Personal Development Reflection

At the beginning of the year, I had been focused on producing highly detailed and well thought out 3D characters. It had been something that I had been wanting to achieve ever since my second year, however I was unable to achieve the standard I had wanted due to my lack of skill in certain areas of character design and creation. I was very good at much of the technical side of modelling in Maya, however, I was always afraid to pursue areas that I was unfamiliar with. This had left we with many detailed and unfinished works which I was unable to finish.
Influenced by the workflow of both industry artists and the CG community, it made me determined to see a highly detailed character from start to end.

2D Digital Art and Design

I observed the workflow of character creation, from the early stages of 2D design, to the final stages of posing and rendering, I was able to identify areas that I had to tackle in order to progress to finished characters. From the early stages of concept development, it was clear that, although I had many interesting designs that I had wanted to explore, it was difficult for me to communicate that visually before the modelling stage. 2D Digital Art was an area that I had to greatly improve on in order to visualize my thoughts. Not only did I have to improve my Photoshop skills, I had to learn the stages of the design process.

Throughout the first semester, I was able to improve on this through the creation of Silhouettes, Thumbnail sketches and concept paintings. Silhouettes were relatively easy for me, but thumbnail sketches were time consuming and difficult; the concept paintings even more so. Much of this was due to my difficulties with anatomy as my proportions were often very wrong. This work ended up accumulating into 2 highly detailed concept paintings for 2 of my initial characters at the end of the first semester. I was able to produce paintings faster, and to a higher quality than when I had started. I was able to visualize characters in more detail, whilst showing colour, which I rarely included in my 2D art before. My main notable change was my change in preference from creating concepts on a physical sketchbook, to creating designs digitally.

Anatomy

The development of characters also called for a high degree of anatomical correctness. I had been out of life drawing classes for a year, and many of my previous characters often had terrible proportions. I was able to improve on this throughout both semesters, initially through an ecorche study, and later on through further sculpts of my characters. I found that feedback from online sources and students helped find areas that seemed out of proportion with my character, and in turn, made it easier for me to identify anatomical problems better. Comparing the proportions with my initial low poly mesh with my final character, I can see a big improvement.

Texturing

The low poly modelling stages of the workflow was an area that I was very familiar with and I was fairly familiar with the high poly sculpting. However, when it came to texturing, and generating maps for my character, it was an area that I have had little experience with. I had stopped many of my projects before even reaching the texturing stage, so I felt as if I was walking into unexplored territory. Baking texture maps seemed relatively easy, though time consuming to get right. Getting the texture right on my first character was time consuming however, but as I moved on to the second, the process was a lot easier as I picked up a lot of techniques from the texturing of the first. Concept painting also helped me improve my painting skill, as well as work outside that i had done for the Samsung challenge making environments in 2D.

Rendering
The final part of the workflow, and a very important one if it came to presenting work, was the rendering stage. I had always been poor at rendering my work, often taking screen-caps and relying on Maya's viewport 2.0 to make models look nice. Finding a method to present my characters properly was important for me if I wanted to show then in my portfolio. I had always been interested in Marmoset toolbag, seeing highly skilled artists use it to generate amazing looking renders. However, it seemed incredibly complicated to me so I never got round to it. Fortunately enough, it was incredibly easy to use, which was why it was so popular. It also provided real time rendering which made the process very convenient which I loved as rendering had always seemed to cause lots of problems for me. In the end, although not learning how to generate nice renders in a traditional method such as rendering in Maya, I found a tool which was easy to learn which did it for me, designed specifically for the game characters I wanted to make.

Hair
The area was the section I had left till last, as every time I had worked on it, problems with alphas always occurred. I had tried to avoid this a lot by adding masks to my character designs, but in the end I decided it was something I needed to tackle. Problems still occurred when I attempted to get my hair rendered properly, but I was able to overcome these problems to finally have fairly decent looking hair in the end. Finally finding out how to overcome these problems, making hair is now a much easier task for me. A stage that I had always feared to tackle is now a more enjoyable task for me.
I am able to work through all areas of the character design process to end up designing, creating and presenting my characters in a very professional manner.

Initial business card designs

One last post before I submit my work. Just a quick mock up for the back of my business card idea. I will need to get the design finished real soon if I want to get them in for the showcase. Once again, I am going for the hexagonal patter as a boarder round the edges, whilst displaying my characters in the center. The composition is terrible, but I will want to display my character in the middle. The hexagon boarder is far too large right now, so I will shrink it down significantly so the character is not crushed. This design will play towards the front too, however it will mostly be black, with grey sections the same tone as the other side breaking through, almost as if it has wrapped itself round. No time right now however to get them in the blog.

Expo prints

I cam thinking of having the patterns on the expo prints as well. They won't be as obtrusive like the examples above, and should hopefully blend in better with the back. This is my backup for if I can't get them to protrude out. I am also labeling them with the team name and logo to make them seem more official.

Expo layout 2.

A slightly simpler design for the showcase. The hexagons can be cut from paper, and the background is just plain white.

