Walking through beginner animations.

     Today is the walk cycle test for one of the bad guys. It is Spikey's turn! His walk cycle was a bit different from Roundy and more closely related to a humanoid walk cycle. Once again, using the reference that I noted in an earlier blog, I started mapping out Spikey's walk animation. I figured that I wanted this one to last 40 frames, which is just under 2 seconds. So at the 0 frame I added the initial pose. The reason I set it at the 0 frame is because when you go back to repeat the process and loop the cycle your 40 frame will be the same as 0 frame. Since the player won't play 0 frame it skips to 1 frame where you are already in the process of moving to the next key pose. Basically, it just smooths out the transition from end of cycle to beginning of cycle so it can be repeated. I got the copy key frame and paste mirror commands to work, finally! I'm not sure if it was an issue with the roll in the bones or how I was naming them. For that to work the bones need to have a ".L or .R" extension on them if they are not down the center. Here is the finished product of Spikey's walk cycle test.

     Now, I added a background sky and a plane for Spikey to walk on. It was suggested that I also add a bone in the foot to make it flex like the rest of the body. So, now you can see how he interacts with the ground and how his foot bends to add some realism. I've made a comparison video, it has Roundy and Spikey walking side by side. Interesting side note, this is my biggest animation to date! Kind of excited about that. Anyways, in the next video you can see the two characters different styles of walking. Each had to be animated separately and then I started a new scene and linked to the two separate characters. Once they were in the scene I was able to position them and then add the camera a lights rig that rotates around the walking in place models.

     Thinking I may start working on stages for Roundy's Adventure this week. I've got a few planned out, but I think I want to change a few things around. I was thinking of doing more "vertical" levels but for some reason the Mario Brothers style of long "horizontal" levels with jumping obstacles sounds fun too. Oh decisions decisions... I guess maybe I can make one of each and see which I like better.

Working my assets off on Kickstarter!

    I'd like to start off by saying, everyone needs to go to Kickstarter. It is an amazing website where artists can go, create a project, describe what they want to do in said project, and then get money towards it. I'm working on my project there now. You really need to have your shit together to make your project attractive to potential backers. I've got a few pictures of whats about to go up on my Kickstarter account.

     I've set a release goal for my platform game, Roundy's Adventure. I've got almost all the pieces figured out now. Just need to get them entered into Kickstarter and this blog. That is actually the cover picture to my project. I'll be working on a video for it soon, I'm thinking the whole video for Roundy's Adventure will be animated. Maybe have Roundy holding up signs instead of talking... err, well... Maybe kicking signs at the camera, duh... no hands.

     I just realized that I have not posted a render of Roundy. So, here ya go. The main character in all his glory. I'll be adding 1 more armature bone into his foot to get rid of the rigidity there, as per advice from Reddit. Other then that though, I feel like Roundy is a ready and waiting asset for the game.

     Here is one of the bad guys I've been working on for the game. His name is.... wait for it... Spikey. He is an spike-armored eyeball out to destroy Roundy. He is wearing armor all the way down to his knees, which are exposed. His combat boots are laced tight and he is ready to poke Roundy right in his un-guarded eye. You can tell he is evil... he has a beady red eye. I guess it is kind of obvious at this point in time where I am going with this game...

     Here is a better picture of Spikey. I really like this bad guy, he was fun to make. I'm thinking of having a few other bad guys as well. Spikey will be kind of slow moving since he has all that armor on. Spikey will be present the majority of the time as you progress through the levels. I'm thinking about making him a following type bad guy instead of a basic repeated path bad guy.

     They eye drops bottle...The ultimate goal of this platform game. Roundy needs to reach the eye dropper bottle before time runs out and he dries up! Ben Stein would be proud. If Roundy doesn't beat the timer then the game will start over. That's right... the game, not the level. It is a frustrating challenge. But, I'm hoping it will be fun all the same. Please feel free to comment with suggestions or advice!

     -Eric

Feeling a bit animated

     So, taking the advice that I received from the Reddit Blender Community and Youtube... I made a much better, in my opinion, video demonstration of the walk cycle. I did a little bit of research using the Blender Manual. Go there, check it out! It has everything, well damn near everything. So instead of having to animate 600+ frames, I gave the dope sheet a try. The dope sheet is a very interesting tool. It is basically an overview of everything going on in your scene. Using the dope sheet, I was able to animate only 40 frames and then copy/paste the other 600-ish required to do a full circle around the character with the camera. I used a technique that I heard about called "pose to pose" animating. Basically you set up the "main" poses that you have story boarded. for instance, I used this...

     I found this off of Google Images, once again, I claim no ownership. I just used it as a reference. I created the the 5 poses and then slowly edited the transitional frames afterwards. It makes for a really smooth animation. Now there is a shortcut in Blender that allows you to copy a post (ctrl + c) and then past the mirror of that later on (ctrl + shift + v), however, there is something wrong with the way I did the armature that didn't allow that to work. I ended up having to animate the full walk cycle instead of only half. No big deal, just time... I really like using this reference, it shows you roughly when to raise and lower your model to fit normal motion. I really need to sit down and watch some animation tutorials, once I learn the basics I can start working on setting up the platform game.
     The platform game is going to be jump based game. For example, you will have some terrain, and you have to jump over bad guys that can harm you and also jump up onto other platforms. The idea behind it is to get to the key and unlock the door to the next level. This is going to be a fun game to make as it will present me with many challenges to over come in my quest to learn Blender and game design in general.

Eye had a really great idea.

     Well, I felt it was time to start seriously working on my first game. Something that I can make some progress on and gain knowledge along the way. Now, this is not replacing my game that I have mentioned several times here. That game is an on going work in progress that I will be working on intermittently. This game, however, is the next logical step in my learning process. So, a little about the game. I'm going to start working on a platform game. It is very basic, but, it will get me going on game design in general. The first step, for me anyways, was to come up with a character that is interesting but very simple.

