503 #7 Keying Out Shots #1

 Now the sets and character models were ready, I started keying out positions. I made sure all frames were stepped to keep the keys and not make in-betweens.

I started just making the keys for Rust Bucket, as he and the Peace-Keeper weren't going to physically interact until much later on, so understanding the timing with a single character would make timing out the Peace-Keeper easier. 

The first shot was fairly simple, as it was a run cycle with a sudden stop, and I already knew there was another run cycle in the short, so making sure this set of keys looked good would save a lot of work later. I found reference films of real life canine run cycles to understand the movement better, particularly the curving of the spine, how the head is held during sprints, and where the legs and paws are held in relation to each other throughout a sprint.

I blocked out the base cycle and went back to tweak any aspects I was unhappy with. Once I was happy, I duplicated keys and moved the model along the track until it reached the spot of the sudden stop. To make the sudden stop, I tried to keep in the momentum of the previous run, so he overshoots slightly and repositions his back paws.

Now the timing to establish the next main shot where Rusty moved was dependent on the Peace-Keeper, so I decided to start on him.

While keying out the entrance of the Peace-Keeper, I quickly noticed one of the joints in the spine was broken, so I informed Tom so he could work on a fix. Now knowing I would have to wait at least a day, I plotted out Lizzie's stand in model.

501 #7 - Update

Since I find practical work easier than writing, I started with the quicker half of the practical, the chair. I documented it's creation here: 

https://nm286308.blogspot.com/2020/11/501-5.html

I also have exact plans for the sculpting half of the practical with turnarounds (which is also in the post above)

I didn't neglect the written side, however, as I created a base structure for the essay as well as a list of games I am using for examples as well as franchises for case studies of graphical improvements

STRUCTURE;

Intro - quick overview of topic, beginning of gaming (non commercial history)

Sec1 - brief look at history of game graphics before 3D

Sec2 - look at 2.5D in commercial games (prelude to 3D)

Sec3 - look at beginning poly 3D in commercial games (80’s)

Sec4 - poly 3D games (00’s)

Sec5 - poly 3D games (10’s/20’s), talk abt rise of software available to individuals

Sec6 - 3D in the future

GAME EXAMPLES;

SpaceWar! (1962)

Space Invaders (1978)

Donkey Kong (1981)

Super Mario Brothers (1983)

Interceptor (1975)

Wolfenstein 3D (1992)

Doom (1993)

I, Robot (1983)

Quake (1996)

Quake 4 (2006)

Elder Scrolls Oblivion (2006)

Elder Scrolls Skyrim (2011)

The Last of Us (2013)

The Last of Us Part II (2020)

Far Cry (2004)

Far Cry: New Dawn (2019)

Horizon: Zero Dawn/Frozen Wilds (2017)

Horizon: Forbidden West (2021)

Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)

503 #6 Setting the Scene

After the backgrounds and sets were created and distributed by Pippa, I started off with setting every camera shot, putting down some estimated timings for moving cameras. 

Finding correct shot positions was fairly easy, as I had an animatic to work from and the specific areas of shots were clear and easy to locate in the set.

Before adding any cameras, however, I referenced in the models (so any textures put on the model at a later date would be present in the film) and correctly sized them. Our producer Tom was able to calculate the scale numbers for each model from our character size chart, so it was an easy task to place them in the set correctly. Once they were in their starting positions, I went to placing the cameras.

I used a simple 'create camera from view' and made sure to order the cameras properly in the ouliner so I could switch to different shots for. I ended up with a total of eighteen cameras, two of which moved.

501 Practical #2 - ZBrush Work

For the other half of my practical I sculpted a more organic creature, an altered bust of a character turnaround sheet I drew a while back. I sculpted it in ZBrush2021 to show the improvements of 3D technology, even publicly available, however I did not intend to texture or light the model as it was simply an exercise in modelling.

I did not model the mouth, hair, or jewellery as I am still inexperienced and have yet to learn how to do it, but I was able to create a base model.

501 Practical #1 - Maya Work

 To show the improvements of 3D technology, I created a simple inorganic model in Maya to show the quality of modern 3D, even by an inexperienced individual working at home. It did not take me very long to create the model, as it was only meant to be a very simple exercise.

I will also create a bust of a character from a turnaround sheet in ZBrush2021 to show the more organic sculpting tools available to both studios and individuals. This is the turnaround sheet I'm basing the bust off of, although the bust will lack jewellery and may also lack hair (I will attempt both but I am still relatively inexperienced).

503 #5 Rust Bucket's Rig

Creating Rust Bucket's rig was a huge issue. I had to learn rigging from nothing as I only had a little 3D modelling experience at most. I watched a few YouTube series on learning Maya to understand how rigging in Maya worked.

Creating the basic rig wasn't too difficult, even creating IK joints for the legs as well as controllers, but we ran into a plethora of issues in parenting joints and painting weights. Rogue vertices, breaking faces and general technical issues were repeated, irritating problems that none of the group could seem to fix.

Both me and Tom attempted to fix the issues, but if we were able to fix one problem, there was a new problem to replace it. An example is a rouge vertex on the right 'elbow' joint, which initially seemed an easy enough fix, but if the file was re-opened it would be broken again, along with a growing number of vertices. There was a collection of issues like this which gained increased frustration from the entire team.

In the end, we had to request help from Matt to fix the rig, which he was able to do rather quickly. After much stress, we finally had a functioning rig!

