Review of roles and stuff

To enlarge, click it. :)

Final final logo :o

After much discussion, we decided that the first logo would be good to use in the actual trailer as the smoke could be animated (or something similar). The blue and red logo may need to be used instead of white text as this better represents the company.

The second logo is that that will be used as a static image (i.e. - it will be placed on the box cover, t-shirts, etc.) I definitely prefer this logo as it is more attractive and more appealing to the eye. I went with a blue and red scheme as this represents 3D (or 3D as it started off) so this can represent technological advances. I think the colours go well together. (I also chose blue and red as the background, although transparent, will probably be seen on a white background so this represents us coming from the United Kingdom. :))

Delta Oscar Mike,

Over and out.

Which logo we chose and why - Unit 4 and 5

1) Dom's (mine)

2) Yousaf's

3) Keiron's

4) Scott's

1) This design is our final team logo, so I've made a lot of changes to the one that won, but the team agreed on everything I changed and agree that it looks better. I like the blue and red clashing together, as they are contrasts but create a hectic smoke 'flare' effect. I also like the 2 fonts I used, the 'Visual' one leaning more towards an artistic approach, and the 'Flare' one leaning more towards a eye catching, sharp and glowing effect to burst through the smoke.

One thing I would like to change however, would be the black background -- I would prefer this to be a transparent background (played around with that feature, but for displaying the logo as a static, black is best - transparent would be best for when/if we animate it later on).

2) I like this logo because it is red on white on black, which works really well - the white seems to define the outlines of the red and black so that the colours don't bleed into each other. I like the way the brush he's used has interacted with the lettering in some way, as it adds a nice touch. One thing I would change however, would be the font, but that may be personal taste.

3) I really like this logo's colour choice as the white really brings out the yellow, red and black. I think that if it was on a black background (and the black 'wave' thingy was white) it wouldn't be as effective, so I think he made a really good decision there. I (personally) would have gone with a different font - but that might just be me.

4) This logo is the most colourful, and I think it works rather well. He's used different brushes to really make the logo stand out from the background. On this, I would again, change the font (as personal preference) but with the different colours mixed together, the font actually goes rather well with it.

Development of my team logo - Unit 4 and 5

Here is a brainstorm of how I went through my ideas to get to the final logo design. The first logo was just a rough drawing of what it could have been, but I liked the idea behind the ‘flare’ and the emphasis behind it. I then started to explore different fonts and decided I needed 2 different fonts to stress more emphasis on both words. I was trying to find fonts that looked like the words, i.e. – ‘Visual’ needed to be artistic, and ‘Flare’ needed to be bright, sharp and eye catching. The font I used for ‘Visual’ worked well in the first trial, so I decided to keep it throughout. It looks rather artistic and sticks with the criteria above. One would say it is rather fancy. The font I used for ‘Flare’ works well because it too, also sticks to the criteria as it is bright (after adding a glow effect to it), sharp and catches the eye. I then started to fiddle around with smoke brushes and effects, and decided that contrast is best – going for a black background, a white font, and blue and red smoke (to emphasise on technology as the first 3D glasses used red and blue spectacles. My second logo was me using the smoke effects and getting a vague idea about what I want to do, and the third logo explored it further. On the second logo, the smoke overlapped some of the text, which actually made the logo unclear and clashed. In the third logo I resolved this by flipping the colours, and rubbing out any smoke that overlapped the text. I then added more smoke, as it looked a little empty, which then led me to my fourth and final logo (which is now the team logo). I centred the text as I felt that if it was kept at the bottom then it would look imbalanced and not be as effective at marketing. This then led to the crisis in which the smoke overlapped the team name again, so I rubbed out any smoke that clashed, and added even more smoke which erased the problem of it looking a little empty. The smoke then looked too dark, so I added a whiten filter and a slight glow, which seemed to really bring on the colours. I finally added a glow effect to ‘Flare’ as I thought it would work rather well with the word to make it stand out and actually make it look like a flare (there was also the problem that after the whitener and slight glow, that ‘flare’ didn’t stand out as much as ‘visual’ did).

Experimenting with 3D Environments Unit 66

There are many different types of environment one could experiment with and use - Gothic, ancient, Tudor, Victorian, futuristic, Space, natural, and even barbaric. The point is that you need to use the right environment(s) to get the right effect.

