#and a 3D modeling assignment I need to finish

[watery-melon-baller]

lads i think we might be pulling an all nighter for this one 💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪

[n0tamused]

I finished it (insert smug tiktok emoji).

The most basic phone next to Dan Heng.

I love her, your honor. I'm so close to downloading Blender and trying to make her 3d model, although I know it won't be as easy at all. I'll have to stick to these art pieces in the meantime.

Anyhow, hope y'all like it as much as I do ✨

Also the notifications are very much on point for her. So many messages, it's probably payday, but all her assignments are done at least. Girly needs her peace.

Also forgot her hand scars but meh that's alright.

[being-mughal]

Blog Post 3: Final Steps and Reflections

Title: From Blender to Reality: Preparing for 3D Printing

In the final processes of design, I finished with modeling and texturing and then proceed to 3D printing. This involved for example making sure that the model gets the best preparations for exporting on an STL file.

Preparing for 3D Printing: The first effort was to inspect the model for embedded geometry or areas that are too thin and likely to fail during printing. I used the add-on called 3D Print Toolbox in Blender to evaluate the shape of the model and make some changes.

Once the model was validated, I exported it an STL file format this is common in 3D printing .

Challenges and Insights: One good point with this design was that it was uncomplicated, but there were problems with this as well. It did guarantee an easy print but there was always a challenge in how the playfulness of the design would meet functional needs.

Future Plans: In my next update, I intend to add more details in creases and play with the texture of the print. Thanks to this project, there are numerous opportunities for improving the everyday object through artistic intervention.

Conclusion: This assignment was a great opportunity to explore the sphere of three-dimensional printing. I also found out how it’s like to create an object, from the conceptual stage all the way to converting an STL file. Can’t wait till the chick comes out in print!

[sknmannn]

TOKYO REVENGERS OCS:

ZWISCHENZUG

Hello chattt

Sekkun here to apologise for dying due to getting caught up with assignments (3D modelling really got me fucked up) but I finally found time to finish another set of Tokyo Revengers OCs.

Instead of being based off of Egyptian deities, Zwischenzug is based off of chess pieces!! And once again, I will update the refs and repost when needed~

Ah yes, a set of the magic number of six for balance.

Here’s what each chess piece they represent:

-Satoshi Kimura (Pawn)

-Yuuchi Hashimoto (Rook)

-Fumimori Abe (Knight)

-Mamoru Jikuharu (Bishop)

-Fujisada Abe (King)

-Setsuna Rembutsu (Queen)

HEIGHT CHART GO BRR:

Okay so since it’s 3:19am, I’ll do a quick rundown of Zwischenzug.

The only reason why Zwischenzug ever existed in the first place was because of Satoshi’s hatred for Delinquents, ESPECIALLY KOJI (will elaborate in the future)

Rest of the Zwischenzugs were dragged into helping Satoshi’s cause forcefully.

so in contrast to Pharaoh’s Kids being just a rather chaotic but well-meaning group of friends, the delinquents in Zwischenzug don’t really click with one another but there was an attempt to make ends meet for friendships despite all of them have different paths they wanna take..

Satoshi please stop being obsessed over Koji my boy did nothing wrong :(

~TAGGED~

@anemptypuddingcup @star2fishmeg @chejirevv

Dm for add or removal!

[studentbyday]

Day 9 // 100dop

So. When motivation is low and I don't feel like keeping track of time, I am extremely inefficient and I don't get much done. Stayed up a bit later today to do what little more I could squeeze into the night because of that 🥲 Let's be blunt and brutally honest and say that this is very irresponsible of me.

Started lab report

Re-did notes on VB theory so it makes more sense (I hope it still makes sense to future me)

Finished notes on MO theory (I really hope it also still makes sense to future me...)

Almost done 2nd practice problem set and according to my score for some of them, I have to review dipole moments and molecule polarity (the more complex molecule shapes tend to trip me up. Sometimes it's hard to visualize without a 3D model... I tried using the MolView website but it can't seem to make octahedral molecules?? Also, I should not be lazy and ALWAYS draw out the VSEPR structures for these and not be impatient in determining the molecule's symmetry.)

