Day 9

Well guys, I'm off on holiday tomorrow so this will be my last post for a week. As a result again, i've been packing and sorting stuff out today, so I haven't been able to spend much time on the Kerbal, so as a treat you lot, i've spent the last couple of hours doing some quick texturing and render tests. This is not representative of the final product, but it's a rough idea of the standard kerbal. Enjoy :)

Day 8

So today I didn't manage to get much done as I am going on holiday soon was I've been preparing for that. But I managed to get my good level detail onto my retopologized mesh using subtool projection, but it took a bit longer than I thought as I kept getting errors like these.

I fixed these errors by either tweaking the projection settings, adjusting the dynamesh model to more closely match the retopologized model, or by just manually fixing the errors and sculpting them back into place. Until I got all the lovely detail on the lovely topology.

All I have left to do now is a little bit of cleanup to fix the finer projection errors, then I can go onto the final detail pass. This will add what seem like really tiny adjustments, but your eye would notice them if they're not there, even if you don't not what they are. 

So here I've added some surface texture to the skin, to make it more realistic, on this pass I will also add the finer wrinkles and teeth, as I have forgotten to do them. Woops. But this work will be much more fun and pretty than the last couple of days, and then I can start texturing this Kerbal, who still needs a name. Also he needs hair, but i might use fur shaders for that so it can be dynamic. And as always, this was all done in one day :)

Day 7

Today is gonna be a short post as it was a really dull day. I started by finishing off all the retopology for the parts of the model. 

After many hours of this pleasure I then went on to create the UV tiles for the models. The UV tiles allow you to add detail to the model and save it out and an image file of the textures, displacement map, etc. But to get them to work well I have to put all the seams in the right places, again for all the components.

I did this for all the parts, and that was it for today, sorry but somedays it's just slow, and I did this all in one day.

Day 6

Well today was a bit of a slow day, as I had to to a lot of boring, time consuming work, where I had to retopologize my models. For those of you who don't know what that soul consuming task it, I'll try to explain it but bear with me as it may take a while. Basically all things in 3D computer space are made from vertices, points in X,Y,Z space. These are then joined together by edges, which can then form faces, which is what the 3D object is made of. To then animate the model, it has to have good topology, so it can be deformed in the correct way when limbs or features move. Good topology generally consists of two things; one, is that the faces are all quads, so have for sides for better deformation, and two, is that they have good flow, so wrinkles and things go in the right direction. 

So on the left is the original model, which is just a grid generated by ZBrushes dynamesh, and on the right is the retopologize version, which I did in 3D coat. As you can see the right version has faces that follow the flow of the eyes, mouth and rest of the body, this means it will work better when it comes to skinning and rigging it. This is just a rough explanation and some exceptions, such as in games, but this might help to get the jist of it. Anyway so I spent much of the day just drawing quadrangles onto the models, with varying results of success.

The control module didn't come out so well so I may redo it, however as it does not deform, it shouldn't matter too much. But the gloves and the helmet came out nicely, not I just have the rest of the objects to do, yay...

Furthermore, I created the O2 hose and nozzle for the space suit, I followed the game design, but i'm still not quite sure why it's there. For the hose I created one segment, then using the insert model and curve functions inside ZBrush I could create duplicates of the section all along the curve, which is still editable so i can change it's shape really easily. 

Just to show how cool this ability is, I created a whole series of hoses, and only spent about 2 minutes of procrastination on this masterpiece. 

If people have any ideas or suggestions please leave them in the comment section below, or just send me some form of message.

Day 5

Day 5 on this epic adventure, and I'm still getting there slowly. :P I've got the the point now where I spend so long using the tablet, that I struggle to use the mouse and have to relearn how to use the computer :L. Well enough random chatter, back to the work.

Most of today I spent working on this Reaction Control System (RCS) Pack, though I have to put my hands up and admit that I cheated a little on building it as I used autodesk Maya to build the rough shapes before refining it in ZBrush.

This is because I think it is better at hard surface modeling and it's easier to create large flat shapes, where as Zbrush is more like working with real clay, which is great for fine detail and organic stuff, but not so good for hard surface.

