So! For these past two weeks, we have been making a great deal of progress in character art. For the sake of quality in each of our four characters, we have made adjustments to our schedule to allow for more time, iteration, and troubleshooting of technical difficulties. So, let's peek at what's been done so far!
MIRIA
Miria's retopologized mesh has been completed! She clocks in at approximately 52,795 tris. Ultimately, the ponytail from her initial design was cut and replaced with a bun. This alleviated the additional technical considerations that comes with hair & the additional secondary animation ... along with the presumably long amount of time that would have taken to create hair in a portfolio-worthy quality. Along with Miria's mesh, her UVs have been laid out! And there was already some mesh alteration to reduce the polycount by almost half. She was imported into the UE4 engine to test her scale and how her mesh looked as well. With the mesh out of the way, now we can focus on the rigging process for both the body & the face, along with creating the crystaline texture of her skin.
For the Ley Lines game, we couldn't successfully get the PhysX plug-in to work all the way through. So we don't see it as a worthwhile investment to apply this to Miria for either her cloth or her body physics so we're going to be using bones upon bones for everything. Miria's body rig is a very standard humanIK set-up going on, along with some additional joints for her breasts and her stomach. This would help us to simulate "jiggle physics". As for her cloth ... this piece has its own set of bones. Animators will have a greater control of how it moves against her body, rather than relying on a simulation. After these bones are skinned & weighted to the mesh, Miria will be passed off to Summan so the racial rig process can begin.
There has been a lot of progress on Miria's body rig! She is about halfway completed. Take a peek at the video below to see.
MANTIS
As for the Mantis ... similarly to Miria, the retopology of this mesh has been almost completed! The current polycount clocks in at approximately 41,502 tris. Along with this, UVs have also been completed for the Mantis character, along with its Normal Maps and Ambient Occulusion maps. Once those maps were completed, the Mantis' mesh was imported into the UE4 engine and given those textures. This way, we were able to see for ourselves how this creature would look. It was determined that some of the most minor & finicky details would be painted out in normal texture maps.While the Mantis' engine-ready mesh was being finished, the rigging process began with laying out the rig bones & its hierarchy on a low-poly version of the mesh that kept all of the same proportions.
What's next for the Mantis character? Crystals have yet to be integrated into the main mesh. This will be done in the coming week, attached to the body, UV'd, and properly mapped. After this, the current skeleton can be skinned to the Mantis and he can be fully prepared for animation! The step that will be taken during the rigging process would be to complete color maps for this character. This may take a certain long degree of time, because these maps will be extremely reliant on the target visual style and striving to match it.
GOLEM
The Golem's mesh was the first one out of the four that was completed. When the rigging process began, it was determined that the Golem's engine-ready mesh should undergo some iteration to allow for a greater range of movement for the rig. Because of this, the Golem's joints for his limbs are being reworked. Similarly to the Minion & Boss characters in the Ley Lines game, the Golem's joints will be balls of energy. This disconnection in the mesh would permit for the Golem to have a wider range of motion. Given that he's one of our main combative characters in the entire sequence, having the ability to further exaggerate his movements and make him far more dynamic than he would have been before is something great! And it was an added benefit to have that open communication with our riggers to determine what's exactly required of the mesh & how designs may undergo iteration to accommodate any animation needs.
So, what's next? The Golem is undergoing its mesh iterative process and will be finished within the next few days (estimated date is currently June 3). Then, UVs will be re-mapped, and maps rebaked. In the midst of this, some odd UV locking errors in Maya have been encountered that need a creative solution to work around. Once UVs are mapped, the rigging process can resume and be completed for the Golem. Then we will be able to move on to animation.
So! Yet another round of storyboard iterations have gone by this week. With our last iteration, the feedback we received is that we had a lot of linear camera layouts going on. So, we just made some small-scale changes to the boards to break this up. That way, the linear camera angles we do use won't become too redundant.
For this go around with storyboards, there was some inspiration from some anime fight sequences. Naruto uses a lot of linear camera angles. At the same time, the artists manage to break up these linear layouts often enough so that this doesn't bore the eye. This tends to be a common practice in many shonen anime series.
