The Encyclopaedia of Riding Poses

Never think something is easy before you have ever done it!

But are you humans really alright doing this… on a horse…….

Blender really drove me crazy when I was firstly doing the animations with more than one pair of the rider, which was the two humans on a camel one. Because I used the same rider prefab appended into the model, the two humans were always in the same poses although they have respective rig. And if I made multiple actions for one model, like the common horse, then they always messed up with some actions seemingly gone nowhere.

So I stopped to look for some explanations systematically for the action editor to avoid keeping wasting my time trying to clear up things or losing my animations that I paid great efforts on….

This should be basic knowledge of using Blender but I still wrote it down here… So actually each single object can take only one action at one time. That object is the ‘user’ of that action, and each action can have multiple users which is shown as the number after the action’s name (4 in the picture). When no one uses the action, it will disappear after closing the file; and F is a fake user which means there will always be the user for the action.

So when I used two humans on the camel, they were identical because I was trying to make them in the same action… and they got alright after I allocated them into different actions. And I can keep many actions for one model which is obviously better for my importing them into Unity later.

But I was still quite worried if Unity can play the different tracks for one model since I had just done some simple single animations before. So in this project for the first time I opened Unity and created my project today lol.

 

 

The model imported into Unity is still separated by object as they were in Blender. And actually I just set the default take and it was exactly how I saved the animation (set it ‘legacy’ and loop time to make it keep animating). However, some small things in the models did not work properly, like the eyeballs. I made them separate objects to the body, but in Unity they came out of the head, and also I feel the relative position of the humans to the camel is slightly changed. This is not a good sign… but for now I just test if the animation can work in Unity so that I can go on with my work in Blender.

Anyway, so far more than a half of the circle has been done. I now get quite familiar with the process of parenting the rider prefab with the bone of the mount where he sits on, and then making the animation for other parts of the body.

Did very delicate key frames for not only the body pose but also the gesture and facial expressions, and cleaned up the problems in weight paint along the work. Now feel great satisfaction when looking at these together! Really hard work literally did nothing but this for the whole days but the time is still extremely tight for the tremendous pit I have dug for myself……….

Animation: the Riders

Decided to go on with completing circuit after the last set of work done, probably a much organised way of working with such a massive project. As many humans in that circuit have quite different poses, even interacting mutually, I suppose I should make everyone a single model although I cannot figure out if it is the right way of professional process (however, as soon as I was typing the last sentence I suddenly found that I should have made them in multiple animations of a single model instead of multiple models since many of them have just the same elements!!)

I did not work a lot this weekend but the first four pieces was quite smooth and I feel the process will be not as long as making all the quadrupeds. The only problem now is that in Blender, the frame rate went really slow to about 3-4 when the human object added, and I still have no idea if it is going to affect the Unity project – but I cannot do anything at this stage to change it even if it would do.

Animal Modelling – Quadrupeds Day 3

Finally finished everyone (however, just the mounts) in the circuit. I am feeling exhausted especially when thinking about this is just a small part of the whole work……

I found that I actually left all those don’t-know-what things for the last day and that might be why I felt so tired today.

Like the rabbit/cat, the bear’s face is also very different with the horse-like animals which needs a rebuild, a different shape of the body and different paws. I won’t say tail and ears though because everyone has its own kind.

The pig, or porcupine. The hair on its back drove me crazy but I would not say so after making the next one… Quite like the shape though comparing to the bear which seems kind of too cartoon.

Totally no idea what this big shaggy is. I can only see its head on the painting but that is interesting enough to imagine its body!

A griffin. This guy seems really cool but I had totally no idea how to reform from something else, so I just re-modelled it from zero which took me the whole night.

I thought I had finished but suddenly found this guy on the left-down corner of the circuit, raising his head up high and looking like a frog or something… I had lost all my patience to think about what it should be and made it always like the position it is on the painting. Quite nice though! Lol.

Animal Modelling – Quadrupeds Day 2

Keep finishing the quadrupeds in the circuit but still have not finished by the end of today. Hope things could get smoother when I make those without the rigging, weight painting and animating later…..

This is the one with birds standing on its horn so it moves most steadily.

A happy animal!

This is a cat-like animal who has a don’t-know-what thing on his head, and it took me great time because its face is much different with others and there is a problem of this animation that makes its frame rate really low, but I have not figured out why. Hope it will not affect my game though…

This deer’s horn seems quite flexible so I added this whip-like animation for it. But for now I am thinking that it will be really fun and a rich scene when these mysterious creatures walk together!

