The second rapid ideation session commences tomorrow. Much like the first, a theme will be revealed and I will produce a creative artefact based on that theme. In the meantime, I have considered a goal that I would like to accomplish in this rapid ideation session. I have decided that I want to do something very different to the first rapid ideation session.
It has been a long time since I have done 3D graphics and while I used to do this a lot in Maya during my bachelors’ degree, I realise in retrospect that I only really scraped the surface of 3D graphics as I specialised in character animation and rigging fairly early on and did not have a lot of opportunity to explore other areas, such as modelling or dynamics.
Since my bachelors’ degree, I have focused largely on 2D graphics but I have been very keen to revisit 3D graphics. I have had a few sporadic explorations of 3D graphics using Blender, but I would like to use this rapid ideation session to develop this further. While I have a working knowledge of Blender and I have created things using it before, I would like to develop this.
I have therefore set myself the following goal for this second rapid ideation session:
To rejuvenate my skills and knowledge within 3D graphics and to become more proficient in Blender by designing, modelling and rigging a character for a game within two weeks.
I have written this goals so that it is concise and adheres to the SMART criteria that I spoke about in a previous post.
This goal is specific, as I have stated precisely what I want to accomplish, what I intend to make and how I intend to make it.
The goal is measurable as how far I have rejuvenated and developed various skills will be determined by the character that I build in Blender.
This goal is largely achievable, as it acknowledges that I may lack certain skills to create a fully rigged character in Blender, but focuses largely on the learning process. How far I get into the creation of my game character will depend on how quickly I develop my skills. The more my skills develop, the closer I will come to achieving this goal.
The goal is relevant as it does add up to long term and short term goals. I want to use this rapid ideation session to revisit and improve my 3D graphics skills and the project that I have set myself will allow me to do this.
Lastly, the goal is timebound. Much like the first rapid ideation session, this one is two weeks long and therefore I have two weeks in which to accomplish this goal.
Kanban board
As I spoke about in the last post, I have decided to use an Agile framework called Kanban, named as such because it is based around the use of a Kanban board.
I have set up a Kanban board on Trello, which I intend to use for the duration of this rapid ideation session to track my progress. The board can also be accessed from the link labelled ‘Rapid Ideation Session 2’ under the Project Management section on the right hand sidebar.
The board is split into four lists – To do, In Progress, On hold and Done. These speak for themselves and probably do not need explaining. These may be subject to change if I find there is the need to add more lists or even remove a list.
I have already listed several tasks that I know will be required when building a character in Blender. These include designing, modelling, rigging, UV mapping and texturing. I have also added a task to cover the brainstorming and ideation, where I will attempt to create a character that I will then build. In addition to this, I have also added another task which involves transferring my character to Unity so that I can add them to a game environment. These tasks will be subject to be split into multiple tasks if this is necessary.
As per the Kanban framework, I intend to set a limit on the amount of tasks that are in progress at a given time. For the time being, I will set this limit at 3 tasks. This means that I must not work of more than 3 tasks at any given time. This may be subject to revision and change if I find 3 tasks is too stringent to stick to.
GitHub repository
The focus of this week is version control and when I set about creating my project in Blender, there will need to be a mechanism in place to ensure that I can manage all versions and that I am able to access earlier versions of the work if necessary.
I have made use of Github’s tutorials (Guides.github.com. n.d) to get set up with a Github account, but also to create a repository for my rapid ideation session.
It is pretty bare at the moment, but the repository for my repository can be found here: https://github.com/jamespwaters/RapidIdeationSession2
I have not done a lot in this so far, but I intend to analyse using a Git repository as part of the process of version control as I progress with this rapid ideation session.
I will also need to ensure that I maintain version control by not overriding my project file each time but by ensuring that I save multiple versions. This way, if anything catastrophic happens during the project, I will always have previous versions to fall back on.
References
Guides.github.com. n.d. Hello World · GitHub Guides. [online] Available at: <https://guides.github.com/activities/hello-world/> [Accessed 9 March 2021].
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