Expo layout 1.

I will need some kind of material to make the finished pieces protrude from the wall. I will somehow have to mount it to the wall so it will have to be light. I will probably do the same to the Logo and mount the labels for the characters too. I will also need a lot of dark grey paper to cover the background of the wall. I don't know what I am going to have the hexagons made out of, but I want them to be large and chunky, like in  the models. Shiny if possible. 

Preparing things for the Expo

How do I clearly communicate my ideas?

How can I communicate that my stand is about the creation of a team in a creative manner?
At first, I though of showing this through concept development sketches along with the final pieces. I would be able to show the process of creating a group aesthetic through media tests. However, this may not be as interesting for the audience. I also didn't want to show pictures and images I didn't make myself which I used as influences for my characters as it doesn't display my own ability clearly.
Displaying my characters together may reinforce the idea that they are a team, though the focus is taken away from the characters individually.
I think a more creative way of showing the group culture is by designing my stand around the group aesthetic for my characters.
The Group name would be displayed clearly on the top, with clear names displaying the name and class of each rendered character.
I will try and include Hexagonal patterns and cut out angles to create a feeling of things being technologically advanced.
I will also try and keep these aesthetics consistent on my business cards. This consistency should show that everything is linked together.
I will also try and cover the white of the stand, not only to stand out, but because the characters belong in an environment that is pretty dark in tone.

How do I display my work in a clear manner?

What can I display?

Display -
-Final Character renders.
(I want these to protrude out from the wall slightly to show them as final pieces)
-Description of project
-Character Silhouettes
-Concept artwork from Semester 1
-Clear labels of work

PC
- Turntable videos of Characters

Here is a layout of the pieces I plan to display for the expo. 

1 - Front/Side & Back/Side view of Character 1

2 - Front/Side & Back/Side view of Character 2

3 - Character silhouettes

4 - Thumbnail itterations

5 - Initial character concept

6.- Business Cards

Final Characters

I would have like more dynamic poses but trying to use soft select to move the limbs is tedious. If I have the time, I will try and give them more dynamic poses and weapons for the showcase, but I'm pretty happy with the results. I should be able to get some nice turn tables out of them.

Assault Class "FRACTAL"

 Scout Class "LINKER"

The bodies are low poly, but I didn't have enough time to optimize the face.

Wireframe Models

Finished Characters

Finally getting the entire model rendered in Marmoset in incredibly satisfying. I do notice that the Scout's head is far too large. I'm pretty happy with my texturing job however, and sharpening it up in the render settings really make it stand out. These are my first entirely textured character models.

Fixing the proportions

Fixed up the proportions slightly. I made the proportions on the limbs a lot chunkier on the Assault character to make him look tougher, and changed the length of the legs and size of the head in the Scout.
I'm probably going to remove the hair on the Male character as his hair style doesn't seem to suit the environment very well as it looks very 80s. The goggles make him look like terminator. I added the goggles, mainly because I can't get the eyes looking right as the topology on the head is slightly off, and the feedback I got thought the head needed some more technological features to match with the rest of the body. My anatomy skills do seem to be improving however and the body sculpts for the discarded designs did help me improve.

Destiny

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1017789/Brave-New-World-New-Bungie

I was watching a talk about Bungie's new IP : Destiny. It goes into great detail on the art development process. They talked about having to merge the 3 main classes with different styles whilst keeping to the same theme, and how they had to make them identifiable throughout different teams. What they learnt through this that they had to have a couple of key defining characteristics that carried throughout all the designs. Armor contained consistent styles of armor, whilst retaining the same overall silhouette. The classes could be easily identified by armor/cloth ratio as well as the shapes, and colour and details were used to determine faction. They showed a lot of useful concept art and talked about the difficulties they faced designing it. Rare items seemed a lot more unconventional and unique looking which is what a player would want to show off their experience. They also talked about how their classes varied from exotic type characters to much more familiar ones and how their influences reflected that with western to Japanese designs. A lot of useful content to include in the dissertation.

Polygon Hair Modelling

 I did not look into hair design very much, however I did not want my characters to be bald. I wanted to add a degree of personality to my characters, and hair is a good way of showing that.
In many western shooters, characters often had bald or short hair to fit into that "Military" look. However, my group didn't fall under the conventional "Military" archetype, despite being designed as a shooter. They act more as a group of high tech maintenance workers, rather than soldiers. Militray hairstyles are short, not only because they don't get in the way, but to make a unit look uniform which takes away from a characters individuality.

Main character from Spec Ops : The Line 

Without distinct facial features, it would be difficult to identify a character's head without facial hair or tattoos  I wanted some degree of individuality within my characters so I decided to give them basic hair. On the other side of things, incredibly expressive hair much like a lot of Japanese game characters, in most cases may make my characters seem too individual, giving the vibe that they do not work well in a team.

I aimed for something fairly contemporary to suit the working environment.

