Chair Asset

Chair

At this point of the process I had my lighting done and started putting my scene together with the pieces that I had already made. As there was still some time to make another asset for this project before deadline I decided to start work on a chair that would fit well with the desk. I started looking into furniture from late 1800’s Europe and came across a style that I really liked and feel that it suited the scene well.

During my research I found a chair that suited perfectly for what I wanted to do and had some really good, high quality reference photos for me to base it off. Using these I modelled the individual pieces, high and low ready for baking.

For this piece I baked the normal map out using xNormal, then rebuilt the chair in Maya and baked out an Ambient Occlusion map within substance Painter. Doing it this way I will be able to get a baked occlusion between the pieces, where as previously I would have done this while the pieces were separate. The result came out a lot better than it would have it I had continued doing it in xNormal. 

Once again I textured this piece in Substance painter. As this piece was old and well used creating the damage took some time. Creating wear showing things like; material showing through underneath the leather seat, dirt build up and scratches. I also couldn’t decide on a colour, so I created a Green and a Red version to ask my peers what they preferred, they said red. 

Asset Sheet

Gas Mask Asset

Gas mask

Now that I had made 2 large space filling assets. I now wanted to make something that would go onto the desk that I had previously made. There are many items that I could have chosen such as; type writer, weapons, enigma machine and a range of spy gadgets. I ended up with starting to make a Gas Mask. I started this by looking into what the civilian issued German gas mask looked like in WW2 as a spy would need to fit in around other people. Once I had found sufficient references I could move onto modelling.

Process

Now that I had a clear idea of what I needed to create I started thinking about how it will look in the scene. As a gas mask it is quite an organic shape and is not a very solid object in terms of structure. In the scene I want it to look like the character has placed it loosely on the table and so it will be distorted and folded to look like it is laying naturally. This was quite a challenge for me as I haven’t made an asset like this before when thinking about form. To create this effect I modelled out the gas mask normally with a relatively high poly count and used some of the ‘non-linear’ deform tools within Maya. Once I was happy with the shape of the piece I added in the circular eye pieces and finished making rest of the piece such as straps and the filter. 

Texturing

Once the gas mask was finished in terms of high and low topology versions I baked out a Normal, Ambient Occlusion and Alpha map in xNormal and took it into substance painter. Using existing techniques I have learnt through my previous assets such as generators, I textured the asset and took it into UE4 to see how it looked in engine. I noticed that for some reason that my roughness maps are not looking the same in UE4 as they do within substance and so had to make some manual changes with the levels in Photoshop to get the values correct.  

Asset Sheet

Chest Asset

Chest

The next item I wanted to create was a trunk or chest type object to sit on the floor within the scene. I began my research by looking into different forms on WW2 chests that would be used within the army. To follow this I also looked into the mechanisms that allow the piece to function and its structure such as Locks, handles, bolts and the latches to help with the design.

Process

I decided to make this asset as separate pieces. I started with creating the high and low poly version of the chest itself. I wanted to keep this asset low in terms of topology and so the only modelling I did for this piece was bevelling the edges to give a soft look from any angle. For the high poly version I created metal straps, leather corner patches and bolts for structure. Once I had unwrapped and bakes out the maps for this part I proceeded on creating the parts that will attach to the chest. I modelled the lock, handle and latches through the same process of Maya into xNormal. Now that these pieces were baked out, I was ready to start texturing in Substance painter.

Texturing

I wanted to show a lot of history in this piece, as well as the fact that the room is going to be quite dirty, I wanted the chest to have a lot of ware too. By building up layers and using generators in Painter I was able to create the effect of edge ware, scratches and the accumulation of grime and dirt.

Asset Sheet

Once again I decided to render out the shots for my asset sheet in Marmoset 2.0.

Desk Asset

Desk

To start things off I went through my list of assets for inspiration and decided to go simple to begin with and not get caught up in anything that will take too long too early in the process. In the end I went with making a desk. This asset will have a collection of pieces on top by the end of the project and so it seemed like a decent place to begin. For my research I looked into 1800’s early 1900’s European tables and writing desks I settled on a select few images that I liked. Once I now had a good idea of what I wanted to create I started modelling in Maya. 

