first mirror...

so my modelings coming along...thought i might look see how it actually looks when mirrored and its suprising how different something can look. Its pointed out several new aspects i need to go back and alter in order for the final model to look tip top....innit (cant help myself since all the recent talk of the scumville place where i live...sorry you west wickham lot :P) anyways some pictures for your delight and i will point out whats what i means.

ok pretty straightforward...front view low poly version of mirrored model... looking....not too bad though the tshirt collar is too square and the body is curving in the wrong places...been working in halves has sorted backwarded my thinking on this. Overall its looking pretty good, starting to look like my characters taking form :)

Back view of low poly mirrored geometry. Again collar needs working on...as well as the curves on the back..its looking rather flat here...needs rounding off more to keep to the style of claymation simple geometry. 

hmmm...now that im looking at it...the arms are looking a bit too long. Im not aiming for a proportionatly correct model but if her arms are too long it will look a bit weird...prob go back and shorten em...other than that looking good, like the shape of the hands
feet have got some weird curling going on them...require straightening out a bit, i've probably pushed the verts a bit too far in order to get that nice foot shape p.s modeling upside down works well to get the curves in the foot...just a lil tip. Legs are good though looking a little flat..need to go back and round these off so the model looks consistent. Again t-shirt collar needs more shape, very square at the moment by definatly worth having as it breaks up the model. 

we can rebuild her....we have the technology!

So i thought...easy peasy....sorted...pah...ive modeled it and its like done innit bruv hahahaha

WROOOOONGOOOOO

i was depending on the smooth tool faaaaaaar too much which meant that character actually had very little definition and would mean it would be a pain to paint weights, rig and just generally everything else...more vertices were required to make her better faster stronger. I have spent the day adding more vertices and pulling and tweaking to get a more rounded shape figure that doesn't lose its simplistic quality. 

So if you look at my modeled attempts unsmoothed before compared to the unsmoothed model now i think you'll see a vast improvement in the quality of the model. I want to thank everyone for pointing this out to me...i was obviously on some save the poly count rampage that thankfully has been harpooned and turned into soap....ha.

Thanks to going back over the model, I have managed to get rid of any weird traingles emerging when its smoothed...all verticies are connecting up nicely. Its also meant i've paid a bit closer attention to detail and gone back over the hands so the fingers are nice and smooth. The dungarees straps now have nice curves forming as well as...well....everything....its all looking much smoother....im just sorry i didnt do this earlier! I asked Linda Barker and she said 

"i think it works really really well"

Nevermind, i shall pick up the pace with redoing the face and will hopefully have the modelling complete by the end of this week so i can move onto texturing, blend shapes, rigging.....just about everything else. 

Preparation is key...

The model with extra definition, low poly version:

Once smoothed...she will look like this
mmm that arm looks a bit chunky monkey from behin...NB:// go back and tweak verrall
Trying to add separation between the shoe and the leg so that when it comes to texturing it will look like there's different layers of plasticine not just colour to colour. Oh man was this a pain though as even though i had deleted the necessery faces for joining verts after extruding (there was probably a better way of wording that) i got these pathetic tears happening after delete history, merge verts and smooth.....see em....PATHETIC. 
However it was solved....dont ask me how it just decided it would work for a change :) and heres the low poly version.
Once smoothed the shoe loooooooks liiiiiiiike ziiiiis. I shall tweak the verts a little more so its all nice and equal. Very happy with the look of this.
T-shirt definition for the collar to her neck 

low poly version frontlow poly version back
Smoothed geometry front
Smoothed geometry back
Im not too sure about this at the moment, i think the shoe worked well but this needs to be a lot more subtle as the models looking busy what with the dunagrees straps too. Will tweak further.

what your problem blog spot?!

so yeah i have noticed this a couple of times and thought it was just random moments where blog spot would mess up....but its actually constant and i can NEVER post comment on other peoples blogs which is NAFF cos there's some really fantastic work going on i would like to comment on/ask about, and it also makes me look like i don't give a stuff bout other peoples work....BUT I DO! 

When blogspot asks u to type word verification...all i get is the little X in a box meaning image cant be displayed or wot have you...anyone have an idea why this might be? Might try on college computers and see if its another amazing mac issue...yooooou know the ones

bleuuuuugh technical message over n out

on the face of it...

its been a couple of days since speaking to Jamie and ive been looking back at wallace and gromit and my design and seeing if theres a chance to involve some more of there asthetic style into my design. Heres my attempts....

mmm....when i add another curve i always get this weird crunching going on behind...but the hull option never seems to work as well either. 


employing it into my model....my conclusion....this is a much more flat look than what i have designed and it therefore wont work as its just not what i designed at the end of the day. This feels like a waste of my time and i should grow a darn back bone and trust my own design instead of being easily swayed *hits head on table* 
Nevermind....at any rate its provided me with some more research ready for blend shapes to achieve the simple shapes aardman include in their animation

I would still like to achieve the wonderful brow line aardman do...its extremely expressive along with the eye lids.

It can go from one extreme to the next even though the design is so simple.

Circular shapes provide the range of facial expressions...i love how you can tell the characters thoughts, demeanor just from looking at these stills. 



Simple teeth...perhaps tongue...not much depth into the inner mouth geometry.

formative dum dum duuuum

yes lets throw a little drama into events because it was the formative *puff of smoke*

*chokes* ahem

anyway, were half way through term 2s project (how fast it is going) so it was time for progress check with Jared. We were to be assessed in groups, each evaluating and marking our efforts/achievements along the way based on the journals. We would also be filling out our strengths and weaknesses which would hopefully push us into positive action in the last part of this term. 

