3D Coat, Mass Effect and other win

In case you haven't played it yet, Mass Effect 1 is now R49, and Mass Effect 2 is now R99. There's also Baldur's Gate 2 (and its expansion pack), called the greatest RPG of all time by many people despite its being a decade old, which is now available for download at GOG for about 10USD (~R70). (The original game doesn't run on Windows Vista/7, but the GOG re-release does!)

3D-coat has also released an educational licence for their software. It's a voxel sculpting program with some of the best retopology tools I've ever seen. It's also a great 3D painting tool, and is used by some of the folks who're working on their Dominance War (pre) entries. It also supports Ptex, if you're into that kind of thing. ;)

All we need is a mail to them from the school. *nudge nudge, wink wink*

Lastly, Kyle Nelson, an Open Window student who has until recently been working at Luma Arcade, has recently put up new work on his portfolio site. I have no words.

Holiday win

So you've got almost two and a half months of holiday, which means plenty of time for improving your skills. Here are a handful of great competitions that are going on at the moment that are worth entering:

• Dominance War V Preliminary


• Warrior Mudbox sculpt/paint


• Eat3D - Head sculpt


• Eat3D - Next-gen small scene

For the Eat3D competitions, first prize is ZBrush4, second prize is a medium Intuos4, third prize is a year's Eat3D subscription, an honourable mention gets you a 1-month subscription... and just by entering the competition and finishing your piece, you get a 1-month stream of one of the Eat3D DVDs! Damn cool deal.

For the Mudbox competition, you get a 3-month trial version of Mudbox to use for the competition (although as students you qualify to get Mudbox for free anyway). Prizes include money, a Cintiq, and other cool stuff.

The Dominance War V Preliminary doesn't have any prizes (it's just a preliminary after all, just for fun), but given how much recognition Dominance War has internationally, getting placed in any of the competitions is very prestigious, and earns you a lot of respect as a game artist. The proper Dominance War only starts in January next year, and its prizes are yet to be announced.

Lastly, if ever you've made something cool and just want to show some other South Africans, post it on Pixofile. It's pretty quiet around there, but there are a bunch of members from all over, including TOW, GDC, TUT, CPUT, FOD and some other SA design schools. They're all nice people too. ;)

Happy holidays!

Message to the Motion Design students

(From Marinda; contact her at [mail |at| marindabotha |dot| co {dot} uk])

Dear Motion Design 2 students

I need to inform you of the deadline to hand in any work from this year.

Second years, if you have any work from this year that you would like Diek and I to remark/ look at again (because you feel you have worked on and improved it) you are welcome to hand it in to me, on a DVD, or send me a Vimeo/Youtube link to it. Please see the deadline below.

THIS Thursday 11 November - 12 midday to 1pm ONLY I will be sitting on the couch opposite The Cube, at the Video Department, eagerly anticipating getting my paws on your DVDs. I will only be there for the hour. Your marks need to be in by the next Monday, so I wont be accepting any work after Thursday 11 Nov. This is only if you want Diek and I to look at any of the work you did through the year, again.

Third years, I need a DVD of all your work from Module 1- 3 (and 4 if you want to, though not compulsory) that will serve as a Portfolio of your work and progress throughout the year. This DVD will make up 50% of your final mark so it’s very important. I know you are doing an Exhibition and that you have a choice to incorporate work from Motion Design 2 into it, if you want. You are free to do so if you wish, but I need to have a DVD of all your work and you will be marked on that. I will not give you a mark for the Exhibition; I will give a mark for the DVD. (I will of course come and support you/ see the exhibition).

I need to get these marks to you before the week of the exhibition. The deadline for the hand in is as follows:

Thursday 18 Nov 2-3pm and Friday 2-3pm. On both occasions I will be sitting on the couch opposite The Cube, at the Video Department, eagerly anticipating getting my paws on your DVDs. Please make sure you hand in your work to me on either of these occasions. NO EXCEPTIONS. If you don’t hand in work (or get someone else to hand in your work to me, on your behalf), you went get a mark. Please hand in your work in time x

If there is a valid reason for missing either session, let me know ASAP.

