Character Volan Texture

While I'm continuing to work on other areas of the project, here's a quick update on Volan with his textures finalised. I'm pretty pleased with the results as the final outcome achieved the original concept faithfully with only minor adjustments.






Original Concept

Character Volan Model and Rig

Over the past week of the Easter break, I've been predominantly getting the character Volan up to speed with his completed model and rig in place. All that is left is to complete the texture which I will carry out in conjuntion with the texturing of the environment.




A system of skin weights and follicles are used to keep the various layers of props in place, where IK/FK switching is also avaliable for the legs. UVs are also laid out, allowing for the transfer of texturing in the near future.


Blendshapes have been created for facial movements, with a squinting expression shown below.


Testing the capabilities of the rig with some quick posing helped to expose any errors and allow for refinements where necessary.


With Volan predominantly complete, he can now move into the world of the environment which will help to realise the design of the island as a whole.

Character Volan Modelling #01

With the environment taking shape in the background, I've also begun to model the character of Volan, blocking in his overall form while starting to refine details. Its still a work in progress, but is hopefully coming together nicely.

Character 'Volan'

Here is the resolved design of Volan. Coming of age, he has adapted to the new conditions of the world and is determined to find signs of any other survivors. The style and aesthetic should be ideal for the whimsical tone of the piece, where I imagine finer details will be resolved when translating the design into a 3D space. Additional props include pouches, a compass, telescope and case.




Soon things will be moving into production as I wrap up the ends of preproduction.

Character 'Volan' Initial Ideas #01

Initial ideas with the character design of Volan. As before: My initial thoughts for Volan is to be of a 'coming of age' male, reflective of a pioneering spirit. Originally a farmer, he had a variety of tools and equipment at his disposal to adapt to the flooded world. But now alone and isolated, he roams the skies in search for land and signs of any other survivors.

I've experimented with a range of different ideas to help determine the best direction to pursue. It's a bit tricky finding the right level of stylisation, as in some cases, it gives a strong youthful impression which will need to be balanced.



They are by no means final designs with their clothing or faces, but a manner of getting ideas down on paper and start determining elements that work. As such, I've picked out the ideas that seem to work the most. It feels that these ideas work better with their stylised proportions and various details with straps and pouches.



With this in mind, I will try to combine the successful elements of these initial ideas to progress with more resolved designs.

The Protagonist + Home

Here is my current line of thinking into the background and context of the protagonist and his home, which will help fuel the designs as a whole.

Protagonist
My initial thoughts for the protagonist is to be of a 'coming of age' male, reflective of a pioneering spirit. Originally a farmer, he had a variety of tools and equipment at his disposal to adapt to the flooded world. But now alone and isolated, he roams the skies in search for land and signs of any other survivors. Additional thoughts for details include props such as a telescope to pouches.



Home/Island
The home of the protagonist has been adapted to power and maintain the flight of the island. With limited space on the island, the modifications also serve to maximise the space of the house. As such, initial impressions of the house are of a quirky design with a variety of different materials the protagonist would have managed to collect in his travels.



Identifying the system which keeps the house and island in flight will be key to the logic and design of the home as a whole, which I'll dedicate and post to later with more research.

Initial Environment/Character Designs

My initial musings for character and environments for The Wolves Within.

Playing around with some environment ideas with a few thumbnails. Mainly experimenting with the use of colour and effects of the good/evil wolf area, as well as the final goal of the human spirit.



Some initial sketches of wolf designs, contrasting the two wolves with different emphasis on the spine eg. tall and proud vs a hunching feral stance. They may be a little generic at the moment which I hope to resolve with further development.

Turnaround - Tribe A

Turnaround for Character Tribe A

Tribe 17 - Rig IK Legs

A minor setback, in that I had to edit the original rigs to include IK handles for the legs and feet. Learning from this mistake, I understand a lot more than I originally did with rigging and the use of IK handles. It will make life much easier when animating - which I'll be concentrating all my efforts to.

Tribe 17 - Rigged + Controls

The members of Tribe 17 are now fully rigged with working controls. It took a little doing to get things moving as intended, most parts are parented to joints although a few specific areas had to be skinned.





Now the animating can begin in earnest!

Tribe Character Model C

Third character model complete! Again, areas were changed when translating the original design in order for the model to function better in a 3D space.







Front, Side, Back.





With the three character models complete, I hope to get them rigged up as soon as possible in order to begin some much eagerly awaited animation.

Tribe Character Model A - Edits

Made some minor tweaks to Tribe character model A, heightening the legs slightly and adjusting the feet.

Tribe Character Model B

Second character model is complete! Had a bit more difficulty figuring out the various parts for this one. I had to change a few more areas from the original design to work better in a 3D space, but it hopefully it still captures the essence of the character as before.









Front, Side, Back