Return Of The Zak

It's been a while since my last post, nothing much has changed but quite recently I've been creating some photos on Photoshop and want to share them.

The Surveys Return

Collected my result for the survey I sent out a while ago about my 3D animation, here are the results which I'am quite pleased about.

Production Log

Been handing in all my work like a good boy and there are a few loose ends I wants to knot before my two year course at Shipley college comes to an end, here is my little production log on the 3D model, we also had to work out how much to sell it for plus how much everyone would be getting paid, every week I spent thirteen hours in college with all the recorded hours totting up to a total of 84 hours spent on this project,  the average salary for a 3D modeler my age would be around £13.50 a hour giving me a total of £1134, can't be bad.

The downside is the cost to run and purchase everything, you are looking at around £2,500 just for the software and computers, then you have to think about how much it costs to run everything, and the room itself where you are based will not be free either, bunking it up to over £3,000, yet you haven't even done anything, working out that you have to get more than £10,000 back after Tax, paying employees, bills and equipment, I would sell this product (If I was) at about £1.50 yet to see profit I would have to sell more than 6667 copies, so advertising would have to be crucial at this point.

Here is the whole log,

If only things were different.

In unit 72 what I have to do is create a back story with Salts Mill, and decide if there are any changes I would make to the model such as the exterior will be a lot more wore away and bits of rubble around with boarded up windows and doors. The reason I want the place in such a mess is because in my story Salts Mill is used as a fortress to protect an amount of people from a zombie apocalypse, It feature 10 characters who survive the first 6 months of a zombie apocalypse but there are millions of zombies still wandering the empty streets so they decide to go out and hunt all of them, using Salts mill as a refuge camp plus base, the story itself is not about trying to find civilization but to destroy all the Zombies to get life to be better than what it was.

I like the choice of characters because it ranges from a little girl to a Explosive mad midget that gets found in a well, and each of them are different in many ways but all have one thing in common and that is they all hate zombies.

The story starts off with six of them found Salts Mill as an ex refugee camp with only four survivors in with hordes of zombies surrounding the building and loads of corpses around, they decide to go in and help the survivors and get everything back on track.
This is what I did on story and data for everything.

One million = Pest control

It’s the year 2024 and a zombie apocalypse has swept the entire world making the human population less than one million, with billions of the walking dead strolling down the streets no one is safe, now the clock is ticking and only one race will survive the longest, the living or the dead.

The date is the 17^th of June 2024, six months after the first Zombie was sighted and a team of survivors has made it to Salts mill where they set up camp inside preparing for the biggest, goriest, most brutal killing rampage anyone has ever done.

Zak Burnley aka Death Dodger.

Gender: Male.

Age: 29.

Favourite food: Bacon.

Favourite Weapon: Bow and Arrow.

Bio: Peaceful most of the time, but the one thing he hates the most is Zombies after they brutally mauled his family and he was left alone for three month to fight off the living dead, the only thing that kept him sane was pictures of life before the apocalypse and swears to himself that life will be better than it has ever been once it is all over and he will find bacon, he prefers to call the shots as he’s the longest survivor and has killed more than 3000 Zombies and lost count four months into the invasion. He’s not scared of zombies anymore; the zombies are scared of him.

The false hero

John Smith, AKA Vicar

Gender: Male

Age: 25

Favourite food: Unknown

Favourite Weapon:  Crossbow

Bio: No one knows the story behind his nick name, only because he says it’s the longest story ever with no complaints about a boring story everyone is satisfied that his names Vicar, but unlike Zak, John has a hidden fear of Zombies. John doesn't like to show he’s scared only because he’s jealous of Zak’s role in the squad, and is interested in the steam punk style. He met Zak after those two were pushed into a shop and had nowhere to go, he hopes to find his family and get an island of his own.

Dwaine Johnson

Gender: Male

Age: 45

Favourite food: Chicken

Favourite Weapon: Chainsaw

Bio: worked at a Mechanic in Birmingham living with his daughter Alisha, where he swears to protect her no matter what happens. At the start of the invasion he was in prison but broke out to find his daughter who was in a foster home and set camp in his old garage. He met Zak, John and Debra after their car broke down in a dark street with hordes of zombies nearby, as he was a fully trained mechanic and out of food he offered to join only for his daughters’ safety.

Alisha Johnson

Gender: female

Age: 12

Favourite food: Chicken

Favourite weapon: Throwing Knifes

Bio: Was put into a foster home at the age of 8 after her mother was killed in a car crash and her dad was sent to prison for dodging tax and selling class B drugs, she’s a lovable character, with most people at first thinking that she’s a scarred child that can’t handle herself, she surprises them by showing that she can handle herself better than her own dad. When the breakout occurred she hid in the attic of her foster home with an air rifle, inventing genius ways to access the top floor with was Zombie proof.