I've been using this tutorial to try and learn how to generate low poly hair for a game environment using alpha
maps.
http://www.paultosca.com/varga_hair.html

I've never modelled polygon hair before, and I have always been put off by experimenting with alpha maps, so I ended up leaving this till last when I probably should have tackled this earlier. I attempted to do quick hair models and alphas in Maya which turned out alright, but the problems occurred when I attempted bring the final hair model into Marmoset. It was problematic trying to get the alphas working properly on the character.

After much troubleshooting, unfortunately I found out that alphas don't work too well in Marmoset. I had to use aplha testing as I couldn't get the alpha blend mode to work properly, which lead to choppy aplhas on the hair. 

End result of adding the hair in Marmoset.

Head Modelling

Tying to fix these head proportions. I used the base head texture of one of the characters to form the other as I was in a rush to finish. The male head looks a lot older than what I had wanted it to be, and the proportions are still off, but its not noticeable enough to go back and make changes at this stage. 

With no time to retopologize these heads, I've just added the lower subdivided models onto the characters and bakes the normals onto them instead. It will mean that the heads aren't properly optimized for the game environment, increasing the polycount above what it was meant to be, but it is still low enough to easily bring it into Marmoset. This also means that I can easily adjust the proportions in small areas when the character is finished in case something is slightly off.

I'm not going to have time to model the 3rd character at this stage.

Baking and Texturing

Baking and texturing the accessories is taking longer than I expected. I am having to do each section, such as the limbs, accessories, and head separately to keep the textures clean. Though I had to adjust the low poly mesh slightly, it didn't take me long to UV map the torso. However, I needed to remodel the limbs and accessories as I made them in Maya without making a low poly version. I was also having problems with the head model which I sculpted from scratch in Mudbox. 

I used this short youtube tutorial to familiarize myself better with the interface and tools : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGKsbh9vw2Q

Transferring the paint layers

As I painted on top of the Mudbox sculpt, I had to use PTex to paint as the UV's were not set up properly. Transferring the paint layers onto the low poly mesh meant that some sections were not aligned properly so I had to adjust them in Photoshop. Next time, I will paint directly onto the low poly model to avoid this.

Painting a specular map in Mudbox was also quite tedious as I was unable to see the shininess of the textures easily. Applying the specular map to the accessories on the character make the varying material of the objects on the character stand out a lot more. Details such as the buttons and buckles stand out a lot more as the light rotates around the character. Turned out much better than expected. 

Finally, I added smaller decals to the character. One of the traits of the group was that they were to be an organized bunch, which I was supposed to show through numbered and labelled clothing as well as consistent uniform colour. The whiteness of the number and labels added well needed contrast the the character so that the overall tones weren't too dark, and emphasized character role and placement within the group through the labels; The role "Linker" being No.04 of the group in particular.

The model is currently around 9000 tris so far, but it looks much higher than that, which I'm really happy with.

I have also added the hexagonal pattern onto the floor as I picture the dome environment they work in being very similar. The ground looks very advanced, and conforms the the aesthetics of the characters. The reason I modeled the feet in a very fragile way is because the environment itself is very fragile. The hexagonal floor, also being very unusual, should spark curiosity to what the environment is like for the viewer. 

Marmoset Toolbag

I will be using the Marmoset engine to render out my characters. I had been looking at Marmoset ever since year 2, but I have never gotten round to using it. The program makes it easy and simple to render out models in real time and is used by many industry professionals to render out models without having to spend a lot of time setting things up and rendering them out.

 http://www.marmoset.co/

Spending a short time learning the tools for the trial version, I did a test to render out a small portion of my character and got amazing results quickly. I won't need to waste time learning how to get nice looking renders out of Mudbox or Maya, however I will need to set up the character and textures properly before I can import the whole model. If I have time to rig and animate the character after the hand-ins too, I can display the character animating in an idle stance.

As Marmoset can only render one .obj file at a time, I need to set up the character so that it is labelled and split properly into chunks before I export the obj. I also want to bake the ambient occlusion from Mudbox onto the low poly model as it gives the textures a lot more depth, where as Marmoset's ambient occlusion isn't as flexible.
When I finish everything properly and add proper posing and lighting, I'm hoping to expect some amazing results.

High Polygon modelling in Maya

I have been modelling the hard surface sections in Maya. I'm hoping that when I bring it into Mudbox, it will contrast will with the organic sculpted clothing. I've only started working in high poly in Maya last summer for a short while and I have no idea if it will translate well into mudbox. Even then, I never got to the stage of baking the normals of the high poly versions before. 

A little preview of my maya contruction line....

Sculpting Character 2

I'm currently sculpting the second character. It is taking me a lot less time to sculpt than the Scout character as I am reusing the Limbs and using the trousers as a base to model off of. I do however need to change the proportions as this character is male, and needs to be bulkier to suit the role of "Grunt" rather than the sleek and agile "Scout". The angular look of the clothing is a lot easier to pull off now as I am more used to the tools. I really like the look of the angular sections of the body, but its going to be covered up by the armor on top. Feedback from fellow Computer Artists did however think that the top looked too rigid, as there were no visible cloth folds unlike the trousers. I'm hoping the armor will hide this, as I don't have enough time to add them in. The cloth folds on the trousers around the crotch also seemed a bit too sharp which made it look like it was bulging inappropriately from the front. 

