Greetings and salutations! So I made the plunge and have purchased a new desktop computer for the sole purpose of 3D art production and increased rendering speeds. I have yet to receive it however but that's not the manufacturer's fault. Other issues have cropped up that have delayed the assembly of the computer so I will have to wait a bit longer before I can finally put my hands on a brand new rig.
So anyway, it has been 14 years since I bought a desktop computer. It was a first or second generation Dell XPS workstation (I don't remember which, I just remember it was very powerful for its time). However, it has become obsolete since I have gotten my laptop that has updated programs. Unfortunately, the laptop is not powerful enough to run some of the programs I have installed, hence the need for a new desktop. This new desktop contains an 8-core AMD FX-8320, a Radeon R9 270x 2GB graphics card, and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM (the motherboard supports up to 32 GB which I will eventually expand to). The original plan was to get an Intel i7 4790k with the Radeon graphics card but by the time I was going to get the computer that had everything I needed, it sold out and I couldn't find it anymore. I had thought about building the computer myself with the Intel chip set but I just could not find any other builds or bundles that were within my budget like that original computer I was going to get (it was on sale at the time, hence why it sold out; it was an awesome deal for the type of computer it was). So I spent my tax refund money on an 8-core chip set instead because it was the only one that compared to the i7.
Now I understand that Intel processors are generally far more powerful than AMD chips. However, they are also incredibly expensive. If I had $2,000.00 to spend, than the i7 would have been a no-brainer. However, I don't have that kind of money so I had to choose components wisely. At least the computer cost less than $1,000.00 though. So why AMD? I've always liked AMD chips. In addition, this particular processor has eight integer cores, very handy for the programs that I run since many of them use multiple cores.
Now before someone says "no it is only four cores," I would like to point out that it has four modules with two physical cores in each module. I have looked at the architecture and there are clearly eight cores. Still don't believe me? Then take a look at the actual die here. Still don't think it's eight integer cores? Well, that's your problem, not mine. In addition, the architecture between the two companies' chips are too different to make any reasonable comparison anyway. One uses hyper threading and the other splits everything into modules. There's no comparison to made here. Why people have to argue over which is better I have no idea. You get the chip that will work best for you. Period. The AMD FX-8320 I have determined after doing my research is the chip that will do what I need it to do, hence why I chose it.
Now the individual power of the cores in Intel chips are generally much stronger, hence they are good for for high end gaming. However, I don't need a computer for high end gaming; I need one for 3D art production where I usually have several programs open at once and am setting up renders that use multiple cores. Hence where the usefulness of having eight cores comes in. In addition, I am using a Radeon graphics card and those run better on AMD chipsets. I did not choose NVidia because their reliance on Cuda will become obsolete soon while AMD is embracing a new technology standard that more and more games will be relying on. I can't remember the name of the tech at the moment but I will let you all know when I remember.
I would have loved to get the i7 4790k. However, my budget did not allow that. However, the FX-8320 will still do what I need it to do so I have no worries about it. Once I have this new desktop, I should be able to render large high quality scenes in only a fraction of the time it takes on my laptop. Let me put it this way: my laptop uses a quad core A8 with a clock speed of 1.9 Ghz. The FX-8320 has eight cores with a clock speed of 3.5 Ghz. Big difference. In addition, my laptop only has 512 MB of available VRAM. My new desktop will have 2 GB of VRAM. That will help tremendously, especially if I need to render out PhysX physics or high end particles systems.
I can't wait to try it out. Once I get the system, I will immediately switch production of Aphrael from my laptop to the new desktop. This will be for the sole reason of rendering the final model in Unreal Engine 4. It will be fun and glorious so stay tuned!
Art Blog for the 3D character art of J. K. Tarwater
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
WIP: Aphrael Lo-Res Model 1
Greetings and salutations! I was struggling to figure out if I wanted to highlight my modeling process step by step and in the end, I decided it probably would be a good idea to show what I actually do while I model. So today I decided to start off showing how I construct the main loops of the face first.
I always do the eyes first. The reason for this is because the eyes are the most important part of a character's face. They are almost literally a reflection of the character's soul. If not done correctly, the character doesn't look right and they can appear soulless. In addition, I can build the rest of the character's face off the main loops of the eyes.