And here's our revised storyboard ... we have the same number of panels as our last iteration and will be keeping the same timing. This revision was solely for the sake of shifting angles & layouts.
We have acknowledged the very real possibility that camera angles & layouts are subject to change the moment we begin working in a 3D space. Once we have our proxy 3D environment laid out, we will start the process of doing very rough block-ins for animation. Having a visual 3D representation of our sequence will help us solidify our camera angles and what is needed from the environment. Knowing these details will help us make the most out of both our animators and our environment artists.
SPEAKING OF ANIMATION. With the completion of our four characters' engine-ready meshes, it's time for us to move on to rigging and preparing for upcoming animation. A
A rough 3D layout pass has also been created in Maya, in accordance to our storyboards.
MIRIA
RIGGING
Taking these videos into consideration, this is the current state of Miria's body rig:
The bones for Miria's rig are currently laid out! She will also be having a face rig implemented, and we can now begin the process on that. Her model clocks in at 52, 795 tris. We'll be moving on to researching crystal textures for her skin.
Since our last update on the Ley Lines sequence, we had our nearly two-week long semester break. We decided to use this time interval in our schedule to make profound amounts of headway in creating the models for our four characters. Our goal is to begin the rigging process for each of these characters by next week. This way, there will be enough time for our artists to get better acquainted with the finer details about rigging, learn some skills, and truly explore the technical topics they want to learn.
ANIMATIC
One of the things we accomplished over break was the finalized animatics for the sequence. Earlier in the process, we did something of a "live animatic" by acting out the actions that would have occurred in the sequence. This enabled us to try out different actions, angles, and the like without having to redraw storyboards over and over. After this live rendition was edited out so the events would be properly timed, we went on to make our storyboard images.
CHARACTERS
As mentioned earlier, we spent the break making a lot of headway into our characters! Before modeling began, we made the decision to base our cinematic art off of Joffrey Ferrandes's Fireboy piece. This is because Fireboy is a more refined & detailed rendition of the Gigantic art style, which is still a major inspiration behind the world of Ley Lines and its sequence. This will enable our character artists to have more legroom adding in smaller and refined details, something that's absent in Gigantic's art.
Here's a look into some of that progress:
Josh has put in a lot of time and detail into our villainous naga, the embodiment of corruption. The sculpt is finished now! Retopologizing the naga is already underway.
Roselyn is in a similar spot with her golem monster! His sculpt is finished, and he's nearly halfway finished being retopologized.
Alex has made a lot of progress on her sculpt for the mantis monster! The large and the medium detail's complete and she has since moved on to the smaller detail. After that, retopology will begin.
Finally, we have the progress for Miria! Most of the work has gone into her body, and trying to capture all of the skin & muscle detail that goes into her plump body.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
These characters will be completed in the next week for the rigging process to begin. Until then, our technical artists have been researching each of the technical details that will go into the Sequence.
There was a lot of research done on god rays. Tutorials were gathered as references for the Technical Artists to use on how to implement these god rays using meshes, along with the benefits of god rays using mesh made rays VS using fog & harsh sun and sky lighting. It was found that "fog rays" will be good for the background lighting, ambiance, and the environment rafters (the fog will help to imply the height of the entire environment). Mesh rays would be beneficial for close-up dramatic lighting.
Summan has taken charge and learned the basics of the Faceware pipeline. Over this time interval, she has been busy with:
Setting up her own rig in Maya with Retargeter. Through this, she learned what level of articulation is needed for the Miria face rig.
Captured and analyzed a facial performance in Analyzer. She used auto-target for this, so there is still a need to learn how to fine tweak this.
Imported the facial performance into Maya with Retargeter. She will be learning how to manipulate the Motion Capture data now. She will be working with the animators, who have experience in manipulating MoCap data of bodily performances.
There has been a first pass at importing cameras from Maya to UE4. This requires consideration from both the Maya and UE4 sides, as camera settings don't always import into Matinee correctly. We will hopefully have this technical obstacle figured out in the next couple of weeks and, if not, we will find a different route to take.