501 #5 - Triangulation

 I created a very basic triangulation poster to get the basic points down of my three texts. 

The first text, Teaching History, is an educational website whose text on the history of video games focused on just the RPG genre, from text-based to modern. Although it's date isn't posted, it makes reference to the PlayStation 3 as 'recent' and multiple sources in it's bibliography are from 2012.

It follows a pretty linear look at graphical video game history, keeping it's language and structure fairly basic so anyone could understand it.

The second, PopCultureHQ, is from a fan website focused on cosplay and conventions, but the text is a detailed look at the history of polygonal 3D video games. It keeps it's language and structure simple, like the Teaching History text for the more amateur audience. It was written in 2018, so it was more recent than the Teaching History text, but polygonal 3D does not have as much history as video games in general.

The third, an article from History.com, an educational website with a basic overview of general video game history. It was posted in 2019, so it is the most recent of the three, and like the PopCultureHQ text, it looks at polygonal 3D, although not as in-depth. The text is also quite simply worded like the other two texts, clearly showing all three are meant for a public audience rather than industry professionals.

teachinghistory.org (unknown) Ask a Historian: The Gaming Revolution. Available at: https://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25764 (Accessed 02/11/2020).

PopCultHQ (2018) The Evolution Of Polygons in 3D Video Game Graphics. Available at: https://popculthq.com/2018/02/26/evolution-polygons-3d-video-game-graphics/ (Accessed 02/11/2020).

History.com (2019) Video Game History. Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/history-of-video-games (Accessed 02/11/2020)

503 #4 Rust Bucket Model

When I started on the model, I was essentially having to relearn Maya's 3D modelling basics. In the beginning I blocked out some basic parts of Rust Bucket.

As I was working on the model, I tried to keep the polycount down as best I could, so the model ended up looking more blocky than the original design, but that wasn't much of an issue.

As I was working on the model, I realised that the best way to keep the polycount down was to alter some aspects of the original design other than making it more blocky. I changed the front legs to a single metal pole (beveled cube rather than a cylinder) and did the same for the feet. I also removed any of the degraded metal, leaving the rust to the texture to save the polycount and made each limb the same length to make the rigging and animation easier later.

I then continued on with making the rig. To do this, I had to learn rigging from the ground up, but was able to create a basic rig with controllers. Although, once I had to go into painting weights and skinning, I couldn't seem to understand it properly, so I handed the model over to Tom as he knew more on how to do it. I will go into more of what happened as we rigged in a separate post however.

501 #4/6 - Introduction to Research/Planning Practical

How have video games evolved, particularly in the realm of 3D modelling, animation, and graphics?

As the question suggests, I am looking at the evolution of 3D in video games, mainly at modelling, but also at the animation and graphics. Video games are one of the newest story telling mediums that have quite the history and have improved visually in such a short amount of time, I find it quite impressive and would like to go into the industry (in some of the more progressive studios preferably) after university.

I have a number of texts about the history of video games to start off with, including a Netflix documentary series and a couple game franchises as a case study to show progress within the same studio. I may replay some older games I have access to to compare to recent releases, but I doubt I'd be able to take notes without just getting sucked into the game.

The end product of the practical work will be a partially animated video essay with a 3D model of a character and an object to show the power of commercial 3D model software. I already have a turnaround sheet of a character that I intended to use as a modelling reference in ZBrush 2021 and I'll create the object in Maya 2019 as I find ZBrush is better for organic creatures and Maya better for non-organic objects.

501 #3 - Text

I was able to find a text that detailed the development of roleplaying games, from text-based to modern.

The author is trying to explain the more intricate history of RPGs, a large section dedicated to text-based adventures but also referencing choice-based games where the player's decisions affect the player's character. The real examples are the original Adventure for text-based games and Knights of the Old Republic and Elder Scrolls Skyrim for choice-based games. Examples of games I would use would be the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe text adventure and Telltale's The Walking Dead: The Game or Detroit: Become Human for choice based games.

Although this is only on one aspect of video game history, I feel it is important to the overall history of video games, as it's one of the biggest improvements of the medium.

501 #2 - Defining the Research Question

I am looking at the evolution of 3D modelling in video games, across all consoles and genres. I will look at models and environments of games that are available on the internet, as well as first hand accounts of the games themselves in terms of animation, gameplay in how the models interact with one another. I am attempting to create a timeline of how 3D models have evolved in video games.

The question would be something along the line of "How have video games evolved, particularly in the realm of 3D modelling, animation, and graphics?" So far I have two web texts chronically the history of video games, but it is quite hard to find texts on the subject simply because it is such a recent medium, not even a century old.

https://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25764

https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/history-of-video-games

https://popculthq.com/2018/02/26/evolution-polygons-3d-video-game-graphics/

Some specific games I could use as case studies are Pacman, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario Brothers to establish the medium's start, then moving onto Doom, Starfox, and I, Robot for the shift to 3D and polygons in games, the finishing with Last of Us, Far Cry, and Horizon Zero Dawn. I may also may some mention of Elder Scrolls, Sims, and Spore for their character customisation and creator tools that allows the player to change their own character models and create objects and buildings.

I would like to create a short game as a practical response, but I don't think I could learn the Unreal Engine quick enough, so I may just do a partially animated video essay and create a couple 3D models based off my own characters.