Joints

Joints are the building blocks of skeletons and their points of articulation. Also, joints have no shape and therefore can not be rendered. Each joint can have one or more bone attached to it, and more than one child joint. Joints let you transform a skeleton when posing and animating a bound model.

Skinning

Skinning is the process of binding deformable objects to a skeleton. Typically, the deformable objects are NURBS or polygonal surfaces. These geometry objects become the character’s surface, or skin, and their shapes are influenced by the action of the skeleton’s joints.

 

Advanced Rigging in Maya

Today I Rigged a model using the skeleton and then skinning it.  The Skeleton part where I added bones and joints was the easiest and was fun to do.  I added all the key joints such as the hip knee ankle etc which let the joint rotate on the spot.  One I had the joints lined up I Added a skin which makes the bones become apart of the mesh.  This allows the body to move with the joints so the model has a realistic look.  I have started to replace the skin weights as some of the body parts rotate with other joints that are far away.

Assessor Name: David Donnelly

Feedback: remove the pause between steps.  Give the body more vertical movement to match the horizontal movement. Use the graph editor to remove the robotic/explosive movement. Smooth the horizontal twitch of the body between steps.

The steps are framed correctly and all of the rig is animated in some way or form; overall the animation is to a good standard.

Today I have started to create my weapon crate.  I am going for a wooden crate with hinges and nails holding it together.  I want to go for a lighter wood that contrasts with the rusty hinges and nails.

Transform Tool

This tool lets you bend the shape either inwards or outwards.

Pitch Feedback

Our given genre was Exergame which is a game that encourages exercise.  Games that use the Wii fit is a great example as they make the player do exercise while enjoying the game.  This will make the player burn calories which is the overall goal.

 

I think the overall presentation went well as all members could talk when presenting the genre.  I also think that the layout of the slide went well as it was easy to transition between each topic.  However, one thing that was difficult was finding the information as the topic is not that easy to research.  It took a while to find the information.

If I was to the presentation again I would make the presentation more interesting to watch and be more enthusiastic while presenting to make it more entertaining.

Game Design

Title-True Dance

True Dance allows you to exercise while also enjoying a fun and engaging experience and being rewarding at the same time; with the wide variety of song choices, everyone’s taste is fulfilled.

The technology of the vive’s full body tracking paired with the Exergame genre is a masterpiece in the making.  

About the game

True Dance’s goal is to increase the fitness of young people (aged 7-24 years old); this is accomplished by having a wide range of songs that suit everyone, so everyone can enjoy the game.

To make it easier to keep track of which you songs you have played and how much exercise you have done, each song includes an estimated calorie burner and a daily calorie goal which, if hit, unlocks new songs or difficulties for current songs.  Setting harder difficulties will burn more calories per songs and more movement will be required.

You will also be able to dance with your friends through multiplayer while chatting with in game voice chat, this ties in with the world leader-board and friend leader-board features where you can compete against people or your friends for the best scores.

 

Action Game

An action game is one of the most common genres due to the supply and demand.  These games such as COD, CS-GO and rainbow six siege all contains guns and situations where you can die if you make the wrong move.  These games makes the player play tactically.  Games such as DOOM is the ultimate action game as it is just run and gun.  A few core mechanics are fast paced and often weapons.

Simulation game

Simulation games often mimic real life scenarios.  A big game is Arma 3 which is a military simulation.  A good feature is that you can play multiple scenarios.  The Sims is meant to replicate a real life simulation that lets you live a life of your character and lets you make decisions of what they do.  A core mechanic is letting the player have complete control of the character.

Survival game

A survival game mixes simulation and sometimes action.  The goal is to keep your character alive using strategy.  Games such as DayZ and This War Of Mine needs the player to find food, weapons and build a base to survive the apocalypse.  Most survival games are based around an apocalypse that has changed the world and the player has to adapt to survive.

Today I have used three point lighting to improve the look of the scene and also define the character that is walking.  The Key light is the main light just to the side of the camera which makes the object light up.  The fill light lightens the shadows as black shadows are unrealistic.  This is also more pleasing to the eye.  I used a red/brown back light to add definition to the object and add a glow behind it.  The light just shows behind the object and reflects off the character.  After messing around with the different settings, I found the right Intensity that I like.

Similarities and Differences between film and game storyboards

Film

Game

One of the biggest differences is that films have a set plot so the story board will never change so it is easier to visualize and create the scene.  In games, the scene is not normally the same as there is choice involved.  The player gets to physically interact with the game so the storyboard cannot be exact.  This is one of the main differences that makes game and film storyboards different.

 

Key Light

This is the main light. It is usually the strongest and has the most influence on the look of the scene. It is placed to one side of the camera/subject so that this side is well lit and the other side has some shadow.

Fill Light

This is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key. To achieve this, you could move the light further away or use some spun. You might also want to set the fill light to more of a flood than the key.

Back Light

The back light is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than providing direct lighting (like the key and fill), its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject’s outlines. This helps separate the subject from the background and provide a three-dimensional look.

I have developed my walk cycle by fixing my animation.  The leg on my animation would jitter and move out of line with the rest of the animation.  To do this, I looked at the graph and found where the ark was out of shape and adjusted the graph.

I have used arcs for the feet to get the y axis smooth.  This also makes the foot feel heavier when it is hitting the floor whereas when it’s leaving the floor it is slower. The general weight of the movement feels good as it feels like there is some heaviness to the character.  I need to improve the knees of the character as they move in and out which makes the character look unstable.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1r-4QeGYExvIcy3CQjpoRE388psfHoyfllF1Nl83kSTI/edit#slide=id.p