The blog to show people in our group pics n stuff

Request for Carter

2008-04-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

Would it be possible for you to send me a few quick screenshots of my glass shards and glass bottles with the glass shader applied, thanks. A white background would be preferable if possible, but doesn't matter too much.

Notes on Evaluation

2008-04-19T06:23:00.000-07:00

Here are the written up notes from the meeting, they've also on my own blog if for some reason you care.

Positives
In a lot of people's eyes the very fact we managed to finish with everyone completing at least a small number of assets is a decent positive in itself. However, in the broader scheme of thigns there was a unanimous agreement that the major benefit of this project has been a general increase in Max competance, both in terms of speed and skill. Similarly, there has generally been at least some greater familiarity on the technical side relating to engines.

Negatives
The primary negative that most people have is that as a group we suffered from awful communication throughout the project, and relied too much upon the blog to communicate and not enough on face to face. This in turn lead to the secodn biggest problem, that our concept was at no point really defined, and everyone tended to have varying images of what the final piece was - also a factor in this was lack of later stage concept art to nail down what the level was going to look like (rather than the ealeir what *could* it look like). Another by product of the communicaton was that people tended to get pigeon holed in their roles, which other than Carter no one needed to do really. The art style being completed earlier, plus a more defintie asset list which didn't leave room for interpretation would have also helped everythign to be more cohesive. At the end however, it was also questioned whether the groups where too large for the project - meaning that some people never had much important to do.

What we have learnt
Obviously following on from the issues, the importance of communication has been demonstrated very clearly. In addition to the improved modelling, most people stated they felt like more competant texturers than previously, including how vital a colour palette is, both in havign one and ensuyring it is adhered to. Additionally most people now have at least a passing familiarity with Unreal.

What would be done differently
We suspect that if repeated, the Tech lead (Carter) should also be group leader, and for the most part, the other roles aren't needed - beyond the art lead defining the art style (although that should probably be more public in its creation).The concept would also need to be nailed down in a much clearer way, which would partially be achieved by a more rapidly produced art style guide, and later a more specific asset list. Also of note was that i would probably be easie to start with limited ambition and then later add to it time permitting. More regular communication is obviously also needed with people meetign face to face (although not necessarily in a formal meeting) quite regularly.

FRIDAY!

2008-04-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

Yo peeps on friday evrybody needs to come in to the labs for 12.00. We need to sum up how the project went and then work out what we are going to say/ do in our presentation, im thinking some kinda dance might go down well.....we can talk about it anyway.

gas masks

2008-04-17T01:46:00.000-07:00

was having some serious problems recently regarding my laptop choosing not to turn on. Looks like i missed the dead line for handing in models but they are done anyhow, maybe you will take them, maybe you won't.... if not I'll put it into my project portfolio.

2008-04-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

Quick update, we now have sandbags n guns

Group Meeting

2008-04-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

As we need a group meeting of some sort to do this (from Carter's post):

2. A bullet-list post-mortem, based on discussion with the team:

we need to sort something, as we haven't managed to be all together in the same place in ages can I suggest that we all agree a time to meet on msn or something? Or at the very least just post comments to this until we've got a little bit of oppinion going. I won't suggest a time as I don't know peoples schedules, but I can realisitically do whenever.

Assesment structure for group project

2008-04-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

Each group to put a folder on K drive labeled for their team. The level will go here. Then each team member has a subfolder below that for their personal work.

1.A walk-and-talk through of the finished level in Unreal, highlighting:
A) the development from initial concept to final environment (how well the finished product replicates the initial concepts)
B) any alternative ideas tried and rejected
C) highlighting any special features

2. A bullet-list post-mortem, based on discussion with the team:
A) what went right
B) what went wrong
C) what we’d do differently and
D) lessons to take forward
for an example see:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3606/postmortem_saber_interactives_.php
but there’s no need to write a huge essay, just summarize the key points

3. Each team member to produce a visual presentation of their own assets in sub-folder below group folder
A) conforming to industry-standard presentation style
B) JPGs viewable in Windows Pictures and Fax viewer are sufficient – no need for powerpoint
C) all assets should show clearly wireframe, rendered and textured view, with box outs for texture sheets and any special features you want to highlight

4.each team member to place their max files in a their personal sub-folder
A) use a logical file structure so that we can find things without effort
B) include all necessary files, textures, etc
We will also have a verbal debriefing based around the post-mortem where we shall extract essential lessons that need to be taken forward to third year work

And so

2008-04-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

The images below are from a completely new build of the map I've essentially had to build from scratch after the other one messed up so amazingly, I've reimported everyones models, although your probaly not gonna see them here -alot still need to be placed, tighened up the materials for the blockworld as well as improved the materials for peoples models

The lightings brand new and has been shifted to night time with a strong moon present, which solved alot of the problems i was having and gives a nice contrast to the amber yellows of the gas lamps. The lighting in the main room is about 60% complete I'd say so far

Cutoff day is this Monday

2008-04-12T03:14:00.000-07:00

The final date for completing your models and giving them to me, with the pivots in the right place and so on, is this monday (14th april) - any later and I simply won't take them.