When I do eyes, I used to just create continuous loops around the eye socket and be done with it. However, after some study of the eyelids and watching others do it, I realized that this wasn't really a good way to do it. The upper eyelids have some volume at their outer corners just outside the main shape of the eye and hence the edge loops need to reflect this. The best way I discovered how to mimic this is to create a sort of spiral loop around the eyes instead of a true loop. I have provided an example below so you can see what I mean:
Now normally I add more edge loops to define the eyelid area, but I am not ready to do that at this moment. I want to get the main shape of the face done first before I start adding detail and even then it will be minimal because I plan on having the baked normal map take care of most of the detail. Remember, this is supposed to have a low polygon count so I can't go crazy on the polygons.
Now that the eyes are out of the way, I next expand the edge flow around the tear ducts to flow around the shape of the nose, creating a nose loop as seen here:
I am roughly following the guide that I created earlier for my edge flow layout. But that's all it is, a guide. I make adjustments accordingly so that the flow is smooth and generally follows the muscle groups. For example, I usually do full loops around the nostrils. However, since I am trying to keep the polygon count quite low, I decided it would be best to expand a new loop from the existing one instead, saving on polygons. Doing it this way also allowed me to create a partial loop to define the tip of the nose with only a few polygons and create a full loop around the nostrils and tip together. You can see this below:
Now that the nose was done, it was time to do the loops around the mouth. First was the upper lip. I just extruded and shaped the vertices from the original bottom polys of the nose loop and then extruded the rest of the shape from there. While I did this however, I paid close attention to the polygon count of the eye loop because the edge flow of the cheeks will connect the mouth and eyes together later so the character can smile or make other expressions. The four bottom edges on the eye loop will connect to the mouth loop in a very precise manner so I had to ensure that I wasn't just randomly adding polygons just for the fun of it. Afterwards, I extruded the bottom faces for the lower lip, making sure I keep the same polygon count as the upper lip. Here is the result:
The final shape of the lips was determined by extruding the inner edges and shaping the inner mouth first. Then all I had to do was add more edge loops inside and shape them to get this:
Voila! The main facial loops are now completed: the eyes, the nose and the mouth. I will not go into details with the ear just yet. The ear is a whole different ball game and I will show that in the near future. However, those are the next things that will be modeled. The reason for that is because I find it much easier to model the head in pieces first then trying to connect everything together in one go. This will make it easier to connect each individual piece later as you can see here with the face. It is especially useful for when I do the ear. The ear is a very complex shape and requires quite a bit of polygons. I mean I don't have to model the shape exactly, but I like to try to help out the normal map a bit when I do the bake. Since the ear will have a lot of polygons, it will be easier to model it first and then connect it to the other parts of the head later. Some people model the entire cranium first and then connect the ears but I find that creates far too much work to be efficient in a small time frame. With the ears modeled first, I can define the cranium around them, making it much simpler and faster to model the rest of the head.
So anyway, that is the main loops for the face. I am at around 250 quads. The ears will add a significant amount to that. In total, I expect the head will be a thousand quads. That's okay however because this allows the face to be expressive with the minimum amount of polygons required. The next part of the lo-res model is the ears so stay tuned!
I always do the eyes first. The reason for this is because the eyes are the most important part of a character's face. They are almost literally a reflection of the character's soul. If not done correctly, the character doesn't look right and they can appear soulless. In addition, I can build the rest of the character's face off the main loops of the eyes.
When I do eyes, I used to just create continuous loops around the eye socket and be done with it. However, after some study of the eyelids and watching others do it, I realized that this wasn't really a good way to do it. The upper eyelids have some volume at their outer corners just outside the main shape of the eye and hence the edge loops need to reflect this. The best way I discovered how to mimic this is to create a sort of spiral loop around the eyes instead of a true loop. I have provided an example below so you can see what I mean:
 |
| The inner eye loop is a spiral, not a true loop. |
Now that the eyes are out of the way, I next expand the edge flow around the tear ducts to flow around the shape of the nose, creating a nose loop as seen here:
 |
| The outside loop that defines the shape of the nose. |
 |
| The nose fully defined. Note the extra loop around the nostrils and tip. |
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| The primary mouth loop. |
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| The complete lips. |
So anyway, that is the main loops for the face. I am at around 250 quads. The ears will add a significant amount to that. In total, I expect the head will be a thousand quads. That's okay however because this allows the face to be expressive with the minimum amount of polygons required. The next part of the lo-res model is the ears so stay tuned!