The plot behind the game we're designing is that based around strange happenings and wild factors -- the facility we're building is placed in an abandoned forest, but needs to be something of a futuristic disposition, as this will reflect on the barbarity of the gameplay.

The insides of the building are similar to the outside - the offices are clean, crisp, and futuristic, but yet there is something weary about them. Deep underground lay the testing chambers which are dirty, gritty, and much like an abandoned asylum.

Unearthed at night will be the spire which is the core power source to the asylum, gaining power from the moon which is then used in the test labs.

Architectural design research :o

In today's lesson, I researched numerous futuristic buildings that could be used (or be used to give me ideas) for the research facility in my teams game trailer. I need some sort of main spire/tower in the building, as a well structured wall to protect the facility and to keep it well kept.

The last image would work well for the spire, and the first image (of the London Olympics Stadium) would be good for the structured wall, as well as for holding the offices and testing labs.

This architectural stadium would be a great idea to use as the wall structure for the facility, as well as a secure holding for the offices and testing labs.

The futuristic bar displayed below could be a good core design for the centre of the walls as although it looks like its come from 23953956824395 years ahead, it would fit right in with the obsurtdity.

This would be a rather good spire that could be placed in the middle of the facility walls, however I feel it doesn't look futuristic enough compared to the other choices.

This dome shape could appear on top of the facility walls when it is day time to hide the emergence of the spire, then when day becomes night, it could open up and the spire could arise.

This spire is better suited to a more industrial and metallic building, but the shape itself could be something used in the final build. Definately something to consider.

I definitely consider this one as the best choice for a spire as it seems to overlook the landscape with its bewildering and futuristic appeal. Out of all the spires, this is the one I would most prefer to use at the centre of facility.

Visual Flare - Game Trailer environments

The environment we're constructing for our Game Trailer is based around an abandoned camp site. The frame of the story (it may be slightly changed in places)  that we've planned is that 2 people/a group of people on a road-trip come across an abandoned camp (for which we have no idea why at the moment, we need to figure that one out). Its quiet (as you'd expect) but something wry in the atmosphere sets this location into a dark and depressing monument. The pack head inside to investigate and end up inside a log cabin (I think we may have established that they may be at this camp to find a phone or something) to be greeted on their exit with a shadowy figure of a little girl. Stood there, with her head down. They try to light a conversation up with her, but she just stands there. :(
She lifts her head up slightly, and stares at the figures in front of her. Her red eyes beaming with demonocities and death. More to ensure.

From the dilute above, we are going for an atmospheric survival horror game (think Left 4 Dead, but not Zombies). There will be 'ring leaders' to each 'squadron' of children (one 'squad' will be about 20 'grunts' (children) 4 higher powers, and 1 commander).

Shadows will be used to great effect to stress the importance of light, and to strain the point that anything can be lurking in the shadows.

Over and out.

3D Max Skybox - 3D environments

Today we developed off what we learnt last week, but learnt how to create a skybox. Its pretty much the same process as before, but on a sphere, rather than a plane. I built a sphere around my plane and deleted the bottom half of it - I then flipped the 'normals' and put a sky texture on the sphere. When inside the sphere, you got the illusion you were in a world.

3D Studio Max environment texturing and landscaping

In today's lesson with Chris, we were taught the basics and fundamentals of creating an environment - starting with landscaping by applying a texture we created in photoshop. We first created a greyscale image with black being the 'low' ground, and white being the 'high' ground. Starting off with the landscape as black, and gradually working through the greys to get a white, I managed to create a birdseye view of what I wanted my landscape to be set out like. I then smudged the whites and blacks together to get indentations in the 'raised land' (which I will now refer to as mountains. :))

I then created a plane in 3D Studio Max, changed the segments to 200 (so it looked alot smoother and less 'blocky') and placed a displacement modifier on the plane. I imported the texture that I created earlier into 3D Studio Max and used the strengthen tool to raise the land, which the transformed the landscape into a mountainous landscape. I used the smoother to make sure it looked as authentic as I could.

