BA3 Research Briefing

Our project has begun with the introduction into 3D environment art. Previously we had touched upon Environment Art in it's 2D form in BA1 and had been introduced to 3D modelling through tutorial sessions in Maya yet now is the proper beginning of our research and practice into 3D modelling for Environment.

However we have been presented with this project in a different and in my opinion "better" approach with the brief being held until after 4 weeks allowing us to gather far more research and not be clouded by early perceptions of our final piece. For now we have been tasked primarily to research and build up our skills in Maya so that we are well stocked and ready for when we eventually receive our project briefing. The instructions so far are to:

• Gather Photographs and Images
• Produce Sketches and Drawings
• Painted and Drawn Studies
• Labelled Diagrams
• Produce 3D Models (Roughly 4 fully modeled)
• Produce Texture Studies
• Produce Lighting Studies

After 4 weeks I plan to have a respectable amount of reference work, studies, and information on various types of environment, their implementation in games, examples of such, and how I can use this research to influence my own work.

The final pieces of work to be submitted at the very end of the unit including all our research and studies will be:

• A Production Ready Digital Asset
• A Technical Journal and 500 Word Evaluation
• A Digital Collection of all Research Files and Studio Work

These will all be formatted into the correct folder structures and naming conventions for submission.

There is additionally Contextual studies work to alongside the practical studio work. This is in the form of a 10 minute presentation alongside several character designs inspired by a book yet to be revealed. This work will also be recorded in blog form and a PDF of all the Contextual Studies research and design's will be submitted.


My first step will be by exploring the various styles of architecture in Norwich or anywhere I visit and record these finding's through Photographs, sketches, and later research into the era of these pieces.

It would also be wise at this point to look into examples of environmental work already used in current gen game as well as older games and how they were created from initial conceptual work all the way down the pipe to the end results we see in the finished games.

Thoughts:

I am intrigued as to how this extended period before our brief will affect our final piece and I believe it will work for the better. I look forward to rebooting Maya and learning many of the tools and techniques within it. The initial presentation of this unit has shown me the importance of 3D Environment work for games and even it's use and necessity for those interested in producing 2D conceptual work.

Overall I am very excited for both the practical and contextual sides of this unit and hope that the work produced throughout this project will be both beneficial to my own portfolio and experience in these critical areas of Games Art & Design.