished our project Sam... With all the character textures done along with the car pretty much finished now theres not that much we need to do. Rendering won't really take long considering that half of our shots are going to be pre-rendered backgrounds that are static. This means that we can just render one single frame and then render the car and the character on top (if the character is even in the scene) EXCELLENT!!!
Not that long to go...and not that much to do.
Monday morning I think we can start locking off shots and start animating the character!!! WOOOOOOP WOOOP!

Occlusion Layer

2009-02-25T06:06:00.000-08:00

This has worked so I've set up the new occlusion layer for the Train... TRAIN MAIN (Occ) :D

Yay....

Sam...Render Info From Qube

2009-02-23T12:45:00.000-08:00

Job: 878 - failed           name: Ramblers_Final_NoBlur         user: 95215706         domain: rave.ac.uk          cpus: 56         type: maya         flags: expand,auto_mount,mail          priority: 1         cluster: /         groups:          hosts:           requirements:          reservations:          restrictions:           pid: 1         pgrp: 878         label: qube1

Got this info from the automated response at 8.15 2night.  As I wasn't there for two hours I'm guessing we'll have to retry about 20-50 frames that failed... this would have been the fail....I'm expecting a 90% or more completed

We'll see tomorrow though

Revised Planning

2009-02-23T04:54:00.000-08:00

Monday 23rd Febuary:
Light and Camera moves should be started now along with simple animation of props...

Monday 2nd March:
Edit shots and send to render. Keep thinking about sound.

Wednesday 4th March:
Compile Renders we have recieved back and start sound and compositing. Begin interactivity.

Monday 9th March:
This week is the FINAL week now. If its not interactive yet FINISH THIS! After effects final touches need to be added also.

Wednesday 11th March:
We should be nearly done now. Final touches for two days.Friday 13th March:We've forgotten about the project as we handed it in the other day. (Lets Hope)

Quick Message

2009-02-21T05:42:00.000-08:00

Hey man...duno how much work I'm guna get done this weekend...But you know me... I'll try to lol.

Catch ya later, Dan

Just an idea...

2009-02-19T04:12:00.000-08:00

If you could get it so it looks like either the drainpipe/air vent is dripping and you get that kind of green moss on the brick could look kinda cool.... Aas if we don't have enough work on our plates already I'm giving us more to do....anyway... its just an idea - don't have to go with it. I just found this image and thought it looked pretty cool and as the chop shop isn't well maintained seemed to fit quite well.

Camera and Lighting Test

2009-02-18T05:18:00.000-08:00

Quick post to show roughly what the final camera movement and lighting will look like. Don't think much needs changing, more textures need to be added. Steam from a manhole and lighting on the side wall need to be added also. I will post an update on my blog showing the comparison between original concept and final render.

Dan: 'Yes mate...only a few tweaks and we are AWAY'

Todays Sesh ;)

2009-02-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today Sam and I met up and we talked about lighting, texturing, character and the project in general. It was a faily productive day in that we have now textured and lit a lot of our exterior LOD number 1. Its going well in general. We have just done a quick occlusion test to see the difference and you can clearly see there is more depth... I think Sam and I will be rendering this Occlusion layer along side. This was a quick Mock Up in Photoshop of how its going:

Occlusion Plus....

...Master Layer.... Equals...

THE OCCLUDED MASTER LAYER

**Ohh Yeahhh** Sam Saunders '09

Update From dwShufflebotham

2009-02-16T04:03:00.000-08:00

Ok this still needs work. Only put in about 4 hours so far so its not looking the best it will do.

The front still needs to be done a lot better considering this will be the sort of angle of view we'll be having on the vehicle (see below) Details such as wiper blades and the textureing obviously needs to be done, along with headlights, the metal grating and probably a roll cage... considering Ray is the MAN he doesnt wana give himself a square jaw or anything by flipping his car :p

You see I've still got a fair bit of work below. I need to smooth the transition between the windscreen and the main part of the body work. I'll get to it later on probably tomorrow night.

