Silent Hill. One of the most unique game series of my time. Now with the release of Silent Hill 8 imminent, I thought it would be right to give my opinion on what I consider to be one of the best, and yet worst, transitions from game series to film. The Silent Hill film.
There are many problems with this film that hardcore Silent Hill fans will rip this film to shreds for, but if you judge it as a stand alone film with little to no connection to any established cannon from the games it can be a real treat to watch. I will just say it, I love this film. I watched it before playing any Silent Hill games and I absolutly adored it. Before anyone gets their shotguns ready and starts heading for my house I will clarify why. Knowing little of the Silent Hill franchise before I watched the film I thought it was a cleverly executed film of a popular game. When pyramid head came out I thought "Jesus, thats cool". I know many people hated the fact that pyramid head was in the film, but i'll get to that.
Now that I have played almost all of the games except for Silent Hill Homecoming all the way through, I can see the glaring flaws in the story if you consider all Silent Hill related media in the same great timeline. I won't make a point to note them as this will take all day, but I will explain the pyramid head fiasco.
Pyramid Head is essentially the punisher of Silent Hill. He kills murderers. Many people hate the fact that he was in the Silent Hill film, but in case you haven't noticed he doesn't do anything! He just walks into a room, and then leaves! It could have jsut been a coincedence that he was in the room! Stop being soo angry about things that don't exist!
A film that would be a good transition if executed properly though? Siren Blood Curse. It is essentially a movie in itself at the moment. With the same story and cinematography it could introduce a completely different audience to what is a very underrated game universe.
That is all for now. Will be doing some 3D modelling soon, and will upload screenshots in the next two weeks or so.
This is Tyramatt, signing off.
Monday 20 September 2010
Monday 13 September 2010
Of Anime and Games
It goes without saying that I love anime. I will watch almost anything once, but for an episode to drag me in it has to have one heck of a intriging episode. There are many differentiating factors in anime but one of the first things that you come across is the opening.
Most anime openings are very generic nowadays, but some good animes that have started recently have broken the mould and have had openings that are actually relevant to the anime rather than just showing the characters standing there while music plays. High School of the Dead's opening is a good example of a opening done well. It shows off the characters well while keeping them believable and giving them a small amount of character right off the bat. Another opening of honourable mention goes to Working!! which did show all of the characters standing while giving the illusion of movement, but at the same time gave us an idea of what the characters contributed to the story.
For a while now main characters in anime have been very generic and you really could mix and match anime main characters and not get much variety. But the anime main characters that stand out are the ones that adapt to their surroundings. Anime most of the time requires a plot device, and I say most of the time mainly because of Lucky Star in which the only plot device was that they were building up to performing a dance, and even that plot element was put aside for most of the season! The way to make a main character likable in my opinion is to establish a character in the first few episodes and then make them change slowly considering the surroundings. Its called Character Development children.
If your anime has a team or supporting characters (I personally am waiting for a recent anime to only have one character and still be good), they need to be well established and each get the screentime they deserve. Need more main characters than Occult Academy but possibly less than High School of the Dead.
If you want my opinion on Anime, go check out the list below:
Most anime openings are very generic nowadays, but some good animes that have started recently have broken the mould and have had openings that are actually relevant to the anime rather than just showing the characters standing there while music plays. High School of the Dead's opening is a good example of a opening done well. It shows off the characters well while keeping them believable and giving them a small amount of character right off the bat. Another opening of honourable mention goes to Working!! which did show all of the characters standing while giving the illusion of movement, but at the same time gave us an idea of what the characters contributed to the story.
For a while now main characters in anime have been very generic and you really could mix and match anime main characters and not get much variety. But the anime main characters that stand out are the ones that adapt to their surroundings. Anime most of the time requires a plot device, and I say most of the time mainly because of Lucky Star in which the only plot device was that they were building up to performing a dance, and even that plot element was put aside for most of the season! The way to make a main character likable in my opinion is to establish a character in the first few episodes and then make them change slowly considering the surroundings. Its called Character Development children.
If your anime has a team or supporting characters (I personally am waiting for a recent anime to only have one character and still be good), they need to be well established and each get the screentime they deserve. Need more main characters than Occult Academy but possibly less than High School of the Dead.
