Research

Research into 3D

In 1967, Steven Anson coons developed a long piece of mathematics to create the Coons patch. This idea expands on the idea of a Bezier surface. The Bezier surface was created by a French designer to help design car bodies. These are made up of splines which are used in computer modelling programs today. The idea of the Bezier surface is what 3D tools are based on today for b-splines and NURBs.

NURBs stands for Non-Uniform Rational B-spline.

In 1972, Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar, created the first digital 3D film. This film was a collection of animated pieces put together to create a film. This film was of an animated hand, in which Ed Catmull used his left hand to create the model. https://vimeo.com/16292363

Along with Ed Catmull, in 1972 as well, Dr Don Greenberg also created a 3D film. The video is called ‘Cornell in perspective’, which takes you through a small town, up to a building further on. He also helped make and write about the ‘Cornell box’. This is used to test rendering engines and that they are able to copy how real materials work together.

In 1973, a teapot was made into a 3D model by Martin Newell at the University of Utah. The story is that Newell and his wife were having tea and he was complaining about not having a nice complex shape, but nothing too mathematically complicated that he could use for his 3D lighting and material experiments. His wife told him to make a 3D model of the teapot they were using. Newell agreed, and created the teapot. In 1975, he had to manually draw out where the polygons should go, and typing the coordinates of each polygon into the computer. He made the teapot data available for the public to use and is the reason why this particular teapot pops up in 3D history so often.

In 1976, the first Tron movie was made and it featured a scene with the light cycles. The scene shows the bikes on a grid, much like we see in 3D programs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3ODe9mqoDE Tron had lots of CG for its time, about 15 minutes. As this is an old piece, the models are incredibly basic and none of them using textures.

In 1982, Autodesk was founded by John Walker. He created AutoCAD which ran on the IBM PC. This was initially created for drafting in 2D, but as time went on, it also had 3D capabilities.

In 1995, Toy Story was released. This was created by Pixar and this was the first film to be completely made in 3D.

Companies

Activision is a games developer company who were founded in 1979, They have been successful for many years and are still going strong with a huge fan base. They have created the Tony Hawks series and Call of Duty.

Bethesda Softworks was founded in 1985 and have become one of the biggest companies for many years being known for Fallout and the Elder Scrolls series.

Bungie Studios have been going from 1991 and they have a strong history in the games industry. They have created the Halo series which has been one of the biggest game series and they are creating the much anticipated release of Destiny, their next gen game which is being made in collaboration with Activision.

Capcom is a large Japanese games company who have created the street fighter series and the resident evil series. This company have reached huge success with their games, but they are slowly fading out due them creating separate companies and not releasing games outside of Japan.

Digital Illusions CE, also known as DICE have been going since 1988 and have created some of the most well known games. They are the creators of Mirrors edge, but more notably, they have created the Battlefield series. This is currently one of the biggest games to be released across many different platforms. They are now one of the leading companies in the industry today.

Epic games are the creators of the Unreal series and their most well known game, Gears of War. Although they have had huge success with Gears of War, they have stopped this series and have seemed to have disappeared, meaning a company which has been going sense 1991, have stopped being one of the leading companies.

Rockstar games are one of the biggest companies in the world and have been running from 1998. They have four studios; Rockstar Games in New York, Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Rockstar San Diego located in Carlsbad and Rockstar Toronto in Oakville. They have created some of the most well known games such as Midnight club, Max Payne, Red dead redemption and Grand Theft Auto. They are the leading games company in the industry and are always pushing graphics quality in their games.

Artists

Zach Lantow - http://www.zachlantow.com/ - Lead vehicle artist - Turn 10

Andrew Frink - http://andrewfrink.com/index.html - lead track artist - Turn 10

3D modelling techniques

Polygonal modelling is a method of creating 3D models by connecting line segments through points in a 3D space.

Polygonal modelling. Many three dimensional models are created as textured polygonal models. Polygonal modelling is a method of creating a 3D model by connecting line segments through points in a 3D space. These points in space are also known as vertices. Polygonal models are very flexible and can be rendered by a computer very quickly. One cannot, however, create an exact curved surface using polygonal 3D modelling technique.

Primitive modelling. This is the simplest way of modelling three dimensional objects. Using geometric primitives such as cylinders, cones, cubes and spheres, complex models are created. This approach ensures easy construction as the forms are mathematically defined and precise. Primitive modelling is mainly used in developing 3D models of technical applications.

NURBS modelling. The NURBS (Non-uniform rational B-spline) modelling method can be found in popular software like Maya. The developer can create smooth-surfaced 3D models using this modelling technique. Unlike polygonal modelling techniques which can only approximate curved surfaces using numerous polygons, NURBs modelling can truly create smooth curved surfaces.

Splines and patches modelling. These methods are similar to the NURBS modelling procedure. They depend on curved lines to identify the visible surface.

3D modelling can be easily performed using dedicated software such as Maya, and 3DS Max. There are also some scene description languages like POV-Ray which are used for modelling. While most three dimensional software suites are priced very high, open source programs are available for free. Most programs follow polygonal and NURBS modelling methods to create models. For modelling complicated materials like rain, clouds and blowing sands, the programs employ a particle system to make the modelling process easier.

Skills required

Sketching and Thumbnail Iteration, Perspective, Composition in 2D sketching. It is not important, but I feel it can some times help to be able to draw. 

Intentions to achieve

1.) For my final major project, I will be creating a first or third person game. It will be set in 2014 London where you have to survive in a destroyed environment. You will be faced to survive against an Alien invasion in the destroyed environment. I will be working to create a 3D representation of an area in London where I will be creating this in 3Ds max. I will also be creating textures in Photoshop to make the environment seem more realistic. Once I have created the final piece, I will be adding the final piece into UDK or creating a fly through of the environment.

2.) I have taken influence from games and pieces of concept art. I have looked at Day-z and GTA games and I have also looked at Mass effect concept art to help develop my idea. I originally thought of creating a 3D environment in 3Ds Max and applying it into UDK. Internet, magazines have helped me find inspiration for my final piece.  

3.) I intend to create my final piece in 3Ds max and use Photoshop to create the textures for the models. Possibly once this piece has been created, I will import it into UDK so it becomes a playable environment or it will be made as a fly through.

There are techniques I can use in 3Ds max to help my final piece. Some of the techniques are Polygonal modelling, primitive modelling, NURBS modelling and Splines and patches modelling. To create my environment, I will take the process of collecting reference images and then create small pieces of a building, where I will texture the small piece in Photoshop. I will then duplicate the creation to form a building, this is called modular building.

4.) I will document my work in progress throughout this FMP process. I will be taking screen shots of what I am creating and also annotating the screen shots and documenting the weekly progress on a word document. Throughout the process, I will be creating questionnaires to help develop the idea further and refine my target audience. I intend to receive feedback from tutors, peers, friends and family so I get a good depth of feedback on what is being created. I will take information I have gathered from questionnaires, take them in to excel and create a chart to clearly display the feedback. When this is clearly displayed, I can develop my idea based on the feedback I received.