Carter

Moss Questions

2008-04-04T08:14:00.001-07:00

Just a brief thing - I'm just getting onto texturing the moss that I'm supposed to be doing - basically I'm going to make 3 different size circular clumps and one or two broad 'sheets' of it which could then be combined with the a selection of the clumps to get varying patches - is this the best way to do it?

Or alternately, could someone (presumably Carter) send me a really quick rough floor plan of where you want it to go so I can make sometihng more specific to that area. Thanks

Blockworld texturing (pretty much final)

2008-03-28T11:36:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd post iup a few shots of the blockworld with the new improved textures. Models have been toggled off and is displayed in full bright mode

Lobby has been retextured a fair bit, textures now blend with each other and all look part of the same theme. The section containing the lift was raised up to create a step and to seperate it from the main lobby section. A new tile texture was created to replace the pink one i had before, although im thinking it might need desaturating a bit.

This is a shot of the main room looking from one of the alcloves near the lobby. The useless space to the right of it was raised up and is using a rusty galvanised metal texture im thinking a machine or something could go here to better use the space

This is the main room looking back towards the lobby the original red bricks were desaturated a fair bit while windows were added in to create focus and to better display the scale of the room, the section containing the top windows was cut short to make it look as if a section of the building was created inside the main room in fitting in with the ruined/industrial theme

So this is what I've done email me or leave a comment, aditionally im planning on dialling down how much work i do on this to concentrate more on my art work so don't expect any huge jumps in stuff over the coming weeks

oh yeah probaly should mention the parts of the texture that don't line up or obviously tile im planning on slapping a trim model over them to disguise the fact

Rough area plan

2008-03-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd respond to a few questions I've received over the corrugated iron and pews and where everything is going to go.

The image to the left shows roughly the size of the two areas, the pew and stage area in blue and the subsidence hole and chimney area in red and how the two will overlap, this certainly isnt set in stone and the two sections will shift and change shape as stuff is added to them.

As for the stage Dale is making it might be worth posting up what you've done so far so everyone can see what your up to

For the corrugated iron, Hicks if you fancy making your own corrugated iron models that'd be cool - the variety of textures in use should makie it look pretty nice

2008-03-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

here are some bits of it carter but the way it deforms is a bit mad and i have all ready made some for the gate and a couple of other bits man, so if u see mine and u see yours there compleatly different so its going to look a bit weaired mate, so its your choice.....and no i don't know y its underlined and i can't turn it off.

Snow?

2008-03-23T04:09:00.000-07:00

Are we actually still going to be using snow in the level? We've had a pretty decent coating today and I've taken a ton of reference photos incase we end up needing them, so if they are useful I'll put them online when I'm back at uni in the week, thoughts?

Main room progress and stage placement pics

2008-03-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

Hullo Alls,

Read your post Dale and you seem to be making headway with that, sorry i couldn't call you back think my phone's dying which is a lil annoying.

But whatever, progress seems to be happening on the stage. I like the direction your going in with the stage although remember to grunge it up a bit. Also im not sure if it would be appropriate to have it more ramshackle as if the stage was constructed from bits of debris lying around or look as if it was once clean and new like the last image you had and then slowly became more and more dilapidated with chunks falling off.

I've included three images showing the progress I've made on the main room which also indicates the rough position left for the stage and chairs - the space for all the stage, chairs and various other bits n bobs not directly related to the subsidence hole is a little over half the room so it gives plenty of room to play around with.

