CiRsT-E robot - By TeeDeeArt

Final Render (repost of final render from 27th oct)

Ok and here we have the final render sent from stager, and then with those few bits of text and story added. (this is a repeat of the 27th oct update, to put this final render in the final spot, given some discussion in the discord that it is the last update that is automatically submitted)

I had another think about that bright music plater and really it contrasting so much adds a 2nd point of interest near the face, and is the biggest part of its story and personality, and it is meant to be seen as an accessory that it has opted to listen to, so I ended up not changing it. It looking like it doesn't belong on it is fine, because it doesn't.

Let's just do the final checklist and check that this model has met all the criteria, its the final stage and a good idea just to ensure my entry is valid, and for my own peace of mind:

1. Attempting to meet the brief - A lovable *and* cartoony cute robot. Check (if you like cheeky little snots)

2. Demonstrating skills in at least 1 substance program - Check. This was sculpted entirely in substance3d modeler, sent to zbrush for some minor repairs and decimation, before being sent to substance painter for coloring and stager for rendering with a plain image background. This render was then taken into photoshop with 0 edits, just text being added to 'set the stage' and add story of it being an add from the 80s (or rather, a retro styled ad inspired by the 80s, the actual 80s ads for technology are quite laden with words).

3. You can use additional tools eg:Maya, Blender, ZBrush - Zbrush and photoshop were minimally used, as described above. Check

4. Only minimal post production work is allowed - No editing of the images themselves were done in photoshop, only the text being added and the colour of the background to import into stager. Additionally, a render without this text has been provided below. Check

5. No third-party models/assets can be used. I sculpted this entirely myself using substance modeler. Check

6. You can reference another artist’s concept art, but make sure to ask permission and credit their work before starting - I did not reference another's concept art to make this model, it is my own design based on a broad category and era of technology. Check

7. You can create a background environment or platform to help with the story telling. Check. I have done so in the form of background text to portray it as being in a mock-advert

8. Include the hashtag #Substance3DRobotChallenge if you share on your social media. Check. I have shared a WIP on instagram using this hashtag, and will do so again on twitter and insta, using these and the substance hashtags.

9. Entries Close 25th November, 2022 - Check

10. Eligibility: You must be an aspiring student, self-taught artist, or hobbyist with a passion for creative media AND You must have less than 12 months professional experience in a 3D related field. Check. I am a healthcare worker who had self-taught art and taken a few online courses. Check

11. Minimum 1 x render of your robot character. Ideal rendering resolution: 4096 x 2160 pixels. Minimum resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels. Check, these should be 4096x2160 each.

12. Include the Rookies Logo somewhere on your final renders. Oh boy am I glad I went through this checklist, the plain image below was originally so plain that I'd forgotten to add the logo. Easily rectified, I was about to upload a final image without it. Check

13. You must share regular updates of your progress to your entry page. Entries that only upload a single update will be disqualified. Check. Many updates from concepting and blocking out to the final render.

14. All work is original and that you have the right or authority to enter and publish. The Artist must clearly state if they have included third party images, media or reference as part of their entry. This content is allowed and will be reviewed accordingly. Check. I confirm it is all mine. The fonts used are monoton which was declared open for personal and commercial use on various sites I downloaded it from, BD Geminis from the adobe website for fonts, and Arial, which comes with photoshop. These fonts are used in accordance with the rules that "The Artist must clearly state if they have included third party images, media or reference as part of their entry." This content is allowed and will be reviewed accordingly.". Further, this checklist and my writing of this sentence is to serve as my clear stating to the judges that I have in some way used 3rd party materials (fonts listed above) as part of my entry. 3rd party art and products may also appear in the various references and 'cute' mood board updates/entries.

15. Further guarantees and conditions on the rules page. Check. I understand and consent to all those terms on the rules page at https://www.therookies.co/contests/groups/adobe-substance-3d-robot-challenge/rules

16. Judging criteria. I'll leave this for the judges to check for technical skill, creativity and 'wow that's cute'. I certainly tried, particularly on the modelling aspect of it. I do appreciate my painting and rendering are still at a beginner stage, but that was never my focus or strength. The majority of effort is in the modelling and design stages using substance3d modeler (the successor to adobe medium), sculpting this model up in VR

BONUS UPDATE #5 (see final render in previous update)

Bonus update #5: (for the final render, please see previous updates, this is just bonus post content).

