Sprint 1
Hello, my name is Mo and I am a 3D Artist for the game Crop Undercover. This is the first sprint for the game and I think it went well after a choppy first start. At the start, the kickoff was a little mismanaged from the producer end but I understand the struggles as I was a producer in previous projects. After getting an idea of a general idea of what we needed within our game for the day, I started from my end.
Before starting my work, I made sure I worked with my fellow modelers on establishing certain housekeeping items in order to maintain consistency between everyone. We established our scale and references for how certain items should be modeled. This was a very helpful talk because it very much futureproofs us and allows us to have minimal mistakes coming up.
After getting the talk done, we individually went to work on our respective jobs. My tasks were to create low poly beta models for early prototyping and playtesting for the game. These aren't the final in game models but a representation on what they can look like. I was to create the farmer's crop harvesting tool, a stun gun, and various scrap. I first got started with the crop harvesting tool. After speaking with my producer, who spoke with the designer, I was given two ideas on making the harvesting tool. One was to be similar to shears and one was a pitchfork like design.
I first started off with the shears. I went to look for references online and found one that really caught my eye and wanted to go with that. As this was meant to be a low poly/ beta model, it didn't need to be the most advanced or complete model, but needed a shape that still was close. I first started to model the blades and then moved on to the holder of the shears. During modeling, I noticed that the shears were in a way mirrored so I decided to just model one side of the shears and then duplicated it and rotated it 180 degrees. This saved me time in the UVs as well because rather than UVing two different blades, I just UVed one and duplicated the model. I fixed the duplicated model's UVs and I finished.
I then started on the pitchfork, which was a little more challenging. I didn't want to go so detailed because this was again meant to be a version one per se of these models but I still needed them to look great. I first looked for reference and found some that I liked. I then started the modeling process. I first started with the base of the pitchfork. which was the large wood piece. I then modeled the metal spikes along with a piece in the middle that gives the illusion of the metal and wood being held together.
The last thing I modeled was an early rendition of a stun gun. I was thankfully given a reference by our concept artists to help me visualize what an early look of this should look like. I used the reference to create a small stun gun, which was my first time tackling something like this. As an FPS fan, I always wanted to learn how to model weapons and this was my first try. I believe that I can improve as this wasn't my finest work.
Along with the work with modeling, I also then started on early texturing. This process was a little more difficult as I was thought and knew how to texture more realistic materials. The materials for the game needed to be more of a stylized/hand painted look and this was something that I would need to learn and improve. After explaining this to my producer, I started with texturing the shears to get an understanding of what I need to do.
I first started with just a base color layer of the metal. I then used various different generators inside of Substance Painter to generate different patterns and such to add depth to the actual texture. Generators like a dirt generator to get a darker color on the actual metal to having highlights on the edges of the blades themselves. The one filter I used a lot was the blur slope filter. What this filter does is make textures you have more blotchy and blurred, perfect for a stylized and "painted" look. I then carried this process to both the shears and the pitchfork.