Tomorrow in order of priority, I should finish:

2nd problem set + reviewing weak topics

Assignment

Lab report

Quiz

Band theory of solids

We shall see if I need a kick in the butt in the form of pomodoros (30/35 mins and 5 min breaks if the thought of longer feels "ugh") in which I will ACTUALLY take the short breaks and NOT spend them on my phone.

Day 4: What is your favourite topic within your subject(s)?

Hm, had to think about this one. I'm only taking chemistry this semester (I absolutely cannot take more than that for my sanity) and I think so far, I'd say VSEPR theory because I *LOVE* 3D models and the logic makes more intuitive sense than other topics so far and the shapes are pretty. I learned of some new ones this year and those are so far the coolest. Like, yeah spherical harmonics/orbitals are even cooler than VSEPR...but the quantum mechanics and all that math surrounding them is such a pain in the butt. If I understood the math (which would probably take years), maybe that would be my favorite topic. But VSEPR takes the cake for now. Plus it's a cool acronym. I need more synonyms for "cool".

[sincerely-sofie]

Check-in for October 25th, 2023

Welp, The Present is a Gift has officially broken 8,000 words and is rapidly approaching the 10k mark! Also, fun fact: according to the outline, I haven't even finished writing the first chapter. This terrifies me when I consider the later chapters which have way more plot packed into them.

Despite me writing out a very detailed plan for the project, it feels like I'm learning new things about the characters with every sentence I write. Twig is apparently a big fan of learning weird, obscure words and is sad that her old hobby of reading dictionaries has been dampened by her struggling to learn how to read footprint runes. You think you know a gal...

I spent most of today working on programming assignments and even got a nice comment on a past submission I sent in. In it, I mentioned single vs. double equals signs always tripping me up and causing bugs in my code--- turns out they used to baffle my instructor too! He's able to use them in their proper places without thinking now, which is encouraging. Regardless, I have never felt this audio more keenly than today:

I had planned on getting some practice with 3D modeling for low-poly V-tuber of my persona I've been jokingly working on, but that didn't work out as anticipated. I did spend a while admiring how I went from a giant gray cube to this, though:

Ahhh. Look at that beautiful skeleton. So few polygons. So few worries. If only I could figure out how make the pupils move or make a bow.

I also spent a while reminiscing about how Blender lit up in flames at one point and I didn't understand why it happened or how I got it to stop. That was a fun seven minutes of unadulterated terror.

I'm tempted to get back into Blockbench for its simple UI, but after learning the basics of Blender, I know it'd be unbearable to return to the rigidity of working in a program that's pretty much built for Minecraft modders. I just need to stick with Blender and find a few more tutorials to keep me going.

I will miss the fact that Blockbench automatically puts your model on a turntable and offers to pixelate it for you, though. It makes low poly modeling so cool so fast.

Just look at these things! They're so cool! I made them yet they look like something out of my fave childhood video games!

I tried to figure out Super Mario Paint this morning and ended up with my first finished song from that program. Tried importing a few soundfonts from other sources but had no luck getting them to work, and the song was definitely rough around the edges--- but I'm still really proud of myself for making a quick tune! It was a battle to figure out how to export the finished product, and I ended up just recording my desktop with OBS to get it to capture the sound and video together, then converted that video into an MP3 file. It was a very roundabout process, but still!!! I made a thing!

The Shy Guy and Boo instruments, as their flawless character designs may have you suspect, are vastly superior to everything else contained in the program. You can't change my mind.

Also, I was tinkering around with Chrome Extensions and found the most heartbreaking note in the description for one of them.

Tiny Sidebar developer, whoever you are, wherever you are--- I want to give you a hug and a slice of cake or two. Reading this activated my inner anime protagonist and I want you to know that there are so many good people out there, but they're quiet about their goodness. Bad people are just loud as heck and make scenes wherever they go.

