Modular Character design for UDK

Anthricus

Hey Guys,

Im currently in my third year at Uni, conducting a study into the optimisation of modular characters for games for my FYP. I will be designing two interchangeable modular armor sets to fit around a male character within UDK.

Current Update:
In UDK:


A few random in engine combinations:

Sculpts:





Similar Stuff to what i want to make


Currently I am in the design process and have outlined some of the basic concept process below. The character will be a sci fi esque soldier similar in style to those of Starcraft 2 or Mass effect, although i havent decided whether then will be hand painted or "realistic".


Initial Silhouttes:


Chosen Sils:


Furthered Values:


Final two Chosen:



Values Furthered for chosen two:


Gun variations in addition to silhoutte:


My Favoured guns

From left to right (No16, No11, No3 + No4, No8 )




Any critique would be great and much appreciated before I take my concepts into the 3d stages.

MethodJ

I think you've done a nice job with silhouette exploration, your designs feel pretty separate and unique from each other. Having done modular characters in UDK before, I would suggest you simplify your designs down to the absolute bare-bones-basics before proceeding to 3D.

I found that building elements that could be reused among different body types to be very helpful. I think with armor you've concepted, I would start by picking a piece that could be reused on every body type and build out from there.

Anthricus

Simplifying the designs for testing would be a great idea.

Would i just break them down into geometric representations of what they are? like box modelled versions?

The base mesh for the character is already on its way and unfortunately i cant do all 3 height archetypes, within the time scale I can only get one created and polished.

Have you got any tutorials on modular characters in UDK? I totally agree prototyping it with blockout models will definately help me.

I hope I have understood you properlly,

Thanks again !

Shendoo

Nice design, try doing a bit simpler than I think it would look better!

MethodJ

Yes, you'd start with blockout geo, just to nail down the shape. But with any kind of armor, I think the super-detailed sculpting stuff is what people want to see (think Gears of War). So decide on a base geo quick, and move on to detailing.

I would start with the shoulder pads, for whatever reason that is the element that stands out to me in your designs. I would start by doing a simple and small version for the light character. Then add on some pieces parts to create the medium, and add on top of the medium to create the large.

Then if I was really pressed for time, I would cut those objects up into chunks, and reuse those chunks to create the rest of the body armor - or at least big pieces of it. If there wasn't a hurry, then I'd pick another part of the armor and repeat the process I did with the shoulder to create something new.

No tutorials on anything modular, sorry. If you find any please post them here, I am always interested to see what other people are doing!

Anthricus

Cheers guys , i have broken down my sketches into their basic construction pieces.


I also started on my base mesh for the Big guy
Base Mesh Ref:



PROGRESS!

Base mesh progress:

once hes tidied up (topology wise and proportions) i can start building up and kit bashing the basic geometry armour over my base mesh as you suggest MethodJ before moving into UDK.

Then hopefully it will all fall into place like lego.... atleast thats the plan!

@Shendoo
Cheers dude yeah i think the value designs need some of the lines stripped out in the final design otherwise theres a lot of ornamentation that may throw of the viewer.

jinn15

hey Anthricus, lovin the silhouettes

and although i dont have any experience in making modular armor pieces, i would do what MethodJ said by blocking in the shapes but to make sure that all the pieces match up, dont block in a specific armor piece, block in an area that each piece will take but make sure to make it as large as u can, and that would be bare bone minimum
so from that point, make all the armor pieces u designed to fit into that base, and try to make sure that it stays within that boundary, as to not interfere w/ the other parts
for other modular armor references, should check out halo, they have TONS of interchangeable armor pieces that have to work together
lookin forward to seeing the final result! =D

Anthricus

Totally forgot Halo had customisation! one to check for the references, and yeah i know what you men the edge flow is a big part of it, from my research i have looked at SkankerZeros stuff on the polycount wiki
http://wiki.polycount.com/SkankerzeroModularCharacterSystem


This is the sort of thing you mean right? making sure that all the basic armour pieces will fit together and flow into one another without creating seams or gaps?

