Modelling the 3D Characters/ UFO Scene

As mentioned before I've had some issues modelling the characters. I decided to stick with Maya, as it would be easier to retopo the character and my designs were simple enough to make straight in there. Also after a chat with my supervisor I decided to cut down the number of characters from 6 to 4, due to time restrictions and my less than perfect modelling skills.

During my first attempt in Maya the character was split in the middle and I didnt know how to fix it (I later learned how easy this was to fix). So it looked like this once smoothed.

I then went on to model it in in 3D Coat, so I go this.

The model was very rough and lumpy, so I had to keep upping the Res and in the end the file size was ridiculous for a model so simple. So I decided to go back to Maya, watch some videos on Digital Tutors and do it properly from the beginning.

This time I started with the main male character, Johnny.

This was the basic boxing out of the character. I then added more shape and smoothed it out.

I then started working on the head. Which looked pretty horrifying at first.

But I sculpted some facial features and added an eyeball and it started to look more human.

I added ears and hair.

And even teeth and a throat.

I attached the head to the body and started to model the clothes.

Once I was happy with his outfit I started adding textures.

I then went on to model the lead female character, Josie, in a very similar way.

I did have some issues with the crotch, but this wasnt that important for this character as I changed her outfit and she would now be wearing a skirt. 

When I first started modeling her head it looked like something straight out of a horror film. And even though thats the feel of the animation, this character was meant to be a pretty one. 

So I decided to narrow the face, bring the eyes closer together and make the nose and mouth smaller. 

After she started looking more human, I added hair and some details like eyebrows, lashes and a head band. 

Once I was happy with her look, I modelled her outfit and textured the whole character.

  

For the other female character, the scientist, I just modified Josies body and head to make it slightly larger and "older looking".

 I gave her some wrinkles around the eyes and made her smile lines more defined. The grey hair and glasses also added to her looking older and wiser.

After this I started working on the final character, the General. As before I started bloking out and shaping the body.

After adding the texture I realised the body looked like that of a stuffed turkey.

I started working on the head, adding more details such as eyebrows and mustache.

Once I was happy with the face I started modeling the clothes and texturing the whole character.

I thought I was finished but kept feeling like the character was missing something. Then I remembered - the hat!

I then started working on the UFO Scene. I had already created the background for it in Illustrator, so all I needed was a basic 3D model of a spacecraft close to the one in my animatic. So this is what I came up with.

 I played around with different textures and colours, but decided to stick to grey as in the original design.

I then composited the scene in After effects with the Illustrator background.