1. Apps of the trade.
During the texturing process the 3d coat applink failed many times with 2011 advantage pack version. It could only update the texturing process once. I hope this is a bug that gets fixed soon. So what I did: Generated the texture inside 3DCoat and CTRL+P to send it to photoshop, there I save it as a PSD file and plug it as a material on Softimage. This way whenever I save the photoshop, 3DCoat gets updated and so Softimage (since I´m only reading the material, and not any topology by itself from the model)

2. Materials and Resolution.
I worked all of my texturing process up to 1024×1024, and when I was done I re sized it to 512×512 to maintain detail, and it paid off. Reason why optimizing small sized texture it´s important it´s because the engine would make a “larger” drawcall per material. Which also means you should Atlas your Uv layout as compact as you can to make the details show pretty much clear. Choices were obvious for the face and shirt.

3. Polygon Count.
I created the highpolygonal model FIRST. I know probably you´ve read that you should start the other way around. For me it´s much, much better to start with “high” count, and “blend and clean” polygons, than the other way around…Define at the beggining, unite in the end. All though I managed to drop down a formidably 25k to a 9k, my model still needs a lot of workout if I´m going to develop for android. But then again, it´s always safe to keep a “HI” (20k up polygons), “MID” (10K poly), and a “LOW” (5K poly) models separated so you can always go back to the prefered version of your choice.

4. Naming and Organization.
I can´t adress suficiently how much time saver you become whenever stuff is named convincently. I emphazise “CONVINCENTLY“. Yes, that means that by reading your digital file whether it´s a material, preset, model, obj or whatever the case may be, I can just bet you an asset named “GameModel_512x512″ it´s much more descriptive and convincent than “MainCharacter_Texturized_512_Uvset_Atlas_fixed_final_version”.
Of course, naming your game assets should be the first priority whenever the develop phase it´s still running. that way if you bring collabs in, they don´t feel lost at all. If you must create alternative versions, please store the alternatives at another level of folder (i.e.:All_Other_Models)

5. Check Polygon set normals
Oh yeah, one last thing: you probably would need a bump map into your character, whether there would be a helmet or push out buttons, so you need a Normal map. That´s how the light makes your material react over the surface of your topology. In addition, keep in mind that you will also have to plan in advance to generate a Normal map from your application. In my case, softimage counts with ULTIMAPPER. This is an operator that takes the hi-res model and bakes down a normal map for the low res character. Simple click-clack. No extra headaches.

Ok, I don´t want to bore you. There are many things that could go fine or wrong during the development phase. You need to plan all that ahead, your target, your console, your entertainment value, and match all those up.

If you got questions, please feel free to post. And show a little partnership by sharing this story to all of your socials. Thanks!

Related posts:

• First level concept art (0)
  First concept artwork for 1st level of the videogame...
• Girly Pami videogame cinematics (0)
  Girly Pami´s got a voice. This new in-game cinematic animation is part of a speed test to check blendshapes and voice acting overall. Please share if you like!...
• Autodesk Flame – 3D compositing in FBX (0)
  Autodesk 2012 Flame is capable of importing 3D objects as .FBX. The news is that softimage is targeting a solid workflow integration with mudbox, maya and 3d studio max through the .FBX Autodesk´s com...
• Softimage photometric lens and Final Gathering (0)
  My real aim was to to correctly understand and set photometric lens, since exposure and f-stops are crucial to match our real live plates for VFX productions this is the result I got. If you´re intere...
• Level 1 – game concept (0)
  First level concept it´s done in 3D. Imported to the engine sucessfully. Only weights 160kbs! I will work on optimizing this even more and adding textures for this week....

PrincessRil (April-Ann Tass) had the perfect pitch tone of voice for a perky 12-13 year old girl like Pami. After a fully detailed conversation of this project, PrincessRil got into a recording session for the videogame script which were really short but energetic phrases. There are also catchy words for Girly Pami, as any teenage girl would say…

Girly Pami´s current video shows her on a devastated city. The background was composed over real footage. A mix of paint and water in a fish tank were chroma-captured to get the organic vanishing dust. Facial expressions in the cg character have not been completed as this is only a speed test for the voice actress to perform as realistically as it gets to give Pami a definite personality.

Made with softimage, toon shader was part of this process. Idealistically there should be more render passes to control things like colored shadows and highlights, rimlights and a lot of other components that make part of a standart of high-end production in the movie-making business. This is aimed to the videogame cinematics I´m developing.

If you´d like to see more of Girly Pami, please subscribe to my website, rss, and social sites.
Please share!
If I get up to 30 shared stories, I´m converting this to full 3D stereo for your likes!

Related posts:

• Optimizing Videogame characters – Softimage & 3DCoat (0)
  I´m using softimage, 3DCoat and a game engine to put together the first videogame for PC platform. Follow this blog to read all about it! On this post I give 5 simple guidelines to optimize your chara...
• First level concept art (0)
  First concept artwork for 1st level of the videogame...
• Level 1 – game concept (0)
  First level concept it´s done in 3D. Imported to the engine sucessfully. Only weights 160kbs! I will work on optimizing this even more and adding textures for this week....
• Toon styled videogames (0)
  Toon videogames are In. Check out this post....
• 2D to 3D xsi toon shader (0)
  Softimage toon shader from 2D to stereoscopic 3D progress of the development for a toon shaded video game....

Related posts:

• Reel 2012 for Tv & Cinema Production Preview (0)
  Hello everyone! We are about to start year 2012, and most of my production has been compiled into a brand new reel. If you´d like to take a peak here are some chips for the complete video. Enjoy!...

• 2012 Reel – 3rd Promo (1)
  My third promo for the 2012 demo reel is here. January 2012 will be released through my official webpage and vimeo + youtube channel. ...

