List of blogs

Personal SWOT Analysis

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Job roles in the Games Industry:

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Job roles in the VFX Industry:

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Contract Types:

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VFX Pipline:

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Dream Job:

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Action Plan:

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How Companies are funded:

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Transferable Skills:

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Regulatory, Ethical, and Legal Issues:

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Legal Entities:

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Legal Entities

1. Private limited company limited by shares look after everything to do with their business, its finances are separated from your personal finance. Directors often own shared but they don't have to own any at all. Shareholders cannot sell or transfer their shares without offering them first to other shareholders for purchase. Shareholders cannot offer their shares to the general public over a stock exchange.

2. Sole traders are people who are self employed. Sole traders run their businesses as an individual, this means that they keep all the businesses profits after the taxes have been paid on them. Sole traders can employ staff and don't have to work alone but the sole trader is personally responsible for any losses the business makes.

3. Public limited company is a system you can set up to run your business, it has its own responsibility and is reliable for everything it does, its finances are also separate from the owners. Any profit that the company makes it owned by the company until it pays corporation tax when it can then be owned by the owner of the company

4. A private limited company limited by guarantee, (LBG)  is an alternative type of corporation used mainly by charities and other non-profit organisations. LBGs usually don’t have a share capital, nor do they have shareholders, they instead have members that act as guarantors. It is common for companies to retain their profits within the company in order to re-invest in its operations instead of distributing the money to its members.

Other than charities, community projects, societies, clubs, often set up as a LBG, having at least one director and one member. Unlike companies limited by a share, a guarantee company can be exempt from having the word ‘limited’ or ‘ltd’ if it's set up for a certain nonprofit purpose, often charities. These companies still have to file accounts and annual return at a company house each year.

 6. In a business partnership, you and your business partner (or partners) personally share responsibility for your business.

You can share all your business’s profits between the partners. Each partner pays tax on their share of the profits.
 A partner doesn’t have to be an actual person. For example, a limited company counts as a ‘legal person’, and can also be a partner in a partnership. If the partnership has debts, the partners are jointly liable for any amounts owed and so are equally responsible for paying off the whole debt.

7. An ‘unincorporated association’ is an organisation set up through an agreement between a group of people who come together for a reason other than to make a profit.

8. A  limited liability partnership (LLP) requires at least 2 other designated members, they can either be a person or company and will be known as a corporate member.Each member pays tax on their shares of profit like an ordinary business partnership, but aren’t personally liable for any debts the business can’t pay. E.g. One partner cannot be responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct.Unlike Limited partnerships, LLP’s only pay debts by how much they invest in the company. Whereas limited partnerships split the debt equally among them.

Action Plan

I'm definitely comfortable within the games industry, I'm choosing it as my preferred industry. To further develop my skills I need to become more well-rounded, I'm great at 3d modelling and 2d art, however when it comes to texturing, programming, and my skills in most engines, it becomes clear that I'm lacking.

I can improve by simply buckling down and focusing on these topics instead of taking the easy route of doing work I'm already comfortable with. Of course it'll be a challenge but in the long run I'll improve greatly, which is what I need to do.

So my action plan is rather basic, just spend twice as much time working on unknown projects and tasks, and spend two times less on 3d modelling and 2d art. I'd set a minimum for the number of blogs required per week, which would most likely be 2.

That's the issue I've had this year, instead of fully branching out into games design I've simply learned something I enjoy and have fully devoted my time to that instead. Thankfully I can learn the other topics fairly quickly so it shouldn't be a huge problem.

Regulatory, Legal & Ethical Issues in Gaming, Animation and VFX

Regulatory, Legal & Ethical Issues in Gaming

Regulatory

Ever since the beginning of video games, there has had to be restrictions on who can play what. These are now known as age restrictions. In the majority, these are well used and fair. However, there are problems. There are different policies all around the world depending on which country you live in, and difference policies for all states in the USA (The ESA).
Legal

However in the UK, we don't have this. Our computer games are e-rated by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification).
Developers of games are definitely affected by legal issues. Lawsuits could set-back, or even bankrupt studios for as small as saying one wrong word.
Ethical

The main areas that  ethical debates revolve around are:
Violence (Graphic, physical, sexual, non-physical)
Rating (how regulation is applied?)
Education(do games educate? Should they be relied upon?)
Stereotyping(Age,race,gender,disability,class)
Addiction(how do gamers become addicted? What does the industry do to help this?)
It becomes the responsibility of both the industry and the consumer to be aware of the issues in gaming and act accordingly.
Legal & Ethical Issues in Animation

