Z.I.E.F PRODUCTION / SPRINT BLOG 5

Z.I.E.F Development Progress (Sprint 5):

    Sprint 5 has finished, and it still feels like time goes by so fast. Most of my task was just finishing the textures and the implementation of the modular cabinets. The cabinet look I was going for was a very traditional dark-colored wood with a lot of specks and dirt detail. I Feel like I did choose a good color choice for the cabinets since the look between the upper and lower cabinets needs to look similar. For this sprint, I was to focus on something new that has not been worked on in a big project like this. I was to make the zombie animation from the Xsens date the team captured weeks ago. I would know; I let them use the suit.

Textures for the cabinets:

Xsens finished data:

      

    Since this is the first time that the producer and designer have implemented motion data in a game. I have to tell them the workflow I follow when I use motion data for video games. The first part of the process is getting the zombie model from the character artist that is going to have the animations. this is for defining the skeleton for the motion data and putting the motion data animation on the character that is going to be used in the game. Next, it is characterizing the model alongside defining and retargeting the motion data that is going to be used for the character. The next thing to do is edit the motion data so it looks like how a zombie would move. This includes posing body parts that fit with the animation, cycling the animation for the game, and formatting the file so it can be implemented into Unity.

Even though I am knowledgeable in the subject there were certain issues I encountered when working and editing the data. one thing was trying to find out what is making Motion Builder crash on me so often. I realized I was doing a step wrong, and it created a crash error. Don't slide keys you want to delete so far, just delete them and select all joint keys if keys are going to be moved. One other issue I had to deal with is having to fix the cycle animation in story mode since most motions I worked on so far did not have a position for easy looping of the animation. Sometimes the rigged broke when it tried to loop so sometimes, I have to go back and start from a previous iteration and refix it from there. 

Other than that, I still need to finish the rest of the animations until I have all 25 of them done. I did see I have some fixes for some models I made and a need for reskins of other props.