Unit 78 Task 3

Graphic design on Computer

Illustrator- 

for more inofmation please head to the first photoshop post the keys are baisically the same.

To save the file with all the layers accessible you had to save it as a *AI which will not compress the file and allow you to alter it in the future.

Using the Pen tool in illustrator you can create a line that you can curve by holding down your left mouse key. When you complete a circuit in the line the circuit will become a isolate

d <Guide> underneith the layer you are drawing on, enabling you to have constant access to every circuit you created individually.

This will help in colouring in later.

 Its easy to get lost in the amount of drawing you do, so you have to make sure that every part of your character has its own layer and sublayers that allow you to finds the part you want to colour in easily.

The layer are then colour coded for you to identify what you need.

The colours that you use can be roughly chosen the colour menu below which in turn can be altered by another more detaied menu.

This is the finished product on illustraor as for now their may be slight modifications later.

 

Unit 1 Task 2

Unit 1 Task 2 - 
<Making a Game>

0. Procedure:
1. Identify finance available- If you're a NEET then none. But usually in a one-man team you need something to sustain your basic bodily functions and pay for necessary software this may be achieved by working part time or getting funding from a sponsor. You may achieve this by posting your work or what we call blank sheet that summarises your game concept and style to companies that produce games and they will fund your project. Or you may set up a patreon or goFundme.  
2. identify personnel needed- Usually only yourself or a couple of friends.
3. identify personnel available;
4.  identify resources needed;
5.  identify resources available; 
6. prepare budget; 
7. contract personnel;
8.  book resources; 
9. prepare schedules;
10. identify health and safety implications;
11.  identify legal implications; 
12. identify risks to project 
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14. 
    
15.   Documentation: production documentation, eg scripts, storyboards, mood boards, thumbnails, properties, contact lists, location recces; production schedules; budget; clearances; plans, eg location plans, studio plans; health and safety assessments; risk assessments; contingency plans
    

UNIT: 78 : TASK 3 CHARACTER generating ideas

UNIT: 78 : TASK 2
CHARACTER 
generating ideas

Character reference and mood boards. As my character was supposed to be plant inspired creature I researched other artists work that involves a florean theme. Mood Board-

Initially I was sure that i wanted to create a plant like human, but I didn't know what type of plant will be the inspiration for my character.
Trying to imitate an alien I liked the appearence off, I created the image on the Left  making a short story explaining my choices in a word document.

I created the mushroom inspired man seen on the left as a side kick to my protagonist however, I decided I liked his design much more then the my initial concept so I continued developing this project instead.

I tried to base the design on a fungus called Armillria Ostoyae which is the largest living organism on earth spreading its roots over 2,200 acres of land. I found that interesting so I decided to base my characters quirks based on knowledge and communication to imitate the wide span of the more commonly know "Honey Mushroom"

I preferred the roundness of this (image on the right) variation of the Honey Mushroom as it could infer fertility,
so I decided to make my character chubby (image below).



I did however experiment with different body types, changing the posture to make the belly stick out more to make her/him (didn't decide) look more clumsy and endearing.

I also looked making it look more feminine and masculine by adjusting the width of the shoulders and hips, but I remained wit my original concept for the time being.

Clothing

My idea by themsleves wher every plain and based of casual attire. And so by carefully looking at the charcter concepts from my mood board I created new ideas. Trying
to achieve a friendly look that appeals to both feminnie masculine preference, I decided that i'll keep the character androgenous keeping the design natural. I emphesises the cute aspects to make the character endearing to all players. 

In the image on the left I was experimenting with ink to create more eastern looking clothing. I took inspiration from the eastern cultures of India and Pakistan to reflect a
"dress-like tunic called Dhoti (harem Pants), worn as a traditional men’s garment in the eastern world." This integration of cultural fashion would be appealing to western audiences by being in their eyes "exotic" while also attracting eastern audiences by allowing them to relate to their character. These also impose a certain aesthetic into the game. Initially, I was very unsure about how to stylise it so I tried to merge the Dhoti with they stylistic choices of Bridget Riley.

On the right, I tried thinking of designs for the mushroom hat she would wear but sometimes less is more so I gave that up

DhotiBridget Riley

After experimenting with ink, water colour and felt-tip, I came to conclusion that the character would look best in purely natural clothing so, considering that my character should be relatively small in a real world, I clothed it in sown up leaves for a skirt, inspiration from tinker-bell. Personally, I always appreciated dichotomous characters I wanted to contrast its seemingly innocent and cute appeal with wooden armour that and a claw like leaf hand. These became its gimmick and main weapon, which made it seem like a rebel. The hair was an addition I considered but ultimately I left it out.