Good luck with the final stretch of this year. You guys have been super and a joy to know. Xx

If anyone is still unsure how the marking works, please have a look below:

Second year marks:

1) Module 1 = 20%
2) Module 2 = 20%
3) Module 3 = 20%
4) Module 4 = 20%
5) Final 20% is made up by taking the average % from Module 1-4

Third year marks:

1) Module 1 = 20%
2) Module 2 = 20%
3) Average % of Module 1+2 = Marks 1-3 will make up 50%
4) 4)Portfolio = 50%

Sheepy fixes!

(From Karl)

I've noticed some issues with the sheep. Here are some fixes:

1. When rendering out the beauty pass for the sheep with final gathering turned on, it screws up around the nose.

The fix:
Under Visibility -> Rendering, untick all the boxes under Final Gathering for the wool.
It's reacting with the FG in some weird way and this should fix it.

2. The wool is not rendering out in the AMB_occ pass. To fix this:
Duplicate the point cloud. Assign the new point cloud any standard material. In the Beauty pass, create a partition that hides the new point cloud. In the Ambient Occlusion pass, create a partition that hides the original.
The wool uses a volumetric shader that AO does not pick up. NOTE: Simply adding a material override will NOT work, XSI does not override it for some screwed up reason. You have to duplicate it and assign it yourself.

Hope this fixes the issues anyone might be having! Anyone can call me or mail me if they have any other problems.
griever158@gmail.com
076 110 2026

Tha-a-a-ank you!

Just a quick thank you to everyone who was involved with recording the new sheep voices. I think they came out great! :)

No Game Design Week 7

The week 7 class will be postponed. I will need more time to prepare the Unity elements for you. We'll be able to finalize our presentations in the 4 hour session during week 8. Please bring all your work to class and make sure all your animation models and textures are prepared.

You're welcome to drop by and get a crit on your character animation or if you have any questions. I'll be in my office.

Anim 2 - Mod 4: Skaapstad update

Download the latest "Skaap" version here. The module breakdown is now also available for download. The AV workshop on Friday at 13:00 may be moved to next week in order to give you more time to complete your animation before we move on to sound. Please comment below.

nDo, modular level design, PhilipK

Updated: 15 October 2010 - Bottom of post

So if you're at all interested in quick texturing and easily generating normal maps, cavity maps and friends from your photos or paintings, you've probably installed CrazyBump (available at the school, educational license) and xNormal (which, although it's mainly used for 3D geometry bakes, also comes with Photoshop plugins and is freeware).

nDo has been released. It's a set of Photoshop actions that allow you to generate normal maps from your images, as well as creating a sculpt layer for you to "sculpt" your normals in Photoshop. There's no realtime preview (a la CrazyBump), but other than that, it's really powerful, and means you can create your maps without leaving Photoshop.

Also, it's free.

Game Industry Mentor

"My name is Aaron Canaday and I work as an environment artist for BioWare Austin, and as you can guess, a large majority of my guests for the show are pulled from the amazingly talented friends I have at that studio."

Take a look on the Game Industry Mentor site.

There's a folder on the student share with some of the ones I've downloaded. Recommended listening if you're keen to get into the game industry. (And while you're at it, join polycount and/or GameArtisans and interact with the multitude of industry professionals who frequent those boards.

Reminder: AV Workshop @ 13:00

AV workshops will take place on Fridays from 13:00.

The series of workshops will deal with creating and managing audio for animation projects.

See you there.

All the rAge

Meeting at TOW each morning:

Friday 1st@ 8:00 - Stephan, Dries, Duncan, Jon, Werner
Saturday 2nd@ 7:30 - Stephan, Ben, Chantelle, Jon, Mareli, Stefan
Sunday 3rd@ 8:30 - Hendre, Jon, Louwrens, William, Stephan will arrive later.

If its easier for you to meet us at the Coca-Cola Dome please leave a comment on the blog, or sms if you need to cancel so that we don't have to wait for you.

Game Lecture for rAge

Aaargh, mateys!

