Building the… buildings?

For the last two days I’ve been working on creating the base building parts for my lab. It resulted in having several different assets that will be placed in the level at the end.

The ceiling of the main hall (Tris: 3445)

Bottom Level Floor with working stations (Tris: 1416)

Server Room Floor with stairs (Tris: 1478)

All of these assets were constantly placed inside the UE to see how the scale and how it all work together and going back to the 3Ds Max to make any changes.

I have also created some assets that may not necessarily end up in a level. I’m still not sure do I like the result or not, so I will rethink the use of them in the near future.

Main Pillar with stand (Tris: 540, 7830)

Big Plans!

Today I’ve draw a quick top view of a laboratory that I want to have in my level. Some of the areas won’t be as detailed as others and will be only visible from the distance on through the windows, so there won’t be as much work to be done to those places. I’ve sketched a huge interior with two main levels. This may be hard to achieve in the time left for this project, but I’ve several interesting ideas for the interior design already.

I know that this image isn’t the best quality, but it’s quite clearly visible what I want to implement into my lab. It’s a huge living space, with many different type of rooms created for the employees to work and relax after the working hours. I’ve also designed a front look to know what to expect from my own design to looks like while player will approach it at the main gate.

At this time I also know that I probably won’t be able to recreate the entire plan, but I’ll try to do my best in the time left for the project. I will start with several rooms first and then populate them with assets with textures untill I’ll move to the next room. This way I should be able to finish as much as I can without being left with nice parts that doesn’t fit anywhere in the level.

DINOSAUR EGGS!

I’ve been working on creating more assets. The result is satisfactory as I’ve manged to have several new ones that are connected to dinosaur eggs. I’ve decided that general lab assets may not be good enough to get the connection of what my level is all about, so creating the assets around the idea of experimenting on dinosaurs felt right.

Egg Incubator with shelves (Tris: 418, 12244)

The next step will be to actually produce the actual room shapes and interior main points, as I’ve produced some assets that need a proper space to occupy.

Lab Assets

This time I was working hard on some most important assets for the labs, which are desks, screens and lamp.

I’ve made two slightly different desks, that will be placed all over the labs. They are different length and have different purposes: office desk and working area desk. The second one is much more detailed and has a sink on the side as many labs usually have.

Old Screen vs. New Lab Screen (Tris: 400, 480)

I’m really happy with the design of this screen. It is similar to the old one, that I’ve used in a shed, but looks much more modern and futuristic. It’s also curved as the new technology right now, and really slim.

I’ve already created materials for both of those assets and decided on some of their main features (touch screen desk).

I will be adding some liquid splashes as decals to those desks, to make them used and not as clear as they are now. The final materials are still not made (the black is basically placed everywhere).

The last thing I’ve made today was the floor lamp. I wanted it to looks like a DNA chain, but I think I may edit it a little bit more (add several horizontal lines between those outlines).

If I’ll decide to make it a big asset (which I’m considering right now), I may actually turbosmooth those curves to get a much smoother effect, but so far I’m not gonna change it. It will be roughly a human size, so I guess it should looks smooth enough.

Another Sickness Break!

I just can’t believe that it’s the third time I’m getting sick during this project. I’ve not been sick even once since the beginning of the uni and now it’s the third time during one, the most important project. This time it was way more serious than before as it was a throat infection and I got really high temperature (38.9), so the doctor actually gave me some antibiotics. Because of all of that I’ve spend a week doing nothing again and taking time to go back to health. This is a huge waste of time, but there was no chance I could work at that point.

This ruined my schedule again. I’ll have to catch up again, even if I was already way behind. This is now stressing me up so badly, that I only have few negligible assets for the lab, and I should already be at the half way of creating this part of my environment. I should be at the place where I’ll be finishing of the next week, but I’m way behind in creating those assets. This will be so hard to catch up, even if I’ve already planned some spare time at the end…

The rest of my work is still in bits and pieces so far (no materials), and it’s really scary how fast that time goes by. I hope nothing else will come up that will destroy this project completely…

At this point the next week I’m definitely planning to continue with creating lab assets. There is no other way I can skip it or shorten it. I’ll try to catch up as much as I can, but so far there is lots to be build, so I’m sure I’ll have to work on it at least one more week. I hope this will be enough as otherwise I’ll be really struggling to finish everything on time.

