charlottetaylorfwxb3001

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Creating a scene

For my portfolio and presentation video for hand in I created a scene inside of Unreal, filled with just my props and textures, I used the Unreal concrete material for walls and flooring, these where the only things I didn’t make.

The rest are my models for the game WarWolf, I researched the medieval era to make my modles realistic and accurate like the sizing things, the materials used back then to make my models accurate as possible.

I created sketches for specific designs like the wolf sijil, the sheilds and swords designs etc so that the group could see what I was planning on modelling as well as getting feedback before going into Maya.

I think this showcased my work well and was very helpful in the creation of my portfolio however I would’ve liked to have time to plan out rooms and plan the overall scene out better and with more design to to it.

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Table Props

As well as small table props like ink bottles, scrolls and goblets I have made 2 variations of book and used Substance Painter to create multiple textures for the books, creating old/newer books with black/red colouring and using different alphas on the covers to add to the variation.

I only made 2 books assets to save time, using Substance Painter is an easy way to give the props variation and give the illusion of multiple different books without having to create a bunch of different assets when I can be spending my time on improvements or more important props like the crossbow.

I imported the models into Unreal to make sure the textures looked good and I tested layouts to make sure the books look good altogether.

Assets like these fill up areas and add life to the environment which I like a lot and enjoy adding into a scene, I don’t think they need to be that detailed, mainly to make sure the game doesn’t have any trouble loading lots of the assets/textures.

As an improvement I added titles and author’s names onto the books and the book spin.

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Improvements

The moon dial prop is important to the mechanics of Warwolf, the moon dial allows the player to change the position of the moon which changes the places you can change forms into a werewolf and use the set of mechanics specific to the wolf. 

I changed the original model by adding a spiral design to the metal part of the model.

I used the same materials from my original model, ‘Mocha Swirl marble’ from Substance Source. https://source.allegorithmic.com/assets

I baked the colour ID on the props I have improved, like the moon dial.

Because there’s only one texture layer any material covered the entire mesh until I added a colour select mask onto the model. This is so I can select from the colour IS, so the materiel is only applied top the selected part of the mesh.

I used a white fill layer, changed to a colour layer onto the base of the model to get the colour I wanted,m and added my own moon cycle image as an alpha.

Original model; I changed the colouring of the marble base because I think a  white/grey colour pallette suits the game more than white/pink. I made the dial thicker and more interesting with curves meeting the base of the model, I think these details make the model look way better and makes it look more finished.

New version

I like the colours better in this version, the added details and the overlook of this model compared to my original model.

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Update-Furniture Models

For the furniture and the improvements in my props for my group work I have used Substance Painters baking tools to bake a  colour ID on the mesh, this makes it so you can pick a colour, this colour is where the material will go. The colour ID tool allows me to keep all the materials on one texture layer, this decreased the amount of exported textures, making the job of putting the meshes into the engine a lot easier for Owen.

Here is the mesh showing the colour ID and below is an example of the material only on the selected colour.

I put these meshes and textures into Unreal to test how they look and get to know about any problems before sending them to my team. The main issue was scaling which I have changed in Maya.

With the furniture I knew the textures would all be similar, make of a dark wood that would best suit the environment and the era. I created variation in the colouring, dirt and in the sizes and designs of the props. I feel like this stops the furniture from looking too similar and repetative. 

If I had more time on these props I would create more with more variations in damage and dirt etc.

These are some of the models I have made, tested in Unreal to make sure the textures where similar like I wanted.

Using this technique is a big improvement on my original workflow and has helped a lot with minimising the amount of textures sheets that are needed in Unreal Engine to make texture the props and furniture.

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Table Props

I’ve focused on the smaller props, things that would clutter desks like scrolls, papers, ink bottles etc. 

Using the glossy matte material in substance painter, I changed the colour and the roughness to imitate ink and used different alphas to crteate ink blots and splatters on the papers and scrolls. I feel like these details help to add to the realism of the game, instead of having a perfectly clean scroll.

I like the look of the scrolls and the way you can layer them in engine to create a messy, used table look. I think a layout like this would suit the game and help convey realism in to the player.

Modelling in Maya, using a reference image to make sure the shape of the feather was realistic, using the soft select to move the edges into a realistic curve, etc.