Update:
Like the previous model, I modeled the hard surface areas in Maya to generate a smoother, precise model which contrasted with organic cloth. I deleted portions of the shoulder pads to allow for more movement. As I modelled many sections of the low poly model in tris, such as the shoulders and armor, I was really worried that it would not subdivide properly to give that smooth feel to it, but after carefully adjusting the topology and adding more edge loops, I managed to get it to subdivide the way I wanted.
This was the result of the high poly armor brought into Mudbox.

I also started working on the head, though it still needs much improvement. Though I think adding hair will improve it a lot, the overall proportions, not only in the head, but the limbs seem to be slightly wrong too.

At the rate I am working at, I am doubtful that I will be able to get the third character in. I think I will work on finishing 2 textured characters to demonstrate how colour works to unify them both.

Sculpting Character 1

Finished the high poly sculpt for the "Linker" Scout character. Though I have sculpted before, I have never been this far with a character in this much detail. I did sections such as the limbs and shoulder pad in Maya to get a crisp, precise look that would contrast with the sculpted sections. 

This ended up looking better than expected. The shoulder pad was also slightly changed to a more curved, ergonomic shape to make it look more functional rather than completely decorative.

Links
Trying to lay the decorative hexagonal "scarf" in a smooth, lowing manner was tricky. I attempted to do it manually by duplicating each hexagonal object and laying them out separately, but it didn't look too great. Instead, I looked back to a technique that I had only ever done in a second year tutorial. By creating a motion path, I attached the single hexagon to the start of it and created an animation snapshot of the object. I then joined them together to get the resulting effect. I did have to adjust a fair amount to get them orientated correctly though, so i will have to go through it all again if I am to change the proportions or pose the character. 

Feedback from students and 3D forums suggested that the link scarf design seemed to look as if it would fall off the shoulder, as well as the different materials on the character not being obvious enough. Large changes to the design would be too time consuming at this stage, so I modelled a belt around the back to hold the scarf to the shoulder. Its not the best solution, but it should be better than leaving it hanging.

Though the proportions do looks as if the character is quick and agile, something still seems wrong. Will need to work on the head and limb proportions, and model the feet. 

Samsung Challenge

 Been working with my team from last year in the Samsung Challenge. I've been as one of 2 environment artists creating underground environments for a 2D puzzle game on the Samsung Tablet. Though the 2D art I've been producing is very cartoon like, which is not the more realistic, painterly style I would like to improve on, it has helped me improve on my photoshop skills.

Playing around with Alphas to get a glowing look to the environment. 

Making rock variants for different levels has taught me how to use blend layers properly

We ended up getting into the finals with our game, winning 3rd place after being sent to London from Samsung.

New Group structure

Line of Command

At this stage, I have 3 weeks to get my characters finished.

Low Poly Characters

I have the majority of the low poly versions modelled. The torsos are all below 10000 tris. I think the proportions look correct, but its difficult to tell without a head model. I stuck a placeholder head model onto the male character and it seems okay though I can't find one for the female one. I'll see any problems soon enough when I start sculpting the head. 

Simplifying things... New Characters

The characters will be designed to fit a common multiplayer class based shooter environment. Character models will be optimized so that they can work efficiently in the environment. Character class must be easily identifiable, but remain consistent with the group aesthetic.

GROUP IDENTITY

A group of high tech maintenance/combatant personnel which work in a large scientific dome like structure. The large environment is specifically designed as a simulator,  very similar to the "Tron" environment. The character's are called in to repair the environment when the AI controlling the dome goes rogue, where they need to defend themselves from electric based enemies.
Below is a list of traits that make up the culture of this group, detailing elements that will be used to reinforce this. 


GROUP TRAITS:

1. Trait :Technology Driven 
Reinforcing elements :

1.1 - Shape/Silhouette - Hexagonal/Angular Shapes

As military technology advances, shapes tend to become more angular. This is mainly to reinforce stealth technology, but we can easily connect simple angular shapes with an advancement in technology. Military Planes, Ships and Vehicles are becoming more angular in design as time progresses.

Left: U.S.S Independence : State of the art littoral combat ship. Example of  angular design on contemporary military weaponry

The hexagon is also a shape well associated with technology. It has been used multiple time in games such as the title sequence in Metal Gear Solid 2, a game where the story focuses on technological control over information.
 See : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifPZsRgJIXE. In Crysis 2 and 3, the technologically advanced enemy faction use hexagonal patterns on their clothing and weaponry.
The hexagonal shape is used often enough for most people to assume that there is something technologically powerful with its use.

