Modular Bridgehouse: Documentation

For the month of July, I will be using this image as my reference, borrowed from Sihun Park. Since I have only three weeks to work on this portfolio piece, I will only be focusing on making that tiny guardhouse to the side of the bridge. It will serve as a sort of prototype/proof of concept for the whole environment, which I will be working on throughout the month of August, and maybe even September.

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ASSET BREAKDOWN

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Modular Bridgehouse:

1. Bridge
1. Wooden Supports (From which 1.10 wires are hanging)
2. Flags
3. Wooden Gateway
4. Wooden Slats (3?)
5. Chains
6. Chain Supports (Those squarish things on the side of the bridge which holds up the chains)
7. Wooden Ramparts
8. Bridge Base
9. Boat
10. Wires (Hanging from 1.1 Wooden Supports)
2. Guardhouse
1. Blue Roof, Inner Roof and Gable
2. Wooden Platform (On which the Guardhouse sits)
3. Wooden Beam Supports (From which 2.8 Wires are hanging)
4. Banner
5. Guardhouse Base
6. Wooden Ridge Beam (On top of 2.1 Blue Roof)
7. Wires (Hanging from 2.3 Wooden Supports)
3. Gatehouse
1. Main Building Roof, Inner Roof and Gable
2. Wall Dormer (above Arch Frame, aka Roof Extrusion) Roof, Inner Roof and Gable
3. Hip Roof Dormer (Small Roof Extrusions)
4. Wall Dormer (above Arch Frame, aka Roof Extrusion) Balcony
5. Stone Arch Frame with Wooden Support
6. Main Building Base
7. Side Window with Sill
8. Front Window with Sill
9. Side Building Roof, Inner Roof and Gable
10. Side Building Base (Only Top Floor)
11. Side Building Base (Middle Floor)
12. Side Building Base (Ground Floor)
13. Crates
14. Barrels
15. Docks
16. Banner
17. Lanterns
4. Landscape
1. Stacked Rocks (3)
2. Wooden Fence
3. Job Board
4. Rock sitting on Grass
5. Grass
6. Trees (2)
7. Individual Rock on Ground Floor (Near the water)
8. Flowers/Weeds
9. Pebbles/Small Rocks
10. Water
11. Landscape
12. Back Trees (2)
13. Arch over Estuary 
14. Distant Island
15. Clouds

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Trim Sheets/Tiling Textures:

1. Bridge
1. Bridge Stone
2. Bridge Top
2. Guardhouse
1. Blue Roof
2. Wooden Planks [8 beams with 4/6 corners]
3. Alternating Wooden Slats
4. Banner Texture
5. Individual Stone 
6. Window
7. Leaks
8. Plaster Wall
3. Gatehouse
1. Brick Wall
2. Alternating Wooden Slats with Cross Beams With Arched Window
3. Alternating Wooden Slats with Cross Beams With Leaks
4. Alternating Wooden Slats with Cross Beams With Exposed Bits
5. Wall Dormer Cross-Timbered with Exposed Brick
6. Wall Dormer Half-Arch Timbered
4. Landscape
1. Moss (RVT)

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Schedule:

1. Week 01

1. Complete Proxy Blockout and Modular Assembly

2. First Lighting Pass in Unreal

3. Trim Sheet Proxy and Start Sculpting

4. Collection for Documentation

2. Week 02

1. Trim Sheet Sculpting Finished

2. Second Lighting Pass

3. Start Texturing

4. Collection for Documentation

3. Week 03 
1. Texturing Finished
2. Vertex Painting
3. Lighting Pass
4. Collection for Documentation
5. Turntable Video 

Master Control Unit (Sprint #4) - Final Renders

 

Master Control Unit: Documentation

For the 2nd portfolio piece of the third semester, I will be working on a concept art I found on Pinterest. Unfortunately, I can't find the artist behind it, nor was a title available for me to use. As such, I have decided to call it 'Master Control Unit', as it certainly appears to be such a thing for some massive, science fiction device. 