Awesome making of! This is the kind of things that make me love my job…

Related posts:

• Autodesk Flame – Action Mixing (0)
  Start mixing in Flame Action Nodes with Batch. Read ahead. Quick instructions on how to create complex effect layering......
• Flame compositing – Nodes and Batch (0)
  Before there was GPU, pretty nifty effects were created through rendering (a.k.a: Process) with several tricks. Now with procedural textures, light that really exists in 3D space and stereoscopic work...
• Softimage Synoptic controls (0)
  Finally! The first of 3 character has been composed over to live footage. More on them and their kid-oriented saturday - morning show, later....
• Cinefx – opensource after effects alternative (0)
  Cinefx (formerly known as Jahshaka) aims to become a cross-platform, open source, free, video editing, effects, and compositing suite....

Flame - Action Node Mixing

To speed up to an extent, I´ve had to mix Action nodes while in Batch. This is a method I prefer to my old style “precomp” from After Effects. The advantages in Flame, however it´s that you can take advantage from Z-depth and Normal mapping right in the output setup from the Action Node.

1- Add a channel
2-Name it
3 – with “Rename”3D_Layering_x264
4- Select what kind of data (Matte)
5 – Select the objects (all in most cases)
6- A New Output will be available to mix the Action Node´s matte.

So Without further delay, thanks to my Flame workstation friends in South America for the advantageous tips on this one. There´s a video post so you can notice the Background mix with the front actors.

If you like this post, or wish to know more, please comment. Thanks!

Related posts:

• VFX Making of – Farm State commercial (1)
  Awesome making of! This is the kind of things that make me love my job......
• Autodesk Flame – 3D compositing in FBX (0)
  Autodesk 2012 Flame is capable of importing 3D objects as .FBX. The news is that softimage is targeting a solid workflow integration with mudbox, maya and 3d studio max through the .FBX Autodesk´s com...
• Batch compositing in Autodesk Flame 2012 (0)
  Workflow from batch compositing over to Action is tricky at first. In addition: Batch has the overall nodes to work, except on certain cases where you definetly need to perform a "precomp" in Action. ...
• Flame compositing – Nodes and Batch (0)
  Before there was GPU, pretty nifty effects were created through rendering (a.k.a: Process) with several tricks. Now with procedural textures, light that really exists in 3D space and stereoscopic work...

Related posts:

• No Related Post

The basic approach it´s to assign a UV map (not texture projection), onto your model. Of course, editing the Uvs is always needed. Use a phong, lambert or constant material, and assign the image texture either as a bmp or jpeg. This will ensure that when you do export the .fbx file, you can properly include your texture into the model by checking the box with the “include texture” option. In the picture I assigned a constant material to a reddish pale color and baked ambien occlusion onto it. Thus giving it more volume. Here are some nifty things to keep in mind when preparing your .FBX 3D models to export them to Flame:

* Work 1 and only ONE texture per model (ok, maybe 2 as max, but don´t over do it)

* Keep an eye on your texture map size (1024×1024 it´s a good size for 720×480 size. You´ll have to do twice as that to get a decent close up shot in HD.

*  Work your texture with real materials, and light settings. Place them accordingly and then BAKE them all into the texture. This way your model will have most of the shader computation easier to animate in Flame.

* When exporting your .FBX file make sure you parent it to a NULL Object (it usually is a MODEL in softimage), but if you´re in any other application, it´s always a plus to have your model set in 0,0,0 world space with a 0,0,0 Null. So you´ll know where your pivot will end up in Flame.

* Have a check on your local application AXIS. Some 3D packages create the “Y” axis up, while others “Z” is up. There isn´t a standart, but in Softimage “Y” is up.

* Globlal illumination and HDRI will help tremendously to illuminate your model realistically. have a look a the render options of your application and bake this into a texture.

If you liked this post or wish to know more tips about generating .fbx files from your 3d application into autodesk Flame, please comment this post.

Related posts:

• Optimizing Videogame characters – Softimage & 3DCoat (0)
  I´m using softimage, 3DCoat and a game engine to put together the first videogame for PC platform. Follow this blog to read all about it! On this post I give 5 simple guidelines to optimize your chara...
• Autodesk Flame – Action Mixing (0)
  Start mixing in Flame Action Nodes with Batch. Read ahead. Quick instructions on how to create complex effect layering......
• Softimage photometric lens and Final Gathering (0)
  My real aim was to to correctly understand and set photometric lens, since exposure and f-stops are crucial to match our real live plates for VFX productions this is the result I got. If you´re intere...
• Batch compositing in Autodesk Flame 2012 (0)
  Workflow from batch compositing over to Action is tricky at first. In addition: Batch has the overall nodes to work, except on certain cases where you definetly need to perform a "precomp" in Action. ...
• Flame compositing – Nodes and Batch (0)
  Before there was GPU, pretty nifty effects were created through rendering (a.k.a: Process) with several tricks. Now with procedural textures, light that really exists in 3D space and stereoscopic work...

In addition this process is very much needed if you´re planning to composite some elements that were created / shot separatedly and you want to plce them all together. I´ll upload this tutorial and edit some recommendations along the way to make your rotoscopy process a little easy to bear.

Related posts:

• No Related Post

Bests.

Related posts:

• Optimizing Videogame characters – Softimage & 3DCoat (0)
  I´m using softimage, 3DCoat and a game engine to put together the first videogame for PC platform. Follow this blog to read all about it! On this post I give 5 simple guidelines to optimize your chara...
• Autodesk Flame – 3D compositing in FBX (0)
  Autodesk 2012 Flame is capable of importing 3D objects as .FBX. The news is that softimage is targeting a solid workflow integration with mudbox, maya and 3d studio max through the .FBX Autodesk´s com...