ASSETS

1POINT & 2POINT PERPECTIVE AND SOME ASSETS

Unit 1: Task 1

Unit 1: Task 1

"A side-scrolling game, side-scroller or 2D is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters can generally only move to the left or right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology. The move from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics, during the golden age of video arcade games and during third-generation consoles, would prove to be a pivotal leap in game design, comparable to the move to 3D graphics during the fifth generation. Although side-scrolling games have been supplanted by 3D games, they continue to be produced, particularly for handheld devices or for digital-only releases.

Type of production: eg film, television, video, radio, audio, interactive media, web, computer game, print, photo-imaging"- Wikipedia

Before starting a production, all your later decisions will be  influenced by the type of media you are looking to create. In this case we are creating a 2D Scroller. If you wanted to create a movie you would have to concentrate on hiring a film crew, and possessing good quality cameras. In a case of creating an audio. A similarity in all pre-production is THE INITIAL CONCEPT. This includes specifying what the pillars of what you are trying to produce. In case of both movies and games this
may be the script and plot. However, in games are much more integral part of production would be the the type of game you want to produce as this will later impact the rest of the process.
The pre- production although it needs a linear process often that is not the case. This is the case as ideas are constantly reviewed and optimised in the the process of production. Never the less, having a a carefully planned schedule is essential for good time keeping.

Finance: 
Sources of finance - Big cooperation may find funding in companies tat are willing t sponsor them and in return get a share in the game's income and success. Most games however will still be created by individuals that have a passion for game making and fund their own projects. For example Witcher:

"The Witcher is an action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by Atari, based on the novel series of The Witcher by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. Wikipedia

Series: The Witcher

Director(s): Jacek Brzeziński

Producer(s): Maciej Miąsik

Composer(s): Adam Skorupa; Paweł Blaszczak

Developers: CD Projekt, CD Projekt RED

Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Macintosh operating systems"

The game was created by a very small team at the time yet they managed to make a name for themselves.

The rights from Sapowski to the Witcher story were bought at around 7000 pounds  however Sapowski claiming the game will fail refused shares of the games income. This way the small team became millionaires solely on the games gross income.


Since anyone may develop a concept for a game the game designers must create a concise and eye -catching High Concept Pitch document that they will present to different companies in hopes of the company being interested enough to buy the concept and and produce it. Big cooperation may receive hundreds of such documents so it important to be able to be engaging but short and concrete.

Requirements, eg equipment, transport, talent, crew, materials, facility hire, clearances
It is hard to create a suitable budget that incorporates all of the above and that's why usually companies have to settle for compromised solutions. They may higher more crew that may not have as much talent but are cheaper. As usually personnel is paid per hour you have to use time efficiently so every specialised crew member is busy pushing the project forward and not idly wasting time. In this case pre-production also has to include a time table that will be carefully planned out to maximise the productivity of all the members of the team. 

Time:
Deadlines- The time set do produce a finished product, or finished parts of the product.

Availability of equipment - In cases of small project it may no be worth buying all of the equipment and instead renting it. For specific segments of the project a team may hire a very powerful camera to capture detailed image and later incorporate the image into their other less detailed work.
It's also vital to respect the time and availability of personnel. It is important to have a rational outlook on how fast an employee might work. To solve this time management problem it might be useful to higher a manager that will communicate with teams to give them an insight on how much time they have available. It is likely that the media your creating will be published by not only a game company but also, in the time of multimedia, expand onto other surfaces. These will rely on you completing the product in a due time.

Clearances-  The biggest problem with the project will probably arise from legal issues, so an important part of pre- planning is guaranteeing clearances for the use of; images, locations, equipment. In the case of film making getting clearances for filing would need to come from the council as well as the police if a stunt for example, especially dangerous. On the other hand, if your creating a 2D scroller these issues are unlikely to arise, there maybe more problem with copy right issues.
  

