The purpose of highly reusable textures and 3D assets in video games

Video games have evolved so much during the years, having reached a scale and level of detail like it has never been seen before. What does that mean for the developers though? How do they manage to create such big worlds in such little time? Well, the answer to that is having reusable textures and assets. 

It would take ages to create a video game having to model every single tree, brick, etc... And also, that would be totally unnecessary and pointless since a player would not be noticing that the same tree has been utilized every few meters apart. Of course, if it was only one, that would be noticeable, but having three and alternating them wouldn't.

The same process applies to texture as well. Texturing is a lengthy process as it is. Having to texture every single object would be hell on earth and would take decades and an army of people, With that in mind, having some nice tiling textures that can also be altered to fit the specific environment is a must and a lifesaver. 

Having all those assets and textures already ready from the get-go would help the environment artist be more creative and free while building an environment in engine, while also sparing lots of working time. 

Making a 3D model of the monorail

 To help me out with the rendering process, and also not have to worry about getting the perspective right I have decided to make a 3d model of my monorail. I chose 3ds Mx to do it, because my design had very specific angular shapes, but also some curved ones, and Max is the best software to do that in.

The process of getting the 3d model was not that hard, and it gave me the opportunity to refine my design and also figure out what the back of the monorail looked like. I have decided to make this monorail a cargo one, transporting supplies from one shelter to another. The bottom floor is meant for storage and the top one for a limited amount of people. The entrances are going to be placed in the back, the departure stations being equipped with moveable bridges that are put down over the rail so that people could reach them. 

I have also decided to make the rail stand on high pillars,  for safety reasons. That way, the monorail would be protected from the terrestrial creatures and the snow that accumulates on the ground. For the flying ones, it is equipped with a huge light beamer on top and also some smaller ones on the side.

Now that I have this base I can finally start photobashing. 

Making the textures for the backyard slice

This year we have been introduced to a new software, that being substance designer. At the start wy, but I did working in it was extremely difficult and honestly scary, but I did not want to leave that affect my vision for this project. 

Once I had the block out of the project done, I started thinking about the materials that I needed to create, that being: 

-wood, for lots of the house structures

-plaster, for the wall of the house and also a part of the fence

-stone bricks, for the crypt and also the other part of the fence

-roof tiles, for the roofing of the house

-snow, for the ground part of the scene.

The main reason why I decided to make this a snowy environment is because Transylvania is well known for its really cold winters.

Since I was really inexperienced with the software, only knowing how to operate it and what some nods did, I decided to look for some tutorials on the internet.

For the plaster material, I have followed this tutorial:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__MLciF1Fdo&list=LL&index=39

The tutorial was complicated and not easy to follow, but I managed it and i was really happy with the result.

I tried to keep things as tidy as possible, so I wouldn't get lost between the nods.

For the wood material I have followed the following tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbGmPSuwg2Q&list=LL&index=11

This tutorial was way more simple than the one of the plaster wall, and I do enjoy what the final result looks like.

For the stone bricks material, I have followed the following tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HawFCSBCaAY&list=LL&index=3

During the making of the material, I have decided to make some changes, making the size of the bricks bigger and also changing the colour palette so it would fit the vision that I had for the crypt.

I also considered changing the colour of the moss to a more yellowish tint, because it would make more sense having it in a winter settin. 

For the roof material, I have followed this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOXS6RRewq4&list=LL&index=15

While working on this I have made the necessary changes for it to fit the scene better, the colour palette being duller, which made it look more worn out at spooky. 

I was expecting this material to be harder to create, but the process was quite smooth and to the point.

For the snow material, I have followed this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4zPT41aUlY&list=LL&index=13

While working on it, I made some changes to the process than the ones shown in the tutorial, in order to not have that much visible ice.

This graph was short and easy to make, which actually surprised me. I expected the snow to be much harder to make.

After finishing these textures I can happily say that I am very satisfied with the results, knowing how bad textures can ruin wonderful meshes. 

Before I exported the textures, I made sure to channel pack them, of course, where it was necessary. 

Majour chance in the design of my vehicle.

Since I have previously realized that I did not like the design of my vehicle, I tried to identify the things that were not working. The one that stood out the most was the front bit. It looked incredibly off and not practical for a train that is supposed to travel fast. It was very tall and almost vertical, which would not let the air and snow pass it and not oppose it. So I drew something with more of an angle, which would help it cut through all these external forces. I made sure to add a change of angle just under the windshield so that the snow and ice that it's being scrapped off the rails wouldn't be thrown onto it. 

At this stage, I decided to completely convert the train into a monorail, which made the design look more plausible and grounded in reality. The tube idea was just too unpractical and very hard to figure out how it would work. Monorails already exist, so the technology is already there, leaving no questioning over how it works. It uses electricity generated with the help of underground rivers, which people have access to living inside of mountains. 

Sculting the crosses in Zbrush.

After taking a closer look at the crosses' references that I have chosen, I have realized that those were not accurate to the Transylvanian architecture that I have chosen to pursue.

It is really important to me to give an accurate and realistic impression of the theme that I have chosen, so after further research, I have found these pictures of some very old crosses that you would typically see in Transylvania. 