Alas, my litle robot is struggling to come into the real world. I'd neglected to print his little headset at the appropriate size, forgetting I'd set everything else up 50%+ at another step in the process. If this were the only issue I'd be continuing on, reprinting that and going ahead with it, but unfortunately there are more fundamental issues. I'd originally designed this thing to look imbalanced and cute in an awkward imbalanced impractical way, but this heavily conflicts with the goal of actually bringing it into the real world. The main wheel and back heavy design isn't going to easily allow this thing to stand up, and bringing them forward isn't practical due to the tape player he is listening to. The rear wheels are also struggling to exactly fit the tail axel, and the hanging spare wheel is attached far too finely with a chain that is far too thin. The detail printed, but wasn't easily removed from the supports.

So instead of a final product, I got some valuable learning and a reminder, a reminder to always keep balance of the model in mind when aiming to 3d print, as well as a reminder that it's not just about the detail printing, but it actually being strong enough to survive the prep and post-printing process. 

It's a shame this bonus printing aspect didn't work, but I feel it would require too many design changes, too much of a departure from the 'final concept' to actually then be realised in the real world. Any attempt would modify it so much that it would no longer be true to the 'final render'. Given the brief of the concept is to use the substance programs, it may be best to let that fake 80s advert and final render stay as they are, rather than redesign many aspects of this to work in the real world. If only the dreams and imagination shown on the computer worked as well in real life. 

Bonus update #4 (please see previous updates for the final render). The 2nd print worked and is now all ready to work on. The headphone cord is too thin, I might have to redo the headphones, do without them, or find some real-world modelling way to achieve the same effect. A bent paper-clip for example. But yes, 2 successes hot off the elgoo saturn, resin washed off, and given a curing (I'll give it a 2nd curing after I have cut these many supports away, given how recessed some of these areas are)

Bonus update 3 (see below for final render, this is the real world bonus update).

It's alive! The 3d print worked near perfectly from what I can tell so far. The atlas vulcan resin and the elgoo Saturn printer with supports made by lychee slicer all worked perfectly, first shot. I'm running a 2nd copy through the printer now just to ensure that I have some spares, and that things don't break when I go to assemble and paint them, but it all seems pretty good so far. 

Bonus update #2 (see final render in previous update).

So here we have it all repaired, holes filled, supported, hollowed, holes drilled, and ready to be printed using lychee slicer. (well, mostly, I found a couple of little island/holes that I'm going back to fix before sending it through).

This is not a stage that I enjoy, I am not a fan of 3d printing if I am completely honesty. I absolutely love that these now consumer grade technological marvels can bring my sculptures into the real world from my pc, but I loathe the actual process. I can barely get my 2d printer to work, adding another dimension just adds a load of hassle that I'm not looking forward to. It's not a hobby of mine, it's more like an intermediate step between my two passions of digital sculpting and painting miniatures. 

Part of it is that I just brute force it, relying on auto supports I send something through the printer and see if it works. On my old anycubic photon it 60% of the time it would work. If not, just re-orientate and try again. These are not the best supports I know, I'm relying on auto supports for the same reason I rely on auto uvs. It's not my area, or my goal. It functions well enough for what I'm after and its getting better all the time. A few failures are expected yes, but I'd rather deal with that and spend more time learning anatomy rather than a hobby that just isn't my interest.

BONUS: (see final render in previous update).

There's almost 2 weeks left and some new resin just arrived, and the weather warmed up. So It's maybe about time I dusted off the old 3d printer and got to work making this thing printable, and then paint it. In real lift. That's right, I'll be making (and possibly painting) a real life CiRsT-E robot.