Mike Oxlong

Gender: Male

Age:55

Favourite food: Spam and lettuce

Favourite weapon: Explosives

Bio: The most deadliest midget to ever walk the United Kingdom, everyone make fun of him the first few seconds of meeting him but he is a serious guy as he’s Irish everyone seems to think of his as a lost crazy pyromaniac leprechaun that looks like a shrunken Gandalf, he is the most deadly and dangerous person in the group. He’s a strong ally to have in this scenario but be always on the move, as he can’t help himself to blow something up. His granddad was in the IRA and taught him everything he needed to know about making and using explosives at a very young age. He met the team after he blew up after they found him trapped down a well.

Debra Monclaire

Gender: female

Age:22

Favourite food: Pizza

Favourite weapon: Samurai Sword

Bio: The babe of the group who was staying over at her friends on the night of the invasion, and woke up to the sound of her friend trying to eat her. After successfully beating her best friend to death she hid in an empty house and waited for everything to quieten down and was the third person to join the team after she was saved by Zak and John. Her career before the apocalypse was working in a hospital as a trainee nurse she makes a great addition to the group as she is trained in first aid and many other things.

After all the above grouped they heard that there was an armoured camp at Salts mill so they set out to find it, but found out that there was only four survivors left after three hundred of the survivors were infected and scattered in the building, the team decided the safest option was to set a explosion at the top of the street and wait for them to leave. Inside the building they found...

James Morris

Gender: Male

Age: 24

Favourite food: Sunday dinner

Favourite weapon: An electrified sword he made and guns.

Is a builder from around the area that was working on the Salts mill interior before the outbreak and thought of barricading and fencing the outside off so that no zombies could get in, they was also a troop of soldiers that came to protect but cowardly ran away after they broke in and with most of them dead, he used the guns and ammo which killed many, but attracted more.

Mad Mike

Gender: Male

Age: ????

Favourite food: Spam

Favourite Weapon: Any

Bio: The most badass soldier that’s alive, the scary bit is his past, brought up in the London ghetto at a young age and was a very aggressive person who was part of the A-team who brought down the Korean terrorist viy- gong- mab. Most people thought he was too mad to be kept in the army, yet too dangerous to release into the public, he kept everyone sane by going insane.

 

Tim Brooke

Age: ????

Favourite food: Full English

Favourite weapon: Machete

One of James Morris’s college who was helping on the interior of the building, Tim and James are like brothers the way they act together and watch each other’s back all the time.

 

Mohamed Husain 

Age: 17

Favourite food: Curry

Favourite weapon: Axe

Bio: Not really known by anyone as he’s the last of the civilians that took refuge in Salts Mill, no one really knows him but everyone had enough time to get acquainted. Used to run a Indian restaurant downtown before the apocalypse began.

Everyone decides the best place for base is Salts mill as it has many escape routes, few entrances and a surrounding fence which cannot be breached by any zombies. The world has changed from what it once was to a gory everyman for himself except this team of ten survivors all capable of surviving.

Narrative structure

The narrative structure of it is linear as it’s just a straight forward with a beginning, middle and an end, as a simple story layout it’s not complicating and I could of gone for a story with multiple plots but there was no need for it as I’m keeping it a simple story. If I was doing a Multi plot the way I would set it out would be that Salts mill was brought through time and there are monsters surrounding it with only one way out. 

The Units deplete one by one

In Unit 20 what I did was create and fill a excel page about different types of CPU's, HCI, different ways to connect computers and different ways to store data, but the first part was discussing the first manufactured video game, as there were many declaring which was the first video game invented dating right back to the 1900's, but I was more intrigued with the first arcade game.

The reason for this post is because in unit 20 I have to tell you how to set up a game console, at first your thinking that you have to be stupid not to know how to set up a game console, but for some people who are not tech heads might not know how to, for example my grandma wouldn't have a clue which way the console stands never mind everything else.

