Project 2: BUILD-A-BEAST Screenshots of the lizard, toad, and fungus models (click to enlarge) This project focused on mastering the 3D modeling and animation program Blender, in which I made three organisms - a lizard, a toad, and fungus - that are part of a predatory cycle. The lizard is a fast, small crawler and climber; the toad is a pitcher-plant-like hunter that eats the lizards; and the fungus is a fast-spreading growth that takes root in living or dead toads. All three were modeled and skinned, and the lizard and toad have small animations while the fungus is not animated. It took much longer than expected to assemble the models since multiple parts were made for the head, body, and limbs, which is why the fungus model was finished after presenting the lizard and toad. Each part was modeled to closely represent the characteristics of each organism, and a bit of sculpting was done to add volume to the eyelids and fungus edges. Some takeaways for me are paying attention to what parts need to be modeled versus skinned, and how a smooth versus a geometric look can convey different characteristics. Models of the lizard, toad, and fungus separated into individual parts
For this project, animation was both the most memorable and hardest part. The animations were focused on basic movements since I had limited time to work on this project, so I tried to show the behavior of each organism by making the lizard's head motions more alert and active while the toad was more stationary and lethargic. Rigging the models was easy, but the toad was a bit more troublesome because many parts of the model were incorrectly weight painted onto the front arms. I had to undo a lot of pairing so that the weight paint of the left side wouldn't be mirrored onto the right. Additionally, I found out that the difference in animating body parts that were attached to an axle versus free moving was based on the way bones were added to skeleton, such as extruding versus adding. Overall, I really like how this project turned out. Although the animations were limited, the appearance of the organisms fit my initial vision and the skins add a nice realistic touch. I like how the geometric sharpness of the lizard emphasizes its thin and bony body while the smooth toad emphasizes is large roundness. The fungus was also fun to create because of how different parts were layered and slightly adjusted through sculpting. I feel much more proficient in blender because of my mastery over modeling, and I've learned a lot about adding skins and animations. I feel like it'll be good to study and understand the shapes and characteristics of different creatures for future reference.
0 Comments
For this project, I came up with a small ecosystem centered around a predatory cycle. The respective organisms are the pitcher toad, small crawler, and parasitic fungi. The idea is that the pitcher toad will dig into the ground and can extend to 4-5 times its body size to form a pool of water. Small organisms like the small crawler will come to drink from the pools formed by pitcher toads and succumb to chemicals secreted by the toad. However, parasitic fungi can take root in the mouth of pitcher toads and make the toad unable to close its mouth, which will result in the toad becoming engulfed by the fungi. While the toad is made of warm and earthy colors to blend in with the ground, the lizard and fungus will be more vibrant as they don't need to blend in with the environment. The drafted references to be used for modeling. References used for drafting the lizard, toad, and fungus. Colors of the references are not representative of the colors to be used for the models. |
Archives
May 2022
Categories
All
|