Building a landscape with new procedural technologies!

I don’t think I have to say it, but I will… Landscape creation is one of the most important part of a world building for games! In the old days, environment artists had to do everything by hands, but now there is lots of software available to speed up the process.

I have already considered a heightmap software in the preproduction stage of this project, as I would like to base my level on the real world location, but I would like to have a look at other software that helps with the process of creating a landscape like Houdini, Instant Terra, World Creator, World Machine or Gaea.

All of those software have their ups and downs, works better or worse in some scenarios. Some of them require additional knowledge and are less intuitive to use than others. Some are free others are paid for, but it’s guaranteed they all do their job well and much faster than sculpting a 3D terrain by hand.

Houdini 17, Terrain Erosion

The newest version have several updates that makes the software works better, but many artists still suggests other software for a much more accurate and detailed results. I’ve decided to do not spend much time on researching this software as it was on the market for a long time and even a new version isn’t as straightforwardly addressed to the environment artists. I know that this software works and is used in the industry, but it’s time for something new ad more exciting.

Instant Terra

The first official version of the software was released in 2018 and since then it slowly become a software used by many artists. The purpose of the software is to create terrains fast and seamlessly for any type of media. The software is able to create realistic terrains in a big scale and was made for artists working on a AAAs productions in mind. The tool is appreciated for it’s fast rendering and real-time visual feedback. The software works with a use of nodes that are combined together to produce a detailed terrain. It works with both procedural terrain generator or heightmap, a satellite data or other images.

Best Features:

Large terrains – you can produce huge landscapes without a hassle
Combined terrains – especially useful for games where you can have a detailed terrain as a walkable area and the background terrain in the backdrop
Paint masks – for a better control over the design of a landscape
Size changes – changing sizes dynamically depending on the needs of your project
Erosion simulation – creates a realistic erosion to the terrain
Compatible with UE4 – works perfect for games!

Gaea

The best news are that the software is available free for the community and works as good as other terrain generation software. The software itself had a long way to become officially released in February this year (2019), but it’s said that it kills the competition in every aspect of creating the terrains. It works with the nodes as other similar software, but also has layers more similar to those in Photoshop or Substance. You can also sculpt or paint directly onto the terrain with a wide use of tools, or use auto-generated terrain, height maps or other reference images to both sculpt and texture your terrain. All of the textures and effects (e.g. snow) can be easily extract to the 2D textures for use to create PBR materials.

Best Features:

Frequent Upgrades – what’s better than a software that’s constantly updated with new or fixed features?!
Community Forums – get in touch with other users or the creators
User friendly layout – the navigation through the software have more suitable for designers look and interface (layers)
Multiple export options – easy to export your painted terrain to the 2d textures, heightmaps, meshes, point clouds etc.

The team of Wysilab, (2018), ‘Instant Terra’ for Landscape Creation Released’, Interview for 80level, 15 February. Availiable at: https://80.lv/articles/instant-terra-for-landscape-creation-released/ [Accessed: 29 Jun. 2019]

Thacker J., (2019), ‘QuadSpinner ships Gaea’, CG Channel, Availiable at: http://www.cgchannel.com/2019/02/quadspinner-ships-gaea/ [Accessed: 29 Jun. 2019]

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABS!

I was so excited to start working on the labs and I’ve made the first assets that are the most recognisable as lab objects – flasks. Not much to say, but I’ve wanted to create several different shapes in order to get a variety of them. I’ve also made the double sided geometry to get the better effect for the glass in UE.

Some of those assets are quite high poly, but all of them will be placed in several different places and in different sizes. That’s why I’ve decided to do not lower the geometry. They are also double sided and round objects, which adds to that tris count and I can’t do anything about it.

I could have made several more complicated shapes flasks, but I’ve decided that those simple ones will work well enough for their purpose.

You may noticed that already, but I’ve reused several parts of my previously made assets (drone, desk lamp). I’ve edited them slightly, so they no longer looks like the original items there were before. Now they are all unwrapped and ready to be placed in a UE.

Last of the Last!

Today I’ve came up with the final assets for the shed. I’ve a perfect idea of what to place in the centre area of it so it will looks natural and properly occupied now. A set of gardening tools – wheelbarrow, shovel and soil bags. These are definitely the last assets made for this area and from now on I’ll be 100% focused on the lab assets. I’ll still have to make the materials for most of the assets so far, but I can now produce the lab objects.

