Halo Combat Evolved Grunt Character 3D Model
When beginning work on the Grunt I followed the same design process I had done for all of my previous 3D character models in semester one. With firstly taking in the source material, this just included watching some short video of the character model from the original game and making notes on key identifying features. Secondly I began compiling a mood board on the free to use software PureRef which is used by many working in industry such as Raf Grassetti the head character artist at Santa Monica Studios. Finally I begin the basic block out just using primitive shapes available in Blender. This mostly includes adding cube primitives to scene, subdividing them by two and use the sculpt brush grab to move the shapes around. This was as far as I got in this update.
(Below you can see the original character in the video game Halo Combat Evolved)
One thing that set this project and the overall process aside is my goal to not only create this character but to in turn also create a reimagining of an environment from the game. My plan is to develop this scene in the Unreal Engine, the reason for this will be explained in a dedicated blog post to this scene. Undertaking this mini project meant I needed to begin to research real world environment reference along with looking into the process the designers had for making architecture in the world, so that I'm able to have my own take on the world. When picking real-world reference that I felt match the same vibe of the environments seen in the game, I looked to the most recent instalment in the series Halo Infinite where the devs have noted that they have taken reference from Icelandic areas for their game world. Below you can see the two initial pieces of reference to show the mix I want to get at. The image on the left shows an example of an islandic terrain I wish to capture in the environment piece And the Image on the Right shows architecture from halo I wish to incorporate into the scene. When beginning to research their design process behind the making the architecture I was quick to find out something I was already pretty certain on and that is that they took inspiration from brutalist architecture in the real world for their alien structures.
Below you can see the current version of the mood board before I jump into plotting the base sculpt or laying out the environment. The mood board incorporates reference for the 3D unreal engine scene I wish to create with reference to Brutalism and in linking to that architecture in Yugoslavia brutalist concrete movement which at first sight I fell in love with as it feels soo alien yet built with purpose which we just couldn't understand. Along with the halo brutalist inspired building reference I have also got a section with reference for environment's in the game and Icelandic environment reference for real world reference. When coming to the grunt design I included several representations of the design throughout the games, though mostly concentrated on the original designs from the one I wish to recreate. It was good though to incorporate images of these designs as there good take a ways with the level of detail to implement on certain areas. I've also got some real world reference of animals I feel can be used when bringing more detail into the features that are present on the character such as the use of a Komodo dragon, as I felt the original design's skin looked similar to the grey scales on a Komodo dragon. For the multiple bone/horn protrusions that are over the grunts body I used multiple images of goats and gazelle's horn for reference though I feel it will take a lot of experimentation with the horn parts to get the design right. The last animal reference I have present on the mood board currently, are images of a hairless pug to use when designing the face, the reference was mostly to show the sort of personality I wanted to capture in the character's face as in the game their personality is quite light hearted.
Below is another reason I wanted to incorporate elements of a pug into the design, the video that is posted below is a behind the scenes video for the upcoming game (at time of writing) Halo Infinite. The video shows how they're making several sound effects including voice notes for the character I'm creating by recording noises made by a pug.
Below you can see more close ups of the current mood board at this stage of the project. Including all the animal reference and in game character imaged along with the environment and architecture reference as well. This mood board will expand when I begin to specialise more on areas of the model and scene when needed, though for now I feel comfortable with the current state of the model.
Another source for reference I wanted to make sure to have was close up videos of the character from the original game. As this is a game that came out in 2001 the only way really to get this reference was from Modder's videos on YouTube. The purpose of these videos seems to be testing and playing around with the games sand box though they are great for using as reference for the character in game. Below you can see the main video I used as reference for character in game.
Another reference I used when researching this character was a compilation of audio files from the game. One aspect I really wanted to capture in this design was the personality of the character seen in the game and even though I have plenty of reference of how he looks personally I wanted to have reference of how he sounded as this was a big indicator on his personality and how he held himself which in my opinion is extremely important to keep note of when sculpting the base shape and positioning him. Below you can see the compilation video of the audio files.
With all of this research compiled it was time to finally start the block out of the shape. Below you can see the final shape of this stage, this is a simple step and just includes adding a cube primitive to the scene, subdividing it twice then going into to sculpt mode to push and pull the model around. The base model here is built up of 8 base cubes which where subdivided twice, majority of them use mirror modifiers along with this. Mirroring the objects allowed for areas like the legs and arms to be quickly made as I would only have to work on one side of the model with the other side being updated in Realtime.
After all of this was completed over the span of about 2 Hours, I was left with this final shape. The model is definitely still at the stage where it will be pushed around more to establish the base shape but the foundations are in place. The stage you can see above is a result of going through to each stage and switching over into sculpt mode, remeshing to a higher poly count and using the grab brush once again to push and pull the shape to get a resemblance of the source material as its in the details further down line I will improve the original creation of the design. I will update progress on this character piece in a following up blog post in my portfolio progress page.