Based on a Xbox 360 Console
The first part to starting up a games console is plugging it in at the mains with the external power source and connecting it into the back, the shape of the plug will match son there are no confusions of where to plug it in, the next step is connecting the Xbox to the TV which is done with either a HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) cable or a AV cable (Audio Visuals) this links from the back of the console to the TV, a HDMI goes straight from the back of the Xbox to the back of the TV and has Audio, Sound and High Definition all in one, yet the AV cable goes from the back of the Xbox and splits into three connectors which are colour coded to help you fit them into the right plug on the back of your TV, they all work together one is the Visuals, another is the audio and one makes sure the audio comes out of the correct speakers.
Once everything is connected the next step would be to switch the console on and wait for the loading screen to finish, where you'll be confronted with a update pop up where it will tell you it needs to connect to the internet and download some updates this is optional so you can go steight on to setting the date and time on the console and streight into a games but if your wanting Xbox live or any online features you will have to connect to the internet. The console can be connected via either a Ethernet cable or by WIFI, the quickest and best way would be to connect wireless as the online games wouldn't crash or lag, once you have connected to the internet and accepted the updates it will restart and work again, you will have to do this many times as Microsoft are constantly sending out updates for the console and games, these are to patch up any glitches found in the game.

Reflection to find Perfection

This is the final video to my Salts Mill Animation which includes a 700 degrees spin around the exterior of the structure showing the Chimney, tower and the canal converted into a lovely river, then it progresses to the inside of the building which shows you a pool and waterfall which I planned and stuck with right to the end.
If there was a next time on this specific project the things I would change would be the hover car on the podium, the bathroom and more in the dining area behind the waterfall. The car would be turned into a shiny four wheeled motor which would take a total of 25 hours to make and spend 5 hours texturing making sure its close to being professional, my next change would be sticking close to the plan of having a floor built bath with a pillar at each corner with trees and plants scattered around.
The reason I couldn't do these tasks in the first place was simply because I had used too many polys so if I tried to add more object in or make object look better and the computer would crash on me leaving me the thought of not saving every 5 minutes so when I open up my work it put me back 20 minutes.
Apart from all that the good things that went well was the water inside and out of the building, the only thing to improve on it would be animating it to look more realistic and add a slight mist above where the waterfall will be hitting the pool, also what I think went well was the tower on the outside of the mill, which is detailed and eye catching, it was also my favorite to model as it didn't need too much detail but enough to give the best effect.
In this project I could of used my time more wisely as at first I was messing about creating individual windows at the start I should of straight away thought about texturing them on and I could of put more time into improvements, but you learn from mistakes and its all to experience.
What I learned in this project is that promotion for your work is massive and a lot needs to be covered while making a model as well that has to impress, and not to over complicate everything, as simplicity is good in some aspects, also learnt that I can achieve the tasks I set even if they do sound quite bazaar at the time.

What I have done is sent a survey to everyone in my class attached to an email along with a link to the trailer I made and my finished 3D animation, personally I think the feedback was positive.

Are We Nearly There Yet?

To be honest, yes course I'am, the final render is on its way and the full clip will feature a backing track that I created over the past 2 weeks with 3 hours in total, the reason for me not posting about it is because I would rather show it with the final clip.

The Creator of the Trailer

This is the trailer of all the Teams 3D animations put together on movie maker which I created, the song was taken off the Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon OST, The reason for this is because the song catches your attention and suits it perfectly.

Just a Few Rocks and a Wall, that is all.

What I have done is added a parraell wall running down both sides of the water running through the middle of Salts Mill with the water appearing form rocks in the distance so it looks like it has come from somewhere instead of a dodgy water fall.

before

After

as you can see I have also brightened it up even more due to the fact I want to stick to the bright and peaceful scenery idea. one other thing I forgot to mention is that I have also added in a bridge to link the two separate buildings as I thought I wouldn't have enough time to do it, turns out I do.

Back in the day

When I was a young ling playing on Spyro gateway to glimmer on the Playstation there were calm places where you can collect a few gems/orbs and choose what level to do by running into the porthole, and each main place was named after a season, the first one you encountered was called Summer Forest, the next one was called Autumn Plains and the last one was called Winter Tundra.
All three of these places had a peaceful soundtrack, and what I want to do is create a song which is like this for my animation here are the three songs so you can understand what I mean.

Summer Forest

Autumn Planes

 

Winter Tundra

 

Picture Perfect

What I have accomplished in the last hour is making the animation for the Salts Mill which is now at 3000 frames and is a decent animation with the professional style of a slow moving camera circling the project twice before descending into the interior.
Because I have done the exterior and interior separately, due to having too many polys on both, then I came up with the idea of the camera viewing the building then finishing it once it reaches the door, then on the exterior make the animation start at the door.

My next task is to render out the 3000 frame long animation which I imagine, should take quite a while and once I've done that I will begin creating my interior animation.

The Green Green Grassssssssssssssss

Was thinking that the grass for my environment looked too smooth, dark, and too rich in Green, so what I did was add a grass texture onto the environment to get it looking even better than before, as well here are the rest of my renders I got today.

