Environment Pieces/Tests

Character Development - Air Warden

Original concept art of the air-warden character. Not much has evolved with this character, except for the change of role. 

I built the air warden character using the same methods as I did with making the little girl. Starting again from layout, I slowly built the head and the body using the manipulation tools and extrude tool. 

Constructing the basic head shape.

Finishing the facial structure.

Constructing the hand based on previous tutorials used for modelling the little girl.

Once again I used the joint tool to create a skeleton for the character, will be applying controls and possible IK handles later on before binding the skeleton to the mesh. 

Building a simple helmet.

Constructed the shirt using a duplicate of the body and using the extrude tool to add more detail.

Updated model with the skeleton attached. Just need to add some NURB shapes for the basic contorls. Will attach each one to a certain joint via orient constraint and then parent all controls together in a specific order.

Applying the hair system using previous methods except I have turned the dynamic properties to static as the hair does not have to move with this character.

The complete model with all the basic rig controls attached.

The complete model with the blendshapes in the background.

Modelling - Environment

This is where I began developing assets for the CGI environment. Based on the references and photos, I began constructing experimental houses and props, once again using Autodesk Maya.

Produced a single barrage balloon out of cylindrical shapes, and applied a smooth polygon node after building the basic shape. Used the Extrude tool to produce the “tail” at the end. 

Then I used the UV Mapping methods to create a texture map and apply it to the surface of the model.

Attempted constructing different types of buildings in different forms of demolishment such as using many individual cubes for bricks and wood planks as illustrated in the images above.

A full model of a house, which will be used several times for the main location in the film. I will duplicate it several times and alter the structure slightly in each one to make them look more different.

The first step in constructing the dome for St Paul’s Cathedral. I used a simple sphere for the main shape, adding divisions and extruding several faces to build the shape according to the references from photos.

Constructed the cross on top and the main part of the dome with windows. Just need to construct the columns and platforms and then the main building. I used photos of the building from different angles to get the proportions more accurately. 

Based on other photos showing close ups of the towers, I constructed one tower out of cylindrical and cubic shapes, and then I duplicated the tower and placed them alongside each other. The angle in the image shown above shows how complex and closely accurate the model is to the genuine building.

Almost completed the structure of the cathedral, added a sharing material node to many of the shapes so I can add a concrete texture later on. May need to do some UV Mapping on certain shapes to build the resolution more.

The house on the right of the image above was actually done by a friend, who also took the animation production course one year before I did, sshe offered to do some modelling work for my project. She did a very good replica of a building from an old war photo and even textured much of it until she had to drop out due to other commitments but I managed to finish it and continued constructing the rest of the street.

Half of the street roughly laid out, just need to start deconstructing each house in random places, like producing holes in roofs, tilted chimneys and smashed window. Once again, I’ll be using the extrude tool and manipulation tool to accomplish this. 

Another test piece of a severely wrecked house, once again using many individual cube shapes for bricks. I may have used this piece in the final version of the film but it was never completed due to time management.