This last image was the whole thing being SMOOOOTHED - just seeing what it looks like. Not great.

All in all its looking ok for now... and moving on/back.... to the character now.

Cheeky Update

2009-02-16T03:43:00.000-08:00

Looking good, Liking the car. Need your help with abit of texturing so if you can come in tomorrow ie. tuesday that would be kool. Things seem to be going well, once the textures are applied things start to take shape. Also modelled a dumpter for the exterior, gone over the poly count by about 900 opps lol. My new computer is arriving today, so i'm going to go home later and set it up.

Cheap Jeep Mate

2009-02-15T16:33:00.000-08:00

Sam - Planning to stay home tomorrow and work on the character as we need to start animating him. Havn't been doing much texturing tbh so might need your help with that on the inside when the the time comes. I'm going to keep the modeling going though. Aiming to add some small alterations to the character and finish him off tomorrow. Pens in pockets and different creases as well as a quick simple rig (I'll see if I get to this tomorrow - if not tuesday)

If you need me to come in I can do for a while just give me a text and let me know - pop in a lunch or something. If not I'll stay in touch via the blog and maybe see you either Tuesday or Thursday (I'll be in Thursday).

Ps I'm working Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night which is SOooo gay but I seem to get a lot done when I get home - did what progress you can see above tonight in a couple of hours.

Reflective Surfaces

2009-02-14T12:10:00.001-08:00

Hey Dan, was wondering about adding a reflective surface to the ground outside the Chop Shop.
With the light positioned correctly too, the ground may look wet and rained on. Probably better if we sit down together and test it, so later next week. Just wondered if you had any ideas.

Its Textures Treacle ;)

2009-02-12T15:38:00.000-08:00

Sam mate... just a heads up - updated and stuck on a lil texture for you to have a look at. I'm semi happy but I think it needs a lil more work still. As you know I'm not the best at photoshop but hey I got to start somewhere so there we go. I'll get used to it I hope by the end of the project. Any pointers you can give me will obviously will be appriciated. Oh and I figured I would start the new vehicle (not mentioning what it is incase ppl are reading ^^...wana supprise some people) haha. But yeah I think it's going ok for an hours work and already coming along. Anyway, I'll catch up with you tomorrow if your in. If not... I'll be in touch

Layout

2009-02-12T06:55:00.001-08:00

Just for jokes.... figured we'd put this in.... this is our layout OBVIOUSLY for our chop-shop scenes! haha

Our 'Scene' Map

2009-02-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

Ok... this is just inside - the interior of our chop shop and all its renders... as we didn't have excel we made do with our hypergraph! We need approximately 15-20 renders....I'll work it out later but we have just figured it out FINALLY. Took about two hours sorting out possibilties that COULD have been - eg standard tyres, red neons for one shot.... then we have elite tyres, and no neons for another shot... that initself is 4 different renders in just that shot for four different posibilities.... this is still hurting my head so I'm going to leave it there. Eughhhhh.

Deadlines Revised

2009-02-12T05:26:00.000-08:00

Monday 26th January:
We Start Modelling on this date all things that need to be modelled.

Monday 2nd Febuary:
Final week of modelling now. Car should be nearly done and the character should be pretty much modelled.

Friday 6th Febuary:
Modelling should have been done by now and we should be collecting Textures over the weekend if we can.

Monday 9th Febuary:
Texturing begins of all, character, car, models in scene etc. One week ONLY Square textures etc.

Monday 16th Febuary:
Finish textures ... Slap them on if needs be at this stage or leave it and come back to it (slot it in) Animate the character is priority this week.

Monday 23rd Febuary:
Light and Camera moves should be started now along with simple animation of props...

Monday 2nd March:
Edit shots and send to render. Keep thinking about sound.

Wednesday 4th March:
Compile Renders we have recieved back and start sound and compositing. Begin interactivity.

Monday 9th March:This week is the FINAL week now. If its not interactive yet FINISH THIS! After effects final touches need to be added also.

