Flower

Click here for a link to a video about Flower narrated by the president and co-founder of ThatGameCompany Kellee Santiago. In the video Kelle says "We start our ideas with emotion, how we want the player to feel." is this not how an artist would approach a painting? Flower is like an interactive watercolor painting, that moves and changes as you paint the ground with color as you float across its landscapes. The game is freely available on the playstation Network which relates to what Chris Crawford said during his Dragon speech "Effectiveness over efficiency." Looking into the philosophical definitions of art, the game is mimetic, an observation of nature(traditional), the games aesthetics are clear (Functional), and it has been widely praised by critics(Institutional). I believe Flower is interactive art and a good sign that maybe Chris Crawford was wrong in the Creativity: the missing ingredient chapter on his book On Game Design. What Kelle says towards the end of the video backs this up "With downloadable games you can have smaller teams, smaller budgets, which means we can take more creative risks and now we are seeing all sorts of games that would not have been published with out the playstation network." This feels me with enthusiasm about the artistic direction the games industry can go. Sally backs this up further by saying "Were continuing to try and create games that express emotions and hopefully push the boundaries of what games can do." Is this not what artists do with a medium.

Alex Legg – Environment Artist

Alex Legg is an environment artist for Rockwell Collins, he has a degree in Computer Animation and uses Maya, 3Ds Max, Mudbox, Unreal Ed and Crazybump. I have an interest in his work because I am trying to learn the best techniques in creating low-ploy.

 High and low resolution models made in 3Ds Max

Diffuse, Normal, Specular and Occlusion maps.

Alex created this model using a tutorial from Eat3D. The low resolution model 1500 polys and 2000 tris, the distribution of tris on the model are well controlled and texture maps are well made and effective, I think I could learn a lot from using the same tutorial.

Here is an in game image of the model in the Unreal engine. From looking at this model I can see the benefit of creating looks of separate model assets to create a room instead of multiple or all assets in one go. By creating multiple objects I will have more control over creating maps that suit different surfaces and will being able to gain a higher resolution.

3Ds MAX – Pelt Mapping

Pelt Mapping is a great technique which I have just learnt, I have found that since I have learnt this technique I use it for 80% of the mapping work I do on models. First of all I apply a UVW Unwrap modify to my model in the modify tab. I then select faces and click the Point To Point Seam button, this tool allows me to cut up my model into different sections to be mapped. To do this I can use the Point To Point Seam tool to select edges to separate up sections of polygons. Example below, the seams I have created are marked blue.

After I have marked out the sections of the model I want to map I select one of the faces of a section I want to map and select Exp. Face Sel To Seams, this selects all the faces on the section I want to map. I then click Pelt. Which brings me up with the Pelt menu.

Faces before pelt

 I click Pelt which stretches and unfolds the sections of faces along the seams I had selected with the Point To Point Seam tool.

Faces after pelt

I Then select Relax which relaxes the faces and brings the faces into proportion.

Faces after Relax

3Ds MAX – Extrude Along Spline

This is a useful technique I have learnt which is especially helpful when creating trees models. First of all I create a tall cylinder which will be the trunk of my tree.

 I then go to Create - Objects and select the line tool. Go to the Top view port and create a line of four vertex points in a rough shape and direction I want for the roots of my tree. I then go back to the Perspective view and adjust the vertex points again.

 As you can see I move the line so that it touches the model and is roughly in-between two polygons. I then select these two polygons and select Extrude Along Spline (I click the menu button for this function which is a small small square that is next to the functions name) and select Pick Spline, then I select the line I had created that is touching the selected polygons. Polygons now extrude from the cylinder model along the line. I then adjust the Segments, Taper Amount and Taper Curve opens in the Extrude Polygons Along Spline menu accordingly to get the effect of a tree root.

By using this technique many times over on this model, adjusting the options of the Extrude Polygons Along Spline menu for each extrude to add variety I can create a basic complex tree model within minutes. Below is the final result after half an hour.