Slow… But Eventful
With the Avengers being moved away from Bugs Ahoy! and onto the DARE, I was able to continue with any outstanding models that I had previously forgotten about as well as make any necessary changes. This was mainly because I wanted to start with the Unity build once I had a sufficient amount of textured environmental objects, as this way I would be able to place everything of one object rather than waiting until everything was finished. Another aspect of this was that I wanted all of the main models to be sent over to Venny for texturing so that I wouldn’t have any surprises later on in the project where it would be closer to the deadline and much more difficult to implement. With this in mind, I started with making any of the models that I had previously forgotten about due to not having/ needing any illustrations.
Model Code name: Fire Pit
One of these new additions were the fire pits which I was leaving until the end as they didn’t seem like they would be very difficult to create so to the simplicity of the objects. For the firepit, I decided not to worry about the size of the whole model as it could just be scaled up or down when placed into unity if the scale was incorrect, and started with the blocks that would make up the main section of the model. The blocks were a simple element to create as it was just a box that had been squashed slightly so that looking at them didn’t resemble the pillars too much, as this could suggest that the blocks were just reused. Also, I didn’t want to use the same blocks as the pillar as scaling them up would mean that they would be incredibly tall even with a minimal amount of blocks. Whereas using a slightly squashed block meant that I wouldn’t have to compromise the size of the final structure to keep the height relatively short. To give the blocks a slightly worn look I chamfered some of the edge verts as if they had chipped over time, as well as doing it to a select few edges to give the same effect. For the top bowl section of the firepit, I decided to start it off by making a thin platform for the bowl to stand on before importing a low-poly sphere which I cut in half and bridged over the top. With this done it was just a case of creating an inset and bevelling it down into the bow, however not too much that it went through the outer mesh of the model. At this point the bowl was too tall, so I squashed it slightly and merged it down into the top section of the block as it wouldn’t be a part of the model that players would be able to see, especially with all of the particle effects. As I wasn’t sure what the size comparison between what I had made and the two rooms it would be placed in and also when being compared to the heights of the players, I made variations of firepits in regards to the number of blocks ranging from 1-6.
In the Beginning… There Was… The Build
With the last of the models complete for the DARE environment, I was able to begin construction on the Unity project in terms of taking assets created by Bernardo and me, as well as those that had been textured by Venny. (See Map Build for more information). Although I was given a large number of models straight off the bat that had been textured, with many of them I couldn’t place them as they would need other assets due to either being attached to them. With the assets that I was able to begin placement of most of the first environmental assets more focused on furniture (barrels, chairs, benches etc.) I was able to place all of them in arrangments. This way I was able to clearly see their impact on the game world in terms of how many of a certain object I could fit; which was much better than possibly needing to wait for benches or other tables which would make placements much more difficult. By the end of the week, I was able to place all of the all of the environmental objects I had been given by Venny and just had to wait for the remaining models to be textured and uploaded ready for me to place.
3D Model of a 2D Texture (Floor)
An area of the game that we as a group needed to decide upon was what we were going to do for the floor and walls, as there were only a small amount of options we had. Both textures would have to be tiled, which means that they can be applied to any surface and match up perfectly with the seams only becoming visible at a considerable distance. One option was for Venny to draw a texture for both sections, however, this would put a lot of strain on her as drawing a tile-based texture isn’t the easiest thing on the planet. The other option was to try and find a texture online and use it within our game, although this wouldn’t be ideal, time was running out and we didn’t have long to finish the game. After looking through some images of textures for both areas, Richard put forward the option of using substance designer which could turn 3D models into a 2D texture giving it the extra feeling of depth. It works in a way of using several mapping types of a particular texture, which when applied to an object will make it seem as if it was modelled in 3D. This would not only be useful in terms of a solution for the textures but also the fact that the texture would look like a model, the only issue is that the pattern would need to be modelled. That’s where I come in.
We managed to find a few illustrations of seamless patterns for the floor by Svetlana Shirokova on a website called 123rf.com, and when the two designs were narrowed down I saved a copy of the image and began modelling it. Throughout the modelling process, it was very much a case of placing a block and rearranging the verts to match the lines as closely as I could, because when I was finished the sides would have to meet up. This was the more challenging aspect of the modelling process because as I modelled the sides I had to move them to the other side of the model to ensure that they met up and if they didn’t then I needed to make them. Constantly cloning, reshaping and rearranging objects was by far the most time-consuming element of the DARE as I never felt I got anywhere with it. Nevertheless, when the model was finally complete my next job was to move the objects back and forth to create somewhat of an uneven surface as to allow more depth to be captured in Substance Designer. With the model done I created two planes and attached all of the individual objects together as I needed to create a Normals map of the model to then send to Richard, and so selecting the object would be much easier.
How I feel this week went:
Although this was a much slower week in terms of the work produced when compared to the previous weeks of the semester, i feel like i managed to get a reasonable amount of work complete. This meant that i could make any adjustments to the object placements if needed or change the arrangments to either decrease or add more depending on the room. Ultimately, I’m glad to be finally placing assets into the DARE environment and am definitely looking forward to seeing the game change and ultimately get it finished. The tasks for next week will consist of:
- Adding environmental objects when available
- Make any changes to models
- finish any outstanding blog posts
- Finish Wall Texture Model
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