###### tags: `Environment art` # Character and Environment Art (J5Z1020) ### Unit Handbook 22/23 ### Games Art BA(HONS) L5 ### Andrew King --- ## Unit delivery information Start date: WC 03/10/2022 End Date: 15/12/2022 Submission Date: 13/01/2023 Unit Leader: Andrew King ## Introduction This unit focuses on the impact of story on the creation of characters and worlds and how both 2D and 3D assets can contribute to the narrative and worldbuilding of games. In particular this unit aims to further your practice in organic modelling, character rigging and environmental modelling based on concept art. ## Learning Outcomes 1. Use a range of contextual research to inform creative practice. 2. Apply a range of independent creative practices that evidence visual development for characters and environments. 3. Explain specific industry standards for game assets, predicting the techniques you will need to solve creative and technical problems. 4. Construct creative character and environment assets suitable for use in games. ## Unit Team Andrew King a.king@mmu.ac.uk Office hours: Thursday 10:00 to 12:00 Ashli Bell-Bowling Email TBC ## Confirmation of Verification This assignment was scrutinised by the Assessment Verification Panel *Insert date here* and is considered as appropriate for the level of study and credit value of the unit. ### Internal Moderator *Insert name here ## Unit Structure Lectures will support the project thematic while production focussed technical sessions will support the development of your Character and Environment workflows. Technical sessions will focus on technical art skills development covering learning through both industry standard and experimental approaches to 2D Game Art. - Thematic Lectures – exploring the context and theory around the assignment themes. - Group Seminars and tutorials – project planning, idea development, group crits, tutorial support. - 2D art technical seminars/workshops – developing production skills for 2D Games Art - Game engine technical seminars/workshops – developing deliverable assets for games - Online technical lecture content ## Unit Schedule | Week | Lecture | Character Workshop | Environment Workshop | |---|---|---|---| |1|Introduction to the Unit. Planning out a Game Environment and Reference Gathering for Blocktober. |Introduction to ZBrush. Understanding ZBrush’s User interfaces, Navigation and controls. Basics of Zbrush: Exporting/ Importing, Subtools, Subdivisions. Brushes: Clear understanding of the primary brushes professionals use and the appropriate ways to use them.|Review of file organisation. Blocking out a scene from reference| |2|A brief history of 3D Game Art. Death Stranding and The Last of Us - Modular building practices.| Sculpting Basics. Alphas, masking. Selection tools and Poly Groups. Dynamesh, Zremesher and Sculptris pro. Materials and texturing. Concluding with sculpting a human nose. | Maya x Unity setup review. Modular Block out workflows | |3|Carceri d'invenzione and the Production of Space. Understanding real materials.| Sculpting Facial Features, Mouth, Eye, Ear. Looking at Lanteri methods of facial feature tiling and learning correct anatomical names.| Modular working practices | |4|PBR Trim Sheets - Theory and application|Sculpting the Human Skull. Learning the anatomy of the skull and understanding facial proportions. Then sculpting Mastication and expression muscles (if time). |Trims in Substance Painter| |5|Review of Block outs. Shading Methodologies - Perlin to PBR| Sculpting the Base Mesh of a Bipedal Character. Focusing on primary shapes/ forms, Blocking out the important shapes and structure of a human figure (Ryan Kingslien’s Roboman). Applying secondary detailing, muscle groups and functions.|Building Shaders in Unity - determining outputs for PBR textures| |6|Pre-production peer review |Applying Tertiary Details.Refining the form and applying high res texture to a model with alphas. Poly painting with Spotlight. Rendering; still images and turntables.| Working with trims in Maya - UV Mapping | |7|Independent work|Independent work|Independent work| |8|Art optimisation workflow - Game Res|Character workshop request |Hard Surface techniques for environments| |9|Production review 1 | Character workshop request| Environment workshop request| |10|Production review 2| Character workshop request| Environment workshop request| |11|Production review 3| Character workshop request| Pre-submission feedback | ## Link to Unit Moodle Area https://moodle.mmu.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=151966 ## Ethical Issues Within this unit, any issues relating to the MMU ethical code of practice will be addressed by tutors. If a student has ethical concerns regarding teaching and learning, it is their responsibility and right to bring it to the attention of the Unit Leader. ## Assessment Information ### Formative feedback It is important that you engage with all weekly tasks so the tutors can check and evaluate how you are progressing in the Unit. The weekly tasks are designed to: - Identify your strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need more work or better understanding - Help your tutor to determine if you are struggling or which content/concepts are proving difficult for you, and how to support you so you can better progress and prepare for the summative assessment. - Receive feedback from your peers and contribute comments to the work of others. ### Summative Assessment Summative assessment takes place after you have completed work at the end of each semester. The information indicates progress and achievement usually in a grade or numerical form. Summative assessment gives you valuable information about your overall performance at a