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Edge Flows
Greetings and salutations! Today I am going to briefly cover my thoughts on how I plan on approaching the edge flow for the lo-res mesh for Aphrael. There are three areas I will highlight: the face, torso, and feet.
First, for anyone who doesn't know, edge flow is the flow of continuous edges of polygons around a particular shape. When they meet up in the same spot as the origin, it is known as an edge loop. How edge flow is approached is very important, especially for lo-res meshes because it can affect the shape of how the mesh will morph doing bending, stretching, and other things during animation. Since Aphrael will be rigged, I need to make sure that the edges flow around the mesh in a way that will minimize strange artifacts in the mesh and allow smooth morphing. Here are examples to illustrate my point:
The face is probably the most complex and most difficult part of the body to get the edge flow correct and smooth. Part of the problem is that everyone's face is different, hence the edge flow will be different for each person. However, this is where knowledge of anatomy comes into play. You see, the face is made up of several different muscle groups that all control how it morphs so we can generate expressions. Those muscles flow in a very specific way. For example, the muscles around the eyes form a loop around the eye sockets. The same happens with the mouth. For the cheeks, muscles flow straight down into the the mouth muscles, thus allowing us to smile. This is a simplistic explanation, but I hope everyone understands. In order to replicate facial expressions when animating, the modeler needs the edge loops to flow in the same direction as the muscles in the face. Hence my crazy drawing above. The large pink areas represent large polygonal areas that need to be considered as possible muscle groups for animating. The red arrows specify the flow those edge loops need to take, or at least an approximation. Now there is no right or wrong way to do it (well actually there is and that is by not using edge loops at all!) because everyone plans their edge loops differently and each face is unique. The whole goal is to minimize the mesh from breaking or morphing into strange artifacts and keeping the animations as natural and close to reality as possible. Even cartoon characters like in Pixar films follow this basic knowledge of edge loop flow, hence the animations are very smooth without the mesh breaking.
Now generally when I do the face, I kind of think of the face as a mask with one large edge loop flowing around the eyebrows and below the chin and jaw to define its border. Then I define all the other loops within that mask. All orifices have a loop around them to define their edges: the mouth, the eyes. and the nostrils. Secondary loops are then defined. For example, I place another loop around the tip of the nose and the nostrils and then a larger loop around the nostril wings, nose tip and nostrils to clearly define the nose. To help define laugh lines in the mesh if necessary, I then create an even bigger loop that goes around the bridge of the nose, encompassing the three smaller nose loops, around the mouth, and just beneath the chin. While I am creating these loops, I also have to think about the flow of edges that connect these different parts of the face. I use facial muscle groups as guides to define how those edges flow into the other loops, creating a nice cohesive whole that I believe will animate well when rigged.
For the rest of the body, it is far simpler on a lo-res mesh. For example, here is my plan for the torso:
The torso only really needs to be horizontal bands of edge loops. Sure, I could have the edge loops follow the direction of the clothing, but then the body wouldn't morph correctly. The detail in the clothes' form will actually be held in a normal map baked onto the lo-res mesh, so modeling that separately will not be necessary, hence why I sculpted first. The whole point is to mimic the correct way that the human body moves without breaking the mesh. Using horizontal bands on the torso will allow the body to morph in a far more natural way and it won't break the mesh. One of the things with edge flow is that it really is a bunch of judgment calls. You have to determine if the edge flow you are planning to create will work with how the character is going to bend and stretch in addition to how that edge flow relates to the rest of the body. If you are rigging a nude character for instance, then it probably is a good idea to follow some of the muscle flow underneath the skin so you can morph the muscles when the character flexes, relaxes, bends, etc. For clothes though, that may not be necessary.
Another example are the shoes that Aphrael is wearing. These are hard surfaces combined with an organic shape that are meant to bend so a different approach is needed.
Since Aphrael has metal plates on her shoes, these need to actually be modeled appropriately. Usually when I do hard surfaces, I model the edge first. This allows me to define the shape from the outset so then when I am ready, I can just fill in the rest with simple polygons. For the feet, the plates need to be modeled with the flow of their edges in mind while still incorporating a horizontal like band pattern so that they bend correctly when the foot rolls during a walk or run cycle. Thus the edges can be modeled first and then the empty space can be filled with horizontal bands of polygons. Easy!
