2024

"Character6" Was the last model I made this year, and was a very different challenge on what I needed to do to achieve the more 'anime' style I wanted. The eyes are completely new to me as well as the restraint with rendering, though I do love how the face came out. I referenced the persona dancing games which was my original style inspo for this project to begin with. I used ripped models and textures and studied the way they went about making it. I would love to back and refine these two to finish them up but I have a feeling they will stay as WIPS until I've settled on style by making a few more of the characters. 9 in total, a hefty goal.

"Character1" Was my first attempt at the new style and first character in years. I struggled a fair amount, particularly on the texturing, I felt I was constantly fighting the software which made it hard for me to want to finish her (both of them to be honest).

A side note: I tried getting back into UnrealEngine (5) to re-block out my city in engine. It was hellish, I need to find out if I can use 3dsMax keyboard settings because I just cant get used to it, its making me not want to touch it. Anyhow, it also made me want to re-imagine the city a bit, since the scale was off for the population I had envisioned. I need a lot more buildings OR to make separate "scenes" for different parts of the city, to give the illusion of grandeur without unnecessary travel etc. One of my biggest creative inspirations is Twilight Princess, and that games Castle Town does it in that way. I am also remembering some Final Fantasy games doing it that way which match more the illusion of scale. 

I'm struggling a lot with blueprints, it feels more confusing then the basic programming language style I was good at in school. (Wasn't anything advanced mind you but it seemed I had the right way of thinking for coding.) The jargon is hard for me to remember and I'm not getting the logic very well because of that. I'd rather learn C++ but it seems less universal in Unreal for tutorials etc. so it puts me off. I will admit, I do feel my illness has made it harder for me to retain this sort of information as time goes on. With no excuse; I have a very solid visual memory, but names, dates, numbers, are all getting more "cloudy". I will sit down and learn tutorials on it, feel solid as I watch it and then forget it right after. I've tried seriously to pick up Unreal about 5 times since uni now. It just ain't sticking. :/