With that sudden sappiness, I'm signing off on this check-in. Take a parting teaser for a future joke animatic as a palette cleanser. Depressed Friend will be Twig, Emotionally Stable Friend will be Celebi.

Sincerely, Sofie

[therealraeweber]

Hey Tumblr! It's been a hot minute, but I wanted to hop on today and share a project I just finished for my digital media class!

Keep reading to see my process of making this dagger!

Our assignment was super open ended, with the prompt just being "Make a project that involves Blender in some way", so I thought doing something mixed media would be a lot of fun. I'm on a mission this semester to start making art for classes that I WANT TO MAKE, and not just tailor to what I think will get me a good grade and what my profs would like. Honestly, could make a whole post about that mission as it is actually more challenging than I had anticipated, but I digress.

For my dagger, I started by making a quick sketch in Procreate to get an idea of what I wanted my model to look like. I got some inspo off of Pinterest, but tired to make the design my own, and something I could feasibly make.

Since I was making this project for a digital media class, and the assignment was supposed to revolve around using Blender, I made a base 3D model for the dagger, which I would then send off to get printed.

I originally tried to model the vines and leaves in Blender, but I had a really hard time with it, since I am still re-learning how to use Blender (haven't used it since high school). So I decided to make it a mixed media project, since the prof said this assignment was very open ended. Plus, doing mixed media would give me a chance to try out foam clay, which I've been wanting to experiment with for a while.

I then sent my 3D model off to my good friend David, who 3D printed it for me. He was even kind enough to send me a time lapse of it printing!

After printing, David also assembled the base for me, but I put glue in all the seams, followed by filler once that dried, and sanded the whole thing down. It definitely could have used more sanding since you can still see print lines in some places, but I was on a strict time crunch to get this assignment in on time.

Then I went in with my foam clay and started adding the leaves and vines on the handle, as well as the leaf details on the cross-guard. I had never used foam clay before (I know... what kind of cosplayer am I?), but I really enjoyed working with it. I had a bit of a hard time getting it to stick to the plastic, but I found that wetting it and then letting it get a bit tacky really helped with that.

The foam clay I bought was from Michaels, and was technically labeled "Modelling Foam", so I have no idea how it compares to the nice foam clay that most cosplayers use. I would have ordered that, but I decided to do the modelling by hand rather last minute, so I needed to buy what was available in store. Overall I enjoyed working with it, but I would still be interested to try the real stuff some time (assuming it's actually different from this).

After letting the foam clay dry overnight, I started painting it. I primed everything with a silver spray primer, then went over just the blade, pommel, and cross-guard with a more metallic silver spray paint. Thankfully, I had enough paint and primer left over from the two angel blades I made in the summer, so I didn't need to buy more paint for this project. I then painted the handle by hand, which was one of the most tedious paint processes I've ever done, but I'm quite happy with the results.

Last up was some clear coat, as I didn't want to risk any of the paint chipping off. I'm also hoping the clear coat will help seal the foam a bit, as I have no idea how foam clay holds up when used on props. I let the sealant dry overnight last night and this morning it was done! And today I took some pictures of it outside to submit to my prof for grading, and to use during our class critique tonight. Considering I was rushing these last steps after 3D printing, it is a miracle I got it done by the deadline. I'm quite happy with how it turned out!!!

Now I'm just hoping that crit goes well tonight! We'll see if my prof thinks this is too much mixed media for a digital media class...

Anyways, hope you enjoyed seeing my process! I know I haven't posted in ages... I have done and made so many cool things this past month, but I've been too stressed and busy to make posts about them. Hopefully I'll have more time to share stuff with you guys soon!

[mitleiden]

The 3D world as it became to be called

I assume everybody knows or at least had hear about 3D printers; it is amazing how technology helps to explain the law. When one sends a model to the 3D printer have to wait until it finish the print. Conclusion: one need to wait until your tool finished the task assigned.

Within each individual lies a realm of immense power, where the seeds of creativity take root. This inner kingdom is where we connect with the universal substance—an abundant wellspring of creative energy.