So that is how I plan on approaching the edge loops for Aphrael's lo-res mesh. Next time I post about Aphrael, I should have the lo-res mesh modeled and ready for UV mapping, so stay tuned!
First, for anyone who doesn't know, edge flow is the flow of continuous edges of polygons around a particular shape. When they meet up in the same spot as the origin, it is known as an edge loop. How edge flow is approached is very important, especially for lo-res meshes because it can affect the shape of how the mesh will morph doing bending, stretching, and other things during animation. Since Aphrael will be rigged, I need to make sure that the edges flow around the mesh in a way that will minimize strange artifacts in the mesh and allow smooth morphing. Here are examples to illustrate my point:
 |
| Facial Edge Flow |
Now generally when I do the face, I kind of think of the face as a mask with one large edge loop flowing around the eyebrows and below the chin and jaw to define its border. Then I define all the other loops within that mask. All orifices have a loop around them to define their edges: the mouth, the eyes. and the nostrils. Secondary loops are then defined. For example, I place another loop around the tip of the nose and the nostrils and then a larger loop around the nostril wings, nose tip and nostrils to clearly define the nose. To help define laugh lines in the mesh if necessary, I then create an even bigger loop that goes around the bridge of the nose, encompassing the three smaller nose loops, around the mouth, and just beneath the chin. While I am creating these loops, I also have to think about the flow of edges that connect these different parts of the face. I use facial muscle groups as guides to define how those edges flow into the other loops, creating a nice cohesive whole that I believe will animate well when rigged.
For the rest of the body, it is far simpler on a lo-res mesh. For example, here is my plan for the torso:
 |
| Torso Edge Flow |
Another example are the shoes that Aphrael is wearing. These are hard surfaces combined with an organic shape that are meant to bend so a different approach is needed.
 |
| Shoes Edge Flow |
So that is how I plan on approaching the edge loops for Aphrael's lo-res mesh. Next time I post about Aphrael, I should have the lo-res mesh modeled and ready for UV mapping, so stay tuned!
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
WIP: Aphrael Sculpt 6
Greetings and salutations. I believe I am at the point where I am going to begin modeling the lo-res model for Aphrael. While her props have not been modeled yet, this is good because it will allow me to bake the normal maps in areas that would normally be blocked by props such as the scabbard and gun holster. In addition, those items are so simplistic that I would probably be better off just modeling them lo-res directly.
So, since I am done sculpting at this point, let me go ahead and showcase her hi-res model one last time before I begin the modeling process for the lo-res model. What I have is shown below:
I only had a few little details left so there isn't much difference from the previous post. However, it's those small details that help define a character design.
Now for the lo-res model, as I have stated before, I plan to try to keep the model below 10,000 quads (four sided polygons for the uninformed) or 20,000 triangles. When modeling a lo-res model for rigging and animation, close attention to edge flow is very important. Therefore I have to plan in advance where the polygons are going to flow at. I don't have a plan to show just yet, but I'll show that next time so I can give an example of what I mean for planning out an efficient edge flow. Good edge flows take into account how the mesh is going to morph and bend. This is especially important for joints and the face. Knowing anatomy is crucial at this stage because the knowledge will help plan your edge flow.
While modeling, I will also have to determine how to triangulate the mesh. All game engines require that the mesh be triangulated before importing it in. Unreal Engine 4 will be what I use for the final render and it is no different from all of the others. So while I am modeling, I also need to pay attention to vertex normals so that way there aren't any strange artifacts with the shading method when I begin the texturing phase.
I guess next time I will highlight my plan for the edge loops that I will utilize for the lo-res model. It will be fun and informative so stay tuned!
So, since I am done sculpting at this point, let me go ahead and showcase her hi-res model one last time before I begin the modeling process for the lo-res model. What I have is shown below:
 |
| Front View |
 |
| Side View |
 |
| Back View |
Now for the lo-res model, as I have stated before, I plan to try to keep the model below 10,000 quads (four sided polygons for the uninformed) or 20,000 triangles. When modeling a lo-res model for rigging and animation, close attention to edge flow is very important. Therefore I have to plan in advance where the polygons are going to flow at. I don't have a plan to show just yet, but I'll show that next time so I can give an example of what I mean for planning out an efficient edge flow. Good edge flows take into account how the mesh is going to morph and bend. This is especially important for joints and the face. Knowing anatomy is crucial at this stage because the knowledge will help plan your edge flow.
