Today I’ve decided to work on the interior a bit more, but I guess it wasn’t a good day, as I only managed to finish three assets. One of them is actually bigger and slightly more complicated one, but it’s still only one asset.
Desk (Tris: 2054)
Although it’s a bit blocky, I wanted to have several open drawers to make it more interesting. This took me some time, as I wanted them to feel quite natural.
This desk is more like a working area rather than a sitting area with a PC or something on it. Because of that it has that one side with a longer countertop. The design is simple again, but I’ll add some normal maps and more interesting materials to make it a bit more interesting.
Because it’s a working area, I’ve also made a saw. In fact, I’ve made two different ones (one that will be hanged on the wall and normal usable one to be placed around). The only difference is just in the additional nails as hangers.
Saw (Tris: 632, 904)
I don’t know how I’ve managed to make it as high poly, but I’m fine with it at the end. It’s not as bad, so it will stay as it is for now. I may come back to it later and edit it, but only if I’ll have enough time.
By the look of the Gantt Chart, I should be finishing off the rainforest area. So far I’m working on a shed (which is a part of the rainforest), but this is definitelly not even near the end of working on it. I only have been working since last week, which puts me in a difficult situation now. Decisions has to be made.
In this situation, I’ve decided to work on the rainforest area for one more week and see what will happened then. The activities for the next week include finishing of the final touches, which means I can catch up while doing so at the same time. I still have to make textures, which slightly complicates the point that I’m in right now (this will take some time as well…), but I hope that at the end of the week I should be able to finish of the current state.
This week and the next week are also the beginning of creating the exterior of the lab facility. I may start doing so alongside other tasks, but to be realistic, I may move that part and work on the lab in general starting from week 3 of June (together with the interior). The exterior shouldn’t be as complicated as the interior, so it shouldn’t take as much time.
I hope I’ll be able to catch up with that at this point, so I’ll be able to focus on making a lab.
Today I was working on several different doooors. I wanted the shed doors to be quite similar to the actual shed and be a part of the actual walls, so it was quite hard to came up with the idea of how it should all works to fit perfectly.
I did the walls yesterday and they fit well with the rest of the shed, so this was time for perfectly fitting doors. I only knew that I want them to have double wings and have only one opened. This required some small fitting manipulations (shortening several plans that won’t be as much visible). I also had to came up with an idea for a perfect hinges that would make it looks realistic. I also had to add planks on the top, as there was a huge gap between the walls. This is the final result for the main doors:
Main Shed Doors (Tris: 2459)
Although those doors looks very simple, I was struggling a lot while making these. The most problematic were the lock as the planks had to be cut in different places. Luckily they were just simple rectangles, so it was easier to do, but it still have me some problems.
Another complication came with the actual lock placement. I had to rethink how it works several times before I got it kind of right. Because of that I’ve made a lock separately first, then I’ve added it to the closed doors (which I’ve later used as additional back doors).
Separate lock (Tris: 1181)
Closed Back Doors (Tris: 1841)
As I’ve already mentioned in this post, the most time consuming were the hinges. I was redoing them several times to make it looks realistic, but at the end I believe I’ve managed to do so. I know that they won’t be as much visible in the game (just a bit), but every single small bit adds realism to the game like mine.
The close up of the hinges.
Another doors that I was working on today were the internal ones. I’ve decided to block the view to the second room, as now I’m planning to use that space for a bathroom area (every liveable space needs one right?!). I’ve used wall model as a base for it (as it has to connect with that) and added the doors that I’ve made for the other doors (I hope it makes sense).
Internal Doors (Tris: 238)
I decided that I want them to be slightly open, to have a small view on the interior. I’m not planning to model a bathroom, but I may place some other things to block the view of it. I just thought it would make it more obvious that these are doors (as they are mostly gonna have similar textures as the walls).
I was thinking about adding a handle, but resigned on the idea at the end. It would looks kind of weird to have a handle inside a shed (even if it’s a liveable area). The last thing to do to the shed walls would be adding windows, so I’m planning to do so tomorrow.
Today I’ve finally finished all the walls required to make a shape of my shed. This is looking good and I’m happy to see it coming together pretty well.
