Feathers Round three

So after completeing the feather method on the wings, it was time to try it out on the body.
I started by creating a row of 5 feathers and then using the animation technique provided by Daffy in the previous videos. It seemed to work alright, however a lot more key framing was involved in order to stop the feathers breaking into each other and the base mesh.
As you can see, there is some over lapping happening, but I have to admit, I'm still quite happy with the result.
Now to move on to the more complex part of the head. I'm not going to lie, even with the animation cheat, this was still tricky and the mesh on top is actually quite complex and getting the feathers to look as if they are sitting smoothly on top of the head has been quite tricky. Though I think this part may be unavoidable and I realise however tricky, the results for this method are completely satisfying.
I think I shall be continuing with this method to create my bird for the Raven Project, as the final outcome looks quite realistic. Along with textures I fail to see why this model couldn't look photo realistic.

I am very glad we had the chance to research our hurdles before we came to them, this means that I can go ahead confidently with the model and know that there is a way to achieve the outcome that I and the others want.

Feathers Round two

So I have tested the feather method provided by Daffy in the videos posted previously. The method works exceedingly well on the wings and the Animation cheat works nicely here. However I still have reservations when it comes to the rest of the body, but only time will tell.

The reference sheet was also helpful, especially the included diagrams of the different parts of the wings.
As you can see I have colour coded different areas, so that they will be easier to texture and incorperate into the rig. However He's starting to look like a Rainbow Raven.
Continuing using the same method for different parts of the wing. Still working Nicely, seems like it may be a full proof method for creating feathers.
And finally a finished wing. Seems that this method works quite nice, so now to try it on the body. I really like the effect this method give in renders, and now i'm really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with this model.

Feathers Round One

Before I start with the feathers, Daffy in his video showed us a reference page he had put together outlining all the bits and pieces he had collected about ducks. In those images he had references and diagrams as to where the feather should be and how they are placed. I have tried to do the same thing and here is the result.

Daffy Duck pt 2

Sophie managed to get us some footage from her meet with daffy. It's a very nice insight and gives us more ground to work towards, especially in creating the feathers. Unfortunately there isn't a cheat where I can apply some Maya hair and have lovely feathers, I have to create them using polygon planes and place them on the model.

It's really inspiring stuff, and the finished effect with all the trippy render layers included is absolutely beautiful. There are also those incredible cheats using animation to adjust the feathers and place them for you, which makes me feel so much better about making them individually. So now theres nothing left to do, but stop avoiding it, and getting on with it.

Snow = Fail

There has been a sudden turn in the weather and I am stuck in Swanley with 2 1/2 foot of snow. Sadly this means trains or buses are not running through my area and I cannot make the meet with Daffy.

Edit

Clym is also stuck in Sidcup, however Sophie shall be going ahead to the meet with Daffy.

Daffy Duck

Feathers.

Yes feathers, I have put off researching the how-to's on Maya as I know that this is going to be the real test when creating this model.

I found this thread on CG talk which discussed the subject and some possible answers.

I also found this tutorial, which unfortunately went straight over my head.

LUCKILY Sophie and her inside industry knowledge/contacts has set up a meeting with her friend Daffy. Daffy has worked on an advertisement which included a number of CGI photo realistic birds, and can tell us how the models were achieved. Myself, Sophie and Clym shall be attending the meet, and I'm hoping he will be able to stop my head spinning.

SUCCESS!!!

The secret was all in the specular mapping. By adjusting and creating a specular map on the Iris, i was able to edit how light reacts to the Iris and bring back some of the warmth to the eye AND make it beam even more.
As you can see, now the eye really pops out of the model, and the brightness adds in my opinion quite a cheeky side to the model.
A mid-shot including the eye, and below the wire frame for the eye. You can see the shape of the nurb sphere eyeball, including the Iris, the highlighted shape is the pupil.
I am very happy with the outcome from this tutorial, and I am so glad it went on to cover specular mapping. I feel like I have learnt quite a bit about textures and the hypershade editor in maya because of it.

Eyes finished.