Personnel: 
Size of team and roles - The size of crew will all depend on the project you're doing and how much time you have to finish it by. In the case of  2D scrollers, the concept does not require a big team as a simple project may only require a programmer and a digital graphic expert. Depending on the skill sets of these employees the and the complexity of a project, the simplest 2D platformer using if you were going for something with the complexity of Sonic the Hedgehog, without a pre-existing engine like unity, including unique graphics, level design, etc…. You could spend many months doing that, even with a substantial team." - 
geometric primitives for graphics may be build in a couple hours. However, "
https://www.quora.com/How-long-does-it-take-to-make-a-2D-platformer-game


Resourcing:
Availability; costs; team or crew CVs - In a case of amateur productions the costs will be minimal as the crew would be creating a game as a hobby and their availability will be dependant on their engagement with the project. If you where to hire a crew though,whilst looking through CV's you need to pick out concept artists that suit your aesthetic which ultimately will  become the biggest selling point of the game. As with everything an employer will value a person with experience more highly then any certified qualification, so in this industry a portfolio of your work is the biggest factor in searching for a job in the arts industry.

Facilities: 

Production equipment- Everything you need to make the project.
Post-production equipment- Everything that need to use to complete the tasks after the game is made.
Facility houses- The venue where you do your work. Since most work for game is done on computers its not necessary to rent a place to work in however, with bigger projects its helpful for the teams to work in the same place to exchange ideas and cross reference work.
Outsourcing- You may send assignments to individual companies that specialise is a certain aspect of development. A recent example of this is the ILM London HQ that supplied special effects for movies like Solo (2018) although most of the team never worked on base of the filming.

Materials: type
Original materials- What you make yourself.
Archive and library materials, Internet, assets, audio, script, animatics, graphics, interviews, costumes, properties, recorded music; sources; costs; clearances
As creating your own materials take up time and money most businesses decide that its easier to buy rights to a material that then later incorporate into their work. There are archives on the internet where there is stocks of images, music, and pre-made animations for characters. This may be incredible cost effective as you save money on music compositors and programmers as you are able to purchase pre-made material.
Sourcing legal issues- Problems arise when you don't put enough care into acquiring rights to material you use. To avoid this the materials need to be bought or negotiated about so there is no problems in the future of people trying to sue for copyright.

Contributors: 

These people will effect the production and add to the ideas that where initially made. This is important since the product must be acknowledged by the audience to become successful. This means that the technical aspect of production is equally as important as the message its conveying. The public may help by openly stating what they're looking for in the game which will serve as a check list for designers that want to appeal to them. You also want to give accurate information, this may be achieved by consultations  with Professors that re specialists in these fields.

Specialists and experts- People trained in a specific field that they use in a production such as
programmers or costume designers.
Talent- All the people are shown in the media produced.
Public- Audience
Contributor biographies- Credits

Codes of practice and regulation: 
Ensures and enforces copyright regulations as-well as provides a universal code of conduct in game classification. It also protects Personal data and protects health and safety. These regulations are necessary to make sure no unauthorised content is supplied to minor and they prevent legal issues in controversial material or abuse of free speak in media.




Pan European Game Information (PEGI)-
"European video game content rating system established to help European consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content descriptors." - Wikipedia

British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) -
"BIMA's purpose is to represent the interactive media and digital content sector in the UK. Its core objectives are to promote the British digital industry, share knowledge and best practice, recognise excellence and support the next generation of digital professionals. Nationally, BIMA acts as a liaison with academia and the government, acting as a united voice for its members and aiming to drive commercial growth in the sector. Globally it champions the UK's digital industry to foster an internationally competitive industry." - Wikipedia 

1. Unit 78: Task 1
    Digital Graphics For Computer Games
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4. Theory and applications of digital graphics used for computer games                                Artistic styles used in Computer games: 
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6. -->Photorealism. The most predominant form of art in popular and biggest grossing computer games as their focus is on creating an environment most similar to what we would see in real life. To achieve this effect images are created in a wide colour scale that more closely reflects the spectrum of colours the human eye perceives. The images are also 3 Dimensional and Physiologically accurate rendered using engines such as Unreal engine, Octan (GPU- renders images using the graphic cards), Arnold (CPU - runs the rendering on the CPU meaning you can't really do anything else on your computer :'( shucks!) . This raises the suspense as unrealistic presentations of futures full of aliens or post-apocalyptic war zones appear real for the players and this allows them to completely immerse themselves in the games making them more engaging.
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    To achieve a realistic image the light  is highly accented in the work as shown in the images above. As well the wide gradient of colours and shades that form gradient and add dimension to an image.
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   In movies and games alike you could use VFX which integrates motion from live action footage with generated imagery to create a realistic effect. The motions and expressions are tracked on people who reproduce different emotions. This reduces the time spent and analysis that would artificially produce an expression. For the movie Avatar a programme that enables painting on a 3D image, meaning a realistic image can be made. In rendering a 3D character it can save time to use 3D models that already have actions programmed can be stored and reused in the future (Mixamo).
   