Belltower Characters. Use of very angular patterns on the clothing

1.2 - Rank/Status/Heirarchy - Sleek, Sharper angles the higher the rank

In most cases, rank is often shown through increased amounts of decorative items and clothing, often becoming less functional and more symbolic. Character "eliteness" is also often shown through the use of less common equipment and clothing to show that they vary from the standard variation. Character rank can be identified through sharper, more decorative shapes, which act less functional with the increase of importance of a character, acting as an important symbolic element instead. This less functional element reinforces the idea that the character is more of a decision maker, but the increase in angular shapes can show that the character is more technologically powerful.

1.3 - Form - Ergonomic

Ergonomic gear suggests that the equipment is well designed to suit the human form. It is visible that a lot of thought has been put into how the technology of this equipment is adapted to suit the individual.

1.4 - Weapons - High tech, Non conventional

High tech weapons reflect the groups reliance on technology. The unconventionality of the weapons also suggest that the characters are not military, but are more technological specialists, which reflect their very unusual working environment.



2. Trait:Organized
Reinforcing elements :

2,1 - Clothing/Texture/Fabric - Clean, Simple, Numbered, Named

Clean and simplified clothing shows discipline within the group, showing that they are very professional and take their role seriously. Numbered and named items also show that the individuals and equipment are well tracked and identifiable.

2.2 - Colour - Matching, Consistent

Consistent colour scheme means that the team is easily recognizable together, and shows discipline as well, reinforcing organization.


3. Trait:Well Funded
Reinforcing elements :

3.1 - Texture - Shiny

Shiny materials are often associated with wealth. Expensive products such as phones and cars often contain a lot of gloss and glass. Shiny equipment should give an appearance of high price materials. It is also associated with technology and high technology items are directly linked with price.

3.2 - Clothing - Brand names

The clothing and equipment will contain a lot of labels showing off the manufacturer, as if it wanted to show off the name as if it was a brand. Paying additional for brands are a sign that you have excess money to spend.



GROUP ROLES: 

Designing my characters around common archetypes for shooters.

1. Scout
Reinforcing elements :

1.1 - Form - Light Weight
1.2 - Proportions - Thin
1.3 - Equipment - No protection
A common class in almost any class based shooter, it appears in some shape or form. If a game classes their roles by weight, like Brink for example, the lightest class is often the most nimble and fastest.

Brink - Light class.

They often contain no, or little armor but make up with it through speed. There thin, sleek features make their shape easy to read as a scout. They also carry lighter, fast firing weapons to fit their speedy aesthetic. Even with games with classes that are more specialist, this light class is often present in some shape or form. It is suited for players who prefer a faster paced play style.

Battlefield 3 Assault

2. Assault

Reinforcing elements :

2.1 Clothing - Standard Clothing and gear
Often the most played character due to it's balance and flexibility to deal with situations, the character often has standard issue clothing to reflect its commonality. As it is often the middle ground of all classes, designs often use the Assault as a base to vary themselves from.

2.2 Form - Decent protection
This class is often the middle ground, providing decent damage and protection, but with the expense of agility. Of course, not as slow and hard hitting as a heavy weapons character, there must be enough protection visible to identify the character as a combat specialist.


X. Officer/Leader
Reinforcing elements:

Killzone 2's main antagonistic leader Visari

The final character doesn't fit into a playable role, but one that is non playable. This character will appear in the environment or through cut scenes, but will not be playable due to it being in a non-combat role. This character would act as a VIP for escort or protection modes.

X.1 - Equipment -  Non Combat gear

X.2 - Form - Decorative
Like the previous high ranking character design, the decorative aesthetics show a position of power.




GROUP INDIVIDUALITY:

1.1 - Clothing - Consistant, Human, Functional 

I wanted to retain a slight sense of individuality with these characters, but not so much that a player can not relate to them. As the environment is multiplayer, each character must retain an equal feel of individuality as I didn't want one class feeling more important than the other so there must be a good balance between characters. I want the characters to be feel fairly human as well so a player can relate to them. I wanted the faces to be kept visible so that they can feel more human, with the rest of the equipment fit for purpose to solidify them in their role. Like the characters in Binary Domain, each character has a unique personality, however it is clear that they are a disciplined and professional group as their equipment is completely fit for their role.

CHARACTER DESIGNS
I designed the characters based on standard shooter type archetypes. Electric based weapons are filled with charge points in the environment.

"Linker"
The first design falls under the scout type archetype. A fast and agile female character who has the role of getting to one place to another very fast, utilizing speed and agility to defeat an enemy. Using light weaponry, the overall silhouette of the character is slim and sleek. I added light clothing, and almost no armor to emphasize how light weight the character is.
The character wears the standard light uniform, which features seams that are very rigid and sown in a very angular, diamond shaped way. The limbs are covered with a clean, lightweight material that is very shiny and light. The character is female as female's are often seen as the faster, more agile characters in games.

