Cyborg Project

Influences;

These are my most heavy influences as they come across in my sketches. What I wanted to take from these is that the body can only appear human, but could be controlled by the robotics within them. Or that what they have could improve upon their already existing body. The functionally could also be impractical for real life but with a game all it has to do is appear that way. To show a more futuristic design going along with the natural look of the human body would be best although there may be some element (or obvious element) that correspond to the body of the a robot.

The Appleseed series is by far the biggest of my influences as they look closely at the body. Or what would be most necessary to show that relates to a human. The main guy within the film has a complete suit covering his body as it was heavily damaged. He has the appearance of a robot but has the emotional capacity of a human which cannot be formed through any means of code or robotics.

Having a face would be important this shows the level of humanity, but the face does not have to be human movement could convey emotions and would add to the design of the character. Also when looking at the design of the crater over all think about what purpose each serves as the function of the cyborg part would serve. 

Such as their job would it relate to it;

Are they a military operative, a hunter, experiment, sever, helper, and so on.

What time period as well as this would have the largest effect on materials, if it is in the past what could make this cyborg in the best way. Unlike in the future what could be found in the world that you want to create. Finding the balance between human and robot is the largest part of this design.

Appleseed;

The Appleseed series of films is the largest of my influences they focus on being able to bring out the human aspect of a character when there is no mouth or eyes. Expression though the body show that cyborg designs don’t actually have to include the face in a normal humane way. Though each film while improving upon the design they keep the character you know well but just add smaller details to the overall design.

And not all the designs fully relate to humans there is some (not a lot) animalistic design to it. Some could also be completely human in a way while needing to components of a robot to sustain them. The series also plays off of genetics as there are clones within the series. But with each film the human to robotic levels increase as they almost show a progression of time where robots increase and show more dominance..

The design aspect of cyborgs can range from a simple to complex. But as time progressed the designs became smoother and almost less cluttered.  Some design elements are hidden under a mask of sorts, a shell would be an example of this. A solid casing that looks human but imperceptive but underneath it's an entire mechanical structure.

Going with natural muscle structure is the best way to show a more human aspect. Use natural shapes and limit on square or sharp objects. Areas need a connection or a power source. If areas are armoured what areas need to be able to flex and work like the natural body would.

My ideas

Silhouettes

These designs relate to my cyborg project. The 5th and 7th (going across l-r) are the most prominent in my mind right now, there is more of a concept in them. The 7th would be harder to produce it could be done in game, the 5th would be a more human rig while the 7th is more human mixed with spider. The 5th is more like a hero and the 7th would be an enemy. Compared to the others these two so for have the most inspiring qualities.

5th

This design I could see developing more towards a modern or futuristic style. The arms and legs would be the robotic element, giving her packs on the back could be an energy source for her or her design could have another purpose. (Messenger, ammo holder or a battery pack not for the body but for a suit.)

7th

Is more of a steam-punk cyborg design, this appeals to me more as an enemy design and could be hidden in plain sight. A Victorian design would be more appropriate as the design of a woman's dress in that time period could hide the robotic aesthetic. The torso would be completely human, while lower body is robotic but copper would be the choice of metal. There is a mask of copper and a battery pack conned to head? Or possibly to the mask as to lift it?

Basic futuristic;

• The character could have been a person who made into a cyborg of their own choice. The could have lost their legs in a battle or could not have been born with limbs.

• She was offered to be made better for a military operation and she decided to accept. She was harshly betrayed when they didn’t tell her everything they were going to do. As she woke up as saw that nothing was what she expected or what they had shown to her.

• After many operations on her body she realised that she could make a difference growing up with training in her mother's martial arts academy with little students she realised that times were changing and with murders going up in a larger scale she could do something.

Basic spider;

• The spider is a creation of mistake; the characters face prefers to be hidden because of damage to her face. She lures men in with a mask where they can only see her eyes and would only be seen at masked balls, and dress up galas.

• She could have been taken and experimented upon and once she lost the use of her legs the scientist who controlled her life gave her the lover body of a spider.

• What could be possible is that this creature wanted to be made, Alchemists could have changed her body to her wishes after she was betrayed by a man who saw her only as threatening as a common spider

Combination of basics

Towards Futuristic;

• The girl had grown up with her mother and was taught how to fight. After an accident she lost the use of her limbs so by her own choice she traded them in for robotic ones. Her face was damaged and she gained a helmet that could greatly improve her capability. While she was working with the military she saw things that didn’t quite fit and with a bit of digging those things that didn’t fit she had to find them out.

