And the Dawning of the Zombies is Upon Us

We're quickly approaching the halfway mark of the year, which means just a little over 6 months until we all meet our inevitable Mayan-predicted doom when December 21st rolls around. It's undoubtedly scary, but the cool part is --- I'm pretty sure we're all gonna turn into zombies. Like, it's almost scientifically proven that come December 22nd, the whole entire human population will be wiped out and the earth will be repopulated with a massive hoard of the walking undead. It's gonna be pretty sweet. So in preparation of this 100% factually, inevitable, scientifically proven claim (read: it's gonna happen; you're gonna be a zombie), I decided to dedicate these last few months of zombie-free life to an homage to my favorite RTS game ever: Plants Vs. Zombies.

I'm hooked on this game. It's my digital crack. And PopCap is my dealer. PvZ is one of those games I always saw plastered through message boards, sitting in advertisements, brief mentions of it through passing conversation with my imaginary friends. It wasn't until I finally purchased an iPad and happened upon it on the appstore that I finally had the opportunity of playing it. I generally tend to disagree with the masses when it comes to a fun game (I didn't enjoy Halo, or Mass Effect, or any of the Fable games - please don't hurt me or stop reading my blog), so I assumed PvZ would take the same route. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I was hooked, love at first sight, and whenever PvZ was out of my reach, I became detached, despondent, a slave to the my insatiable thirst.

I'm not sure if it was the bright, colorful graphics, the ingenious gameplay and deep strategic elements, or the way the zombies seductively yell that they're coming whenever they first make their entrance. I played and played, until I could play no more. Because I completed the game. And then I played some more. The iPad version just recently received a massive update, with new achievements, a barrage of new mini-games, and the greatly anticipated Zen garden (which seemed to grace every other version of PvZ). Needless to say, I excitedly downloaded the update, shelled over my precious money for some in-app purchases, and isolated myself in my room as I lead a hoard of botanical beasts towards victory over the eye-popping, non-stoppin', jaw droppin', slow walkin' sexy zombie elite.

Mmmm... 

But I wanted more. Sure, I loved seeing their little pixelated bodies trudging from one end of the screen to the other, occasionally taking a break to wink at me and reaffirm their undying love for me, but I wanted to see these zombies existing in other locales, other mediums. And then it hit me - which hurt a lot, because zombies pack some serious power in those bony mitts. But then I got an idea - why don't I recreate a zombie in 3D? As, a digital 3D model in Maya. Seemed like a fun idea - I love 3D modeling, I'm pursuing it as a career, and what better way to gain a bit more practice than making a digital model of one of my favorite characters? But, no, the thought didn't satisfy me the way it should've, it didn't please me unconditionally as one should be pleased when fantasizing about making 3D zombies. I wanted more. Maybe not just recreating the general zombie, but how about the Football Zombie? And Snorkel Zombie? And maybe, just maybe, even Buckethead Zombie could get in on the action too? But wait, if I'm dedicating so much time to transforming these little vector* buddies into full blown 3D models, why don't I go the extra mile and recreate every zombie? Heck, why stop at zombies? Let's do all the plants too! And Crazy Dave! And Zomboss!

And so, today, in the extending depths of a cold, dark room, an idea was born. Burning brightly, snuggled within a warm wool blanket, the shade of the serene ocean's baby blue on a cloudless afternoon. And this guy, right here, decided he'll make it his sole purpose in life, to reimagine PopCap's amazing array of characters into something much more tangible, more accessible, more... three-dimensional... And time? Time is the essence of an overactive mind, for time ceases to exist when one settles themselves in the midst of their work, their love, their enjoyable leisure. But alas, I'm currently a slave to full time employment in fields which do not satisfy my artistic longings, so... in otherwords... I'm taking as much time as I need, because this is a side project. It could take me weeks, months, years, or even a few millenia if the zombies don't behave.

My goal in the end is to have a 3D model for every single plant and zombie in the game. Textured? No. Rigged? No. But they'll be created in a manner that they can easily be textured and rigged in due time, having proper, clean topology and a seamless surface. And now, the moment you've all been waiting for - the purpose of this blog!

I'm going to use this blog as a means of communicating with anyone interested in this project, offering tips, advice, approaches, and any other details pertinent to recreating any 3D model from solid references or pure imagination. Follow along to see one young man's journey of recreating every character in Plants Vs. Zombies as 3D models, and maybe learn a thing or two (or five but not more than seven) along the way.

When it all comes down to it though... I just f**king love Plants Vs. Zombies. That's it.

And now, onward ho!

-Jon



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*Note: before some tech-savvy, tree hugging, pole dancing nematoad jumps down my through, I'll clarify that the graphics technically are not vector. To my understanding, it was created with vector-based imaging software though, then simply screencapped and converted to raster.