specific point in your learning. It provides information about your progress in: - Subject knowledge - Subject understanding - Skills and capabilities The key to improving your learning is to identify what the grade means in terms of what you have demonstrated that you can do and what the next steps to improve are. The development points identified in your feedback are key to build on before completing your next assessment. ### Feedback Policy Feedback will be provided to students to download via Moodle within 4 weeks of the assignment submission deadline. Please note that if you have an extension your feedback will become available 4 weeks after you submit your work. ### Referencing Harvard referencing in accordance with MMU guidelines must be used in all written coursework. Please see http://libguides.mmu.ac.uk/mmuharvard for guidance. You must also be aware of the need to conform to these guidelines in order to avoid plagiarism. ### Support Arrangements In the scheme of work there are a number of opportunities identified for coursework support ranging from coursework workshops to one-to-one tutorial appointments with a tutor. If you are unable to meet the deadline for submission, please refer to the MMU Assessment Regulations for Undergraduate Programmes, as it details the University’s policy on the late submission of coursework: http://www.mmu.ac.uk/academic/casqe/regulations/assessment/docs/ug-regs.pdf Please note if you have exceptional factors you will need to refer to the University’s policy on exceptional factors for guidance: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/student-case-management/guidance-for-students/exceptional-factors/ --- # Unit Brief ## Production-ready Character and Environment Art ### Assessment Task Game Artists are storytellers. Whether working in 2D, 3D, hyperreal or fantastical, storytelling is the medium through which Game Artists can express their ideas and share them with others. When creating assets to tell their stories, Game Artists are faced with two challenges: the application of technique and the practice of creative ability. The demand for technical competency is fluid with technological advances in the field of computer graphics frequently changing the landscape of delivery platforms and the tools of production. Creative ability is the constant in the practice of a Game Artist regardless of the evolution of tools and technique. This brief focuses on the deliverable creative outputs of the Game Artist's practice and explores how 2D and 3D assets can be prepared and delivered for use in production environments. While undertaking this brief you will develop your creative ability in the field of characters and environments for narrative games through the exploration of artistic practices from concept to production-ready realisation in the form of character, environment and material assets. You will research and follow an industry-standard Games Art workflow, working independently to produce from concept art to functional game assets, both 2D and 3D character and environment art for a vertical slice game concept based on the thematic below. Within these deliverable outputs, you are free to explore any technical disciplines and creative styles you wish, provided that they meet the industry standard production requirements indicated by your research. Your workflow must include both 2D and 3D work, but you are free to incorporate these as you choose, for example: > #### Character > > - 2D character concept art > - 2D character model sheet > - 3D character deliverable > >#### Environment > > - 2D environment concept > - 2D environment model sheet > - 3D environment deliverable or > #### Character > > - 2D character concept art > - 3D character sculpts > - 2D rendered character deliverable > >#### Environment > > - 2D environment concept > - 3D environment Blockout > - 2D environment trim sheet deliverable (applied to 3D Blockout) As you progress through the unit, you will document your workflow in a journal, including all research and creative outputs. Your journal will be created in MarkDown (MD) format using HackMD.io. MD is an essential documentation method for game artists to use. This unit will be a great introduction to the basic functionality of MD as well as a light introduction to Version control systems such as GitHub. ### Thematic #### Metropolitan Ludotopias. > #### Metropolitan > > *adjective* > relating to or denoting a metropolis or large city. > *noun* > an inhabitant of a metropolis or large city. > #### Ludotopia > > *noun* > the space where gameplay happens. ### Instruction to Students In practical workshop sessions you will explore approaches to the simulation of anatomy and space in 2D and 3D including observational practices, industry-standard creation processes and engaging with contextual research in the fields of production technique and creative processes, using your findings to inform your creative practice. Seminar sessions will focus on case studies and the theory behind specific technical art processes. You will also have an opportunity to recieve work-in-progress reviews in these weekly sessions. **Submission in Markdown (MD)** You will be shown how to document your work in MD using HackMD.io and will be shown some suggested layouts to use. The advantage of using MD is that it is an objective format used for collaborative team documentation across a wide variety of VC platforms.This means that once you have a Github account setup, you will be able to use Github to backup and version control your work. When adding media to your MD file, you must use verify that your images and other links are functional. For images, this is easily achieved in Github by dragging images into