Legal

Copyright and Ownership
Globally, copyright laws deal with a very basic yet important issue – who owns the idea, characters, shapes,objects,graphics.
Trademarks and Branding
Trademarks and branding are synonymous terms, as both refer to giving your business a unique name and ethos that stands you apart from your competitors in hte industry that your business belongs to.
Defamation and Causing Disrepute
When the reputation of an individual or an organisation is damaged – so much so that livelihoods are lost – then defamation has occurred.
Ethical

Intellectual property
Nondisclosure
Image content
Business ethics
Trust
Privacy
Truth
Data Protection
Privacy is a big thing in animation. For the members of staff involved in the film, and the high ranking businesses. Somebody has the role of keeping their personal lives safe and not to broadcast any of this information.
Regulatory Issues in Visual Effects

Regulatory

Unpaid overtime
Miscalssification of employees
Illegal usage of billing purposes
Non-existent transferable healthcare benefits and savings plans

Terms of Employment

Intern-ships

Description

An internship is a temporary job position with an emphasis with on the job training rather than just employment, it can be both paid and unpaid employment. In some cases when applying for a job you may be required to take an internship before the employers deem you qualified for the job, this is more common with Publishers than Developers.

How are they paid?

Interns are paid by their employers if they’re getting paid, those who do according to NACE’s intern compensation report average wage for an intern with a masters degree is 35% more than those with a bachelors degree.

Benefits

When you have an internship you’re getting real work experience that’s invaluable when it comes to looking for a full-time job and shouldn’t be overlooked, also when you work an internship for the company they may consider taking you on for a full-time job or if and when they need a man to fill a position for a couple of months you could be on their list.

Disadvantages

Interns are usually paid little to no money which means sometimes interns cant support themselves, this is normally a job for young people, also people who are going for internships often have to relocate which makes it very stressful to support yourself.

Freelancing

Description

A freelancer is someone who isn’t attached to an employer for an extended period of time, freelancers often represented by an agency which then sells the freelancers work , however others may use their own personal websites to get their own independent recognition.

How are they paid?

Often freelancers will charge by the day, bu the hour or on a by project basis. Sometimes the freelancer will request an upfront payment which will be just a fraction of the freelancers price, for example he/she may request 15% of their total pre-negotiated payment upfront as insurance because there is no guarantee of payment after the work is done.

Benefits

The are various advantages of being a freelancer:

Ability to work from home.

No work uniform.

Ability to work alone in all aspects.

To be able to chose how many hours a day you work.

Finally you’re your own boss and you can decide what jobs you take and what jobs you don’t

Disadvantages

Though there are some great advantages there are disadvantages that could possibly outweigh the advantages:

Not a lot of contact when working alone.

Huge amounts of paperwork, contracts, voice mails and managing your own accounting.

With your own accounting you may find it hard to manage your annual salary.

Work isn’t always guaranteed and you may find yourself going for months without finding work.

Contracting

Description

A contractor is some one who works under a contract for a fixed period of time to help them meet deadlines for a project, they essentially sell their skills and time for a fee. Contractors are mainly hired near the end of a project to make sure everything is finished in time for the release of the game.

How are they paid?

Contractors are usually paid with a pre-determined sum of money based on their employer and their current skill level.

Benefits

There are a few advantages of contracting:

Contractors work in a variety of different workplaces meeting new people and making their names known across the industry.

A contractor also has great control over how much they work and when they work.

They are essentially their own boss when deciding when to work.

Disadvantages

On the other side their are a lot of disadvantages when contracting for example:

A contractor has to set up his/her portfolio and keep it maintained to look professional so that they can give it to potential employers and look professional.

A contractor also requires previous work experience, and arrive at your potential employers with the skills and knowledge to complete a project.

Also there is no guarantee of work available  as you could be competing with hundreds of other applicants.

Permanent

Description:

A permanent job will last a long time and wont have many changes to the job.

Benefits:

There are a lot of benefits to having a permanent like job security, with a permanent contract type you’re more likely to keep your job when a recession hits than a person with a part-time job. Chances of promotion are a lot greater when you have a permanent contract rather than a non-permanent. Retirement benefits are given to permanent employees when they reach the end of their career.

disadvantages:

Youre limited to that one company and you have to work for what they pay you, youre are confined to work in one area with no flexibility or variety.

Voluntary

A volunteer is someone who works for an organization and isnt paid for the work they contribute.

Advantages:

you may learn new skills whilst you’re on the job which you can then put on your CV to make you a more lucrative candidate for a paid position, you will also be have a chance to network with the people at the company which could set you up for greater business opportunities down the line.

Disadvantages:

You wont be with the company for a vast amount of time, so you will have to sit interviews a lot of the time which can be a very stressful procedure, you also dont get paid at all so you might find it difficult provide for yourself.

Part-Time

A part time employment means you’ll get fewer hours of work in the week than a full-time job, you also work in shifts but can remain on call when of duty.