If you want my opinion on Anime, go check out the list below:
- Occult Academy
- Working!!
- High School of the Dead
- Gantz
- K-ON!
- Ookami-san to Shicinin no Nakamatachi
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Updateless
No update today i'm afraid.
Got no stuff to show.
What are you still doing here?
Check back on friday!
Go Away!
Shoo!
Got no stuff to show.
What are you still doing here?
Check back on friday!
Go Away!
Shoo!
Monday 6 September 2010
3:10 to Ikea
I have been dreading this you know? Not because I don't like modelling tables or furniture or anything like that. Just because my desk is so over the top full of rubbish I honestly can't see the colour of the top of the desk. Well enough whining out of me, lets dive right into modelling My Desk.
I started off by creating the simple objects that make up my desk in the first place (My Desk is mostly Cylinders and Cuboids anyway). Then these were put together and dimensions were modified to make it look like the general shape of the desk.
The next item to deal with was the stoppers at the bottom of the desk that ended off the metal pipes at the bottom and the pads at the bottom. To do this I simply created another sphere and made it alot thinner so that it looked more like a fatter disc than a thin sphere. These were made as wide as the metal pipes and slotted into the front of the pipes. Then these were cloned and made thinner still so that they looked completely flat. These then went to be the supporting base of the pipes on the floor.
You may have noticed that the colour of the pipes had changed in the second picture. This is because it has! It may sound stupid when coming to texturing, but the metal pipes of my desk, after the many years of me owning it has become grey (Or maybe it was grey to begin with? Ikea isn't really the center for high quality metal that will be shiny forever!). So I used the grey colour texture for all of the metal parts.
The next step was to create a slight rounded effect for the edge of the top unit. To do this I used the slice plan to turn the whole ring round edge of the top wooden unit and made one polygon into 3 polygons. Then the middle polygon was moved out to create the effect that my desk has on the edge.
The next part was to start texturing. I got some feedback from my tank on my opinion of UV Wrapping, so yes the tank will be retextured AFTER the new parts are added starting next monday. I actually used UV Wrapping for the table edge so lets get started discussing that. I got a texture off the web of wooden stripes (Link will be at bottom of post. Links will function in this way from now on) and applied this to the edges of the table. Then after adding the UV Wrapping modifier to it, I made it repeat itself alot more widthwise and repeat itself less heightwise. Below you can see the end result of that.
You may notice that the top texture already applied. That because it was and I forgot to get a print screen of it.... Whoops... Lets cover that now then. For the top and bottom of the upper unit I used the same wooden texture (This texture was also used for the back wooden part, which will not be covered in detail), with the same UV Wrapping technique that was used for the desk edge. The different was that this texture was made shorter and wider before repeating. For the back panel the texture was made very small so it could repeat alot through UV Wrapping. Below can be seen the textures after being applied.
And below can be seen the fully rendered product. This may be used again, as in some sort of room, but for now it is going to be filed under "Completed".
So that was a big post wasn't it! Just so you know, regular posts will not be as long as this, just wanted to go through this in detail. See you guys on Wednesday where we will look at modelling a games console!
Links: Desk Edge: http://www.asianartmall.com/about/about-puzzlebox-patterns.htm
Desk Top: http://www.amishtables.com/our-furniture/wood-species
Desk Model is the property of Matthew Nunn Copyright 2010(c)
I claim no copyright over any of the textures used.
I started off by creating the simple objects that make up my desk in the first place (My Desk is mostly Cylinders and Cuboids anyway). Then these were put together and dimensions were modified to make it look like the general shape of the desk.
The next item to deal with was the stoppers at the bottom of the desk that ended off the metal pipes at the bottom and the pads at the bottom. To do this I simply created another sphere and made it alot thinner so that it looked more like a fatter disc than a thin sphere. These were made as wide as the metal pipes and slotted into the front of the pipes. Then these were cloned and made thinner still so that they looked completely flat. These then went to be the supporting base of the pipes on the floor.
You may have noticed that the colour of the pipes had changed in the second picture. This is because it has! It may sound stupid when coming to texturing, but the metal pipes of my desk, after the many years of me owning it has become grey (Or maybe it was grey to begin with? Ikea isn't really the center for high quality metal that will be shiny forever!). So I used the grey colour texture for all of the metal parts.