1. -->cel-shading. Used in art to flatten images and make them seem 2D is an non-photorealistic rendering design This is achieved by using less shading colour and instead of shade gradient using tint and shade fills making the image loose its depth.
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   This art creates a unrealistic but equally beautiful environment in games as although the colour palette is limited more the colours can be much more saturated to create interesting colour schemes and style as the Legend of Zelda franchise. In fact this approach is very popular in the Japanese game industry on puzzle games such as Professor Layton or Ace Attorney that both adopt a cartoon style. This also saves resources and reduces the amount of processing that goes into the game make it accessible across different portals such as mobiles and consoles alike.    
   

1. The art style for games which include visual novel adventure, usually there is no need for photorealism as the game focuses on the plot and puzzle,  rather than action filled adventure type games which include a lot of movement. Although games as a whole have the goal of creating an environment  where you can feel completely immersed however, realistic designs usually are designed to build tension.
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5. --->abstraction.  Is a scale that game designers tend to work with when creating a game. If they want the abstraction to be low they develop more texture and and realism into the characters to sell realistic effect. On the example of trees... 
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9. The image directly above is a low polygon image with very simple colour scheme and shading. The image lacks texture but still effectively sells the image of a tree in a minimalistic style. It also has a limited variety of colour green for summer and orange for autumn. This makes the image look more abstract probably due to the fact the game designers would not focus of realism but rather tried to intentionally stylise the game to look abstract to save on resources and make it more accessible to to mobile or tablet users. One the other hand, the image on the left has a much wider and varied colour scheme and realistic composition. The image contains much more polygons and and the 3D effect is sold by the depth of field between the leaves. The structurally varied trees sell the biodiversity in the habitat adding extra context to it for example using a cherry blossom to signify the season Spring and the geographically the placement of the game like Japan. Contextually, Japans national flower is the sakura blossom and the months of March and April are usually reserved for cherry blossom viewing. Reducing the abstraction of the image, although increasing the complexity of the image, also adds a significant amount of detail as to the mood the game designer is trying to convey.      
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11. -->exaggeration, eg anime, 
12. manga. Exaggeration in Games is a method of brining attention of the player to a specific feature of a character or setting. The feature is exaggerated by making it un-proportionate to the rest of the character or adding a lot of detail to it to make is pop out. 
13. Exaggeration for effect creates drastic contrasts in characters.
    
    
    
    The image on the right, presenting the girl with an exaggerated gun(Touhou),  is almost an oxymoronic image that juxtaposes a sweet girl stylised in a contemporary medieval witches costume with a modern machine gun. This sells the idea that she is insanely strong without the use of the classic exaggeration of muscles. She becomes appealing combining various eras. The viewers, are more likely to find something they like in the design and consequently play the game.

In anime, as in Lambo from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, exaggeration is used for humour to make something seem more comical. The baby thats head and and hair is massive with horns. The whole body is also covered with black patches to make the the character similar to cow. The big eyes make the character endearing and proportionally his head is the biggest making him seem fluffy and cute.   

1. In the more classical use exaggeration focuses on a few parts of the actual character.  in this case of a shard-bound character concept design, the entire arm is exaggerated and turned into a weapon. Similarly the gigantic thighs and metal shoes give the character a chunky build signifying a melee fighter possibly a tank with high defence. The character integrates tribal outfit similar to silky Chinese style clothing and gives it a technological twist with metal and LED light armour. 
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4. Computer game graphics: 
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6. Pixel art (2D sprites, 3D isometric sprites);  Pixel Art is a made by creating images on the pixel level. The aesthetic for this derives from 8-bit and 16-bit computers and video games. The 2D sprites are imbedded on 2D platform scroller.  Isometric landscapes can be classified in categories.
   
   
   
   

7. Dimetric projection/Isometric projection -        

8. All of the below rely on  Orthographic conventions to make the impression that a 2D image is 3D. Isometric and dimetric projection is usually used in strategy games as it allows a detailed view of the plain from a birds eye view. The image is only slightly tilted to indicate directions.  This type of projection can be seen in games like civilisation.
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11. Trimetric projection -

12. Seen in Sim City less constrained then isometric projection and angles differently to build up dimension.

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7. Perspective projection-

8. used in first person shooters. In perspective projections , parallel lines in 3D do not always stay parallel, but can instead go toward vanishing points. The mountains in the image go into the distance, while the gun feels close to you. This makes perspective projection more immersive, like you’re right there in the picture. Parallel projection on the other hand looks more distant, like you’re staring at the scene from far away.
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10. Oblique projection-
11. "Orthographic rays hits the “canvas” at perpendicular angles, i.e., 90 degrees, whereas Oblique rays hit the canvas at angle between 0 and 180 that’s not 90 degrees. This results in completely arbitrary scaling of dimensions and angle proportions. Simply put, Oblique projections are not sticklers for rules, and the resulting images often appear distorted, e.g., a sphere projected obliquely will appear as an oval." as stated in the Layman's guide to projection in gaming. Consequently, oblique projections have a lot of flaws with scaling.
    