ENVIRONMENT
There has been some work done on the environment side as well! We have reconsidered the size chart we previously presented for the cinematic. Having three monumental monsters and one tiny Miria simply didn't make sense, essentially. The temple would have been built specifically for Miria's size, as it was meant for her. Taking this into consideration, having three monumental monsters would mean that almost the entirety of said temple would be demolished by the end of our sequence. That situation wasn't entirely ideal or sensible. So, we decided that Miria, the Golem, and the Mantis will be roughly the same size (around 6-8 feet). The Naga will be our largest creature, but not by as huge of a margin as before.
Basic asset lists for the environment have already been crafted. While this list may appear small, our artists are aware that each asset includes its own concept art, 3D game-res model, normal map, and texture maps. What we have currently is:
TEMPLE ROOF - stained glass, architecture
TEMPLE STRUCTURE - archways, supports
TEMPLE EXTRAS - braziers, seats, ribbons, flags
MIRIA'S GARDEN - rocks, plants, dirt, crystals
Our artists have already discussed the technical considerations of the environment with Ashley. For instance: how will the braziers glow? What about the idea of procedural crystals to minimize time modeling each individual unique crystal cluster? What about ribbons and cloth moving along with the breeze? These are all questions already communicated to the technical side and are being addressed. The temple's layout will be inspired particularly by Pantheons, pictured below.
With all of these considerations and plans addressed, our artists have also begun concepting modular objects, the general environment, and how lighting may appear. Katie has also begun work on some color key samples, which will help to influence the environment and its lighting as well. What's next for environment? Begin on proxy art so we can craft our Temple's layout in engine!
Things are picking up as Ley Lines new and improved Cinematic Team decided the story and the amount of characters we wanted to make within this new world. Having four character artists meant to have various living critters to play with. However, none of them are there just to be pretty. No, they will tell a struggling tale, all that centers with the most important figure: Miria.
The Crystal Woman, Miria
Created out of living crystal, Miria is the physical embodiment of life for the planet. She developed a physical form to be one with her creations, often tending guardians as she passed through each temple in the world. She's depicted as a plump woman, with a soft form. This is to represent her motherly status, as seen in ancient fertility art.
As it stands right now, she is not a combat character. Instead is the being that must be protected. Her close companion is the Golem, who sticks by her as she tends to her tasks.
Guardian of Innovation, The Mantis
The Mantis is a swift moving, strong creature with sharp edges. He's partially corrupted due to it's heavy fight against the Naga. His design may integrate signs of technology into his design. He represents innovation and technology.
The Mantis is tied closely with the Golem, as Technology advances with Man.
Miria's Guardian, The Golem
A large, heavy set character who is the constant guardian of Miria. He resembles that of a gorilla, and is the ancient representation of man. He fights with brute strength and is highly protective.
He's intelligent, but rash. He fights against the intruding monsters to protect Mirira, becoming infected in the process.
He's tied closely with the Mantis.
Embodiment of Corruption, The Naga
The Naga owns a snake-like body and is the full embodiment of corruption. With his role and appearance, it hints towards biblical texts involving the taint of evil onto others.
The Naga will be the main antagonist, spreading his 'poison' to the other guardians to become made with evil.
Amazing things have happened in the last few weeks that resulted in a restructuring of the entire cinematic. Now, there's going to be significantly less emphasis on the narrative portion of the entire sequence. This is to enable each and every artist on our current team (which has since expanded!) to both develop and refine professional skills that will strengthen our portfolios and abilities. We have taken into account everything each member of our team wants to personally work on so we could craft a project where every artist can get what they need out of it. The strength of Ley Lines as a world to use for portfolio pieces is that we could conceptualize nearly anything and fit it into the world.
Now, onward to the work that has been accomplished during this time! We have storyboards, schedules, asset lists, and what hats everyone will be wearing.
We want to utilize the size of our time to optimize the quality of our sequence, as opposed to focusing on adding quantity in time. We decided that it would be far more efficient to break up into "strike teams" that are responsible for a key component in the sequence. These strike teams will meet multiple times a week to work together on that key asset. We will meet as a complete team once a week on Fridays to discuss the previous day's critiques and plans for the coming presentation. This will cut significantly on the amount of meetings we will have to attend and allow us to use our limited time in a far more efficient manner.
