Entry 5: The Puppet Master Modelling

Thursday 30th October 

After finishing the conceptual stage, my next task was to do a rough 3D block out for the Puppet Master and 3D Model the robot.

For the puppet Master I drew up a turnaround to use for 3DS MAX. I made sure to make use of ruler guidelines within Photoshop so that parts would line up correctly for the front, back and side views.

With this done I went into 3DS MAX and used a base max file that had correct scaling units set up by our teams animators. I created the basic shapes following the template, however I wasn't entirely happy with the topology as although it was only a rough version, I still wanted it to be workable from for the proper animatable model.

So I decided to watch a few tutorials on Youtube in order to learn how to build a basic human base mesh. Through doing so I learnt where to put lines in the body and create a human shape, using correct quads and manipulation of verts. With the finished product I edited it to resemble the shape of the Puppet Master, so that as I stated earlier it would have better topology. However due to the shape of the PM compared to a human body I decided to make the arms and head separate pieces, in which to make the entire figure easier to model.

I think the hardest part was constantly tweaking the verts in order to get the right shapes and topology flow to go throughout the body. I managed to get it to a point where I was happy with this, and then move on to creating other elements of his clothes such as his hat and bell, which were both easy enough to model. When creating the majority of the models, I like to use the method where you work on one half only, but use the symmetry modifier in order to see the effects of the modelling on both sides.

With all the components of the blockout finished, I had to follow a list of criteria for exporting it out as an fbx file, but also with the correct settings in place for the model itself. This included setting the model at 0,0,0, centring its pivot point, grouping all the pieces together, getting the correct scale and naming everything appropriately. All this is done so that the animators can quickly get to work on rigging and animation instead of having to deal with all this themsleves.

In addition to modelling the Puppet Master I also modelled the robot puppet. I didn't feel the need to create a turnaround as the robots construction is fairly simple to understand and create. I made use of cylinders for the segmented leg and arm joints, and boxes with extrusions and vert manipulation to create the head and torso. A sphere shape was used for the hand, cut in half, and then the claws extruded from the flat surface created. Below shows the finished result, with perhaps the odd adjustment needed here and there.

During the production of this work I found out that for the demo presentation that we would be focusing on using the slime monster my fellow character artists made due to it being simply to create the mechanics for 1 monster instead of 3. So I've been assigned the role of drawing up the NPC characters for the game, the work of which will be shown in next week's blog entry.