This is significantly more challenging than the May piece, as it has more complex modular pieces, with some unique elements such as screens and holograms.

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ASSET BREAKDOWN

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1. Core Center Cylinders
2. Core Side Cylinders
3. Core pipes
4. Floor Panel with a Hole
5. Circular Floor Panel
6. Plain Floor Panel
7. Door
8. Screens
9. Side Control Unit
10. Screen Panel
11. Ceiling
12. Ceiling Pipes
13. Core Frames

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MATERIALS

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1. Core Metal
2. Pipe Metal and Yellow Painted Stripe
3. Floor Panel Grill
4. Blue Emission for Core and Floor Panel and Hologram
5. Floor Panel Grey Metal with Yellow-and-Black Stripes
6. Door Frame Yellow-and-Black Stripes
7. Door and Frame Brown Rusted Metal
8. Core Frame Metal
9. Screen Hologram
10. Side Control Unit Metal and Screens

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SCHEDULE

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1. Week 01 (June 11 - June 17): Initial Blockout + Lighting
1. Initial Proxy and Blockout
2. First Pass Lighting
3. Collection for Documentation
2. Week 02 (June 18 - June 24): High Detail
1. Finish High Detail Modeling
2. Second Pass Lighting
3. Floor Panel Substance Designer - Materials
4. Floor Panel Substance Designer - Masks
5. Collection for Documentation
3. Week 03 (June 25 - July 1): Texturing
1. UV Layout
2. Finish Texturing of All Assets
3. Third Pass Lighting
4. Collection for Documentation
4. Week 04 (July 2 - July 8): Rendering
1. Final Lighting
2. Holograms, Emission etc.
3. Rendering

The Maintenance Access Tunnel [Part 04: Texturing and Lighting]

 

The Airlock: Sprint #2

 

Well, it's Week 3, and I've finished much work, even though most of it's not visible here. First, I finished the high poly detailing and optimization of the assets I made last time, including bevels, removing extraneous edges, etc. 

Then, I worked on my 'Hero Asset' for this environment, the computer you can see attached to the left of the render. It's quite a complex system, with many moving parts, but thankfully, there are modular elements even within the hero asset, which made my work relatively easier. I still have to finish the bevels for the Hero Asset, but I'm reserving that for next week. 

The Maintenance Access Tunnel [Part 03: UV Unwrapping]

 

RENDER 01

RENDER 02

Well, I need to catch up on this week's submissions. I was supposed to finish texturing, but I still need to start it. I just finished polishing the assets, UV unwrapping all of them, and preparing them for eventual texturing in Substance Painter. I did a third-pass lighting, but it's similar to what I had before. Still, I'm not completely unhappy with what I have so far. This is going to look great next week, I'm sure of it. 

UV LAYOUT 01

UV LAYOUT 02

UV LAYOUT 03

UV LAYOUT 04

UV LAYOUT 05

UV LAYOUT 06

UV LAYOUT 07

UV LAYOUT 08

UV LAYOUT 09

UV LAYOUT 10

UV LAYOUT 11

UV LAYOUT 12

UV LAYOUT 13

The Maintenance Access Tunnel [Part 02: High-Poly Modeling]

 

RENDER 01

RENDER 02

RENDER 03

I added all the details, including the bevels, to my assets this week. Quite a lot of the details will be pushed in via Substance Painter when I finally start texturing, but until then, this will do. I have also added Emission Materials based on their locations in the reference and added extra lights to illuminate the scene and bring it closer to the concept art.

I'm still not thrilled with the positioning of certain assets such as the orb, and I'm not altogether certain whether I should continue with the 16:9 aspect ratio for my render camera in Unreal, or change it to the resolution of the concept art. 

As requested, I've also camera-matched the detailed pass with the reference.