Lectern and stage would go presumably to the right or even middle facing downwards towards the entire hall, with Nikki's symol directly above it
drawing the eye

This is the view of the main room so far looking downwards from the lobby, the subsidence hole in the centre helps break up the flat boring floor while breaking the repition of the walkway pillars down the centre and the problem of masking a huge obviously tiling floor texture. The corrugated iron fence came from looking at pictures of WW1 trenches which is kinda what i imagine this area would look like

Another view of the 'stage space' the subsidence section will run up roughly to Bends chimmney model and then slip into the lectern stuff. Im planning on nuking the half pillar lecture theatre thingy to the right as it just looks retarded however which way i dress it

So thats what I've been up to so far please comment or Email me, I need comments for me to continue confidently

Main Room Asset

2008-03-20T03:50:00.000-07:00

I have done a quick concept for an asset to go into the main room, before I continue with it I would like to discuss the idea with the rest of the group. The asset is a stage, I reckon it would be a wise asset to include since we have announced that there will be a dictator. Having a stage will allow us to use to most iconic logo, banners and graffiti designs made by Nikki plus it will fill the room up quite nicely. Also it allows us to us chairs to fill some of the up, e.g broken chairs, fallen over chairs, chairs to shoot if you get bored etc.

Here is a quick concept of where I think the most logical place to put the stage in the main room.

Let me know what you all think, I will further concept this to give you all a better idea of what I want to achieve.

Something like this but on a smaller scale, also I would like to have larger posters in the back of the stage or even the large the graffiti fist.

Annoted main room wonderings

2008-03-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

After a pretty fruitless day idly modelling stuff I've decided to annotate a screengrab of the main room similiar to what i did for the lobby showing a few of my thoughts on how to present it all, certainly none of this is final and it was more a series of notes and reminders to myself but i figured i should post it up

Feel free to post your thoughts

Oh and since blogger won't let me upload an suitably sized image heres the link for it http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/4897/mainroomplansv3.jpg

Few idea's for the main room

2008-03-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

Now that the Lobby is more or less complete with a few bits 'n bobs left to model its time to start thinking about the main concourse room.

We talked a few things over with Powell and here is a quick bullet list of what we came up with,

Subsidence near start - breaks up floor
Collapsed walkway
plants scattered around near light - nice shifts of colour from grey to greens
Chimmney collapsed around centre
Various pillars to model
Hanging banners with Nikki's designs
corrugated iron and plank debris along parts of the walkway
walkway glass bricks on floor
Nikki's symbol made from debris placed on far concrouse wall - light from hole in ceiling would draw attention to it
holes in ceiling highlighting interesting elements
far end of concourse - collection of pews moved after subsidence
Crates of there 'Bible' with symbol on them

Theres a fair bit of stuff here to do which needs to thought out and planned from now until the end of Easter

Stuff for Tuesday

2008-03-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

Okies here are some screenies of what were gonna show on tuesday, Unreal did a fancy trick today of apparently saving work then losing it all so i've been reimporting stuff at home I've also adjusted the lighting, moved around some of the existing models a bit, imported and tweaked existing normal and specular maps and tryed to get it looking a bit more complete.
There are still some pretty large gaps and really obvious errors but overall i think its looking alright for tomoz

Lobby update

2008-03-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd post up a few pics of whats been done so far hoping to fix the obvious problems in the images - stetching or missing textures, poor lighting etc for tuesday. Upstairs is pretty barren at the mo' so im hoping to flesh it out as much as possible for Tuesday.

Nikki: I completely forgot to ask you yesterday if you've rescaled those doors if you can have them for monday that would help make it look more complete

Hicks: How are those vending machine models doing? Again be useful if there done for monday

Thanks

Almost finished the walkway!!

2008-03-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

So ive basicly finished the walkway! what do u guys think?
i still need to do the ol' glass brick floor bit, im gonna do it like Kian did it for their group, or i maybe a copy will just appear on my computer sometime soon............who knows(wink wink Kian)

Lobby texturing and lighting update

2008-03-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

Two quick images showing the work in progress lighting and texturing i did today, also started adding in peoples assets.

Me and Ben decided to use limited electric light linked up to generators - its just too hard lighting it with 'natural' light and all other artifical light candles, glowsticks etc just don't have the same radius

Im currently having problems in patches of the tiles coming up pure black not really sure why is doing that

Nikki: I still need you to post up your email so i can send you the doorframe models - the one you can see in the pic is the one i scaled and it looks kinda out of place

Dale: I've heard you've been working on some staircase models be awesome if there done for monday

Hicks: Im using Ben's collapsed chimmney model as a placeholder for your vending machines to block up the entrance to the concourse - any thoughts?

missing email

2008-02-29T12:21:00.000-08:00

Ok for whatever reason it looks like I don't have your email address so I can't send you the max files, be really helpful if you got in contact with me so this stuff can be fixed in time

Doorframe scale models for Nikki

2008-02-29T07:53:00.000-08:00

Got your doorframe models, everything looks really good but the scale when imported into the blockout is miles off and i can't scale them in the editor as doing it non uniformly squashes stuff so it all looks weird.