Here's the plan:
-Step 1: Analyse and fix the obj in meshmixer (this is what you see above in the image, going to have to go back to the drawing board on this bit and merge them)
-Step 2: Fix holes and the mesh again in zbrush, also maybe boolean in some other bits. I shan't bother with keying and the like, as its all fairly simple geometric shapes
- Step 3: Hollow and prep and support in lychee.
- Step 4: print on a mono X (photograph and display after this)
- Step 5: Paint using acrylic paints, maybe doing a small resin pour to achieve a glass screen effect. Or find some plastic and cut it to fit exactly.  (photograph and display again after this)

Ok and here we have the final render sent from stager, and then with those few bits of text and story added.

I had another think about that bright music plater and really it contrasting so much adds a 2nd point of interest near the face, and is the biggest part of its story and personality, and it is meant to be seen as an accessory that it has opted to listen to, so I ended up not changing it. It looking like it doesn't belong on it is fine, because it doesn't.

Let's just do the final checklist and check that this model has met all the criteria, its the final stage and a good idea just to ensure my entry is valid, and for my own peace of mind:

1. Attempting to meet the brief - A lovable *and* cartoony cute robot. Check (if you like cheeky little snots)
2. Demonstrating skills in at least 1 substance program - Check. This was sculpted entirely in substance3d modeler, sent to zbrush for some minor repairs and decimation, before being sent to substance painter for coloring and stager for rendering with a plain image background. This render was then taken into photoshop with 0 edits, just text being added to 'set the stage' and add story of it being an add from the 80s (or rather, a retro styled ad inspired by the 80s, the actual 80s ads for technology are quite laden with words).
3. You can use additional tools eg:Maya, Blender, ZBrush - Zbrush and photoshop were minimally used, as described above. Check
4. Only minimal post production work is allowed - No editing of the images themselves were done in photoshop, only the text being added and the colour of the background to import into stager. Additionally, a render without this text has been provided below. Check
5. No third-party models/assets can be used. I sculpted this entirely myself using substance modeler. Check
6. You can reference another artist’s concept art, but make sure to ask permission and credit their work before starting - I did not reference another's concept art to make this model, it is my own design based on a broad category and era of technology. Check
7. You can create a background environment or platform to help with the story telling. Check. I have done so in the form of background text to portray it as being in a mock-advert
8. Include the hashtag #Substance3DRobotChallenge if you share on your social media. Check. I have shared a WIP on instagram using this hashtag, and will do so again on twitter and insta, using these and the substance hashtags. 
9. Entries Close 25th November, 2022 - Check
10. Eligibility: You must be an aspiring student, self-taught artist, or hobbyist with a passion for creative media AND You must have less than 12 months professional experience in a 3D related field. Check. I am a healthcare worker who had self-taught art and taken a few online courses. Check
11. Minimum 1 x render of your robot character. Ideal rendering resolution: 4096 x 2160 pixels. Minimum resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels. Check, these should be 4096x2160 each.
12. Include the Rookies Logo somewhere on your final renders. Oh boy am I glad I went through this checklist, the plain image below was originally so plain that I'd forgotten to add the logo. Easily rectified, I was about to upload a final image without it. Check

13. You must share regular updates of your progress to your entry page. Entries that only upload a single update will be disqualified. Check. Many updates from concepting and blocking out to the final render. 
14. All work is original and that you have the right or authority to enter and publish. The Artist must clearly state if they have included third party images, media or reference as part of their entry. This content is allowed and will be reviewed accordingly. Check. I confirm it is all mine. The fonts used are monoton which was declared open for personal and commercial use on various sites I downloaded it from, BD Geminis from the adobe website for fonts, and Arial, which comes with photoshop. These fonts are used in accordance with the rules that "The Artist must clearly state if they have included third party images, media or reference as part of their entry." This content is allowed and will be reviewed accordingly.". Further, this checklist and my writing of this sentence is to serve as my clear stating to the judges that I have in some way used 3rd party materials (fonts listed above) as part of my entry.  3rd party art and products may also appear in the various references and 'cute' mood board updates/entries. 

15. Further guarantees and conditions on the rules page. Check. I understand and consent to all those terms on the rules page at https://www.therookies.co/contests/groups/adobe-substance-3d-robot-challenge/rules

16. Judging criteria. I'll leave this for the judges to check for technical skill, creativity and 'wow that's cute'. I certainly tried, particularly on the modelling aspect of it. I do appreciate my painting and rendering are still at a beginner stage, but that was never my focus or strength. The majority of effort is in the modelling and design stages using substance3d modeler (the successor to adobe medium), sculpting this model up in VR

And here we have the final model, and the final paint job* (don't worry, I saw that music note on the face which is missing some lines).

