Model Update

As some of the other modules have finally passed their deadlines, I can start focusing my efforts on the dissertation project a bit more again. The week after the Masterclass hand-in was spent catching up on the two other projects that are due in soon, and great progress was made especially in the Machinima module. This week I went back to work more on my module, and from the start of Easter, I will stick to a more organised timetable of 2 days dissertation, 1 day group project and 2 days machinima. Hopefully this will allow enough time for each project to finish according to deadlines. As dissertation is the last module due in, it is also the one most likely to be put aside to allow time to work on other projects.

Although I am nowhere near the stage I was hoping to reach by Easter, I am confident that I will be able to finish the project according to the details stated in the accompanying documents.

For the last few days, I've been working on modelling the dragon in 3ds Max. It is not yet anywhere near finished, and while this amount of detail would be sufficient enough to export into Mudbox, I want to spend a bit more time in 3ds Max first and add some smaller details that will make the sculpting process easier in the long run.

 I started the model by adding the blueprint linearts onto planes. These act as guides for modelling. The base of the model was made using two 8-segmented spheres, which were connected together and shaped to fit the dragon's body. The larger sphere make up the chest area of the dragon, while the smaller is the hindquarters.

I drew a smooth line in the shape of the tail and extruded the end polys of the sphere along the line. 

 

 

Tail after extrusion.

With the help of the soft selection tool, I could move vertices around whilst affecting neighbouring vertices to create a more natural curve.

The head was created in the same way as the tail; first a line was drawn, then the end polys of the sphere were extruded along the line and with some tweaking of the settings, the shape was almost right. Of course, the head required more vertices being moved around to match the outlines.

The forelegs were created by using "inset" on four of the middle polys of the sphere. A section of the inset was then extruded to create the beginning of the arm and the elbow. The extruded segment was made planar to ensure that it was symmetrical and extruded along the shape of the leg.

With the basic shape in place, I could start moving individual polys and vertices around to make sure that the leg followed the shape on the lineart, and looked good from all angles.

The same was repeated for the hind legs as well, although the process required a lot more thinking and accuracy. The hindquarters were rotated to fit the shape and inset. The inset was then extruded out and down to make up the shape of the leg. The tricky bit was making the leg the right thickness, as the top part was too thin after the extrusion.

The dragon so far with symmetry and turbosmooth.

Without wireframe.

It doesn't exactly look like much at the moment, but the basic shape is there and I'm pretty sure this is the sort of stage that my horse model was transported to Mudbox at. The next step would be to add more detail in the head area as well as claws, spikes and finally wings. I'm still not entirely sure how much of the horns and spikes I want to add at this stage, but I'm sure it's easier to add them in 3ds Max than in Mudbox, as I remember from my last Mudbox project that it was hard to make anything spiky and curved, like claws for example. Simple straight lines are all right, but curved ones are trickier. Hopefully I'll be able to add them in 3ds Max instead and avoid the problem completely.

I'll hopefully work on it more on Monday and Tuesday, and I'll update the blog afterwards.