Advantages:

you arent working all the time so you have more time to your self to study or hang out with friends, you also get a choice of what time of day you can work which gives you more flexibility and you can pick up more hours if you need the extra money.

disadvantages:

You dont get health insurance, they typically get laid off more than full time employees they also dont get promoted as often as full time employees.

Full-Time

A full time employee normally has to work everyday all week with fixed a  lunch break.

Advantages:

you get annual sick leave, company benefits and health insurance you also get a little more job security than that of a part-time employee.

Disadvantages:

The disadvantages of working full time is that you dont get a whole lot of free time and often find your self buried in work and dont get to spend much time with friends or family.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT, (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) can be used to identify a persons abilities in certain job roles. I'll write about my personal SWOT Analysis below to identify the things I'm good at, the things I'm not so good at, the things I can achieve, and finally the things that could threaten me in the future.

Strengths:

I work especially well as an individual, however my social skills allow me to work more than adequately in a group.

I have unique ideas and think outside the box.

Once I get into a project I spend most of my free time working on it.

I can adapt to new programs with ease and in a short amount of time.

I'm an all rounder; with knowledge in Photoshop, 3ds Max, Sony Vegas, and After Effects, as well as multiple Game Making programs.

Weaknesses:

I sometimes get new ideas mid-development and start over a lot.

I burn out quickly when it comes to larger projects, often spending a week or so non stop working then stop and struggle to stay interested.

I keep bad habits on some programs which can lead to wasting time.

I try and make everything perfect straight away, instead of getting a base project in place

Opportunities:

I'm on a next gen course and feel as though I'm progressing well.

My work can be seen by large companies such as Ubisoft and EA, which could lead to a job in the future.

We travel to different events to meet people well-known in the industry.

Threats: 

Only the best will go on to an immediate apprenticeship meaning I have to work extremely hard to get my work noticed.

There are quite a few people on the course, which increases the chance of better work beating mine.

Transferable skills in VFX, Games, and Animation

Specialist skills – be a generalist with specialist skills

Team work

Creativity and Efficiency

The ability to think about the big picture

Meeting deadlines!

Working to a brief

Respond well to criticism

Presentation skills

Knowledge of cultural references

Observation skills

Planning

Be able to draw

Be proactive and self motivated – always keep learning!

Be confident – ask questions

Know the language

Awareness of cinematography

Maths – trigonometry, matrices, vectors,applied mechanics, algebra, scripting, learning(and physics).

Computer literacy

Film theory

Knowledge of VFX history

Knowledge of Editing

Style and vision

Understand optics

Be innovated

Types of Companies

LBG:

A private limited company limited by guarantee, (LBG)  is an alternative type of corporation used mainly by charities and other non-profit organisations. LBGs usually don’t have a share capital, nor do they have shareholders, they instead have members that act as guarantors. It is common for companies to retain their profits within the company in order to re-invest in its operations instead of distributing the money to its members.

Other than charities, community projects, societies, clubs, often set up as a LBG, having at least one director and one member. Unlike companies limited by a share, a guarantee company can be exempt from having the word ‘limited’ or ‘ltd’ if it's set up for a certain nonprofit purpose, often charities. These companies still have to file accounts and annual return at a company house each year.



Ordinary Business partnership:

In a business partnership, you and your business partner personally share responsibility for the business. Every member can share the profits and each partner pays tax on their own share. A partner doesn't have to be a person, a limited company counts as a legal person, as well as a partner in a partnership. If there are debts within the partnership both parties are jointly liable for any amount that is owed and are equally responsible for paying off the whole debt.



Public Limited Company:

The standard legal designation of a company which has offered its shares to the general public and has limited liability. A Public Limited Company's stock can be acquired by anyone and everyone, open to the general public, holders are only limited to potentially lose the amount paid for the shares. It is a legal form more commonly used within the UK. All companies in the stock market are PBL's. Ubisoft, EA, and Activision.



LTD:

Look after everything to do with their business, its finances are separated from your personal finance.
Directors often own shares but they don’t have to. Shareholders cannot sell or transfer their shares without offering them first to other shareholders for purchase. Shareholders cannot offer their shares to the general public over a stock exchange.



LLP:

A  limited liability partnership (LLP) requires at least 2 other designated members, they can either be a person or company and will be known as a corporate member. Each member pays tax on their shares of profit like an ordinary business partnership, but aren’t personally liable for any debts the business can’t pay. E.g. One partner cannot be responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct. Unlike Limited partnerships, LLP’s only pay debts by how much they invest in the company. Whereas limited partnerships split the debt equally among them.

