Torran Rodgers, BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester

  Major Creature 3 Model changes + UV Adding a detail Eye mesh with Iris over it Adding Flesh to the Neck spine to create the design. UV Layout Testing the UV Layout

  Major Creature 3 Skinning Skinning failed a few times while skinning this creature, its probably the most awkward part of the pipeline for me causing me to restart a few times. however now that its done I am able to pose my model.

  Major Creature 3 Rigging Adding the bones and controls for the creature was easy enough after deciding to use 4 IK limbs on the creature as its a quadruped. the extra part on the legs is controlled using an ankle control. this helps inform the IK that starts at the top of this extra bone and connects to either the hip or the scapular bone. The final rig with all the controls.

  Major Creature 3 Retopo / Modelling Overall the process of retopo when fairly easily but i still learned a lot from it. By breaking up the model into a few pieces the software wouldn't slow down making the process less painful. The make the Process easy I exported a decimated version of my model at around 150k polygons. I used this as a snapping point and drew the topology straight onto the original shape. I retopo'd half the model and mirrored it over. The Final model.

  Major: Perceived Creature 3 Pipeline After testing the retopology tools in MAYA i can write down how i am approaching making the first of my creature, Creature_3, this could easily change for the sake of speed or result. 1. Zbrush Sculpt 2. imported to Maya 3. Maya retopology 4. UV 5. Rigging and Skinning 6. reimported to Zbrush and projected high detail into Normal maps. 7. Texturing I believe I should be able to re use the same zbrush file to generate the high detail normal maps.

  Major: Retopology test Before committing to a pipeline for my creature rigs I needed to test the retopology tools in MAYA and make sure i could use them to create the topology I was after. The tools MAYA provides will allow me to smoothly create lower poly geometry to animate and rig while keeping the shape of the creature as I export it form Zbrush. With this I can develop an idea for my pipeline.

  Major zbrush redesign 3 Not wanting to redesign the creature to much I just translated it into 3D using zbrush before importing it into MAYA. When I did this aesthetically it did not read as this aggressive predator it is in the story because of this I re-sculpted it again in Zbrush. although small the major reason for this second try was the limbs and there deliverable articulation, i felt the first attempt didn't read as strong or capable of being a threat.