Animal Modelling – Quadrupeds

New models reformed from the horse for now.

I am using the way as below to take note of what I have done and what is the file I named for it, and the blue ones are the normal horses.

I had really good time observing and modelling these weird creatures, feeling like the work has finally come into a period of more fun, and that I now have the right to decide and design something (although it is now still based on the 2D image).

And I found I am so fond of this flat-shading sense of sculpture they look. It does not really make sense if I say this looks more delicate than the smooth shape because it is actually rough, but maybe it is because then it feels like the artwork from a craftsman with every corner carefully cut, rather than a industrial auto-produced smoothness. I think I am going to import the sculptural shading version to my scene later, but I am not that sure since it depends on how the texture should go as well, and I don’t know if the straight faces will look bad when they are far away.

Donkey, the first one of today with smooth shading

some others with the sculptural shading.

Another interesting thing is I found a rabbit-like animal in right back of the circuit. The head is quite obvious although the body is blocked. It is so eccentrically cute but I was stuck because I did not know how I should make its body. I gave it the body of all other horse-like things. A long-leg rabbit. Then I was trying to give it a different armature animation of a rabbit, but it turned out that it was like just a giant rabbit which is obviously not how the long-leg rabbit should move. So I went back to the normal animation again. Still looks really eccentric!

Game Inspirations, Academic Explanations, and Design Concepts

These days I am reading the book Hieronymus Bosch Garden of Earthly Delights by Hans Belting, to necessarily understand the work better, and hopefully, to find answers to my own unsureness about my project.

The theme being “a digital garden of earthly delights”, it should be a must that there are elements from the original painting which are of great quantity and variety. However, as I am doing the modelling for the weeks, I now get really stuck in a confusion of what I am doing and what it is going to be. I thought it would be fabulous because the painting needs to be animated, explained and digitalised and it has tremendous space to be imagined and developed, while by time I found I am, and will be spending days and nights doing nothing but making models exactly as what has been set in graphics, even so slowly and cannot achieve the quality of the original. There will be really lack of the “design” and I cannot see where my value is other than a poor labourer.

I am now reconsidering what makes my project special. But the first thing I need to be sure about is that I am not making only a restoration, but thinking about what I can possibly add on and change, making it a project “based on” this triptych, considering the time I have. I need to make choices about the priority that what can remain in my project and where I am going – it seems that I have really been evasive about this.

 

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Narratives & Interactions

From all the materials I have been looking at, there are actually few things scholars have reached consensus, even on the very basic things like whether it really conveys specific messages or it is just a personal artistic imagination; and there are only all kinds of interpretations, or people think it is overlooked in interpretations. In fact, even the title is not named by the painter himself: he really left no notion at all, calling for the viewers to undertake their own imagination.

And Belting explains the viewing as a consciously non-linear narrative as well:

We are given a view of them that was old-fashioned even then. It is a view that precludes a fixed viewing point which had become already the norm in painterly perspective. Instead, it creates a view from above, redolent of early illuminated manuscripts, that offers a survey of a broader narrative space. Indeed, as in a medieval simultaneous stage, spatial perception actually functions as a means of narrative rather than from a new spatio-temporal viewpoint… He registers the world as it is without subjecting what goes on in the world to any linear narrative.

This provides the opportunity for me to offer a free-exploration with an interactive “map”/ intelligent guide in this project. As my initial intention, it is not a storytelling or as many places of interests where you have to follow their audio guide, but you will be able to discover what appeals to you most. And at those certain points, the interactions are triggered.

So there are ways I am thinking or inspired for the interactions:

Firstly as a “treasure map”.

I saw the GIF of a game called Isoland, being a relation of a game scene from a certain perspective and a drawing of that. This reminded me of the drawings related to the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch himself. And this could be how the viewers look for the places according to what they have been given, which could also be a special impression deepening for those important points, or a kind of collection.

A Chinese indie game Isoland.

The Tree Man, Drawing, Bosch

And the online documents also show the possibility of doing this: the Wikimedia Commons page, and also the interactive documentary of this painting I mentioned in another post of related projects before.

The page on Wikimedia Commons. It has annotations and the interactive frames for details where important.

Secondly, as kind of digital annotations.

This HUD styled visual effect is getting popular but not only related to futurism. At first I was worried if this could be disruptive in style, but now that I decided to “design”, I would like to integrate all the possibilities to create my own things. Not necessary to be so much futurism though.

Works by N3 Design. I saved this kind of motion graphics long ago and once thought about making my final project in this field.