Sole Trader:

sole traders are people who are self employed, sole traders run their businesses as an individual, this means that they keep all the businesses profits after the taxes have been paid on them. Sole traders can employ staff and don't have to work alone, but the sole trader is personally responsible for any losses the business makes.

Tax Responsibility

as a sole trader you must:

-Send a "self Assessment tax return" every year

-Pay income tax on the profits you make

-Pay National Insurance

-You must also register for VAT if you expect your takings to be more than £83,000 a year

Unincorporated Associations:

An unincorporated association is an organisation that arises when two or more people come together for a particular purpose other than to make profit, but decide not to use a formal structure like a company. Most clubs, societies, groups, and some syndicates are unincorporated, as are most voluntary organisations.

You don’t need to register an unincorporated association, and it doesn’t cost anything to set one up.

Individual members are personally responsible for any debts and contractual obligations.

If the association does start trading and makes a profit, you’ll need to payCorporation Tax and file a Company Tax Return in the same way as a limited company.

How Companies are Funded and Make Money

Sales:

Initial sales are the main source of income for most AAA titles, big name companies such as Ubisoft and Rockstar will spend millions on developing and advertising their products getting the name out around the world. Rockstar spent well over $250 million developing and advertising GTA V making it the most expensive game ever, however in its first day on sale it hit around $800 million in sales.

Merchandise: Many companies sell merchandise such as shirts, hats, stickers, posters, phone cases etc. Some of these companies have their own stores to sell merch because this way they can decide the price and also how many to print/make but some, like disney for StarWars, sign contracts with websites/companies like designbyhumans.com because it means less work for them.

Publishers:


A Publisher is the company with the financial risk, so if a game flops they are the ones that lose a lot of the money. When a Development team want to make a game to release, the ask a Publisher for the funds to fund their production, if a Publisher agrees, the Publisher will give the Development team a budget to work on the game, while the game is nearing completion the Publishers deal with the commercial side of the game, which includes advertising to help sell the game which is why the Publishers are helping the developers, to make money. Another thing a Publisher does is pays game shops to clear out a section of the shop and fill it with merchandise of the game is the Publishers want to as it could cost them quite a lot of money to do this. So in turn a Publisher deals with the financial side of the game making process whereas the developers deal with the development side of game making.

Advertising and Sponsorship:

In-game advertising-

This is where they will advertise products in the gameplay of the game. This is generally a subtle way of advertising, e.g the product logo may appear on items throughout the game (billboards, posters, in game merchandise etc..) or the player may interact with the product several times in game.

Advergames-

This is where a games company will be paid to create a small game that will advertise the company, these games are generally small mini games on a company's website.

Through the line (TTL) advertising-

This is an uncommon form of advertising, where there will be links within games that will take you to the company's product and website.

FIG:

Fig works with developers every step of the way: from providing development advances funded 

through its crowdfunding campaigns to providing publishing and distribution support when games 

are ready for launch, all the while bringing the community of fans and gamers along the way.

FIG was created to change the way games are made it is a crowdfunding site that was formed 

from some of biggest crowdfunding game makers such as Tim Schafer and Feargus Urquhart. 

They made the syte exclusively for games crowdfunding and will have a board of people who 

review each game to decide whether to approve them.

Creative England:

Creative England has, for the third year running,  partnered with Microsoft to develop Green Shoots, a programme of financial and business support intended to stimulate the commercial development and growth of the games industry in the English regions, outside of Greater London. 

The programme provides investments of between £25,000 and £50,000 to games companies that demonstrate high growth potential.

The CE Game Development Fund is intended to stimulate the commercial development and growth of the games industry in the English regions, outside of Greater London, by providing investments of between £50,000 and £150,000 to game studios that can demonstrate high growth potential.

Through this fund investments of between £50,000 and £150,000 will be made for the development and commercial release of new game IP.  Investments will be made on a commercial basis under a revenue share scheme. 

Contracts:

A natural person, business or corporation which provides goods or services to another entity under terms specified in a contract.

Under a contract, the contractor agrees to give the money and supplies needed to the contracted company so they create a product (or in this case a game) and then gain profit from it to fund the next contract. The game company gains money by being supplied with the required amount to start a project and then gain a profit to support their company.

Patreon:

Patreon is a way to fund your favorite creators e.g. youtubers or twitch streamers, twitch streamers are paid by subscription from fans. The fans basically pay like $5 monthly to support their favourite streamers so they can still stream for your pleasure and some streamers also give the subscribers give benefits like sometimes they will play games with their subscribers and talk to them. Also streamers do competitions giving away expensive goods such as games headsets and even consoles to the winners. 

Crowd Funding:

The company sets up a kickstarter page and people from the public can back the project and pledge money. When the funding goal has been reached the backers credit cards will be charged when the time on the page has expired. If the project does not reach the goal no one is charged. Stretch goals allow more content in the game to be added even after the project has reached its original goal. Another way for the developer to get more funds.

