Evaluation

I had fun during this Final project, I got to work on an area I like and use tools which I was unfamiliar with at first but learned quickly to use. 

The first model I set out to create was the Space Trooper which was inspired by Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 setting, more specifically a human faction called the Imperial Guard. I am happy with how the clothes and armour turned out for this character, I feel putting the model through substance painter really improved the overall look and quality as the materials allowed for more detail with a leather like appearance on the pouches and custom graffiti on the helmet. The look of the gold on the helmet and belt as well as the symbols on the armour are some of my favourite parts of the character. My main let down with the character is the minimal amount of sculpting used, whilst it was not necessary on most of the character's appearance I felt I could have done more with with the character's face and add more than just some scars. I also could of added deep cuts and scratches to the armour however I was able to add bullet marks to the chest piece using a very useful brush in substance painter. 

The second model I set out to create was the Knight which was inspired by Ubisoft's For Honor. I am satisfied with how the armour and clothes turned out, though I wish I could have added more to make the armour more interesting and fantasy-like. I like how the golden bits on the armour turned out, this was a last minute addition and I feel it adds more to the armour and stops it from looking bland. I prefer the work on the facial hair on this character compared to the Space Trooper as I used a different brush which I think resembles light facial hair much better than the brush I used on the Trooper. I liked how the chainmail looked on the character, I think it turned out really well and it was convenient that Substance Painter has a material specifically for chainmail, though it did require some scale adjustment to look right. My main problem with this character is the lack of sculpting on the face, whilst the Space Trooper only had the scars sculpted this character has done which keeps his face looking generic, I also feel his armour is a bit too clean and shiny, I feel I should have gone for a more gritty approach when texturing the Knight. 

My Third and final character I set out to create was my Logo Character which was based off of my personal logo which I use to mark my work. The main challenge with this character was the fact he has a skull for a head which needed to be made from scratch, luckily I found many only tutorials which helped in this process. I kept this character simplistic on purpose as I didn't want him to be easy to look at easily recognisable. I feel I met this aim as whilst he does not have many items attached to his person he does have a distinct look with a pilot outfit and glowing fiery orange and red eyes. The leg pouch and golden skull and wings badge add some detail without over complicating the design and I feel the addition of materials such as leather and gold add some detail and keep him looking interesting, I feel simple colours may have made him boring and too cartoon like. I kept him low poly on purpose to keep his design simple and so it could be used in games and animations without worry, however I feel I could have increased the poly count more to make the edges on the character more smooth. I also want to play around more with the collar to make it more soft and woollen like a real pilots jackets. 

For all three characters I was relatively happy with how they turned out, despite some setbacks with inverted mesh and software crashes I feel I have done well. One thing I wish to improve on in future projects is UV unwrapping as I feel I could have unwrapped the models better as the unwrapping I did caused some decals to not be used on the models due to mistakes in the unwrapping and material assigning. I also want to make a more conscious effort to learn ZBrush and sculpt as much as I can in future projects as I feel this project could have benefited greatly if I had dedicated more time to sculpting the clothes and faces in ZBrush.   

Overall I really enjoyed this project, I feel I learned much and really put my skills to the test. Whilst some of my characters did not have the uniqueness I wanted them to have I feel I achieved what I set out to do and will be able to perform even better on future projects. I will take what I have learned about design and materials and also make an effort to further increase my understanding of 3D modelling and Substance Painter. I learned much about Substance painter during this project and it was arguably the software I had the most fun using as adding materials and colours can really help bring an otherwise plain model to life.