Tag: 3D

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2018 ADDY Animations

Here are a bunch of random animations I did for the 2018 Charlotte ADDY Awards.

I made a bunch of different variations of Penrose Triangles rotating around — which was a lot of fun to figure out. Only one version is seen in this video tho.

For the awards I also made an app in Unity that allowed users to control these characters using an Xbox Kinect. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the projector we had working within the venue’s space so that whole experience was scrapped — but it was fun to build and maybe we’ll use it on something else in the future.

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Ludum Dare 46

I participated in Ludum Dare 46 last weekend by making a game called CP-ARTY (CPR-party … get it). The theme was “keep it alive” so I made a CPR rhythm game where you’re doing chest compressions, mouth-to-mouth, and shooing off lookie-loos to the beat of a haphazardly thrown together track I created with SoundGrid.

You can play CP-ARTY online either on GitHub or Itch.io. Here’s a video of the game in action:

This is the first game jam where I used Unity and the game’s 3D-based which went much better than I was expecting and was a lot of fun animating the low poly characters in Blender. All of the feedback so far has been extremely positive so I may spent more time fleshing this out into a longer, more polished game. 🙂

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More Photogrammetry Tests

3D Heads generated by FaceBuilder

I’ve been experimenting with more photogrammetry tools and techniques. This time recreating 3D human heads using a Blender add-on called FaceBuilder which is developed by KeenTools. Using FaceBuilder is pretty straightforward:

  1. you take 7 photos of the head you’d like to recreate at various angles,
  2. import those photos into Blender using FaceBuilder,
  3. align the FaceBuilder mesh to the 7 photos using their pinning system,
  4. bake the photos into a texture used by the generated head mesh, and
  5. clean up the baked texture by doing a bit of clone tool work over anything that may look off.

I’ve found that taking photos on a bright, overcast day gets the best results as well as trying to capture the 7 key photos as quickly as possible (before your subject shifts around too much) and well as detail shots around the head to be used to texture paint in anything that may look off when the textures are baked.

This guide that the KeenTools folks wrote helps to breakdown the process and a high level of what their add-on is actually doing.

FaceBuilder Pins
Texture generated by FaceBuilder
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Photogrammetry Tests

Photoscan Skull

I’ve been doing some photogrammetry tests using my iPhone 11’s camera, Agisoft Metashape, and a Proko Anatomical Skull. The goal is to accurately convert a physical 3D object into something that can be used within a game. I think if I focus on taking less blurry photos (like the back of the skull were) the results will be spot on next time. It’s interesting how you can see the lack of details translating into the glitchiness of the generated mesh. There’s a bubbling particle-like explosion wherever the details drop below a certain threshold.

Anywho, after I get a workflow to reliably capture a 3D object the next step would be to retopologize and possibly rig the object in Blender. I’m anxious to be moving onto that soon. 🙂

Photogrammetry Wireframe
Photogrammetry Setup

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Shootout Level

Shootout Level

I’ve finished the fourth level Toy Gun Office Simulator will be launching with! In this one you try to survive waves of enemies trying to shoot you with their own toy guns. I tried to make this feel as close to how a toy gun fight would in an actual office with your co-workers and am really happy with how it turned out. This level’s definitely my favorite so far and the handful of folks I’ve had test it really enjoyed it too. 🙂

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New Look And Feel

Shooting Targets Prototype
Shooting Targets Prototype
Shooting Targets Prototype
Shooting Targets Prototype

Over the last couple of months I’ve been working on the game’s look-and-feel, menus, and target practice level. I feel like the game’s come quite a long way and will hopefully be in beta soon.

These screenshots don’t really do the colors justice. It’s a neon nightmare with a VR Headset on. I’m going for a low-poly, early video game aesthetic to the AR layer of the game so I’m really happy with how gross and retro it is.

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A Bunch of Prototypes

Over the last couple of months I’ve been busy prototyping several shooting levels for a potential VR Game. They’re all extremely rough but I’m quite happy with most of them and am planning on expanding them into a full-on, actual game. Some of my favorite prototypes are a whack-a-mole style shooter, dodging asteroids as you’re shooting them apart, and defending against waves of humanoid attackers.

Targets Prototype
Human Targets Prototype
Balloon Targets Prototype
Moving Targets Prototype

As you can see in the screenshots, the prototypes all take place within an office environment. I like the idea of a video game existing within augmented reality, with your co-workers unaware of what you’re actually doing, so I think that’s the direction I’ll be going in for now.

This office/AR concept also lends itself to a lot of interesting juxtapositioning of things. Like deers grazing beside a water cooler, vikings attacking around a conference table, or space ships flying past the building’s receptionist.