Work Update

As mentioned in a previous post, I set myself a tree project. During working on the tree project, a friend of mine asked if I could make him a tree for a cartoon-styled game he was making in XNA. Putting two and two together, this study had some useful timing!





using saturated colours and sticking to a rather basic palette I was able to make this tree look cartoony. I was also asked to make a stump to go with it (It could be chopped down by a robot in the game). If I were making this tree, and aiming to make it realistic I'd have used much less saturated colours, introduced more blemishing to the leaves, and stretched my texture budget to allow for the use of texturemaps with leaf-less branches on.

What did I learn form this study? - I quickly realised that the placement of leaves on a tree is paramount to making it look... well, like a tree. Previous to this study I'd throw leaves on rather 'willy-nilly' without paying much respect to the reality of tree growth. After examining the trees in Cod, and other games, I was able to make mental, and diagrammatic note of the placement of leaf planes, and place mine with reference to this.

One stark realisation made during the study, is the differences between the tri and texture limit I am taught to use, and that of the current, and previous gen props. While I don't see this as a flaw with my education, it is frustrating to try and re-create excellence with only half the resources available to me. However, my interpretation of this, is that the lecturers imposing these restrictions, are doing so in order to maximise the efficiency with which we as students work. However, I shall talk more on this subject in just a little while...

Anything else?

As any student or lecturer reading this will know, we are in the process of our group projects. With every team frantically working to get more props into their scene and fix the problems of the de-moralising artillery barrage that was our formative assesments, I have not been exception to this, and have been working hard. After being told we needed more rooms, I've taken it upon myself to produce as much office (the rooms are office rooms) props as I can muster, in order to bring some life to the new rooms. A lot of these assets won't be used, and I accept that, but its better to have them right?

To start things off, here's an old office plant. Withered and drooping, I wanted to bring some 'life' to the scene. Our level is chock full of man-made props, but nothing living, nothing that suggests that its really on planet earth. I created a plant to fix this. While not a thriving plant, as people haven't been looking after it, it's instead drooping, and slowly going black. "Why black? Don't plants go brown when they die?" - I did a little research on the world wide web, and in humid environments or environments where there is much moisture in the air, plants tend to rot rather than dry out. Here it is:



Is that all?

nope, afraid not. I've been sketching up some VERY QUICK character sketches for my interesting character project with a Planetside theme. I already have a final for my interesting character project. But personally? it just doesn't go, I can do better. So I've been doing a few quick sketches slapping down basic colour schemes to see what I like. Both of the following images have huge flaws, but you know what? I don't care any-more, this is my art and I like it.