Hannah's VR Blog

I had missed a good few lessons due to medical appointments and complications during this term, and so have learned about this project mostly through my peers. However, I am extremely excited to be able to design and model our own character. I have been drawing out hypothetical characters for video games and stories since I was very little, so to be able to bring a character to life is going to be very surreal.

I began sketching out my character and their costume design (a lot of time has been spent on the costume design), before beginning to create the body model. I’m aware that we were asked to either create the body model with clay or on Medium, and I’ve decided to do it on Medium as I feel that I won’t be able to create the necessary details with desired accuracy with clay. I will be doing this on Wednesday, and working on UV unwrapping and topologizing the character Wednesday night in preparation for texturizing the character when we return from Easter break.

My character is an Elven warrior, which actually builds upon the lore from the dark Elven fantasy world I created for our last project – she is one of the citizens of the world, and is a member of the “moonlight faction” (I have yet to come up with cooler names for the various factions I’ve created). Each faction has specific characteristics that define them, allowing instant recognizability from other Elves of what faction one belongs to. The “moonlight faction” wears Ancient China-inspired armour (though modernized), and has a colour scheme of various shades of silver and dark reds, blues and purples. They rely on speed-based combat, and so my character’s costume, as well as her weapon, are designed accordingly. I wanted the character to not only look interesting, but for the design choices I’ve made to make sense in terms of physics (eg: speed-based combat means speed-based weaponry and aerodynamic attire).

I also drew inspiration from the “Isu” in Assassin’s Creed for designing facial and body tattoos for my character. The “Isu” have these glowing lines along their face and body, making them look futuristic and almost extraterrestrial, which is what I wanted for my character as she is an otherworldly species. In essence, I wanted her to not look human but instead befitting for this Elven fantasy world I’ve created.

I decided to make the character a female warrior, entwining both masculine and feminine aspects. In this world (which I have yet to name), males and females aren’t differentiated in terms of soldiers/warriors and combat – almost like the Spartans in Ancient Greece. I wanted her to look intimidating and powerful, yet also elegant and graceful. These juxtaposing aspects are difficult to balance, but I attempted to achieve this by making certain choices in terms of her attire and her body. She is noticeably muscular and toned (similar physique to Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey), yet not to the point where she looks brutish; still maintaining a feminine shape. She adorns silver armour plating on certain limbs but wears a skirt and an Ancient China-inspired braided corset. Each design decision I made was thoroughly thought out in this way to try and effectively balance the elegantly dangerous energy I wanted her to emanate.

I have yet to give her a name, but I find that as I continue working on my designs, I am flooded with more and more ideas about this world and its lore. This really brings the character to life and helps her feel real, which in turn, makes me that much more excited about this project.

My character design is intricate and I have yet again perhaps put myself in a position where I am overachieving. I have to model all the details on Maya, and with my lack of experience using the program, I’m not sure that’s possible (at least in the given time frame), but with ideas overflowing out of me as I begin working on this project, it seems a shame to kill that creativity. It will definitely prove to be challenging, but I am determined to do my best to bring this character, who I already love so much, to life.

My completed character design and photos I used for inspiration are included below:

My laptop is incredibly slow and so the battery was just relentlessly being drained as I was trying to render my project for hours, but it was only able to render 40 frames before I had to stop it so my laptop wouldn’t crash. I am disappointed that this is all I was able to render, and I’m particularly disappointed that the skydome isn’t showing the stars as it does in modelling mode, but I was aware that this would happen despite hours and hours of attempting to fix this issue. Regardless, I do feel it takes away from the mystical effect the world was supposed to have (and did appear to have in modelling mode) and that’s thoroughly disappointing.

I uploaded a playblast (the file size is too big to upload here) which showed what the full-video render should’ve looked like if I had more time to render (and if my laptop wasn’t ridiculously slow). The playblast also displays what the skydome should’ve looked like when rendered, as well as a full 360 of the world and varying animated camera angles.