     This is the very first concept I came up with for the platform game. I liked how simple he was but something just wasn't cutting it. Maybe if I added some hair or something to him... Not sure, either way I didn't like him. I took the screen shot and deleted him.

 
     This guy, officially named Roundy, is what I am going to use for the main character. This is just the start of him, as you can see... he has no feet. At this point in time, I was deciding if I wanted to do hands as feet or shoes.

    Here is Roundy with some shoes. I gave him some "dressy" shoes. I modeled him without a reference photo, so that's a first for me! His "legs" are designed after baby arms. Short and stocky. The whole model is done with the single mesh process that I learned not too long ago.

     In this image I am adding an armature. The armature will allow me to pose and animate Roundy. I started working on a walk cycle. I'll post a video of the trial. It's nothing special but it is progress. I'm very excited to do some more work on this game. I might distribute the file when it is done. For now though, I give you Roundy walk cycle test.

     For those of you who are interested, here is the video on YouTube. Check it out and subscribe, this is where I will be posting all of the videos related to this blog. As always, please feel free to offer advice and feedback.

     -Eric

Smooth... a boot, knee, and neck story.

     I have not really had much time to work on my modeling in the last couple days. However, I did manage to make some progress on Ralph. I learned how to use subdivision surface modifiers and how to toggle them on and off to work on your mesh. I've snapped a screen shot to show the progress. I did have time to straighten out some geometry. I was trying to get everything lined up the best I could to make texturing easier.

     You can see how the subdivision surface modifier really helped round out the mesh. He looks more natural. Nature doesn't have straight lines, well not very often anyways. I shortened up the back of his boots to make them look a bit more realistic. I went through and straightened the geometry there too. Then moving up his leg to the knee. Oh, I would also like to add that this mesh has a mirror modifier too. That's how everything is so symmetrical. Now, back to the knee. I added a couple of edge loops to add definition and also make it a tad easier to animate later. His hips and lower back look pretty decent now. His neck was a mess. That took a while to straighten out. I ended up just deleting all the vertices in his neck and redoing the geometry from scratch. It was that terrible. Not sure how it got like that. Maybe when I was trying to extrude the head from the neck.

     Here is a render of whats done so far. I need to work on lighting. Does anyone know of a good tutorial for lighting? I could really use the help there. I put him in space, just for fun, ha! Overall, I'm feeling very good about this model. I cannot wait to work on him some more!

     -Eric

Ralph! ... an update.

    So, this is just a few more pictures of the alien from yesterday. Started working on smoothing him out and adding boots. I am going to work on real textures after I finish modeling him. I added some color just for fun, it also makes the pictures a bit more interesting.

     Here is an orthographic side view and a left perspective view. You can see the eyes that were added and colored. The eyes were extruded inwards from the face which gave them a bit of depth. Later on, I want to add brow ridges and a mouth. Maybe some tiny nostrils. The side view is kind of interesting in my opinion, because you can see how his body balances (for the most part).

     On the right, you have a right perspective view. This lets you see the little "boot laces" that I added for fun. You can also see the rubber sole of the boot as it overlaps the edge of the boot a little. I still need to work on shaping the boot a little bit. On the left, is the first render with some terrible lighting. I fixed the lighting a little bit in the next render, but I feel like it is still lacking quite a bit. Anyone have any tips or tricks or good tutorials for lighting?

     Here is the render with "better" lighting. It is still horrible but it is not as dark. I need to take the specular down a bit, way too much glare. On the right you can see the little temp scene I have set up to render with. Nothing much... just a lamp, camera, and Ralph.

   
     In this screen capture I am showing Ralph off in two different orthographic views. I'm kind of proud of this little guy. I cannot wait to rig and animate him after I give him a custom texture. I'm going to be working on the hands and other fine detail over the next few posts. I'll take some up-close screen shots of the process. As always, if you have any suggestions, please feel free to post them. I would love some advice and feedback!
     -Eric

I, for one, welcome our new overlords!

     Starting December off right. Working on a more complex mesh, as to slowly hone my skills. I've got a few screen shots of an alien I'm currently working on. I found the reference photo using Google Images, so no claim to rights there. I chose this reference for it's relative simplicity. It is more complicated then my others models yet it is easy enough to use the new modeling technique that I learned. Eventually I will be able to use the new modeling technique on more and more complex models...

     In this picture you can see the very roughed in basics of the alien, who I am naming Ralph. I really like how the eyes are turning out, I've extruded the region and then set it back into the skull. It gives the face some depth, which I have yet to accomplish in previous models. The geometry is still a bit of a mess but I've been cleaning it up as I go. I'm going to make a few more shaping passes on this model before I start to add more detail. On the left side of the work area you can see the object in it's smooth form. I do this to make it easier to detect any terrible misshapes and bumps. On the right side you can see the object in wire frame mode. This helps me manipulate all the vertices with ease while giving me real time output on the left. Anything I slide around or update on the right, immediately gets displayed on the left so I can judge progress.

     In this picture you can see a sneak peak of the alien rendered with some lighting. On the right side you can see the scene setup with the reference picture loaded into the background. The left side, in this picture, doesn't update in real time. I just have it up there for shits and grins basically. I've got a lot of work to do on this little guy still, but I wanted to post an update on my progress.

     I would like to thank everyone for taking a moment to check this out. Your words of encouragement and advice are amazing and always welcomed! I will have another post very soon with some more progress on Ralph. I hope to take this character all the way to basic animation. Which means... finish modeling him, texture him properly, rig him, and then finally start to dive into animation!
     -Eric