Triple A Asset Assignment

Stage 1-Mood Board

For this project we had to choose an object to recreate as a high res asset, which could be used in a triple A game. As seen above I gather images of my chosen object and organized it into a mood board. From here I could start to model from my chosen reference image. The reason behind my chose is because out off all the antic objects I found this gun caught my eye; because of it's elegant structure with the well designed engraved pattern on the side. Plus its beautiful pearl textured handle.

Stage 2-High Polygon Model

Then I started to develop my high poly model and create a detailed version of my chosen object in Maya 2016. As I model this I begin to establish which parts would be moveable or should be individual pieces such as the gun's barrel. After completing the modeling I then smooth out each piece ready for ZBrush.

Stage 3-Into ZBrush

After completing my high poly model I then exported each of the individual parts as OBJ file and then I imported each part into ZBrush. Which lead me to use the Sub Tool to have all parts in one place, I did have to use the move tool to a line or place certain objects into their correct places. After that I was able to use some alphas that I made in Photoshp to give my gun its engraved quality as well as its screws depth. I then poly painted the handles grip so when I later bake and add textures onto my model the peal texture can be kept on the area marked red, so far I am happy with its outcome.

Stage 4-Low Polygon Model

After completing my asset in ZBrush I then moved on to reproducing the asset as a low polygon model. So that later on I could bake on my details made in ZBrush to the low poly model. It was quite hard to recreate my model again but in low poly, however I defiantly managed to achieve it.

Stage 5-UV Unwrapping

Soon after I made my low polygon model I then UV unwrapped it which would prevent textures being stretched and to keep them place in the right place. This area was quite difficult and a bit fiddly, even with the new tools in Maya 16. But I was able to unwrap the UV map within a neat layout.

Stage 6-xNormal

Then I moved on to xNormal which is a tool software to bake details from my high poly model to my low poly model. I needed to bake three different maps the first one was a normal map then a  colour map and finally a cavity map.

Stage 7-Quixel DDO

With the maps baked and saved I moved on to Quixel, an add on software to Photoshop, which can  add the maps to a render form of my model as well as attaching materials and textures.

Stage 8-Quixel 3DO

The following screenshots are of my model which is fully rendered in Quixel 3DO. This allows me to see what it would look like and to also see how some effects might affect it such as lights, shadows and lines filters. There were also options to allow me to mess with the contrast and saturation as well as other adjustment affects. When I was happy with the way it looked I then exported the maps and model from Quixel into a folder for the final stage.

Stage 9-Unreal 4

Finally I once I was down in Quixel, I then moved on to Unreal 4 for my final rendered submission. I achieved this by importing my exported model and maps into Unreal 4. Then I made a new material which with a material window I was able to link my exported map such as the normal map, albedo map and the reflection map. Then I applied the changes to the material and then placed the new material on the model. Once I was happy with its position in the world, I moved on to building a scene to see the effect it would have on my gun. After that I then clicked build so it would build the correct lighting for the scene and my triple A asset. After this I saved the scene and made a build of my level for submission. Overall the process was interesting  but I enjoyed the new skills I learnt as well as the final outcome of my model.

Point and Click Assignment

Stage 1-Mood Boards

Like all my work before I start off with a mood board of image research, but in this case I had two one for low poly characters or stylized characters and the other for World War 1 German army uniform.

Stage 2-Draft One Sheet

 During the research I made a draft one sheet to cover a few key details as well as the ideas we had. The art work was provided by my other teams Naomi and John.

Stage 3-Character Sheet

Once I had a few initial designs of the character done by our concept artist I designed a draft character sheet. At first we were pleased with the character but as time went we all agreed he looked too toy like, so we moved on to make him slimmer and stylized. Which lead me to finally design a final character sheet for me to model from.

Stage 4-Character Model

Soon after I modeled up the low polygon character which was based on my final character sheet. At first modelling it was easy until I got to the UV unwrapping which proved challenging as it was an area I struggled with before. However with help from one of my team mates I was able to find a simple and more effective way of dealing with UV unwrapping.

Stage 5-Painted Textures

Once the character was done and unwrapped it was just a case of adding textures. The textures above are ones that I painted in Photoshop with different brushes and filter to create the detail I wanted.

Stage 6-First Textured Character Model

After I painted the textures I then went on to take a snap of the unwrapped UV mesh map to add my textures and apply some detail such as folds in the cloths or belt buckles which was done in Photoshop. Then I saved the UV textured map as BMP file so I could apply it to my model, the outcome was a success at first.

Stage 7-Second Textured Character Model

However the characters textures didn't much the environment textures so as result I went back and changed my textures from a realistic look to a more stylized look like "Dungeon Defenders 2". After this the character was ready for rigging and animating.
Stage 9-Third Textured Character Model

As a last minute thing I decided to add a bit more detail to the character's second texture. Which add a bit more depth in the character's body but obviously not tiny detail as the camera is a certain distance away and it would be pointless and unappreciated.

Stage 8-Rigging and Animation

Finally after texturing, UV unwrapping and modelling, I then moved on to the rigging and animating, which was a whole new experience for me. To rig the character I used HmanIK a rigging system in Maya, the hardest part was rigging the character, because of many different issues I came across such as a lining all the joints and painting on the weights. But once I was able to overcome the problem I could then move on to adding the animation to the character so he could walk through out the environment. Due to limited time I was not able to create a walking animation but was able to use an imported animation from the Unity Asset Store to give the movement I needed.

Stage 9-U-Boat Soldier Textured Character Model

Like the main character above I went through a similar process for the U-Boat Soldier. However this character or characters would not be rigged or animated.

Stage 10-Creature Sketches

These are sketches and developed silhouettes for some shadow creatures which would have been enemies if the game went beyond the demo process we are doing at this time.

Stage 11-GUI Icon Art

For something extra I designed some GUI icons such as a fear icon, pick up rock icon, crystal torch icon and a power crystal icon. As well as some a fear bar and menu and in game text boxes. The final fear icon which is the spider with skull body was finalized by my team member Alex.

Stage 12-Concept Art

This is a concept I did in my spare time but I liked it so much that I decided to put it forward for a environment concept art piece.

Stage 13-Draft Main Menu Design

Later on I decided to use my earlier environment concept piece for the background and idea for a main menu which we would need for our game. My team liked the idea and 3D version is being worked on for the game by the environment artist.

Stage 14-Logo

I designed a team logo for the team which we could use for our team blog, box art and intro into the game. Overall I am happy with the work I produced it has been a tough project, but the outcome was really worth it and I have come away with a few new skills and techniques that I can apply to later projects.

Stage 15-Statue Texture

To finish off my work on this project, I helped out my fellow team mates by making a statue using the base model of Adam Wassermann, and then I made a rock texture to use on it.

Stage 15-Statue Textured Model

Lastly when I was applying the textures I discovered I made a skull pattern with in the model. Which I then copied and pasted on to the statues head. As time was running short and we had no time to make a detailed version from the concepts but I feel like it adds to the ambient horror we are looking for.