Clothing is clearly labelled with the number, which identifies her position in the team, and a letter which identifies which section the team belongs to.The feet are designed to be very ballerina like, offering flexibility and comfort over protection as the characters role calls for fast agile movement. Clothing is very tight fitting in areas, making the character very aerodynamic. I added the hexagonal "link" scarf to make the speed of the character more visual when the player is moving, as the end will trail behind the character. The shoulder pad acts as armor to protect the arm and face on the side where she isn't holding a weapon.  I added this mainly to make the character more asymmetric to increase its visual appeal and make the silhouette stand out more. The class is easily identifiable by its lack of armor, trailing "scarf", and thin, fragile figure, that represents the classes low health and high speed. 

 "Fractal"
This character is designed round the standard "assault" type archetype. Acting as the most common type of class, the character must feature a medium amount of protection. The armor is supposed to absorb electric based weaponry. The angular shape of the armor really give a high tech, and unconventional vibe that I was wanting. The character still wears the standard clothing, but features a hardened vest under the armor for additional protection. The shoulders are very large so that the character class is easily identifiable as the more protected class as the silhouette is bulkier and appears stronger. The stereotype that males are often physically stronger is used to determine the sex of this character.

 This character uses fairly heavy weapons, but its downfall is speed and agility. The class sacrifices speed over protection which is clearly shown by the bulky armor.  Similar to the scout character however, equipment and clothing is clearly labelled with role and squad. The armor also boasts manufacture names as they are very expensive pieces of equipment.

"Matrix"
This character is designed as a non playable character. I designed this character to create a sense of rank and hierarchy within the team. With the role of being a scientist, he acts as the equivalent of an officer in a comparable military hierarchy. Ranking higher than the rest, he makes the decisions, but he is not a fighting character.
This is shown through his lack of military clothing and labels. Though the colours are still consistent with the lower ranking characters, he lacks the ugly brown color that the others are ordered to wear. His civilian like, and rather decorative lab jacket is very sleek and minimalistic in design, which shows precision and certainty in his character role, but the lack of any lighter tones reflects the dark nature of the character.

This character shows the split in the hierarchy which separates the brains from the brawn.

Player's relation to a group.

As a result of my case studies, I have a better understanding on how a player can associate themselves with a group of people. The more similar a group's traits are with the player's the easier it is for a player to associate themselves with the group, which is why the antagonists in Killzone use clothing and equipment similar to contemporary gear. A player who is comfortable with the people around them will be more willing to work together that team. On the other hand, if the team's culture is completely alien to a player, a player will want to play against that team. Antagonistic characters often have actions that do not conform to a player's social norms, which is what makes players work against them. The structure of a group can make interactions within the group very personal, or impersonal, which can help grasp a sense of scale within the group, as well as make the differences and gaps between ranks clearer.

Killzone 2 : Group Traits

During my meeting with Ryan, we talked about my study of humanism and individuality in Killzone 2. However, I had to look into the visual nature in a lot more depth.
I continued to look back at the characters in Killzone 2, as well as 3. It was also interesting to note how within the Helghast faction, Additional group traits in 3 subtly divided the hierarchy of command into further sub-categories.

V2.

The methods in which groups of characters are categorized into teams are through the identification and creation of distinct contrasting visual elements reflective of the group culture of a team. 

The criteria that is used to separate a team is limitless, however,  visual elements such as colour, form, size and even race allow a player to identify these differences easily and help reinforce the criteria that defines the teams group culture.

Taking Killzone as an example…..

Humanity is used as the criteria in which both the antagonistic and protagonist teams are defined. Visually, the teams can easily be identified by a clear contrasting colour scheme of characters with dark tones versus characters with lighter tones. If we look closer however, we can identify additional contrasting elements that allow us to postulate a level of humanity within the characters of each team.

Overall, Humanity is the category that is used to define which teams are the protagonists, and the antagonists. The former being the ISA, and the latter being the Helghast. Individuality is a sub-category that is used to reinforce this.

Individuality is represented through the design of the ISA characters in Killzone 3 through faces that are a lot more varied and visible. Clothing is a lot lighter, and comfortable, designed around the needs of the character as a human being whereas the Helghast wear clothing that seems a lot heavier with emphasis on protection and survivability. This gives the helghast a bulkier, heavier appearance which is easily identifiable through silhouette, and the ISA a more agile, but fragile aesthetic.  Whilst the Helghast uniform and equipment is a lot more standardised, the individuality of the ISA soldiers in KZ3 is reinforced through a larger, varied selection of clothing, swapped out throughout different locations in the story to adapt their uniform to different climates.  The ISA characters have the freedom to wear whatever they want. Unique clothing items such as hats, scarves, hoodies and balaclavas to customize and enhance their uniforms in a very individual way to make their character stand out from one another. Not only does this reflect their mercenary like nature, but it also shows a character’s individual preferences,  supporting their nature of a human being. The clothing used to make Helghast characters stand out on the other hand appear to be issued based on class, with the character having no choice in their appearance, representing oppression and discipline.