But not yet the final render. I've yet to really learn anything about stager, that's my next step. I've found a few videos, including one by Pablo, and will be seeing what I can learn from those, so that we can see the before and after shots, once I know my way around stager a bit better.

I'm a bit conflicted about that music player now that I look at it actually, its maybe a bit too bright in the render, a bit too attention drawing.... so long as I'm going back into painter to fix that note, I may as well fix the music players while I'm at it.  

It's nice having a day off, it let's me just get some things figured out in painter so that I'm ready for stager. I put all those materials on, just the way I wanted and with far more effort than last time. Only a teensy bit of dirt because it is supposed to be an advertisement of sorts. 

I have hit a small roadblock though, I'm having trouble exporting this shot so that the image background is included fully, I'm going to have to do a little bit of research to get this final render out just the way I want it, but we're 99% of the way there. Just a few hours of stager learning and lighting and then it'll be done

Aint she cute? What a fun little robot. 

Downloaded photoshop today and had a quick play around in it, as well as surfing the web for some commercially free and/or adobe licensed fonts (monoton and BD Geminis) that match what I was trying to go for. It struck me how close the rookies logo was to the prisma/monoton family of fonts, so I decided it should be used in the title too. Might end up replacing the R of robot and future with the logo also, but that's a minor decision for another day. The point is the broad outline of the advert is there. Now to just make the other two versions of my model in painter by copying over the textures, and to include them all in a stager scene with this as the background. 

Here we go. We're making progress on the model now. I sat back and watched a number of tutorials on using substance painter, and have figured out transparent and emissive channels. I think this little step back to fix some things up will really help because already the face is looking better, and I haven't even begun to add the lined effect I'd expect to see in a crt monitor. I can't wait to see what the final stager render looks like if this is where we are at already. 

Thanks to the tutorials I am no longer just throwing on a material to each layer and calling it done, I now understand what some settings do, and how the masking systems work, sort of. As well as the importance of adding some roughness and effects, we want it to look somewhat *real*. So it's going a bit slower, but I'm finding this a very intuitive program overall, and I'm achieving some quick effects for not much work at all. 

As I take this step back, I decided to go back to the drawing board and look at faces. I'd chosen the CRT monitor right at the start so that I could do any face I wanted with ease, and show multiple expressions. Every face so far has always just intended to be a placeholder, because I wanted to dedicate some time to it. And tonight I have. I went back to pintrest, google and kickstarter and found some cute robots that I liked, ones with screens for faces. I found that it was mostly cute desktoys like eilik and vector (the forklift looking one) that sparked my interest, vector in particular for its eyes that almost look like a green crt monitor with lines. As does the face from the robot tank from the game recore (an underappreciated little gem I played years ago). I don't remember this smiley face from the tank bot (bottom right), but the art here for it has that same lined-crt style to it that I am after for my design, but in blue. So this then is my 2nd reference page, this time only for the face/eyes, the part that I'd been deliberately putting off until now.

I've spent the other time learning to use substance painter with some tutorials, particularly on finding out how to take it up a level from just throwing a smart material on each layer and calling it done, as well as trying to understand how to create glass materials for the screen.

A note on UVs: I'm not somebody who models like that, nice and clean polys and neat UVs. I don't do that, I sculpt, and I'm rarely going to use UVs again. So I've opted to just trust the automatically generated UVs from exporting from modeler, that zbrush generates, or which painter can generate upon import. I realize that this can create issues along the borders which is why I have separated out my models into 40+ 'layers' (texture sets in painter) which will hopefully help to counter this issue. If none of the 3 automatic UVs suffice, I may have to just bite the bullet and learn this skill also but I am hoping to be able to skip it. This is why there is no update showing the topology of this thing. I've been sculpting it rather than modelling it, and am relying on the automatically generated ones and the triplaner setting in painter to hopefully mask any issues with seams that this causes. 

