Dissertation help/your opinions
Hey guys, Im conducting a research project (my dissertation) at University on the topic of current-gen character modelling. This is understandably stale and not exactly creative so I want to ensure its as in depth and up to date as possible. I am supposed to have a supervisor but this has unfortunately taken too long as is still in the works, so I am opening up to you lovely people.
My question is, do you believe a character creation tutorial (from gathering concept to texturing) for benefiting others students, or a How to model an item or person from a piece of media (which is essentially the same thing but with more of a focus/direction) would be worth pursuing? I understand you are not lecturers and I am in contact with the staff at University to see their opinions on the matter, but I wanted a more widespread opinion, perhaps from professionals in the industry and those with more experience in the field. If you believe all of this is drivel dont be afraid to say. Being late on my research project will only be hindered if when I do eventually start it is on something that could prove to eventually be useless.
Again any help would be much appreciated guys, thank you so much!
My question is, do you believe a character creation tutorial (from gathering concept to texturing) for benefiting others students, or a How to model an item or person from a piece of media (which is essentially the same thing but with more of a focus/direction) would be worth pursuing? I understand you are not lecturers and I am in contact with the staff at University to see their opinions on the matter, but I wanted a more widespread opinion, perhaps from professionals in the industry and those with more experience in the field. If you believe all of this is drivel dont be afraid to say. Being late on my research project will only be hindered if when I do eventually start it is on something that could prove to eventually be useless.
Again any help would be much appreciated guys, thank you so much!
Replies
Writing a tutorial alone isn't anything worthy of a thesis/dissertation, unless you provide some NEW insight. Because there are already gazillion tutorials on this out there. This insight could be about modeling, e.g. a new technique. Or it could be about the way the tutorial teaches 3D modeling.
You basically have to ask yourself:
* what's the take-away for the readers of my dissertation?
* am I providing new ways or insights to the topic? (regardless how small)
* are these insights relevant to my major/field of study?
If your field of study is not game art, then 3d modeling should not be the subject of your dissertation, but it can still be a context for whatever topic you're choosing.
Example:
You are studying for a Master of Education. In this case you cannot make 3d modeling the subject. But you could carry out a research into teaching techniques in the context of teaching 3d modeling. (hope that makes sense). So it really depends what your field of study is.
Thanks for the response bud. My degree is Computer Games Technology, and I'm on the art side of the course studying 3D modelling. It's the "new insight" part of the unit I'm struggling with. I'm very much sure that there's nothing I know of that adds anything new to the world of modelling, even if it is minuscule. I'm always better at doing what I'm told to do as opposed to coming up with things myself, which is why I thought doing a tutorial may be somewhat worthwhile, though as you say (and make a correct point), there's thousands of others and there's not actually much research I can do to back anything up.
Thank you very much though, I'll try to get back to the drawing board and think up something new!
For example, AAA games get bigger and bigger, yet workflows still need to change. Just note the interest in time savers like Substance, Quixel Suite, Marvellous Designer, Houdini, etc. Which one is more efficient? How efficient is it to combine these tools? What's their impact? How to best teach them? For example, many artists complained about Marvelous Designer, as they now had to think like tailors, how to create cuts for clothes. Others still prefer ZBrush as it is more artistic. Also, there are many, many threads here on Polycount about all such issues.
I think there's a lot of interesting things to explore, which you could explore in the context of teaching, i.e. creating a tutorial.
You're a brilliant, brilliant person. Thank you so much for pointing me in another direction. I'm going to get my head deep into things and when I know more about what I'm going to to I'll come back here. Thanks again!