There be a game lecture on Tuesday from 1:30 until... whenever we finish getting our stuff together! See you there.

(Also, I've got the top-down view working and all that - even though it means you can no longer shoot - so we'll be able to use UDK to preview all of our level stuff, including baking lightmaps and collision. For collision to work without my having to fiddle around with it a lot, please make a collision mesh for each object in your level that requires collision. So, for example, if you have a bench, and it's called "SuperBench", then you would create a box that surrounds the bench, and call it "UCX_SuperBench". UDK automatically detects the naming upon import and creates the collision stuff.

Note that your collision mesh needs to be made up of convex objects. If you don't know what that means, just build the mesh out of boxes. Otherwise, I can walk you through it all on Tuesday too.)

Visualization Techniques 2 (AV)

I've heard via Stephan that Dalene is allowing the AV students to pick whatever medium they wish.

Thank you to those who've been involved in organising this. :)

Happy Friday!

CrazyBump is widely known as being the software to use for creating 2D maps. It allows you to generate a bunch of believable height/display/normal/etc. maps, and drag sliders while seeing what effect they'll give you in an awesome preview window. (It's kind of similar to the nVidia plugin for PS... but much, much more.) Awesome for turning simple photos into full 3D materials. The full price is in the region of 300USD...

(For making maps from 3D meshes, i.e. baking a high poly down to a low poly mesh, xNormal's pretty much the standard. It's accurate, customisable, fast. And it's free. The interface is just rather ugly.)

Also, Softimage 2011.5 has been announced, and includes, among other things, Lagoa physics, "ICE for Artists" (lol?), MatchMover (previously bundled with Maya), Composite (bundled with Max) and stereo cameras. And a ViewCube, if you're into that sort of thing. :P Click here to see a more comprehensive (although not exhaustive) list that also includes some videos showing Lagoa in action.

Unreal Tournament III

...oops, I mean Game Design Module 3. Download brief here.

Optimizing for games

Read this a while back, and it was incredibly useful for describing a bit about how a game engine might render your models, and what you as a game artist can do to ensure your assets perform well. The Polycount Wiki in general is a gold mine.

Basic terminology
Do polygon counts really matter?
Beautiful, Yet Friendly (Part 1)
Beautiful, Yet Friendly (Part 2)

The last two get pretty technical, but can be useful if you get through them.

Kill Face Robot

Paste this script into your script editor, create a custom button by dragging the script into the custom toolbar and run it whenever you find a scene with the unwanted "Face Robot" activated within it.

Script: 
DisableFaceRobot
SelectObj "ActiveFaceRobot"
DeleteObj "ActiveFaceRobot"
SelectObj "Face", "BRANCH"
DeleteObj "B:Face"
SaveScene

Game Design Deadline

The deadline for uploading your characters into the shared folder on Dropbox is Saturday, before end of class - see previous posts for details.

Class starts at 15:00.

No progress marks will be given to those who fail to submit on time. Don't rely on the TOW internet connection either... you know how it goes. 

Please remember your area layouts, texture libraries and asset lists you had for homework. 

Skaapstad Project

Dear animation folks, please have a look at the Skaapstad strips (download)... they're quite short and work really well in this sort of planar perspective, so try not to add unnecessary camera angles. 

I think they might actually be better as 30" animations, so please select 2 that you like and start preparing the elements for the animatic. You only need to separate the elements that you need for animation in Photoshop, remove the speech bubbles (we won't use those) and add drawings for additional shots (if any). 

Comment on this blog if you have any questions. :)

Game Design Models Update

Please upload your latest Game character (emdl) & textures (jpeg) to the communal Dropbox folder.
You'll need to create a Dropbox account in order to collaborate. Also make sure that your e-mail details are up to date on the Open Window DB - you should be getting an e-mail from me shortly.

Please compress everything into a zip archive (with your initials & surname i.e. "PJ_Koekemoer.zip") , for bandwidth sake. 


You'll also find an updated version of the Level model with scale reference, as well as a Walk-through breakdown of the level in the shared folder. Thank you.

- No class this Saturday, see you on Tuesday.

