First week of 3D computer graphics!

Analyzing screenshots

During my class’ first week of the 3D course we were assigned to analyze 4 different screenshots taken from different games using the 7 elements of Art that we practiced during last terms’ 2D course. One interesting thing to note is how by just looking closely at still pictures from games you’ve never played you can still tell pretty much how the action sequences, the characters, the world and how game itself is going to be played out.

For instance, in this screenshot above from the game Middle earth Shadow of Mordor 2 we can tell much of what is happening and what part in the game the characters are playing. When eliminating colors and details and only using values we can block out the shapes that make up this scene.  We know that the character to the left is of importance just by looking at how much space that character takes up in the scene. We see how he towers over the smaller creature as a hint to us of his power.

When analyzing both characters’ silhouettes they read rather round and curvy, which is interesting, especially when it comes to the character to the right. The monster’s silhouette reads very soft and not sharp/triangular and edgy like many other evil characters. Round and curvy things often read friendly and nice which doesn’t apply to this character. One thing to remember is that soft things are also often associated with natural and organic things. So by keeping that in mind we know that the monster must be a natural and organic creature just like humans, which is indeed true because they are born from the mud. We know however that the smaller creature is evil by looking at its color scheme and sharp/pointy facial construction. For example, the color red often associates with evil and danger which is the more prominent color of the monster. Its teeth are sharp and non-friendly looking. It has sharp downward facing eyebrows and pointy ears and wears pointy armor.  All of which is the opposite of curvy (friendly) and soft (non-dangerous).

Above is a screenshot of the game Far Cry 3. I haven’t yet played this game but just by looking at the picture I can already tell a lot of the game without playing it. I’ve made it easier to analyze by once again blocking out shapes using only values. From the start we can tell that this is an intense action shot just by looking at all the diagonals in the scene. Diagonals often read chaotic because they aren’t horizontal nor vertical and it’s something that’s not stabilized. We can also see a sharp contrast between the landscape and the man-made things. The landscape uses more high-pitched values and colors which reads more friendly and inviting. It is also curvy and soft in its shapes which we know from before reads natural and organic. But when we take a look at the man-made things such as the cars and the buildings we see more low-pitched values as well as colors which come off as scary, uninviting and evil. The shapes are very harsh which reads not only mechanic and man-made, but non-friendly and dangerous.

So by just looking at this screenshot I know that the landscape is not the real danger in this game, but the humans are. I’ve asked people in my class who have played Far Cry 3 and amazingly enough that is the truth.

Creating 3D environments

During the same first week of the 3D course we students got to create 3D game environments using the software 3D Studio Max keeping in mind what we had learned when analyzing the previous screenshots. Me and my partner Jenny decided to do a Journey inspired landscape with our keyword being “solitude”. We struggled a lot grasping all the controls as well as tools since we are both new to 3Dsmax. We tried to create an environment that would give the player a sense of loneliness but also guide the player with the use of a clear focal point and repetitive patterns.

Our first goal was to make it look like Journey by creating a desert-like base to the level with lots of dunes and uneven ground. At the end of the level we wanted to have a huge body of sand to interest the player into exploring what would be behind the sandy mountains. We created a road that intersect the mountains and decorated that road with repetitive shapes to assure the player that’s the way he/she should go. We had plans to create an interesting shape in the background that would be seen behind the mountains. Using contrast in shapes and having something interesting at the end of a 1-point perspective would act as an even cleared focal point in the landscape and keep the player wanting to explore. Unfortunately we didn’t get around to doing so. We managed to accomplish solitude by not using too many shapes to clutter the landscape and modeling the scattered shapes that were in the level to resemble destruction.

Overall it was a first good week of our 3D course and I’m looking forward to improve my skills in 3D modelling and hopefully get a good grasp on the software 3Dsmax.