Week 9

15/3/10 - I started the week by completing the jet plane ant and UV unwrapping him. I also assigned a very basic texture.

I then proceeded to work on chapter 3 of the dissertation; again I broke it down into smaller pieces, so the chapter now reads as such:

3.o Popularity of game franchises and handheld platforms

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Growth of the casual market
3.3 Success of portable platforms
3.4 The situation with game franchises

Chapter 3 originally only had two subchapters, but I decided to give the introduction its own heading and discuss the casual market separately from the recent success of portable platforms - even though the two are inevitably linked.

16/3/10 and 17/3/10 - I completed chapter 3 of the dissertation and started modelling the mid-poly version of the jet plane ant, which can be seen below. The body is complete but his accessories have yet to be added.


18/3/10 - Following the critique session I was able to continue with the work as planned; I also acquired a free version of Unity, which means I can run tech demos with the team's game project and test the assets myself. I worked on the jet plane accessories and hope to start fixing and UV mapping the mid-poly model this weekend.

19/3/10 - Success!! The problem that had been plaguing us concerning asset integration from 3DS Max to Unity was finally resolved! I got to grips with the basics of Unity this development Friday and was able to fix a horrible rotation problem that was causing the bees to fly on their backs. Now they face the right way, and I know how to implement them myself.

I also imported the static enemies that I have built so far, and made a litte video capture which shows the 3D swarming motion with the static assets in-game. Our three programmers Hazel McKendrick, Ian Copland and Kieran McGrory are responsible for the scene setup and swarming bees.

Very basic tech demo to show 3D swarming.

I'm pleased to have become acquainted with Unity; I can offer support in a technical art role, which will save the programmers' time considerably. I can also continue to run my own tech demoes now, which is a huge bonus for the personal project.

20/3/10 and 21/3/10 - I spent most of the weekend setting up my own portfolio website, but was also able to devote some time to creating a plinth and lighting scheme for character turnarounds, as well as drawing my own texture for the high poly Worker bee.