Personal Development in Specialist Pathway 
22nd May 2013

I took my test renders to my lectuer to see if they needed ajusting, he suggested a number of points that I would need to change. He is happy with the model but said the textures were letting it down and I agree. The textures on the gloves definitely need changing or touching up in Photoshop. The texture on the helmet also needs to change. He also said the chainmail looked a bit big and that I need to include a background which he has said before.  

He said add the background and use Depth of Field which I have used before.

I have built a background in Maya for the Knight to stand in, I have touched up the texture on the helmet and on the gloves. I have set up depth of field and will be rendering it through the night to get it done, but I have done a few test renders.

I think adding the background alone has made a huge difference already and the Depth of Field should make it look even better, its has taken many hours to get the render settings right but hopefully the image should look as good as I hope. I'm using Mental Ray to render it.

Personal Development in Specialist Pathway 
15th/16th May 2013

My Knight is now fully textured and I am really happy with the way the chainmail has turned out.



The gloves still need re-texturing because they look flat. The tunic looks good, maybe I need to add some dirt to the texture but I'll do it at a later date. My lecturer has suggested that I should add a background in Photoshop and I agree, my last character had no background just the horizon line and it looked boring. He suggested putting the knight in an archway and told me to look at this image for ideas.


. 2013. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://pic.leech.it/i/6a591/4ff74179masteringm.jpg. [Accessed 22 May 2013]. 

The Knight's armour is now rigged, I have not used Ncloth because I couldn't get it to work and it has really frustrated me because I don't understand why. But the model is rigged and I have put it into a pose.

This is the pose I want to go for, this pose with a background will look good and I can't wait to get my final renders finished and see what they look like. I did try other poses but this is my favourite, my rigging isn't that bad apart from on the elbow joints and the fingers. It really doesn't look natural but I don't have alot of time to do much about it.

The final image will probably need touching up in Photoshop, like darkening the visor so you cant see the head inside. The texture on the sword is a bit streched but I'm not to worried about it, I need to see what my lectuer thinks and then I will begin final renders.

Personal Development in Specialist Pathway 
1st/2nd May 2013

I have named all the joints on the rigged and skinned it to the mesh, the mesh move fine apart form on the elbow joints. When the rig is oriented it doesn't bend properly and looks quite horrific, if I have time I will try to sort it out. 

I have made a texture for the chainmail in Photoshop and bump mapped in Crazybump, I have rushed it and just pasted an imaged of chainmail over the UVs but it still looks good.

 When the chainmail is rendered it should look 3D, I did do a test render on the sleave and the texture works quite well. I still need to do a few tweaks with the lighting but I will worry about that on the main renders.

The problem I am having at the moment is moving the armour with the rig, is just won't work. My idea was to make the body mesh (which is rigged) collidable with the Ncloth materials, I tested it a week ago and it worked. Now when I apply Ncloth to the meshs it doesn't work and I cant figure out why, if this doesn't work I will try parenting the armour to the joints.

Personal Development in Specialist Pathway 
24th/25th April 2013

I have created the sword and axe and a shield. I spent some time on the sword adding bits to the hilt to make it look unique, the axe is just something I modelled from a picture and I made the shield in about a minute.

The last thing to do is unwrap the weapons and shield and then texture them in Mudbox, with the sword and axe I will be adding more detail to them and the paint on top of them. Texturing them should not take to long, I have about 3 and a half weeks left to finish the Knight and get it rendered. Once the weapons are taken care of the chainmail will be taken care of. I will use an image of chainmail and make a normal map then apply it to the Knight in Maya.

I have completed the gloves, the texture does look a bit flat and some people are confusing the gloves with hands which is quite embrassing, I will be redoing the texture. I have made a test rig for the Knight, I have not made a full rig before so making a test rig was the best way forward. 

The rig was simple enough to make and I will be using this rig to skin the Knight, I still have to name all the joints so I don't get confused when painting on the influence of each joint to the mesh.  

Personal Development in Specialist Pathway 
17th/18th April 2013

I have been playing around with the plugin Ncloth, its quite simple to use and it basically animates the cloth for you. I have made a flag and put a wind field next to it and the flag looks like its being hit by the wind. I have also applied Ncloth to the tunic and that acts like fabric, I am still amazed how simple the tool is to use and I will be using it for my final renders.  

I have also made chainmail sleaves and textured them in Mudbox but I am not happy with it. The chainmail looks flat, I spent a lot of time trying to get it to look right in Mudbox but its looks flat and its strenched in some places. I have used Roadkill UV to unwrap all my meshs for the Knight, this program increases your workflow and I will be using it for everything. Unwrapping has never been one of my strong points so this program really helps. 

For the chainmail I will have to use a bump map, I may redo the texture in Photoshop and then use Crazybump to make a normal map. I have also created a mesh for the legs as aswell, I have found a preset on Ncloth called chainmail which will be most useful.

I still need to make the weapons and then to unwrap them, the weapons are a major part of the Knight so I will be creating them shortly, the only other thing I need to do is rig the Knight so it can be put into a pose. One thing that has been on my mind is how to get the armour to move with the rig, I have been told to can parent each part of the armour to each part of the rig, I test this once the Knight has been rigged.  

Personal Development in Specialist Pathway 
10th/11th April 2013


I have completed the Helmet, I have added a lot of detail to it in Mudbox and textured it. The polygon count is quite high but I am not worring about polygon limits, but it will affect how much 3D I can do in college since the Imacs can only handle low poly models. 

  
I am quite happy with the helmet, I have also completed the tunic for the Knight, it is a blue and black texture and it does look like fabric.  

I made the texture in Mudbox, I used a fabric texture the create a stencil so I could paint on the fabric. The upper tunic mesh was made from the body and the lower tunic I made from a box. My lecturer has told me about this plugin called Ncloth which could really help me with the movement of the fabric. 
I still need to make the weapons for the knight, a claymore sword and an axe is what I have in mind and I may include a shield. But the next mesh I want to create is the chainmail, I can see that being an issue.

Personal Development in Specialist Pathway 
27th/28th March 2013

Today and for the past week I have been concentrating on development sketches. From what I have been researching I have been taking a lot of reference from history, as I have said before I did want to create something that was completely fantasy but obviously I have changed my mind. I'm not sure why I have shifted from the fantasy theme, a lot of the armour I have looked at does seem unrealistic and the armour from the 1500's - 1600's is more believable. I have looked at armour from the 1100's when the French Crusades were taking place. Knights and Soldiers at the time wore a tunic over their chainmail armour. This is the type of style I have decided to go for and I have drawn it in my sketch book.

I have also drawn other ideas for armour as well, I have drawn some armour from a game called Dark Souls which is a game set in a fantasy world but has a vareity of armour sets which look medieval. Other sources I have drawn from include Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, I have taken screenshots from in the game to sketch from. I have also drawn some of Durer's work - Knight, Death and the Devil, St.George on Horseback and St.George on foot. 

I have almost completed my final design, my lecturer has advised to add colour to my drawings but every time I add colour to anything I draw I do end up ruining it.

Next week I should be starting my 3D models, I'm yet to figure out how I am going to do the chainmail, for rendering sake I may just normal map it on or paint it in Mudbox.

The Helmet will be the first thing I do, I believe this to be one of the hardest parts to model so getting that out the way will be the first step forward and then I'll add detail in Mudbox.