3D Terpology

3D terpology especially within the face is the layout of polygons that have been manipulated to fit a model ready for things such as facial animation I.E..

There are many ways in which to model a head in 3D. In this tutorial, we'll look at polygon modelling with subdivision smoothing for mesh refinement. This approach enables you to create the topology of the face mesh in a very direct and hands-on manner. With NURBS modelling, creating a human head can be problematic, and the best method involves stitching multiple surfaces together. This takes an awful lot of planning and isn’t a method you can jump straight into. Polygon modelling enables you to correct mistakes more easily

Correct topology (the way a surface is structured) is the single most important aspect of head modelling. We'll be creating special topological structures, known as ‘edge loops', which outline areas of the face and mimic the rings of muscle under the skin. Without proper loops, a head will be difficult to animate. We’ll also be making sure all the polygons have four vertices (called quads). A mesh of all quads is less likely to pinch when smoothed and animated.

Life Drawing

There were no pieces of life drawing i was particularlaly proud of mainly due to the fact that the model changed every week and we didn't seem to have life drawing for a long enough amount of time to become acustomed to the various styles of drawing we had to do. In the future i hope for the life drawing to be a lot more complete and part of the corresponding project. My favourite model to draw however was the woman we had to draw. She had an interesting body shape and the quick fire style drawing of every different angle made it easier for me to draw an overall body shape quickly and then work around the basic shape later. I would like to do more life drawing so i can try this technique of drawing out further.

small company vs AAA company

The design process that netherealm go through is not too different from how they used to work many years ago when working with williams to make the very first mortal kombat. The principal of how they would work on certain parts of the game have been changed very little however now they have a much larger production team and the funding by warner bros interactive.

FINISH HIM: How to Make a Killer Fatality for Mortal Kombat

The fatality development process is extremely collaborative. In the past, we didn’t start designing and implementing fatalities until the majority of the game was finished. But with this game, the team began working on fatalities early in the development cycle in order to have the maximum amount of time to come up with ideas and polish them. Fatalities are born in the dark recesses of the designer’s minds – each fatality always starts with a general idea from [Mortal Kombat co-creator] Ed Boon and the designers. They basically lock themselves in a room for hours and lay out all of their ideas. Once the meeting begins, one brave soul is the first to share a sick and twisted way for the player to finish off their opponent, and the process begins.







animations such as fatalities have been storyboarded like this since 1992.

http://www.ign.com/

http://iplaywinner.com/

Paolo Garcia:

GS: What are some of the lessons learned from previous MK entries that affected the design process for the latest game?

PG: The biggest lesson we've learned was planning for the tweaking of moves after the game ships. We prepared for this from the beginning of the current game's development and have built most of the gameplay around adjustable values. This will allow us to adjust some things, if needed, after the community gets its hands on the game. We also wanted to give fans features and game elements they have been asking for, which is why we have a strictly 2D fighting plane and a return of classic moves, like Sub-Zero's ice clone, Cyrax's net, the classic version of Scorpion's teleport punch, Reptile's force balls, and lots of other cool things that players will discover as they go through the game.

GS: Finally, Mortal Kombat has endured for all these years and remains a popular series. What do you attribute that to?
PG: The Mortal Kombat franchise has enjoyed huge success over the last 20 years in gaming and other entertainment mediums because of the rich story and the fun factor. The games are so much fun to play with friends or on your own. Another big factor is the expertise of the team currently working on the game--many of whom have worked on several of the Mortal Kombat games going all the way back to the beginning. There is a lot of great passion for the franchise at NetherRealm

as opposed to other large companies netherealm still has more than a handful of members that worked on the original games and thus have a deep passion for the franchise. other men and women are employed but i personally feel that the love for a franchise is what should be a driving force for large companies and not how much money will be made at the end of it.






motion capture has come a long way in the past 15 years

first Mortal Kombat game was, "... put together in 10 months in 1991-1992..."  and also in an interview with Official Nintendo Magazine, Mortal Kombat co-creator, Ed Boon, stated, "Mortal Kombat started out with four people in 1991; I was the only programmer, John Tobias and John Vogel were the only two artists, and Dan Forden was the only sound designer. That was it

makings of:

into outworld the making of mortal kombat 3
making of mortal kombat deadly alliance
various promo videos for mk1 (1991-1992)
magazine articles (official nintendo magazine 1992)
various in game feature videos such as character bio cards which include interviews with the actors explinations of how certain goals were achieved etc.
the history of mortal kombat video.

Independant vs Mainstream

Tale of Tails

The endless forest:

The Endless Forest is a multiplayer online game and social screensaver, a virtual place where you can play with your friends. When your computer goes to sleep you appear as a deer in this magical place. There are no goals to achieve or rules to follow. Just run through the forest and see what happens.

The endless forest seems to be somewhat of a relaxation game Which involves activities that you can do to prevent the game from being completely monotanous. It has an interesting art direction with the deers that the player plays as having some human features, At first this style is unusual to look at.

The Path:

Storyline wise Tale of tales state this game is influenced by red riding hood. Although it very much seems to be red riding hood instead of its own creation. Marketed as a horror game it has a very tim burton esque art style behind it.

