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INDEPENDENT STUDY
INDEPENDENT STUDY ABOUT ART PRODUCTION FOR GAMES
BLENDER, MAYA, ZBRUSH, ADOBE PHOTOSHOP, SUBSTANCE PAINTER
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Since I am very interested in doing visualisation (and generally I am very happy when I am doing things about visual)
and the course offering this semester is not too appealing to my interest, I therefore took independent study which I
can spend time to learn more about the technical skills. It was not easy since problems just come once in awhile and I
am the only one to deal with it and I cannot just quit since I am the one in charge for the art for my FYP (that means I
will have to solve it anyway), it is a fulfilling and interesting journey.
For the study, I have tried two different workflows in making a character and in the very last part of the study (which is
the stage that I am in right now) I am working on the game map and hoping to finish a block model at the end of this
semester.
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THE FIRST TRIAL
I have referenced Maggie Cheung for the design of the character since we were looking to create a character with the
very classic features of Chinese female. We eventually took the second Hairstyle for the model. The character was
originally planned as just like a lot of people in the old HK that suffering mulnutrition.
In the first workflow, the pipeline was from Zbrush (from nothing to all the details of the character, using Zremesher
for retopology and paint colours with Polypaint) to Blender (importing the low poly mesh from Zbrush) to do UV
unwrapping, then import back to Zbrush to extract the texture maps. The low poly model is then imported back to
Blender for creating hair, lashes and eyeballs. For animation, we used Mixamo due to the time constraint.
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Eventually, when we get the model into unity, with our very limited technical skills, the model was not working too well
when we were testing out the model in Unity due to a lot of intercepting meshes of the hair. Moreover, the team's aim
was not to create a photorealistic game, so an overly complicated model may not be necessary.
Render preview in Blender
THE SECOND TRIAL
Since the developmental process was very dynamic that we constantly have found new information that led to
changes. For the second trial, the team thought it will be better to create a character which is younger and with more
distinctive features in his/her outfit that reflect the culture at that period of time of old Hong Kong.
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For this workflow, I have started with Zbrush again, and then exported the high-poly model into Maya for manual
retopology (since I think it will have better control for the distribution of the polygons), the retopologised mesh is then
unfolded. The UV is the exported into photoshop for painting. At first, I was trying to do the texturing in Substance
Painter but again as we are not looking into creating a photorealistic game, it will be better to stay with Photoshop
when we are having a team of four people and only me dedicated entirely to do the art. The Unity testing result was
much better.
Play Video
LEARNING SUBSTANCE PAINTER
Even though Substance Painter will not be part of the pipeline of the character production, still, it is very interesting
for me since it is really cool for the capability of the program and I am so excited to keep on learning how to use it.
I have taken one of the weeks of the independent study to learning the basics by following the tutorial from
Allegorithmic in texturing a lamp (I am just so excited to keep on exploring what it can do).
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GAME MAP
For the game map, the team wanted to create it with the support of historical materials, hence I have been tracing the
maps from different levels and marking the dimensions of the building. With the AutoCAD files prepared, I have
conceptualised the topology of the whole map again with Rhinoceros and then rebuild the whole thing in Blender. At
the current stage, I am still on the very last part of the block model with constructing the buildings in the district.
Play Video
Render preview in Blender
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The Independent study has been a fulfilling and enjoyable one. I would say the best learning outcome is the curiosity
to keep on exploring after learning something. Even though I am still very green, seeing a lot of insufficiencies in
myself, I am so eager to keep on exploring, keep on learning.
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