After completing the Iris texture, Screen cap above. I could move on with the tutorial and planar map the Iris and apply the texture. The results are below, and I have to admit that i was pretty upset that the render/maya and kind of washed out the texture. I was aiming for beaming eyes, somewhat owl like.
The Eye on it's own.
The eye placed in the model.
The tutorial then goes on the show you how to add a pupil, which is nice as my renders keep showing the back wall of the eye ball and it looks odd. I will now have to play about with the Iris settings I think and see what I can achieve. Hopefully I can bring back some of the warm in the eye.

EYES!!!

The Eye tutorial featured on the Gnomon Website is seems to be pretty good. I can't believe I havn't seen it before. Though it takes a while, the finish is stunning and there is a depth to the model that cannot be achieved through a simple texture. Also the tutorial offers the chance of Pupil Dilation animation as the Iris is formed from a torus which can be changed in shape.
The tutorial basically takes you through creating a realistic eye using a Nurb sphere. You have to edit the sphere using Isopalms to give it the realistic bulge at the front of the eye. It then talks you through editing the materials to create a lovely wet shine to the eyeball, and using transparency mapping so that you can make the Iris torus below, visible.
As I am creating the eye for a Raven however, I had to deviate a tiny bit from the tutorial, instead looking at the formation of a birds eye. There weren't too many differences, mainly just the size and coverage of the eye by the Iris. All that had to be adjusted were the size of the torus and it's placement. I also had to adjust the transparency map, just a little.
Though It is not yet finished, I am pretty happy with the results. I am now working on a texture for the Iris, so that I may continue with the tutorial. Sneak peak below.

The Raven Needs EYES!!!

Eyes are the most important part of a character, and as this is a Photo realistic bird, the eyes cannot sit looking dead on it's face. I need to cruise around the internet looking for a descent tutorial for eyes.

*EDIT*

Got directed to http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com

There is a lovely Eye tutorial in the free section. Going to play now.

Zbrush Sculpting

So here we have my first attempt at sculpting using Zbrush using the base mesh from Maya that I posted before.

The tutorials from the Pixologic website were extremely helpful pointing me around the interface of the software, and singling out some of the tools that I could use to produce a high quality model for the Raven Project. The Above Image shows the use of the Divide Mesh tool. It is similar to that of Maya's Smooth tool in that it adds geometry to sculpt with. However the Divide tool adds geometry in smaller doses and makes you feel much more in control of the amount of poly's you are giving your model. The Divide tool is totally necessary as you need at least some geometry to make better use of the tools Zbrush has to offer.
The above Image is a test playing around with some of the sculpting tools Zbrush has to offer, I was trying to give the model a textured surface on the chest mimicing feathers. However I found the outcome too jagged. The tools reminded me so much of Photoshop as you can adjust the brushes you use to suit your needs.
As you can see from the image above, I have divided the geometry again, I have then moved on to using possibly one of my favourite tools Zbrush has. The smooth brush is similar to Maya's Average vertices tool, however with ability to use a brush and pressure sensitive tablet it makes the whole experience so so so much more intuitive.
I used the smooth tool on the on the chest feather area for a neat/less jagged looking geometry. I find the responsive nature of this software, absolutely beautiful. I literally makes modeling feel like drawing. Obviously I have had my trouble moving around the work space, but Zbrush nothing that isn't solved with saving regularly and getting more comfortable with the software.
Eventually I felt brave enough to have a go at the face, and I have to say that this was completed so much quicker than I would have dreamed. The difference in modeling on Zbrush compared to Maya is massive and I can't help but think that it opens so many doors for an artist looking to model. Every tool is customizable and an absolute dream to use, even for a beginner.

To sum this journal entry up, Zbrush = WIN.

More Modeling tests.

So after looking through several tutorials on the pixologic website, it seemed there were 2 main ways to model through z-brush. The 1st being through the use of Z Spheres. However I found this method extremely frustrating as I find the work space on the interface can be quite small at times, which means blocking out a shape can be hard to do. I also found the ZSpheres to be a little to highly sensitive, as the merged with one another when I really didn't want them to. The result was a Zsphere mess.