To create an actual texture for the mountains and the valley, I kept the original version of the greyscale texture, and modified it slightly. Where the 'valley' was (the black bit) I sprayed it green and then changed the blending mode into something suitable, added noise, multiply, and then added a white disolve layer that would look like snow. I then imported it and it looks lush. <3


To import a background I simply went to rendering > environment and imported it. :)




[less than three]

BLARGH!

The storyboard I have produced very much reflects my original intentions. I wanted to produce something that wasn't offensive to anyone, had some classic Spongebob humour in it and I think I've done that perfectly. There are no weapons or offensive words/images that could discriminate any age, race or gender and I feel I have done enough to captivate the audience.


Compared to a professional piece, I think my comic strip puts up good competition. It has a clean and well thought out template, a decent plot, the typical comic fonts and appeal to it, and generally looks professionally done (although I believe there are a few area's where I could improve).


I think I could improve on the plot a little, and make it a longer strip as it seems like its been forced onto one page, and I could've pushed it onto two. I think I did well in the template, layout and dialogue areas though :D

Reflecting on U67: Evaluating the Game Trailer storyboard.

The storyboard was created using Comic Life, a program which gives you the necessary tools to create a comic with different fonts (like the 'KAPOW!' font) templates and custom templates, different speech bubbles, and descriptive boxes.

The entire process was a learning curve for me as I've never used the program before, but after creating a comic with it, I've grown accustomed to it and find it very handy to have. I found that people were using Photoshop to create their comics and took nearly twice as long to produce their comic.

The story is about Spongebob and Patrick going to Sandy's house to go meet her. Her house is full of snow as its hibernation season, and her being a squirrel, is hibernating. Patrick and Spongebob see this as an opportunity to mess around in Sandy's house while she sleeps. In the end they make too much noise and Sandy wakes up in a cranky state, and attacks Patrick.

The empty page is the template I used for my Comic strip, it is a custom made one that I modified from one of the preset templates.

DERP.

The purpose of the trip to Huddersfield University was to increase our knowledge on the course that they offer.

The course structure is as follows:


Year 1 Concept Design: 
Studio 1 Design Development: Studio 1
Interactive Games Culture 1
Visual Studies for Interactive Content 1
Authoring Interactivity 1
Introduction to 3D and Animation

Year 2 Concept Design:
Studio 2 Design Development: Studio 2 Interactive Games Culture
2 Visual Studies for Interactive Content 2
Authoring Interactivity 2
3D Character Animation

Year 3 Sandwich
Optional Supervised Work Experience

Year 3 Full-time/Year 4 Sandwich
Individual Project
Advanced Visual Studies
Advanced 3D
Showcase
Team Project

and the course information is:

UCAS Code
G4W6 CGD

Course Length 
3 years full-time 4 years sandwich

Number of Places
40

Contact
The Departmental Office
Telephone: 01484 472450
Fax: 01484 421106
E-mail: newmedia@hud.ac.uk

Some people never left the playground. :O

Today, I planned, designed and created my own graphic novel, based around one of the Spongebob Squarepants episodes 'Survival of the idiots!'. I altered the plot quite a lot to make it my own piece, but still kept it vaguely in line with what happened in that episode. I tried wording things the way Spongebob and Patrick would speak, so it seemed as real as possible. I used the program 'Comic Life' which helps you create graphic novels by providing you with 'Blam!' fonts, layouts (which you can customise), different types of speech bubbles, and other comic book related stuff. :D

a detailed look into the level of detail. I'm awesome at creating post titles.

The level of detail involves decreasing the complexity of a 3D object representation as it moves away from the viewer. For example, as an object cannot be seen for its full potential when viewed from a distance, and the more polygons that are on the screen, the laggier the game. Therefore, objects seen from a distance need to be as low poly as possible, but still have the correct visual shape that you can figure out what it is. An example of LOD could be a shotgun. From afar, the gun would have its shape and its figure, but not the detail, the closer you get to the gun, the more detail is put into it. The reason this is done is so the number of polygons used is minimised. The more polygons you use, the longer the loading time, and the bigger the drop in frame rate. That is why LOD is important. :)

children?! get gone!

Today I progressed a bit more with my spaceship - getting to the dreaded wing bend that I struggle to do >.< I think I have the right angle that I need for the rest of the wing, so I just need to rectify off that.