Wednesday 11th March:
We should be nearly done now. Final touches for two days.

Friday 13th March:
We've forgotten about the project as we handed it in the other day. (Lets Hope)

Correct Bumping

2009-02-11T10:16:00.000-08:00

Same as before but with the correct bump maps on it...

Remember Sam.. we can use which ever we like...doesnt have to be the latter... or we can fade some of the tags and stuff....we can make it how we want it :D

Texture Test_Sam And Dan

2009-02-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Sam - You asked... you got. Only thing is as I didn't have the plain garage door the graf and tags got bumped as you can see in the image above... but I think its looking REALLY nice though what you've done :D nice one. If you'd like ... put up a texture thats just the metal - hardly any rust (even thought that might look good bumped) but no tags... and I'll try again.

Loading Screen [Update]

2009-02-11T06:37:00.000-08:00

Hi Dan, decided to scrap the old loading screen idea. After a few trys at getting it to work, i felt it looked abit plain and broke the whole feel of the project, liked the idea though. Thought about keeping it simple and static. The loading bar can still move at the bottom, and the game tips can change if necessary.

The final will look alot better, this being a draft. But the layout will probably stay the same. I thought once the 3d models are finished and textured, we could select some to go in the negative space to the left of Ray. Possibly the car if rendered on a white background. Let me know what you think.

Catch Up with Sam...

2009-02-08T04:43:00.001-08:00

Just thought I'd let you know how it stands atm Sam. I used about 2000 faces (to check this I think its display and then something like the first or second one down - could be heads up display or UI and then poly count).... buts thats with one spray can (lid off) measuring in at around 400 polys or something... also built a lid for them, and one model which is fewer polys with a lid on...and then just a lid itself ... LIMIT is 20,000 so I can duplicate as much as I need and put in a few in different places on shelves and stuff - scatter them out. Also built a working filing cabinet if we wana use it for interaction...doesnt matter if we don't... not too keen on the idea of using it but its there for the background anyway. Anyway I can keep building bits and bobs but I think I should really finish the character properly and then start the pick-up. What you think?

Hope your doing good!

Message to Dan

2009-02-04T10:02:00.000-08:00

Going to start abit more modelling over the next few days. Also going to get some more rough concepts up on the blog. This week has been abit slow due to the large amount of snow! We are still on track to finish, probably crack on with the old texturing next week and things should start falling into place. Let me know what you think.

Chat with Jared...

2009-01-29T03:59:00.001-08:00

Basicly... summing up what he said was -
Look at wacky racers - how cars and characters relate to one another.
Possibly put in a different car. Mechanic - pick up truck?
A Character can have hints of the surrounding environment.
Remove Rockstar info.
Sam needs to do more concept work, more development and ideas (2D)
Dan needs to characterise the car and character - choose either realistic or Sams style (probably Sams style) and stick with it.

Ugly Ray

2009-01-27T12:14:00.001-08:00

Sam mate I think I might need your help to model the head as the drawings just apparently aren't enough. Either way I'm guna keep working on him... and the car. But I'll keep you informed. See my mechanic Madness for more images and details. Cheers mate.

Hope your good.

Model Sheet.

2009-01-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

Model sheet so Dan can start modelling the characters body size. The front and profile views will provide a better idea of a 3d version.

Car Bounce Test

2009-01-23T02:01:00.001-08:00

Just a quick test into the bouncing of the car as you change a feature such as a body part.
I did this to demonstrate the file size's to Sam my team mate. I think he'll be happy its all to scale. May have to alter the size of the character/car a little but not by to much. At least we are working within the same parameters as one another.

Deadlines

2009-01-22T03:21:00.000-08:00

On Going through the entire project so no deadline for this. If we see something we like we put it up... This will be research and sound effects.

Monday 26th January:
We Start Modelling on this date all things that need to be modelled.

Monday 2nd Febuary:
Final week of modelling now. Car should be nearly done and the character should be pretty much modelled.

