Dissertation conclusion

When I started the dissertation I was quite focused on making it purely animation-based, with the hope that I could scope it easily in the future. Before long it became apparent to me that although I could create 3D animations, I wasn't learning anything particularly new. On the 17th of March I officially changed my dissertation goal substantially, focusing on the entire creation process of a 3D character. including animations.

At first I was slightly skeptical of how well the new dissertation direction would go, and feared that I would run out of time. Today I have a fully rigged and textured 3D character with 4 animations of a fairly high standard, and I'm pleased with the results. I now feel confident that I could create a wide range of characters for 3D applications such as games and animations, and I also feel confident that I could animate them  too.

Although I'm pleased with the results, there are elements which I feel could have gone better. To start with, timing was a big issue, as I didn't know how long each process would take. I gave an estimated guess for my timeline and was fairly accurate, but ended up with less time to animate than I felt comfortable with. This was mainly due to all of the new research I had to do in order to rig my character.

There are also slight errors in the rigging and animations for the model which I would improve with more time. These errors include some odd stretching in the shoulders and neck, and juttery frames of animation when the cycles loop.

When working with 3D characters in the future I'm going to try to do all of the research I need before starting, instead of getting half way into the process and having to fix errors as I go. I would also like to try creating more advanced characters in the future, giving them cloth and hair with physics coupled with more advanced facial rigging for lip syncing and better facial control.

In conclusion, despite there being minor errors and complications in the creation process, I have learnt a great deal of information which I can use again in the future. I feel that the skills that I've learnt will greatly aid my search for a job within the games industry.