LUKE BRAND

UP748909
CT6MAJAN PROJECT- SEMESTER ONE
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
When I began this project, to create an Advert for a Refuge Support Charity called;
REACT, one of my initial ideas was to have it be based on a Video Game, notably
the First Person Shooter Genre.
However, a concern I did have with the idea, is that it did seem some what similar to
another Project, made for the W W F. In their case, it was an 8-Bit Side Scroller,
similar to the Mario Games, and its message was about how some Animals Dont get
additional lives.
My project however is in a style of a First Person Shooter, with the message in that
one is; Not Every One Wants To Play.
I did express this concern, to one of my lecturers; however she did consider that there
were enough Original ideas and differences in my idea, so I could use that for my
project.

I considered how I would do the Animation, for a First Person Shooter, first by
looking in to the more modern games, such as the Call of Duty, Battlefield or
Battlefront line, but then comes the concern about Modelling. I feel that, when it
comes to either Animation or Modelling, I myself am more an Animator than a
Modeller. This would be an issue, should I plan to have other Soldiers or Weapons
appear in the Piece.

With more Research, I found some Mid Nineties Games, such as Wolfenstien 3D, or
Star Wars Dark Forces, which use C G I Level Design; however the Characters and
Game Hud itself are made from 2 D Sprites.
This then made me decide that I shall make an Environment in Maya, then use the
Adobe & Corel Suites for the Hud; with Corel Photo Shop to draw the Sprites, Flash
to Animate Image Sequences, and Premiere to piece them together.

I was able to achieve the Sprite Character Animations, in Maya, by creating Image
Sequences and importing those as the Textures for Flat Planes. An issue that comes
with this, however, is that you need to time when you would like a specific Image
Sequence to start, as well as how the Texture only appears on one side of the Model
Plane, meaning I had to be careful as where I position the Camera in a scene, so as to
not be able to see behind models with that type of texture.
I do feel that the effect did turn out looking good; though, should I do a similar project
to this again, I shall work on the Timing of the Image Sequences, as well as seeing if
it is possible to apply the texture to both sides of the Model.

On the subject of Timing, I do feel that is an area I need to work on in Maya.

I did tend to use my own judgment, when it came to the Frame count in Maya,
without fully looking to see if it either made the Animation happen too quickly or
linger for too long. This did cause me to adjust the Maya Animation to play at
between Forty to Seventy Percent, in Premiere, which in turn worked as a better speed
for the Project. While I do feel that you wouldnt notice, unless some one did point it
out to you, there is one scene where (if you look in the Background) it is possible to
find where the change in play back speed is applied.
Originally, the Scene would have been a flat surface, with nothing but a couple of
blocks, which also had texture applied to them. My lecturer did comment how this did
make the scene look empty and dull, so suggested that I select the vertex of the Plane,
which I was using for the scene, and move them up, creating small hills and mounds
in the battlefield. This did require some minor adjustments, such as where the Soldier
Sprites may move to, but it made what was a rather plain looking scene in to an
environment with more Character to it.
While working on the Field, I surrounded the scene with a Cylinder, with the texture
inverted, to act as a Sky Box. Originally, its texture would have been the silhouette of
a City; however, no matter how much I adjusted the U V Editor, it always looked
either squashed or stretched. The texture also made the area look too grey, rather than
the type of desert look, I was intending. These issues made it so that the colours used
on the Cylinder were Browns, Oranges and Yellows, with rectangular shapes on the
Horizon working as Building Silhouettes.

When it comes to Rendering, I admit that I did not do much of it. The reason for this
being, I was showing my Play Blast of the Project to one of my C G I Lecturers and
he made a note that, since the Animation is suppose to reflect an early 3 D First
Person Shooter, it would not have the type of rendering technology that we may have
in Film, Television or Video Games today. This means, by his suggestion, I could use
the Play Blast itself, as an actual render for the Project.
This in itself did become a large time saver, as it would allow me to focus more on the
Game Hud.
This does mean however that there are not a lot of light renderings, which I admit to
have difficultly with. I may need to look in to how one can apply lighting efficiently
in Maya, for the Major Project of my Second Semester.
My C G I Lecturer also suggested that I should use Hardware Fog, which is able to
simulate a Fog in the Play Blast mode. The effect made my Play Blast look fairly
similar to the type of Video Games seen in 16-Bit Video Games, as well as ones in the
64-Bit era.
The Hardware Fog also provided a fix to an issue that I was concerning about, when it
came to my Scene; that being the edge of the Map. By applying the Hardware Fog,
the scene would blur out before it reached the edge of the map, which in turn allows
the audience to think that the area is much larger than how it is built in Maya. It also
works in an environmental sense, as it can also be interpreted as being either a Sand
Storm, or the Smoke of the Battlefield.
With using a Play Blast and the Hardware Fog, I feel I have been able to capture a
look which is able to emulate the appearance an early First Person Shooter Game, in
an accurate manner.

I then layer the Game Hud on top of the C G I Play Blast. A detail, which I placed in
the Hud, was that whenever the Player moves, their weapon would rock from side to
side. I did consider just having the gun bounce up and down, but when I watched the
footage of the Video Games, my project is based on, I noticed the swaying motion in
a majority of the late Nineties ones, so I felt it wouldnt be accurate, unless side
movements were part of the Character walk cycle.
One of the criticisms, which one of my lecturers had, was that my assets for the Game
Hud was too clean and smooth, compare to the pixelated look of the Enemy Soldiers,
in the Play Blast.
This was a simple adjustment, as Premiere comes with a Mosaic filter, which I was
able to apply to each of the required assets.
I was also able to use this as a way to help demonstrate the point of the real life
factors, of how there may be civilians who get caught up in the middle of the conflict.
What I did was, as the Player approaches a Mother and Child cornered in an Alley,
the Pixelated look of the Game Hud begins to smooth, fading from the scene, to show
the two of them looking to the audience, before showing its message.
I do feel that I have been able to make my Major Project look how as I envisioned it,
when I originally thought of the idea.
If there is an issue, with how I may have done this Semester, I feel it is how I handled
the Pre Production side. It is possible that I may have been able to do more Concept
Images, in both Sketches and Colours. I shall try to ensure that for my second
semester, my Project for that shall have a notably larger portfolio of Concept work.
I do wonder how others may take to my Major Project, for this Semester?