Subtle Nazi references on Helghast characters such as colour schemes, symbols and items of uniform references a group with a culture that is deemed immoral which again helps a player to detach themselves emotionally from the faction. Often referred to as Space Nazis, the situation is akin to allies versus axis in visual terms. Even the leaders are based off leaders who are deemed bad, or evil such as Stalin and Hitler. Additionally, the ISA are akin to more contemporary western military characters with archetypes that are a lot more familiar to a player, the rag-tag element giving them the underdog appeal.

Rico and Jammer, a Hispanic male and female are also introduced in killzone 2 and 3 in the ISA faction. The diversity of races within the ISA are more unique and relatable on a personal level than the faceless, emotionless Helghast characters.

Rank –

In Killzone 3, a larger number of more varied characters are introduced to both teams.  The Helghast army is further categorized into 2 armies.  One army representing the standard helghast infantry, and the other, representing the soldiers of the wealthy and technologically advanced Stahl arms company. With technology and wealth acting as additional criteria used to separate the army into 2 categories, further visual cues are used to represent this visually. Whilst the regular soldiers sport very rounded shapes, specifically the roundness of their helmets and rounded structure of their bulky bodies, the technologically advanced troops contain sharper, more angular aesthetics.  

The sharper appearance, not only making them more of a threat psychologically due to the angles, reflect current military technology becoming more streamline and angular. The aesthetics of these soldiers mimic this through sharp angled helmets and armour to represent a tier of technology above the standard units.   

More ISA characters are introduced too. These characters use a larger variety of clothing, both civilian and military to adapt their uniform to the conditions, reflecting their need to survive within the planet. Many of the characters not choose not to wear helmets, further distancing themselves from the helghast and making them feel more human.

It was interesting to note that the separation of the Helghast into Military, and Company character within the same faction, with differing group traits ended up concluding with the leaders of both categories, both being in the same team,  fighting each other at the end of the game.
Though in my honest opinion, I think Killzone 3's story was terrible, but for other reasons.

Killzone 2 : Hierarchy, Individuality and Symbolism

Killzone 2 is a great example of how humanism and individuality can be used to relate a player to a team, whilst secluding them visually from the other...

Case Study : Killzone 2 Character hierarchy analysis

As one of the initial flagship releases for the PS3, Killzone 2 boasted an immersive and graphical experience brought forward through realistic visuals and iconic character design, namely the antagonistic Helghast race the player must fight throughout the game. The purpose of this case study is to examine how visuals reinforce character abilities and how it links with the hierarchy of units within both fighting factions within the game, analysing the elements that make the helghast faction both iconic and memorable.

AESTHETICS AND INDIVIDUALITY

The design of the 2 opposing factions varies greatly within the Killzone universe. The design of the Helghast characters revolve around aesthetics that create a very dark atmosphere. For example, Guerrilla games wanted the sniper character to be designed in a way to make him feel as inhuman as possible. The idea behind the character was to create a very ghostlike adversary with a cloak and backpack which created a hunchback like pose, and extended hood which blends into his torso and hides his face to create a very sinister, non-human feel with only the glowing red dots of his mask piercing through the shadows. In single player these dark, inhuman like elements create characters that a player may find alien and hard to relate to on a human level.
To comply with the alien atmosphere, the sense of individuality is removed completely within these characters; the face masks aiding the removal of personality and units sporting a very limited unified colour pallet, where the characters act as more of an asset of war rather than a living being. These aesthetics are consistent with the helghast team culture of an efficient and merciless war machine. 

The ISA on the other hand are designed to feel a lot more relatable to the player. Visual elements are more human which makes it a lot easier for a player to relate to. The player’s squad in which he works with throughout the game all have faces with distinguishable features, which define them more as an individual with a personality rather than an asset. The human association with the ISA drives immersion as the ISA character hierarchy and team culture are together more relatable than that of the Helghast, usually forcing the player's perspective of the ISA in a positive light.
However, the ISA protagonist's short-sighted view of the Helghast people as inhuman beings additionally making them difficult to relate to, being seen as a negative trait by some. Following the release of KZ2 and 3, a minority has come to favour the Helghast. The storyline ended up working against the character design, as players sympathised with the antagonistic faction, seeing them as misunderstood and oppressed. (r)

Killzone 2 enemy types grouped in order of appearance

Enemy Type                               Health                  Level of Appearance      Occurrence in Game

Assault infantry                          50                           CR                                           Very High
Rifleman                                    50                           CR                                           Very High
Support Trooper                          50                           CR                                           High
Shock Trooper                            50                           BM                                         Very High
Commando                                100                         SD                                           Medium
Grenadier                                  100                         SB                                           Low
Advanced Assault Infantry           75                           SV                                           Medium
Sniper                                      50                           SV                                           Low
Advanced Shock Trooper           75                           TR                                           Medium
Pyro Trooper                            150                         TC                                           Very Low
Elite Shock Trooper                  100                         TC                                           Low
LMG Trooper                             75                           VP                                           Low

RANK

One of the defining factors of the helghast is the structure of their military hierarchy. In this case, hierarchy refers to the characters in terms of level. In Single player, enemies are gradually introduced to the player in a sequential manner. Characters are categorized in a hierarchy of ability and difficulty; the lowest, most common enemy is at the bottom and more specialized or difficult enemies higher up. Traditionally, it is common for the lowest form of enemy to be introduced first, which in this case is the Assault infantry. Further up, we are introduced to increasingly difficult characters as well as specialist units such as the sniper and the pyro trooper. It appears that the higher the unit appears in the hierarchy, the more they deviate from the common grunt (the Assault Trooper) visually. This hierarchy pushes imbalance between units, allowing the enemies to be introduced in a way that allows a gradual increase in difficulty comparative to the players increasing skill level.