Next I focused on the straps which attach the RCS pack to the Kerbal. I tried to make them different each side to make it seem a bit more organic, and I still need to go in and add stitching detail, but that will be when I do my high quality pass. 

I also added the strap loops on the back of the RCS pack just to make sure that the straps lined up on the Kerbal, and just incase the character ever needs to take the pack off in the animation.

Also a thanks goes out to Vostok from the KSP forums who pointed out that the boots should be more pointed and flat, like real moon boots.

I also have the standard sort of moon boot tread on the bottom of the shoes, but the KSP game has just some random trainer type tread, so I'm not sure whether to go for realism, or stick to the game.

Lots of screenshots today which makes it look a very pretty post, and remember, This was all done in one day.

Day 4

Well today was a bit of a lazy day as i had a lie in, then had a roast lunch, then watched some battlestar galactica, but eventually I got started. Today I felt like doing something different so I did a drawing of Jebediah Kerman, as I might use that sort of thing as a poster in the background of the animation, also it's just nice to do something a bit different.

I then started work on the space suit control module, and after some googling I actually found the image that the KSP texture was taken from, which means I got a nice high resolution reference image to work from.

I have now also posted this blog to the KSP forums so I can get some feedback from other KSPer's :D

Project Plan

This blog is about my Kerbal Space Program project, and although I'm three days into this project already, from now on I'm gonna keep a regular log of what I'm doing. So to start with i'll explain what I'm doing for this project.

This project is based on the Kerbal Space Program game by Squad. It's a game based on a far off planet, inhabited by Kerbals, who have grand dreams of leaving their fair planet behind for the thrill of exploration. At the moment the game is still in beta and only has a sandbox mode, but you can build rockets and space planes and fly them around, get into orbit, go to the Kerban moons and to other planets in the solar system. You can make probes, space stations, rovers and anything else you can think of from the parts avaliable, something that will probably explode. So as an ode to KSP, I have decided to model, rig and animate a Kerbal, just for the practise of taking some rough plans and making them highly detailed. Just to clarify, I do not own KSP or are part of Squad and am just borrowing the idea from them as concepts for my final product.

Day 1

I started by getting screenshots of a kerbal from the Kerbalizer from KSP's website as a basis for modeling, I then imported these into Zbrush and started sculpting.

I used the screen shots to help me place ZSpheres in the right places to get the model bulked out, I then made it a dynamesh and continued to refine the model.

While modeling I moved his arms out so he's in a 'T-pose' , so when it comes to rigging later it's easier. I also created another subtool for the eyes.

I exported the model as obj so I could retopologize it in 3d-Coat then send it back to Zbrush for finer details, you can see how the faces now flow around his features so he animates better. This was all done in one day.

Day 2

After getting some more references such as game screenshots, trailer videos and wallpapers, I started creating the space suit. For the boots, gloves and body, I masked off the relevant areas then used extract with a 0.02 border so I creates a copy of that part, but slightly thicker, I then converted these parts to dynamesh and smoothed them out so they looked less like the body, and more like a space suit. For the helmet I created a sphere, warped it into the rough shape, I then used the extract tool but this time I extracted the visor with a 0.01 thickness and the helmet at 0.02 to make the visor thinner. For the helmet connector I created a cylinder subtool and fashioned it into shape and for the lights I did the same but with a sphere. This was all done in one day.

Day 3

Today was just about improving the space suit, I added detail to all of it, including shoe lases for shoes, wrinkles for clothes, and panels to the helmet. For the glove connectors, I just duplicated the helmet connector, scaled and moved it to fit, and refined it to make it fit better. For the wrinkles I generally used the Inflate bush for the bigger stuff, and the Dam Standard bush for the finer stuff, as well as for emphasizing the helmet panels and boot straps. To make them look more real, I did all the wrinkles with symmetry off, which doubled the time I had to spend on it, but it will make it look better in the long run. This was all done in one day.

And thus begins my project, I am going on holiday next week, so I aim to get the Kerbal, who needs a name, fully modeled and textured, hopefully with sss textures before I go, so i can come back to rig and animate him.