Bringing Characters to Life: From 2D to 3D

What’s up Planeteers? Today we interview our Lead 3D Artist and Animator, Marc!

 

Planeteers has amazing 3D environments and characters, and top notch animations! With a trained hand and an imaginative mind, Marc spent almost half a year sculpting, rigging and then animating everything that you see in-game. Talk about determination!

 

Let’s jump into the interview!

 

CM: Hi Marc! Thank you very much for making time. Can you give us a bit of an introduction?

 

MA: Sure! Hi everyone, I’m the Lead 3D Artist and Animator for Planeteers. I sculpted your avatar and Socket! I also did all the animations you see in-game.

 

CM: Let’s get to thequestions! First up, what inspired you to work as a 3D artist?

 

MA: As a kid, I wondered how awesome cartoons and fantasy shows were produced. Since then, animation captured my curiosity. I took up a related course in college and learned so many exciting stuff that gave me the skills to produce some of my own ideas.

 

CM: That’s neat! So have you worked on any other projects before?

 

MA: Yup! Before I got into game development, I did special effects for commercials and other local films. A lot of people will see what I’m doing, so I really needed to have a keen eye for detail. Thanks to these projects, I got the chance to really hone my skills.

 

CM: What a challenge! So how did doing the 3D models and animations for Planeteers feel?

 

MA: It was fun! Planeteers is the biggest project I’ve ever done. Usually, I just do parts of a project, but for the game, I did all the sculpting and rigging, and the animations. Seeing all the parts come together was very rewarding.

 

CM: Can you explain ‘rigging’ some more? Is that related to animation?

 

MA: Rigging is the process of adding joints, pivots or skeletons to your model. When you have these parts, it’ll make the model movements easier to control.

 

CM: So where do you start when you create a character? And what are the steps?

 

MA: It all starts with a concept from our artists. When the concept is ready, we’ll make a flat turnaround model then sculpt it into 3D. The 3D model is usually just gray, so we’ll do some coloring and texturing to make it look realistic. If the model’s all approved, we can start rigging it. With all that prepared, the last step is adding movement animation.

 

CM: During the development of the game, what would you say is the greatest challenge?

 

MA: That would be the animations for the animals. Some of them share the same movement, but they have different body types, and some of them rested in a different position. I had to be very careful with the movement transitions, or they’ll look super weird 😛

 

CM: That does sound tough! What about your favorite part?

 

MA: The best part would be making the models for the characters. While you’re sculpting, you get a lot of ideas on how cool it would turn out when movement is added. It turned out great for Planeteers.

 

CM: I can’t agree more! Any words for our fellow Planeteers who are into 3D animation?

 

MA: Just keep practicing and never lose hope. I know that 3D animation is a bit intimidating at first, but mastering it just takes practice and is very rewarding… the things you can do are amazing!

 

CM: Great stuff, and thank you for sharing your experience with the fans.

 

There you have it Planeteers! Hope you enjoyed today’s interview… knowing more about the game’s production is really exciting!

 

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Until next time, happy exploring! 🙂