Unreal Engine Environments

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Initially I was just getting the lay of the land, experimenting with the foliage tool, the different assets that I could use, what trees looked the part and how the lighting interacts with the environment, the lighting will help a lot with the colour of the scene and considering colour is an important part of the story, so is the lighting in this case.

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Experimenting with composition and assets I patiently composed a number of different shots with different arrangements and formations to make the scene interesting as a setting for the physical encounter between the rebel and the boy. I wanted something reminiscent of a photograph, looking at different photos online and different photographers portfolios of their journeys through rain forest, how they composed some of their shots.

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I played around with the sky dome, to recreate skies more reminiscent of an early morning, that being said however, the skies in the scene behind the forest dont recreate the same colour of the storyboards or create that ominous setting evocative of the physical altercation between the boy and the rebel. The scene has to set the mood so the colour needs to be more akin to that of my storyboards, I need to be sure to keep coming back to the source material and not stray from the original vision and foundations of that. The forest has to be denser, foggier, more atmospheric.

Contextual Research

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  Border Ranges National Park

Initially the environments that I was creating were looking too much like a forest, I wasn’t getting those Rainforest vibes that I needed, and so I was doing the best I could with the resources and models that I had, I was looking at my research and trying to characterise what makes a Rainforest a Rainforest, what plants and trees were there, what the ground was like etc.

In the research its apparent that there’s a lot more foliage, tall foliage and twisting, crooked huge trees, leaves covering the ground, mossy rocks and rivers and ponds.

Like the greats do when they characterise a person and include and accentuate their most noticeable and prominent, important features, I had to do the same with the environment. Include the essence of the Rainforest into my environment. The things that made a Rainforest.

Second Attempt After Feedback

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Quixel

Using quixel megascans and the bridge application I was able to quickly and conveniently acquire more Rainforest type assets and really start to create something like an African Rainforest. Unfortunately because there wasn’t many rain forest like assets available on the store and really just more woodland forest type assets it was rather difficult to get to the point were it was believable but I believe I did a rather good job considering the circumstances, it looks a lot more akin to a Rainforest than the previous renders.

Gerard said that it was important that I don’t stray too far between the style of the silhouettes and the rather simplistic aesthetic at the beginning of the film and wander too far into recreating something too realistic. He suggested that I flatten the colour a little, so that you don’t see every fine detail on the trees, rather to have the shapes and silhouettes of most of the nature and keep the focus on the characters.

I completely agreed and remembered to refer back to my storyboards as reference so that I don’t start straying again from the original idea. The flattening of the colours and the silhouetted trees around the characters was more consistent with the style of my story-boarded concept.

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After playing about with the composition a little, I wanted to set a stage for the altercation. I didn’t want anything obstructing the view of the characters or being a distraction in the scene, so I decided to trim down the foliage a little and remove some of the trees. It still maintains the look of a Rainforest though and is a clearer stage for the most important scene in the film.

Character Modelling_Main Antagonist

ZBrush

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Using my original model as a base I wanted to sculpt more details on it; so that when I bring it into Marvellous Designer I can achieve that more realistic appearance and fit to the body that I’m going for. With Marvelous it simulates the textures of real clothing so I wanted the pectorals and biceps to be visible under the shirt. It will help create that buff, powerful look that will contribute to the frightening and intimidating characteristics of the main antagonist.

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I perhaps spent longer on the model than necessary, fixing small issues but as well as the challenge I also wanted to consider what I can use for my portfolio and showreel. It means its closer to a finished sculpt now; I’ll not need to fix it up as much later down the line.

The earlier versions of the sculpt were more of an écorché model like the research I presented in the last post. That however was to properly accentuate the models strong, muscular physique so that it would be noticeable under the clothing when I take the character into Marvelous.

Uldis Zarins’ book on Anatomy of Facial Expression

Henry recommended to me that I go to the Library and check out Anatomy of Facial Expression, so I did. He had explained to me as you can see below that people in different parts of the world have different shaped skulls etc and that if I am to properly and accurately sculpt my characters I should consider what attributes an African skull and face include.

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African skulls have more rectangular shaped orbits when compared to European and Asian skulls. The nasal aperture is wide and the nasal bridge is very flat. The jaw protrudes significantly from the rest of the face so I kept this in mind when sculpting my head model. That being said I could take artistic liberties and I had my reference photos of African males to work from too.

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I modelled the head separately before I put it on the model. With the head combined with the rest of the body (so that there was no seams) it meant that I was losing definition in the face. So I wanted to separate the head from the body to get a more refined and detailed face so that after I clothe the model I can delete the body underneath to reduce the poly count and have a more detailed and refined face for the animation.