While modeling, I will also have to determine how to triangulate the mesh. All game engines require that the mesh be triangulated before importing it in. Unreal Engine 4 will be what I use for the final render and it is no different from all of the others. So while I am modeling, I also need to pay attention to vertex normals so that way there aren't any strange artifacts with the shading method when I begin the texturing phase.
I guess next time I will highlight my plan for the edge loops that I will utilize for the lo-res model. It will be fun and informative so stay tuned!
Saturday, February 14, 2015
The Problems With High-end Graphics
Greetings and salutations! The sculpt for Aphrael isn't done yet. Part of the reason is because more and more of my time is being taken up by schoolwork. The other is that I am having issues with the computer that I use to produce my art.
One of things that I have learned as I have attempted to transition from 2D to 3D art is that 3D art is highly resource and time consuming to do. In regards to resources, you need a very powerful computer to actually run the programs needed to produce said 3D art. When I first started school at The Art Institute, I had asked my instructors what kind of computer would I need to be able to run these applications so I can work on my homework. The school has computers but I cannot get to the school everyday on a regular basis because I don't have a car and the bus system where I live is quite terrible. So I needed some way to do my homework. The closest response that I got was that I needed 8Gb of RAM to run Maya. Me being naive and not really knowing computer components that much, I bought a laptop off of that advice.
Now my laptop has been nice. I do like it. However, as I have built my knowledge in 3D art, I realized that unlike 2D art, 3D art requires more than one program to use. In addition, since I will be going into game development, I also needed to learn how to use the most state of the art game engines. Soon, there were many different kinds of software that I need to learn and my laptop is not even close to powerful enough to run them (ZBrush and Marvelous Designer are good examples of programs I badly need but can't run). One of the things I have learned is that processors for laptops are quite different from processors for desktops and workstations. They are quite underpowered for their high cost which is disappointing. My laptop has a quad core processor but it only has a clock speed of 1.9 Ghz. Thus high-end renders take forever to get out, making it impossible for me to complete some school assignments just because I am still waiting for the renders!
Another thing that I have learned is that I need a powerful graphic card to take up some of the load for rendering from the CPU as well as using it just to run graphics heavy programs like Unreal Engine 4 or Mudbox. My laptop doesn't have a graphics card per se. It is a Radeon 7640G integrated with the APU of the laptop. Thus in practice, I only have 500 Mb of dedicated memory for graphics rendering, which is really low. I need at least 1-4 Gb of dedicated memory for just the graphics card if I am going to run the high-end applications much smoother and without breaking the computer.
Finally, as I have mentioned, I am having issues with the laptop. In just the last few months, I have been getting memory leaks that will cause the laptop to crash while running Windows 8.0. I have not upgraded to 8.1 because I have heard that some users had their entire hard drives wiped when trying to upgrade and I cannot afford to lose my work since I don't have enough memory storage items to store all of it. In addition, I thought I had solved the memory leaks previously, only for it come back in full force and affecting multiple Windows applications, so I now have to run my laptop from the task manager with the Windows Explorer application off. If you don't know what Windows Explorer is, it is the system app that runs the desktop, files, tile systems and basic keyboard functions like volume control and the like. The memory leak stems from this app. I thought it may have been a virus but if it is, it is well hidden because I have used multiple tools, virus and malware scanners and the most up to date tools on the Internet to locate the problem and have come up empty. I have also heard of Windows 8 having serious memory bugs anyway so I wouldn't be surprised that Microsoft has yet to fix the issue since they are moving on to Windows 10.
So anyway, the computer I need really is out of my price range at the moment, but I may have no choice but to somehow get one. I plan on talking to Microsoft about the memory leaks tomorrow, but regardless of what they say, I really do need a more powerful computer. I have a tax refund coming, but I was hoping to get it before President's Day so I could take advantage of any sales that may be happening during this time. The computer I need should have an i7 4790K that runs at 4.0 Ghz with 8 virtual threads. Just having this alone will speed up my renders significantly. Next, I need 16 Gb of RAM, but I am thinking of getting a computer at only 8Gb of RAM and then upgrading it later like I did with my laptop. Then the graphic card needs to be very powerful, like a Radeon 290X or a 285. It needs to be at least 1Gb of memory though I prefer it to be at least 2Gb. If I can get one that allows to link several at once, I would do that so I can add more later.
