Updates

I've come up with a schedule so I can better keep up with blogging, (and posting on my instagram now that I put it on my new business cards,) so this is going to be a general update of all the projects I've been working on. Everything has been so crazy due to the Corona pandemic, I think regular posts will help keep all my projects in order.

First up is CarPG. I applied to the Magic Maker Program so I'll post the video to show the updates and I really liked how the whole thing turned out. We didn't get accepted into the program, but just applying was a great opportunity, even if it was stressful and took a lot of time out of my vacation. Now that I'm in self-quarantine, I guess I get to make up that lost time.

I also finished texturing the boss, but we didn't have time to fully implement it.

And I have been diligently working on the goblin enemy, which is proving to be a more arduous process than I expected. I know I need to work on character modeling more and I can't have it be the one thing holding me back, but I desperately just want to go back to making crates and barrels and weapons.

He isn't completely finished and still has a couple topology issues, but the problem is that I don't have the rest of the semester to work on him because I still need to rig and animate him, I have other characters to do, and the programmers need time to implement him into the game. I can say for certain that I'm definitely LEARNING a lot, but I've been doing so very slowly and begrudgingly.

Up next is the video I made to apply to the same program for Untitled Cat Game. Again, we didn't get in, but I really like how the video turned out. I have mostly been working on re-creating all of the assets in a lower poly form, since the ones I created before relied on smoothing and that made the poly count shoot up really high. I should have known to avoid doing that, so now I'm going back and correcting my mistakes. I'm also working on texturing everything so my teammates can start working on shaders.

Lastly are just some updates of personal projects I have been working on for my reel. I've been struggling with critiques (and how bad I am at asking for them) lately, so I have been trying to get more input on these from my friends and classmates.

Here's the Woodstock project from last summer that I'm FINALLY getting back to. I swear I will never work with smooth preview/smooth again, it makes it so much harder to correct topology and UV. I wanted to include a wire-frame render which meant I had to go back and do a lot of clean up for the topology because it was all around very messy. But now I can start texturing, which I'm looking forward to.

I also started a new project to do in my spare time (though it turns out I don't have much right now :/ ) that is based on concept art I found in the Witcher 3 art/world book. I really wanted to replicate the low-poly/high-detail pipeline so I can show my understanding of it in my reel; I was sent feedback about the general portfolio review by a game company from creative industry day, and I think this is exactly what employers want to see in an environment/prop modeling reel.

I finished the low-poly version, so now it's time to relearn Zbrush and add in all that detail. I'm not very familiar or comfortable with creating maps out of a high-poly object, so it will definitely be a learning process.

I'm re-texturing the spaceship hull from Return to Otter Space because I had used non-pbr materials and I just generally didn't like the rushed feel of it, but once I started set dressing I realized I wasn't happy with everything so I need to go back again and make a few adjustments based on critiques I received from a friend who was helping me with lighting and rendering. Turns out lighting and rendering can really bring out the obvious flaws (I know! Who knew!)

But I also went back and cleaned up the geometry to texture some of the props from the game, and I think those turned out really well.

This is a force field generator (that had to be split into two for texturing purposes and I just haven't brought it back into Maya for rendering yet.)

And then the grappling hook (that also needed to be split up, same deal as above.)

And solo cups for the cup stacking prototype that the Ardin team has been working on! Not very impressive, but I'm hopeful about the game and if it continues it's momentum I will be making more assets for it!

Overall there's been a lot of stress and I'm not completely comfortable being stuck inside working all day, but I'm hopeful that I will continue improving my work flow and overall mental health while the pandemic continues to ravage the country. GDC being cancelled and then rejection from the maker program were hard blows, but every day I learn how to better react to challenges and adversity, so I'm trying to stay focused on the positive outcomes.

Thanks for reading! I'll see you soon! (And that's a promise! Blogging has always been really helpful