A complete downfall for this game is that T.O.T state that there are no enemies to fight and no puzzles to solve. As  lifelong horror fan the number one rule based on personal experience is that if there are no enemies to threaton you, you are not under threat. Feeling vulnerable and in danger is key to scaring any player. puzzles add to the games psycology. keeping your mind open to possibilities. while solving obstacles you're also more aware to horror moments like noises etc.

Vanitas:

From what i can gather you pick up and place objects in different positions. you can tilt them with your iphone or drag them with your finger. It has become apparent to me that T.O.T isnt really a game company so to speak ther is very little gameplay involved in all of these games. They're more artisctic than anything else.

Activision:

The main difference between Activision and tale of tales is the sheer amount of work that needs to be done. The games that T.O.T make are very small games based on their own creative ideas and they just want to get their games out there to be played. Where as the number one priority for activision worldwide is to make in as much money as possible. No worker within activision will have their own creative choices chances are they will simply be told to make something exactly as it's drawn. To make a full game is harder for tale of tales however. As a small independant company they need to work on everything where as activision have designated departments for different areas of the game such as art and 3d animation. whilst tale of tales would have a team of 10 people activision would have a worldwide team of thousands.

Activision owns games like guitar hero and call of duty. These games take real life things such as existing instruments and weapons and have to replicate them as accurately as possible where as tale of tales are able to just create what they want, especially seeing as the games they create are fantasy based.

list of good and bad

the following is a personal list of good animation and bad animation stating the pro's and cons of each.

Good:

Next the infinite variety show: Aardman:

Anticipation:

Cleverly chosen music builds up certain actions throughout the animation.

Timing and motion:

The character displays certian actions when lifting dummies etc, Indicating that objects are heavy and or light.

Staging:

Next is the entire work of william shakespear in five minutes. A fan of his work will easily be able to tell which play is being portrayed.

Follow through and overlapping action:

Although the entire animation is stop motion, There is incredible attention to detail which shows that when an animation ends another one will begin before hand wheather this be the closing of a chest etc.

Slow in and out:

The animation smoothly portrays normal human movement and will casually change from fast paced animation to slow animation depending on which scene is being portrayed.

Exaggeration:

Some of the animation is exaggerated like the walking, He takes bold large steps and moves his arms up and down more than normal amongst other limbs and animations being displayed larger that usual.

Appeal:

Next is full of appealing moments such as when he's pretending to speak to one of hsi dummies. Although we can't hear and use of voice the character is moving his hands up and down as if they were talking, This works because although it's about a serious subject the animator had a sense of humour to keep the audience entertained.

Personality:

When it comes to anything produced by Aardman personality is often interlocked with the appeal. Again the entire animation is full of personality due to the many characters the one man is portraying.


Tekken 2 arcade intro, Namco:

Although when people look back at this animation they are quick to dismiss it due to it's age, This intro was very well designed and uses a lot of animation fundamentals that modern animations still use to this day.

Straight ahead action and pose to pose action:

The entire animation showcases most of the characters within the game. The use of close ups and different camera angles on one character is commonly used throughout.

Arcs:

Although the technology was young when it came to game design the use of motion paths etc were well selected. The use of a character jumping through an exploding window was rather groundbreaking for game design in the late 90's

Tom and Jerry

Solid drawing:

The drawing and art style in the old tom and jerry cartoons have always been flawless. Very fluent and very impressive.

Squash and stretch:

Many objects and characters resize and stretch out if they're being interracted with. This all adds to the art style and cartoony look.



The following are bad examples of the same fundamentals..

Mortal kombat defenders of the realm





Anticipation:

Actions take place either too slowly that lead to an anticlimactic finish or actions are too fast so there is no build up leaving the viewer feeling let down.
Timing and motion:

Due to the animations being oddly timed in places objects tend to not look as heavy as they should be etc. for example a character can pick up a heavy crate without there being any feeling of weight.
Staging:

A lot of the time actions take place without having any meaning characters will do actions that don't relate to what they are saying etc.
Follow through and overlapping action:

If an action carries on whilst another one begins it seems unrelated and pointless. The only time actions are overlapped animation wise is in a poorly drawn fight scene.
Slow in and out:

There is very little use of slow in and out. dramatic scenes like flashbacks that should be using this feature go without which makes the whole thing worse than it should be.
Exaggeration:

Nearly every motion is exaggerated pointlessley. The over the top speed that most of the actions take isn't helped by this fact. If the animations werent as over the top as they are the frames required would be much less.
Appeal:

The poses and overall character appeal mostly comes from drawing and animating errors the mostions that the audience find funny is not the scenes within the show but the bad drawing from the artists.
Personality:

Characters don't have a likeable personality at all. There isnt one characteristic a character has that seporates them from another character.
Straight ahead action and pose to pose action:

The close ups from the front again are rarely used and when they are used the artists cannot draw good looking faces from the front.
Arcs:

As stated before the lack of frames for significant animations fail to show most principles of animation. When a character jumps forward there isn't much room for arcs. If they're there you can't really see them.
Solid drawing:

The drawing in the entire series is poor
Squash and stretch:

If objects squash and stretch it's by accident and due to the lack of ability the artists had.