Ugh, I hate spending money because I don't have money to spend. I have been unemployed and very poor for a very long time now, thus one of the reasons why I am going to school so I can at least get into a career that I am actually good at and not one where I can't even make my quota for the day and then get fired because I suck at it. I'm not good at fixing things, taking phone calls, performing customer service or selling things. I am only good at doing character art, designing games and creating game mechanics. Those are my forte. However, if I am going to get recognized, I have to be better than everyone else and that requires computer power that I currently don't have. Thus I must spend more money to get it.
Sorry about my rant. Life is very frustrating and has been for a very long time but I hope to turn my life around after I am done in school. We'll see what happens. Hopefully my next post will be more cheerful. I also hope to have Aphrael's sculpt done soon as well so stay tuned!
One of things that I have learned as I have attempted to transition from 2D to 3D art is that 3D art is highly resource and time consuming to do. In regards to resources, you need a very powerful computer to actually run the programs needed to produce said 3D art. When I first started school at The Art Institute, I had asked my instructors what kind of computer would I need to be able to run these applications so I can work on my homework. The school has computers but I cannot get to the school everyday on a regular basis because I don't have a car and the bus system where I live is quite terrible. So I needed some way to do my homework. The closest response that I got was that I needed 8Gb of RAM to run Maya. Me being naive and not really knowing computer components that much, I bought a laptop off of that advice.
Now my laptop has been nice. I do like it. However, as I have built my knowledge in 3D art, I realized that unlike 2D art, 3D art requires more than one program to use. In addition, since I will be going into game development, I also needed to learn how to use the most state of the art game engines. Soon, there were many different kinds of software that I need to learn and my laptop is not even close to powerful enough to run them (ZBrush and Marvelous Designer are good examples of programs I badly need but can't run). One of the things I have learned is that processors for laptops are quite different from processors for desktops and workstations. They are quite underpowered for their high cost which is disappointing. My laptop has a quad core processor but it only has a clock speed of 1.9 Ghz. Thus high-end renders take forever to get out, making it impossible for me to complete some school assignments just because I am still waiting for the renders!
Another thing that I have learned is that I need a powerful graphic card to take up some of the load for rendering from the CPU as well as using it just to run graphics heavy programs like Unreal Engine 4 or Mudbox. My laptop doesn't have a graphics card per se. It is a Radeon 7640G integrated with the APU of the laptop. Thus in practice, I only have 500 Mb of dedicated memory for graphics rendering, which is really low. I need at least 1-4 Gb of dedicated memory for just the graphics card if I am going to run the high-end applications much smoother and without breaking the computer.
Finally, as I have mentioned, I am having issues with the laptop. In just the last few months, I have been getting memory leaks that will cause the laptop to crash while running Windows 8.0. I have not upgraded to 8.1 because I have heard that some users had their entire hard drives wiped when trying to upgrade and I cannot afford to lose my work since I don't have enough memory storage items to store all of it. In addition, I thought I had solved the memory leaks previously, only for it come back in full force and affecting multiple Windows applications, so I now have to run my laptop from the task manager with the Windows Explorer application off. If you don't know what Windows Explorer is, it is the system app that runs the desktop, files, tile systems and basic keyboard functions like volume control and the like. The memory leak stems from this app. I thought it may have been a virus but if it is, it is well hidden because I have used multiple tools, virus and malware scanners and the most up to date tools on the Internet to locate the problem and have come up empty. I have also heard of Windows 8 having serious memory bugs anyway so I wouldn't be surprised that Microsoft has yet to fix the issue since they are moving on to Windows 10.
So anyway, the computer I need really is out of my price range at the moment, but I may have no choice but to somehow get one. I plan on talking to Microsoft about the memory leaks tomorrow, but regardless of what they say, I really do need a more powerful computer. I have a tax refund coming, but I was hoping to get it before President's Day so I could take advantage of any sales that may be happening during this time. The computer I need should have an i7 4790K that runs at 4.0 Ghz with 8 virtual threads. Just having this alone will speed up my renders significantly. Next, I need 16 Gb of RAM, but I am thinking of getting a computer at only 8Gb of RAM and then upgrading it later like I did with my laptop. Then the graphic card needs to be very powerful, like a Radeon 290X or a 285. It needs to be at least 1Gb of memory though I prefer it to be at least 2Gb. If I can get one that allows to link several at once, I would do that so I can add more later.
