ANI210 - Week 08 & 09

Weeks 8 and 9 were used to get the custom rig project put together.

I sketched up a design for a futuristic spacecraft, but something that would allow me to properly rig it with functional parts.

I based my design on current designs for fighter jets as well as the original idea that I wanted to create: the flying beetle from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Ultimately, I ended up with a sleek looking jet with multiple wings which resembled an X-Wing from Star Wars.

Side View

Top View

Front View

I didn't have any issues with modelling; this far into the course I felt quite competent to model something like this. After I finished modelling, it was onto the UV's.

The hilarious thing about UV's is that I used to hate them earlier in the year - when I still didn't understand how they were meant to be displayed, I found it incredibly challenging. The penny dropped sometime in the second tri and by the third Tri I've found that I actually really enjoy doing them. I know that I can still optimize my workflow and better my UV's, but for now I think that I've come a long way from where I was trying to unwrap a treasure chest.

I exported the UV's and began painting them in photoshop.

Originally, I began painting my ship to resemble the fighter jet designs I researched - typically they're a stealth grey, or contain camo elements: greens and browns. But after applying the textures to the mesh, I was continually unsatisfied with the way it looked. It looked very boring and dry.

So I took some inspiration from an internet meme at the time: Pen Pineapple Apple Pen.

Ta Da! The result was a PPAP themed plane. It was actually a lot of fun to make. Sure, the texture looks rubbish - I'll admit that it's my weakest skill in the modelling process.

I still wasn't satisfied with the overall product, so I went into crazy bump and created some bump maps to add more realism to the plane, specifically rivets and the spacing between the plates of the body.

As you can see, my Crazy Bump Fu still needs a lot of work, but I'll take it because it does add some more character to the model. I also added an alpha map to the cockpit so it looks like glass.

Finally I created the handles which control the wings of the plane. They move in an X pattern across the X and Z axis.

Here's the final rendered version.

All in all, this was a fun, non infuriating assignment. Unlike that ridiculous Bunker Assessment.

- Ryan