Thought, though invisible, serves as the masterful tool through which we shape our creations. By acting upon the hidden substance that underpins the entire universe, our thoughts direct, control, and bring forth our desires. This unseen world provides the raw material, and as our minds grasp its reality, we unlock boundless power and endless possibilities.”

[lonelyghosts-stuff]

I need motivation and tips for continuing art. I used it do it so much as a kid but stopped doing it as much for a stupid reason. Someone who I became friends with was a better artist. I was never popular but I had used to kind of be a smidge known in my classes for decent art until she came along and everyone admired her more. Now obvs that wasn't her fault and we actually became friends for a while (until she changed and pushed me away down the line in middle school and high school, but that's neither here nor there). Either way, I didn't do it as much and only did it here and there.

I never really had my own consistent style either. It was all just kind doodles and some full sized drawings. I never did well with humans but did decently with like animals and objects. This was all in a traditional sketchbook too. I eventually started some digital art too as my friend did and she had a natural affinity for it. Once again, seeing myself get outdone. I have a bad habit of feeling like a failure when I am not immediately good at something I try, especially when it is something I really really want to do. Over the years I would have random surges of doing art again but would often get distracted by other things and feel too overwhelmed to pursue the hobbies I like, especially in high school and me now at 21 in college.

I am pursing a degree in animation but haven't even started the actual animation class itself, mostly just the general education requirements and then some other art classes. I finished 2D design, 3D design, drawing, and life art. I feel like my art has gotten decent for objects and animals still, but I struggle with humans. And unfortunately my life art class was pretty awful with the teacher mostly focusing on a few things regarding the body (which don't get me wrong, was helpful at first) and just assigned busy work like 20 skeleton sketches or 10 skulls and 5 full skeletons or whatever and every single class was gesture drawing of the nude models we had and progressing to shading. Again, don't get me wrong, those are definitely important and helped me with improving my skills, but what bugged me was not only how repetitive it was (it felt like my progress plateaued very early into the class as it just became the same thing every time with the teacher not being super engaging), but the fact we never got into the main thing I struggled with when drawing people; the human face.

I am trying to reteach myself how to draw now, having done that life art class like 2 years ago now. I am watching tutorials which have helped a bit, but I think my main issue is not practicing as consistently. A huge factor being motivation. I often get busy so when I have down time, I'd rather do something mindless instead of intentional work like practicing art that I am not gonna like. And when I do draw, even the things I used to think I was decent at like animals and objects and sceneries, I hate them. They look so flat and lifeless and they look super inconsistent style wise when you compare the different aspects of the drawing. It makes me feel unmotivated and scared about my future.

How can I be an animator when I can't even be happy with a still drawing I have made? I adore 2D animation. I adore art. I have so many ideas I can fully visualize in my brain but as soon as pencil touches paper or stylus to tablet, it's like I am a toddler learning how to write. Especially on digital art because I always feel like I am doing something wrong or in the most inefficient way possible. Don't even get me started on the fill bucket tool on drawing programs never actually filling in the full space I want them too and lines never being fully solid and having weird fuzzy edges that make coloring in weird. Even when I try to look up fixes for this it never seems to work (I swap back and forth between drawing in the free program Krita and Adobe Photoshop I have temporarily while in college).

There is the part of me that wants to give up, but then the strong part of me that refuses to because I know this isn't just some random ADHD hyper-fixation I have gotten. It has been a consistent interest of mine since I was in elementary school, fluctuating based on motivation and other external factors, but never something I stopped being interested in. I dunno. I guess I just needed to rant. I need to keep practicing, I know, but I wish I had someone directly next to me at all times giving me the perfect advice and helping me immediately see where I am messing something up or whatever so my improvement can be faster lol. Idk who will even read this. But oh well.

[thefestival]

The Festival - Developer Log 2, 1/03/2024

Hello! It’s been an eventful two months since I last checked in, but I am happy to say that I have made an incredible amount of progress.