Shed side walls (external and internal view of the same assets; Tris: 458, 467)
I had to make two different side walls for the different purpose. One of them is suppose to cover the side entirely as an end wall, while the other one has a place for the open door to allow player to get inside. Both of them are similar and were unwrapped in the same way (with some small changes). So far it all fit perfectly with the rest of the shed so I’m really happy with the result.
The next step will be making the actual doors and windows, so it will looks more liveable. I would also want to make a quad and place it inside the second room (garage), as the person living in there would be responsible for keeping the area in a good condition (maintenance).
As I have already mentioned, I want this shed to be liveable, so it has to looks like an occupied area. The first idea was to make a BED for the person who lives in there. It’s again, simple but good looking bed. I’ve seen many similar ones in a shops now. The modern beds are simple with straight lines, so that’s what I’ve went for with this one.
I had multiple attempts to make a bedding. I even tried to model it by myself, but I’ve finally resigned. Eventually I’ve used a cloth modifier to make a nice looking duvet that covers the bed.
Multiple bedding tries (my own modeling on the left).
After making several different duvets, I’ve noticed that the main issue is that the bed doesn’t have a pillow yet. I’ve made a pillow first then I was finally able to make the final shape of the duvet.
Final bed without and with bedding (Tris: 276, 5954)
I have decided that if I’ll go for a simple shape bed, I may add slightly more geometry for the actual bedding. The total tris count isn’t even that high, so I’m eventually happy with it. I have to say that it took several tries, to get it into this shape! I was working on it for most of the day, trying it out multiple times with different settings for cloth.
At this point I’m happy with the final look of it. The bed looks like it’s been used before, so it convey the right message. I decided to delete some geometry in the invisible areas, so it slightly reduced the final amount of tris. I have decided to leave the bed details under it, as I’m planning to use it several more times that those details may be visible to the player (bed without a mattress).
Deleted geometry (TRIS REDUCTION from 4848 to 3758)
I could probably delete many others, but I wanted to be sure, that the player won’t see the inside of this duvet. I’m quite happy with the final tris count, so I’m gonna leave it as it is now.
This was a different type of experience, as I haven’t done much cloth work before (only few times). It took me longer than expected, so I was only able to finish the bed today. I’m still happy with it, but I could have make some more assets instead (or more different versions of the bed) if I would be more experienced with the cloth modifier.
Today I’ve decided to make several first interior assets for the shed. I’ve also made final touches (UVs) of the walls and ceiling. I’ve also had to add tree unique ceiling parts as I’ve decided to have an L shaped shed at the end.
Additional ceiling parts (Tris: 37, 32, 37)
I didn’t expected it to take such a long time and lots of working back and forth, but I’ve managed to make it fit perfectly at the end.
I know that I still have a lot to finish on the main shape of the shed, but while looking at such an empty room as this, I had to fill the interior with something. I’ve decided to make shelves, so they will perfectly fit the empty walls, and make a space for the additional assets. I’ve eventually made three slightly different versions, but nothing as crazy in design. The shelves are simple as most of the shed (there is no modern design in any shed I’ve ever seen so…).
Shed Shelves (Tris: 266, 280, 536)
Each shelve was aligned to perfectly fit the shape of the wall (the curving in the centre fits a wooden philar on the wall). The difference between each of them is just in length and weight (the bottom one is much wider than others). The bottom one also has several more support as bigger and heavier objects will be placed on top of it.
Except the shelves, paint can and paint brush were the first assets I’ve made for the interior of the shed. I already had some boxes to fill the area with, so it already makes an interesting packed place.
Paint can and paint brush (Tris: 1828, 612)
However, the paint can is slightly high poly, I’m planning to use it as a big asset as well as a small one. This require an sufficient amount of tris to looks good, so I’ve decided that it’s still ok and works fine within a budget.
I’ve focused on the first building that I have in my level – shed. I’ve made several assets today, but it’s only a start of an actual shape for the shed. I’ve made walls, ceiling and a face for the outside area, which is just a shell for the final design.
Modular Wall (external and internal view of the same asset; Tris: 292)
The walls have two different sides (external and internal), so I don’t have to make several assets and align them together in the final level. I wanted to make it a modular because several reasons: first it was easier for me to create a final shape of the shed with the modular design, I could have change the size of it anytime, without having to model additional bits; second I know that many buildings are now made out of modular design, so I wanted to show the ability of doing so in my own work.
