Sunday, June 10, 2012

Portfolio Piece 1

Ink Particle Effects:

The goal of this project was to create a collect of ink based particle effects for when the family members die in Penned.


The original inspiration for these particles came from videos taken of ink splattering. These videos were edited in Adobe After Effects and individual frames were extracted to create sprite sheets



Sprite:





Sprite:
Family member Deaths:
The following particles were all made using RealFlow.  The process for these consist of:
1. creating the simulation in real flow by using different meshes from maya for collision and impact
2. meshing the simulation to resemble a thick ink consistency and importing those meshes into maya.
3.  applying a unique CGFX shader* to the mesh in Maya


*ink shader

4. using Maya's hardware render to render the sequence
5. importing frames into layers in photoshop, editing frames as needed and creating a sprite sheet from them

Final Product:




Due to some current bugs with spawning particles in the VForge scene after a plug in update the family member deaths are not yet in the game. 

There are four deaths.
1. breaking death from the corrosive sword:
uses the breaking tool to break the family member in combination with ink pop and the word dissolution

Ink pop sprite:



2. diminutive death
uses the ink drop particle when the player kills the diminutive enemies

Ink drop sprite:



3. standard death variety 01
A particle that plays after the family member hits the ground of their body splashing into ink

sprite sheet:

4. standard death variety 02
A combination of a  particle and rigging technique where the particle starts playing about half way through the death animation

I still need to get this animation with particle effect working properly in the engine.

Morph:


Particle sprite:


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Maya Fur and Hair!

Fur:
The Black Cat has scruffy fur now!



Maya Hair:
The family members have let their hair down.



Thursday, May 24, 2012

Portfolio Pieces Take 2

1.  INKY DEATH!!
family members die in an awesome inky fashion
Possibly a melting effect combined with particles


2. IMPACT PARTICLES!!

Something needs to be done to increase feed back on attacking family members
Should be inky themed but still possible to see (since black is basically invisible)

Ideas:

3. CORROSIVE
a.       Definition: To impair or weaken steadily; to destroy a metal or alloy gradually, especially by oxidation or chemical action; bitingly sarcastic
b.      Description: After some use, the word “Deteriorate” (meaning to weaken or disintegrate; decay or to grow worse; degenerate) appears and a DOT effect and particle appears on enemies, looking like a harmful, oozing cloud. The second usage effect is “Dissolution” (meaning the breaking up or dissolving of something into parts; disintegration), which shows the Family members exploding into ink parts (could use same effect for the deaths of the Diminutive guys). This is an instant kill. The final use displays the word “” (meaning ) and Finley’s sword dissolves into nothing (sword reverts back after a cool-down period).

Focus on Dissolution



Note:  1 and 3 could potentially be made using the same techniques


Monday, May 21, 2012

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Portfolio Pieces for Summer Semester

Penned Related Portfolio Piece
#1:

Automatic cycling secondary animation tool for cloth and hair.
Mainly used for creating realistic movement for Finley's coat tails.

-video of animations with automatic secondary animation
-tool allowing for easy repetition of the process
-video of the full fancy Finley rig

Portfolio Piece
#2:

Chameleon model with neat color changing shader!  :D



-model, and sculpt for thick scaly skin effect
-shader written in HLSL with the ability to change overall tone/color based on average color of the scene behind it.
-Turn table style render to show off color changing and model

Thesis Related Portfolio Piece
#3:

Thesis: Physics Simulations.
I'm going to focus on simulation resulting from particle collisions.  Examples: simulations resulting from explosions, water, and trail (ex. bullet) particle effects interacting with a variety of different materials.

For now (if I stay in Maya):
-Rendered videos in Maya of n-cloth particles with attributes that can transfer to n-cloth rigid body simulations.  Basically allowing for physics simulations to be automated based on a current particle system.
I may change the software program I use based on what is taught in the tech art class.
I will probably be reusing sections of my existing fracturing/demolition tool.


I may switch the order in which I complete #2 and #3 based on the shader class and work load due to Penned.