Modelling dragon for final year project

gwilsonmartin

Hello,

I apologise if this has been asked before or if it's in the wrong place to ask but I am planning on modelling a dragon for my final year project at university.
I want to take my dragon from concept to game engine (probably Unreal Engine 3 in this case) and have been gathering as many references and industry examples as possible to help me along.

I was just wondering if there were any 3d artists that could give me any ideas of the following:
- What sort of references were used when creating the concept of the dragons in the games (ie. photo references, anatomy, drawn concepts, blueprints etc.)
- How did the modellers go about deciding on the scale of the dragons? (ie. comparison with other assets etc)
- Were there any constraints and/or other major issues that were faced during modelling/texturing of the dragons? (I understand that engine constraints may be different for me but any insight is helpful)

I think that's all I can think of for now but any advice/suggestions would be appreciated as this is really important to my course and future as a 3d artist.

Thank you very much for reading.

Richard Haseltine

You do understand that most of the models created and shown here are not game assets - they are made for use in still images and rendered animations, not for real-time use.

MJ_Vivianight

True, but there are still artists like RawArt who sell commercial game developer's licenses for use of his models and the old forum at least had the "Game and Virtual World Content" section:
http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/viewforum.php?f=102

So, yes, game developers do visit Daz3d on occasion and use such models. Create them. Along with just the modeling of anything three dimensional aspect, whereas the OP is asking for advice on ideas like photo references for anatomy, etc. A how-to judge ratio aspects, whereas again, plenty of critters around here do not load the exact height of Genesis/M4/V4. Millennium SubDragon for example.

Seems like a student just looking for some starting point assistance anywhere can be had to me. :)

Cheers!

mjc1016

Hopefully RAW sees this...or Mec4D...or Valandar...or Jack...

Ascania

MJ_Vivianight said:

True, but there are still artists like RawArt who sell commercial game developer's licenses for use of his models and the old forum at least had the "Game and Virtual World Content" section:

So? His models are still designed to be used in images and animations, not for games. Their use in games not even a secondary consideration, maybe a tertiary one.

So, yes, game developers do visit Daz3d on occasion and use such models. Create them. Along with just the modeling of anything three dimensional aspect, whereas the OP is asking for advice on ideas like photo references for anatomy, etc. A how-to judge ratio aspects, whereas again, plenty of critters around here do not load the exact height of Genesis/M4/V4. Millennium SubDragon for example.

Seems like a student just looking for some starting point assistance anywhere can be had to me. :)

Cheers!

Modelers do not decide the relative scale for a creature like a dragon when modeling for a game. They are handed the specifications, together with concept art and character sheets by the game's design team.

If the modeler is also the designer they usually start with the question "How large do I WANT the thing to be?"

References used generally depend on what the critter is supposed to look like.

gwilsonmartin

Thank you to the people who have replied. I am particularly interested in the names you've mentioned.
Is there any way I could get in touch with RawArt, Mec4d, Valandar or Jack?

Also, to those who are a little confused by my posting here, let me explain:

I did highlight the possibility that no one could help in my original post but I was pointed here after I asked the same questions to existing games companies. Bioware, in this case, suggested here, as they said there were other digital artists who could help me.

My course actually requires me to go out and get advise from other 3d artists on how they went through their own design/modelling process. Anything I learn from will then be included in my dissertation as research so I am here to ask and learn anything I can.

Some of the people I've talked to have never worked on a game or not used the same software/engine etc. but they have still modelled a dragon. That is the key factor I'm looking for advise with so if anyone can offer any insight, be it exactly what I am doing or not, then I will be grateful.

I hope that clears a few things up for everyone and I dearly hope someone can help me.

Richard Haseltine

All of those artists post regularly on the forum, so you can either find one of their posts and click the PM button or you can simply type the name (inside angle brackets ) in the to box of a new PM. Of course they are busy and get a lot of messages, and I'm not sure how the new site handles overfull PM inboxes, but it's the ebst way to try.