Maybe it needs to be less flat (the tube) and be more solid. I think that might be what the problem is.

Oh, and I taught Robin how to get a shape similar to the ship outer-case I'm using. :)

That is all. =3

Reflection on Bradford Creative Careers fair

On the 24th February at approximately 10:30 we arrived at Bradford University for the Bradford Creative Careers fair. We were faced with about 30 minutes of time to look around the Media stalls to look around at different careers and what they offer.

At about 11:00 we were sent into the hall to hear a lecture from a guy called Philip Charles who runs PiPeLine Productions - a rap and music production company for young people. [http://www.piplelineproductions.co.uk] The guy had a positive attitude about his work, and seemed really down to Earth with young people. He talked to us about getting into the music business and the enterprise behind it, as well as incorporating graffiti.

Amy Held then spoke about her job experiences, and how she did alot of voluntary work to build up her CV. She said how it was better to build up your CV before going full-time job hunting, as it will help you get the job, and help in the long run.

The other workshop we did was the 'Stop Motion competition' where we could win £25 for our troubles. Hell yeah! ^_^ we used play-doh and MicroSoft paint to our advantage, and compiled a stop motion animation based on 2 classic video games - Pong and Pacman. One problem we came across was the fact that the program we used to compile the stop motion animation took FOREVER to load. and crashed the laptop. MonkeyJam decided to make a 1.26mb file 3gb big and didn't work, and it was hard to find a suitable replacement, because Flash crashed. Finally, Windows Movie Maker became our Lord and Savior.

Overall, I think the fair was a success, although it would've been nice if it was a bit more organised.

Below is the final stop motion animation:

Our ship is in ship-shape, captain.

After finally deciding which way I should get the shape of my ship, I have come across the perfect way - extrude and resize the original sphere structure, and it seems to work a lot better. Here's the screeny of the new shape. (note: it isn't finished.)

Ship-shape screeny. =3

Today I started to create the spaceship for my main project. I experimented with a couple of ideas on how to first start building my ship - for example, an extruded sphere, or a sphere and cone combination. I think I may go for the latter of the two as I can control the nozzle shape, angle and size easier.

I am now starting to extrude the vertex in order to make the cone blend in with the sphere.

G-Unit (18) evaluation

The task set in unit 18 was that we were to generate an iPhone app icon that couldn't be seen as offensive or cause ethical issues.

I first began the project be researching popular apps in the app store and taking a look at the icons to see how they approached things, and as I expected - they all use there own icon that they created themselves. Such corporate companies like Facebook simply use there own self branding (in this case, an 'f' on a blue rounded square).

We were then given 5 themes that we needed to explore; war, fantasy, horror, sci-fi and something we could use in RClayton's unit.

For the war theme I decided to use an ancient weapon as opposed to a modern weapon; a spear. I thought it would be fitting to use an ancient weapon as a gun can also be used outside of war (e.g. gangs) but no one ever runs round with a spear impaling people with it. I think the icon could be offensive as it is seen as ‘promoting’ a weapon, so it is best to avoid using any icon like this.

For fantasy I decided to use Navi - Link's fairy. This icon can't be seen as offensive, but may breach copyright regulations. It also may not work as the only way you know who Navi is, is by playing a Zelda game before hand, so anyone who hasn't played the game before may be mislead.

For the horror theme I decided to use something linked to Zelda - Link and Link in wolf form. There is nothing that can be taken as offensive in the icon, therefore it would be a good Icon to use. However, it would breach copyright regulations and so, it would be wrong to use it.

For Sci-Fi, I couldn't think of anything to do with Zelda, so I decided to use the Plasma Rifle from the Halo series. Obviously, this has nothing to do with Zelda, so it would be pointless using this icon. Other than that, it would also breach copyright laws and mislead the client.

And finally, the icon I would use for RClayton's unit would be the Zelda logo. However, this isn't the original Zelda logo - this is a Zelda logo I created from scratch. I settled on using this as my icon in both units as it doesn't breach copyright laws and isn't offensive, so therefore fits both unit criteria's.