Grants / Tax Relief:

Grant is an amount of money provided by the government, local councils and charities to an individual / business for a project or purpose. Whilst you do not need to pay a grant back, they are often difficult to have accepted as there is a lot of competition.

Advantages

Do not have to pay a grant back or pay interest on it
Do not lose any control over your business

Disadvantages

Locating  a grant that suits your specific project
There is lot of competition for grants
The applicant often is expected to match the funds you’re awarded
Grants are usually awarded for proposed projects, not ones that have already started

Application process is potentially time-consuming

Early Access:

Early access is a funding model used in the games industry in which customers can pay for a game in its early stages of development and obtain access to playable but unfinished versions of the game, while the developer is able to use those funds to further develop the game. Early access is common amongst indie games to obtain the funding to finish those games.

Example Games:

DayZ, A multiplayer zombie based game gained more than 400,000 sales within one week of being in Early Access

Kerbal Space program,  followed a similar model to Minecraft and eventually moved onto the Steam early access program where it sold millions of copies


Prison Architect, which has been able to raise about $8 million in revenue from more than 250,000 sales in early access

Presenting Games/Game Pitch

Throughout the year we have all presented 3 game pitches, starting back in October with BBB I'll go through how each pitch went and how I feel about them looking back.

BBB:

Big British Balls (genius title) was our first game we ever made, and pitched, we spent an afternoon working on it and then pitched it to our lecturers. We didn't really work as a team when making both the game, and the pitch which led to a dry presentation where we simple spoke about the things we as individuals had created. It wasn't something I was proud of.

Looking back, it was just a lack of communication that led to the pitch being as mis-matched as it was, it helped me as an individual to work with people I haven't known for long, if I was put in a random group today I think I'd do very well.



Wolfs Rest:

Wolfs Rest was our second pitched game, we spent a good few weeks working on the story, gameplay, and trailer, and a few days on getting a good presentation finished. When we pitched the game, I didn't have much to say at all, just a few lines introducing the trailer and answering questions about the trailer. At the time I was much happier just showing off my work and letting it speak for itself, I thought that talking about the trailer too much would just end up spoiling little things along the way. I wasn't a fan of speaking in front of a crowd, especially since I have a fairly quiet voice.

An improvement, but not a large enough one, I worked better on the project but not with the presentation, and instead of just speaking infront of the class I chose to sit at the back. Watching the other pitches made me realize that we were all in the same boat, and that being nervous and shy will get you no where.



Recent Pitch:

Again I had no trouble speaking, however the presentation itself was pretty bad. We changed the idea at the last minute then changed it back on the morning we had to pitch. It led to a mis-matched fumble in which we all had to speak without scripts, and despite the overall presentation being bad I actually preferred speaking without a script. It let me just talk about what I'd worked on and how I felt about it in general.

Some models + Updates

I've started using more than one shape in 3ds max to create models, as it was difficult to make some models that had multiple differing shapes. To kickstart the new plan I decided to create a room in 3ds max where every asset is a different shape.

I'm going to continue adding to this until I'm satisfied, (which'll probably include another room). I'd like to make a sofa and large tv with a stand.

I also modeled a sword using a new technique that builds upon the 'extruding cylinder from square surface' method. You pretty much do the same thing except you remove the lines connecting the circular face and then you chamfer the edges of the cylinder, this adds more polys and looks much better.

I also re-made the old 2d game I lost when my USB broke, (I think I talked about it before), and now with Chris and Ant here to help I think I can get a really good game made before the end of the month.

We're starting Flash again shortly with Chris which should be interesting, I've never gotten far enough into flash despite being a fan of the games you can get out of it. If I can make something even half as good as some of the games I've seen today I'll be happy.

Car Game Logo.

Our racing game idea finally has a name that we agree on, 'Wheelie Wheelie Automobiley'. And since we were in the mac room for a bit I thought I'd make a logo, I think it would look good as a loading screen personally.

I tried making some other pieces like this, taking inspiration from games such as Micromachines, however the outcome wasn't up to par, I think the image above is the nicest looking one I'm going to make. If we do need some variation I'll just change the background to different settings.

I made a basic looking traffic light for Finley that may or may not be used, it didn't take too long and needs texturing before I'll be happy with it, thankfully its not complex at all and shouldn't take long at all.

I'm hoping that our idea gets chosen so I can myself to make some complex car models, or just models in general, there are endless models we could make for Wheelie Wheelie Automobiley. Whatever gets picked as the class' favorite should have enough for me to do.

New Claptrap model!

Since I made the codsworth model a while ago I've tried re-creating other famous robots, however almost all of them haven't been up to par. I'm going back through my old models to see which ones can be remade.