Process

The design itself incorporates ideas from a mixture of the examples in my research, the structure, oval top and patterns that these have will all be incorporated into the design. I started off with modelling the legs of the desk referencing the design from the top left image and blocked out the rest of the low poly. Once I have a silhouette I was content with I duplicated, and started work on creating the high poly version. I created a set of spirals within Maya for the patterns on the legs of the desk but for the patterns that would be carved into the wood. To make the high poly versions of the patterns I used a mixture of Inkscape and Photoshop to create images as .SVG’s (Scalable Vector Graphics) and then through Blender and into Maya. Doing it this way allows me to get complex and intricate designs from images into mesh. 

Texturing

I baked out a Normal and an AO map and took these and my model into Substance Painter. The room as a whole will be quite dark and dirty so I need to create these assets with a decent amount of damage and grime. Through baking a Curvature map I am able to use generators which are a very useful tool for getting the right effects such as scuffed edges or the build-up of dirt.

Once I was happy with the asset and how it looked in UE4 I decided to render the shots for my asset sheet in Marmoset 2.0. I hadn’t used this prior to this project but I really like it for getting nice beauty shots to present a piece. 

Asset Sheet

Block-out

Block-out

To start my block out I went into Maya and created a 2:1 scale room and made very low topology assets resembling the main, larger pieces within the environment. I did this by going through my list of assets that I wanted to make and chose around a dozen of them that would work well for allowing me to visualise the scene.

These are the assets that I chose to begin modelling for the block-out. They are not so much narrative based and more to build up some structure by thinking of the larger assets first. I did not put very much detail into these pieces as at this point I only need to worry about basic form and the layout.

Lighting

Lighting

For my scene I want to be able to build a strong atmosphere. To do this my main idea was to have light coming through the floor boards as god rays. For reference to this I looked into a range of examples such as in; film noir, games and real life. Within film noir shadows and lighting were one of the most important aspects and stripes of light were a very common technique used to portray different affects within a scene.This is a technique which I wish to recreate for my scene in UE4.

Visualization

Once I had created a basic block-out in Maya using very low topology models. I then furtherly created the floorboards and a room above so I could visualise some ideas for a basic lighting setup. I really wanted to have light coming through the floorboards above as god rays. So I did some quick renders with mental ray to see how the scene would look with this effect. 

Once I had a decent block out and idea for the room and how It would look like lit. I went into UE4 to try replicate the effect of these god rays. By using a directional light and some dust particles I was able to get a decent feel for the room and test how it will work in my final scene. 

I tried to experiment with a range of colours. In this scene there will be 2 light sources. A lamp, and primarily a light bulb hanging in the room above giving off these rays, but I wanted to see the effects of portraying a much colder feel to the scene with blues instead of yellows

Now I set a basic lighting set up I brought in some of the models that I have made for this scene to see how they look in the lighting. I created a 6ft (183cm) tall cylinder within UE4 so I could get the scaling correct for the assets I brought in. Using this a reference I could get the sizing right so the assets don’t look wrong and out of place.

 Final Result

Task 3 - Loot chest

Introduction and research

For this task we have been asked to create a loot box for a game of no more than 5k Tris and using a x2048 texture size. We also had to create this asset I a different style to what we normally do. For the loot chest I started looking into different themes for a design. I eventually decided to look into ancient Egyptian treasures and tombs. My first idea that I started blocking out in Maya was a sarcophagus but I soon moved away from that and looked more into chests and boxes.

Once I now had an idea for the box I then looked into different Egyptian gods but decided to focus on Anubis and his depictions as well as patterns and hieroglyphs.

Modelling

I started by blocking out a basic box shape first and then started work on making the design that would be etched into it. I had decided to try recreate the scene with the scales as it is quite a famous depiction. To try and create a more stylistic recreation I traced the scene in Maya using curves. This meant that I could achieve rounded edges and make the carving look slightly cartoonish.  As well as this scene I also created a winged scarab beetle to be on the ends of the box and added the Anubis sceptre to reinforce the iconography. I furtherly looked into the types of design features and pattern are present on these types of chest and added extra details throughout.