As I mentioned in the last devlog, I had two major milestones I needed to complete by the end of the Fall 2023 semester. Those were the script for the game’s pilot quest (codenamed “Hemmingward”), and the second was a prototype environment of the titular festival fairgrounds (pictured above). Today, I will go into more detail on both of these.

Hemmingward

In pursuit of a secret recipe, Nishma is roped into solving a decade-old mystery, and putting a village’s trauma to rest.

This quest starts with Nishma and Gil entering the titular village of Hemmingward, an isolated hamlet tucked away in the woods. Nishma wants to learn the secrets behind their fabled Mandrake Meat, a vegetarian meat-like dish that is incredibly difficult to produce. However, the duo run into a foreign businessman, Helvan Dynicus, who is trying to buy the recipe off the villagers for himself – without much success. Once Nishma and Gil get to talk with the village elders themselves, they learn that the villagers suspect this businessman is actually a former government officer who rounded up all the village men for conscription some fifteen years ago. The elders – Margot, Camaltha, and Eurydice - ask Nishma to confirm their suspicions, and the player can choose to accept or refuse this quest.

I first started work on this quest in early April 2023, beginning a preliminary script in the form of a Twine game in May. However, despite my early progress, I wound up getting bogged down trying to write tons of branching dialogue. I was biting off more than I could chew, and it wasn’t until the beginning of last December that I finally finished a first draft for the quest. Even then, the first third of this quest underwent no less than three rewrites, and the draft sits at roughly 80 pages of dialogue. Writing this first draft was a messy process, but I finally got it done.

With this completed, I can move on to translating the script into a real playable demo. That’s going to be the overarching goal for Spring 2024, and I’ll unpack more of what that entails in a minute. But first, I want to talk about my second milestone.

The Festival Fairgrounds

I made the above image as my final for a class on creating environments in Unreal Engine 5. While I originally conceived of this project as a means of creating an image that could be used for the poster for the game, the assignment guidelines stated that the end result must be explorable by a player. For that reason, I took a shot at fleshing out what the titular festival would look like.

In my vision for the game, the fairgrounds would serve as the last level of the game, where the player’s choices on how to organize the festival would come to fruition, and Nishma would have to run around and complete a series of miniquests centered on keeping the festival running as things get hectic. Most of the chaos will be based on the regular hustle and bustle of your average festival, though some events may be dependent on choices the player made before.

I produced a litany of 3D models for this scene, from the colorful tents to the stone walls to the cathedral in the distance, all the way to the junk that litters the ground. What’s more, I was able to incorporate an asset pack for a dialogue system I got off the Unreal Marketplace (The Defender: Animated Dialogue System Pack by Game Dev Voyager), and even animate Nishma so that a player can navigate the environment as her. You can view a demo of Nishma wandering the scene below:

This took a lot of work the past two months along with the script for the Hemmingward quest, but I am damn proud of the work I put into both. This new year comes with many challenges to overcome, but I can rest a little easier knowing I finished the previous term strong with these two milestones.

Next Steps

For the Spring 2024 term, I will be translating the Hemmingward script into a fully playable quest. It will not have the fully branching dialogue I wanted for this iteration, but it will contain multiple endings as Nishma and the player must decide on a resolution for the villagers’ grievances.

For the beginning of the next semester, two things I need to have in hand are:

1.) a shopping list of every asset and mechanic I plan on incorporating into this demo quest, and

2.) a write-up of all the different characters involved.

For my next developer logs (dates TBD), I will post more about the game’s cast, starting with Nishma Mauranyan, along with the world she inhabits.

