Prototyping - week 10

This week I was tasked to continue with texturing the arm and to get started rigging it if I am able. Well I wasn't able to get started with rigging because I had separate pieces, so I had to piece it back together and even though it's a simple texture for the armor, it still takes a decent amount of time to figure out what looks good on the model. What I have so far I think looks pretty good and with a little more work, it should look really good. We're coming up on a 3 week break, so in the interim I will be working on finishing up the texture work and getting it rigged before we start back up again in January. Below is what is done so far.

Prototyping - week 9

This week after showing the class the new "more organic" arm model, I was tasked with laying out the UV's and to start texturing the arm. I used a simple cylindrical map to get most of it done, due to the cylindrical shape of the object. The rest I cobbled together where the cylindrical map failed to map the UV's correctly via planar mapping. All in all it wasn't very difficult and the process also revealed a few flaws in the model that I was able to correct, so that's helpful as well. Below are some pics of the UV maps and the beginning of the texture work.

Prototyping - week 8

Last week I wasn't able to attend class unfortunately, because I had to move. I wasn't able to get any feedback on the arm model, however I did make a finished rough draft of the model and blocked in some colors on the arm so I could show it to class this week. Below are the results.

Prototyping - week 7

This week I was tasked with refining the arm model for the main character. The input from last week was that it wasn't as organic as first concepted, so I started from scratch and did my best to make it as organic as the original. I was also asked to model the arm all the way up to the shoulder/pectorals area just in case in some instances the arm may be seen in full. Unfortunately I'm in the middle of moving so I wasn't able to attend class to get feedback. I sent the instructor my maya file so that he could show the class. No pics to post, but I will add some soon to reinforce what I wrote here.

Prototyping - week 6

My task for this week was to begin the main character arm model. Based on feedback from the previous week I made a few changes. For one the group wanted the laser to pop out from the armor itself not just from the surface. Additionally there were requests for several different types of hatches for the laser housing, one being a hinge door, the other being a slide door, so I made both so we could compare and contrast. Also some thought the arm would be better if it were a right arm instead of left as had been concepted previously so I made both left and right configurations as well. Here are my first draft models for the armor.

Prototyping - week 5

Based on group feedback, I was tasked with refining the main character's arm concept. The group decidedly preferred the organic concept, but they wanted a few changes. For one they wanted the laser to be smaller and they also wanted it to raise out from the armor. Additionally they wanted the laser to be on the top of the arm as opposed to the side like in my original concept. This meant sliding the display from the top to the inner arm. I also blocked out some simple models in maya to give everyone a better look at how it might look in a 3D environment. Here are my refined concepts.

Prototyping - week 4

This week I was tasked with concepting out the arm of the main character. Based on group input I know we want a laser, display, and a scanner attached to the arm. Knowing this, I used a couple different styles in my concepts: organic, heavy armor, and an in between. Here are the concepts I came up with...