FiberMesh

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After the head was sculpted I was just playing around with the fibermesh hair, for fun really. I thought that it was perhaps unnecessary and really rather more of an inconvenience to have to export from ZBrush to maya, exporting the curves recreating it on maya and then importing it to unreal. Its still a possibility if I have time and it looks really cool but I have prioritise my tasks and do what it is necessary first before experimenting with inessential details. Still a cool feature and one that I’m comfortable with, so I’d love to come back to it at some point.

Another thing I was curious about and experimented with a little was the AI Skin shader on ZBrush just to get a insight into what the character will look like with the skin texture before I have to retopo, UV Map it and texture it in substance.

Retopology with 3DWrap

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I imported the high density model of the head into Wrap3D and using the node editor I synced up the imported “Retoped base mesh” and my high density one. I plotted the numbered points on both heads and afterwards I simply hit compute and the software Retopologised my model.

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Marvelous Designer

After I had sculpted the character I brought the combined model into Marvelous to simulate the clothing. I hadn’t used Marvelous before so it was a bit of a learning curve for the first few hours but I quickly became accustomed to the way it worked, like most things patience was the key.

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I originally sketched out the dimensions of the T-Shirt and sleeves to use as a template to help me out a little, rather than just eyeballing it. I’ve attached the video tutorial I followed below if you would like to follow my process, rather than me going through each meticulous step.

For the Cargo trousers it was a lot more difficult and time consuming, I wanted to make them look like actual cargo trousers and not sweat bottoms or jeans, so I had to humour the details a little like the pleating on the pants, the hem, the side pockets and most annoying and time consuming of all, the pleated pockets. Which was challenging but rewarding once I had finished them, I think they look pleated and I’m glad I took the extra bit of time to include the smaller details of the trousers. Again below I’ve attached the video that I used to follow along.

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I did a variety of different T shirts for the model just to compare and contrast and see what would look the best rather than just going for the first one that I create. I also did the same for the trousers, I just had 2 different versions because I knew how I wanted the trousers to look but after playing around with the particle distance I was able to increase and decrease the the amount of creases in the trouser leg.

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I did the jacket the same way I did the T shirt, I just increased the length of the sleeves and changed the fabric to Denim for more strength similar to a jacket. I also mistakenly omitted the trousers from the model the first time, so I had to go back in and re-simulate the jacket with the trousers on the model so it would rest over the trousers authentically, without having to manipulate anything in ZBrush.

The collar was tricky, there was no tutorials on how to do it so I had to figure out how to do it myself but I feel as though I was successful and I’m happy with the finished result.

Head Remodelling

After I sculpted and retopologised the head I decided I just wasn’t feeling the look of the Main Antagonist character anymore. Probably a silly thing to do considering the characters face will most likely be shrouded in shadows through most of the film I still decided to sculpt and retopologise another head. It only took me a day so I it didn’t hinder my progress too much.

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Doing the exact same process as the other head model, I wrapped it on 3DWrap and after consulting Henry about the mesh, I was concerned it was maybe still too high and I might encounter some issues when I’m rigging. Henry suggested that I just deleted a few of the edge loops and it should be fine, so I just deleted every other edge loop on the face, it should help a lot with the re topology. And I can just smooth it out on maya before baking the animation.

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I used Zremesher and the re-topological brush to retopologise the clothes. I can UV Map it easily on Maya.

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I also uploaded the Model up to the Mixamo website to view the character in some different action poses before I rig him, just to get more of a look and feel to the character.

Sculpting Influence & Research

 

Philippe Faraut

On top of the immensely talented 3d sculptors I watch online, I also like to learn from some of the most talented clay sculptors. Although its different technical mediums, I think the techniques and methods are very much applicable with digital sculpting. Philippe Faraut is a great example of talent. I like his methods and like to apply similar techniques to my models. He is great examples in his book Figure Sculpting: Planes & construction techniques in clay. 

Anatomy Research

Form and understanding of anatomy is irrefutably important when it comes to a good human sculpt. Because I was sculpting from scratch I found it useful to block out the model planarly, using planar models as reference for correctly and helpfully blocking out the face.

After blocking out the model using the planar reference, and softening the hard edges I can add the different muscle groups. I made sure to properly familiarise myself with the male anatomy and the muscular system to really enhance the detail and correctness of my model.

I had a lot of different anatomy and muscle references so I included a Pinterest board below that you can take a look at. Its were I save all my references and the ones I use as reference for my sculpts.