Friday 6th Febuary:
Modelling should have been done by now and we should be collecting Textures over the weekend if we can.

Monday 9th Febuary:
Texturing begins of all, character, car, models in scene etc. One week ONLY Square textures etc.

Monday 16th Febuary:
Finish textures ... Slap them on if needs be at this stage or leave it and come back to it (slot it in) Animate the character is priority this week.

Monday 23rd Febuary:
Light and Camera moves should be started now along with simple animation of props...

Monday 2nd March:
Edit shots and send to render. Keep thinking about sound.

Wednesday 4th March:
Compile Renders we have recieved back and start sound and compositing. Begin interactivity.

Monday 9th March:
This week is the FINAL week now. If its not interactive yet FINISH THIS! After effects final touches need to be added also.

Wednesday 11th March:
We should be nearly done now. Final touches for two days.

Friday 13th March:
We've forgotten about the project as we handed it in the other day. (Lets Hope)

Just Thought I'd Post A lil More

2009-01-21T16:35:00.000-08:00

Sam and I spoke about coming in tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan to begin an outside SET which we can reference correctly using Maya's referencing. This will allow us to make sure we don't get any duplicated Geometry unlike last terms work in pretty much all the groups. I believe we plan to set up a File within the Public Folders and then update these - we will have to set the project to the public folders I think but we'll figure it out tomorrow and then we'll be able to begin modeling an environment!!!

Interior Concept

2009-01-20T09:29:00.001-08:00

This is the concept for the interior, where upgrades and parts are added to cars throughout the game to progress. Tried to make the space feel dark in places, with strip lighting and spotlights to highlight areas of interest. The drawing board is one of the main features in the room, and provides players with the freedom to select what they want to create within the game.

Spoken to J-Dogg

2009-01-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

Jared liked the idea and I think his words were... 'Really Interesting'. He was a little off put initially as he didn't understand that it was set WITHIN a game but was a small part of it. Jared also gave us the idea of creating a showreel sort of idea where you could view the making of a game and we could even be pitching a game TO people. What a cool idea however we currently don't have any ambitions (well I'm not sure about Sam but I know I don't) to actually create a game from TOTAL scratch - no idea or anything... So presonally I think we'll probably just stick with our main idea to start with and if we have time we could make an options page to show off some of Sams concept work and sketches etc. Just a thought.

All in all a good chat with Jared which aided us in our development.

Discussions Continue

2009-01-20T01:36:00.000-08:00

Sam and I discussed a few different Ideas yesterday between Gareths lectures and before I left.
We discussed the outside environment and settled on the idea of it being dark and at night. Lit by moonlight and large lights (that flicker when a train goes by) Ramblers Auto Repairs is situated on the outskirts of a city underneath an overpass (railway). The building itself is fairly well mantained however there is graffiti on the side of the building. We'd like a fence around the perimiter of the garage and to give it a small courtyard perhaps but we will have to see. The sign spins above the shelter where all the work takes place. The shot entering the garage will be a pan in towards the door and then the garage will simply open slightly upwards (see Fallout 3 - I think)

[Character Concept]

2009-01-18T11:18:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd have a go at designing a character if we use one. Might be taking on too much work with the environment to create also. Anyway it's early stages and this gives us something to fall back on if needed. Thinking about it, the design may have to be simplified.

Concept Exterior

2009-01-17T02:45:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this exterior concept over the last few days, added colour and lighting to give an idea of it's location and mood. Looks very urban at the moment, with a city skyline backdrop. I was also thinking about what sort of texture would be present on a garage. Depending on if its old or new. Adding graffiti indicates what sort of area its in, also adding to the feeling that people inhabit it.

2 Fast 2 Furious...

2009-01-16T05:46:00.000-08:00

Images from the 2 Fast 2 Furious film - Animated scene at the end. Good for a bit of concept work. Not sure if Sam and I are doing a night shot - would be nice but we'll see a little later into the project.