your MD file. With HackMD there are several UI additions to make this easier. I recommend constructing and testing your MD file in HackMD.io in order to ensure that your work is not dependent on non-functional links. We will have a session covering how to do this however, you are responsible for practicing and testing your MD outputs to ensure that they are working correctly. If MD is new to you for this unit, then I recommend sending your MD file to a peer so that they can test it for you prior to submission. ### Submission Information This unit is an indvidual project and will be assessed as such. Your final submission will be in the form of your journal, which should include links to all full-resolution creative outputs and be named: *<student_number>_J5Z1020_journal.md* At the top of your journal should be a public link to the journal. Please test this prior to submission. Your journal will be accessed in the first instance through this link. Your journal constitutes 100% of the overall unit mark and as such you should include in it every artifact generated during your study for this unit, organised coherently. **All creative outputs in your journal must be submitted and formatted to a professional standard.** - Take care when taking photographs of sketchbook pages, ensure that your images are clear, well lit and with no shadows or distortion. - Images are accompanied by notation. - Concept art uses appropriate, client ready, presentation methods. ### Submission Deliverables > #### Production Journal > Including, but not limited to: > > - **Header** > - Student and submission info > - Link to your journal > - **Research** > - 1 Game art workflow > - 1 Anatomical art research > - 1 Environmental art research > - **Weekly Review** > - A review of your development each week, including: > - Sketches, screenshots, notes, etc > - Critical analysis > - **Deliverables** > - **Character** > - Concept Art > - Final production ready art > - For 2D art you should consider how you can illustrate production readiness > - For 3D models you should use Sketchfab to present your models, providing renders/screenshots and links in your journal. > - **Environment** > - Concept Art > - Final production ready art > - For 2D art you should consider how you can illustrate production readiness > - For 3D models you should use Sketchfab to present your models, providing renders/screenshots and links in your journal. Your final submission through Moodle will be your *<student_number>_J5Z1020_journal.md* file. You must test this to ensure it is working, with all media correctly linked before submission. As a backup I recommend that you also make your repository public (considered good practice) and share a separate document with a link to your repository - whether you choose to do this is upto you and we understand that some students might want to keep their repositories private. ### Submission Deadline You have until 9pm on 13/01/2023 to submit your work. Submit via the Hand in Area on the Moodle page for this unit.  You must submit your work before the final deadline date. Please do not leave it until last minute to submit in case you encounter any difficulties or technical problems. When submitting online, you are strongly advised to upload your work by 8pm to ensure the system uploads everything successfully before 9pm. ### Late submissions Please be advised that your work will be automatically recorded as a late submission should you upload after 9pm on the day of the deadline. A new late submission is now in place for all students. This allows a 5-day late submission opportunity to all students. Work submitted before 9pm on the 5th working day after submission deadline will be capped at 40%. Work submitted after this will fail and result in a 0% grade. Uploads will take longer off site than on campus and you need to be aware that larger size files take longer to upload. Please allow enough time to upload your files as, if they are not fully uploaded by the deadline, the work will be considered late. ### Materials and Equipment You are required to bring your own sketchbook and drawing materials to the sessions. More information on drawing materials is available on Moodle. Access to specialist software & screen graphics tablets will be provided on campus. You are also welcome to bring your own tablet and laptop to the sessions, if you wish. ### Tutorials & Support All learning materials on this unit are available on Moodle. Formative feedback on progress will be available throughout the sessions. As part of this unit, you are expected to engage in independent learning. Please visit Moodle for additional resources and training. ### Reading List - Aarseth, E.J. and GünzelS. (2019). Ludotopia : spaces, places and territories in computer games. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. - Bonser, S. (2020). Virtual vernacular. Boca Raton, Fl: Crc Press/Taylor & Francis Group. - Lanteri, E. and Nathan Cabot Hale (2015). Modelling and sculpting the human figure. New York, N.Y. Dover Publications. - Le, K., Yamada, M., Yoon, F. and Robertson, S. (2008). The skillful huntsman : visual development of a Grimm tale at Art Center College of Design. Culver City, Calif.: Design Studio ; Maidstone. - Riekeles, S. (2021). Anime architecture : imagined worlds and endless megacities : with 386 illustrations. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. - Simblet, S. (2020). Anatomy For The Artist. S.L.: Dk. - Sketching from the imagination : an insight into creative drawing. (2014). Worcestershire: 3Dtotal Publishing. - substance3d.adobe.com. (n.d.). The PBR Guide - Part 1. [online] Available at: https://substance3d.adobe.com/tutorials/courses/the-pbr-guide-part-1.