 

Colour Research

Paper Girls

Paper girls is a time travel adventure steeped in nostalgia. I like the diverse kaleidoscopic range of pastel colours the comic uses. I understand completely that this veers considerably from the nature of my animation but the techniques that Matt Wilson uses can be translated to my animation. His consideration of his use of colours and how he quite beautifully imbues one or 2 colours in the entire image or page. Its an interesting technique and one that I want to incorporate into my animation.

I like how the pages of the comic use a restricted colour palette. There isn’t an excessive amount of colours and the careful consideration of what colour is being used can emphasise the scene, the mood and the emotion, what have you. It conjures a mood, the colours invoke an implicit interpretation or explanation of the scene and this is a powerful use of colour. As seen in the image below as well, the skies are a big part of the scene and if you refer back to my storyboards you can see that the skies are a big part of mine as well. Its a large part of negative space that you can fill up with stimulating colours that if considered conscientiously, can denote a lot of implicitness. The right evocation of emotion in my case can contribute to a more lugubrious and heavyhearted scene.

 

Alan Moore

Because of the bitter and sorrowful characterisation of my animation I wanted to look at a novel with a more depressive and ill-fated overtones. Although Moore indulges in more of a horror motif, I thought that although Moores is fictionalised horror my narrative doesn’t wander far at all from non-fictional horror. I thought that looking into the colours and lighting that Moore uses in his novels could be a good indication of how I could evoke a frightening, eerie and chilling mood or ambiance to my animation.

Jacen Burrows similarly uses a restricted palette a lot of the time. The sky with its apocalyptic connotations and subliminal associations, plays a large part in the cover art of providence. Moore is another good example of the powerful and visual metaphorical usage of colour and light to evoke certain moods and in this case, a forsaken malevolence. I’m hoping to employ these use of techniques to my own animation and take inspiration from Moore and Burrows. I can replicate African skies but with some creative liberties and a respectful adherence to continuity I can use colour to invoke a little metaphorical malevolence and fear in my scenes in accordance with the narrative. It will be more difficult without dialogue so I need to employ all the methods I have to contribute directly to my intentions.

I’ve also included some powerful images from Moores Providence & Neonomicon as an example of menacing lighting (below). The lighting in these instances is a symbolic representation of the characters malevolence, his evil. The lighting draped of the face concealing their identity can also make the audience skeptical, untrustworthy, anxious or frightened of the character and through the use of these lighting techniques incorporated (hopefully successfully) into my own animation I can add a wickedness, a viciousness and corruptness to the antagonist.

American Vampire

Light plays another important role in animation. Another influence of mine was a graphic novel I read recently called American Vampire. I liked the ominousness and the mysteriousness of the lighting (above). How the lighting evoked an enigmatic and macabre mood throughout the novel. It lent itself well to the menacing and eerie personality of the novel. The characters in the stills above are still silhouetted but the light adds a new dimension of appeal to the image. More meaning, more symbolism, more allure, impression and impact. Light can add more dimensionality, rather than always having my characters completely silhouetted, I hope to experiment similarly to this with light.

Waltz With Bashir

Yuan suggested this film to me as an example of an animation that tackles more serious themes and isn’t for children but rather for adults. Waltz with Bashir is an animated war documentary drama about the 1982 Lebanon War and the story of Ari Folman when he served as an infantry soldier. This movie is truly like no animation I’ve seen. Its a beautiful work of art and its style and design is quite dissimilar to that of any other animated film. Its use of colour and light techniques in order to enhance the experience of the film and embellish the message is remarkably done. The film is able to use light and colour metaphorically and symbolically. I can apply techniques similar to these were applicable and use similar imaginative and creative methods to help really imbue that message and the emotions I’m trying to evoke. I also hope to incorporate a diverse colour palette in my own and that each part of my film can have its own palette.

A quick exchange with Alec

Just before the feedback I had an opportunity to explain to Alec what I was doing and briefly show him some storyboards. He informed me that he had heard on one of the podcasts he listens to that in ’98 when Kojima was making Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation 1, that the team had trouble with the eyes on the characters and due to the limited (in comparison to now) technological resources it was difficult to keep that realistic aesthetic to them. So as a solution to the problem they used shadows over the eyes to make it more mysterious and ominous in conjunction with the theme of the game which ultimately worked well and quite appropriately. He suggest that I do the same, he thought it could work quite well with what I was going for and I agreed, decisively I settled on it as part of the style which additionally would save me any concern over how the eyes look in the scene, considering how I’ve already been perturbed over the how the eyes will come out.