Game Design class

Class @ 15:00,
Saturday afternoon.

See you there :)

TOON BOOM Showcase 28/07

The Toon Boom showcase event is being held at The Refinery in Sandton

from 6-8pm. We will be leaving from TOW campus @ 4pm.

Address : Refinery Building, Block C, Wedgewood Office Park,
Muswell Road South, Johannesburg.

Hope to see you there.

Game design environment workflow example

As i mentioned in the class, the work flow I suggested is to be able to quickly see what the level will look like in the game. I wanted to post a simple example to show the idea, and i hope this gives a little more insight to why it will be helpful.

Step 1 (shown below): Draw on the level layout (your numbered block), from a top down view. What i am drawing is what would work in the level, from a gameplay/level design perspective.


Step 2 : Block the level layout using ONLY primitives, I did not spend time modeling anything. This allows me to redo the level layouts 100 times until satisfied. 


Step 3 (shown below) : Paint on top of a "player view" (note : mine is not an in game view on purpose).


Step 4 : Complete the list of per asset, per level, per area objects for full level asset list.

Some comments on why and what, most of them are on the image itself. Other than that, i wanted the exit to be most prominent in the level, so they know where the way out is. I also wanted to give them cover from the zombies as it is an earlier/easier part of the level. All lighting and placement is intentional, very specific to gameplay being fun and worthwhile, rather than artistically good but defunct as a level.

References

Reading reference

Obviously incredibly important is a good handful of references and reading material on the subject. Here are some for the level design part, more about reading and planning than artistic and visuals here :

l4d blog - design terms

Creating multiplayer maps for Singularity

Singularity - large scale concepts and level planning

Visual reference

Finding hundreds of images for reference of subway is not hard. Even really cool ones from games, l4d has a subway level, max payne had one and im sure you can think of a whole lot more. Find them, read them, study them.

One guy i can link to, a member of the polycount community, has a really good example on his website www.envart.com .

Cool, questions welcome! And the more reference you have the better. Post links to reference in the comments for others to use as well.

Game Design class

Class @ 15:00, Saturday afternoon.


- Posted from Mobile

Animation 2 Module 3

Please download the brief here. I also included some models for you to use, but your welcome to create or download your own as long as the rig is functional.

SA Stereoscopy!

If you've visited the cinemas recently, you might have seen this gem, made by Luma Animation and Ogilvy Johannesburg, among the advertisements.

PIXAR’s Abroms presents Master Class in JHB

Animation & Game Design students - check this out!!
http://www.screenafrica.com/news/training/525780.htm

History of Softimage

Where were you in 1987?

Interesting facts about Softimage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softimage_(company)

Module 2 - Animation & Game Design 2

2nd year students: Please download the briefs for module 2.

Animation 2 - Module 2

Game Design 2 - Module 2

(right click > save link as...)

Motion Design Test & submission

Follow this link for the test. I will activate it just before 20:00 today.

You'll need to have a Facebook account to access the test, so please create one or write the test on Monday.

The re-write will take place on Monday, during the day, and will be a different off-line/printed version.

For those of you that still need to submit their work: Create your own Vimeo account, upload your video (under 10MB - see Compression Tutorial), make sure that its available for public viewing and add me as a contact. You can send me a message too, once its up and working.

3D Form Studies 1 results are out.

The brief for module 2 is on the X drive. Degree and diploma students get the same one.

All 3D Form Studies 1 students can see their marks posted outside the BootCamp. Well done to those who got distinctions.

These models are made with primitives only (and modifiers) in Max. Here's the pick of the litter.

Degree

Degree top 10

1	Pon	Gareth
2	Meintjes	Rialeen
3	Dreyer	Lize-Marie
4	Greyvenstein	Kyle
5	Labuschagne	Marc
6	Pienaar	Annike
7	van Schalkwyk	Jaco
8	Verwey	Tersia
9	Pieterse	Charl
10	Marsden	Tracy-Leigh

Diploma

Diploma top 10

1	Human	Neil
2	Nobanda	Alexander
3	Young	Wayne
4	Jacobs	Janette
5	Phetoe	Sedibelo
6	Du Toit	Philip
7	Neswiswi	Rendani
8	Roothman	Marsel
9	Naidoo	Brandon
10	Barnard	Marthina

Game Design Project

Download the Asset list here.