[shirogane-oushirou]

okay i need to just make a list i can refer back to or else i'm going to keep forgetting things i want to do for this blog augh.

for the blog itself:

finish tagging posts for villain!ren

go through entire blog and save all oc / canon lore in a document so i don't lose it / have something i can refer back to quickly

write out ren's sister's lore

add an mp3 music player to the blog so i don't have to stress over using any shitty music sharing sites lol lmao ;;

write out the bios for the full profiles on my selfship f/o carrd

set up commission info

make boilerplate for "reblog with your f/o and i'll assign you a ___" posts

and then art-wise:

revisit ren's design -- i'm gathering reference bc i want to potentially re-do his hair based on my initial vision of him vs where he's ended up

make a new reference sheet, but force myself to make it less. like. perfectionist LMAO. i don't need it to be animation turnaround-accurate unless i want a 3d model commissioned or something.

design cass

animatics using sound bites from the cursed voice claim (tm)

comic based on the ren-is-high-post-tooth-procedure ramble i did months ago that i can't stop thinking about

crochet ren doll. at some point. need to find a new pattern argh -- the pattern i initially used SAID to use a lighter weight yarn, so that's what i bought, but once i started working i realized the pictures in the tutorial were all using medium weight that made for a larger doll with more even stitching. which was. super cool. and not at all misleading. 👍🏻 all while knowing i would have just made a fumo plush if i'd had access to that tutorial before buying all of that yarn kjndskfjn

once i have a hot minute to just. do things:

mycology research

learn some basic bitch canadian french. learn to ask where the toilet is or w/e KJNSKFJN

play. fucking. spade. i havent played it at all in MOOOOONTHS i miss my LIZARD BOYFIEEEEEE.

[xxandir]

Strangers Weekly Intro

Welcome to a new weekly blog series that I'm starting largely just as a creative outlet to think not only just in more genres, but to actually get the characters I make into some good stories.

Here's How It'll Work

I'll spin a few wheel randomizers to decide genre, subgenre, class and subclass (as this is based around D&D classes to help inspire abilities, but as you'll see I hang very loosely to standard class fantasies), and alignment.

Then I'll come up with an idea for a character based around these prompts, ideally stretching my creative comfort zone to genres and character archetypes that I've never messed around with before. I tend to stay within Fantasy or the outer reaches of it (steampunk and mythology) with my regular topics, so hopefully I'll have some challenges in expanding.

Third step will be working on on visualizing the character in Heroforge, a website meant for 3D modeling tabletop characters to then turn into miniatures. This way it helps me get a better idea for descriptions and maybe how they think or act. I'll show just the finished product but probably write about the process or key aspects I like the most from it.

Finally, the part that most people will probably care about when it comes to this, I'll write a short story around the character in a world I've made up. Still deciding on if this will all take place in my own world I've created for my campaigns, or if each story will be set in a place I make up for said story.

Now What Would You Get Out Of It?

Well besides getting a peek into creative processes, interacting with a smaller writer, and all the other nice benefits learning-wise that come from this, if any of the characters sound interesting, you can pick them up and play them at your own table!

The character themselves will be pretty system/setting agnostic, with the class/subclass assigned to them being just an idea of their abilities, nothing concrete, and the backstory's places and people will be pretty vague, aside from the short story of course (though with some tweaks that could just be a part of their backstory when you play them!).

Buttttt, for those that do play D&D 5th edition (2014), I will have a character sheet attached if you'd like to just be able to pick up and drop them into a campaign or one-shot.

Kind of Important Notes(?)

I'll be using some classes and subclasses for D&D that are not from the base rulebooks, but from different 3rd party resources (namely Valda's Spire of Secrets by Mage Hand Press and subclasses provided by The Griffon's Saddlebag). This doesn't matter for those that would just apply these characters to different systems as there are probably similar abilities there or ways to reflavor existing ones to fit, or those that are just interested in the creative process and looking for a good short story to read, but for those wanting to drag and drop, that might raise an issues with DM's or groups.

However, I firmly believe that with enough creativity and flavor, you can make ANY type of character using the base 12 classes (14 if counting Artificer and Bloodhunter but even without them) and subclasses. You just need to think outside the box a little bit.

See you in the next post!

[portfoliodocumentationandpitch]

Portfolio, Documentation and Pitch (Aryan Raj Adhikari)

Texturing

Today, I move onto the texturing phase of the entire process. I will be using Substance Painter mainly to texture those assets procedurally. I still need to learn more when it comes to handpainting textures but for now, procedural texturing will do the trick.