I then researched the specifications of the iPhone and here is what I discovered:

3.5 inch screen

480 x 320 resolution

600 MHz processor

256MB RAM

Fixed memory units (8GB,

16GB and 32GB)

Sensors- Accelerometer,

Proximity Sensor, Ambient

Light Sensor

3 megapixel colour camera

I then compared it to the HTC HD2, a competitor to the iPhone and found out that the HTC HD2 beats the iPhone in nearly every category, but due to Apple's app store and the fact that it is now seen as a fashion accessory, the iPhone still remains the more popular of the two.

The HTC HD2's specifications:

4.3 inch screen

480 X 800 resolution

1 GHz processor

448 MB RAM

Expansive memory

Sensors- G-Sensor,

Proximity Sensor,

Ambient Light Sensor

5 megapixel colour camera

with Auto focus and Dual

LED flash

My final 5 icon designs are as follows:

I also produced a document that reflects different file formats and where they are used. (bottom)

I think I met my original intentions. I set out to create an icon that looked like a Zelda logo, but managed to avoid copyright by starting from scratch, and produced an icon that cannot be taken to offence. Overall I think the icon was a success.

iMake iPhone app iCons :O

The latest project we have been given to do was to generate 5 iPhone apps based on a game/app of our choice, and show the production steps on what tools we used in PhotoShop. This was the first icon I designed. I decided to use the Zelda font, and found Link's shield on the internet, and so, I re-created my own Zelda logo. I think this icon would work well with the app i'm producing as it is straight to the point and tells the client EXACTLY what the app is. I think this icon may be a bit too simple and doesn't tell the client exactly what the app is. In a way, the app suggests 'anything to do with a bow' whereas the app itself has nothing to do with Link's bow, so therefore, it isn't suited. Again, I think this Icon may be too simple and unsuited for the app, as it suggests 'anything to with a bow'. Although it is a pretty good icon, the client may be confused and mislead to what the app actually is. This is Navi - Link's fairy. This icon seems fairly suited to the Zelda theme, as it doesn't represent exactly what the app is about, but doesn't mislead the client either. However, people may only understand who Navi is if they've played Zelda before, and so, anyone whose new to the game may not get where the link is. The final icon would work well with the dark link/light link situation, but as the app is not based around this motive, the icon would yet again, be misleading.

the angles - they make it streamlined - okay?!

Today in 3D Studio Max we designed a basic aircraft, from extruding a cylinderic shape. First, I created a cylinder - not too hard. I then extruded the polygons I needed to extrude to place the wings in the right place, and levelled them out at the right angle. I then moved some of the vertex to create a more angular and streamlined result, and shaped the wing into the right shape. After doing this, I created the tail. I extruded 4 polygons upwards, and shaped, creating angular divisions in the process to fit the planes stealthy feel. After completing this I deleted half of the shape, cloned the plane half, mirrored it, and attached it, creating a plane-like harrier stealth-bomber thing.

The not-so-realistic just saw a little bit of realism to create a realistic attempt at being realistic. Confused?

Today we were given the aim to render 3 different boxes and create a lighting effect. I first created 3 boxes, then pressed 'M' (keyboard shortcut to Material editor) and then rendered textured colours onto the shapes. After that, I used more complex texturing such as marble, swhirls, wood grain and foliage (tree). I found this alot easier than I thought it would be, and I'd happily do it again.

Do the robot.

Today we were given the objective to try and create a robot out of extruding the box shape. I simply made a box on the standard grid plane, and made it so it had a 4x4x4 segment grid on it. I then extruded 4 squares underneath the box to create the neck diaphram, and extruded the neck to create a shoulder-like neck joint. I deleted one side of the box so that it was an open sided shape, and 'cloned' one half of the robot and mirrored it, thus joining the two halves together. This then made sure the robot was symetric throughout the next creation steps. I then extruded it again to create the robots upper torso and created a cylinder shape, used the bend extrude mode, and joint it onto the torso. (using the attach button) This then made it so the arms were part of the robot. As the halves are mirrored, this then 'cloned' the arm onto the opposite side aswell, thus creating two equally symetric sides. I then continued extruding the torso (still using the polygon tool) and then switched over to the vertex tool. I extruded the vertex's (is that even a word?) inwards and continued extruding the box shape downwards, to create the robots lower torso. Finally, I finished it off by adding two spheres, a box, extruded 3 boxes on one side of the robots head, and created a spring shape, to finish off his face. Overall, I found this fairly easy to do. I did struggle every now and then, forgetting how to do certain things, but I managed to get around it. If I were to finish off the robot (including legs and such) then I estimate it'd probably take me about another 2 hours to complete. :)

