Sony Masterclass Update

After posting up the progression of the colour study, I had some advice from Mr. Anthony Minto, a fellow NCCA final year student. He was kind enough to make some quick changes in Photoshop and then send the result my way. He explained that by adding dirt and grime, it steers it away from looking too CG. He also darkened the edges by copy merging the red channel into a new layer and setting it to the 'overlay' transfer mode. I'd heard of this technique before but never used it. After attempting to replicate the changes he'd made on my own, this was what I ended up with:

I'm really really pleased with how it looks at the moment! It's so much closer to what I originally wanted to convey, but I just didn't know how to achieve it.

I also realised that I hadn't uploaded the perspective study, so here's that too:

Masterclass Project - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe [Re-Post 12-12-2011]

So with principal photography at around 90% complete after Fridays London trip it was time to start working on my Masterclass project. The aim of this project is to prove that you can complete a real-world task, in a real-world period of time. These projects are set by actual industry practitioners who think up a project centered around a specific discipline. We had several choices but in the end I chose the brief set by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) for which I would have to design and create a 20m x 20m 'cookie cutter' of a games environment using one of the landmarks in Bournemouth.

The first stage of the brief is the pre-production stage. This involved going to the locations and taking reference photos and sketches. After visiting each of the locations around town, I settled on the Bournemouth Oceanarium. I chose the Oceanarium because of it's unique architecture both on the interior and the exterior. The building has to accommodate the needs of many different exotic animals, and so skylights, nets, railing and porthole style windows are all present.

 Inside the building is even more fascinating; there are artificial rock formations in place of walls and the lighting is all engineered to convey the tone of the deep blue sea. The most interesting feature of the Oceanarium, for me, is the main tank which is dubbed; 'The Great Barrier Reef'. This tank allows you to observe from under the water using a clear glass tunnel which runs underneath, or from above on the observation deck. The ceiling above this tank features a long skylight. I love the multi-tiered nature of the room, combined with the artificial decking and rock formations. I think that this room will be the focus of my environment.