Well....i did have to admit there should be more on my blog. I have done more work, I've even written the journals, its just I haven't scanned in my images/sketches etc ready for publish because its easier to get on with the work...my scanners not as good as the ones at college...and...well....you...laaaaaaaaaazzzzyyyyyyy! Dont get me wrong though, I have been working, and I want everything and anything I do posted so there's no mistake that I somehow haven't worked...cos I bloody have innit. I am guilty at times of procrastination because i either fear failure or am too precious about an idea...I should be more relaxed, go with it and learn from what ever happens no matter what the outcome is. I have also found it hard at times to be motivated about this project...I don't know why...I cant pin point a reason...if you said: "sarah...do you care?" OF COURSE I CARE! so its not that...I just at times...flake...need a kick up the backside...you know. When i get into my work...I dont stop though and I also find that a major frustration because it seems to dominate my life....can I go out? no i have work! can u spare 5 minutes? no i have work!! can you let us know your alive? WHAT DID I SAY...I HAVE WORK!? I guess...this is nothing new though and Im sure a lot of people find balancing work and social a problem, its just something Im gonna have to sort out in time. 

Among my strengths though is that Im a good modeler, which I am pleased about but what like to progress my skills further so Im not just "o sarah...shes a good modeler" I still have a target to understand and create good character setups. Animating I will always want to do more of, but I understand it has to take a back seat (is that even a phrase?!) at the moment, to accommodate for other skills in the pipeline to take place such as modeling, rigging, texturing. TEXTURING! Ah another goal of mine to achieve how to UV map and all that...I really only know how to apply a shader and colour or file...not how to do the darn thing properly. Again this will happen when I get to the stage in production. 

As for now I have a few things to sort out with my model after discussions with Jamie. I was very grateful for his time and opinion though at times could not entirely see his point. He said there needs to be more divisions in my model so i don't depend so much on the smooth. However, he said there were not enough vertices within my characters face...I however disagree, i think there are enough sufficient for blend shapes, there perhaps needs to be slightly a few more to bring out the features such as the nose. He commented that my characters face looked more CG than claymation which I do agree to some extent but then i was thinking more CG at the time of design rather than claymation. I still have the wallace and gromit style eyes and ears, perhaps the mouth and face itself require some tweaking which i will have a look at over the next couple of days HOWEVER i would like to wrap up the modeling by the end of this week as A. time is pressing and B. im getting bored of it and wish to move onto the next stage. I asked a few members of the group their opinion on my characters face and they gave me some helpful suggestions. Thanks guys.

Back to the formative.

My weaknesses are surprise surprise that I am harsh on myself...own worst enemy blah blah blah heard it all before. I still really don't know what to do about that apart from GET ON WITH IT (monty python styleeee)  and hopefully I will just appreciate what I do....if I don't...someone can just run me over in the car park or Jared can hit me with that great big shoe boot thing of his. Other than that, I need to manage my time better and implement some sort of schedule to keep me organized and to make sure I utilize my time the best I can for the last half of this term. As Jared said...I can work, I can work hard....I just need to...do it.

lets face it...

so i've been modeling the face and er...after a first attempt i managed to mess up the mouth verticies, started again with a much more delicate approach to constructing the curves. Im creating the face using nurbs modeling so i have the best expressions when it comes to creating the characters blend shapes. Here's where Im at so far, still needs some tweaking but hope to moving onto the next section soon.

this image shows my first attempt. As you can see i've confuddled some of the verticies from the corner of the mouth where I was working too quickly and not carefully enough (tut tut). Although there's a nice shape forming there's too many isopalms which has crowded the shape of the face. In my second attempt I first created the shape with the minimum isopalms i required then added one at a time and tweaked. 

2nd attempt

i wanna go play...i wanna go play

college is closed today and yesterday due to the snow...and at the age of 20 im not too old to want to go have a snowball fight and make a snowman. I had to work in the freezing conditions sunday (funny how rugby nuts wont cancel their precious sport isnt it...freaks)

HOWEVER

maya stood there...its arms folded...its face disapproving and pointing at its screen to the incomplete model displayed. 

back to work

*sigh*

if only there was some way of harnessing snowmen to take over the work load...

so how is the modeling going? well suffice to say that by yesterday i was back up to speed with what i'd acheived saturday...o you started again? yeeees because the model was having some weird deformations in the connecting pants when applying smooth to the geometry. why was this? well i have to say i have no idea, i thought this would be the correct way to model as we were taught it by Dan Dalli but looks like i had to go a different route by extruding all geometry from the same shape and shaping the vertices from that. sunday i had to work in the cold then.  Tuesday...as in today, i continued reshaping the geometry and testing smoothes (mainly the hands and feet). Parts of my model sheet were drawn inaccurately such as not having straight and indeed waaaaaay too long arms. Also, her body was to fat and too wide as i discovered when mirroring the geometry. Model sheets aren't my favourite task as i find my design looks so...naff....i think changes always occur when transferring from 2 to 3d. I have begun modelling the face in nurbs in order to get the smooth shapes for successful blend shape. Never completed this task ever before so its another learning...path...curve...lesson. 

and now....pictorial evidence of the work:

first attempt...you can see the weird crunching going on with the pants...i tried a few smooths as well as adding more edges etc and nothing seemed to sort the issue.

start again...seems a pain, but much quicker to get up to speed. Instead of creating a separate area for the pants connecting the leg and torso geometry, I have extruded out the geometry as required then tweaked the vertices into place afterwards. I used the old model as a template

Basic model with stumps for hands!

Here's the model once smoothed....yes still only half but the other side will be mirrored. I have changed the designs width a little from the model sheet as she became a bit of a bolder once translated into 3d!  
Im pleased with the look of the dungarees and the shirt but more needs to be shown with the t-shirt collar as well as the transition between the shoes and the legs. NB://the dungarees turn-ups may need placing higher as they may interfere with the knee joint in the rig.