Autodesk Character Generator: Lilith

Lilith was a protagonist I made for a Flash game called Punkin Smash. Basically it was Atari 2600 action with prerendered 3D graphics. Originally it was done in FlashLite as to be playable on the iRiver Clix MP3 player. It also ran well on Nokia phones. Later, it was easily ported to Flash 6 to run on the Sony PSP which was relatively new at the time. It was quite cool showing off this game running on PSP hardware.

Lilith as 3DS Max model. Pretty much a Penny clone, This model was prerendered for use in Punkin Smash.

Lilith as a sprite. She was distinguished from Penny by being a bit skinnier and having different hair. And she had rather big lips and nose

I’ve thought of updating this game in Unity to run on PS Vita (or, well, most anything). While it’s a bit late to make a Halloween-themed game this year, Lilith may make a reappearance in the future. I decided to recreate her in Autodesk Character Generator. (See my first post on this program for more details about it.) Anyway, Lilith’s dress wasn’t going to be recreated in Character Generator but it was quite easy to make a new, different, cool character based on the sprite version:

New Lilith model in Unity.

I also thought she looked good with gothic, rather zombie-looking makeup. Maybe at some point in the game she could turn into a zombie…

Zombie Lilith

Finally, I thought it would be funny if, as a zombie, she was taken to the hospital, where she tried to disguise herself as a doctor and create mayhem and mischief…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Autodesk Character Generator: Creating Penny

A little while back Gabriel Walter suggested Autodesk Character Generator. It’s an in-browser character designer that exports rigged, 3D models for 3ds Max, Maya or Unity. It seems like it’d be an excellent, quick way to get realistic 3D characters into your games.

Original Penny model done in 3ds Max.

Penny as pixels done in Graphics Gale

Final voxel Penny as done in Qbicle

Before she was pixels or voxels, Penny was one of the first human models I made in Max. She was originally supposed to be a villain turned into a Most Interesting Character a la Strong Bad. As evident in the model there’s little distinguishing about her besides having a pointy face. I decided to recreate this Penny (only more realistic) in Character Generator.

You start with a preset model, there are a few of choices of humans, orcs, aliens, what have you. You can choose Bulk or Gorn anatomy if you want. Penny started as Eva.

Faces can be morphed between two different presets per feature. Penny is mostly Lena and Cathy and some Amy. Pointy enough but real and she seems in character. You can choose different ethnic features or make them old, fat or zombies.

Choosing a skin. Nice range of skin tones. Here the variations per the chosen skin set the amount of makeup, 3 choices that went from natural to drag queen. This is the middle choice. She looks a bit like Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto to be honest.

Hair choices aren’t great. Unless you want short hair, emo hair or 90’s hair like the girls from Friends. Penny can’t have her bangs. But in her transition from 3ds Max to voxels, her hair also got bobbed anyway. And there’s a nice range of colors per style so she gets her purple hair.

Body choices tend to the real life. This is a pretty good approximation of Penny’s original form.

You may want to make your own clothes. I got something close to Penny’s original purple top and capri pants outfit, not the gothic lolita dress from the sprite/voxel Penny. She looks like she shops at TJ Maxx. The inclusion of military fatigues will be useful for some games.

Choices for generating your character which will live on the cloud and be editable and downloadable. You buy points which enable more features.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Low poly Penny imported into Unity and 3ds Max. Job done. Actually she looks a bit like Lena Dunham.

Let’s Greeble! 5 Minute Cities with Greebles in 3ds Max

In my first post on #5 minute cities, I mentioned the Greeble plug-in for 3ds Max. It’s a great way to add detail or even build whole cities, realistic or sci-fi. And it does take 5 minutes, and even less just to greeble. Just install the plug-in, available here for Max versions up through 2015, and select Greeble from the drop-down Modifier list. That’s it. I started with the Greebling tutorials on Digital Urban, first to greeble a skyscraper and then a whole city.

Greeble Towers. Make a shape like a cylinder, cube, tube or cone, then greeble, tweak, rinse and repeat. Tapering, twisting or skewing towers prior to greebling them can generate all kinds of interesting contemporary or futuristic shapes which are a nice alternative to boxy buildings.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

And a whole city (or part of one, really). Just make a plane (the tutorial suggests 10×10 segments) and greeble it. A bit crowded, but rather convincingly like the slightly lower-rise blocks of Manhattan. I like how the little greeble blocks on top add realism, like the HVAC units and other boxes and gizmos found on top of tall buildings.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Copy and rotate your blocks and tweak greeble values like Seed and Max Height for variety. Add your towers in. The plainer buildings can be greebled again for more interesting geometry, though it’s starting to resemble to surface of the Death Star. (This may be good.)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Finally, terrain objects can be greebled. Take a plane, apply Displace using a bitmap (similar to doing it in Bryce), apply Quadify Mesh and then Greeble. Since, greebling adds polys, the plane can’t be too high-res. (40×40 segments worked well.) Decreasing the number of segments and tweaking Quadify (or using Subdivide instead) can generate interesting architecture ranging from the dystopian to the downright alien.

Happy Greebling!

Mouse Platformer: Flash and Unity Engines in Review

And some thoughts on all 4 demos and their engines…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Demos can be gotten from the Box widget at top right or here:

Edward Engine in Flash

Unity 3D

Unity 2D

Flash with Flare 3D

Reviews and engine links below the jump…

One platform game, two more demos: Unity 2D, Flash with Flare3D

2D Unity? 3D Flash? What is this witchcraft? A lot seems to have changed since I first posted my platformer demos. My recent progress in building a true 2D platformer in Unity 4 has already been pretty well documented under the Platformer tag. But I’ve also built a demo using 3D graphics and 2D movement using Flash, FlashDevelop and Flare3D.

The new demos can be gotten in .zip format from the Box widget at the top right or here:
https://app.box.com/s/2g7by9bohg9o9j5bv14s (Unity)
https://app.box.com/s/b7g3fghpa78ed2sztf33 (Flash/Flare 3D)

Screenshots and experiences follow…