Each wall has a LEFT and RIGHT version of it as there are small differences in the placement of the wooden parts. This had to be done mostly because of the ceiling (it also had to be flipped to align it perfectly). Eventually I’ve ended up with multiple assets with the same geometry, but just being flipped. I’m not exactly sure is that the right way of doing so, but I still found it easy to manipulate.
Ciling (external and internal view of the same asset; Tris: 100)
Ceiling with window (external and internal view of the same asset; Tris: 172)
Ceiling middle bits (normal roof on top, window roof on the bottom; Tris: 80, 140)
All of those main parts of the shed have already been used to create a final shape of the shed in UE4. I’ll be adding several different parts to them, to create the final look (windows, doors, side walls etc.) but I’m happy with the amount of work I’ve done today. This is a huge step forward in creating this project.
First placement of the walls and ceiling of the shed in UE4.
As I said before, I’ve also made a fence that will be placed right next to the shed area. I’ve made two different versions of it as I want the player to be able to jump through one of them and get inside the fenced area. There will be a power-plant that will light up the lights in the entire area.
Fence (normal and without top layer; Tris: 140, 181)
So far I’ve a great speed so if I’ll keep it up, I may be able to catch up with the work that I wanted to have at this point.
Finally! I was able to work on the project for the day. I’ve decided that the first thing that I want to create would be a fallen tree, that the character will walk onto at the beginning. It is my beginning of a project and it will be the beginning of a game for the player. Good choice.
Fallen Tree (tris: 5872)
The asset is partly unwrapped so far, because the lianas are still just simple lines that I was working on. I want to add just a few leaves to them, so then I can make them a final shape.
The idea to have several flat shapes at each end of a tree came from a research. I’ve noticed that the fallen trees usually have some broken wood on the sides. Those planes on my asset will become alpha planes with the texture on it, so I hope it will give the similar effect.
Another thing I’ve noticed was important at this point, was to check the previous project for the assets that could be reused. I’ve been thinking about what I want to include in my scene, and while doing so, I’ve noticed that I’ve already made several assets that can be placed around this new project. Because of that I’ve made an additional assets list with the list of items that will be reused from the previous projects.
This gave me a better look at what I have and can reuse, but to be hones, took me a bit of time out of the production. Not that much, but because of that, I haven’t done anything else today.
So far it’s really hard to tell how much behind I’ll end up in a week or so, but I’m working on as planned in the schedule. I know it will require a lot of work to catch up, but so far I’m on the right track. I also still have some time later on included for bugs or errors, that I may use to make some more assets and fix the problems that may appear right now at the beginning. This is my biggest weakness so far, but at this point I’m still not as much stressed as I probably should be. I still have lots of time to catch up, so if I’ll play it right I’ll make everything on time.
If someone would ever told me, that I’ll spend entire two weeks in a bed having a terrible cold during a spring, I would lough so loud, but IT HAPPENED! I had a temperature, barely able to think straight, so I decided that working on a project won’t do me any good. The illness hold to me for two weeks, starting with a bee sting (YES, THAT’S EVEN WORSE!). This again ruined my schedule, but this time I’ve decided not to make any changes to the actual Gantt Chart. I’ll have to live with it and try to catch up with that lose and hope that nothing wrong will happen again during this project…
This means that so far I haven’t even really started the project. I’ll have to work harder that expected for the next few weeks to make everything on time…
The plan was, to start a little bit early before the beginning of the project, but because last few weeks were so intense, I needed a break so much, that I’ve decided to reorganise my schedule and include two weeks of a break. This an important decision that allowed me to recharge and come back to work with a full power. This also means that I will have two less weeks for the entire project, but I feel strong about it, so it should be fine.
That means, that I had to redo my Gantt Chart to exclude the first two weeks. I wanted to do so, just because I didn’t wanted to write every week that I’m behind the schedule…
The Gantt Chart before:
The Gantt Chart now:
The actual schedule didn’t change as much, but I’ve cut one week of the LAB interior. I decided that it will mostly be copy and paste, so I don’t need as much time do to the assets. I want to focus on the plants and trees a bit more and the to create an appropriate atmosphere on the outside rather than the inside.
Raptor's Rage 