Now that i have completed all 3 projects based on the novel Mortal Engines, i think its time to look back and see what i can improve on, if i can i will probably make changes over Christmas after some feedback from the assessment .The first project was to create an environment from the book. I decided to go with Rustwater Marshes. The main part of the scene would be the large tracks sunk into the boggy marshes, created by a traction city. The triangle limit for this was 20000, which was more than enough. In the end my triangle count came to 15943, which was more than expected. Below is the final outcome:
Looking at it now i feel that the overall the composition can be improved. There are several areas that can be improved as they are rather empty. I also think that there needs to be a larger variety of colours, the majority of it is just brown. I am fairly happy with the way the tracks have came out, fairly simple design but it works, although the way the side and bottom connects could be improved. As for the textures, i am happy with the skybox, came out better than i had thought seeing as my photoshop skills are amazing. The mud texture was ok, the normals worked fairly well, but it could have had a bit more variety in colour. The main part i need to improve on the texture allocation. Heather said that i could have saved a lot more texture space with the bark and reed textures by the way i unwrapped it, and making the most of tillable textures. The material for the water turned out nicely, but it a bit too expensive due to using a raytrace material. I am going to try and achieve the same results using cubemaps instead.
The task for the second project was to design a vehicle which could transport at least 2 people under earth's gravity conditions. I decided to design a 'bug' the vehicles used on traction cities as a way of getting around. The triangle limit was 9000 which included both exterior and interior. Here is the outcome:
First i textured it as if it was new, and then i textured it to look rusted so it would fit in my scene.
Overall, i am happy with the shape of the vehicle, with a total of 6380
triangles used.
As for the textures, the new one needs more detail to help break up the blue. The rusted texture looks ok, and i have placed some joints where the parts of the body are connected with bolts. The normal map helped a great deal to help bring out the detail in the texture, especially on the wheel hubs. Below are some larger pics:
The third project was to create a character based on the novel, an
d be a self portrait. The triangle limit for this was 9000, and i was also required to make a Level Of Detail model (lod) which had to be under 2000. As well as this the model had to be rigged. The triangle count came to 7128 and 1992 for the lod. For me, this was probably the most difficult of the 3, as i have only modelled 2 character beforehand, and have never rigged a character before. The biggest challenge was to get it to look like me, i spent quite a while working on the head alone, constantly tweaking it. The hair proved rather difficult too, especially the fringe. Below is the end result:
I am pretty happy with the textures, seeing as texturing is my weakest area. I also spent some time editing the normals and specular maps, which i need to do more of in the future.
Rigging wasn't too difficult, some areas were rather tricky, especially the fingers and the shoulders. The shoulders don't deform that great, i think i needed a few more edge loops, but everything works so its a start.
From these 3 projects i have learnt a lot, especially with the character project. It has also shown my strengths and most importantly my weaknesses which i can begin to improve on.