Unreal 3 Engine

2009-01-14T05:57:00.001-08:00

One of the best Engines around - used for creating games for the PS3, XBox 360 and PCs is the Unreal Engine. The third of its kind now and it only gets better and better. Every aspect of the Unreal Engine has been designed with the ease of content creation and programming in mind. The team have attempted to give as much Power as possible to the hands of the artists and designers to develop assets in a visual environment with minimal programmer assistance. The Engine is intergrated with numerous leading middleware technologies.

Heres a list typical content Specifications taken off of the Unreal Engine Website.
"Different Genres of games will have widely varying expectations of player counts, scene size, and performance, so these specifications should be regarded as one data point for one project rather than hard requirements for all.Characters:Renderable Mesh: Build renderable meshes with 3,000-12,000 triangles, based on teh expection of 5-20 visable characters in a game scene.Detail Mesh: Build 1-8 million triangles detail meshes for typical characters. This is quite sufficient for generating 1-2 normal maps of resolution 2048 x 2048 per character.

Bones: The highest LOD version of our characters typically have 100-200 bones, and include articulated faces, hands, and fingers.Normal Maps and Texture Maps:Character, Normal and World Texture Maps authored at 2048 x 2048 resolution. We feel this is a good target for games running on mid-range PC's in the 2006 timeframe. Next Generation consoles may require reducing texture resolution by 2 times, and low-end PC's up to 4 times, depending on texture count and scene complexity.

Environments:Typical environments contain 1000-5000 total renderable objects, including static meshes and skeletal meshes. For reasonable performance on current 3D cards, we aim to keep the number of visible objects in any given scene to 300-1000 visible objects. Our larger scenes typically peak at 500,000 to 1,500,000 rendered triangles.

Lights:There are no hardcoded limits on light counts, but for performance we try to limit the number of large-radius lightes affecting large scenes to 2-5, as each light/object interaction pair is costly due to the engine's high-precision per-pixel lighting and shadowing pipeline. Low-radus lights used for highlights and detail lighting on specific objects are significantly less costly than lights affecting the full scene."

Yesterday was quite productive.

2009-01-14T02:27:00.000-08:00

Sam and I had a little brain storm session where we came up with a few different ideas of how our piece will look. We still need to research Game Engines and how many Poly Counts on average game companies use. As this is an old brief I imagine that it is very limited and looking back at the GTA games the Garage's, Pay and Sprays and all such buildings which you can drive into are very empty in terms of models but very alive in textures. Hopefully our project will be alive with both.

Character?
Sam and I also discussed on whether or not to have a character in our piece. I think it would be a great touch to have a mechanic in there however as its not on the brief and it may add to Poly Count (it may or may not be considered within the limit yet - need to confirm) it may not be needed.

Ramblers Auto Repairs

2009-01-13T14:52:00.001-08:00

So here we are. Sam Saunders and I Daniel Shufflebotham have teamed up and are going to be working on Brief A:

Source: Nik Taylor
Lead Artist -- Rockstar North
http://www.rockstarnorth.com/
“I want your students to design, build, and texture a “chop-shop” for us. In case any of the students are wondering, a chop-shop is a garage where stolen cars are taken to be either re-sprayed and given new number plates, or broken up for spare parts. If they want to come up with a name for the chop-shop and appropriate signage then that would also help us out.”
“They should use a 3D modelling package that is preferably Max or Maya. The submitted work should consist of both an exterior and an interior.”

“When they model the interior then they should use a 20,000 polygon limit as the game engine won’t be displaying anything other than the interior and characters at a fixed LOD (Level Of Detail).”

“When they model the exterior then they will have to build three different LODs, high (5000 polys), medium (2,500 polys), and low (500 polys), for viewing at three different distances within the game engine.”

“The texturing of their models is as important as the geometry; their models should be textured using TGA format image files of 256 x 256, 512 x 512, or 1024 x 1024 resolutions.”
Which of the four possible areas do I concentrate on?

a) 2D conceptualization
b) character animation
c) visualisation (and modelling)
d) visualisation (texturing and rendering)