The interactive map in Titanic Museum.

 

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Style and Aesthetics

I did not think much about how the environment would look like at first, just regarding it as a 3D version of the original painting, trying to have a quite good quality and not using the texture directly from the painting (like Bosch VR).

However, as I spent more time on modelling, I found it really painstaking and kill a lot of time to perfect my models. It would be impossible for me to make the realistic models as well as everything at the same time myself. Then I started to think about low-poly again: will I really lose details that I want to show if I use low-poly style?

In Game Design Studio course last semester I used low-poly and it turned out quite nice, but I did not make a lot of stuff there, just to simplify the environment and express the ideas in Calvino’s book Invisible Cities. Except that I did not have time to learn the software to create beautiful models, a main reason was that I thought it would destroy the imaginary space if I visualised that extremely abstract content in a very detailed and specific way.

When I was making models for the final project this time, I have been thinking that I am visualising something not abstract in its appearance, into a non-abstract look. I now realise this is probably why I am confused: if the triptych needs a serious 3D restoration, it would not be a task for me who is not a professional 3D modeller; if I am doing a design project, it cannot be that I just re-make it in Blender and Unity. And would it really damage something if the subdivision of a eccentric monster is 4 or 8 faces, or the shading is flat or smooth? What is the idea that Bosch wants to show, what the humankind is doing and the atmosphere or a realistic-looking world?

The answer is obvious if I do not stress the realistic restoration any more. But I may still draw from the academic analysis on this issue.

Belting describes this painting as “unfettered venture into the realms of the imagination“, and he also refers to the words of an American writer Peter S. Beagle, that it is “as a place filled with the intoxicating air of perfect liberty.“

Yes it actually can be seen as a compromise to the pressure, but also I do feel that it is a right choice since the work could seem better integrated if I am not able to make the realistic look (after all, the results of realistic style by some professional team of games in the market is not so satisfactory).

 

There is also the description “an erotic derangement that turns us all into voyeurs” by Beagle, which is the point I consider to define how the viewers/players exist in this project. So after everything is set at the position according to the painting, I will make a place at a higher position at the very front of the scenes for the player to start with, from where the view is just similar to what can be seen from the picture as possible; and then he or she can move down and into the scene as like.

 

So I would draw on some nice game aesthetics to illustrate the kind of style I am heading for.

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1. Firewatch. I really love the layered colours and the lightings in this game. It is said that they wrote the scripts to make things in distance of different colour and lower poly to create this kind of look, because the fog function in game engines has only single colour and the high poly would look pixelated.

I also found a tutorial about making a 2D picture of Firewatch into 3D when I searched for images. The result is stunning and it might be useful for me later when I set my scenes. https://blog.sketchfab.com/art-spotlight-firewatch-fan-art/

 

2. The Witness. The world seems not very big when looked down but it is actually great space to explore. The non-specular shading, the decorative flora and the details are kind of what I am looking for. And there are also humans as sculptures – it could be a case how low-poly human will be like, and I think mine are going to move around though.

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3. Ori and the Blind Forest. This one is not flat styled and it is also kind of magical. But I love the layering (not able to move in 3D though), and the style here has the possibility to import the introducing elements I mentioned above.

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4. Inside. Almost exactly what I imagined for the hell panel!

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5. HK Project. This is about a cat’s adventure in a cyberpunk styled space and is still in process. I love the way that the cat is going through the world as a unnoticeable and non-affecting spectator, which is quite similar to the role of the player in my project. I thought about making it third person controlled to make a broader, more fixed and higher point of view, but it would bring new problems of how the player should be like. It is still a unsettled problem.

 

Animal Modelling – a First Discussion, and the Horse

I started modelling animals after the human meshes done.

Obviously there are numerous species, real or unrecognisable, for me being the second most significant and noticeable part/category of the work. I think it is quite interesting that after some time of reading and observation I found generally what are the animals in the each panels have rules to follow. (Click to see original images)

It seems that, while there are only Adam, Eve and the God in the first panel, the exotic creatures are more eye-catching. But then you will find that most of them appear to be very weird, many with quite horrible eyes at the bottom – yes I do not think they look like good creatures, and there are those with multiple heads, creepy reptiles, a “dog” with only two limbs, birds with strange body, unicorns and a “giraffe” – I remember a statement saying that at that time giraffe had not been imported into Europe. That is to say most of the animals in the heaven panel are the mythological ones.