I found my old claptrap model and decided that it needed a remake, I don't understand why I found it so difficult beforehand, claptrap is built from a simple cube with a shrunken base. Here's the finished re-made model.

I really prefer making simpler looking models and adding more complex textures, overall it makes the job easier, its simple to UV unwrap and allows me to spend more time making the textures. 

Anyway, the model looks nicer than the previous and since it has fewer polys I can unwrap and texture it fairly easily, I'll post an update on it shortly.

Canny Runner and Updates

I'm going to fill up my portfolio over the next few days so I need to finish some older projects, as well as some new ones. I've started making a new set of levels for CannyRunner, a game I made back in October, with a better knowledge of C# and a better understanding of Unity I think the game should come along nicely, here's the first new level.

I'm also going to finish the museum level for my models, as well as the models themselves, I really want to re-make the r2d2 model, as well as the recent Iron Giant model because I know that I can do so much better, I'll also have the codsworth model textured in the next few weeks, (finally).

I'll also be making new complex models every few days, I like the idea of having a bedroom level that contains all the models I make, things like monitors, a desk, a bed, consoles, tables, etc.

I'm also finishing my Slender game, I'm changing the setting from a forest to a set of eerie corridors in a hotel setting. I think it should look better because I can use some models that I've made instead of random trees and textures.

Of course I'll still be making my photoshop art pieces.

Starting Animation

Animation is something I'm not really used to, the only experience I've had with any kind of animation is claymation in school for a few days, and pivot, (a 2d stick man animation program). I'm good at VFX, 3d Modelling, texturing, Photoshop, Unity, and Unreal, but when it comes to animation I really don't know where to start.

We've started making a skeleton on Maya which can be used to make animations, the skeleton resembles some form of humanoid, the bone length and sizing isn't to scale but that isn't an issue right now. So far I have the full skeleton minus some fingers, but I'll add them later on.

We're going to continue making this on Thursday, however I'll download some royalty free characters and make some animations with them, personally I'm more of a fan of making the actual animation rather than the assets within it.

I'd like to make some claymation as well, or at least replicate it somehow something like Wallace and Gromit. Right now I haven't done enough with Maya, I'll see how I feel about it after a few days work are finished.

Every Piece of Vinyl Inspired Art

With the vinyl inspired art becoming almost a weekly hobby I thought I'd make a post that contains every piece, I'll add every piece of art I make.

Personality Test

We talked about various personality traits with Mike today, focusing on what we as individuals like about ourselves and what it means to have the traits we do. One of the tests was a pick-one-of-two type test with one choice being well organised and up to date, while the other was do everything at once, not following schedule, etc. I chose the second choice in almost all categories, I am an introvert, don't follow any schedules, my desk is rarely neat, and I'm always doing different things.

I did another test that asked me to pick an image that resembled my opinion the most, in some cases it was an easy choice, but in a lot of them it didn't really make sense. At the end of this test however, I was given a list of traits that, because of my choices, I should have.

I suppose it is right, I try to combine things that shouldn't really go together and then do the same with the outcome hence the title of Alchemist. Below that is a long list of the traits which I mostly agree with, overall the tests worked well, I didn't go into them expecting an amazing outcome, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I'm especially happy with the level of Neuroticism, meaning I'm calm and emotionally stable, perhaps its because I can never be bothered to react to people, yeah lets go with that.

Job Roles in the VFX Industry

Animation Director/Supervisor
Animation Directors are responsible for the quality of the animation, for keeping it on brief and for delivering consistent performances by assigning, or casting, the appropriate Animators. The role of Animation Director may only exist on larger projects and is often combined with the Director role on smaller productions.

Concept Artist

Concept Artists work at the beginning of the pre-production. They are responsible for producing illustrations that are to represent a section of the film, be it a character or a environment. They work on illustrations throughout the shoot and may often be required to change and adapt their original ideas as filming progresses. Concept Artists work on things from big budget films that have great VFX to small animated episodic media.

Compositor

Compositor’s work at the end of production, responsible for constructing the final image by combining layers of previously created material. They combine all the elements to create the final image.
To achieve this they enhance the lighting, match blacks and other colour levels, add grain where required

Digital Preparation Artist

Paint/Prep Artists are responsible for rig removal tasks, painting out markers, wires and rigging before the shot is moved on. They must make sure all the. The work of a Paint/Prep Artist is likely to be reviewed by a VFX Supervisor, often one frame at a time, and compared back to the original plate on a cinema screen.

Layout Artist (3D computer animation)

Layout Artists break down the 2D storyboards into 3D shots by using production designs and models as a reference to build locations as well as major props. They are responsible for staging every shot and changing the position of the cameras.

