Cheating Textures

I'm not sure words can really express how excited I am to be finished with modeling. Not to say I wasn't having fun, but now that the modeling is finished it brings about new challenges to breath life into this character. It's funny how simple things like skin folds or wrinkles can make so much difference, but it says something about who we are. When we see an older gentleman with harsh lines across his forehead and deep creases stemming around his cheeks, we see someone who loves to laugh and has marked his body with his tales of joy and love throughout his life. It's a sublte but visual sign of the person before us and in many ways this is true regardless of if you're human or even a dinosaur. The little details speak volumes about us.

As you can see from the photo above, I didn't get too far with the texturing last night. In fact the majority of the night was setting up for this process. To texture a 3D model like a dinosaur, is a lot like drawing on an Orange. It's way easier if the skin were to be removed and flattened out. Now, assuming you cut the skin in such a way that it would be easily wrapped around the fruit again, you'd be in a pretty good position to create some really stunning artwork when the peel is flattened out. This is essentially what was required of our Gallimimus. Her skin was unwrapped and flattened. The pieces that belonged together were re-stitched together and after hours of work, she lied out flattened before me. It was a very important step, because next I began to hand draw the detail back onto the dinosaur.

Which is pretty close to where I left off last night. While she does have a basic color attached to her right now, that's not really my focus. There's this certain truth to Animation in which states 'Never do more than required'. It seems lazy, but there's an honest truth in that. The audiences will never know what you didn't do if you plan ahead to know what they'll be looking for. Adding texture follows much of this same thought process. When I modeled the dinosaur I knew I wouldn't be forced to create an over zealous amount of detail because for one: the animal would be in motion, and a lot of detail would be lost in the blur, and two: the animal wouldn't be in any extreme closeup position.

There's two aspects to the texture which are really important. The first is called a Bump Map. Which works to create the illusion of thin creases in the skin, much like the ones you'll find on your own hands. These are low intensity creases. The next step is using a Displacement Map. This is unique in that it actually displaces the mesh itself and will react properly with lighting. You can see this most notibably at the moment if you look around the arms of the Galli. But the combination of the two tactics creates a pretty well done skin texture.

The downfall in all of this of course, is simply the fact that it has to be hand created. While there might be an automated process for it I'll find in the future. At the moment I can take credit for every wrinkle you see before you.

More to come!

Muscles Groups

Quick update today, last night I worked pretty hard to define the Gallimimus' muscle groups even further and smooth out some of the rough areas across the body. From about the shoulders back I'm pretty happy, even the feet have come a long ways since the beginning. The fingers still need a bit of work, they're a bit too sharp and fearsome in my opinion. The shoulder blade needs to be refined too to make for smoother animation when they're curled up into a 'traveling position'.

The head has brought about a new set of problems. I took a crack at it last night, but wasn't too satisfied with the results I was getting. I'll probably start from scratch again today and see what I can do. The skull is a very odd shape, namely around the eyes. It's a very angular shape that softens into deep wells for the eyes and chubby cheeks. I decided against designing the mouth to open, the animals simply won't be seen long enough to bother putting in that level of detail.

Galli- Galli- Gallimimus!

It's nice to see progress being made on the Ranger Corps front. Last night I got the change to flesh out the body and feet on our Gallimimus Model. This might just be the first herbivore model I've ever made and there's some unique challenges in that alone. Rather than teeth and a certain about of 'snear' Gallimimus are all about speed and raw power. Which has meant a lot of emphasis on muscle groups and giving the Gallimimus the right look that conveys speed. There's a silver lining however when it comes to this model and it's simply the fact that you won't see the animal resting in place but running in a group. This is beneficial because I won't have to put an extreme amount of detail into the model, considering it'll be blurred anyways. Which means a faster turn around for production. What you're looking at now is a good first past, but the final model will likely have twice the level of detail when complete. The feet still need additional work, they have this odd shape in which the toes are thin, the heel is thick and the lower leg bone bulges- finding the right ratio is a bit of trial by error. Tonight, I'll begin work on the hands and head too- which will have come with their own set of challenges. The fingers won't be difficult and again aren't required to be animated too heavily, the head on the other hand will be defined a fair amount. Not that it'll be seen in any high resolution, but I tend to think people's eyes gravitate to the head of most creatures. So I'd like to see it moderately fleshed out.

Other interesting aspects of the Gallimimus I've learned along the way are in response to its growth patterns. The young often has shorter snouts and grew in length with age. This has lead to me to consider creating a secondary model, tweaked to be a sub-adult. It would be a minor variation, but perhaps needed variety for the film.

On the scripting front, not a whole lot of progress has been made. I've been putting a bit of thought into the storyline, but I haven't taken the time to sit down and flesh it out. The problem really comes down to the main antagonist. With so little time for this story (I'm thinking under 5 minutes) that puts a lot of pressure to focus on only one main antagonist, rather than two- which was the original story design (like a one-two punch). But who knows, I have a clever approach to involving two antagonists, but it's really a question of logistics. Not to mention this means double the work.

At the moment, the idea stands that a Ranger has arrived on scene to a truck crash. He realizes the truck operators are dead and the animal cages have been torn open in the chaos that ensued. The problem is what was on board- creatures that were on their way to be euthanized. Predatory creatures with teeth like serrated knives and deadly saliva filled with a slew of incapacitating toxins. Finding and killing them is the Island's top priority. The problem is the Rangers are already deeply involved in a security threat. The island has just received it's first Tyrannosaurus Rex and she's scheduled to wake up soon. It's up to our hero, with limited chopper support to hunt down the creatures before they can escape the area. But even with the advances of 1992 military grade technology, is he the hunter or hunted?

The other issue is physical manpower. I'd like to produce this was as few of people as possible. Two or three would be ideal and I have people in mind- but the problem is again, logistics. More people, more problems. I'd also like to keep the speaking parts to a minimum, but again this becomes an issue with ideas of never before seen dinosaurs or abstract concepts. How do we explain to the audience its mouth is full of toxins if we don't say it? Showing it opens up a new set of problems. In these cases I often look back to Metal Gear Solid, where as an audience member we met Solid Snake, a fielded agent who still had a million questions about the complexity of the the 'Metal Gear' world around him, much like the players. We might be able to field a similar solution here too- perhaps the Rangers in the chopper are experienced, senior members and our hero is still a bit of a rookie. But they provide invaluable radio support and logistics from the air.

That's about all the film notes for today however- hopefully I'll have a much more rendered out picture by tomorrow!