Additional rendered shots are also included below.

Despite not being able to render in time for the final submission, I am still going to render the entirety of this world for myself, as I worked incredibly hard on the project and I would love to see what the final rendered product looks like.

I was particularly determined with this project as I was passionate about bringing my envisioned world to fruition. From beginning to end, I had complete creative control over the world’s creation, and this instilled a drive and determination in me that I forgot I had. 

Having faced a multitude of obstacles while working on this project, I advanced my skills in a relatively new software, taking initiative to solve hurdles thrown my way, and enlisted aid from those more experienced when necessary. I persevered through the sometimes seemingly insurmountable challenges, working for hours on end to achieve the world I dreamt of creating to the best of my ability.

I began by modelling the focal point of my world – the large tree in the center I later deemed the “Lignum Vitae”, meaning the tree of life in Latin. Unsure of where to begin with modelling a tree, I followed a tutorial at first, but noticing the repetitive nature of extruding and bridging, I was able to discard the tutorial and model the tree by myself, tailoring it to my vision. I then moved onto the houses. Due to the obscure, abstract shapes I wanted the houses to be, I used trial and error to create the base shapes, which I then worked off. I also began creating lore for the dwellers of these houses; adding lore brought an element of realism to the world, which in turn, made me all the more impassioned about bringing it to life. 

The largest hurdles I faced were near the end of the project, such as animating the twinkling lights for the Lignum Vitae. I requested my teacher’s help with creating this effect as I was apprehensive. He suggested a method of texturing certain faces of the tree with an animated “fractal” texture, leading me to realize that despite its technicality, a lot of work in Maya is based on utilizing creativity with the given tools. Recognizing this, for further issues I faced, such as with lighting and animation, I took initiative to research and experiment with the various gadgets in Maya to achieve the effects I desired. If I was unable to rectify the complications myself, I enlisted help from my teacher or more experienced peers. Unfortunately, not all the experimentation or aid from others was successful, which prompted another realization: if you’ve given something your all and you can’t fix it, it’s ok to accept that and move on. Historically, I am a relentless perfectionist, so submitting a piece of work that I deemed anything less than perfect was nearly impossible. However, through this project, I’ve understood the importance of prioritization when working on projects with strict submission deadlines. Ideally, of course, I would’ve liked to submit something I consider perfect, but I am incredibly proud of my work and the masses of effort I’ve put into creating this special world.

For future projects in Maya, I’d like to successfully UV map and manually colour a complex model, as I was unable to do so due to time constraints and other technical priorities during this project. I also struggled a lot with the HDR sphere skydome, so I intend to practise fiddling with lighting and various skydomes to see if I can recognize where the issue was, and perhaps how to remedy this for future use. Additionally, I do feel that more detail could’ve been added to my houses, such as roof textures or doors, but I didn’t want to put more pressure on myself with modelling additional things as there were already so many complex objects to model. Time constraints were an issue for me, but I feel that this is because I managed my time poorly, and perhaps if I had managed it more efficiently, I could’ve added more detail or been able to successfully UV map my tree. This has been an issue for me in the past and I need to ensure that I am more responsible with time management in the future, especially as projects get more complicated and difficult.

Overall, despite my frustrations with the skydome and the strenuous hours spent modelling, I feel that I was able to capture the fantasy world I intended to create, and I am greatly looking forward to where my creativity and newfound knowledge will lead me for future projects.

With the deadline nearing, I began working on lighting and adding the final touches to my fantasy world. I began by modeling and texturing some crystals that I thought would enhance the mystical, fairy-like aura of the world, as well as include a pop of colour to the otherwise quite dreary colour scheme. I followed a YouTube tutorial to do this, downloading the textures for the crystals on Polyhaven. I knew I would have to duplicate and place many more crystals around the base of the Lignum Vitae to achieve the look I desired, but I had to briskly move on to the more fundamental tasks.