Let there be Light

Been fiddling around with the lighting for the past hour, what I am aiming to do is make get the light to cast shadows and make the environment nice and bright because what I'am trying to get is a peaceful scenery that gives off a warm summer feeling.

 These are the renders I got to show how many times I changed the lighting and the different angles I tried.

Changing my Mind as Frequent as Socks

Was thinking that the walls of the mill look too tacky so what I have don is changed it, this is what it looked like before.

This is what it looks like now.

And in all fairness I think that it is a massive improvement .

I Demand Land!

What I have accomplished in the last 30 minutes is making the ground for the model so it is no floating in mid air and looks more realistic, what you can't see here is the hills and bumps that surround the Mil, I have also placed a river going through like in reality but this one looks a lot cleaner and it's a river the real Mill has a canal but as I have mentioned before, this is my adaptation of the building that is only based on it, so there will be a few thing that are different but I can assure you that if I had plenty more time I would make it look exactly like the real thing, but this isn't far off.

This is from really far away to show you the rest of the land.

Every Creation Has Inspiration

What I need to do is get sound effects to go with the Salts mill video, I have already planned what will happen in the animation but for the sound I will have to look at a few professional examples before being able to decide what sounds I need.

žžhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o-rwNODTsU

žžHere is a example of the different gun sounds in the game Halo 4, all though I won’t be using gun noises I will be needing the correct music for the scenery.

žžHere is another example of what I could do with the sound effects,

žžhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZjrSoQRknc

žžthis is from the game Skyrim when you are walking through a blizzard in the wilderness, it give it a cold feel to the scenery when playing it and is quite effective for scenery sound effects.

žžMy scenery will be a fairly bright and peaceful scenery, so the appropriate music will need to be quite cheery.

žžhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuMRt_nwKIQ

žžHere is a Example from the Game Skyrim which uses this soundtrack when your exploring the land in the day time, especially when there are no signs of danger, it is used to mentally tell the player everything's fine and makes you feel more relaxed when playing.

ž

žSo what I intend to do is flex this to suit my needs, what I will need for my animation will be birds singing sound effect, a light wind sound effect for when the camera goes up into the sky to view slightly down on the building, I will also need the sound effects of an old door opening and closing for when the camera goes in to view the Interior, a hover car sound will be needed for when the camera goes into the showroom and a medium sized waterfall sound effect will be needed for the interior waterfall.

žI can get all of these sounds by using a portable recorder and a lunch time to go around recording all the necessary sounds.
žA idea I had a while ago was of instead of a camera it could be animated so its like a 1st person view and the person does a super jump in the air flying around the mill twice and landing just outside the front door ready to go in, adding sound effect before he jumps and when he lands, this is a Idea I came up with first but my animating skill are fairly rust so I’ll have to see what I can do.

The Dream Mill

Nearly finished with the Modelling all that is left to do is create a floor so it doesn't look like its floating, a front entrance with opening and closing doors, the canal between the tower and the mill. 

These first few pictures are in a certain order to show you which way the camera will be going in the animation when doing a 720 degrees spin around the structure.

From a different angle 

a side view showing the gap between the Main building and the back building where it will feature the canal.

Birds eye view of my almost complete Salts Mill.

I'm a Nice Guy

Finished the middle of the building, what I have done here is copied flat cubes around with the texture attached to create this, the reason with it being really basic is because before I was making too many polys which made the software crash multiple times, so this is a better way of doing it.

One Brick... Two Brick... Three Brick... Four

Added the chimney into my environment which was created separately then merged onto the main environment, the one thing that has changed is the Chimney base is a different colour, yet the outcome is better than before.

I'm a Environmentalist

After getting rid of all the individual windows I have been able to focus on getting my environment more complete, so far I have been putting my Tower into the scenery and extending the building, so far this is what I have done.

What I have done is made

Cracking on

Now that all the object are created I need to put them all together to create my environment, what I have finished is The Salts Mill Tower, Chimney, Interior and changed a major fault which was me being stupid and creating individual windows which became a huge problem making the computer go really slow and crashing majority of the time, so what I decided to do was delete all the individual windows and add a texture onto the walls which made it look better and it runs a lot smoother now.

Before
 As you can see its really tacky and unrealistic, even in this render there are way too many polys than I need

After

Straight away it looks a lot better, the roof is made up of two flat boxes and two pyramids, it has also escalated my work speed making it more possible of meeting the deadline.

Even Better Than Grand Designs

Finished putting the textures in my Salts Mill Interior model.
This is the Main entrance and the first thing you'll see when entering the building, obviously it will have a roof just better for showing this way.

Dining Area

Was made by shaping boxes to get this basic look .

The bedroom and bathroom are just a couple of features that I added into the interior just for comfort reasons.