But they turn quite normal in the central panel. We can see most of the animals there are common ones. Mainly three kinds: birds, fish, and quadrupeds,  looks normal and real, and stay harmonious with the earthly delights. And then in the last panel, there are few animals – and even not like animal anymore but monsters with roles and characters, and seemingly they have the authority above human, or are as the way to punish human.

But anyway, for my own project, I decided to start from the central panel where the title comes from. Actually from the very beginning I was really not sure where I could finally reach and am especially worried after I started make practical things, and thus I have been kind of prepared that I would be only able to finish one or two panels if I want to do the aspects I talked about in my proposal, and then it should be the central one, with most people, looks quite ready for an animation and would be more fun to interact with, and the right panel, which could be a great material for fascinating lightings and atmosphere that I would like to explore. They seems much more narrative after all.

So for the central panel, as why I made human first, the horses around the central pond are of the greatest quantity and similarity so will be the most efficient way to start with. Not all under the riders are horses though; there are also goats, oxen, donkeys, camels, bears, and other strange creatures. But as quadrupeds it would be easy to edit the rig.

I would say that this area is undoubtedly the most lively part of the whole triptych: it is almost animated. A round shape in the centre of the central panel, with the biggest crowd being engaged in this single activity, you can imagine how dominant it would be if the painting is a animated picture.

For the horse modelling and the rigging I mainly followed tutorials below:

blender 2.5 horse modeling PART_1 – YouTube
Animate a Moose in Blender – Part 1 The Rig – YouTube

Having looked at every single animal and the rider’s pose, I found none of them are being in a high speed of run (humans are seated steadily, some lying prone and even birds are standing on them), although several do have their forelegs up high. So I chose a mild one among the searching results of horse running frames. And according to that tutorial, I finally chose the slowest way “walk” for my animation instead of the “trot” I clicked on.

Click the image to see the original page, an incredible tutorial with many illustrations.

 

The two basic sets of poses I have made: walking and prancing for the quadrupeds.

Human Model – Female Hair, and Some Analysis

The hair of females are much more complicated than the one of males, and I have got quite a lot familiarity with the sculpture tool in Blender now. But it was a surprise that when I was looking for reference, I found there are very few females in the painting compared with the males, and especially in the hell panel.

Most of them are in the pond in the centre of the central panel

A rough overview of the sex ratio of the lower half of the central panel, where humans are most crowded. I simply suppose that Bosch distinguished male and female by their hair’s length, since all those females have extremely long hair and there is actually seldom “strange” hairstyle which cannot be told the sex. There could be some controversial ones (blocked by others) though.

Here are models I made and the reference:

The hair is with armature for changing pose and other potentially later use.

I found this woman really special because she is the only one who “are able to” tie her hair up, in a quite strange way (at least seen at today), which obviously means that she is in some ways different to all those other females in this painting. Since almost all the humans are totally nude (except some are connected with wired fruits), it does not make sense that one woman has this simply as kind of decoration. I had a quick search of medieval female hairstyle but did not get the answer immediately. But I hope there would be some explanation of this in the related works of this painting and I will also look up for the question again later. (Hey you have successfully drawn my attention!)

Progress with the Human Model – Rigging

Just finished the armature with the male model and now he is able to move his eyes and body and have facial expressions. Still have detailed problems going to be fixed though.

The tutorial I followed: Human Male Face Modeling and Face Rigging – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d71CXmn8GU
How to Rig a Human Male Base Mesh for Animation in Blender 2.69 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfXFs39bGI8

I have also made some basic hairstyles according to those in the painting.

Details from the original

The First Models of the Basic Human Shapes

I have been modelling human in Blender for the first days of the modelling plan. It is going to be massive scenes with numerous models, but great part of it will be the nude human (especially in the central & hell panels). So it would be a good choice to create the basic models of male and female, rig with the bone armatures and then edit them to be like everything more easily. It is also a good way to get familiar with the software functions and working methods as human shape is quite a complicated one and I was not in 3D modelling course so was only able to make some simple things before.

I am mainly following the tutorials below:

Modeling Human Figure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KXDtTvnfwo
Human Male Face Modeling and Face Rigging: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d71CXmn8GU
Simple Base Human Female Modeling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18EoKEJzMDE

The thing is the human I am making is not like any of them: ACG figures or muscular ones, which have plump and lively body. Humans in this painting seem weak and unhealthy: they have no muscles, but the thin figures and still the loose flab and the swelling belly, and some even show the ribs. This is an important detail I am doing to my own models.

Human details from the original painting

Human details from the original painting

Human details from the original painting