A Game Designer's Journal

2007-04-17T11:19:00.000-04:00

From now on, my latest stuff can be viewed here.

2007-02-27T21:11:00.000-05:00

A final set of images.

Comments and critiques are welcome.

2007-02-07T20:11:00.000-05:00

Another new project.

2007-01-24T14:25:00.000-05:00

A new project.

My girlfriend Jen suggested that i do an old muscle car for my next project. Since one of her favorite cars is the Charger, I decided on that one.

Progress so far. I'm about an hour in.

More updates to follow.

2007-01-22T19:31:00.000-05:00

Video

New video for the demo reel. Sorry for the somewhat terrible quality. The quality was "dumbed down" by default.

That's one section of the demo reel done. Onto new things.

2007-01-17T21:26:00.000-05:00

Some updates with the lighting of the car.

In this pic, you can see the front fenders are smaller than before.

Tire details. The whole wheel is one piece, including the tires, and is textured with a 2048 x 2048 UV map. The tread pattern is a bump map.

2007-01-11T19:15:00.000-05:00

After a really long absence, I have returned... Somewhat...

I'll post my latest project on here, which is nearing completion.
Other than that, not much new will be here for a while now.

I started out with four headlights, but changed the design because it didn't look right to me.

This is what the car looks like, and will most likely continue to look like until the project is done. I took out two of the headlights, and I'm still trying to design taillights. I've been thinking about early 90's Corvette tails, but I might try something new as well.

I just really like this shot. Although the shadows can use a lot of work.

2006-10-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

New updates.

Everything is ongoing. I'm in a bit of a rut, as I want to get as much content as I can made, but I still have to finish much of it. Oh well. Check out the Gundam.

The second screen grab has more detail put into it, as well as the mask portion started.

2006-09-20T23:33:00.000-04:00

Another post. More updates of the driver. He needs a name.

Let the comments flow. He's getting closer to completion.

2006-09-17T22:14:00.000-04:00

A small update for the driver.

I've done some minor updates to the hands and face.

2006-09-07T21:49:00.000-04:00

A new post.

The driver of my Skyline, which will be toon shaded. Very anime inspired.

Also, have a peek at some screen grabs of the progress on the Skyline's alley.

SO far, so good.

2006-08-29T22:53:00.000-04:00

A new car. The Civic is still in progress, but I like working on this a little more right now. The mesh is coming along better. Have a peek.

Enjoy.

2006-08-17T20:53:00.000-04:00

Two posts in one day? Unheard of!

2006-08-17T11:19:00.000-04:00

A new post.

My demo reel is done, and once I can find a bandwidth conserving method of getting it online, I shall. Until then, look at what I started for the updated demo reel to come later.

Enjoy. I guess...

2006-08-08T22:17:00.000-04:00

Updates.

Yeah, they're dark. It's underground. More to come soon, as soon as Maya decides to render at a decent speed that is. >_<

2006-07-25T18:29:00.000-04:00

More fun.
This is the texture from the army ant's gun I created. I'll have pics of the army ant up once I start getting into the texturing.

2006-07-17T21:27:00.000-04:00

More updates, this time of the texturing nature.

Textures include a chainmail picture for the armor, and the rest is just base colors for right now.
That is all for now!

2006-06-30T17:56:00.000-04:00

More updates.

I'm happy with it so far.

That's all for now.

2006-06-27T18:44:00.000-04:00

Another update.

This time he has hands! Bob is coming along nicely. He smoothes realy nice. I like the edge loops in the face, and they work really nicely with the rest of the body, as the mesh is all four sided faces, except for the inside of the mouth, which has two triangles. But it all smoothes out nice, and the mesh is solid, so I'm not worrying about it too much. The only part I don't like too much about Bob is his hands. They just don't feel right. But I can redo them, which I will most likely end up doing.

Other than that, I'll be working on his accessories for the next little bit. Bob is basically a continuation of the Demon Hunter character I was working on before. I scrapped the other one because of a lack of overall detail, but I may come back to it with a toon shaded treatment. I looked at the character for the first time in a while, and I'm convinced I can do a much better job now that I have more ideas as to what I want the final product to look like.

Enough rambling. Behold pictures!

So there you have it. Bob all smoothed out, and then the wireframe for the low poly version. So far I've only done one level of smoothing, but I would like to get the mesh down and solid and then do another level.

2006-06-21T20:19:00.000-04:00

Ahoy.

A new character of sorts. I'm thinking this will be the new Demon Slayer, as there is more detail to work with. That, and I decided that he should be a little more realistic. So, here's the basic mesh right now. He still needs hands. And perhaps little adjustments all around.

Meet "Bob".

The top pic is unsmoothed, while the other is smoothed once. I like it. It doesn't get weird little pinches or anything in the mesh. And it's all four sided polys! Except for two triangles in the mouth. Where no one will see them. Ever.