SYMBOLISM
Helghast Hierarchy

Political 
Scolar Visari
Admiral Orlock
Chairman Stahl
Board of Chairmen
Military
Colonel Radec
-
-
-
Military officers
Infantry

The separation of class within society plays a large part in defining the helghast as a group. Throughout Killzone 2 and 3, the common working class character differs greatly from the Helghan leaders, with no middle class present. Powerful characters, such as the board of chairmen in KZ3, and Scholar Visari all have a design that is a lot more decorative and symbolic, with slick attire coated with medals and helghan décor which represent the wealth and power of the helghast nation. The lower class however, have attire and accessories that are purely functional. One of the easiest identifiers of class is the iconic mask, which represent the working class profession according to the official killzone timeline (r). This is further established through in game cutscenes and promotional artwork depicting the helghast wearing the masks in harsh, poor environments. These identifiers form a useful tool that enables a player to easily identify a character with a position of power in the game.

The design of the main antagonist of Killzone 2, Mael Radec, takes these elements into account and uses them to establish his high ranking position within the hierarchy. It is clear that he is in a position of power through elegant and ornamental design; suitable for his role of military advisor; however, the presence of the iconic mask still places him in the category of soldier. This is reflective of his personality as an outstanding tactician, but not one of a political leader. 

However, on the multiplayer side, all sense of rank and hierarchy are eliminated, or rather, flattened to give players an equal ground. By removing rank, each character focuses more on a unique ability. In a way, there is no longer a common unit in which ranks compare themselves from visually and therefore each character stands out a lot more individually, however, by giving each team an identical counterpart on the other side, the sense of individuality is broken down as it puts emphasis on the player’s role rather than character. The class based system doesn’t stress the importance of one character over another, but rather forces individuality through select abilities. This focus on an imbalance of ability opens the game to more engaging and evolving game styles.  In a sense, the idea of individuality, or lack of, is blurred in multiplayer as the focus is shifted as a team from that as a rank system to that of a class system and is dependent on if a player chooses whether or not to stereotype themselves within their class.

CONCLUSION

It has been identified through this case study that Individuality itself can linked to the hierarchical structure of the team, where symbolism can be used to further categorize characters in the hierarchy and reinforce a character's position, rather than personality. The large gap between classes, and hierarchy that stresses functionality rather than personality helps develop an iconic antagonistic group identity which is quickly and easily identifiable. It was also observed that the level of human association with a character helps prompt favourability, as seen with the inhuman elements on the Helghast and ISA characters; not just aesthetically, but additionally through team culture. 

Framework

My new and improved framework. I could cut it down at "Reinforcing visual elements", but it would be useful to specify some of the criteria that I will be using.

Framework

The group identity, or team culture is defined by certain traits that are associated with that group. Each trait has associated visual elements that are consistent throughout each character in the group which combine together to create a group aesthetic. These elements can consist of many things, as long as they can be easily identified by a player.  Individuality and Roles are parts of these traits that form the group culture.A well thought out group hierarchy also helps define the structure of the group, increasing immersion through believably.

Below are a list of some of the criteria that can help define a group aesthetic...

1. Shape/Silhouette
2. Size/Scale/Structure
3. Colour
4. Harmony/Disharmony
5. Clothing/Fabric/Texture
6. Individuality
7. Weapons

Semester 2 Crit Feedback.

Feedback from crit made me think that I may be trying to throw too much into my characters without a proper framework. Though they were happy I was looking at different areas and expanding my boundaries, it didn't seem to fit well with my characters. I seem to be jumping into the modelling too fast, so I've been told to step back a bit. I have been focusing on making the same 3 characters work from the beginning  so it would be better for me to start fresh instead of trying to constantly adapt the previous characters to new designs. My exploration into Angelic Hierarchy doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so I'm thinking of just dropping it completely. 

The current characters have become difficult to read, with too many different influences making them difficult to identify as a group. This is a result of trying to merge everything together without a proper structure. The colours are the only thing unifying the characters together, however, the shape and silhouette, materials, forms and other influences don't seem to have much consistency with them.

I am going to start fresh with a new group, simplifying things to make them easily readable. I'll need to clean up my framework as well. It will revolve around developing a group identity, specifying specific traits, and then reinforcing those traits through consistent criteria, both individually and as a group, such as form, silhouette, clothing or weapons.