I'll email you the sections of the blockout with the doorframes when i get home, if you can adjust your models to fit them they'll slot in perfectly, best way would be typing in the vert positions of the blockout to the 4 corners of your door models and yeah i should have split the blockworld into ppl's relevant parts ages ago

Oh yeah saw your poster textures/designs for the first time today they look really nice really gonna help with the revolutionary aspect of it a helluva lot

Lobby wip - model pass

2008-02-28T01:00:00.000-08:00

Okies, thought I'd post this up quickly been hammering out assets all night and I'm starting to populate the map with them.

All the models there are untextured at this stage i want to get stuff like the placement and scale of objects correct and perhaps start thinking about lighting it properly.

If you wanna talk to me or Ben where gonna be in the lab from 12 onwards today (28th feb thurs)

If you can give your completed models to Ben, upload them somewhere or email them to him, I can start arranging them around - I'm pretty poor at keeping track of what everyones doing so i may inadvertently start modelling the same asset as someone else, speed is key ppl!

Oh yeah please post crits and so forth - like i've just realised those pipes are in a 'orrible position...

Wall Reference (for Carter)

2008-02-27T08:04:00.000-08:00

A Few Belated Asset Guidelines

2008-02-26T18:03:00.000-08:00

This is probably way too late, but as I've just covered in my response to Joey's post there are some guidelines to choosing what asset you are going to make. I'd have thought some of these would be common sense really... Remember, this is a survival horror thing, some things are just inherantly not scary and ruin any atmosphere we have.

1) DON'T use famous brand names - it dates the environment too much, we want to leave it ambigous.

2) AVOID using plastics in anything but minimal quantities, as a general rule just switch it to the most plausible alternate materials. Plastic looks cheap and common, not mysterious, it generally just breaks the tension. Don't just necessarily do a straight coversion either unless its a pretty generic product (ie bins) find a similar product made of metal or glass or whatever.

3) This is abandonned DON'T leave objects looking new and ready for use. This should be obvious.

4) Mute out strong colours and stick to the pallette, it is there to help you - just because something is labelled as rust colour doesn't mean you can't use it on bricks, just because something is labelled ice doesn't mean it can't be used on a crate. The categories are starting points just to give you an idea of what we want with specific things. Don't pick colours way out of the palette without getting it by Nikki or me.

5) A general rule, but look at reference from the Queens building itself if possible if you are making things. Certain people in the group clearly are not using it and it's obvious in their work.

Assets

2008-02-26T07:10:00.000-08:00

All my assets

2008-02-22T19:34:00.000-08:00

Right Jesus, finally managed to get a quick video recorded briefly explaning how to prepare a model from exporting into Unreal - Having to use Youtube at the mo which took freaking ages to upload and yeah can barely see it but i think its clear enough just listening to it.

Stage Six won't work for me and im not entirely sure why, gonna try and work it out tomoz as well as doing one for importing into Unreal and creating a simple material but in the mean time theres this

Wooo...

Modelling & Texturing Guidelines

2008-02-22T00:47:00.000-08:00

All art assets should be constructed and textured adhering as closely to the reference and concept as possible. Geometry should be built economically, with a polygon and texture resolution to fit their game play requirements whilst ensuring they convey a faithful reproduction of the real world settings.

Pipeline

Below is the pipeline that every asset will go through. You must follow this when working on the asset you have been set. If you do not show the relevant people your work at each stage there’s a very high chance you will get to the end and be told to do it again.

Modelling Guidelines

Below is a list of guidelines and standards to adhere to when creating scenic assets.

Basic Guidelines

The assets should be created in max 9.
The asset should be aligned so that the front is visible in the Front viewport.
The asset, materials and maps should adhere to the specified naming convention.
Ensure verts are welded.
The intersection of separate model pieces is allowed; a judgment call must be made on when the use of intersection saves polygon count over mesh consistency/stability.
Ensure all face normals should face outwards (or as seen) be aware of flipped faces.
The asset Origin should be at 0.0.0. Reset the transform and collapse before exporting.

Naming conventions and file structure

The filenames should be in the following formats:

max: object_type_00.max

psd: object_type_00.psd
tga: object_type_00_d.tga
export: object_type_00.x

The number represents a variation of the asset. Do not include back

ups of the completed assets. In the situation where multiple max files would share the same texture files then that texture file should have both number variations in.