Before that, you have to make sure that all of the models are properly unwrapped so that I can export it into Substance Painter. And if you have done a sculpt pass, make sure that you have both the high poly and the low poly models available for baking inside Substance Painter.

Figure 1 (Baking an asset inside Substance Painter)

You can think of Substance Painter as a 3D version of Photoshop. You first bake your high poly mesh details onto your low poly mesh, add layers and fill them with grunge masks and manipulate the channels of albedo, normal, roughness and so on.

Figure 2 (Texture layer setup of stone pebbles)

With this theme, I decided to go with the following setup; a base color with a desired color, two or three variations of relative colors with grunge maps, an ambient occlusion and a curvature generator and a gradient overlay. Try to experiment as much with filters as certain filters really stylize the asset details.

For example, my favorite filter inside Substance Painter is the 'Slope Blur' filter, this allows you to change the grainy grunge details to splotches that look painterly. Manipulating the overlay mode and the opacity of the fill layers does the trick.

Figure 3 (Texture layer setup of the crane)

From here on out, its a really similar process. I add a base layer, add 2-3 variations of color noises with different grunge masks, use the ambient occlusion and the curvature generator and finish it off with a gradient.

For the ambient occlusion and the curvature generator, you need to have baked your model to acquire said respective maps.

Figure 4 (Texture layer setup of the Maoi statue)

You have to make sure that you are UV unwrapping the model properly. If not, this could lead further to texture stretching model, making it a poor model to use in game levels.

Figure 5 (Texture layer setup of the Toy plane)

This is one of the recycled models I created a while back and I needed to completely texture it in a new way. I went for the orange tint as I believed it would complement the theme of the environment really well.

Figure 6 (Texture layer setup of the boat)

Figure 7 (Texture layer setup of the floppy disk)

The floppy disk is also one of the recycled models from an earlier project. This was fairly simple to texture as the color scheme of floppy disks are really straightforward. There were a few issues with texture stretching but since it was not a really focal asset and it would be scaled really small, I paid no heed to it.

Figure 8 (Texture layer setup of the industrial doll)

Figure 9 (Texture layer setup of the metal barrel)

The metal barrel and industrial doll share a similar color palette and it makes sense as they are both rusted. The layer setups are almost identical, with maybe the color of the variations of the grunge masks a bit different.

The metal greebles also share a similar texture layer setup and I just replicated it for each of them.

Figure 10 (Texture layer setup of the greebles #1)

Figure 11 (Texture layer setup of the greebles #2)

Figure 12 (Texture layer setup of the greebles #3)

I will continue texturing remaining assets tomorrow as well. I am really hopeful that I can perhaps try complete the assets completely by tomorrow as I need to move onto the next stage and also make sure that I complete the assignment before the deadline.

[next-caller-game]

Week 21 (16/02/2025)

This week, I wanted to take some time away from the narrative side and focus on preparing next caller for further production after the assignment was completed. Following my desires, I created an excel sheet for required audio assets, so my audio designer could begin working on what would be required. While I don't believe this will be done in time for game implementation, It's important to me on a personal level that when continuing to work on the project the information is as digestible to others as it has been to me while working through this.

I have, at this point, completed most of the things I had set for myself that I assigned during creating the Trello board, ticking off everything as I had been going along. Some things were removed, such as certain 3d modelling and animation I did not have the skills or people to do, as well as forgoing most of the in house audio design to to our composer being needed for other projects. But, I instead utilised assets that were free and found multiple things online to, at the very least, encapsulate the vision. For now, almost all of the writing has been completed, mainly advertisements and caller interactions, and all that's left is to finish the itch.io page, create a presentation, and implement the last of the callers. With such a heavy focus on writing for this project, and with my lack of skills in programming, I find myself in a unique position where my scope has now outlasted my skill set, and I will be moving on with more study on Unreal as I begin to dive more into the side of programming. I am trying to focus on learning the custom events, and hoping I will learn enough to implement these in time, however the timer system I have currently is working and I am pleased to leave it as such if I do not acquire the knowledge fast enough.