Lightning Technical Director

A Lighting Technical Director or ‘Lighter’ is responsible for ensuring that there is consistency in lighting, colour balance and colour to fit the mood within the scenes. Lighters also create the lighting that adds atmosphere to a scene, increasing the realism, tone and depth as well as clarifying the location.

Match Move Artist

Match Move Artists position the tracking points in live action shots and uses those
tracking points in order to create a CG scene with realistic movement. The information they provide enables the CG geometry to fit more accurately and convincingly to the live action plates so that everything in the scene feels realistic and as if it belongs there.

Matte Painter

A Matte Painter is responsible for creating virtual backgrounds used in order to either replace or enhance live action photographed plates. The artist works with stills taken from live action photography, digital still photography, rendered CG elements and digital paint to create believable ‘environments’ that are seamlessly integrated into the film by compositing artists.

Roto Artist

Roto Artists trace the areas of live action frames where computer graphics will overlap or interact with live images. This creates clear areas (mattes) within the frame to allow all elements of the scene to be layered convincingly. This enables Compositors to combine all the various elements accurately.

VFX Producer

As the VFX industry continues to grow, the role of the Producer is becoming more and more necessary to a working studio. A good Producer effectively manages the project, making sure everyone is working to a deadline and is working correctly, while also making sure the project is staying within budget and project is profitable.

VFX Supervisor

VFX Supervisors are the leaders of a team of artists in the visual effects studio. They are responsible for ensuring the creative aims of a director or producer are met. They need to maintain a good relationship with their own artists, the editor and the client to ensure the end result is exactly as intended.
Technical Director
A Technical Director is a somewhat broad term for a range of disciplines within VFX. Generically, they are in charge of running simulations and programs in order to create desired effects, but the science and artistry involved means that nearly all Technical Directors are very specialised. For example, a Groom Technical Director would be responsible for generating realistic hair and fur.

Runner

A Runner in a VFX studio will find that a lot of their job relies on making sure the site itself remains operational and the atmosphere remains positive. Whether this is acting as a messenger between two departments, gathering resources for an artist or simply making a cup of tea, the Runner is an integral part of any studio.
Texture Artist
The texture artist’s main duty is to create photo-realistic textures for mapping onto 3D objects. These textures will often be created from scratch, but may also be created from existing materials. Familiarity with the requisite software is required, as well as familiarity with the process of UV mapping.

Rigger

A VFX Rigger is responsible for creating the “skeleton” of a 3D model, making sure all the joints work correctly and accurately so the animators can start to position the models the way they want to.

Runner

A Runner in a VFX studio will find that a lot of their job relies on making sure the site itself remains operational and the atmosphere remains positive. Whether this is acting as a messenger between two departments, gathering resources for an artist or simply making a cup of tea, the Runner is an integral part of any studio.

Modeller

Modellers build 3D models of everything that is needed for a CGI project, usually things that are impossible to make in real life, such as monsters and spaceships. The models they produce need to meet the creative requirements of the Production Designer, Art Director and/or client.

Environment Types for Car Game

Finishing the Exams has opened up Ant's lesson for anew project, we were asked to come up with ideas that are reasonable for our skill level, but that also has enough content for everyone to help out with, I imagine we'll talk about our ideas tomorrow and finalize everything, a few of us have thought about doing a Mario Kart-like game. A racing game like this allows for limitless possibilities, levels, cars, power ups, and countless models, at this point we might not actually be making this game, however with almost half the class happy with the idea I'm hoping that we do.

I thought I could post about the numerous environments we could use for inspiration, since we don't really have a story to go off the setting can literally be anywhere in the universe, or even in some other universe.

1: Cliffside Road: A makeshift racetrack thats loosely held onto the side of a mountain, with tunnels cutting in and out of the rock face. Loose wooden planks can easily lead to a quick death in the swirling waves below. I think this would be a fun level to both make and play, we can really focus on the verticality.

 2: Saturn's Rings: Chaos in space, you drive around the rings of saturn as they spin out of control, trying to avoid meteorites and stray shuttles. Only the best drivers will survive the madness as asteroid paths are created and destroyed below your vehicle, with gravity both aiding and hurting your journey.

3: Volcano Lane: You play in an underground mine area filled with lava, lanes will sink and rise through the magma cutting off shortcuts along the way. The finishing line is set at the mouth of the volcano, which you fly through into the sky before plummeting back into the level.

There are so many other level ideas that we could incorporate into the game, each being as mad as the last, it's a project that everyone can be apart of thanks to the vast array of required assets, it should hopefully come out well, especially with the amount of time we'll have put into it.