STORYBOARDS
These rough storyboards were done ahead of the final character concepts so we can take both layout and scene progression into account as early as possible. The flow of this sequence goes as follows: Miria is magically tending to her crystal garden with her Golem guardian/consort at her side. Suddenly, the peace is shattered thanks to a fight between the Snake and Mantis monsters. They crash through a wall and remained locked in combat. The Golem decides to put an end to this fight himself to protect Miria.
Early on Wednesday, we convened to discuss storyboards, scheduling, scale, and final concept designs. We received the final concept art for the monster and decided on the exact scale of each of the monsters (Miria included). We also discussed some content we would like to change for the coming cinematic of the storyboard. The potential changes we discussed were:
1. The Golem attacking both the Snake and the Mantis at once, utilizing its floating hands, to smash them both together.
2. Miria will not be a passive character throughout. Towards the end, there will be a closeup of her face, showing her determination & anger over the situation. It will end with her implied intervention to stop the nonsense.
3. Adding more symbolism of each of the characters (for instance, we were entertaining the idea of the Golem will be a representation of man, and Miria a representation of the planet's life. The Snake will be a representation of corruption, and the Mantis of humanity's progress). We will try to include some celestial aspects to the environment to further communicate that this is in another realm entirely.
Our sequence will be staged similarly to a trailer so we can have quick cuts to dynamic scene after dynamic scene. Doing it this way will make it far more efficient for animation, so we can make the fighting scenes much more precise. This will also allow Technical Artists to utilize more effects, and for everyone's work to be showcased equally.
In conceptualizing this scene, the Storyboard artists examined the Tales of Symphonia opening closely:
What does this opening include?
1. Establishing environmental shots.
2. Quick cuts to the action.
3. Establishing the breadth of this world through implication. There is just enough content present for the viewer to be curious why everything is happening the way it is. Because we're honing in more on the action, giving just enough to the viewers will be our priority.
As for timing? We are currently looking at a sequence that's approximately 30-40 seconds in length.
LAYOUT REEL
SCHEDULES
We want to use this portfolio piece as a means of applying to fall internships, so we have kept this strongly in mind when arranging our schedules. The beginning weeks will have a heavy workload for the character artists as they would need to get their characters completed as quickly as possible to allow rigging to begin. After these three intense weeks of working on characters, they are scheduled to have a week break (if they desire to use this to work on Capstone) and will then proceed to work on the extensive environment with the artists in charge of that. Because there will be many macro and micro elements incorporated in the environment (and all of which will be portfolio quality), this is why we think six artists working on this at one time will be necessary. This way, we will also be able to focus on making our already expansive environment detailed and full without having to worry about sacrificing quality. Also, given the difficulty that may come with initially finding work as a character artist, it will be best for them to build on this skillset as well.
We have begun looking at some inspiration for the movements of each of our characters - though none of these are currently set in stone. For the Mantis, for instance, we have been looking at some Capoeira videos. This fighting style relies heavily on being constantly in motion (even in "idle") and the increased agility that comes along with this.
GOLEM
One of the most important characteristics about the Golem we want to convey is weight. He's a hulking, slow, but powerful mass in comparison to everyone else.
SNAKE
The Snake creature is a little tricky in that we will have to incorporate both human and snake-like movements in his animations. One immediate reference that came to mind was Scar from the Lion King, chiefly due to his mannerisms. He can convey his malevolence without overacting, though his personality gears towards being more theatrical. We have also found some animation references of a naga character to use as reference!
MIRIA
Rose Quartz from Steven Universe has been a big influence for Miria as a character. She's a great reference for us to use because she's motherly, graceful, but powerful all at the same time. So we have looked to her as our initial inspiration.
Because we plan on using Motion Capture for Vala in the cinematic as we have for her in-game animations, our Animator was busy this week finding some reference videos specifically for the Grand Centipede himself. She closely studies the movements of real centipedes in preparation, ahead of our beginning on animation.
In regards to Vala, Kelly began working in MotionBuilder during our animation class this week to familiarize herself with the interface. She has also been working with and familiarizing herself with the MotionCapture data clean-up process on Vicon Blade 2.0 through video tutorials.