Ugh, I hate spending money because I don't have money to spend. I have been unemployed and very poor for a very long time now, thus one of the reasons why I am going to school so I can at least get into a career that I am actually good at and not one where I can't even make my quota for the day and then get fired because I suck at it. I'm not good at fixing things, taking phone calls, performing customer service or selling things. I am only good at doing character art, designing games and creating game mechanics. Those are my forte. However, if I am going to get recognized, I have to be better than everyone else and that requires computer power that I currently don't have. Thus I must spend more money to get it.
Sorry about my rant. Life is very frustrating and has been for a very long time but I hope to turn my life around after I am done in school. We'll see what happens. Hopefully my next post will be more cheerful. I also hope to have Aphrael's sculpt done soon as well so stay tuned!
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
WIP: Aphrael Sculpt 5
Greetings and salutations! I am getting closer to having the sculpt done and moving on to creating the lo-res mesh! Here is what I have at this point:
I was struggling quite a lot with the jacket. I didn't actually figure out how to do it until a random thought of inspiration hit me while I was playing Guilty Gear Xrd. That's what happens sometimes. Playing video games help me think about other problems because I can see the separate parts of the whole when I play them.
So there are a few more details I still need to work on. The final part of the belt, Aphrael's hat, the metal plates on her footwear, her bows on her sleeves and simulating the leather on her arms (or at least showing she is wearing gloves anyway). Unfortunately, my computer is not powerful enough to sculpt textures into the mesh itself so I will have to actually paint the textures on using Autodesk Mudbox.
I'm excited. The hi-res model is almost done. It is almost time for the lo-poly modeling. Stay tuned for the final hi-res model of Aphrael Red!
I was struggling quite a lot with the jacket. I didn't actually figure out how to do it until a random thought of inspiration hit me while I was playing Guilty Gear Xrd. That's what happens sometimes. Playing video games help me think about other problems because I can see the separate parts of the whole when I play them.
So there are a few more details I still need to work on. The final part of the belt, Aphrael's hat, the metal plates on her footwear, her bows on her sleeves and simulating the leather on her arms (or at least showing she is wearing gloves anyway). Unfortunately, my computer is not powerful enough to sculpt textures into the mesh itself so I will have to actually paint the textures on using Autodesk Mudbox.
I'm excited. The hi-res model is almost done. It is almost time for the lo-poly modeling. Stay tuned for the final hi-res model of Aphrael Red!
Saturday, February 7, 2015
WIP: Aphrael Sculpt 4
Greetings and salutations! It has been a very busy week so I haven't been able to get as much sculpting done as would like. Therefore, I will cover the steps I took to get the basic shape of the shoes today. First of all, I started with just a simple a cube:
Next, I went ahead and duplicated the cube and placed it on the other side of the x-axis, then joined the meshes so I could take advantage of the mirror function in the sculpt tool. This allows me to sculpt both shoes at the same time.
I then proceeded to shape the cubes first before subdividing it and adding a multi-resolution modifier to it. I wanted to have a very base start for when I actually start shaping the form of the shoes.
I then proceeded to shape the mesh around Aphrael's foot so I could make sure the form was sound before refining it.
Once the overall form was in place, I went ahead and refined the shape until it came close to the original form that I had defined in the concept sketches.
The toe of the shoe I had to modify somewhat so it would fit the foot. There is a reason shoes are designed a certain way! However, I now have a satisfactory shape that I can place the other details onto when I get to that point. Plus, the shape really brings out Aphrael's legs which I like. I never really realized how much a shoe can influence the overall form of a woman's leg. It is pretty enlightening actually.
I haven't added the steel plates and there are no textures. However, her legs are already looking fantastic! This is one reason why it is wise to plan ahead because then you won't be wasting time trying to get the forms correct. Amazing how that works.
Next will be the rest of Aphrael's belt and her jacket so stay tuned!