    

     the images are only slightly angled giving a impression of a birds eye view.

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3. Concept art -
4. This is the process of creating sketches and props that give a first insight as to what the setting or character will look like. These usually stop at sketches and rough colour schemes that are later developed into full fledge drawings that finalise the concept. 
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1. character, weapon, vehicle, environment are all adjusted in different stages of concept art. Drawing inspirations from different time periods, colour schemes as well as different fashions, you may alter the concept to create exactly what you desire to convey through the character.
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3. Texture art - 
4. While building a realistic environment a game designer usually incorporates textures into the noticeable surfaces of the environment such as the walls and clothing of the npc's to make give them dimension and make them look better. 
   
5. The textures play a big role in making the images more photorealistic and imitate real life so that the gamer can be fully immersed in the game.
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7.  Background graphics, eg walls, forests, clouds- 
8. Similarly, while creating the setting the background graphics are objects that are present in the game environment that you may or may not interact with. These objets may be natural such as 'trees', or man made such as "walls". 
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1. In-game interface, eg head up display- 
2. These are the a type of menu that a player may access to check their Health, Mana or Inventory ect. Some interfaces are very developed giving the gamer control over a lot of aspects of the character.  Head up Display is essentially a status bar that is always visible to the player. These usually include a mini-map. 
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5. Print media art, eg game packaging, box cover, manual, label, poster -
6. Print Media Art incorporates all the the things that will be physically published to the audience that are not the game. Since games are mostly influenced by visuals, the box cover and posters will act as summary of what the game wants to represent. They sell the art style and the colours that will be in the game itself drawing audience with the visuals.
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8. Pixel: picture element, image resolution, intensity
9. A picture element is a physical point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable element in an all points addressable display device. The images resolution is determined by the amount of pixels in an image. 
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11. 
    Types of digital graphics: raster images
12.  (bmp, gif, tiff, jpg) - Raster images are similar to bit maps and compromise of square pixels that differ in colour to create an image. These format is used best in art such as digital photographs as it encompasses a wider and more subtle tonal range.
13.  
14. Vector images 
15. (psd, wmf, fla, ai) - Unlike Raster images, vector graphics are based on mathematical formulas that define geometric primitives such as polygons, lines, curves, circles and rectangles. This makes them more useful in linear art that uses flat colours. A great advantage of using Vector images is that the images are quickly and perfectly scalable. 
    
    
    
    
    
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20. File extensions:ile ex·ten·sion
    noun
    

    COMPUTING

    plural noun: file extensions
21. A group of letters occurring after a period in a file name, indicating the format of the file.
22. eg bmp, png, gif, tiff, jpg, psd
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24. Compression:
25. -lossy- a form of irreversible compression that reduces the data size of the file as well as it handling but doesn't represent content.
26.  -lossless - a form of compression that uses algorithms that create a file that can reconstruct the original data from a compressed file.
27. 
    Image capture: 
28. scanner- a device that enables you to copy a physical piece of work and digitise it onto the computer.
29. digital camera- a device that records and stores digital images. 
30. tablet- a panel that imitates natural hand and pen movement and converts it into a digital form enabling drawing directly on the computer.

1. Optimising: target image output;
2. image bit depth- Bit depth is the number of bits used when representing the smallest unit of information
3.  image resolution-  pixels there are per inch. the more the higher the resolution.
4.  image dimensions- length and width of the digital image, if you are able to control the dimensions of the graphic you are then able to then make the image bigger or smaller depending on the purpose or location of the image.
5.  Compression 
6. Storage of image assets: 
7. file size- how much data the image has and consequently how much space it takes
8.  file-naming conventions - regulations that help catalogue similar file types together. Keeping the format constant means there is also a clear description of a file.
9. asset management -developing, operating, maintaining, upgrading, and disposing of assets cost-effectively.these assets maybe image storage of different plants that can be later accessed and reused.