The tga files need a postfix that denotes the type of file it is:

_d = diffuse

_s = specular

_n = normal
_h = height

_a = ambient occlusion

examples: light_small_01.max
chair_blue_02_d.tga

The filenames should have no more than 20 characters plus the file extension.
When all the parts of the assets are completed they should be put in a folder with the asset name. This folder can then be zipped and sent to the 3d lead.

Example folder

Additional

Model in a representational amount of detail, but do not over complicate, detail can be textured in.
Afford most of your polygon assets to th ose within the playable area, anything beyond this area will need less detail.

Pay careful attention to your smoothing groups, these are important as they define the shape of the model.

Avoid non co-planar and non co-linear polygons (bent quads or polygons with 3 verts in a line), as they do not convert to game well.
It may not always be beneficial to weld certain pa rts of the object together, for example all the stairs on a staircase.

Bevelled edges

Assets should have bevelled edges applied as this substantially improved the quality of the model in the way that it will interact with light.

Bevelled edges on an object

Poly Count

There is some flexibility within the polygon count for a

ssets. With the unreal engine we will be using more polygons than we have been able to use before but the general rule of thumb is Don’t use polys where they aren’t needed. The lower poly the model is the faster the game will run.

A: Object built using a reasonable numbe

r of polygons
B: Excessive use

of polygons does not improve object

Units and Scale

All assets are to be built to a rea

l world scale. Refer to your project manager for the correct unit setup and reference model.

Stripping

When working in Max the artist should build a model that will strip efficiently when exported into the real time engine. In order to do this, three main areas need to be taken into consideration: Mapping, Smoothing and Structure.

Stripping

· Mapping

Areas that need to be tiled should b

e mapped using the “polygon planar projection tool”. This will ensure that all the vertices are sharing the correct UV coordinates.

Whenever possible avoid mapping a quad and then tiling the geometry to create a surface; this method will result in a mesh that will not strip efficiently.

· Smoothing

Any area of polys where stripping is desired needs to share a smoothing group. A “Hard” edge will stop the surface from being stripped. This is not to say that all edges should be smooth, use hard edges when necessary – on the edges of buildings for example.

· Structure

When creating objects try to avoid producing polygons that fan outwards. Meshes should conform to a grid like struc

ture wherever possible. Fan shapes will not strip. The 3 images below are examples of this; the two to the left are how a mesh should not be modelled, the third image to the right is how a mesh should be mode

lled (note the grid like structure).

Texturing & UV Mapping Guidelines

Below is a list of guidelines and standards we adhere to when creating a scenic building.

Basic Guidelines

· Textures are to be created using Adobe Photoshop

· Textures must be one of these sizes : 2048x2048, 1024x1024, 512x512, 256x256, 128x128 or 64x64

· Textures should be shared where appropriate, ie 2 identical chairs should not have exclusive textures

· A combination real world base textures and Photoshop techniques should be used when creating your textures.

· You may find it preferable to work at a larger resolution when editing the UV’s for clarity of point placement, sizing down at a later date.

· Maximise the use of your texture sheet.

Textures should be saved in the .tga format.
Textures should adhere to the given naming conventions.

Unwrapping guidelines

· Fill as much of the box as possible

· Duplicate areas can be overlapped

· Every part of the model should be unwrapped but try not to waste time unwrapping unseen areas to a high detail.

· Make more detailed faces bigger than less detailed faces on the texture page

· Make sure all pieces are facing the correct way, if they are not then when a normal map is applied then it will go inverted on the pieces that are not facing the correct way. A easy way to check is to apply a texture with text on and see if it can be read.

Photoshop guidelines

All the different textures (e.g. diffuse, normal and specular) should all be in one Photoshop file before been saved out as different .tga’s. To keep from the Photoshop file getting messy the layers should be arranged into different folders.

Photoshop files authored for each texture set should contain the following:

Diffuse Map:

Diffuse texture

The diffuse texture should have as much light information removed from it. Windows should have reflections removed and replaced with a texture that represents what the texture would look like without reflections.

Specular Map:

The specular map is black and white and is used to control how shiny/reflective parts of the texture are. Black will be used for parts of the texture that appear matt, and white would be used for something that 100% reflective e.g. a mirror. In most cases the majority of the specular map will be shades of dark grey. If you want the specular to appear reflective rather than just shiny you will need to add an environment map to the shader in max.

The specular can also include colours, a good example of a situation of when to use a coloured specular would be on something like a beetle shell:

Height (displacement) Map:

The height texture can be used to help create the normal map. Areas of the texture are painted to show how high or low they should appear on the model. White is 100% high and black is 100% low. To create the effect of bevels etc the edges of the height map components should be faded using a glow effect.

