Backpack
The backpack model, as its one of the first models I worked on it lacks the slight tweaks seen in later creations, there are several things I enjoy about this model- it is well modeled without any type of error or clipping, this gives it a clean and professional edge. The textures used are crisp and detailed, giving the backpack a more realistic look. The model for the main bag and the chest on top of it are clean and well modeled however the ones on the side are slightly blocky, lacking the amount of polish seen elsewhere, to fix this all I have to do is split the polygons up further- adding detail and smoothing them out along the way. One extremely large problem I have with this is the texture used on the chest, because of scatterbrain-ity on my part I forgot to add a wooden texture and now the chest looks like its made out of leather, while not a deal breaker I'd prefer if it used a more suitable texture. The last fault I have with the model is the metal, seen on the chest, belt buckles and button, this gray material was originally supposed to be very shiny but turned out dull and gray, I'm surprised I never fixed this as it is literally as simple as dragging a slider.
The med-kit is one of the most texture-heavy models I worked on next to the ring, with separate images for the planks, bark, trunk texture and logo to name a few, the reason I mention this is because I feel proud of the way it turned out, the textures blender and worked together well without much trouble. The original idea for this model way a hollowed out tree trunk turned into a chest, I feel like the concept has been faithfully recreated (especially when viewed from the back). The gold rim and handle turned out great, shiny and reflective like I'd hoped. The largest problem with this model is that it lacks any contents, all the items I planned to model were scrapped due to time constraints, this turned the med-kit into a glorified chest. The final complaint I have is that the healing logo was mirrored, this was a problem caused by my use of a mirror filter, allowing me easy editing of one side without messing up the other, the downside of this is that textures turn up mirrored, ironically I could have worked out fine with a cross as it would have been mirrored correctly.
The plague doctor crow, such a difficult model and one of my first attempts at UV mapping, while I was able to fully cover the model with the crow texture it wasn't without sacrifice, the horrible stretching and glitching of the textures show this pretty easily. I feel that while the model's textures turned out odd the overall shape of the model ended up looking quite swell, with proper proportions and correct anatomy. The final things I want to note are the texture on the crow's feet and the unsaturated, washed-out look of the feathers, the contrast between the two pulls the attention towards them, giving the render a slightly odd feel.
Undeniably (and intentionally) the worst of all the models, this low resolution, low detail goat was especially planned for out of bounds areas where the player could not spot its low quality. Regardless of its intended use the proportions and texturing of the sheep ended up relatively well-done and realistic, the torso of the animal stuck extremely close to its real life counterpart for the sake of quality, the texturing (while slightly bland) is still UV mapped correctly. There are slight issues I take to heart, the most obvious can be seen by the untrained eye, the goat lacks modeled tears or tail, this gives it an unfinished look and really takes away from its charm. Another problem proportion wise is the blocky legs, these abominations of limbs strut out in a vile manner, their solid and edging look crashing with the smooth and soft curves of the animal.
This ogling ring was my first attempt at multiple textures and it shows, not only is there a noticeable crash in colours, fuzzle and undetailed textures but it wasn't even able to stick to the original sketch. To give it some credit I think the eyeball turned out rather nicely, the gloss wasn't too sharp or too spread out, it really does look like what a eyeball taken from someone and struck onto a ring would look like (for better of for worse). And while the textures lacked much detail I still feel like with some saturation, sharpening and colour correction they would work great together and on the ring.
The magic staff of the night, this is by far one of my most favorite models, not only is it smooth and clean but the materials (from the golden extrusions to the gemstone star) work so well with the marble textured staff and moon that it hurts. While speaking of the moon, it turned out great, originally it had a more yellowish glow but that was (for lack of better words) ugly, who knew that a simple colour shift to a blue would look so much better? Out of all the times I've attempted a metallic look this takes the cake, the shine looks great and the gold's colour is just saturated enough. My favourite thing by far has to be the gemstone, it looks perfect and really serves to bring the floating moon together with the staff. There are slight errors that bug me however, for one the staff base hangs between smooth and edgy lighting that almost ruins it for me, thankfully its not that prominent from far away, the final seems to be linked with the program itself and how it handles glossy, if you look closely (and while at the right angle) at any glossy material you might spot a pure black outline, you can see this on the staffs second picture, just look closely at the gold curves.
Pre-Production and Why Its the Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
Pre-production was extremely supportive, I doubt I'd have gotten this far without it, not only did it keep my work on the right track but it gave me that push I needed to continue working. If it had not been for pre-production I would not have had a clear idea for my models and would have spent hours playing around with them to no avail, hoverer I had the foresight of doing some sketches before diving into the 3D modeling saving me valuable time.
The resource list was useful as it was the document that made me get an external hard-drive, and what luck! Was it not for that external hardrive months of work would have been lost as my computer ended up breaking during the production. The risk assessment was also useful, in an effort to refresh my mind and make my environment more safe and friendly I followed some of the tips from the "What can be done to prevent this?" section, I created backups (as already mentioned), I checked to make sure my healing icon (seen on the Med-Kit) was not some type of copyrighted design, I checked with friends to ensure my work was appropriate for all ages and diversities and finally and most importantly I did an entire overhaul of my workspace, this change led to a staggering amount of improvement in the quality and speed of my work. Had it not been for pre-production I would still be stuck in my normal working environment with less than stellar performance.
The SWOT analysis was a productive creation, the feedback I received from its creation (while lacking in description) was enough to make me put a spin on my production, focusing on my weaknesses, this can be clearly seen in the quality of my models and their increases in quality. The first two sections "Strengths of Plans" and "Weaknesses of Plans" were personally the two most helpful sections out of them all, as I'm more of a hands-on learner. Pre-production was the correct answer on this part as well, the new spin this document game me turned my work upside down, giving me a new perspective and new ways to improve it.
Last but not least, the Recce report, a short and simple little thing. While it was nothing special, it was something that made me decide to do most of my 3D modeling at school, I am a simple man- one unable to defy the powers of a cat's tricks and charms, had I not done the work at school 95% of this unit would have been pictures of my cats in a blatant and nowhere subtle attempt at a higher score...
Huh? Did I say something?...*cough*
