Game Journal #60 - I HATE 3D MODELLING

Hey guys. I HATE 3D modelling. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. AM Mastercomputer levels of HATE. But I have to do it, so here I am. Sigh.

Ok, maybe that's a little much. I don't *hate* hate it, you know? But it's really a pain in the neck. I'm a 2D artist, so getting into 3D is just... ugh. Thankfully, I found a way to do it that makes sense to me. All I have to do is draw the polygons ON the reference image, and voila! I can do it. I know how to make things 3 dimensional on paper, so by drawing it first, it's not so bad to make it an actual model. Here's an example of it with this model of Joe's face I made. The wireframe one is on the right.

See, it's not so bad. Actually, when I was a kid, one of the first 3D modelling videos I saw used this method. I thought it was so cool to see a plane extruded over and over to make a face. But for some reason, a lot of people like to use preexisting shapes (like cubes) or sculpt first (UGH) to make a model. Nothing wrong with those methods, naturally. But I like doing things right the first time. I.E., I don't want to model something twice. I don't want to draw something twice either, and that's why I became a painter instead of doing the sketch>lineart>color method. Just thinking about drawing like that again makes me want to jump off a cliff in Minecraft.

Btw, here's the video I saw as a kid:

Anyway, this is all to say that I finally got started on 3D modelling again this week. Here's my model of Joe so far. I've only done the face (since the body is easy lel) but yeah. Isn't it crazy how it looks like him?

I like the way the hair came out. I think I'm going to change the top-back part of his hair though, it looks a little flat. Also, I did the stubble last-minute before work (lol) so it doesn't look the best. I'm probably going to change it. But not so bad for a first try, eh? It's not my first go-round with Blender (I completed a GameDev.tv course for modelling and I also took a class at school) but it's been ages since I did anything 3D. So yeah.

Actually, this isn't the first time I've made Joe in 3D. The first one I made was in Maya (WHEEZE) and it looked absolutely atrocious. I'll put a picture here.

Joe in 3d.

Looks just as bad as I remember.

I'm actually surprised by how much I've improved with 3D. As I've said, I haven't really done it that much (at least, compared to 2D lol) so yeah. Well, I'll keep on keeping on.

Here's the week's changelog. Not much game stuff really, just assets.

12/6/22
-Made Victory theme

12/12/22
-Finished model of Joe's head
-Wonton Theme

Yeah. Pretty short changelog. I forgot to write when I started working on Joe's model, so there's a bit of a gap. I also had to start over because I tried to use my old Joe model sheet without any polygons... yeah, didn't get very far. Lol. Plus, my art had improved since then, so I had to redraw his face entirely. Eh.

You may have noticed that I made some music. Yep. For some reason, I'm in the mood to do it again. Well, I'm not complaining! Here's the two tracks I made this week. I made a victory theme for when you win a battle, and Wonton's theme for when you visit his shop. (The one in the demo is actually Dan's theme!)

Finally, here's a small video with more details on the music and stuff. See you next time! I hope to have Joe's model more polished, along with more music (maybe.)