I began by adding lighting to the world – a general ambient light – but noticed when using the open Arnold renderview that it wasn’t illuminating the scene as I had hoped. I also needed to add a sky, so I included a skydome light. As previously mentioned, I intended to create an effect of the northern lights in the sky for the branches of the Lignum Vitae to cut into dramatically, but having little experience with Maya, I wasn’t sure how to achieve this look. I consulted my tutor but he was also unsure, so I resorted to finding and downloading a texture online for the sky. With the help of a classmate, I found a suitable night sky HDR sphere and placed this onto the skydome. This same classmate also helped me retexture my terrain (I had to switch from a plane to a disc to suit the spherical shape of the skydome) and resize it to increase the quality.

Having adjusted my models and terrain to suit the new spherical shape of my world, I began using the open Arnold renderview to check that the skydome and additional lighting I added were illuminating the world appropriately. Unfortunately, despite the HDR sphere skydome looking great when in modeling mode, once rendered, the orange lights – that I purposely adjusted the skydome to avoid – were still visible. A classmate tried to help me rectify this by creating a sphere and using this as a sort of homemade skydome, but the light was unable to get through the sphere, and so when rendered, I was left with a black screen. Despite hours of attempting to solve this issue, fiddling with the skydome and lighting for what seemed like forever, I was left defeated. Sadly, I was unable to fix this and so in the final rendered mode the orange lights are still visible in the HDR sphere. I was extremely disappointed with this as I feel it kills the ambience of the dark fantasy world I have carefully fabricated, but nothing else could be done.

I was also made aware in this class – by my classmates – that instead of modeling another tree to then duplicate to create a forest (not to mention doing that would mean I’d have to model the leaves as well), I could simply “paint” the forest on with the “generate” tool on Maya. This, however, while the easier path, had its own setbacks: the trees were extremely difficult to manipulate. I could “paint” on several at a time, but we spent ages attempting to change these into polygons (as they wouldn’t appear when rendered). Finally, a classmate with masses of experience in Maya helped me achieve this, and once the first set was done, I was able to place and adjust the trees, turning them into polygons, as I pleased. I was quite chuffed with the final forest effect I was able to create. Not to mention, the trees generated in Maya are already animated to sway slightly in the wind, so this decreased the seemingly ever-growing workload for me!

Despite these setbacks, I marched onwards to make the final tweaks to my models and the world before moving on to camera animations. I duplicated and meticulously placed the clusters and individual crystals around the base of the Lignum Vitae whilst pulling up the open Arnold renderview consistently to check that the lighting was still intact. even attempted to UV unwrap my tree model as the textures looked stretched and slightly awkward in some places, but I struggled, and due to the time constraints, I felt that I needed to dedicate the rest of my time to finishing the world rather than aiming for perfection – which was a hard thing for me to do being a notorious perfectionist.

I also ensured that my forest looked decent, adjusting and adding trees where necessary. I rendered some shots to make sure the lighting on the models was acceptable. Unfortunately, despite however many lights I added, the forest I’d created still appeared very dark, almost black, once rendered. I tried googling and fiddling around for a while with the lighting mechanics on Maya, but there seems to be no way for me to ameliorate this. This is yet another disappointment with the final render of my world, but I feel that I have done everything I can to try and fix these issues to bring my vision to life, and with my lack of experience and skills, maybe remedying these issues isn’t plausible for me just yet. Perhaps if I weren’t working under time constraints I could’ve found a solution, but unfortunately in this circumstance, I felt the best method of action was to move forward.

