maternity app - freelance job

A month ago I got hired to do a job through the working academy. Since they don't require signing an nda, it's possible for me to make a post here.
My task was to Model and rig a mother and a baby + some of the organs of the mother. This is to be used in a maternity educational app on android devices.

The client's target art style was pretty much in copying this picture they found on shutterstock:

So at first I was told that the models are to be pre-rendered- I made them high res. Then it was decided that the models should run animated in real time within the app.
So then reduce their poly count. Luckily when I initially modeled them, they were designed to work with a subdivision modifier to get their final "smooth" look so reducing the poly count wasn't hard.

They required the mother's face to be neutral - not belonging to any specific ethnicity or having too much character. Realizing that this neutrality is very much determined by the shader's properties as well as the shape, I decided to use a material that is as close to the target art style as possible. It was also important for this material to be game friendly. Creating a matcap(inkscape) allowed me to achieve the look in real time in the opengl viewport. Unity has a matcap shader, so in theory this should run in the game engine.In any case having this for previewing purposes helped me sell the model and get it approved. I needed to first pitch the approach - at the time thinking they will be prerendering the animations:

The woman is using a matcap (or any shader that gets similar look- it can be a  ramp shader) The material is really not transparent, but the organs are showing on top of the mesh, even though they are inside it in terms of 3d space.The rim light and the subtle darker tone towards the middle of the matcap sphere helps reinforce the illusion that the mesh is transparent.
In blender its a matter of toggling "xray" for the organs geometry in their viewport render attributes. Maya is a similar story. You can alternatively use passes and composit them together (if you are doing prerendered clips).

It was suggested to simply use a transparent shader. I tried it and found some practical issues with that approach:

Both characters are based on a man mesh I made a few months ago. Reusing geometry is a nice way to save time in some cases. I still had to change the edgeflow to follow some curves better.
At the first pass the client requested to reduce the blocky-ness on the buttox of the woman. So I added more topology where it was needed to be more curved.
Modelling the baby was more challenging, because it was important for it to have that "newborn" look. There was a lot of play with proportions.

Dominique Lane provided concept art images for reference. I followed those closely as it was what the client approved. They later decided to remove the hair for the woman. For the organs there were references on the web. Dom provided concept art for those as well. I Looked at lots of pictures of babies and pregnant women. The poly count can be reduced more but was told to stop doing that :D
In total ALL the models(+organs) in the scene are 17 000 triangles. But all of the models are not going to be visible at all times.

The organs are made using lots of modifiers, making them easy to edit later on, while also being low poly. Blender has a nice "decimate" modifier that can  non destructively reduce poly count- it's not ideal for everything, but it's handy in a few cases such as irregular static shapes. If you want to keep your mirror modifier, but still have some asymmetry, you can combine it with a simple latice modifier.

Rigging and skinning was the easiest part, because it didn't need approval from the client.It took a day for both with a rigging script- skinning taking the majority of the time.

A big part of this job for me was communicating with the client and the other team members, waiting for feedback, asking questions that weren't answered in the brief, etc.

For the model of the mother is good to note that they required a pregnant and non pregnant version. To achieve that I gave her a "belly" controller that is driving a joint. It is completely possible to animate her pregnancy progression by scaling/moving/rotating it. The skinning was a big part of getting that part right. Unity and most game engines don't do blendshapes very well or it is too expensive as far as I know.
This project was a slightly weird experience, that was still enjoyable. Here's hoping that it will find it's way to an android device! That part depends on the rest of the team.

lessons learned from freelance jobs 2009-2013

I did a number of freelancer jobs in the last few years. That helped me immensely in learning to work with clients.

Animation for a documentary intro in 2011
Sometime in my second year of university I got in touch with Elaine who at the time lived in Japan. She asked me to do a 2d animation intro for a japanese documentary about football.
The project got to the rough animation outline stage, which she really liked.

It was going great. However at that time the power plant disaster hit Japan, so  the project was discontinued. I'm not sure that was the cause but it looks like it is related somehow. I did not get paid  yet. She is very nice  - recommending me to other people. Sometimes a project will get discontinued, not because the client is bad or you are bad. It's just life- nothing is certain. So get payment in advance- to guarantee you are not working for free.