The Ley Lines team has captured some potential motions for the Cinematic during their last shoot. These current takes will be acting as a proxy to practice on until our story reel is fully cemented. Next week, Kelly will be acquiring this MoCap data and begin work on creating a simple MoCap clean-up test for the purpose of becoming proficient in the cleanup process. She will become very familiar in the entire animation pipeline process to be as efficient as possible by the time the actual animation begins.
LIGHTING
For this week, our Lighting Artist discussed the creation of 3-point lighting rigs (concerning key lights, fill lights, and blacklights) with the Technical Director. The current lighting plan would involve an overall fill light to establish the scene with key & back lights parented to the camera.
Alex also discussed lighting dynamics with the Layout Artist so we could establish the moods laid out in our storyboards & story reel. The overall lighting of the temple is meant to be ethereal yet ominous. "God rays" will be particularly utilized in this environment. The purpose of these rays is symbolic of there still being some trickling rays of hope in the midst of seemingly hopeless and irreversible destruction. Our overall lighting scheme will have plenty of moments of dramatic lighting and high contrast. Our Lighting artist has also drawn some examples of what our light scheme will look like in the cinematic.
Some examples of Temple lighting.
SOUND
Like JCVD, I split myself between immense trucks seemingly moving backwards while racing towards the proverbial sunset of production, all in the name of sound.
Sound Designers are responsible for providing any required sounds to accompany screen action. They work closely with the production mixer, sound supervisor, the editor, and the director to create original sound elements. They may work with the director to create the entire soundtrack, or be hired just to create one kind of effect.
Most Sound Designers are experienced sound editors who often carry out a managerial role. They may supervise the work of the entire sound post production process as well as having a specialized role in creating the sound concept for the production.
Sound effects are added after filming during the editing process to give the film an authentic sense of location or period, or to give it a particular mood. They may be employed by audio post production houses, or work on a freelance basis and provide their own digital audio workstations. They are also likely to own their own recording equipment.
Good communication skills are needed, along with imagination and creative flair to produce original sound elements and effects. The ability to accept direction and work well with others is also important. Sound Designers must have a good understanding of acoustics, and an expert knowledge of sound recording and analog and digital editing techniques.
Sound Designers are enthusiasts who have usually spent years recording and experimenting with everyday sounds before entering the industry. They often progress from being runners in picture or sound cutting rooms, or in audio post production facility houses, to becoming assistant re-recording mixers or assistant sound editors providing backup to experienced sound editors. They may also have a background in music or may have learned their editing skills working in television production. Many Sound Designers are also supervising sound editors, or re-recording mixers.
There are 1898 members with the job title Sound Designer on Media Match.
This week, the team had to reevaluate our storyboards and search for a better way to enhance the story. The Production coordinator and myself spoke to Chris, one of the faculty for this project, on how we can accomplish this. This allowed me to figure out some ways to further elaborate how this cinematic should look like.
Aside from ensuring that the leads of the Character, Environment, and Technical Design understood the initial style guide for this game, we also looked into the game Gigantic for further inspiration and overal look we are shooting for. Simple, clean, and expressive characters will be needed for this project. Their understanding of the style showed even further with their assignments for the week. THE LIGHTING
Lighting is something that's extremely important for this cinematic. A lot of the tone and mood will be described through lighting and effects, not only with sound. Some of the references for this that was provided to them, alongside the style guide, was a few stills grabbed from animated series. With these examples, they lighting crew understands that there will be multiple uses of lights.
One of the important aspects is to incorporate the sky lights, also known as God Rays, into the scene. Wide variety as seen in picture two, but strong and dynamic as seen in scene one. Sharp shadows that's done as cell shading.
THE CHARACTERS
The Character artists had to do a character study. Examining the shape and color language and how that will be incorporated into the 3D environment. Both the centipede and the heroine Vala will have to have be examined fully [ look below ]
THE ENVIRONMENT
The Environment artists have to look into the shape language as well as color usage. More importantly, how the dark and gloomy aspect of the Calcified world would appear on screen and how a Purified one will look. All the while keeping simple shapes and that painted style the LeyLines team are shooting for [ look below].
