Continuing the 3D Model

 I selected the vertex on top of the tower and scaled it in so I would give the curved style of a lighthouse.

 

 I then extruded the top on the tower to craft where the light is going to be held.

 

 Then I moved onto designing the roof using edge loops to smooth out the curves.

 

I then brought it all together and tried to play around with the ocean texture tool.

 



Concept Art - Early Development

 

Here is my first ideas when it came to design. I mapped out key parts to the model like the tower, like the bridge and the environment. I was able to also see at what perspective I want to do my final render and the style of lighting, for lighting the scene I will use and ambient lighting for the sunset and directional lighting for the light house, I have included this in my concept art. From this I was then able to add parts that are significant to a lighthouse and the culture. For example I am using smaller windows as that is a feature to a lighthouse. For oriental I am using the style of architecture like the roofing and adding objects that are normally considered part of the theme like the Chinese lanterns.

 

 

I then scanned in my concept art and added colour from my palette by using Photoshop. I felt this really helped define the oriental culture and made it clear or the theme. I feel this also helped create the peaceful atmosphere I want and will synergize well with the lighting. 

  

 

Beginning My 3D Model

I started with two faces of a cube and scaled them to the right side, I then added edge loops so I was a able to craft the faces.

 

I then used the vertex's from the edge loop to give the effect of a cliff edge.

 

I began to start building the bridge by scaling a cube and giving a lambert to it so I can clearly work from it.

 

 I created half the bridge and then duplicated it.

 

To create the rails I used a cylindrical shape and added edge loops so I could curve it.

 

Finished product.

 

Here is a stat to the basic design of my lighthouse.



Mood Board - Representations of Oriental in Media

 

Here I have looked at different examples of oriental within media and then combined them into a mood board to see similarities within each of the representations. The largest similarity is the colours, they have a very peaceful effect to the setting and this is something I want to bring to my piece.

Lighthouses - The Purpose & Development

The Purpose & Light

The core purpose of a lighthouse is to act as a "Navigational aid" to ships and boats when sailing near the coast. It informs them of the distance they have from the coast and helps light areas at night which maybe hazardous such as rockfall. The key structure to a house is the large curved structure and a large light at the top of the tower. Originally this light was a steady illumination of a Argand lamp (a model of the lamp is shown to the right) and the use of optical lenses to give the curved spotlight effect and increase the radius of the light therefore creating a light that could be visible at a longer distance.

The Design & Structure

The general structure of a lighthouse is a curved structure. The radius starts large and then slowly becomes smaller. This curve is a advantage to help keep the lighthouse in well condition. One being this it is more structurally sound as it is working with gravity and is less likely to fall as it has a large platform to stand on. The over advantage is that waves of the sea are more able to move around the tower therefore prevents a lot of force being placed on the building and could prevent erosion.

Overall this helps sustain a good design to the tower as it is more sustainable and could last longer than a straight tower.

Some lighthouse also use colours like red and white to help clearly spot the tower and suggests warning, this is also effective as it is preventing the lighthouse from becoming a hazard itself.

Developing into my Lighthouse.

Overall I feel this research has enabled me to develop a greater understanding of the structure and design behind lighthouses. I will show this development by adding certain elements to my concept art and 3D model. An example of this would be a curve to the building and multiple uses of the optical lens shape, thus making my light practical for it job. From this I then able to add my theme to the structure, for example the use of the colour palette and roofing. Therefore making my lighthouse practical and ascetically correct for the oriental culture.

Drawing Tablet - Development in Photoshop

Today I used a drawing tablet with Photoshop shop to help enhance my skill with colouring and creating concept art for my 1st assignment the first photo is the original and the second is the improved version.

As you can see this had enabled me to to draw darker colours and define the detail within the shadows, I feel like I still need to practice a lot more with the drawing tablet to help enhance this and wish to improve it more in the future.

Research into Oriental Architecture

When first looking into the oriental style builds I first decided to look at the types of colours that are normally used within the culture to help my my lighthouse have similarities towards other oriental buildings. To so I took images of the buildings from Google images and put them into Photoshop. By doing this I was able to use the eyedropper tool to take the colour from the images of the buildings and create a palette of the colours. (Shown Below)

 As you can see the colours are often colours that can be found in autumn, for example the array of reds within the palette. Having this palette enables me to take into texturing my building and also help to give the colour lighting to give the right tone of the culture.