The next step was to create a slight rounded effect for the edge of the top unit. To do this I used the slice plan to turn the whole ring round edge of the top wooden unit and made one polygon into 3 polygons. Then the middle polygon was moved out to create the effect that my desk has on the edge.
The next part was to start texturing. I got some feedback from my tank on my opinion of UV Wrapping, so yes the tank will be retextured AFTER the new parts are added starting next monday. I actually used UV Wrapping for the table edge so lets get started discussing that. I got a texture off the web of wooden stripes (Link will be at bottom of post. Links will function in this way from now on) and applied this to the edges of the table. Then after adding the UV Wrapping modifier to it, I made it repeat itself alot more widthwise and repeat itself less heightwise. Below you can see the end result of that.
You may notice that the top texture already applied. That because it was and I forgot to get a print screen of it.... Whoops... Lets cover that now then. For the top and bottom of the upper unit I used the same wooden texture (This texture was also used for the back wooden part, which will not be covered in detail), with the same UV Wrapping technique that was used for the desk edge. The different was that this texture was made shorter and wider before repeating. For the back panel the texture was made very small so it could repeat alot through UV Wrapping. Below can be seen the textures after being applied.
And below can be seen the fully rendered product. This may be used again, as in some sort of room, but for now it is going to be filed under "Completed".
So that was a big post wasn't it! Just so you know, regular posts will not be as long as this, just wanted to go through this in detail. See you guys on Wednesday where we will look at modelling a games console!Links: Desk Edge: http://www.asianartmall.com/about/about-puzzlebox-patterns.htm
Desk Top: http://www.amishtables.com/our-furniture/wood-species
Desk Model is the property of Matthew Nunn Copyright 2010(c)
I claim no copyright over any of the textures used.
Friday 3 September 2010
...And heres part 2!
Well it was promised, and here it is! The tank that is finished to a certain extent. There are still parts to be added to it which are as follows:
Work on this project will take a sideline for a couple of updates as I would like to work on some other projects un-vehicle related, but updates applying to the tank will resume on Monday 13th September. For the next week there will be updates relating to modelling simple 3D Objects.
Tank Model is the property of Matthew Nunn Copyright 2010(c)
I claim no copyright over any of the textures used.
- Hatch Handle
- Ladder
- Headlights
- Observation Hatches
- Mini Turret
Work on this project will take a sideline for a couple of updates as I would like to work on some other projects un-vehicle related, but updates applying to the tank will resume on Monday 13th September. For the next week there will be updates relating to modelling simple 3D Objects.Tank Model is the property of Matthew Nunn Copyright 2010(c)
I claim no copyright over any of the textures used.
Texturing Problems? What Texturing Problems?
A double update today for you lucky, lucky people. The texturing has been done, by just applying the texture of rusty metal to the individual parts of the tank. UV Mapping was tried, but it was deemed to actually look better to select and apply the texture to different parts of the tank rather than stretching the texture over the entire thing.
For those who don't know what UV Mapping is, it is a tool that you can use to move the dimensions of the texture to decide how many times to repeat, how big the original picture should be when texturing etc. In my opinion, a useful tool but not always the right one.
The texture for the tank I used was a standard rusty metal texture that I found online, but again have been unable to locate again at this time. For the track covers I used a googled image of a metal sheet with rivets in it which I have not got the source for. The track covers were UV Mapped however. This was because I wanted the texture to repeat along the axis that went straight along the tank.
The tracks were textured using a black rubber texture found on google. It was from the website: http://www.filterforge.com/filters/5305.html. Again, this was just applied to the tank tracks normally with no UV Mapping. Screenshots of the Tank as it is now will be uploaded at a later time. The tank is not finished as it stands, there are some finer details that need to be added as well as some more obvious items that must be added.
Tank Model is the property of Matthew Nunn Copyright 2010(c)
I claim no copyright over any of the textures used.