After finding the reference, I started working on the bases of the crosses in 3ds max, trying to get the shapes as accurate as I could, and also making some artistic changes to the design.

After I was happy with the shapes, I added some loops to keep the geometry in place and imported them to Zbrush. I subdivided each one of them with the smoothing on multiple times and I started sculpting the details. 

For the small cross, I sculpted the details by hand, and for the big one, I used some alphas to replicate that manufactured look. I wanted the crosses to look worn out, as in they were sitting there unprotected for quite a while, in not-so-great weather conditions. To achieve that look I have added some cracks and dents, also some chipping in the corners. I mainly used trim dynamic and trim adaptive. After all the details were done, I added more texture to them using the orb brushes that my professor linked us to. 

I really love how these turned out, and I can happily say that they do reflect the vision that I had of them. The next was decimating them and bringing them to max for retopology, since the form was alterted quite a lot from the initial models. 

Making the concept sketch of my vehicle.

 Having the iteration on the side and also looking at the new board that I have created I have started sketching a more detailed and more thought-through design. I decided to make a division between the first bit of the train and the second half with tubes and wires exposed. I have also added some windows on the top part, shaping the train to be a 2-floor one. 

After making this I started to think more about the backstory. Death of the sun? Eternal cold and darkness? Since it is impossible for humans to survive in such cold environments, where did they go to? I decided to place them inside mountains, the plot being that they have built fallout shelters inside of them. Where does the train fit in the storyline? Well, this is the way that humans travel between the different shelters. What is attacking them? Well after the death of the sun, some weird creatures have populated the Earth, which are extremely dangerous and hunt any living form. They have also adapted to the unfriendly environment that the Earth has become, surviving very cold temperatures, but having one major weakness, that being light. With this in mind, I have developed the sketch more. 

Showing the design to Craig, he suggested adding some type of ice scraper to the front, having in mind the buildup of snow and ice that would accumulate on the tube, so I did just that.

Looking at this more finalized version of the design made me realize that it doesn't look as good as I thought it would, so I will definitely try to make some changes before I start the rendering process.

Displaying the pumpkin in Unreal Engine

 For the formative feedback session, I had to get my pumpkin ready for presentation. I imported it to Unreal, created the materials, and added them to the mesh.

After the feedback, I realized that there are lots of fixes to be made, some that I was already aware of, and some that I wasn't.

The organic part of the pumpkin ended up looking too shiny, even the metal part as well, so I will have to go back to it and fix that. Also, I forgot to set the material as double-sided, which I will have to fix after I import the new textures. 

As for the lighting, I definitely need to come up with a more interesting setup, thinking of multiple lights on the pumpkin itself, and also one coming from the inside. 

As my professors pointed out, I do need to fix the naming conventions as well, something that I will also do for the Backyard slice project. 

Making the blockout for the backyard slice

 I initially started making the blockout in unreal, but then I decided to move to 3ds max because I am more comfortable with the software, which would speed up the process significantly. 

The way that I have approached this was by knowing what objects I was going to make, thinking about which ones were going to need to be sculpted further in Zbrush, and which ones didn't need that much attention, because they will be utilizing the textures made in designer. 

Making the base of the house, I have taken advantage of the symmetry modifier as much as I could, knowing that the other elements of the structure would make the house look more interesting and break the repetitiveness. Also, the assets that were the same were copied and pasted into place, some examples being the windows the fence, etc. 

The crypt has been done using the extrude tool multiple times. I did not want it to be made from too many different objects, having in mind the texturing process. For the ones that were different objects, I decided to merge them to the main bit, making sure to delete the polys that were not going to be seen. 

Overall, I like how this project is coming along, but I do need to put some more work and detailing on the assets. 

Week 9- Still Life with a Skull / Plaster Head

For this task, we had the option to choose between making a composition with a plaster head or a skull. I ended up choosing the plaster head since it looked more interesting to me. I also decided to place myself from a side view, that giving me the opportunity to practice making a profile drawing.

In class, I was able to get a nice sketch done, most of my time being spent on getting the head just right. I took a picture and polished everything at home. I went ahead and made some adjustments to the head, paying more attention to detail. I also fixed the perspective of the box and table.

With that done, I applied some graphite powder all over the drawing, erasing the lighter objects and also the highlights. Doing that helped me figure out the lighting before doing the actual shading.

Working on the shading, I had to be mindful of the different materials that the objects were made up of, switching my shading technique accordingly. For example, the cloth behind needed to have a softer look, etc...

As always, I made my way from the back of the scene to the front, working on each object individually. The cloth was done in stages, since it was interacting with all the objects.

After some further feedback from my professor Teodora, I realized that I made the closest cloth way too stiff. Also, the back bit from the right side was looking way too bright, for spacial awareness having to darken it a little. She also suggested transitioning the dark background more into a gradient and also lightening it a little. 

I am very happy with the final result. The composition looks great, the contrast is really nice and the different tonal values of the objects are evident. 

For this drawing, I have used a range of pencils such as F, HB, B 2B, 4B and 6B.