Ok now this is more like it, this I think is a better way to show it off. To have 3 different poses and the opportunity to show 3 different faces, as well as better show the two main sides of the robot, including the taped on 'walkman'. It's going to be a load of work re-exporting each layer and keeping things nice, but I think this step back to better display my model is worth it, there's plenty of time until the release date, it's worth taking this step back and getting things right. 

I've also fixed a lot of things under the hood, this is a much smaller file with a few areas fixed and a few modifications made. The tapes are smoother, he's got a spare tape/tyre instead of a magnetic weight which makes more sense, and he's got extra screens behind the screens so that I can paint and apply some glass effects properly using stager as I've seen Pablo do in a video. This next attempt at painting and rendering should go much more successfully now. 1 step back, 4 steps forward. 

It's time to take a step back and look towards the brief, as well as what makes a cute robot.

I was having trouble with the UVs (made in zbrush, imported into painter) because of some mistakes I'd made in zbrush and modeler, as well as noticing some slight issues with the original sculpt. It's only been a few hours learning, I think I should take a step back and think about how much time is left, and what I'm trying to achieve. 

I really like the old 80s/90s advertisements and the way the render with copies of the model came out looking slightly aged, but I'm wanting to show all these other different emotions and attitudes in the model. I could achieve this better by having 3 slightly different poses of the model all in the same scene, rather than just duplicating and turning the exact same model, and really achieve the sense of this being some kind of banner or advertisement for some outdated tech (the 'what we're after video did say multiple renders can be included). So let's go back to the drawing board for just a moment and try to see if we can't pose the head and the tail in 3 interesting little ways, to really show the emotion and cuteness that this contest brief is asking for. While we're here, let's just fix a few things and make it smoother so the uvs work better and its not quite so large a file. 

I got my head around the controls in painter enough to be able to apply some textures, and in stager enough to change the background environment colours. This then is the mock-up of what I'm hoping to achieve. Kind of an old-80s yellowed and faded advertisement for an 80s computer. 

It's not perfect yet though, there's still a lot to be done, I think I'll take a step back and try to make sure the tape UVs in particular are set up right, that way I can have a gridded texture on them that makes it appear like actual tape. The paper on the tape player also was somewhat broken, so that's worth going back and fixing. 

It's looking mostly as I wanted it, except I worry the back is too busy. The whole counter weight balance thing might not be working, but this is where I start to run out of time and am limited by how much I can redo. It may just have to do, with that issue being sorted by optimal camera positioning. 

And now the learning begins. I've only ever really slapped a few materials on in painter, just to add some colour to just two previous sculpts. Never actually dived into the program or what it can do. But that's what today is all about. I've got my old steam 2021 version of painter, I've got my tutorial videos, it's time to learn what this program can actually do, and how to many my model look like it's busted old 80s technology. 

Trying to fix this today was a little bit of a hassle, there was a section of one part of the head that for some reason kept causing zbrush to crash. I was using zbrush just to clean up some things and add UVs and to decimate the way I like it. Nothing complex, and not a necessary step I don't think, but it should keep things running smoother in painter. 

I'm looking forward to this next step, I think the basic materials are going to be easy enough but it is the screen that will be an issue, trying to paint on the smile behind the screen might be beyond me at this point. The glow I can do well enough by adding a light in stager, but the actual emissive green areas of the face are going to take me a few days of learning I think. 

So I've essentially finished the modelling stage. I might have another attempt at creating a classic keyboard on the front panel, but other than that it's complete. The issue before was that the 80s cassette style was looking maybe a bit bland and sterile, so I tried to add some twists and imperfections to counter that. By adding a tail that is more akin to that of a monkey, showing that the music player has been simply taped to its side I think I've added a bit more personally and cuteness in. Less sterile. 

I'm going to have to learn to use painter, so that's my next few days' project. I can't wait to see what this looks like painted and then rendered in stager

I did make a few more changes. Originally the rear panel was open and it had some green glowing sticks in there, trying to show it was nuclear powered. But that really wasn't matching the aesthetic, and it was creating noise and mess in that area. Less is more, decided to keep it simpler. 

