The document provides details of the research and design process for creating a 3D mechanical wolf model for use in a computer game. It describes how the artist chose to base the design on a wolf, and researched wolf mech images, textures, grating patterns, and color schemes. Mood boards and sketches were created to plan the design. The head, body, legs, paws, and tail were modeled individually using 3D software. Techniques like box modeling, editable polys, and boolean operations were used. Textures were applied to achieve the desired metallic and contrasting color scheme. The completed model aims to look believable as a mechanical wolf asset for a game.

1. Brief
Your task is to create a believable,
mechanical, digital 3D model to be used
as a worthwhile asset in a computer
game.

2. When starting my research, I first decided what I wanted
to base my mech on. I chose a wolf and so I collected
images of wolf mechs so I could look at the structures along
with shapes and patterns that interested me. Almost all of
my research images are of wolf mechs because I was more
focussed on how the structure of my mech would be formed.

3. To continue my research, I collected images of different textures that could be used in my mech. I looked
at different types of bolts, rivets and various patterns that could be used or altered for the armour of my
mech.

4. My next piece of research was looking at different types of grating and their patterning that I could use
for inspiration. The main reason I wanted to look at metal vents was because I knew that I would
definitely choose to use grating on my mech; particularly on the face and shoulders.

5. For the colour scheme, I chose to stick with silvery metal colours but chose to use black as well to contrast
the metal. I decided on a basic colour palette so that the colouring of the mech wouldn’t accidently go over
the top. I chose the colour red because it contrasts well with the silvers and blacks. However, I might only
use dark reds on the mech but I think it will depend on what the different reds look like in comparison
with the rest of the model.

6. Following my research, I designed a mood
board using shapes and patterns that I
would potentially like to use for my
mech. My mood board also represents the
colour scheme that I would like to use for
my model.
The images of the wolf and wolf head
drawings show what the mech is based
on, but my mood board gave me the idea
to draw over the top of images to begin
with in order to structure my mech.

8. The drawing above is the same as my original
design, but from a different perspective. This was
so I could see how the shape of the head would
work from different angles.
The drawing on the right is my final design for
the head of my mech, though I may have to
make changes during the actual modelling. I
changed the design to this as I was aiming for a
sleeker look for my wolf.

9. Final Sketch Page for Mech Head

10. Before creating any designs for
the body of my mech, I took an
images of a wolf’s body and broke
it down into shapes.
This is to help me with the
structures and proportions of the
body.

11. Now that I have an idea of the structure of the
body, I can now begin to draw out possible
designs for my mech’s body.
I’ve started off with drawing the shoulder as I
would like to expand them so that the
shoulders are large and bulky in proportion to
the rest of the body.
Again, I experimented around with patterns
that I liked the look of in order to choose my
final design.

12. Final Sketch Page for Mech Body
(Shoulder)

13. After drawing the shoulder, I decided to start
breaking down the mech body into other parts.
So I chose to look at the foot as I find that the
smaller parts of the body are harder to model.
After zooming up on the foot, I then chose to
look at the leg in order to expand on my
previous sketch.

14. Final Sketch Page for Mech
(Leg)

15. Using the different patterns
I have looked at and adding
some of my own ideas, I
used the same image that I
used for the body structure
and drew a design for my
wolf mech over the image.
One issue that I could have
with this is that I have
designed something that is
a bit ambitious for me to
create within the time
limit. However, I think
that this gives me
something to aim for.

16. I have used various methods to create the head. The curved
I began my model by first creating the head plates are boxes that have been curved using the ‘Bend’
and aiming to work along and down the body. tool. A lot of the grating has been done using ‘Boolean’
These screenshots show the final head from while many shapes such as the plate on top of the muzzle
different angles. have been created using ‘Inset’ and ‘Extrude’. To save
time on modelling, I used the ‘Symmetry’ tool to mirror
one side of the head on the opposite side.

17. Even though I was following the final design for my mech head, I did make some changes as I progressed
due to complications. These complications involved the proportions of the head; the head was not wide enough
to fit all the details in correctly. This is why I moved the positioning of the grating to go behind the eye
rather than be placed below it. The muzzle itself is also squarer and the pointed muzzle isn’t as defined as
in the drawing.

18. After building the mech head, I
did a white render of it so I
could see any potential changes
that could be made.
As shown on the left, I chose to
draw in some wires that are
connected to the back of the
head. I also want to look at
adding a plate over the forehead
that will hide the sphere inside
the model.
If I have enough time, I would
like to consider adding a lower
jaw to the model to give a better
impression of teeth.

19. This screenshot shows how I began to create
the body of my wolf. This is where my
drawing of the wolf’s body structure comes
into use.
I have begun to create the basic body shape
of my mech and plan to create the armour
for it over the top.
This is to avoid any hollow space that may
been seen between the pieces of armour;
particularly around any cogs or machinery
that will be embedded into the sides of the
mech.
However, this did mean that I had less
time to model the armour because I needed
to dedicate time to getting the body shape
right.

