Project name: Four masks of a forest island Gladly: Low-Poly Date: 30.11.2017 - 28.02.2018 Campus: SAE Bochum Weighting: 50% Practical, 50% Theory (Language German) Use programs: Maya, InDesign
Project goal: The goal of my work is to create a floating low-poly forest island, which will passes through the annual cycle once, spring, summer, autumn and winter. The island will look differently every season. I want to find my own style in low-poly modeling. Through research I want to find out how to design the island in order to create the desired mood and vegetation that will be different in every season. In addition, the different plants are to be placed in the places anticipated by nature. I want to be able to understand the area environment better: what must be respected? Color, light composition? How is the scene represented best? What tips and tricks are there? I want to develop my own style. Furthermore, my skills should be expanded. It deals with the basics island, seasons, forests, plants, trees, vegetation, etc., modeling technique, level design, color effect and lighting mood.
The finished project: In this project, I learned a lot about low-poly, environment and lighting. In the beginning it was really difficult for me to simplify objects. Through constant testing and trying out, my own low-poly style developed. My low poly style is characterized by using combinations of various tools in Maya. Combining triangulated and quadrilateral faces also flows into it. I've never seen my island in such a style anywhere else. The search of the different plants was very tedious and exhausting. My work steps to create an object are as follows: 1. Look up real reference material, 2. Sketching from high to low poly style, 3. Model according to the references and 4. Texturing. It's fascinating to see how a sketch gradually turns into a 3D object.
I got a little insight into the area environment. It takes a lot of effort to gain an understanding of the flora of each environment. There are many things to consider, for example the location of the plants, so that it grows optimally, which plants interact with each other, how to set the lights to create a suitable atmosphere. Creating the right combination of color, intensity, placement and rendering took longer than expected. The most exciting issue was to find out, if it was possible to change single objects minimally, in order to get a completely new look, referring to color, light, and minimal asset changes. Even with the level design and the settings, I had some moods when creating the islands. Particularly strong was the contrast between summer and winter. When I looked at the summer island, my mood was beautiful and warm, but on the Winter Island it changed into the opposite mood. The island appeared colder and I felt more thoughtful and quiet.
The project turned out to be a complete success for me. I learned a lot.