Update 07: The Evolution of Hult BeetleWrangler
Our first Human model is affectionately referred to as “Hult”
Over the last couple of months, we’ve moved from having a few initial character concepts created, to commissioning our first 3d model.
Our goal was to kick off a process of rapid iteration, that would allow us to see something more tangible than concepts, and use that as a basis for learning about and iterating on our style, relative scale, pipeline, etc.
Stylistically, we’re shooting for a look that combines low-poly, with a higher fidelity hand-painted look.
We want to capture the charm and recognizable profiles enabled by going lower poly, without pushing into the exaggerated stylized look that’s more common today.
Another goal with keeping to simpler hand-painted geometry (geo) is to allow us to provide a wide variety of different looks, while keeping production time (and costs) down.
We’ll have to test this theory - since painting still takes time - but in either case, we like the aesthetic and we’re learning things that should translate to greater efficiency over time.
Plus, it seems like we can add some really fun elements, without having the need to model them in 3d.
This texture iteration just came in this week from Marie. She’s introduced some extra details like:
more asymmetric details in the plate & cloth
replaced the simpler scales with detailed mail
started pushing details on the leather
added a emblem and other gilding
This is allowing us to see how far we can push the details, without creeping into the photorealistic realm.
It’s also allowing Ali and Marie to find issues and improvements with our current 2d to 3d pipeline, as we apply the textures to our geo.
A quick overview of the Evolution to date:
First roughs commissioned from concept artist, Matilda - showing relative scale
One of the first paints (also from Matilda), was to see if we could work towards the classic Pen & Paper painting style
Quick paint in preparation for modeling commissioned from artist, Zoltan
This geo is very simple by today’s standards, but we found ways to simplify it even more
Even the first model was layered to allow us to play with customization (and enabled me to create the Gnome and Ogre placeholders
the evolution of the style started with the first feedback round, and moved us quickly towards the current look
we used the process of building the first mesh to help us quickly iterate on details
We’ve continued to iterate and push elements like asymmetry, grittier paint, and more contrast in the values
Having the Human “Hult” model commissioned also allowed me to quickly knock out some placeholder Gnome and Ogre models, to help us get a feel for scale - these will be iterated on in the future