Next, I went ahead and duplicated the cube and placed it on the other side of the x-axis, then joined the meshes so I could take advantage of the mirror function in the sculpt tool. This allows me to sculpt both shoes at the same time.
I then proceeded to shape the cubes first before subdividing it and adding a multi-resolution modifier to it. I wanted to have a very base start for when I actually start shaping the form of the shoes.
I then proceeded to shape the mesh around Aphrael's foot so I could make sure the form was sound before refining it.
Once the overall form was in place, I went ahead and refined the shape until it came close to the original form that I had defined in the concept sketches.
The toe of the shoe I had to modify somewhat so it would fit the foot. There is a reason shoes are designed a certain way! However, I now have a satisfactory shape that I can place the other details onto when I get to that point. Plus, the shape really brings out Aphrael's legs which I like. I never really realized how much a shoe can influence the overall form of a woman's leg. It is pretty enlightening actually.
I haven't added the steel plates and there are no textures. However, her legs are already looking fantastic! This is one reason why it is wise to plan ahead because then you won't be wasting time trying to get the forms correct. Amazing how that works.
Next will be the rest of Aphrael's belt and her jacket so stay tuned!
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
WIP: Aphrael Sculpt 3
Greetings and salutations! I must apologize for the length of time between updates. It has been a weird and busy weekend so I haven't had that much time to work on my character. However, I felt that an update on the sculpt was needed so here it is so far:
Besides being a busy weekend, I was also having problems with just sculpting the clothes. I had tried out various ways to sculpt out her shirt, including using different meshes. That took forever to figure out and I eventually just reshaped the base mesh and sculpted on that for her main shirt. I used several different meshes for the belt and her ruffled skirt as well. Those were much easier to do, but I am not done with them yet. I will probably add more detail to the ruffles and vary them a bit while the belt still needs several structures, including the double-d structure and the end tip of the belt.
Before I finish the belt, I was thinking of doing Aphrael's shoes next. I was thinking of just using a subdivided cube and shaping that around her foot. The resulting shape I will then duplicate and negatively scale it for her other foot and then combine the meshes so I can take advantage of the mirroring feature in sculpt mode. That would probably be the fastest way to do both shoes.
Aphrael's jacket will probably be the hardest part. I have yet to figure out how to approach it yet but I may use some modified cylinders as a start and go from there. However, once all of her clothes have been sculpted and placed, I can finally model the lo-res mesh which in my opinion at the moment will be far easier to do. While sculpting is interesting and fun, I find it much more enjoyable to just model from a single plane and go from there. I am a very meticulous person that way, but I feel it gives the most control. Does it provide the best results though for my workflow? I don't know yet, hence why I am sculpting so I can find out. Plus I need the normal maps from the sculpt anyway.
So I have more work to do. I am hoping that the next time I show Aphrael, her clothes should be done. However, I have quite a bit of work from other projects I have to finish, including homework from school. While I have made my Four Heroes project the top priority, I do not want to comprise my school work with low grades so it is a difficult balance to maintain. I believe I can manage though. What will I talk about next time? I don't know yet, but stay tuned to find out!
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| Front view |
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| Side view |
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| Back view |
Before I finish the belt, I was thinking of doing Aphrael's shoes next. I was thinking of just using a subdivided cube and shaping that around her foot. The resulting shape I will then duplicate and negatively scale it for her other foot and then combine the meshes so I can take advantage of the mirroring feature in sculpt mode. That would probably be the fastest way to do both shoes.
Aphrael's jacket will probably be the hardest part. I have yet to figure out how to approach it yet but I may use some modified cylinders as a start and go from there. However, once all of her clothes have been sculpted and placed, I can finally model the lo-res mesh which in my opinion at the moment will be far easier to do. While sculpting is interesting and fun, I find it much more enjoyable to just model from a single plane and go from there. I am a very meticulous person that way, but I feel it gives the most control. Does it provide the best results though for my workflow? I don't know yet, hence why I am sculpting so I can find out. Plus I need the normal maps from the sculpt anyway.
So I have more work to do. I am hoping that the next time I show Aphrael, her clothes should be done. However, I have quite a bit of work from other projects I have to finish, including homework from school. While I have made my Four Heroes project the top priority, I do not want to comprise my school work with low grades so it is a difficult balance to maintain. I believe I can manage though. What will I talk about next time? I don't know yet, but stay tuned to find out!
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