Height map texture

For the unreal engine any height (displacement) maps created need to be saved in the alpha channel of the normal map texture. Do not use a displacement map on your texture unless asked to because at this stage we are unsure if we will be using them atall

Normal Map:

Normal maps are a way of creating the impression of a bump or indent on the surface of the model. The main thing that needs to be remembered when working with normal maps is that they do not actually move the surface of the polygon to make it stick in or out, all they do is add shadows and highlights in real time so it looks like that is happening.

In order to be good at using normal maps you will need to understand almost everything on this tutorial:

http://www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/normal_workflow.htm

The first two pages of that tutorial are not as important for this project because they are about baking out normal maps from a high poly source but the 3^rd page is very useful for what we are trying to do because it explains in detail how to add texture in Photoshop with normal maps.

Exporting to engine

Asset completion checklist

On completion of any asset, the following checks should take place:

Remove any textures/ materials from the material editor that are not used.
Ensure the correct material is on the asset.
Remove any smoothing group problems and ensure bevelled geometry has the right smoothing applied.
Unhide and delete any unwanted geometry, lights, cameras or helpers in the scene and make sure there are no hidden verts or polys in the asset.
Ensure that all verts are wielded up if they need to be.
Select the mesh and make sure the x-form is reset and the normals are facing the correct way.
Ensure the pivot point is central to the mesh but the z value is set to 0. The whole asset will then need to be set to 0,0,0 in max world space. In the case of small objects that meet the ground, the pivot point should be positioned centrally to the portion of the object that meets the ground.

WHAT U NEED TO DO NOW!

2008-02-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

This blog is to discuss the meeting today in greater detail and details on what will happen in the future of the project.

During the meeting we basically discussed whats needs to be done. We decided that the rooms we will concentrate on will be the Court Yard, Main Room, Lobby, and Second Floor Lobby. This hopefully wont be the finished project, lightening our work load will help us concentrate on getting a visual style right. We will be able to break each room down and work on getting to look as close to visual style.

For Monday everyone must have TOTALLY FINISHED all the models you have been working on, these models MUST fit to the technical spec which will be outlined in a video tutorial in another post.

If your model is not finished it will be put in the game how it is. We do not have time to keep going back over little things. On Monday everyone will get a new assets(s) to make.

Please include .max formats on Monday

2008-02-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

When you hand your models in on Monday can you please include them in the original .max format as well as the .ase format suitable for Unreal, please

A video tutorial will be available explaining how to take an object from max into unrealEd and all the problems you may run into

5 steps to making barbed wire

2008-02-14T15:14:00.000-08:00

Hey Hicks you went offline so i thought i would wack this up here to show u what i was going to say to do.

I can spell completed really.....

Lobby texture set

2008-02-14T14:33:00.001-08:00

Okies thought I'd fire up a quick pic of what im doing at the mo, I've annotated it with changes and stuff we need to add just need to ok it with people. The weakest element here at the mo I think is the floor - its just a flat temporary texture i wanna add a really gnarled up model but thats up to Ben and Nikki to think about (Har har!)

Also this view is on the 'unlit' view so the texture are as bright as there gonna get - i've included a lit view below this but the lighting is really temporary so don't at all take it as final, we don't even know where the lights coming from yet after all.

2008-02-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

URGENT

Nikki is away this weekend, so until she gets back I'm effectively the art lead. Anyway, basicly it concerns me a lot that last I spoke to Nikki she hadn't had ANYONE send her their concept art or reference images for their objects.

This worries me because it means one of two things:

1) People aren't following the pipeline.

or

2) People just aren't doing the work.

As we haven't had any meetings since this was set effectivly it means we have no idea how people are working, or whether they are working to the art style guide. I've seen Carters wall textures, and those were fine, and just seeing Bens work then at least gives me an idea of where hes going.

EVERYONE else however I have no clue of at all, I want to see all reference images and/or concepts depending on how applicable by SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE VERY LATEST. If we don't do this then the end result will look utterly incohesive which will suck.

All images should be either emailed to me at weird.mind@gmail.com OR post it on here.

Remember, if you don't follow the pipeline we can easily just tell you to redo your work when you do it wrong because you haven't checked it against the right people, or if we don't have time at all, we just won't use it.

Thankyou.

what ive been doin.

2008-02-14T03:46:00.000-08:00

This is what ive been doing over the past few days:

Its nowhere near finished, but i have totally unwrapped it (which wasnt fun). I need to make sure it fits properly into the engine before I add damage and variation too it so i will have to wait till i get back before i continue with it.