I layered on colour using a spaced out thin brush in Substance Painter, this created the illusion of a feather. I wanted to look into creating a realistic feather in Substance Painter but I didn’t have time in my schedule to learn something like this so I stuck to the technique I knew and would like to iterate on this particular model in the future.

I tested these props in unreal to see how they looked, if the pivot and sizing was good as well as being able to what my props look like in engine.

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I took time while I was ahead of schedule to improve upon the main weapons by adding bloody and damage to them which makes more sense than the enemies carrying clean swords.

I used a metallic red in Substance painter and a variation of brushes to add the splatter and smudges of blood as well as adding different shades of red to give variety to the overall look of the effect.

I like how the blood ended up looking and the cool effects I made with the various brushes in Substance Painter.

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This is the first major prop I have completed, I used reference images to make my concept sketches more accurate, one site I looked at explained that metal wasn’t used loads in things like shields so I made adjustments and took out unnecessary metal in the shield and even experimented with a version that only had metal in the center.

This is the final shield.

If I was to do it again I would do more research at the very start to make the props realistic in the concept phase rather than changing as I go along,even though changing the model this was wasn’t difficult and helped me see where I have gone wrong.

I think blood and damage would improve this model overall.

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Wolf army texturing

Using the shape and colour theory on how artists show good/bad and heroes/enemies my group and I decided on a wolf sijil vs a deer sijil for the games heroes/enemies.

The models, texturing and sijils will be used in the game and in my props to hint to the enemies/good guys as well as being in the furniture around the castle to hint to safe/dangerous places.

I designed the swords and shields of both armies, I created the wolf sijil in Sketchbook Props and will be using the theory of dark colours means evil and light means good.

I think using these types of theories will help players, even subconsciously, inputting a story together in the game or help navigate the levels by identifying different places with the different props dotted around.

I like that the colours work with the silvers of the metal on the props.

I think I could improve by adding blood and damage to the swords.

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The banners of the game will be featured throughout the castle and will be interactive as the goal is to take back control of your castle and destroying the deer banners.

I made a simple, low poly one for the prototype as you see above and went onto use references for the cloth for the final model, I gave the model a slight wave ion the plane so it looks more organic and less stiff and plastic-looking.

Texturing the banners, I started out with the clean, basic version so I had textures to build up on when it came to the burnt and ripped versions of the banners.

I like the way the wolf stands out from the other props as it is the only thing which is clean white. I like how the colouring matches the feel of game.

If I was to do this again I would look into using NCloth in Maya for a more natural and organic cloth.

For the future props I will make sure to research the techniques I could possibly use before I start.

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Substance Designer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5HZHA89teI&t=167s

For the first main material I am making in Substance Designer I have used a tutorial and followed the steps to create a procedural wood texture.

I then went further with this texture, using the things I learnt from the tutorial to add damage and details that were not shown in the video.

The tutorial used texture maps and blend nodes with different blend modes as well as warping, transforming the maps, adding levels and changing the parameters on the nodes to get the effect you want. 

The tutorial also covers adding the maps into the material, creating the normal map and embossing the maps for the textures I have built up.

Once I had followed the tutorial I added some nodes I think would create the look I want, I added a grunge map and overlayed to take out some of the embossing I had previously created. This gave the look of wearing down in some parts of the texture.

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Art Research-Dishonoured

For the concept art for our game, I have looked at concept art from games with similar themes, like Dishnoured as this game has a dark tone with strong stealth elements which I really like and feel like the stealth and dark story would fit well within our game.

Even though the style of our game is realistic, I fell like Dishonoured is a good mix of painted/stylised and realistic. The art isn’t particularly realistic but, as a player, you know the world, props, weapons are all based on reality even with steampunk inspiration. 

I like the crisscross of realistic/ stylised as well as the unique designs of weapons, characters/outfits etc.

PLACES

I have looked at places to get an idea of the way a professional environment concept art piece would look like, I think this artist has made the background simple and dull to attract attention to the building in the piece, colour and lighting has been used well to highlight the building and to set a tone to the piece.

CHARACTERS

The character design for the game is very interesting, while also sticking to generic standard for enemies and heroes. The enemies, for example, (the ones you fight) are butch, drawn based on squares and wider then the player character, they are muscular and chunky compared to the enemies which use brains over brawn, these enemies are slender and cleaner looking with not battle scars and well groomed.

