Another week has passed, and never has the old "time flies when you're having fun" adage been more appropriate! This week has literally passed by in the blink of an eye! We've all been fighting our own fronts, but today we'll be shining a spotlight in the work of Eclipsed's artist, Joana.
As mentioned last week, Joana has been hard at work modelling our main character, Aelizia. This process, like so many others before it, has been filled with ups and downs, mainly due to inexperience and lack of knowledge in the area. However, she has soldiered on, taking advantage of the great world of YouTube tutorials and using all the tools at her disposal.
Since beginners usually start with the blocking stage of modelling, creating a blockout of the character with simple geometry, we began with this very important first step. Last week you got a glimpse at this stage, but today we'll show it in all its glory, from all angles and up close.
With the blocking done, it was time to move on to sculpting. But, as usual, another challenge presented itself. For us, Maya's Achilles' heel has always been its sculpting capabilities and all the issues that usually come with it. So, when we heard about Blender's clear superiority in this area, we decided to take a leap of faith and use a program we had never even opened before. It was a gamble, but, weird shortcuts aside, Blender proved to be the great sculpting tool it is acclaimed for, although we still had a few scares (as can be seen in the time-lapse)! Thankfully, the autosaves were there to save us!
And what better way to showcase Blender's sculpting capabilites than with a time-lapse? Joana was kind enough to provide a video of the sculpting process of Aelizia's boots, which you can check below.
For game optimization purposes, we've been trying to be very careful and deliberate about the model's poly count. For this reason, even our high poly model is being made with the low poly version in mind. For example, in the boots, the drawstrings and other details were created in the mesh itself, instead of being in a separate mesh.
As for the rest of the model, we're happy to say that the sculpting is almost complete. All that's missing is the face and hair (and, of course, Aelizia's cape on top of everything), and maybe a few tweaks here and there. But, for now, we're pleased with the result, and proud to show it:
It has been a long process, but this stage is almost over. Aelizia is taking shape quite nicely before our eyes, and things are progressing at a steady pace. Rest assured, we'll keep learning and fighting!
Stay tuned for more Eclipsed news!
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