Projects Page
This page is here to show all the projects that I have ever been involved with, whether that be for university or personal. Each project I will attempt to show the main aspects and what skills I developed from it. Many of the projects will be programming based, but there are also be the odd few random assignments that I set myself. Some of which are quite bizarre!
Professional Life: VFX Showreel
As my latest showreel is private (please ask for a password if you want to view). I have put here a showreel i made from a couple of years ago.
Almost all of the work was done in Houdini, with a splash of Maya too and reflects some of my fantastic time at One of Us. NCCA Project: Aquascape
This is the first major project of my time at Bournemouth University doing digital effects. The brief for this project was to take a photograph of a location of our choosing, and to turn this into an photo-realistic underwater scene. This is a technique in the effects business called 'dry to wet', which is used in films to give the illusions of locations underwater.
This project was an introduction to many of the skills I will need to become a special effects artist. These included such elements as modelling, texturing, lighting, colour grading and integration of practical elements. The main aim of the project was to integrate all the elements so that they all look real. |
|
University Project: Fish Flocking SimulatorDuring my second year at university, I had to choose between either an array of pre-set projects or one of my own which I would then pursue in my third year. I decided to follow my own interests and do a project on flocking behaviours and simulate this in a school of fish.
This project was heavily influenced by Craig W.Reynold's pioneering work with BOIDs, which simulated group behaviours including flocking. For flocking behaviours to work it requires the aptly named "three rules of flocking"; these are separation, alignment and cohesion. It was all done in C++, using OpenGL. I learnt a great deal not only about furthering my skills in C++, but about designing\developing my own project from concept to final presentation. This project gave me huge confidence with my own abilities and even through all the pain it was worth it. The video is quite long so apologies for that, but I tried to show everything that I did for the project. I received 80% overall for this project. |
|
Personal Project: Maya Models
I have a good friend who does a course on 3D modelling and looking at this stuff I have always wanted to have a go myself. So one summer I decided with my free time I would have a play around with Maya and just get a feel of it.
I did a few models and followed some tutorials on producing a simple ball animation. Apologies that you cannot see the video because somehow getting Maya to export a video was almost impossible! |
|
University Project: Data Visualisation
This module called Visualisation was in my third year of university. The assignment was to use the visualisation software OpenDX. It would be used to take raw data files and show it in a more meaningful way. The user has the ability to move around each visualisation and also to manipulate it further to find interesting elements to the data.
The software uses 'nodes' which can be connected together to produce different effects. Using this software was completely different to what I was used to and due to the lack of online documentation, it was very hard to make progress with it. Through perseverance however I was able to complete the assignment and even was able to develop the visualisations further making them animated. I achieved 94% for this assignment. |
University Project: Perceptron
This assignment was in the AI module in my third year. It gave us the task to simulate a neuron in the human brain using programming. What the perceptron would then be able to do is predict future movements of a player to allow the AI to make the decision whether to shoot a gun or not. The assignment also made us experiment with the perceptron to give it greater intelligence.
This assignment was done in C++ and gave me an insight into how AIs are developed. This is especially helpful as my main project for the third year is also based on AI simulating a school of fish in 3D. |
|
University Project: Games Design and development
This assignment set in my third year gave me the task of developing a commercial game within a team. It covered all areas of game development; from the design and implementation to marketing and potential revenue. My role was the team leader which meant I was involved in all areas of development and also kept the whole project on track.
The game we decided to make was called "Its a Hard Ant's Life" which involved the player guiding ants to an anthill by using items. The idea was proposed by myself and was greatly influenced by the game Lemmings. This assignment I really enjoyed doing and spent a lot of my spare time co-ordinating the team and doing extra work on it. An example of the meeting minutes here The initial concept and design is here |
University Project: Teapot Battle scene
This was an assignment I had to do for the graphics module in my third year at university. It involved me using the graphics software RenderMonkey and creating a 'battle scene' between warring teapots.
After initially struggling with the software, it became quite easy to add elements and in the end was incredibly enjoyable adding further objects and effects into the scene. This assignment introduced me to many different techniques such as graphical effects like smoke, fire and water, other texture effects like displacement mapping and finally simple animation effects and motion. I was awarded a first for this assignment. |
University Project: 3D Pool Game
This was the main assignment of my 3D graphics module at university. It built upon previous experience we had gained from the 2D graphics module and involved me developing a 3D pool simulation. This was developed in C++ and used OpenGL once again.
It involved learning about vertices, collision detection, mass affecting the balls, gameplay elements, 3D cameras, lighting and other effects like specular lighting. I was awarded 75% for the project. |
|
University Project: Software Design and Implementation
This assignment was set at the beginning of the second year, and set out to teach us the fundamentals of software design and development. The aim was to make a cinema system which allowed the user to book, reserve and buy seats for a variety of films and showings. It also had to allow different levels of security meaning a 'manager' could maintain the system.
For this project I had to work in a group and I was the team leader. This meant I was involved in all stages of the project and had to also keep the whole project on schedule and focused. This project at points was quite stressful and keeping it moving forward was sometimes difficult, but it was always satisfying when the you saw the spoils of the groups efforts. The group was awarded a first for our efforts. |
University Project: Gibraltar Invasion
This was the main assignment of my 2D graphics module at university. It was done in C++, using OpenGL and involved making a 2D game in which the user aimed a cannon at pirate ships. They could control the power of the shot and simple gravity was also implemented.
I received 92% for this project |
|
University Project: Breakout Game
This was set in my first year and was my first encounter with using XNA. Again developed in C#, the game had to have many different elements such as a different game states, a simple AI and high scores. I also added further additional elements such as music and sound effects.
I was awarded 80% for this assignment |
|
University Project: Minesweeper
One of the very first programming assignments that I was given was to develop a simple minesweeper game. It was programmed in C# and allowed me to get my head around the language. From previous work in Pascal it didn't take very long to make and I was quite pleased with the end result.
The game allowed for the user to use a cursor, to choose from different difficulty levels and create their own sized levels. I received 95% for this project |
|
College Project: Game Design and Development
Most of the projects and assignments that I did at college I would probably not bother to put up on this site. Simply because they were very basic and nothing so shout about, but this project I put a lot more time and effort into (even to the point of insanity). I was expected to design and develop a 'simple' game using pre-set games creator. However I wanted to develop something that was a bit more ambitious so instead I used the software package FPS Creator. It allowed me to create a FPS using a user interface, as well as other elements like the AI.
As I said before I was particularly proud of this project because of the amount of time I invested on it (as well as the amount of time debugging it also!). It was called "AHH! Lookout! Skyscraper Terror!" and it really taught me about level design, game flow and many other elements. I loved every minute of this assignment but one problem with this project however was the loading time was INSANE! It would take about 10 minutes to load! I was given a distinction for this assignment. |
|
Personal Project: Quest Legends
This project was when I was first getting to grips with the fundamentals of programming. I always loved the old style text based fantasy games and wanted to make one based on my 'own' imagination. It was written in Pascal and involved you playing as either a dwarf,elf or human and each had different amounts of health and attack power. During your adventure you could sneeze yourself to death and later have full intercourse with a sexy elf lady to obtain a magic sword!
This project taught me a lot about how much you can achieve with very little knowledge of programming. |
|
Personal Project: Adobe Flash Animation
This project spawned off a college assignment that I had to do using Adobe Flash. The assignment was pretty simple and involved making an animation on nursery rhymes.
Needless to say this did not take very long, so with my spare time (and limited knowledge) I decided to experiment with the software. It also gave me the excuse to tap into my bizarre creativity. This was the outcome! One final note, doing the vomit sound effects ironically almost made me sick. |
|