This first week I tried to carry on with all the planning of my final project to already start modelling in Maya as soon as possible.
Project proposal
At the end of term 3, I presented my final mayor project proposal with the following presentation that shows my first ideas:
Planning
I am a person that likes to do my projects in sections, following a logic timeline, so the work pipeline is as efficient as possible. This is why, for this project, I have decided to separate it in the following sections:
- Planning
- Inspiration research/Moodboards/References
- Sketching/Layout draft
- Modelling
- UV/Texturing
- Final layout/Lighting/VFX
- Matte painting/Compositing/Colouring
- Rendering
After deciding my work pipeline, I proceeded to organise roughly a weekly schedule on Excel to see how much time I count with to finalise this project on time:
Obviously, this schedule may change or may have new tasks added depending on the progress of the project and possible problems or change of plans that could arise.
Inspiration research, moodboards, & layout sketch
I did some research about floating cities to see which features I liked to add to my city and how to make the layout. I decided that I wanted my city to have a cyberpunk style with lots of neon lights which will contrast with the night sky. I also want to add some clouds and fog around the city and in between the buildings. I also liked the idea of attaching the city with ‘ropes’ or ‘chains’ to the ground (or mountains that are nearby), and include hanging vegetation from them. I also think that the contrast of a rocky and irregular terrain with the sharp and symmetric edges of the city buildings but give some interest to the composition. Moreover, I am planning to add like underground buildings that were built up in the rock as if it was built for the lower class of society (these buildings will have a more irregular shape). Regarding the neon signs, since these are going to be seen from far away, I want to make simple signs that do not have a clear language (it will only show gibberish), so the design is quicker.
After I had an idea of the style and components of the scene, I used Procreate app in my iPad to make a rough sketch of the overall scene:
Modelling city base
This first week I focused on the modelling of the rocky base of the city with the addition of the inner buildings carved in the rock. First, I created a cylinder and added a high amount of subdivisions, to then using the stamp feature of the ‘sculpt tool’, create big stalactites hanging on the edges of the cylinder. I formed the base by sections, intercalating a layer of rock, a plain cylinder layer and so on. Again, with the stamp tool, I also changed the shape to vertical lines stamp, and created the effect in the rock as if it was ripped off the ground. Moreover, in order to give a more asymmetric look, I also reshaped and distorted the shape of the cylinders with the ‘grab tool’ and with ‘lattice points’.
For the buildings in the rock, I first made a staircase using a stretched and scaled down cylinder and then using ‘duplicate special’ to translate the duplicates exactly on the ‘y’ and ‘z’ axes. Then, I cut the cylinder in sections (block of buildings) and integrated them with the staircases. And lastly, I added the windows and doors by adding more subdivisions using ‘edge loop’. In the sides and edges of the buildings, I also used the stamp tool to give them a rocky edge the blends in with the rocky aesthetic.
Lastly, using the ‘relax tool’, I got rid of conflicting areas where the stamp tool did not make a great job and messed up the points of the mesh.