 

The next piece to make was the Anubis figure on the top of the chest. Instead of making the entire body I decided to make just the head while still trying to keep to the slight cartoonish aesthetic.

Once I had my high and low poly version. I took them into xNormal to bake out the normal and ambient occlusion maps.

Now that I had my normal and AO maps I took it into UE4 to see how it turned out. The bake was nice but for the designs on the sides I really wanted them to pop a bit more and so I increased the contrast of these areas in Photoshop and it brought them out a lot.

Texturing

For the texturing process I used a mixture of generators and hand painting to create smooth outlines to go alongside the normal map. Doing this way through using materials with no detail it created a cartoony style.

I took this project further and created a more realistic version of the asset as if I was making it with my normal workflow.

Asset Sheet

Task 2 - Survival Weapon

Introduction and research

For our second task of the year we have been given the brief to create a survival weapon. Must not be more than 20,000K Tris and using a 2048 texture size. To start this off I went into looking at existing game examples such as Dying Light, Dead Rising and Fallout for inspiration. I also looked into existing weapon in other games and how they could be adapted to look like a make shift survival weapon. For example my fist idea was inspired from the ‘Whirligig’ saw in Bloodborne and adapt it. I settled on going with the style and character of weapons within the Dead Rising series.

After spending some time looking into weapon examples within this game and how they are put together I selected some ingredients that could work together. From this I furtherly looked into; bikes, Ice hockey sticks and small motors like strimmer’s, chainsaws and from other garden equipment.

Modeling process

Now that I had an idea in mind I went straight into Maya and started blocking things out until I found something I liked. I could now make progress and start creating the individual pieces required for making my contraption.

Once I had the low poly complete I separated all the pieces and started creating high poly versions of the items that make up my weapon. Once these were also completed I could start the baking process. After unwrapping the low poly I could then overlap the high and low, duplicate the low and create a cage ready for exporting into xNormal.

Baking normal and Alpha maps

As well as the normal maps I had to create an alpha map for my bike chain and the barbed wire. I had very briefly used alphas before but only for a very small and basic shape. The entire process of making the chain was the hardest part of the modelling and baking process. I created a single link and tried duplicating it around a curve. This seemed more troubling than I expected. Eventually after watching countless tutorials and help from my tutors I was able to create the full chain. I ran test to try and find out what the best way to bake the chain would be. To start with I used a cube extruded around the same curve but that wouldn’t work with the alphas. In the end I used 3 Plains in a ‘H’ shape. This seemed the most effective method and gave a far better result that previous attempts. I managed to get the high to bake well onto the plains and with the alpha applied to show the gaps in the chain I am pretty happy with the result. The barbed wire was a much simpler. Through extruding 2 separate cylinders along a curve and then twisting them around each other I created the wire. The barbs I ended up adding manually around the wire which was pretty tedious but came out quite well.

Once I had a completed normal and Alpha map I then rebuilt my contraption and exported into UE4 so I could get a better look at the result.

-         

Texturing

The next stage in the process is texturing. For this I used Substance Painter. I am still pretty new to this program as I have only used it for 1 project before, but I feel I have learned a lot throughout this week and improved a lot in my texturing skills. For the model I used a mixture of normal and smart materials. Through this and applying masks I was able to get a good amount of edge ware, scratches and a range of other imperfections that allow me to add history to the piece.

As I wanted it to look like it had already been used a few times before I needed to create blood splatters but before that I needed to build up layers of damage and dirt. Starting with putting dirt and dust into crevices and notches I can show what conditions and history each item had. Making scratched on the edges of the chainsaw where it has been scuffed and scratched in its use and grime in the handle of the hockey stick were a few examples. The main issue I have had with the piece is that it is impossible to create glass in this program so I had to improvise. To do this I used a shiny plastic material and as the contraption had already been in use I covered this material in blood. Overall I think this has worked but it’s just a shame that you cannot alter the opacity of the shards to make it more realistic.

    

k

Asset Sheet