Meanwhile im going to start working on rubble. Ive done this quick sketch already:

I intend to make the bricks red as they are actually red on the outside and I think it will help supplement the colour pallette well.

Lift with ice and bullet holes

2008-02-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

here is the lift with ice and some bullet holes. It's well under the recommended poly limit at 4966 tris but i can easily add to it.

Lift/ no ice texture layer

2008-02-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

this is the lift without the ice and bullet hole damage layers. This was rendered with a diffuse and normal map, the spec made it look horrific for some reason.

Concepts omited

2008-02-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

Just downloaded the art style guide some good stuff but i noticed none of my concepts are included, I'd understand if they simply didn't match the colour palette yet nearly every single concept image in the guide fails to match each other or the colour palette specified

Seeing as most of these were done before we had a definite style guide it seems a bit rude to simply omit mine without good reason given

Quick update on the wall textures

2008-02-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

Heres a quick look at some of the textures i've made working on a few mor at the moment - all of these are interchangeable with each other, so elements such as the metal trim can be swapped around.

Image res for the image is 256* actual size is 2048*

A word about cylinders

2008-02-10T07:44:00.000-08:00

If your creating a model containing a number of cylinders it might be an idea to follow these guidelines,

Small: 8 sides

Medium: 12 sides

Large:16 sides

Small is smaller than the player or human, medium roughly the same size and large bigger than the player.

Dale if your doing the railings it might be an idea to use 8 or even 12 sides for them

smashed glass refrence

2008-02-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

found these pics of glass, thought you could use them Alex.

art bible

2008-02-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

link to the art bible.
It's not 100% complete yet but look through it and tell me if you think anything is missing.
Get it here

thanks

gate concept

2008-02-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

here are the concept for the gates, please tell me what bits u like and what u don't i need to know.......ok thanks.

Newspaper - 16 tris :)

2008-02-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

Even when the world is going crazy there always seems to be Football News on the back page...

Concept refined(ignore the earlier post

2008-02-05T15:39:00.001-08:00

Ben/maverick's concept 1

2008-02-05T15:25:00.001-08:00

Work for the next two weeks! updated with poly counts

2008-02-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

Ok team blice, these are the assets that have been choosen. Everyone has to complete these assets for 13^th of February (Wednesday).

The process that we will go through to create these assets will be as followed.

A collection of concepts, references or any useful images to model the object in question will be shown to Nikki

When Nikki approves it the asset is then modeled, unwrapped and with a block colour texture based on the colour chart. This is then passed to Carter and Ben.

When it’s been approved you further go on to texture and complete the asset. When it’s complete it is shown to everyone for approval.

All the assets must follow the guidelines outlined in the technical spec ( it is uploaded here http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SMQJE4T2 ), otherwise they will not be accepted.

Also do not include any ice or snow in your models or textures as all of this will be added on top at a later date.

The triangle and textures limits are fairly rough, we have alot more to work with than we have before but that doesnt mean we can waste them. If you really need more talk to Ben or Carter, the lower the better really.

Ben L

Lift

This is the lift in the first room of the queens building, we have talked about having it broken and midway between two floors. You will need to get scale reference from caters block out. This assets includes the inside of the lift shaft as it will be visible from.

triangles: 1000-5000

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec)

Statue

Use the statue in the courtyard as reference but make it bent and destroyed as you see fit. You could also put something in its place such as a new statue or something fitting with the revolution theme.

triangles: 1000-5000

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec)

Hicks

Vending Machines

Use the vending machines already in the queens building as refrence. Think about how they would be damaged through the process of a revolution. The more variations you can make the better because they can be used in other areas, such as barricades.

triangles: 500 -3000 per machine

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per machine

Metal Gate

This is a main gate in the front of the courtyard. It needs to look strong, heavy and signs of battle damage ie bullet holes.

triangles: 1000-5000

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec)

Nikki

Flags and Posters

We had talked about putting various flags posters and banners around the queens building. These will all need to have a unified symbol(s) to show a revolution took place. We had also talked about making them red to balance the colours in scene. Make as many variations of these assets as u think are needed. In addition you could look into making textures for graffiti.

triangles: 0-500 per itteration

textures: 512x512 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per itteration

Doors

These will be based on the current existing doors but they will be broken and damaged fitting with our chosen style. Remember that any parts that include glass need to be a separate untextured asset as a shader will be applied to it later.

Here an examples.