We are collaborating with TUKS's programming/development team, where we will be in charge for creating all the graphic content for the game.  The project will run for the remainder of the year and will entail everything from interface design, level design, props, character setup and animation... and everything in between.

3D Major Animation Pitch

Hehehehe... now you know what to get me for Christmas.

Please download your brief here.

Presentation date to be confirmed.

Basic Compression Tutorial

The History of Special Effects

Dear Motion Design 2 students,

if you can't afford to spend $50 or a day studying in the school library, I selflessly sacrificed my morals and bootlegged Chapter 1.  Download it here.

It's a brief look at the History of Special Effects and an absolute must read if your interested in SFX (and you're also being tested on it).

The test will be online for you to complete on Thursday 20:00 - 21:00, and the re-write on Monday, during the day (off-line).

Enjoy!

Vimeo account

Sadly, the Vimeo account has been maliciously deleted. 
For those of you that have not received your feedback please accept my sincerest apologies. The account was setup in order to assist with remote feedback during the holiday time... I'm disappointed, as I'm sure some of you are.

I encourage everyone to create your own Vimeo account! Not only is it a useful communication tool, but also a good portal for an online portfolio. Feel free to add me as a contact if you wish to receive any feedback or assistance.

The Open Window AV account will be re-opened, but only to serve as a showcase for some of the module's best works. Thank you for your cooperation. I'm awaiting feedback from Vimeo regards to the circumstances of the deleted account and will keep you informed.

- Posted from Mobile

Death to Boredom

We all need a break, sure. But, having been conditioned to work our asses off, it's entirely possible that we find ourselves rather bored, without some growing workload to tackle. And it's wonderful times like these that we find the opportunity to engage in some personal work...

Module 1 - AV submission

Animation and Motion Design students must please upload their files to Vimeo, as discussed.

The previous deadline of Friday 26th of March has been extended to Monday the 29th.

Your file should not be larger than 10MB!! There is a 500MB/week limit on the account and some students are uploading their files more than once due to unnecessary errors (like not naming the subject of their upload).  You are taking the space of your fellow students and therefor caused the deadline to be extended.  Please note: Future acts of negligence will result in marks being deducted. 

Another solution would be to create your own Vimeo account and simply add yourself as a contact from the Open Window AV account.

Please don't e-mail me your files.
Thank you.

The Harvest - Luma Arcade

Out of interest, mainly for the Game Design students, Luma Arcade (Luma's game development department) is working on The Harvest, a game built on XNA that'll run on Xbox 360, Windows PC and Windows Phone 7.

3D Minor - Open House Project

Download project files here.

Oh, I know that girl - her work is gorgeous!

Last week I wrote about how important it is to work hard, to try to create professional work, to build a collection of portfolio-worthy work during your studies, and to be all-round awesome. Ideally, you'd be hired instantly according to how much work you've put in and the quality of the work you've got on show, but, unfortunately, this isn't what happens in reality. And the reality is that if you lock yourself in your room and work on art all day, you'll probably create stunningly beautiful artwork, but you may well be decreasing your chances of getting a job. Confused? Read on!

all aboard the open {win}dow

Ever started a module, heard a cool idea from someone, not seen her in a week or so, and afterwards seen how the project had developed, and done a double-take? "Holy freaking crap! That's awesome! How the hell did you do that!?" - this being someone who's enrolled in the same course as you, and should, in theory, know roughly the equivalent of what you know. Yeah, I've been on both sides of that. Read on for the "secret" (TM)...

Game design 2 - Asset checklist

Hi guys, here's the list I asked you to fill in for me > Asset list.doc

Thanks.

Audio/Visual 2 Brief - Module 1

 Download brief here.

Open Window - 2010

There has been some exciting developments this year, and I'm sincerely looking forward to working with you. See you in the near future.