This is a technique people use to visually tell a story, a person can look at a character in he game and know if they’re a threat or not as well as knowing if they are friendly, a mission one of the more important enemies.

I like the way they have created the characters, so the player has an insight too the personality or their place in game without spoon feeding the information.

The grimy style of the more intimidating characters is a good, subtle way of showing a player what a character is like which is something I find interesting and fits well in a game where stealth is a main focus. This is so that if a player walks into a room and sees a group of grimy, chunky characters with weapons, the player knows to run or hide immediately giving the player an advantage while playing.

For my work I will be concepting one enemy, this is because of the scope of the game/game play and would design multiple enemies with different roles and weapons if the game was being created on a lager scale. I have, however, incorporated an aspect of the Dishonoured art I have looked at by using a generic base for the enemy to be built on, the clothing and weapons are indicators that the character is an enemy and not an ally.

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Reference Images for the interior of the castle, these will be used as inspiration and to make sure the props and furniture I am making are accurate for the era.

My group and I have agreed on a castle that is set in the Medieval era, the architecture is inspired by Gothic castles and we will be incorporating a fantasy style to the castle, this is because fantasy fits well with the werewolf theme of the game.

I have gathered images of the interior of a Gothic castle, I really like the dark, clean woods and the carving detailing of the furniture and I will be doing tests based of this particular look inside of Substance Painter and ZBrush.

The main aspects of these images that attracted me to them are the engravings in the wood, the detailing in the furniture makes each piece of furniture unique and I think this type of design is seen a lot in Medieval times so they would be something I will be adding into the designs of the props for the castle.

Dark polished woods are definitely one of the main materials I have seen throughout castle interiors, I think dark wood adds to the dark tones of the rooms and would be easy to manipulate the colours to add brighter/warmer colours for rooms that are open and welcoming vs the rooms which have been destroyed and raided, these rooms will be filled with dark, dull colours to reflect the unwelcoming and mysterious tone of the room/story. 

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The first and last sword in the top image are the 2 that stood out to people so I did a more finalised version of the swords, these are the 2 main variations of the sword I will be creating and as a prop for inside the castle I will also be creating a more simple design which I like because of the purple/grey gradient as well as the pattern on the handle.

The two I have drawn above will be modelled for the player to use in the game. I liked the jewels, I think they make it obvious that the swords are for higher class or royal soldiers, which are the people I designed the swords for, this will contrast to the character and adds to the narrative that the player is a prisoner that has had to steal weapons to use against the enemies in the game.

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Sword and Shield Designs.

These will eventually both be models for the game, the sword is the main weapon you have in the game and the shield, I think, would be a good model for both decoration and to use in the game.

I sketched out templates for both the swords and the shields, I kept to the purple/grey palette to match the uniform and used the sigil Will created on the shields and this is something I saw in medieval reference images (royal crests on the shields and uniform to differentiate between armies. I added this in to make the props more accurate to the era.

I roughed out the shapes of the handles for the swords and the shapes of the shields and played with aspects of swords and shields that I have seen in reference images as well as adding this I like the look of and would make more sense for a decorative piece like the shield that is half metal.

I played around with the decorative tops of the swords as these are things that don’t affect the use of the sword (unlike the heavy metal piece on the shield) so I could be more creative in the designs of the swords which I liked while keeping it functional.

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Enemy Concept Post #1

The base of the enemy is a basic, rough template of the anatomy and the person.

I then looked at references images to the uniforms and weapons a medieval soldier would have, I took the features I liked most and made a rough sketch of 2 variations of the enemy.

Using will’s sigil for the games castle owners I created the colour palette for the uniforms, matching the sigil made more sense than the other colour tests I did for the enemies.

I asked my team for feedback and they liked the second image (on the left) the most, I like is as they looked more like soldiers, and I think the clothing, makes more sense, they’d need an extra layer of clothing/protection especially after a siege and while they are protecting their king. I think the thick jacket and cape make more sense in a colder environment.

I then cleaned up the sketch, adding details like the sword and decorative details on the helmet and the sigil, this is so I have a solid base for the colouring and final shading etc that will make up the final piece.

I then found references for the deigns of certain aspects of the enemies like the boots, I created a basic template and built on details based on the parts of the boots I liked from each reference.

I highlighted the parts I incorporated to show where I got the designs ideas from.