Rest assured, the robot guy will be back. I just need a small break from it. I'll come back to it wth a pair of fresh eyes.

2006-06-13T17:17:00.000-04:00

Updates.

There's some updated renders of my armored warrior guy. I really like the way this is turning out, especially the bump mapping on the bottom picture. The way I set up the layers in Photoshop makes it look like he got his head too close to a grinder, and it took the paint off his helmet. It makes it look as though there was a layer of paint that has been taken off.

*EDIT*

More pics and updates. This time of the body mapping. It's really rough in spots where the UV's aren't set up yet, but other than that, using three maps gives me a wicked outcome, I'm told.

The only spot I don't like right now is the stomach. Some noise and dirt will clear that up though.

That middle pic is the back of the model. Easily my favorite part of the texture on the body so far.

2006-06-08T22:51:00.000-04:00

Another update.

Concept

Progress so far.

That's the progress so far. Comments and criticisms are welcome as always.

2006-06-01T21:34:00.000-04:00

New post.

New character! The turtle statue and other projects get set aside for now, as I'm going all out on this one. My plan of attack for my demo reel is as follows:

- A cartoony character, which is what I'm working on right now. Demon Hunter guy. Very anime style.

- A more realistic character. Something that would be made for the next-gen game consoles.

- A ZBrush normal mapped character. A lower poly mesh with a high resolution map applied to it. Something made for the current-gen games. Or next-gen. Either way, ZBrush will be involved.

Some images of anime demon hunter guy:

Up next for anime guy:

- shoulder pad
- knee pads
- weapons (guns, swords, knives, etc.)
- Texturing (color, specular, bump)

2006-05-25T20:58:00.000-04:00

Another update on the turtle statue.

That's inside of Maya, because it wouldn't render correctly. So I just used a screen capture instead of a render.

I also have a 1995 Honda Civic hatchback that I am working on as well. But I won't be posting pics of that until it gets closer to looking like a car.

2006-05-24T20:29:00.000-04:00

Another post...

This time of the finished mesh of the turtle statue. Well, finished in the sense that this is how I want it before I texture it. I'm using ZBrush for the Normal Map, and the going is rough, but it's going alright considering I am new ZBrush's rather odd UI.

Top to bottom:

1) A 3/4 view of the turtle's mesh

2) A front, and rather scary, look of the turtle's mesh

3) The ZBrush progress. Not too bad.

Crits, comments, etc.

2006-05-17T11:59:00.000-04:00

Another post. This time of the turtle statue I'm working on. Basically I decided that I wanted to have once environment for my demo reel, and this turtle statue is going to be a part of it.

Comments, critiques. Let them flow.

2006-05-12T16:46:00.000-04:00

Another post, showing some updates for the textured spheres I've been working on.

This one is a metal texture that looks like it's been beat up a lot. It's got rust elements, as well as burn marks and just general dents and damage.

This one is a sort of skin texture that seems to have parasites pushing up from underneath the skin. I'm not sure about the colors I chose, but they seem to work out for the moment, as anybody with parasites probably doesn't have great looking skin.

EYEBALL!!!

That's it for now. I'll make revisions and post the final product sometime next week.

2006-05-09T20:39:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

A new post, after a small hiatus from posting. I got really busy...

Anyways, some new updates. I'm starting my third and final semester. We're working closely with Paul Neale (Paul Neale.com).

Anyways, here are two WIPs of a sphere I'm working on. The assignment is to make five spheres with varying textures in order to get a different feel for each one. This on is going to have a metallic, cold feel to it once it's done.

Anyways, enough of me. More of the works in progress.

Anyways, drop me a line for critiques or comments. Later all.

2006-03-26T18:55:00.000-05:00

Here's the map for the Satyr. What with the strike and all, I didn't have time to upload it before I took off, but here it is in all it's glory.
The final size was 1024 x 1024, and saved as a TIF.

2006-03-15T22:10:00.000-05:00

Final Product

The Satyr is done!

Basically, that's the ball game. The final, ready to hand in product. Unless there's something terribly wrong with it. If there is, let me know, and I'll try and fix it up.

2006-03-08T14:09:00.000-05:00

The mid-way WIP Post

Ahoy.

Yet another post. This time it's a WIP post. Just "showing off" my Satyr's texture map so far. It's really rough right now, but it's just a test to show what the finished product may look like. Dressed for high society, of course.

I'll post the final version when it's done and ready to hand in. I have learned to love my Wacom tablet. It's quite handy for texturing.

Again, comments or hate mail.

2006-03-05T23:46:00.000-05:00

The Starting Point

Hey all,

Wade here, with my first character model up for viewing. It's a satyr. I know, a little unconventional. But that's what I was going for. I wanted a character that people hadn't really seen before. So, here are some images.

So, feel free to leave some comments. Or hate mail. But hopefully comments.