Well, it's about time I showed the pure-ref as well. The inspiration page.

This is the sort of tech and art I'm looking at. Some of them are adverts, others are devices from that era, and a couple of pieces like the commodore (by Cem Teezen) seem to be art in the cassette-futurism style. This is the sort of thing that I'm going for, but cute.  A cute pixar-ish version of blocky, mostly angular, geometric 80s tech devices.

Text 4. It’s today (09/oct) that I’m settling on a design (above) I think. I decided that I wanted to make something a bit more unique than a classic ‘toy robot’ shape and so decided to remove some limbs. Almost wall-e style, I wanted it to look a bit useless, a bit like somebody didn’t prioritise functionality when designing it. I figured that a lot of what makes robots ‘cute’ in a particular pixar way is their uselessness. And so I went for a 1 set of wheels approach, using tape technology to move around (very sensible of course). This has the added benefit of making the head even larger by comparison, which makes it look even cuter, further meeting the brief. I think I’m beginning to settle on a design now, I'm feeling more sure about this and more confident that it is a unique design, that there’s some good ideas here that I just need to bring up and polish. The lower half of the body that’s looking like a computer/printer could do with a bit more work but the basic shape is there I think.

This change of shape also handily solved the problem of trying to figure out how the connections of the limbs will work, that’s the neat part, there aren’t any.

I am a bit worried that the lack of limbs will affect my ability to pose this thing dynamically and show emotion in the final pose with the hands. The introduction of a ‘tail’ does counter this somewhat, but I may need to introduce some kind of small hands to show additional feeling.  

Here (day 2) we have the form beginning to take shape, more of a classical ‘toy robot’  shape, in order to evoke some nostalgia (as though all the throwback technology wasn’t enough). I’m having trouble at this point trying to imagine how the parts will all interconnect however. Ok we’ve got a CRT monitor stand going to the shoulders, but how will elbow connect to hand? How will VHS or roller-skate feet connect to the knee? Some kind of tape technology perhaps? So I've put some tape-player devices up on the shoulders to see how that might work. That's a problem for tomorrow however, I’m gradually working my way down the model, the upper chest area is now some kind of old VCR player, and the chest has a mocked-up keypad that will be reminiscent of a classic Macintosh computer. 

G’day mates

My name is TeeDeeArt/TeeDeeMiniatures and I’m an amateur sculptor from Australia. I got into this from mini painting, and wanting to actually create my own miniatures, so 3d printability is going to be a goal here also. I’d love to see it printed if I have the time. I’ve been casually playing around with adobe medium and substance 3d modeler for a couple of years, and creating things in there but it’s only this last year where I began to take it more seriously and take a couple of classes. I know my way around adobe medium and substance 3d modeler but I barely know how to use painter and stager (yet). Just enough to be able to slap some colours on and hit the render button to make it look a bit nicer, so this is a good excuse for me to improve those skills to make my sculpts look nicer.

I’m a big fan of the retro futurism aesthetics, and so I chose to limit myself to cassette-futurism. I wanted to see if I could make a cute robot made from technology from the 80s such as CRT monitors, vhs/vcr players, Sony Walkman, and tape machines. There’s not really a lot out there on this, and so I’ll be crafting my own design as I go, rather than taking inspiration from any specific art piece of a robot. 

Above (initial update from the first day of the contest) you can see the piece begin to come together, starting from the head. I wanted just a big old clunky monitor, the kind I used to have as a kid. I found an interesting graphical 'bug' that I may have found a way to turn into a feature. The way substance 3d modeler works is that if you duplicate a layer and leave it in its original position, the two layers will flicker as they fight to be on top. This is a useful graphical clue to let the user know there is a duplicate there, but what if we could use this graphical ‘glitch’ as part of our art? This would be perfect for a 1980s style monitor. So I quickly painted a 8-bit style face and then duplicated it. Leaving both layers where they were, I took the paint tool and painted over parts on one of the faces with black. Now these areas should flicker, as though it’s old tech. It’s not a feature I’d ever seen used in modeler before and thought it was neat, so I’m going to try to use this.

The face is just a proof of concept however, I’m going to have to paint something dramatically cuter than this, something with really big eyes.