I then went to look into the actual architecture of the oriental style I used tourism site as I am unable to experience them first hand but having the pictures from other peoples experience of the buildings I felt was the most effective primary research. One of the best site I found was trip advisor.

Click here to see one of the locations I found.

As you can see by this picture their is the use of the colours I found in numerous buildings. By using trip advisor I found that the roofing of the buildings are one of the key factors to the buildings. The buildings seem to be also made of woods which helps me when it comes to texturing the buildings. The supports of the building seem to be clearly visible and is part of the architecture, this is something I will incorporate into my work, along side this is also the windows, they seem to be very small and a have small pattern in them this is also something I can bring to my piece.

Developing a Character

As a group of three we were set the task of developing a character from a location, genre and a hobbie. The three topics we were given were Antarctica, Fantasy and wrestling. Here is our first general plan when approaching the task:

We decided on the Name of the as the Winter Exile to help create the setting of the character, for example with winter you immediately think of the harsh cold and when the work exile is used it is often enforced with something negative to represent the character of having a harsh lifestyle.

Here are some of the concept art I came up with for the character, environment and background of the whole development:

As you can see I have used  three segments, one for the character, another for the environment and the last for his home. For the character I mostly looked at the group concepts and work from there. For the environment I looked at photos of the North Pole and then emphasized a more harsh landscape to create a darker tone to the character and for his home I created a dark cave that I tried to make look very sinister. This was to resemble how the Winter Exile is seen by the world.  

Rules of Composition

Rule of Three -  Rule of three consists of having your main part to the piece on the intersection shown on the piece, therefore making the image slightly slanted giving an attractive look to the piece.

Framing - The picture in the middle of the three has a foreground to the piece make the scene seems more confined when compared to the others.

Avoid the Middle - None of the key parts to the image is in the centre of the piece making the picture far more appealing.

Leading Lines - The line of the path help guide to the main part of the piece.

Symmetry - Having symmetry in the image creates a sense of equality.

 

Patterns - Can describe the origin of the a character or represent a nationality.

 

Rules of Odds - Having an unequal amount of items in the piece gives a more interesting view.

 

Point of View - Can create a different perspective of the objects in the piece.

Photoshop - Colouring & Layers

The image below is a drawing made by one of my teachers, I was then set with the task of adding colours to the piece and shading. I did this by creating two layers, on the first layer I used to select segments with the magic wand tool and on the other layer I used the fill bucket tool to colour the image. After this process I added another layer and set the layer to colour burn. Thus enabling me to add shadows to the image. This really changed the piece and gave the character a smoother look, I feel it also brought out the colours in the piece a defined her hair as a key colour.

If I were to go back onto this piece I would improve it by adding more detail to the gun and make it resemble something of the character like her personality. For example have brighter colours on the gun to show she has a very confident and loud personality.

Photoshop - Editing Images

Above is a raw photo of the Island of Ionia from the fantasy game League of Legends. I felt the photo had beautiful colours the general setting of the piece gave a clear calming atmosphere. I was set the task of using Photoshop to change and adapt the image.

The Photo below Is my edit of the original artwork. I used the stamp tool to copy one of the gems on the building to add it to the other side of the building create a smaller tree next to the larger one to the left of the image. Just underneath the tree I also added an image of the character Yasuo to the image as Ionia is the characters origin I felt he fit well in the piece. I then used the colours around him as well as the paintbrush tool to help blend him into the scene. Finally I adjusted the saturation of the piece as I felt it enhance that calming atmosphere.

Overall this task helped me develop an understanding of some simple tools within Photoshop, If I were to return to the piece I would make more substantial changes to the images such as removing a part to the waterfall as I feel their are and excessive amount of them.

Looking into Maya - Texturing

The images above and below show one of my first looks into Maya. I was set to texture two cubes, I did this by using the UV template of the polygons and taking them into Photoshop, from their I used cardboard box textures to create a realistic look to the texture as well as using appropriate signs used to label a cardboard box. From this process I learnt a fast and effective way to texture polygons within Maya. If I was to go to back my work I would improve it by adding other elements to the texture such as tape on the of the box to give and even more realistic effect.  

Once I finished texturing the cardboard boxes I added a plane to the scene and a directional light to so when it came to rendering the boxes I was able to give a shadow to them. I then decided to change the directional light to a spotlight the which gave a more defining tone to the scene and helped highlight the boxes better.

Overall I learnt in the session the key aspect to creating a simple scene such as texturing and the use of lights.