So the 2nd option was to block out your model in a different software and export the .obj to ZBrush. I preferred the sound of this option after the horrifying ZSphere incident. So I immediately began a incredibly rough block out in maya. As you can see from the above image, I literally went from the cube as before, locking down a basic shape taking into consideration angles etc from the reference sophie found.
Then adding a basic beak...
...and leg...
...before finally mirroring the mesh and combining the vertices. I also added some topology to the eye area, which should help with sculpting. And there you have it, a basic Raven mesh ready for my first attempt at zbrush.

Raven Reference

Sophie found and made us some lovely reference images for the Raven Model. We decided to change the eye colour of the raven from black to a brownish orange, so to give the bird a bit more character.

The great thing about these reference images are that they are in the sort of pose i would have thought of modeling our ravens. The only difference being I would have the wings extended. The bad thing about these references are that they lack proper images for the wings.

ZBRUSH Tutorials found.

Sometimes I have to take a step back and laugh at my own stupidity, I was literally at breaking point searching and finding slightly out of date tutorials for ZBrush. They were either for earlier versions of the software (which made them almost useless as the interface has changed quite a bit with this version), or the type of tutorial that doesn't really talk a beginner through the basics.

AND THEN

Well of course, I didn't actually occur to me check out the Pixologic website. I assumed that the producers of such a beautiful piece of software would make you subscribe and register your software and make you pay billions before they let you in on any of the softwares secrets. However, I was wrong, so, so, so wrong.

http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/

The above link proved me and all my misconceptions wrong. There are some lovely tutorials on the website, for beginners and beyond. Showing you how to use certain tools. It was a lovely eye opener to the software and talks you through the many different ways in which you can model using zbrush.

ZBRUSH!

Managed to get hold of a copy of the latest Zbrush. It was a pain to find but it is definitely out there. As with playing about with any new software, its a pain getting the hang of all the controls. At the moment I'm having horrid trouble moving around the work space. Tutorials are needed, so I will be raiding the internet high and low from now on.

First Attempt

So today I started playing about with maya trying to block out some organic raven shapes. Here are some progress shots starting all the way from a cube.

Pretty Cube-ish not much to add.

Started creating some shapes by extruding and scaling the faces. Creating a basic structure for the body of the bird.
Pulling out some wings taking into consideration bird anatomy.
Working on the neck but realizing that the shape isn't organic enough. It is very frustrating working without reference and unfortunately there aren't any raven refs to be found. :s

After inserting a few more edge loops and tweaking the mesh, I decided that modeling this bird in Maya was going to be far too complicated and would look far too inorganic. There wouldn't be any bumps or notches or anything that makes us original.

It is time to consider changing software. So I shall be looking into zbrush.

Getting Started.

So my pitch went well, and the feedback was mostly positive, So I am mostly happy with what I produced over the summer. However I do agree with Mike in wanting to see more concept as I myself would have loved to of produced more. However, working over the summer left me with little time and sadly my pitch suffered. Little Red Revenge was sadly not picked, and even though we had the opportunity to take our concepts further and create a 30 second short, I do not feel I could have done LRR justice with that time frame.

But not to worry, as some rather lovely pitches WERE chosen for the 3rd year films and I am excited to say I have chosen 2 projects to work on over the year. Below are the projects and my role.

EDIT: I have been asked to work briefly on another short found below.

The Raven Project: I shall be working on this short producing a photo realistic Raven model to be animated, I shall also be producing a 2D Animated introduction for the short.

Unhatched: I shall be producing character concepts for the short Unhatched.

Heroes 1.0: *NEW CHALLENGER* Kofi has asked me to produce some quick character concepts for his pint sized super hero short.

After a discussion with Dan about this unit, we decided it was best to focus my attention on the photo Realistic Raven for this unit. This is because it will be such a challenge and would benefit from a lot of research.

Starting Over

Okey Dokes, Hey guys,

I originally tried to keep all my posts to one blog, however it was becoming far too complex and even I was having difficulty keeping track of posts for Dan's Unit and Mikes. So I have decided rather last minute to separate the two and copy old posts into this journal. This will hopefully make each unit easier to mark, and enable me to keep better track of each unit and my progression.

So without further delay, I give you my Research Blog for Dan's Unit.