GO TO MATT'S BLOG NOW!

Why are you still here? I clearly told you to go check MATT'S BLOG! He totally got the post processing material working. Still, I must work on appropriate textures to go with that material. So here are a few examples of looks.

Paint/brush texture

Cracks on walls (Entrance building)

Simulated Toon lines

The original texture can been seen in the previews post. All that remains is to plug them into Unreal and see how they match with the material.

Textures

We still dont have the post-processing material that we need for the cel-shaded effect, so we are taking a plan B approach and doing hand painted textures on the buildings.

UVs

Here are some UVs finished. These are for the Church.

Midterm Reviews

So we just had midterm reviews and we are technically on schedule, but facing the wrong direction. Let me explain.

In our schedule, we set as a goal to have the level doc, art bible and style guide ready by midterms; and the level doc was not ready. Also Matt had to reinstall Windows on his computer and forgot to back up his udk files, which means we lost the boiler explosion and mock-up level. We still do have the boiler models, so the explosion sequence is no problem to get back. The level, however, must be re-made and presented on Thursday. Both the Level Doc and mock up were Matt's responsibility, but now I have taken over the Doc so that he can focus on making the mock-up and fine tuning for its first play test next week. Originally, textures for unique buildings were supposed to be done by next week, but they will be pushed back and the playable level goal will be pushed up in its place. This gives me more time to work on UVs and textures and make any corrections to map scale or lay out.

On other news, the Church model is now UVed. The House modules will soon be done too and last  I knew before this post, Matt was almost done with the Power Plant UVs. The Factory, Town Hall and Jail still need to be UVed.

We might also might have found our holy grail in a freshman that kicks ass as an artist in modeling, texturing and scripting in Unreal. He just so happens to have created a post processing material that is very much exactly what we need and have been trying to achieve. Matt is talking to him to reach a collaboration agreement. Check out his portfolio "here" (later, not now, because it is not a link yet).

Factory

Going on with modeling, here is the Factory building for our level. It needs more detail, but I like how it looks so far. Comments and suggestions, please, dont be shy. Also, don't forget to keep checking Matt's blog.

Factory, with dude for size reference.

More Concepts

Here are two more concepts I drew for buildings. The factory is a unique building. The house is an example made up of modules.

Factory

House example

Modeling

Midterm reviews are quick approaching and things must be done so they can get presented. We are currently working double time on models to get them into the Unreal engine and see if they need modifications.

For the houses that will populate the majority of the town we are going with modular assets to mix and match and create a diverse town while saving time. Here are most of the modules I have done for that. They are separated in first floor, single story and second floor assets. So far it's only walls and windows, but soon doors will be part of this all.

Also, through the magic of collaboration, a good friend of mine has given us permission to use some of her assets from her animation. Her name is Natalia Mercado and you can see her work here. She very graciously gave us a time machine with plenty of gears that are already UV'd, which saves us valuable time. 

Natalia Mercado copyright.

Art art art

This project used to count with the incredible art skills of one Wirt Salthouse. Sadly, that is no longer the case as he has had to prioritize other jobs. Concept art for some buildings is still needed so I'm taking on the position of concept artist from now on. So far I have 3 more buildings done: Town Hall, Armory and Power Plant. Images of the last two can be seen below, while the former will be added once I find a larger scanner.

Armory 

Power Plant

Art Direction

So with some models completed I went ahead and tried some concept for what we intend our level to look like. Painted in photoshop over ambien occlusions of the church and the jail. Comments, opinions and suggestions are welcome, as always.

Model by Matt Williams

Model by me

Click on the images to see full size. 

Documentation

This weekend I was sick, had a cyst in my eye and was an extra on a film in the middle of the wilderness surrounded by spiders the size of a small dog. But that has nothing to do with this post.

Modeling was placed on the back burner for the week so that I could work on the Art Bible and Style sheet for the project. I gathered all my references for architecture, lighting and details and placed them face first on a word doc. Yeah, take it. 

The hardest part has been deciding the lighting palette. The lighting is based on a sunset, but the intensity has not been quite decided yet. The environment is pretty much orange and red, so a red sunset would intensify the monochromatic scale and help unify other colors. However, a bluer sky, a later time in which the sun has almost set completely but the night sky is not quite there yet, allows for a cooler dominant light and secondary light sources are more visible. 

We are probably going for the red lights because they are much more dramatic. Updates coming soon.