Metal Gear Solid (PS1) 1998

An Idea

When choosing from any of these abundance of important and sensitive subjects, you could argue that any topic could be interpreted as a random choice. Although something closer to home may seem more appropriate and more applicable to me as a person, issues like homelessness or mental health issues for instance, I’ve seen these topics chosen over the past couple years by other students in their final films, including some friends of mine, therefore I thought I would choose something else, an issue that I felt strongly about, one that I wanted to shed light on.

Concurrent to the time I was reading up on the subject, I chose the still very tragic and current affair of using children as soldiers in wars. A sensitive and rather complicated social and in some cases, political issue. Its a delicate, emotional, difficult, complex and perhaps a rather touchy subject, I’m very aware of the myriad of negative descriptions and synonyms to describe this delicate topic and I’ve second guessed using it as my theme but its something I want to do. I want to do it respectfully, no political connotations or implicitly forced opinions. I simply want to display the journey of these children, a silent, succinct, short film of a boy kidnapped from his family in a small rural village on the outskirts of a savanna. Focusing mainly on the boy, I want to portray a story of freedom and innocence, cut with an abrupt abduction into a life of captivity. I don’t want theatrics or an insensitive over-dramatisation of the issue. No close ups of over exaggerated, callous, amateurish animated facial expressions. I want to the visual communication to be in a documentarian style, a witness to the situation. I want the compositions, the light, the shadows, the environments, the props and the expressionism of the characters actions to convey the narrative, the emotion, the adversity and the tragedy of the theme. I don’t want to preach any message, make the audience feel any certain way, or deduce any particular message from the film, I want it, like most art, to be subjective, thought-provoking and just leaving the audience considering the themes and the actuality, reality and materiality of the subject matter.

Brainstorming

After decades of mainstream animations in the west geared primarily towards family entertainment, the medium is turning back towards more mature films. The tide is turning, I’ve noticed it and I’m certain that a lot of other people have to, animation has been pushing its limits and combatting the stigma of its medium. Parallel to its family friendly films, its juxtaposingly tackling more serious subjects and adult themes. This has been a prominent and increasing trend for the past decade or so, just perhaps more overlooked than its family friendly motif. That being said its more prominent and apparent than ever and I’m excited to be soon graduating in the time of a new more ambitious, mature and rather sophisticated time of animation that is using the opportunity and art form to shed light on certain unacknowledged topics that can help educate people. Its an era, or movement in art that I’m excited about and I want to be apart of, therefore I thought that I would ambitiously and rather bravely attempt to make an animation on a more serious topic. Establishing now, the direction that I attend to go in.

Abuse, equality, environmental protection, education, crime, racism, discrimination – there are a whole host of important topics being openly discussed and tackled today. But how are they best brought to light? Recently, animation has risen in popularity as a platform for getting one’s message across, but is it really a suitable platform for such topics?

Before the times of animated explainer videos, animations were predominantly viewed as cartoons for children and not devices for talking about important subject matters. So, can a “cartoon” effectively cover a serious topic and be taken seriously? No one wants to make light of subjects such as sexual abuse or world hunger – these are serious topics that deserve equally serious discussion. That said, video animation can prompt discussions in an effective manner.

Animation will always be identified, no doubt, with funny animals, but is winning respect as a medium for serious subjects. Consider the great success of “WALL-E,” which was greatly entertaining, yet a radical critique of the consumer society. Its a new era for the medium in my opinion and without rattling off every example of an animation that tackled a serious topic, I’ll give examples of the topics the medium can and has boldly and broadly covered.

• Breadwinner quite succinctly and courageously tackles the subject of an 11-year-old girl living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan in 2001. Cutting off her hair and dressing like a boy to support her family after her fathers wrongful arrest.
• Waltz of Bashir; The film is structured like a conventional documentary, with Folman visiting old army friends and piecing together what they saw and remember. It tackles being a witnessed the Sabra and Shatila massacre and argues that Israel itself is not guiltless in acts of passive genocide, an argument underlined by the disproportionate Israeli response to the provocations of Hamas.
• Persepolis is an animation based on Satrapi’s graphic novel about the life of an Iranian girl in pre and post-revolutionary Iran and then in Europe.
• Mary and Max recounts the pen-pal relationship between two very different people, tackling implicit allusion to afflicted mental disorders like depression and anxiety as well as shedding implicative light on loneliness, isolation and autism spectrum disorders like aspergers syndrome.

Sensitive issues, by their very nature, make people uncomfortable and are hard to talk about, let alone illustrate. So choosing to take on that task means you’re walking into a minefield of potentially misinterpreted symbolism and unintentionally offensive metaphors.

So how do you navigate this tricky terrain without tripping any land mines? I’ll continue this discussion in my next post.