20. To build the shoulder of my mech, I started off with the circular shape that would be on the centre of the
shoulder to act as a joint. This is shown on the left-hand side screenshot. The screenshot on the right shows
how I have taken different boxes and converted them into editable polys in order to distort their shape.
These shapes are used as the armour. I have also used spheres that have been cropped by altering the
hemisphere amount to show the joint lower down on the top of the leg.

21. I used the shoulder joint as a starting point for the front leg, so I started building from the top of the leg
down. I used two boxes that I converted to editable polys. I was then able to move the polygons, edges and
vertexes as required. I found that the legs were particularly hard to model due to shaping and matching the
proportions with the body.

22. To continue from the development of the leg, I created the
paws. At the beginning, I was planning to start from the feet
so I did an experiment with the foot (see right). I turned boxes
into editable polys and used tools such as bevel, extrude, inset
and chamfer.
When it was time for me to make the
paws, I didn’t think that my first attempt
suited the style of the mech so I redid the
paws. I created them using the drawing of
my final design (see left) by creating a
‘ChamferBox’ and straightening out the
bottom. I scaled down a sphere to create the
claws and moved the vertexes to give the
claw a point.

23. For the body of the mech, I
built it so that it would get
thinner towards the back.
This is so I could make the
shoulders look bulkier.
I created the armour by
overlapping boxes of different
sizes. Each of these boxes
have been converted into
editable polys so that I could
create a variety of different
shapes and structures. The
armour for the shoulders were
built bigger so they would
extend out further when
overlapped; again, adding to
the bulky effect.

24. To create the hind leg, I used two boxes;
one for the thigh and one for the lower leg.
Before I converted the boxes into editable
polys, I made sure that I had several
segments for the thigh box and three
segments for the lower leg.
By adding extra segments beforehand, it
allowed me to create the needed shapes a
lot easier by moving the polygons and edges
around at different angles (e.g. the lower
leg goes in 3 separate directions, which is
why I added three segments).
I found that the hind leg was the hardest
part of my mech to model, mainly because
of proportions. Because I decided it would be
easier for me to build the thigh using a
separate box from the lower leg, I had to
match the proportions not only to the body
but also to the lower leg and paws.

25. Though I expected it to be hard, I found
it really easy to create the tail. To model
it, I created a cylinder which I converted
into an editable poly. I then selected the
bottom face and used to inset tool before
extruding it. This makes the shape that
is extruded out a bit smaller. I kept
repeating this until the cylinder had
become very thin. I then selected the
vertexes at the end of the tail and used
the ‘weld’ tool to join them up into a
point.
At this point, the tail was straight so to
get it to bend, I used the ‘Bend’ tool and
altered the values to control the angle
and direction of the tail.

26. The left screenshot shows the completed model without any texture. To begin my texturing, I chose a base colour to
work from so I applied a metallic paint texture to the entire mech. You can see the results of this in the render on
the right.

27. I textured the head with different
types of metal that would contrast
well. I also used a red glass
material for the part representing
the ears.
For the visor. I followed the red
colouring, but I chose to add a
glow to it. To do this, I applied a
red texture with self-illumination.
I then used a lens effect in the
effects menu and added a glow. I
then changed the values to alter
the size of the glow and its
intensity. This took some time as I
had to experiment to find out the
best intensity.

28. For the shoulders, I wanted to add some
grating texture onto it so I used the UVW
Unwrap tool and creating the diffuse map
in Photoshop. I also created a grayscale
version in which I altered the levels to
create a bump map so the grating would
stand out more.
I did go back to the diffuse map in
Photoshop at a later time to darken the
colour of the texture. The light texture on
the shoulder blades was too light so it
looked odd on the mech.
I also made a change to the shoulders by
scaling them larger. This is because I
thought that they were too small so by
increasing their size, I could make the
shoulders look bigger and bulkier.

29. The renders below shows my completed mech from a front and back view; however, these are not my final
renders as I have not included any lighting at this point. The next two slides show my first render and
my final render.

35. While I am happy with my final render, there are some
changes or additions that I would like to make.
For the section above the hind leg, I would like to add
some grating to the side faces.
As the hind legs were one of the last things that I
modelled, I wasn’t able to spend as much time on them as
I would have liked due to the time limit. Currently, they
are very basic with no detail. I would like to use the
‘Boolean’ tool to engrave plating edges into the leg. I
would also like to create rivets and other bolts to identify
the joints of the leg. I would also like to add some armour
to it to thicken it up a bit.

36. Along the back and body of the mech, I would
Along the neck, I would like to look at adding rivets and different types
like to add wires that of bolts just to add some extra detail.
connect to the back of the
head. I also want to use the
‘Boolean’ tool to cut a gap
into the side of the neck so
you can see cogs inside the
mech that I will build.
I would like to use the
‘Boolean’ tool to engrave
plating edges into the leg
and the joint at the
shoulder. I am also
considering adding a light
red glow to the gaps to
match the glow of the
visor.