ATTENTION - Going Dark Till 11 Feb

Recently I've been caught up in several events, such as my overseas trip to Cambodia and being shortlisted for the commando unit in SAF. Thus I didn't have the opportunity to post any updates on Project New World till now.

Due to being overloaded with assignments,

I will put my animation phase on hold till the 11th of February. So stay tuned, I will resume updating this blog on that day.

Animation Update 01

A little note to take when using the graph editor.

In the animation editor, press F to frame all keyframe curves into the graph.

To edit individual keyframes in the animation editor, middle-mouse drag to edit.

Don't forget to activate the move tool.

Took me a while to figure that out since it has been some time since I last used the animation editor.

Yeah it's a little embarrassing. Happens to all cg artists once in a while.

Update - Character Textures Complete

Texturing complete, for now.

I'll improve the textures over the years of course, like i said in the beginning, this is a lifelong project.

In the second screenshot, it took about 36 seconds to render that frame with geometry at low quality display.

The resolution was 640x480.

I'll find ways to improve the lighting and minimize render time at the same time.

Finally, after 4 plus months of hard work, I get to start on the animation.

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More updates to come.

Texturing Update

I'm texturing Main Character 02 right now. Main Character 01 draft texture complete.

Here are some test renders.

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12:47pm

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More updates coming soon.

Update - Main Character 01 Rig Complete

Title says it all.

All three rigs officially complete.

However, now's not the time to celebrate.

I've proceeded on to applying shaders and creating a light setup for the environment.

Here are some rough renders.

I've also downloaded a royalty free sunset hdri and applied it to a sphere.

The colour scheme is almost similar to my original concept of this environment.

The challenge I'm facing now is how I plan to put everything together within my complicated network.

I'll come up with an effective plan by tomorrow.

More updates coming soon.

Rigging Update - Main Character 01 95% Done

I've finished painting the weights for the whole body.
I've created joints to bind with the hair geometry.

Last two steps to complete for this character's rig:
1) Paint skin weights for hair.
2) Create curve controls for hair.

Compared to other hair rigs I've worked with, looks like this one would be a little bit challenging.

Nonetheless I would still complete it as I've been doing so for every challenge I've been facing, since the start of Project New World.

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I'd really wanna finish the final rigging stage off tonight but it seems like the fever medicine I took is taking effect, making me kinda drowsy.

I'll rest for now and I'll finish it tomorrow night.

Rigging Update - Main Character 01 60% Done (Notes for Public)

I'm left with adding:
- Stretchy ik arms and legs.
- Spline ik
- fk controls
- Additional controls
- Clean up

and of course the painting of weights.

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Here are some notes I'll share with anyone out there who might find this useful.

Notes: Let's talk about multiple constraints.
For IKtoFK control, while orient constraining, the selection of joints (ik, fk and real) must be in sequence.

[Click IK>FK>Real joint] => [IK W1 & FK W0 when IKtoFK is 0]
[Click FK>IK>Real joint] => [FK W1 & IK W0 when FKtoIK is 0]


[Click IK>FK>Real joint] => [IK W0 & FK W1 when IKtoFK is 10]
[Click FK>IK>Real joint] => [FK W0 & IK W1 when FKtoIK is 10]

When setting up multiple constraints, the last selection I click on will be the "victim" that will be influenced by previous selections. The master object controlling the constrained object will be pulling it to themselves. The master objects have weights that define which master is "stronger" than the other.

For example:
Click on cube A, cube B then cube C. Click Parent Constraint.

Move cube A away.

cube B will remain still. cube C will be pulled by cube A BUT at the same time it will be held back by cube B. Thus, making it stuck in the middle of both cube A and B.

Switching between IK and FK controls work the same way. The REAL joint (cube C) will be the one being controlled by the IK and FK joints (cube A and cube B).

By changing the weight values in the parent constraint node, cube C will follow the master object which has more weight than the other master.


cube A: W1
cube B: W0
cube C: Follow cube A


cube A: W0
cube B: W1
cube C: Follow cube B

cube A: W1
cube B: W1
cube C: follow both cubes. 50/50 stuck in middle.

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More updates coming soon.