For the last two days I decided to challenge myself with more texturing and this time on the props and some of the ornament details that will be used on the characters. I got more into Mudbox and used Normal or Displacement maps to plug back into Maya. I am not very pleased with the colours of the tree, especially the gold outline,but that is something I need to work on. Also make it look more like an enamel. Hopefully, our environment's look will be sorted out during next week.

And a few closeups of the trees with different bump values of the inner colour and specular values of the gold.

I am very excited to be texturing Hemmy this week. This is probably the most complicated texturing I've worked with so far since I've been relying on more basic shaders and colours so far in my projects. I experimented with mia material x and phongs to get a glossy outcome for his basic, sculpted-looking skin. However I found it quite hard dealing with mia material x when it comes to bump mapping and plugging it into layered shaders, so I used a phng which works in a similar way. 

My next step will be to make his specular maps more green and work on his sculpted 'mane', and ornaments in Mudbox. Exciting times!

Some render tests and Texture Maps.

Some more progress updates. The bird/ amber mimicking eyes are a placeholder. The planes will be cared for when texturing is arrived at. Base head texture will resemble hair colour.

Initial to current W.I.P. (Reduced plates in spine; decreased her mature facial structure. Created a more cartoon; fickle and fey look) Inflated pupils and bubbly features help to import these traits into the model.

Edit: Will include progress shots tomorrow.

UV mapping Hemmy and finding ways to cover the seams was a slow process. I did some quick render tests to see how I can 'weave' in the seams without making them look too obvious. Also I did some changes in the geometry around the joint areas and in between the toes to enable easier rigging in  the future.

Next step will be to work on his main skin marble-like texture. 

To breakdown what we will be assessed on for the first criteria of our project, meaning character design for the Minor, I made a Checklist that we can go back to and edit along the way. This list will be treated like a Character Bible by looking back at how we presented our last year's characters' pipeline. So here is what we could could consider for the Characters and any other project related work.

Character Bible Checklist

2D

-Character Bios

-Initial Character Sketches and Visual Development

-Final Turnarounds and Concept

-Expressions

3D

-Modelling Progress

-Textures

-Lighting/Rendering tests

-Rigging techniques

-Blendshapes

-Rendered Poses of  Characters

Footage Outcomes

-Final Turnarounds with possible animation before or after the ‘spinning’  (Wireframes, Ambient Occlusion, Silhouettes, Final Textured Model)

-Screen recorded demos of the Rigs

Other project related Work

-Final PreViz

-Resolved Environment Design (Texturing, Displacement Mapping, Lighting tests)

Minor Project- New Proposal

Minor Project- Interim Crit Presentation

After adding in the cheekbones around Hemmy's face he looks much more pleasant. His body had to go through some minor changes to function properly. Also, the front row of his 'hair' is modelled and the rest are just pyramids penetrating his head geometry.  It will be a lot easier this way to sculpt individual pieces and  place them on the main model. Next step is texturing and sculpting in Mudbox.

We have eclipsed the half way point of the project. I have work experience early December that is likely to hinder the later production stages of Kinnaree in some way or another, so while these concepts are clear but not final, my aim is to take measures and kick-start production. Realistically, there is a lot to achieve in the next couple months so this becomes something of a timing scenario. As I'll be modelling Kinnaree, these are some generally referred measures that will hopefully contribute to the benefit of the project. It will be easier to get a sense of what is working and evaluate it in 3D.

Also, Justin explained here the design features of Kinnaree that has helped envision/ steered her design into 3D.