• She was offered to be made better for a military operation and she decided to accept. She was harshly betrayed when they didn’t tell her everything they were going to do. So decided to not stay after her tour. she prefers to hide her face because of damage; and once she realised that times were changing and with murders going up in a larger scale she could do something.

Towards spider;

• The face of the main girl is known only to a few with burn marks and scars from when she was a child effected how she was seen. After many battles she was given the chance for redemption towards her past and hunted down the men that harmed her and after a while the government had found her she was weak and hardly looked after she became someone who was sought after as she could kill without trace.

• The character could have been born without legs and a scientist gave her the choice of legs. When she woke up she had more than she bargained for. She asked if she could have a mask to hide her shame. Later she became known as a Weeping Widow. When she goes after the men that have wronged or taken advantage of the woman.

After a while the concepts kept changing and i have created a clear vision for what i want the backstory to be and defining the character.

Story background;

 Defining the character;

Some sketches 

These are just some simple sketches that I did to start off, they don't really have any influences and were the result of me just picking up a pencil and some paper. They did however get my creativity flowing and have helped me produce the ideas above.

The silhouette that I am going to go for and run with for my idea is my more futuristic of the two. she has more of the elegance that I want to go for and she would be the main character within my game idea. unlike the spider idea which seams more villainous. the backstory is still in progress but a simple idea is forming, I do also need to think about her environment as it would effect how the girl would look as well as how she fits into that world.

I wanted her deign to be more elegant and be tough at the same time. she has a more feminine charm with her silhouette but even though she has no weapons she can still fight. I started out with lager pack on her back but then decided to have the packs smaller but have more going down her back. her legs are just casings that cover hydraulics and wires in her legs.Would be better to have a cover to protect the wires, also simplifies the design. The wires that connect to her helmet and suit I wanted to give the effect of hair showing, creating a more feminine like cyborg. I didn't know what to do with the feet at first having them as normal feet would seem a bit boring then by looking at prosthetic's I thought that she only need to be able to balance. Looking at heel-less shoes I was able to think that this would be able to only add to the cyborg in design. Changing the design would mainly be though the modeling process as to find out what would work best and how movement could be applied. 

as i look more into this design i became more and more influenced by the armor of samurai, the leg covering to be specific as i thought that in a way the legs could look as if the were like that. i knew that i wanted this character to have the ability to jump high the feet would have a landing stabilizer while in the upper thigh there would be a booster for the jumps. Whether they just partly show or not is still yet to be decided. 

the images above are apart of my influence as well showing the use of the leg armor. i may also add a shoulder defense if what i have is not fully what i want to get across.

This is a sketch of my cyborg I wanted to show her is a more expressive position. I will also be experimenting with colour with this image. Thinking about what she would be doing, this effects the colour choice as it also has to show through the design not just the story.

After I got to this stage I took some time for consideration I wanted to make a few more changes to the design to give the character a more interesting story-line. From the ideas that i currently have I only want to change a few elements I don't want the face to be hidden mostly, by changing the design to a simple face mask i I thought that this would be better as eyes even in games can still be very expressive.

The reworked designs;

The complete three view that I am going to work with;

This design goes with the story that I am working on, better than the previous ones. It coincides with the way I want to portray this character and world, and the back story has more impact than the previous ones. I only changed small aspects I kept the legs basically the same and only had the forearms robotic. By creating her to look symmetrical but with a few areas that are only slightly differences to create a more balanced look. Even though she has a scar on the face the mask hides only part of it, as she wants to hide part of her self in a way.

The next stage is to start modeling (using Maya 2016).

The modeling so far at one point my work got corrupted and I need to redo the head again. The model's progress has been both up and down as there are some area had to be redone. But with the progress I have made I will be easily able to change areas to show the robotic elements. 

The process of making the backpack was longest as I also had to connect it to the mask. getting both to fit next to the body while still keeping at a low poly that altogether has no more than 15,000 in the final low poly count. Now that I didn't factor in the hair and I wont at this stage as the concept of the character is coming through clearly, I am moving on to the UV mapping. 

The process so far it taking far longer than expected as Maya keeps crashing and causing my laptop's memory to keep being full. The bodysuit was the easiest, the mask and backpack we harder but the body is proving to be the hardest and the feet, leg, arms and hand are proving to be the hardest as I have to find the edges to make the UV maps layout smoothly. 

UV Maps finally done.