Full Project - Daughters Dimitrescu
July 2021
For all the renders and animations from this project, follow @Nickocng on Twitter
As part of a fan art initiative, I recreated the Dimitrescu daughters from the game Resident Evil: Village with my own style. I built these characters up from scratch, applying my skills in modeling, rigging, and animation. Many references were used from the official characters, but I largely wanted to take up the challenge of doing it all on my own.
This project as a whole took about two months, covering all three main components plus posing and rendering out individual photos for social media; taking around 2-3 hours of work per day. Modeling comprised about 3-4 weeks of the time, rigging took 1-2 weeks, and animation/rendering took 1-2 weeks.
Modeling
I started out by modeling a plain human figure to serve as the base for this project and any others that I might want to do later down the line. Using multiple orthographic references, I was able to make a fairly standard and simple mannequin (two versions: male and female) that could easily be modified in its own to fit various body types. While not a perfect rendition of a humanoid structure, it has enough definition to build off of.
Next up, I modeled the clothing and other components that I knew had to be uniquely made for the characters of this project. The lower dress needed to be its own piece, however the arms could be cut from the base model, with the hands being extruded slightly to represent the gloves. The upper torso could also be cut from the base since from there on up, the characters wore no outstanding modifications. Additionally, the hood was easy to model with consideration for the characters' hairpieces, which were also modeled individually. I even modeled high-heeled shoes even though they and the legs would likely never be seen. The hair was probably the most problematic part, since each needed to be unique, but also fit between the head and hood.
Finally, I needed to model the accessories: the necklaces (with individual amulets), the scythe weapon, and the flies. Using Blender's various modifiers such as array, solidify, mirror, and boolean, I was able to replicate the necklaces pretty easily and close to the real thing (in context of the style I was going for) and they matched the overall model better than expected.
Once the model was ready, I started up a list of materials I needed to have on hand to best match the colors and textures of the reference. Since I intended for these versions to be significantly less detailed than the real thing, there was a limit to how complex I wanted to go. Once I had the list ready, it was a matter of testing what modifications in the materials tab gave the best results in the render previews. After that, all i had to do was distribute the materials to the right geometry and the models were complete and ready for the next phase.
Rigging
Rigging has been an area where I still have a lot to learn, but I had hoped since this was a humanoid rig and I knew the bare minimum I needed to include that I could do it with confidence and minimum hardship. I was for the most part correct. Calling upon previous rigging assignments and tutorials, I laid out and armature that was pretty standard, and from there I added in the controls and modifiers as needed. I had come to a good baseline for controls that would suit all three characters. From there, I bound the skin for the three parts that were shared among the three (dress, legs/upper torso, hood). Weight painting came next, and as daunting as it was, I kept myself in check by not getting to caught up in getting the perfect range of articulation for each bone on the rig. All I needed was to make sure there were no extreme or outstanding morphs that would affect renders or animation.
I then proceeded to duplicate the rig and models, three in total. Now I could add in bones to each armature that would be exclusive to each character, mainly for the unique hairpieces. Additionally, I parented the amulets exclusive to each. Once that was complete, the rigs were finally ready to be used.
I consider this to be the most complex and uncertain tasks on this project, so I was very happy to have come out of it fairly unscathed.
Renders
Once I was certain the rigs were ready to go, I built up a stage to pose and render out pictures of them. At this point, I also had to parent the weapons to the hands, which did cause some problems, but nothing I could not fix later on. First came the group shots, with the characters in the same pose for the most part. The camera angle is what really mattered here, as I also needed to test my abilities lighting and framing the shot. I had two sets of backgrounds and lighting. One as complete black and another with a red gradient. This largely helped me understand what light color and intensities worked best in different environments, even those as similar as a pallet swap.
I then set up the next poses, this time with the characters more dynamic. I also wanted to try to incorporate their flies, so with the help of some modifiers, I created a cylinder with hundreds of flies in randomized positions. Making sure not to obscure too much, I was able to get some pretty cool renders. I also went back to see how the first poses looked with the flies.
The last set of renders I made for this first session were individual shots of each character. One of each of them in the original pose, and a second mimicking the promotional shots from the source material. An unforeseen consequence of using the black background for these shots was the blending to the veils into, since the characters wear all black. Some lighting adjustments were able to make some distinction, but that was the best I could do.
Animation
The final task for this project was creating some animations for the characters. For now, I settled on one for each, with the motions following the same beat. The actions went as follows: entrance, landing, walk cycle, flourish, final pose. I also included some animation for the flies upon entering. For each of the characters, I really wanted to include some sense of individuality beyond their looks. Taking tips from the game and its insight on the daughters, I tried my best to reflect their movements in-game, but also with my own spin. In the end, they came out a bit rough, but not bad by any means. There is certainly potential for much more with these rigs.
Cassandra Dimitrescu Animation
Final Thoughts
This project has been a long and prosperous one. I have learned a lot about what I am capable of. Going through every step of the process has showed me that perhaps I can do more than just one area as a 3D artist. Likewise, there is a lot that I could still learn, so maybe staying in one lane is also just as good. This project was very tame, so if I were to try it again, there may be things I'd want to push myself to think outside the box and really delve into subjects I am unfamiliar with (especially rigging and rendering).
This project was fueled by a mix of passion and appreciation for the source material, Resident Evil: Village and its characters. Now that that hype has died don, it really is impressive to see what I accomplished. I feel really good about where this project ended up, despite many doubts and insecurities. For now, the products of this project are all I will leave it at for now. I do have plans for another wave of renders and animations, but for now I should move on to other things. I have a feeling I may have even more inspiration once I revisit these characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment