D_Rogue Game Art Project

H appy  New Year! In my first blog post of 2021, I thought I would recap like last year and give a quick summary of the year now gone, what I'm currently doing and where I'm going with  D_ROGUE  ( as of writing)! Last year was quite productive for me, creating 3D assets for the project. I learnt new software (Substance Painter), gained new modelling skills and succeeded in tackling lots of new technical challenges. This year, I'm currently working on building the setting of the game. Onboard the F/V Scully. If last year was about building up my confidence in the 3D workflow on small assets, this year is about constructing the bigger picture. 107ft to be exact! See below for an update in screenshots. For the long-term plan, I still intend to create a working scene of  D_ROGUE. I hope to have at the least a greybox build of the main deck by the end of the year. Whether that is something that will happen by the end of 2021 we shall see! As the saying goes, 'the best way...

T owards  my 2020 showreel, I aimed at creating an outro animation, showcasing my CAT09 PC model; with the monitor displaying the D_ROGUE title. See here  for my 2020 showreel. At first, I had no idea how I would display the video on the monitor screen without using a shader for the mesh in Unity (my game engine of choice). While watching tutorials for the software Marmoset Toolbag 3, I discovered there was a free plugin made by an artist which creates a sprite texture sheet of all the frames of a chosen video; playing them in sequence similar to a GIF. The process is quite straightforward and once complete, the custom shader is simply added to the selected material texture slot. Jason Bartlett © Above is the complete CAT09 model animation in Marmoset Toolbag 3. Below the 3D viewport is the keyframe and timeline editors. These editors enable you to select numerous elements of a scene and create an animation. In the outro, I wanted to utilise a slow push pull effect to evoke a ...

O ne year ago, I revealed the name of my game art project D_ROGUE with an animation sequence to reveal the title. I created this animation in the style of a retro computer screen . Firstly, I picked this style as D_ROGUE is set in 1977. This was the year the first early computers became commercially available and the age of the personal computer (PC) was born. Secondly, I planned to have a computer set on board the fishing vessel in the game and the Commodore 'PET', released the same year, boldly  stood out when doing R&D. The Commodore PET was unique for being one of the first computers to combine multiple components such as a monitor, cassette deck (for data) and internal storage in a single all-in-one case.  The design has very distinct features and beam's late 70's retrofuturism. While I was creating the title animation, I thought it would be fun to create a fictional model of the Commodore PET and introduce it via a  loading 'splash' screen (see he...

W hile w orking on numerous projects over the summer, I began re-shaping my king crab model to form a different species that will be in D_ROGUE; that is also caught in the Bering Sea. A Chionoecetes Opilio. This crab is a species of Snow crab, otherwise known as Opilio crab or Opies. It is a very abundant commercial species and is often caught by pots and trawlers as seen on the tv show Deadliest Catch. Jason Bartlett © What sets this  crustacean  apart from a King crab, is they're shells are less rough, are   overall a lot smaller,  and have eight legs and two claws; not six legs and two claws, like King crabs. Above, is the Opilio model close to completion in Maya. The poly count was high enough on my King crab model to sculpt and re-work the legs into the Opilio form. Having the previous model to work from, helped speed up the modelling stage dramatically. Additionally, I had not modelled organic objects in 3D, since my second year of University (five years ago!);...

A s a kid, I frequently visited both my Grandparents houses. In their hallways, was a strange wooden clock, with letters instead of numbers on the face and a brass dial you could turn and set yourself. It wasn't until I was much older (old enough to reach it!) that I came to question what exactly it did. It turns out, what I thought was a peculiar clock was a barometer. A device used to measure atmospheric air pressure and indicate how likely the weather will change in the day. In the 20th century, before mobiles and the internet, fishermen out at sea for weeks relied on instruments such as this to get a heads up on the ever-changing weather. Since I had this connection, a first-hand real-world memory of it, I found creating a model of the device for D_ROGUE lots of fun. A s it is something I am so familiar with, I could visualise the steps in order to recreate it digitally in 3D. As I wanted to create the whole thing anew (including a clock), it took a bit more time than I anticip...

U pdated my Alaskan king crab texture in Substance Painter and rendered the image below in Marmoset Toolbag 3. Jason Bartlett © Upon reviewing the crab texture for my model in my previous post (see here ), I found the colours of the exoskeleton popped a little too much which I wasn't happy with. So instead of moving on to the next thing, I decided to update the shell texture in Substance. I studied some more into the crab species and what the crabs look like both underwater and out.  What I found was, red king crabs are just a member of a superfamily of decapod crustaceans, living in the Bering Sea. Of many shapes and shades. Who knew! With t he majority of species having a dark 'muddier' shell, I opted to go for this red-brown  colour on the final model. Not a shiny orange shell, ready to be served in  a five-star restaurant. Thankfully, Substance Painter has a largely non-destructive workflow. I was able to simply pick out the hues in the images I found, and implement t...

F isheye view of the F/V Scully Galley. This digital line art is an early concept of what the galley (kitchen/cooking area) could look like onboard the fishing boat. It also acts as a glimpse at what the first-person view could look like for the player in the game. Jason Bartlett © I decided to create the fisheye effect because it adds an immersive view of being inside the confines of the boat. Additionally, it creates a sense of scale for the viewer; that you otherwise would not get in a traditional perspective sketch. I was inspired by the American artist Paul Heaston who sketches fisheye point-of-view perspectives. I really enjoyed figuring out where distortion takes place, imitating a really wide-angle lens. Thanks for reading :)

E arly renders of my complete game-ready R ed King Crab model.                                                                                                                                           Jason Bartlett © Overall, I am really happy with how the model turned out. Seeing as this is the first actual organic sculpt I have done since Uni, I am rather pleased with the turnaround time.                                                                   ...

I n  between working on multiple pieces of art for D_ROGUE, I have been sculpting this Alaskan king crab model.                                                                                                                                           Jason Bartlett © As this model won't be seen up close too often, I haven't spent all that long on the finer details in the modelling stage.                                                                       ...

H appy Blogiversary! On this day one year ago, I announced the start of this project! I know a lot of bloggers say this but I  cannot quite believe how far I've come and how much I have learnt since March 2019. Now 365 days later, I'm quite proud of the consistency of my posts. Something like 80% of blogs don't make it past the first few months. I think I can put my dedication down to two things. One, being that I started blogging when I was at University. It was a part of our course to document our work and so I got into the  rhythm  of regularly posting. And two, being determined to see this project through to some kind of outcome. I once heard someone say "Don't lose sight of why you did it in the first place". I set a goal with my blog to make a post at least once a month and have achieved this through my persistence to achieve something along the way. It also acts as a detailed portfolio of what I am capable of to future employers! ...