3D Modeling

I have a lot of experience 3D modeling. In fact, I was already working on 3D modeling long before I ever started writing code. At this point, I have no idea how I got introduced to 3D modeling in the first place ... but I do know what got me invested: "Learning Blender: A Hands-On Guide To Creating 3D Animated Characters" by Oliver Villar. Blender is the software I used when I started out, as well as the software I still use today. I've tried other modelers like Maya, but in my opinion Blender is by still the smoothest and most convenient modeler to use. It helps that it's free, too.

After spending a good chunk of my free time modeling, sculpting, texturing, wrapping, rigging and animating, I would say that I have two 3D modeling projects that I am particularly proud of.

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Basemesh

I wish I could say this one is finished, but it isn't. Right now, I'm in the process of sculpting a full-body 3D model of a woman, to be used as a female basemesh. While this mesh wouldn't be used for any particular project, it would serve as the starting point for any female character I would be making in the future. Most game and animation studios create human characters this way — by starting with a base model and editing it until it resembles the new mesh. I also planned on modeling a male basemesh to go along with this one, but that's only in the planning stages at this point.

Robot Enemies

I originally created this "maul-wielding" robot for a project in my junior year of college at Shawnee State University. The total time it took to model, rig, animate, and implement this robot in Unreal Engine 4 was about a week. This was my first time working with UE4. This was also my first time modeling and animating a full game asset. Looking back, I still have no idea how I finished it this quickly.

These are a few other frames taken from the robot's animations. I created this asset entirely in Blender.

Once I created the intial robot, it was easy to create another enemy using it as a base. Since I had already created a melee enemy, the obvious next step was to create a ranged enemy. I gave it an enirely new set of animations, to better differentiate it in gameplay from the melee robot.

Here is what the robot looks like in Unreal Engine 4's blueprints system. Both enemies were implemented through blueprints, complete with their own animation sets and behavior.

This is a screenshot of the game project, nicknamed "Eternal Circuit," that the robot enemies appeared in. The red robot is the melee robot, while the purplish-blue robot is the ranged one. I co-developed this project with a few other students; the enemies were my main contribution.