Nice thing about most of the armour apart form the Chest --> Shoulder pads is that they are seperate and shouldnt intersect too much with one another

Cheers for the responses guys

thebamboobear

Love the design and what you have so far ^^ please keep us updated! I'm always interested to see how people did their modular stuff

Oh and I saw this on polycount wiki back then when I was thinking to do modular characters:
http://wiki.polycount.com/SkankerzeroModularCharacterSystem

Hope that helps.

edit: lol, I just saw you posted the same link a couple mins before! xD

jinn15

well i meant it more for the different armor pieces of different sets but yea u get the idea XD
this is probably for later but a good thing to keep in mind is topology and how itll flow, esp since the character will have modular armor pieces
a website i use a lot is http://www.hippydrome.com/ its mainly for animation purposes (i think) but the u get the overall gist of how edge loops should flow, just a nice extra resource to have XD

Anthricus

Awesome stuff for topology Jinn, thanks for that i have seen some of his stuff before but thats going straight in the bookmarks!

Cheers Bamboo, I will make sure to keep here updated as much as I can.

Im pretty set on my final designs now,

Using the Big archetype i will be creating the following two armor suits and the big launcher as the weapon.

Every piece will be modular within the set including the gun. ( Gun will need to be socketable to the character rig within UDK)

Using the launcher in the silhoutte I have also made some variations on the silhoutte for the gun to bring some interest and variation too it.

If you have any preferences just say but at the moment im indecisive.
I like 2, 4 and 6 probably leaning towards 4.

Next Steps:

• Colour Designs for character and rocket launcher

• Model Armor set in basic geometry as suggested and test within UDK (SImple Mesh swapping using the techniques shown on the UDN http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitGemsCreatingAModularPawn.html)

Anthricus

Sorry for the long delay everyone finally getting back to work after christmas , here are my final colour designs for the character and some initial sculpting progress for the underlying anatomy part of the modular character design.

Suit 1:

Suit2:



Underlying anatomy sculpt progress:

^ The waist down is kind of un touched ,especially the feet need re sorting and moving so they dont look so mangled!

C&C always welcome! any questions just ask,
I have also got the modular pawn stuff working in UDk so i can now swap in and out meshes during runtime. Just need to sort out getting kismet triggers to do so now

Anthricus

Also, heres the design for the final rocket launcher the character is going to use ( hes a heavy tank/ damage sponge type character)

Anthricus

Long Time no Post

A few changes have happened , Considering how many characters are sci out there these days i have tried to create some thing a bit more aesthetically unique.

The design has been integrated with aztec/mayan architechtural design to give a unique look that i hope will help make my work stand out from the crowd a bit more

Here are the new concepts ( Bit rough around the edges for the moment! Please Excuse):


(I want the purple hair to be emissive tendirls (maintain some sci fi elements!))

Here is the current sculpt progress



Alpha Stamping tests using Geometry HD

Anthricus

Quick test render as I am nearing the end of my sculpting process:


Some of the extra modular pieces ( second chest, leg and shoulder pad) are not featured in the render I will post one with those later on when I am happier with the result!


Things left to do:

Finish details on anatomy

Add further alpha details to chest armour pieces (currently in separate zbrush files)

Harden up some edges of the stone that have got a bit too smudged

Then onward to texturing

as always C&C welcome!!!

Anthricus

Current Updates



with armour set 1 on (1 of 2 modular sets)




close ups of face!


Individual sculpted and textured armour assets


C&C welcome as always :d will try and upload some better BPR renders of assets later or tomorrow

D4V1DC

Looks like this will be a huge project but if you do things right this will be awesome.

No comments really, just that i like what i see and what this can be so far.

Anthricus

Face Details Ahoy!

C&C welcome

Anthricus

Current Update:
In UDK
Modular assets working using the modular pawn.uc with a few minor changes to add my own classes for interchangeable gauntlets, belt and hair.

C&C Very welcome
cheers all!

Anthricus

Final In Engine Shots