ENVIRONMENTS
For this week, the Environment team discussed advancements in the storyboard shots with the Layout Artist and developed understanding of game assets and concept art through discussion with Ley Lines Environment Artist. Thought modularly in terms of game assets that would be plotted around sets to exhibit the character and purpose/aura of the temple. Have to consider exhibiting scale with repetition of assets--obscured low poly small scale versus large scale within shrine in relation to Vala.
Considered color scheme transitions from cursed period to purification scene--stark contrast will be everything.
Explored shape language throughout environment elements between Ley Lines and Gigantic. Both carry rounded arcs in terms of shape language. These arches lead the eyes upwards to emphasize the scale of the temple setting. This shape language will tie into the concept of rule of thirds. The camera frame can be mapped by a grid, and we consider the relationship between different elements of the environment. As a result, we will be decisive about which elements will exhibit Ley Line's aesthetic and what those mean for the narrative as it flows.
Considered use of low poly versus high poly details dependent on the relation between the camera and mapping of sets. Details will be obscured for scenes with emphasis on the expanse of the floating temple, and the intricate details in closer frames in relation to camera.
Initially brainstormed a solution for Vala's transitional scene from inside the chamber to the exterior balcony--Steffen and I fully realized the solution of featuring a silhouette figure from the torso up that would seem to move on an incline. As a result the solution was a complete silhouette of half of a torso that ascends a silhouetted staircase, and complete emphasis on the transforming environment--However with changes to the storyboard, our team has come up with more profound ending that will ease the technical route and instead allow more emphasis on the environmental transformation and mystery of Vala’s character.
CHARACTERS
First, we identified how many characters we had in the game. We were able to agree upon two; Vala and the Centipede, who is the final boss in the game.
After identifying our characters, we began our study of characters by deciding on how we wanted our characters to look. We were given two options: Stick with Leyline The Game's art, or create a style of our own. We opted for the latter and decided to create a more stylistic approach to our characters.
The perfect look and feel of our game that we decided on was from a game called Gigantic.
Gigantic uses simple shapes to create visually appealing stylized characters.
Let's explore these shapes and apply them to our characters. Let's start with Vala.
Vala is presented as a lithe and agile feminine character. Gigantic has many females, but one seemed to fit more than the rest.
Tripp.
Tripp is a female assassin who encompasses all the attributes we see in Vala. We broke Tripp apart to her simplest forms as a shape language.
Her shape language was ALMOST perfect! When only looking at shapes on Tripp, it is hard to determine if Tripp is a male or female. We wanted to make this attribute a bit more obvious.
Luckily, Gigantic has another female character: Vadasi.
Vadasi certainly has hips that do not lie. Looking at her silhouette, it is easy to tell Vadasi is a more feminine character.
So lets take her shapes....
And put them on our new Vala.
Ta-da! Perfection.
Now lets apply this shape language to our own design for Vala.
Vala now has her own design created from simple shapes and is easily recognizable as a female.
Now to address our other character... the Centipede.
The Centipede is a bit more difficult to tackle, but once again, Gigantic has another creature for us to reference: Grenn.
With Grenn being very snake-like, we are easily able to apply these shapes to our Centipede.
Breaking down the shape language, we are able to see that Grenn is made from trapezoids that alter in size with every other angle. This creates fun and odd angles that we can use for our Centipede.
Currently, the Centipede is under design revision on the game, however when he is done getting designed, the bug will get designed again into simple more fluid shapes.
Technical Considerations: Some technical considerations we addressed were rigging Vala's scarf, and how to approach building the Centipede. The length of the Centipede directly correlates with a large crystal in the environment, so we will not be able to directly guess how long the Centipede will be. Because of these, we are considering a modular approach to the Centipede to be able to add segments where we need.
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
This week, I focused my efforts on a first pass of the glowing crystal shader, seen below. It emphasizes a simple but interesting look and feel, utilizing a normal map and a color picker. As needed this shader will be expanded and improved upon to achieve the desired effect, such as texture maps for the diffuse or more open controls for the glow amount and speed, for example.
I was also approached about Vala, who may have loose fabric throughout her design. I'll be researching the topic more in the coming weeks but the goal is to have quality cloth simulation on the character where ever desired.