[xanthocyanopsy]

Final post

What have you learned about yourself doing this self-directed assignment?

I know now that I took on too large of a course load, I also know that I thought I could handle a lot more than I could. I finished all my courses this sem by the skin of my teeth and I know now that I need to take a lighter course load going into thesis next year.

What did you find to be the most difficult aspect of your chosen assignment? Creativity? Research? Connecting design to research? Craft? Organizational skills? Time management? Something else entirely?

Research, Organizational skills, Time management, and learning new skills were definitely my biggest struggles.

My word was kind of on the simpler side so the research aspect pretty much finished the first class the day I got my word. I tried to do more research but it didn't really help me in anyway because it was either regurgitating what I already knew or wasn't correct.

For time management & organization it was more just my course load that gave me the most trouble. I had 2 printmaking classes that were vary tedious and time consuming a writing class and an field placement study on top of GD4. Im still surprised I managed to get everything done on time.

Id say the only other big hurdle was learning 3D software. Being in graphic design Im much more comfortable working in 2D so when I was 3D modeling even just moving around the program adding that 3rd dimension took a lot of getting used too. I already knew how to do animation and my animation was pretty basic so that wasn't too difficult it just took ages to get done.

What did you enjoy about this opportunity?

I really enjoyed the freedom to make whatever we wanted. Yes you needed a 2D, 3D, 4D, and reflective but other than that the possibilities were endless and Im very grateful for that.

How would you rate your performance over the course of the semester?

Very high to be honest. I think where my semester started to where it ended up was very impressive and although it wasn't perfect I am very proud of the work I have done over the course of the sem.

Hindsight is 20/20. What would you do differently, now that you've had this opportunity to work this way?

Honestly just take less courses. Im pretty happy with all the pieces of my project. Even 4D, a project that I really didn't like until about 2 days until the project was due, ended up being such an important part of my project and even tho its due to the support it got from my 3D element I think that worked since all 4 projects really worked together.

Thank you Paul for helping guide me though the semester. I really appreciate how you never gave discreet answers but just guided us towards a solution for us to find on our own. Although this semester was very stressful I can confidently say it has been my favorite so far and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for me in thesis.

[octadocad]

Writing Initiative #5

Which piece did you present to the class today? How does it relate to the other pieces previously presented?

i completely changed what i wanted to do from the week before. my original idea with the möbius strips was scrapped and i’m doing a abstract piece visually representing how i understand the eight circuit model of consciousness. this circuit was created by psychologists to help understand moments in human consciousness throughout development. i decided to make a piece using points and string to connect these circuits. the string looks loosely connected to each point. at first my plan was to have it straight but i decided to do the opposite to show the unbalanced and imperfect side to the human mind. this is what differentiates from octal which has a lot of balanced and symmetrical meaning to it. but because my whole idea is to connect octad to the human mind, i think showing imperfections in what is supposed to be perfect is cool in a way

Describe 2–3 specific strengths your classmates found in your work and their reasons for identifying them.

i think my group liked my concept! i was with new people that i’ve never talked to before so getting fresh opinions and my idea was nerve wracking but i’m glad went well. they thought this was a stronger connection to the word octad compared to the idea that i had previously, as it still flows and connects to my 2D assignment.

Describe 1–2 specific ways your classmates thought you could improve this work going forward.

i got a lot of ideas to implement into my project with added a monochromatic colour scheme for the string and keeping in the left and right side of the brain as apart of the art. for 4D, similar to what was said last time, i'm thinking too much about 3D and i still don’t have a solid idea for 4D and even reflect(edited)

Consider the remaining outcome you still need to present in the remaining classes; why have you put this one off to the last?

i’m really putting off 4D because i know it’s going to be a most work. i honestly am starting to think my idea is too ambitious and i’m not going to be able to finish it in time. same with reflection, i still have no idea what i’m going to do for that assignment yet.