CAMERA-MATCHED

The Airlock: Sprint #1

 

Proxy

Camera Matching in Maya

Scale Human Model

Render

First Pass Lighting

PUREREF BOARD

PRIMARY REFERENCE

REFERENCE

As per my schedule, I created the proxy versions of the Airlock environment. I also took them to Unreal for assembly and first pass lighting. I also managed to take it a step further and created what would be technically the game ready versions as well. There's a lot of stuff necessary still, of course, like bevels and optimizations, etc. 

But for the most part, I'm very pleased with the progress.

The Maintenance Access Tunnel [Part 01: Proxy]

 

PROXY RENDER

As per my schedule, I have created a proxy version of the 'The Maintenance Access Tunnel' scene, with VERY basic lights (I basically just threw in rectangular lights for some illumination) in Unreal. I took it a bit further with detailing, but not as much as I had to hoped to finish by this week. No matter. I'm still ahead of schedule for the most part.

I had to guess at a few areas, as the rear or the front of this tunnel is not present in the reference at all. So for those panels, I will be improvising. I do believe I need to thicken the cables a little bit, and change the angle of the camera to capture the scene as accurately to the reference as I possibly can. By next week, I also need to have finished the beveling of the 'greebles, and indeed, polish this scene further. 

The Airlock: Documentation

For the Common Art Specialization module that lasts throughout the third semester, I have decided to recreate in 3D a concept titled 'The Airlock', by the environment artist William Hewitt. 

PRIMARY REFERENCE

I realize that I'm keeping up a theme of hard surface environments. This is only because I need strong portfolio pieces by the end of this semester, and I have proven that I can pull it off with the Sci-Fi Corridor. Perhaps it makes my portfolio a little bland and predictable, but for now, I prefer to stick to my strengths. The time for experimentation will come later.

Due to the very nature of this module, I will have three whole months to work on this project. As such, I plan on making sure this stands out as my best work in my portfolio.

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ASSET BREAKDOWN

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1. Wall Panel
2. Floor Panel
3. Ceiling Panel
4. Airlock
5. Airlock Frame
6. Airlock Stairs
7. Handrails
8. Wall Columns
9. Floor Strip Partition
10. Earth
11. Airlock Computer (Optional)

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MATERIALS

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1. Sand-Colored Metal
2. Orange Metal
3. Brown Metal
4. Reddish-Orange Metal
5. Blue Metal
6. Light Orange Metal
7. Yellow Metal
8. Grey Metal
9. Airlock Glass
10. Blue Emission
11. Yellow Emission 
12. Dark Grey Markings