After all the final tweaks – which I didn’t think would take hours, but did – I was able to move on to adding the camera animations for the final render. I first attempted to use a single camera to capture all the intricacies of the world, but with so many animation points keyed, the sequence looked jagged and awkward. I then attempted to use the various camera keys to create a curve (following a YouTube tutorial), but this didn’t work either; the curve didn’t correctly attach to the camera points keyed. Finally, I decided to attach the camera to a 3-point curve – a circle – constraining the aim to the tree. I worked extremely hard on the entire project, and not seeing the depth of detail for the majority of the rest of the world felt wrong. However, with nothing else working, I felt that this was the only choice I had. I keyed some tilts to the angle of the camera at various points as it travelled along the circle so as to maximize the view of the world in its entirety, but ideally, I would’ve liked to add camera angles to view certain objects, such as the crystals in the base of the tree or the houses, in detail. Unfortunately, I’m unsure of how to achieve with, and with the deadline of the project quickly approaching, I had no choice but to move on.

Regardless of all the struggles I faced throughout the project, and some disappointments with the final rendering, I am overall very pleased with my effort in bringing my creative vision to life, and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to create a world of my own so freely. Doing projects like this, no matter how technically challenging for someone at my level, reminds me of why I wanted to take this course, and why I truly value creativity and all that it can produce.

Having only done texturing and colouring once in class as a tutorial, I was feeling very doubtful about the method to do it as I didn’t think I remembered each step correctly. As such, I researched various questions and concerns I had before beginning to add textures to my models. I also downloaded texture maps to add to my models, as I wanted to avoid having to unwrap each model and colour it that way. Though more effective for creating realistic textures and colouring, I remembered struggling a lot with the unwrapping of the models during the introductory class for it, and due to time constraints, wanted to avoid something that I knew I would have to spend a lot of time on because of my lack of experience. However, if we had more time, I would definitely attempt unwrapping the models and colouring them manually for realism, not to mention increasing my comfort with this aspect of Maya.

Googling questions about adding textures to models as I worked, I was able to create nodes in hypershade and added the textures to my models. However, the textures would not appear on the models. I luckily had a class later that morning and asked my tutor and he suggested I press “6”, as pressing 4 or 5 may make the textures disappear. I pressed 6 and it didn’t work at first, but after pressing it numerous times, the textures (bizarrely) finally appeared. With this situation resolved, my tutor and I then discussed what could be done about creating the effect of the twinkling lights I wanted in the Lignum Vitae and the effect of the northern lights in the sky. I had discussed this with him in a previous lesson, and during this lesson, he suggested a possible method for creating the twinkling lights in the Lignum Vitae. Step-by-step, he showed me how to create a new texture on hypershade called “fractal”, and we fiddled with the various controls of it until we achieved a marled look. He then showed me how to key the animations of the fractal movements at certain points to create the effect of the texture moving. For the purposes of learning how to create this texture and tamper with it, the texture was placed on the entire Lignum Vitae. However, I will soon remove this and place a tree-like texture (previously downloaded from polyhaven) on it, selecting certain faces throughout the tree to show the twinkling/marled effect of the fractal texture.

As for the colouring and texturing of the houses, my tutor and I also experimented together, replacing the model with various materials such as wax, honey and rubber. Rubber was the winning material, giving the houses a matte, yet moulded effect, just as I intended. I also played around with the colour to try and achieve the beige/melted-candle colour I desired.

As mentioned previously, I plan to place the wooden texture on the Lignum Vitae and select faces for the twinkling lights, and then move onto adding the trees for the forest surrounding the houses within the world before creating the northern lights in the sky. I am leaving this for last as my tutor said he needed more time to experiment with how to create such an effect, and due to my lack of experience, I fear I am unable to make this without his help.

I will model the forest trees in a similar way to how I modeled the Lignum Vitae, but of course, with much less detail as they will be quite small and not the focus of the world. As for the leaves, I will most likely have to follow a tutorial on how to create these and how to add these to the trees as I’m not sure where to begin with this. Once this is all done, I will add animations – such as trees swaying in the wind – to the world. Finally (after modeling the northern lights with my tutor), I will add the camera animations for the world, as we were asked to do in the brief.