For those who don't know what UV Mapping is, it is a tool that you can use to move the dimensions of the texture to decide how many times to repeat, how big the original picture should be when texturing etc. In my opinion, a useful tool but not always the right one.The texture for the tank I used was a standard rusty metal texture that I found online, but again have been unable to locate again at this time. For the track covers I used a googled image of a metal sheet with rivets in it which I have not got the source for. The track covers were UV Mapped however. This was because I wanted the texture to repeat along the axis that went straight along the tank.
The tracks were textured using a black rubber texture found on google. It was from the website: http://www.filterforge.com/filters/5305.html. Again, this was just applied to the tank tracks normally with no UV Mapping. Screenshots of the Tank as it is now will be uploaded at a later time. The tank is not finished as it stands, there are some finer details that need to be added as well as some more obvious items that must be added.
Tank Model is the property of Matthew Nunn Copyright 2010(c)
I claim no copyright over any of the textures used.
Thursday 2 September 2010
The Trouble With Hills
As for manouverability, modern day tanks seem to be very stuck in their ways, and I can respect that. They found a system that works and I can see why they stuck with it. The idea behind my tank's manouvering system works in the same, but not the same way if you know what I am trying to say. The tracks would work in the same way as modern tanks for turning, which from what I have researched would be slowing down one side of the tracks to go a different direction. This can give the tank a 0 meter turning circle.
Another point that can be made in the front track's favour is the ability of this particular tank to be able to angle its front track to a certain extent. This would make it able to go up and down hills with ease, becoming less likely to get stuck on different angles of hill.
Another point I would like to touch upon at this juncture is the track covers. I decided to add these to the vehicle to add what I consider to be another dimension of sensibility. It would simply not be realistic to have exposed tracks on a applicable military vehicle. I went quite simple on the track supports, and there will be more on the supporting of the tank and of texturing in the next post.
The last point to mention is the hatch which can be seen on top of the tank. This is just to function as a believable way to get into the vehicle. There will be more modelling to be done to add to the tank, but we will talk more about this when we get to it.
Another point that can be made in the front track's favour is the ability of this particular tank to be able to angle its front track to a certain extent. This would make it able to go up and down hills with ease, becoming less likely to get stuck on different angles of hill.
Another point I would like to touch upon at this juncture is the track covers. I decided to add these to the vehicle to add what I consider to be another dimension of sensibility. It would simply not be realistic to have exposed tracks on a applicable military vehicle. I went quite simple on the track supports, and there will be more on the supporting of the tank and of texturing in the next post.The last point to mention is the hatch which can be seen on top of the tank. This is just to function as a believable way to get into the vehicle. There will be more modelling to be done to add to the tank, but we will talk more about this when we get to it.
Weapons of Mass
Ahh yes. Weaponry. The great evil of our time. In my opinion a vehicle like a tank has to have more of a melee weapon that of simply running over the oppossing army. I had watched the film "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" recently (Very good film), and it was the device used to grind up the meat that inspired my design of the weapon that shall be known as "The Grinder".
The Grinder is based as well by a design for a lawnmower I found by have been unable to relocate at this time. The idea was that while the front saw would drag them in, they would be sliced up by the rest of the blades. I was going to add some sort of scoop to the front, but I deemed that this would make the tank less realistic as it could create the problem of going up hills, to be discussed in the next post.
No copyright infringement intended for the following:
Edit: Manouverability will be covered in the next post.
The Grinder is based as well by a design for a lawnmower I found by have been unable to relocate at this time. The idea was that while the front saw would drag them in, they would be sliced up by the rest of the blades. I was going to add some sort of scoop to the front, but I deemed that this would make the tank less realistic as it could create the problem of going up hills, to be discussed in the next post.No copyright infringement intended for the following:
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Edit: Manouverability will be covered in the next post.
Wednesday 1 September 2010
Currently working on a tank. For this project I was first inspired by the idea of the boats that the soldiers of WWII stormed the beaches on D-Day. I got to thinking, could the idea of men being transported and rapid deployment like this be transfered to some sort of new military vehicle?
The result was a body shape that I deemed appropriate. This can be seen above with the tracks on that have been modelled.
The next thing to think about was what anyone designing a military vehicle would think about. Weaponry.
The result was a body shape that I deemed appropriate. This can be seen above with the tracks on that have been modelled.
The next thing to think about was what anyone designing a military vehicle would think about. Weaponry.
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