I’ve decided to make the soil with a use of a cloth modifier. While creating a duvet I’ve used several different settings to get things right and I get used to the cloth modifier. I though it will be much easier and quicker, but I had to change settings several times and experiment with the placement of the model. At the end I’ve get the wanted result, but I’ve spend longer that I should.

Shovel (Tris: 670), wheelbarrow (Tris: 4164), soil bags (Tris: 1880)

I was happy that I’ve unwrapped the asset before I’ve started to modify it with the cloth settings, because I have a clear UV map which fits perfectly after it’s deformed. I have already made a texture for it as well.

I know that I should probably unwrap the sides as well as back and the front on the same spaces, but I’ve planned to make a different texture on each side. At the end, I’ve only made the front texture as different than the others, but that’s enough for now. I may come back to it later and edit it, but I like it how it is.

Although I know that the soil bag has slightly too much geometry, it looks perfect at the end.

Today, I’ve also been working on the lightmaps resolution for the final outcome. However I think ,that I’ll need to redo the lightmaps entirely (because I have many problems after the build), so I’ve pretty much wasted the time to do all of the settings. I’ve wanted to see if the errors will still appear after the lightmaps set to the proper values, but it did, so I need to redo the lightmaps completely or find another solution. I am not sure why I’ve done it at this point, as I should leave it for the end errors and bugs check…

I still have some bits that are not working properly, so I’ll have to redo them manually at some point. In some areas I’m not sure why, so I’ll have to find that out as well.

Power up!

Some while ago I’ve made a small power box with the cables that is placed on the wall. It’s a simple asset that I’ve partly reused today to create another one.

However the asset is a bit high poly, I’ve reused entire thing in the power generator as I really like the look of it.

Although I’ve tried to make the power generator as low poly as I can, it still has a lot of geometry. I can’t get any lower (maybe I could only delete the cables from the power box, but it won’t change much), as it’s still a pretty simple, boxy shape. The most expensive parts are on the top area, where I’ve had to copy the same, round shapes several times. I still believe it will be good enough to be placed in a real game, even with the final high level of geometry, as it is a big asset which require to have all of those details.

To go along with it, I’ve also made a separate power towers, that will be connected to the generator by cables. I’ve made these out of the image reference that I’ve seen somewhere on the google. This is how those things works to provide power to the nearby buildings.

These are quite high poly as well, but I don’t think there will be any other way of getting those details in.

At the end of the day, I’ve also made 2 more assets that are for the area outside: fence doors and the doorstep that will work as a locker for the doors as well.

I’ve divided it into parts for the purpose of explaining it in here. The red area will be transparent, but some of those parts will be solid colour as well (that’s why there is some more geometry than required). The blue parts will be lit by the emissive, so they will somehow suggest there is some energy going on through them. I’m planning to use the same material as for the fence to be getting through them. I also plan to make similar doors for the lab interior and main doors as well. I will be editing them a lot (for the main entrance), but this is a base for not only one door, but many different ones.

Final Shed Assets

This is it! That’s all I want to make for the shed internal and it has to be enough to make it looks good. I won’t comment on them as much, because it’s just assets creation, so there is nothing to say really.

First, I’ve wanted to create an old fashion chair, so I’ve started to work on it, bu I’ve quickly abandoned this idea. I just simply didn’t like the outcome, so I’ve looked at the modern chairs online and decided to make much more modern one.

In a few days of work, I’ve also managed to create several different assets:

Cacti (T:1670), Photo Frame (T: 128), Map (T: 54), Ashtray (T: 1349), CB Radio (T: 2486), CB Mic (T: 6753)

Shelve (T:540), Flower Pot (T: 1550, 1582), Jar (T: 660)

All of those assets have been created in several days (20.06 – 22.06), but I’ve decided to place them into one post. I don’t think any of those assets require any more comments. I was working hard for few days in a row, and all of that is my final work.

In a meantime, I’ve also made a small pieces of a cut wood, that I’ve places all around my shed, to give it a nice feel of an area being used.

I think that the shed is finally over and finished. Although I still feel like there should be something right in the centre, but I don’t know what else I could place in this area. If a good idea will came to my head, I may add something to it, but by thinking about the time, I will be moving on to the Lab facility since now. No more coming back to this (except the textures and materials).