Hi, and welcome to blog post #10! It was another week of being swamped with other assignments, so nothing much to report. However, here are the answers to the questions for blog post #10!
How have you developed as an artist and animator throughout the semester?
- As an artist I have seen some major developments in my use of Zbrush and Maya, specifically the link between the two. I was in charge of creating a hero character asset, Barthalamew (as I'm sure by the other posts you are well aware of by now). I learned that creating high-poly sculpts for a figurine versus making sculpts to be retopologized a rigged are two very different skillsets and practices. I learned pretty soon that the high-poly version of Barthalamew was going to be difficult to transfer all the details to a lower-poly mesh. I also learned how to retopologize a character for rigging properly (thank you Avery and Logan ;_;). I would say the last major thing I learned was all the different aspects that go into modeling a character for a rig. It was definitely a learning curve at first but I am now so excited and grateful that I know how to do all those steps now!
What are some areas where you have gained experience or knowledge?
- I gained the most experience in character modeling specifically for rigging purposes.
Was there anything about the production experience that surprised you? How did you handle the unexpected challenges?
- It surprised me at how long a hero asset takes to create versus a background prop. It also surprised me how much preparation there is before even beginning to make that asset. I also learned a lot about working in a team and the trials and tribulations that come with it.
What are you most proud of in terms of your accomplishments this semester?
- I am the most proud of finishing (hopefully) the character asset for Barthalamew and all of his affixes (sweater, collar, open and closed eyes/mouth, etc.)
What do you think you could have done better this semester?
- I think my time management was pretty poor. I wish I could have finished Barthalamew sooner so that I could work on even more assets. Although, I also was naive to how much work goes into creating a riggable character.
List some personal goals for the next two semesters.
- Personal goals for me specifically would be to:
Relearn texturing (with the help of my groupmates) and help texture assets
Begin the rigging process and learn more about it
Also for summer get the fur sim on Barthalamew done (or at least to a really good completion percentage :))
How did your group handle the challenges and requirements of the semester?
- Our group handled the challenges and requirements of the semester by being organized. Without the organization we wouldn’t have been as successful as we were.
In what ways did your group maintain focus on the goals of the project?
- We stuck to the schedule and checked in on Fridays to discuss what each person was doing.
How did your group handle personal or interpersonal issues that came up along the way?
- We didn’t have any interpersonal issues during this semester that I’m aware of.
Do you feel that everyone’s personal strengths are being used well?
- Not as effectively as I would’ve liked. For me personally I would’ve loved to be used for more than Barthalamew’s model. I love that I was given the responsibility of completing him and I get that a hero character is a lot of work (which I’m fully aware of after this semester), but I wanted even more especially because modeling is my strong suit.
Do you feel that the work is being shared fairly?
- I do think the work is being shared fairly, no one seems to have complaints on their workload. The only thing I would say for me personally is that I wish I had a couple more assets as I love modeling and would’ve loved to have just a couple more.
What did your group do well this semester?
We stuck to our goals and completed everything we wanted done this semester.
What do you feel your group could have done better?
Effective communication. I believe we weren’t communicating as well as we thought we were. There was a lot of underlying issues we didn’t see during production.
List some goals that your group has for the next two semesters.
- Our goals for the next two semesters are:
- Second semester: Start and finish rigging, while rigging is on going work on 2D animation, finish half of our 3D shots, start texturing
- Third Semester: Finish the other half of the 3D shots, finish texturing, composite