The second generation of Game Consoles

We were set the task of researching the 8 generations of game consoles, including popular games, and sales figures. Our table was set generations 2 and 6, I decided against researching about the 6th generation despite it including some of the best gaming titles of all time, as well as the greatest console of all time, (my opinion) the ps2.

The 2nd generation is interesting though, with unknown manufactures popping up to throw their ideas into the mix, many attempting to re-create Atari's success, with the 2600 selling roughly 25 million units, and 115 million games. I made an image showing the main consoles and how they did.

 
It was nicknamed the 'Golden Age' for a reason, with titles such as Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Asteroids all coming through in this generation, games will never have an impact like these titles these days.

Image creations and Updates

Exams are over, thank you lord, anyway now that they're finished I can get back to focussing on projects and I can get some posts out about them. Our group environment should really pick up the pace now, I'm really looking forward to getting into it.

As for how I think I did in the exams I'm optimistic, they really weren't easy and since two of them were on programming I'm really not expecting to be the best. Staying positive though, I tried my best and thats all I can do, no need to overthink it.

Enough on the exams, I've started making the vinyl again and I'm really enjoying doing it. They're things I can just sit down and not really stress about for a few minutes while listening to some music, and since they aren't based on anything I can just do whatever.

They vary only slightly from one another... The first one was fairly simple, I just had to find a basic image of the Mona Lisa and then cut out the background, I decided to just add things that looked odd and went with it, the outcome is decent? Nothing too good, but I really wasn't expecting a masterpiece from the get-go. The second piece again uses an image from Google that has the background removed, I then changed the overlay to match the text and this was the outcome, all that was needed was a alternate-rock like name and a title for the image to come together.

My 2d game has hit a bump in the road, me being me, I left it on a usb that has taken a knock and wont work on my computer, im hoping to get it fixed soon, but if not I'll start the game again. Luckily I only had the core mechanics down, so re-doing them shouldn't be a big problem.

Top Down game #1

I've never fully invested in a Unity project since the the beginning of the course, I always get an idea, spend hours/days doing loads of work, then lose interest and never open the project again... then repeat. Anyway I want to stick to this project until I actually get a finished game, my idea might change halfway through, but I'll not start again, just change what I have.

My idea is to make a top down zombie survival game that uses similar movement and weapon mechanics to Hotline Miami. I want to lineament a timer that counts how long a player has lived for, as well as a leaderboard.

Despite the game being somewhat inspired by Hotline Miami, the art style bares no resemblance, I'm trying to keep this a code-heavy game, so I really dont want to get carried away with making assets that are really detailed.

So far I have a nice movement system in place where the player model looks towards the mouse cursor and moves using the W, A, S, D. And in a few days I should have a lot more.

The only issue I have is the time I have over the weekend, or rather the lack of time I have. I'll make some progress with this, but maybe not enough for a blog. With exams coming up next Tuesday, most of my time is going towards revision. I'll get something out before then, whether it be a full blog on the game, or a small post about it on an update blog.

random art pieces

I spent the afternoon on Photoshop using the graphics tablets and decided to just make some random images. The first image is a mock-up of Slenderman, a famous creepypasta that had a game made after him, although I'm not a huge fan of the outcome, it's what I expected for the time I put into it.

I then put the tablet aside and started making some random patterns, I started over a few times before I reached a decent stage where I could visualise the final product, the pattern was simple, draw a shape, (preferably a triangle or quadrilateral) and then draw a line joining near each corner. Below is the outcome, and I really like it, it looks like it has some real depth and that the shapes are woven in and out of one another.

I'm really hoping to get a graphics tablet at home so I can get some more art pieces made, it helps a fair amount with concept art and seeing if an object/character looks good enough to fit into a project.

Overlays in Video Editing

Gaming channels on Youtube all seem to share one feature, albeit with different styles and colour, I'm talking about overlays and Photoshop assets positioned a layer above the gameplay. It's popular on Twitch as well, with the majority of 'popular' streamers using overlays around their face-cam, and in areas that don't obstruct the view of the game.

Making an overlay such as this isn't really difficult at all, you simply need to have Photoshop/a program similar to Photoshop, and a video editing program, (I use both Sony Vegas, and After Effects).

I decided to make a simple version as an example, something that covers the right hand corner of the screen and displays text.

First off create a new image that's resolution matches the recording, (1980 x 1080 in my case).

Then create something that you like in the position that you'd like it to sit in the final product, for mine I made it it the right top corner.

Then remove the background and save it as a new image, make sure you save it as a PNG, or a similar format so the background isn't generated.

Lastly open the PNG image in a video editing program and it should already be set to the correct position.

That's it, you can do plenty of things with this method, I'm going to try and make an intro using the text tool in photoshop then I'll use Sony Vegas' 'FX' tools to make the transitions, if it looks good enough I'll post about it.