Do I HAVE to? :(

Today we evaluated our desktop wallpapers, stating what we found difficult, what we think we could improve it with, what skills we developed, and the overall process of planning and developing. Evaluation to follow: After about 6 hours work in Photoshop, I finally finished my wallpaper. Compared to the original idea and draft, I think I improved it dramatically. Below is a comparison: As you can see, my final design varies slightly from the original idea. I thought the original idea was too easy to do, and that parts of the wallpaper wouldn’t seem to fit in. I also decided that the student charter should become a hiscore, as it would seemingly fit the theme of the wallpaper better, and would just look it was added in because it HAD to be there. I also re-arranged the layout as I thought that the top half of the desktop was going to look too busy and cluttered, giving the wallpaper an unattractive appeal. I scanned the original idea into the computer, and then created a rough draft in Photoshop over the original to generate a basic idea of what I was trying to create. I then recreated the image from scratch based on the draft piece, and developed it from there. I tried to give the wallpaper a clean and professional finish to it. I did so by creating the outlines of the shapes I needed, and then filled them in. I filled them in using the box tool and the grid view; this gave the wallpaper the retro feeling that I was looking for. I then copied and pasted the objects that were needed more than once, to make the wallpaper look professionally done, so the same shapes weren’t different sizes. I chose this wallpaper other my other 3 idea’s as I thought more people would enjoy it and know what it was. I also thought the idea was original as no one else had come up with an idea close to it. I based my design off a screenshot of Space Invaders in-game. This was done to get the correct shapes and layouts for my wallpaper, but at the same time I saw where I could develop my own idea’s, which is where the idea of using the icons as the ‘aliens’ came into play. This is the screenshot: As you can see, I developed on the idea of the score and lives concept. I used a font near enough to the original space invaders font, so it would still fit the theme and still keep that retro feel to it. Encountering problems I struggled greatly at the back end of the wallpaper, as I didn’t layer my work properly. Some objects that were meant to be kept separate were done on the same layer, and when moved, both objects moved. Frustrating but I got around the problem. I got around the ‘moving’ problem by using the Rectangular Marquee tool around the area that needed moving. I never really encountered any other problems, except that I struggled to make the shields straight edged. I finally fixed the problem and then developed the idea behind the student charter. What have I learnt from this project? I’ve learnt that next time I need to layer my work properly, or it takes a lot longer than it needs to be. I also need to name my layers as well, or you lose track of what layer consists of what. I’ve also learnt and used various tools in Photoshop such as the grid, various brush sizes, the fill effect, colour picking, layering, the text tool, the colour swapping tool, the move tool and the magic wand tool as well as copy and paste. I’ve also learnt that it’s easier to develop off a simple idea, rather than recreate a difficult idea and make it simpler. What skills have I developed from this project? In this project I’ve developed my Photoshop skills as well as my thoughts and idea’s. I now know that the simplest idea’s turn out to be the best and the easiest to develop, whereas the most complex ideas have ‘potential’ but aren’t normally executed properly or are too hard to complete and so are simplified. The grid tool in Photoshop was also a big help in my project as I needed to give a blocky and retro feel to the wallpaper, and thus, this created that effect. Were there any problems with time management? There were no major time management flaws that affected the final outcome of my work. However, during the planning period I struggled to think of 4 idea’s that all varied from eachother, which started to create problems. I finally came up with an original idea and was clear to move on to producing it. I met the deadline of the project, so there were no problems. If I were given the chance to do this again, there’d be nothing I’d change to the final design. I felt that the final design came out better than I expected and that there’s nothing I could change that would make a dramatic change to it. Overall I’m happy I chose this idea over the other 3.

The house of a thousand faces O.o

Today in 3D Studio Max, we were left to experiment with the vertex extrude and polygon extrude tools. I first started off the same way as I did extruding the house from last week; creating a box and extruding certain parts of it. In the end, I created some rather wierd building-thing which starts to hurt the head after a while.