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Render Tests

An
important element in the conceptual stage is to not look at a problem from one perspective. It's always best to get multiple views to achieve a greater outcome. To reach an end goal is one thing. The journey to that end goal is something else entirely.

One of my favourite quotes by Carl Friedrich Gauss states "It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment". I totally agree with this and it applies to game development. Creating something big or small brings its challenges and the act to reach the finish line is where the magic happens. I hope to experiment in several styles, as would any other artist working early on in game development; focusing on diversity and demonstrating imagination.
Jason Bartlett ©

I created the above image, of a bow mast, using the toon shader in the render settings of Arnold for Maya. I really enjoyed creating the style, was simple to set up, and was fun to experiment with in Arnold 5.

Frustratingly, I found this toon shader the same time I was slowly working on manually painting the lines for my orthographic designs in Photoshop. However, I now know how to use both methods to present models in this style which will be to my advantage in speeding up the process. 
Jason Bartlett ©

 Above is a screenshot of the textured model within the viewport of Maya. The background sky dome mesh and red area lights are for perspective purposes here, but are also from my first foggy render (see here)!

The shader feature affects the base objects material and highlights the edges with a contour filter; making for great line art edging. You can also edit the parameters to add thicker lines or control the line distance to the camera's field of view. What's more, you can play with specular and tone colour mapping to differentiate parts which I may try in future.


Thanks for reading :)

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