Gantt Chart - 3D Model Project

 Here is the link to my Gantt chart: 

I will follow this to ensure my model is completed in time, this is just my estimation for now but if I run into any problems I will add an update to the gantt chart here and explain my reasonings for altering the time for tasks to be completed.

Modelling Week 1 -

This week I have finished creating the base for my model in Maya, I have chosen to use maya over z spheres as the head of my character is quite geometric and I find it easier to work with harder edges and then smooth them out rather than the opposite. I chose to leave out the clothing and the hair as I want to try out the extract tool again, as for the hair I'm not sure if we're covering hair cards in this module so I will leave it out just in case. In the case we aren't doing that, its simple enough to just model the ponytail either on maya and bring it in as another subtool, or use the capsule to model one from scratch.

Modelling Week 2 -

For this week I imported my model base I made in Maya into Zbrush as a tool, from here I used the clay build up and smooth tools to bring my base closer to the reference I had made for this character. I did come across a slight roadblock this week in which I noticed my model I made in Maya was not completely centred on the grid which meant that the mirror function in Zbrush would not work. Even after moving the model in Maya, I still had issues with getting it to work so in the end I decided to just try to get everything as even as I could by eye, This is something I will have to bare in mind in the future, but despite this I managed to get everything pretty symmetrical. At this stage I haven't fully refined my model yet, I chose not to add the fluff or any other details until after I had added the clothing so that I wouldn't be wasting my time on details that will end up being hidden.

Modelling Week 3 -

For week 3, I decided to deviate a bit from my gantt chart as I realized I cannot add in VDM's without the clothing being there first, so instead for this week I used the extract function to build up the clothes on my model. I used this technique for both the poncho and the trousers, then I made an entirely separate subtool in Maya again to import as the scarf piece. I brought this in by using the subtool master plugin which imported it as its own separate subtool that I could move, scale and rotate to my liking. I think next week I will work on adding in the VGMs so that my pipeline stays relatively the same, only those two steps swapped positions.

Modelling Week 4 -

Carrying on from week 3, I created some VDM details that I placed on top of the clothes I had made last week. I made the omega symbols for the shawl, and some spiral detailing for the bottom of the banner she wears on her chest. On top of this I refined the clothing details further by using the Z remesher to remove that sharp edge close to her legs, and I also went back in and neatened up the folds on the shawl, whilst also blending the banners into the rest of the clothing. Next week I will be refining some details and adding in the eyes, I might also add a new task onto the chart that being Retopology. This will roughly take me 2-3 weeks to do i think.

Modelling Week 5 -

This week I started the Retopology of my model, however I have ran into some major issues and have ultimately had to take a bit of time to reflect on my choices, I do not think I am going to be able to go through with my original idea for this project and I am going to have to massively scale back the details to be able to get this project in for submission. I have had many issues with this project and in hind sight I should have gone with a simpler design, I was fooled by my first model thinking that i would be able to make something more complicated and in the end, the amount of time I have spent learning and fixing errors has meant I have very little time to work on this project. I was confident to begin with that I gave myself enough time, though now I see that retopology is going to be much harder than I thought. I am going to try my absolute best to get this model finished, I have evidence of each step of the process and although I have dialled back my design drastically, I have evidence of the clothing creation and my first attempts at Retopology. Though for the sake of time and honestly my own mental health, I am going to have to do the best I can and accept that this is going to be far from good.

Modelling Week 6-

This week I managed to finish my retopology in a much more optimized way than what i had created last week. I then managed to UV map my model, Create a snapshot to texture with, Work on baking and applying normal maps to my model, and texturing my model ready to be rigged. Despite the setbacks I've had with this project, I'm feeling a little less upset about how my model is going. I have tried my absolute best to get this model to look ok and work and I think it will be quite satisfying to see it come together once I have rigged it. I am feeling hopeful that I am going to be able to get it finished on time, I will be working on rigging next week and I'm hoping that the blog posts I made earlier in the year will help me remember the steps to to take to make a rig.

Modelling Week 7-

This week I worked on rigging the legs & spine of my model following the notes I made during the rigging sessions earlier in the year. So far it seems to be going fairly well, I was able to re-use some of my original rig meaning I saved time not having to redo all the connections and animations, however I did have to remake the spine and I will have to make the arms as there isn't a tutorial on the NOW as far as I could see. There are a few issues with the spine however I seemed to have this exact same issue last time I attempted following the spine tutorial on the NOW, it is likely I've just missed a step but I will make sure to have my tutor look over it to see where I might have gone wrong. Although this project has been a major learning curve for me, I feel a bit more confident that I can get this finished on time. Once I have finished rigging I will begin weight painting, which I will likely use the paint weights function over the more rigid digit based method, mostly because I like the more visible control this method gives me. However if I am running low on time, I will use the interactive skin bind tool to help.

Modelling Week 8 -

For the final week I was able to finish rigging and weight painting my model ready for rendering. I did come across some slight issues when it came to rendering however I was able to rectify them and create a posed turntable of my final model. I do feel quite achieved that I managed to get my model finished on time, I had a lot of trouble with it and I was worried I wasn't going to get it finished, however now that it is i can look back and see everything I would have done differently next time. I definitely think this has been a useful project to work on my problem solving skills and to identify how to properly work the 3D pipeline in the future, however I am a little bit impressed that so many things seemed to go wrong with this project. It is a little funny looking at it now.