Though there’s still a lot to do, I’m feeling more comfortable with the workload now that there’s a solid plan laid out for me. I hope the final product is as good as I hoped it would be!

I finished modeling the Lignum Vitae, but it took much longer than expected. The repetition of extruding and bridging various nodes to create the roots and branches definitely got tedious. Still, I was determined to make it look as good as possible to an achievable level within my skill set. I would guess that I spent around 8 hours or so completing the final model, which is much longer than I intended. As such, I was in a bit of a rush when modeling the houses for the Elves.

I wasn’t sure where to begin with the houses; I wanted them obscurely shaped so there weren’t any tutorials I could follow to know where to start. Thus, I chose a basic polygon model shape that was closest to the form I wanted to create, or that I thought would be the easiest to mould to create my desired shape – a cylinder. Starting there, I used methods of trial and error, extruding and stretching the edges, faces and vertices, and ended up with a house I was relatively happy with. It’s sort of strange and creepy-looking, but I can envision some dwelling townsfolk, an Elven family, living there. I also ensured to work while going in and out of smooth mode (pressing 3 – not sure what it’s actually called), as I wanted the house’s texture and build to be reminiscent of clay, or a half-melted candle.

I also wanted each house to look unique, so I chose different base polygon model shapes for each house – a sphere, a square-based pyramid, a trapezium, etc. I didn’t have exact sketches or specific plans for what I wanted each house to look like, so I simply worked off a combination of spontaneous inspiration and trial and error. Though the houses aren’t as detailed as I’d ideally like them to be, (if I had more time I would’ve liked to add details such as interior furniture and doorknobs/window frames) I’m nonetheless content with the overall ominous and mystical atmosphere that they exude.

With each house being so different, I began to contemplate new lore for this world and its citizens. I concluded that because of the individually unique vibes each house emanates, each house would belong to a different “clan” of Elves – such as Elves that use plant-based magic, or Elves that worship the sun (“light elves?”). I have basic character designs in my head for each of these “clans” as well, and I’m considering using one of these as a starting point for creating a character for our next project.

Returning back to regular classes, I began modeling my fantasy world in Maya. I thought it best to start with the object of most significance, both size-wise and lore-wise – The Lignum Vitae.

Having never heard of nor touched Maya before this course, I was unsure of where to start for modeling a tree. As such, I searched for tutorials on YouTube and found one that seemed useful and appropriate for someone of a beginner level, such as myself. The video was relatively easy to follow, and I ensured to model my tree step-by-step as the tutorial showed, but from about halfway through, I was able to see the repeating patterns of the modeling process and was able to continue modeling the tree without the tutorial. I also stopped following the video because I wanted to make my tree unique, and fit my vision, and as such, I altered certain aspects of the model – such as making the trunk wider and bent, as well as increasing the number and thickening the tree roots.

The process has been quite tedious, and due to my lack of experience in Maya, the modeling process has been quite slow. However, after catching onto the repetitive nature of the modeling, and learning various specific controls, I gained more confidence and speed in my modeling. I feel that with where I am now, I will be able to model the rest of my fantasy world much quicker and with less hesitation. Of course, I expect to encounter troubles and technical difficulties, but my skills and confidence are slowly growing with each branch I model on the Lignum Vitae.

I am, however, still very nervous about colouring and texturing my fantasy world, as we have only covered each of these processes once in class, and frankly, they were both incredibly complex. Though I was able to do it in class with the tutor’s assistance, being left to my own devices and having to texture and colour models of much greater complexity is definitely daunting. I will, more likely than not, have to seek help from my tutors and my more experienced peers, but I also intend to do research and attempt to learn to take on these processes myself first. I would much prefer asking for help only once I need it, not because of fear of failure.