Mr Jigglebuns 2013
I was to model, texture and rig a character based on a single reference image- for the front view. The character design is by a guy called Brian. We got this to the end of the modelling part + his requested revisions. He wasn't sure what he wanted for the character. He asked for revisions which were not included in his own concept art (like adding more fur, a bigger and more defined bum and in the end even adding pants)...It's a cat with a big butt that jiggles when dancing. Do you get that impression from the picture? :D


I made sure that the contract I requested for the project includes a clause for the extra features. In the end I didn't get a contract to sign and there was no NDA. I haven't heard from the client in almost half a year now so I  post the WIP screen shots declaring this project to be dead. A few hours worth of work wasted, but at least I have the model and some screenshots :)
This experience taught me about the importance of freelance job contracts. Really really tight contracts with detailed clauses. It's something that I should have started working on after having such a contract sorted. It also taught me the importance of getting to know a client. The more you know, the better for both of you.

The  Salmon Road
In 2009 I made a book cover illustration.

It was a proper paid job with a contract. I worked closely with the publisher to make sure the book looks good when printed.  The client in that case was a smart guy who knew exactly what he wanted and worked very closely with me to get it. He had a lot of input on it. Everything was A-ok, everyone was happy in the end. I got paid as expected.

I learned two things from the job. First of all Printing technology has a limited colour Gamut compared to rgb. It's important to get your colours in that gamut (CMYK mode) and show the client how it will look like when printed. Colours can completely change the mood of a piece. details may get lost in printing. You may have to do lots of colour correction and print tests.
The second thing was about creativity. My first version of the cover was in caligraphy style. It was originally intended to be on one of the pages of the book. The bird had no colour- it was stylized. But the client requested that I put it underwater, give it volume, give it colour. That is when I realized- It's not my vision- it's his. And I must follow it as closely as possible even if I have to loose something that was good in the first place. I may always have an ideal version of the work in my head, but the one that is to be submitted should and must fit with the vision of the client.


The Working Academy jobs
Since the start of 2013 I have been taking part time freelance jobs for
 the working academy at Bradford University.

They are a bit like an agency and have real company clients. I am currently doing some work for them.
There is no NDA in this perticular case, so I can share previous work.
The BBC and The Bradford Media Museum needed three mini games for the big screen in town - and to be used at festivals. The working academy hired me to create some animated sprites for the games. I had to make sure they are made in a way that is good for the programmers - in this case "Gaslight Games" - a local game's company. The highlight of that experience was spending a day at Gaslight Games to finish off the sprites and fix some stuff on other people's sprites.




Some lessons learned over the years

• Do not start work on a project before both you and the client have a contract that you agree on- outlining in detail the work and the deadline(s).
•  Make sure that you get an advance payment upon signing the contract - if you can. Some clients might get you to work on something for weeks or even months before the promised payment. And the payment might never come when the project is suddenly discontinued.
• Break the project into green light stages - keep the client updated and get as much input as possible. Make sure you also break the payment into stages if possible.
• It's a very common case with freelance clients that they make you do much more work than what you expected.  The more they are unsure of what they want, the more problematic it will be for you to deliver it on time. It's important that  they find that vision early. If they don't have any mock ups or concept art, request it or make it. If their project has unclear goals, make them clear things up. Ask all the questions you need in order to fill in  the gaps. If they want you to explore an idea with variations, that should be something you agreed to do in the start. If they ask for more (as a result of changing their mind) then they must pay extra for the extra work. Make sure that's covered in the contract.
• Give them your input as well- early on. Let them know about any potential risks on the project. Explain possible ways to approach challenges. It depending on whom you're dealing with of course, so have that in mind as well.

It will be great to get some input from you folk of the web? Do you have any client stories you'd love to share? Any advice on working as a freelancer? I want to hear from you, learn from you. :)
So far the more freelancing I do, the more it makes me wish I had a normal job.