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SCHEDULE

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1. Week 01 (May 14 - May 22): Sprint #1
1. Pureref Board (16X9) Ratio for Individual Assets
2. Schedule for each Sprint
3. Match Camera Perspective in Maya
4. Initial Proxy with Correct Scale
5. Powerpoint Presentation 01 for Delivery (Expected Deliverables, Finished (Or Unfinished) Deliverables, Next Time Deliverables) - May 22
6. Final Proxy (Optional)
2. Week 02 (May 23 - May 29):
1. Final Proxy
2. Unreal Assembly and Camera Perspective
3. First Pass Lighting
4. Individual Asset Proxy Renders
5. Detailing on Hero Asset (Airlock Computer) (Optional)
3. Week 03 (May 30 - June 5): Sprint #2
1. Start Detailing
2. Unreal Assembly with Detailed Assets
3. Powerpoint Presentation 02 for Delivery (Expected Deliverables, Finished (Or Unfinished) Deliverables, Next Time Deliverables) - June 5
4. Finish Detailing (Optional)
4. Week 04 (June 6 - June 12):
1. Finish Detailing
2. Unreal Assembly with Final Detailed Assets
3. Individual Asset Detail Renders
4. Start UV of Hero Asset (Airlock Computer) (Optional)
5. Week 05 (June 13 - June 19): Sprint #3
1. Start UV and Layout of Assets
2. Second Pass Lighting
3. Powerpoint Presentation 03 for Delivery (Expected Deliverables, Finished (Or Unfinished) Deliverables, Next Time Deliverables) - June 19
4. Clay Renders and Ambient Occlusion Bakes
6. Week 06 (June 20 - June 26): 
1. Finish UV and Layout of Assets
2. Start Value Pass of Environment
3. Unreal Assembly with Value Pass Environment
4. Finish Value Pass of Environment (Optional)
7. Week 07 (June 27 - July 1): Sprint #4
1. Finish Value Pass of Environment
2. Unreal Assembly with Final Value Pass Environment
3. Third Pass Lighting
4. Powerpoint Presentation 04 for Delivery (Expected Deliverables, Finished (Or Unfinished) Deliverables, Next Time Deliverables) - June 27
5. Start Texturing of Assets (Optional) 
8. Week 08 (July 2 - July 10):
1. Start Texturing of Assets
2. Unreal Assembly with Textured Assets
3. Fourth Pass Lighting
4. Finish Texturing of Assets (Optional)
9. Week 09 (July 11 - July 17): Sprint #5
1. Finish Texturing of Assets
2. Unreal Assembly with Textured Assets
3. Materials and Rendering
4. Powerpoint Presentation 05 for Delivery (Expected Deliverables, Finished (Or Unfinished) Deliverables, Next Time Deliverables) - July 17
10. Week 10 (July 18 - July 25):
1. Critique Improvements
2. Final Renders
3. Improvements on Materials, Texturing, Rendering
11. Week 11 (July 26 - July 29): Final Delivery
1. Powerpoint Presentation 05 for Delivery (Expected Deliverables, Finished (Or Unfinished) Deliverables, Next Time Deliverables) - July 29

The Maintenance Access Tunnel: Documentation

For the third semester, I have three potential portfolio pieces lined up, for the months of May, June and July. Each one, ideally, should be split into four weeks each, but I'll only have three for the last one, unfortunately. So I'm going to have to descope for the July portfolio.

But, for the May piece, I will be working on creating a 3D environment of a concept art by Brian Taylor, titled 'Sci-Fi Corridor'. Since I already have a portfolio piece of the same name, a friend suggested 'The Empty Line' as a placeholder until I can get a better title for it. 

 The primary reference for the piece is provided below:

PRIMARY REFERENCE

I like the clean, simple shapes provided by the painter, as, conversely, it highlights the complexity of the environment. I also am attracted to the emission of the lights, which is something I'd like to work on in UE5. Lighting will also be a huge plus in this piece, if I can pull it off.

I'm gonna use some of the concept artist's WIP shots as references for my own renders, especially during my own WIP shots, in order to see things more clearly. 

PUREREF

Island Diorama: Documentation

For my next portfolio piece, I've decided to work on a smaller diorama, as I have only three weeks in April before this is due. I've also decided to go for a mildly stylized look.

PRIMARY REFERENCE: ISLAND DIORAMA

PUREREF BOARD

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ASSET BREAKDOWN

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Island Diorama:

1. Main Cliff
2. Individual Bricks
3. Swirl-Carved Rocks
4. Glowy Rocks
5. Elevator
6. Elevator - Bamboo Supports
7. Elevator Frame
8. Elevator Rope
9. Grass
10. Wood
11. Torch
12. Flames

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Materials:

1. Rock
2. Grass
3. Wood
4. Emission
5. Bamboo

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Schedule:

1. Week 01 (April 2 - April 8): Showcasing completed blockout, rough lighting

1. Complete Proxy Blockout + Details on all Assets

2. Rough Lighting

3. Collection for Documentation

2. Week 02 (April 9 - April 15):

1. Zbrush High Res

2. Next Lighting Pass

3. Collection for Documentation

3. Week 03 (April 16 - April 22): 

1. GameReady and Baking

2. Substance Painter Texturing

3. Next Lighting Pass

4. Collection for Documentation

4. Week 04 - Showcasing Environment (April 23 - April 25):

1. Final Lighting Pass

2. Final Documentation