I did most of the roots today in class and will finish the entire model of the Lignum Vitae tomorrow. Then, over the weekend, I plan to model the forest trees (2 other tree models to then duplicate and place as the surrounding forest), and hopefully, by next Thursday, I will have also completed all my models of the villagers’ houses. Since we don’t have much time left, I would ideally like to begin colouring and texturing my models by next weekend, so by the time the due date comes up, I will have wiggle room to make any final adjustments necessary. I am a perfectionist, and so each project like this will inevitably be very time-consuming, meticulous work for me, but I am determined to bring to fruition my vision of this fantasy world to the very best of my ability.

Over the break, I drew out some (very rough) sketches of what I wanted my fantasy world to look like. I sketched a huge tree in the center (as labelled), surrounded by a forest, and some houses – like a tiny magical village. I wanted the large tree in the center to be bare, so the branches would seemingly cut into the sky as the players looked up. The sky would be filled with the aurora borealis, however with a slightly darker colour scheme. I want to maintain this dark colour scheme – dark blue, dark green, dark purple – for the entirety of the world, to give it this dark elven quality; perhaps something one would likely see in a Dark Souls or Elder Scrolls game.

This darker colour scheme would be contrasted by light blue, pink, and yellow glittery lights interwoven throughout the center tree. Highlighting the tree with its bright lights and size suggests to the player that it may be of great significance to the surrounding townsfolk, inciting some interest in the world and what secrets it may hold (the lore). I’ve actually begun thinking about the lore of this world, and my ideas were further stimulated when playing God of War (GOW) Ragnarok during the break. There is a section near the beginning of the game where the player travels to the Elven Realm, Alfheim, and transcends through the “Light Temple”. The use of colour and the way the vegetation was designed truly reflected my initial vision for the fantasy world I wanted to create, though perhaps less dark. I already knew I wanted to have bright, almost neon, lights laced within the large tree of my world, but seeing the shimmery effect used in GOW inspired me to have my lights animated and glimmer, making it all the more immersive for the player. Because this breakthrough was stirred solely by the world design of the Elven temple, it further confirmed my decision to have the villagers of my fantasy world be elves, an idea that I was juggling with before.

In the lore of my world, I decided the dwelling villagers (and myself) would call the large center tree “Lignum Vitae”, meaning “the tree of life” in Latin. The Tree of Life is already a Celtic symbol and has its own meaning – a bond between earth and heaven; it represents the afterlife. The Lignum Vitae represents a similar thing for the citizens of my fantasy world – it is where the spirits of the Elves lay to rest, a manifestation of the “afterlife” for fallen Elves. Thus, the Lignum Vitae is worshipped and cherished among the villagers, as it contains their ancestors’ and loved ones’ spirits, not to mention the masses of magical power it holds (signified by the glittery, contrasting lights).

I wanted the architecture of my world (the villagers’ houses) to be slightly abstract, emphasizing the mystical quality of the world. I did my best to capture my vision in my sketches, but they definitely don’t do them justice. Hopefully, I will be able to model these in Maya successfully to accurately portray their intended appearance. I would like them to be a beige/off-white colour, once again contrasting with the dark surrounding forest and the general colour scheme of the world. Each house is uniquely shaped, almost as if moulded by clay. They have rounded edges and are uneven (even the doors/windows), comparable perhaps, to melting candles.

Though visualisation is a strong suit of mine, drawing is not. And so, my sketches are labelled but inaccurate representations, hence why I have detailed particularly vivid descriptions of how I intend my world to look, and why this is the case. I feel that adding a “because” to elements of my world inspires me further, and boosts my motivation to hopefully be able to accurately create my vision. Not to mention, I enjoy creating plots and lore! I am particularly happy with the creative freedom that we have for this project, but I am nervous about my skills in Maya and my ability to accurately depict my world as I have planned and visualized in my mind. As someone still unfamiliar with Maya and its controls, I fear that creating my world may not only be more difficult for me but also more time-consuming due to my novice abilities. This may make it more difficult for me to build my world as beautifully and as accurately as I’d ideally like, but I will try my hardest.