These designs are added to a folder in my layers named ‘refernces’ which will help me keep the details of the items I design in the final piece.

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Witcher reference images;  https://www.artstation.com/artwork/yRo63

Props in a professional game

Props in realistic games would have very high poly counts if it wasn't for the techniques you can do to lower the poly count (which makes the props easier to load and is easier for serves and computers to handle).

Having great looking props with a lower poly count can done in many ways, baking a low poly and a high poly together in Substance Painter. This technique merges a low poly assets with a high poly one, keeping the shape and details of a high poly object but only adding polys where they are really needed, this decreases the poly count while keeping the high poly look. This is the technique I plan to use on my assets. This is because I know my assets will be used in a game which I would’t want to effect the game play with very high poly assets that strain the game which can effect frame rate as well as the production of the game. 

The production of the game can be effected by lots of high poly assets as the more memory the Unreal Engine is saving and auto saving increases the time it  takes to save/load and open the file itself.

Props like this are made with lower quality computers in mind as well as the limitations of consoles and the way a lot of high poly assets would effect computers, consoles and the overall game. Having frame rates drop, online games crash etc because of the amount of polys in a game isn’t something professional games want in their games.

The Witcher 3

For example The Witcher 3 is a realistic game with a similar look to what I’d like for the game and has always kept the game in mid while creating the assets, I looked as some wire frames of props and noticed they weren’t as high poly as they look in the game. The game is in third person which, I think, effects the look of the game. a lower poly asset would stick out more if the game was in first person because the player is at eye level to the props.

This is something I will have to keep in mind when texturing my models, any stretching of textures or low quality textures will be more noticeable in the first person view, which is what we’re planning to use with out game.

Bioshock

I also looked at games which aren’t as realistic or high poly, I looked at Bioshock as I think its a good example of a game which uses the lower poly assets to their advantage because the game is filled with small props which create a more lived in  and filled environment, making the environment feel real and immersive.

http://www.cking.co/bioshock-infinite-gallery/

The Last of Us

The Last of Us is also a good example of a game which has high quality models, props which populate the world, the prop artists would have had to consider the amount of props that would be in the game while making them, if you don’t this causes problems, for example if The Last of Us had a model like the image below, all of the map the game itself would have issues loading and saving something with this amount of detail. This is why concepts such as this one are changed for the game, the detail is changed or lightened until the model or character is to a state which the game engine can handle well. This is to prevent issues during production and during the sell and play of the game.

The Last of Us infected sculpt reference; link; https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6g0r

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Concept Art

For this project, as well as 3D modelling and texturing I will be doing concept art in the planning stages of the project for my group.

I gathered references from various sites including art station to give myself an idea of what other people have done and to help with the anatomy of the werewolf as it’s not something I’ve drawn before.

I sketched out a rough idea of the shape of the werewolf, this is so I have a guide to the anatomy and the size/shape of the werewolf while I am adding on details like clothes, fur details and facial features.

This is the start of my rough, detailed sketch of the wolf, I would clean up the sketch and paint on top of the lineart. I am aiming to have a piece where you cannot see the lines, I will use colours to create the effect of a 3D image.

I cleaned up the sketch and made some minor changes like the overall size of the arms and the torso, making them seem muscular and I added were I will be adding fur, making the fur seem thicker in certain areas like the chest and forearms.

Blocking out a base colour and adding in shading and highlights, the shading and highlights make the image have a 3D look to it and will be good for the fur look I want to add later on.

Building detail on the face using different shades of grey and blending over the lineart. I made sure to keep everything in separate layers as this makes it a lot easier to change, take away or add in detail or colour like the yellow of the eyes.

I blended the fur tones with a mixture of bristle smudge brush and a horizontal ‘flicker’ blender.  I used light grey/white to highlight the ends of the fur that sticks out on the body and a darker colour to shade underneath to give a 3D look to the tuffs of fur.

I liked these two blending brushes as they helped give the piece a the rough look and helped to create the messy fur look a lot better than the start of the piece where I used a smooth blending brush.

For the feet I used a reference and used the symmetry tool to draw both feet at the same time, they were harder to do than the rest of the body as the claws on the floor /front view looked odd so I used a 3/4 view as a reference.

I also changed the left ear,  the size and shape didn’t match each ear as well as I wanted them too I traced over the right ear t use as a guide while fixing the ear.