Don’t worry about making barricades at this point as we can use other assets such as the vending machines to make them faster.

triangles: 100-2000 per door

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per door

Alex

Bins

Use the bins that already exist in the queens building as a starting point. Make a few iterations such as a rusty bin, a bin on its side with rubbish coming out.

triangles: 100-500 per bin

textures: 512x512 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per bin

Fire Extinguisher

Again use the reference that already exists, look at rust and the effects of extreme cold and damage would have on the different types of fire extinguishers. As ice may play a key part in these assets you could add it in, but don’t waste time texturing ice since it will be added in later, just make the mesh.

triangles: 100-500 per itteration

textures: 512x512 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per itteration

Display Case

There are a few display cases and notice boards around the queens building. Damage them how you see fit. Remember that any parts that include glass need to be a separate untextured asset as a shader will be applied to it later. Make as many iterations as you think we will need.

triangles: 100-1500 per itteration

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per itteration

Broken glass

There will be broken glass scattered all over the building, make a few iterations of groups of smashed glass. There is no need to texture these models as there is a glass shader in unreal.

Triangles: 10-500 depending on how much glass there is, and how big it is. Shards a few cm long should only be around 4 triangles.

Texture: shader

Joe

· Crates

Find a variety of crate and wood references before modeling this concept. Try and us photo reference if possible. Think about all the things that a group of people would bring into a building if they were to take it over. Create some with evidence of food, ammo etc. Try to not to create generic crates that appear in most games.

triangles: 100-500 per crate

textures: 512x512 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per bin

· News Paper

There needs to be rubbish left on the floors, look into creating your own newspaper article, there are site especially made to do this sort of thing. This will give the player a hint of the story. Make as many meshes and texture variations as possible but remember to stick to the limits as these will be duplicated a lot.

triangles: 2-30 per itteration

textures: 256x256 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per itteration

· General Rubbish on the floor

Such as Crisp packets, chocolate bar wrapper, bits of wire (like to ones found in the factory.) and bullet shells. Remember to keep the rubbish pretty low poly since they will be very small.

triangles: 10-50 per itteration

textures: 128x128 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per itteration

· Cone

Look at generic cones, make a few iterations of cones bent or evidence of them looking old.

triangles: 50-500 per itteration

textures: 512x512 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per itteration

Dale

Stairs

-Railings

Create as many iterations of stairs possible. Think about scale and using the block out supplied by Carter. Also look deep into rusting on pipes and how to accurately damage the stairs and still make them possible to walk up. Also include one set of stairs that is twist to block the player of from a certain area. For the railings try to create many different types that can all join together to make one, like building blocks or assembling a train track.

triangles: 1500-2000 per staircase, 200-1000 per railing segment

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per staircase, 512x512 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per railing segment

Seats

Look at the existing chairs in the Queens Building; think realistically how they would be damaged. Broken legs, some complete smashed to pieces etc.

triangles: 100-1000 per itteration

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per itteration

Circular Windows

Create loads of versions of the circular windows; make them all as varied as possible. Some windows will have boarded up sections in different places, smashed windows and a dirty outline to the window.

triangles: 200-2000 per itteration

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per itteration

Carte

Walls and Floor

For the walls I really want them to look the dirtiest and scummiest as possible. Here are some references pictures taken from the factory, these pictures pretty much depict how the idea looks.

Other Windows

Make variations of all the windows other than the large cirular ones. I think there are about 3 different types in there so make a few variations of them. i think alot of them will need to be boarded up with small gaps were the light comes in. I recommend making a few variations with the same boards in different positions. You know what your doing anyway!

triangles: 200-2000 per itteration

textures: 1024x1024 (x3 for diffuse normal and spec) per itteration

Ben W

Walkway

Be sure to make the walkway matches the railings on the stairs. Create different iterations so we can discuss which one suits the most.

Debris (Including parts of collapsed chimney)

Create as much debris as you feel comfortable. If you feel confident on creating you’re original concept of the broken chimney I strongly advise you follow it through. Think about positioning of the debris, make sure the debris doesn’t conflict with the areas the player walks.

Communication is absolutely needed to keep everyone constantly on track. I will contact everyone everyday to see if everyone’s work is on the right track. Also (if you haven’t already) please sign up to Painter, it will be a brilliant way for us all to discuss our work at home. To conclude as I mentioned earlier I will in the labs 1:00 to 4:00 every Wednesday to Friday if anyone needs to get in contact with me in person.

Bits and Bobs

2008-02-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

First I give you the wood (eg boards) palette expansion for your use.

Second I give you the best mist reference I took at Bradgate.

Hope that helps.

main room concept

2008-02-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

So this the my idea for what the main room could look like. I only used the colours from the colour palette below. I am aware that the bits are blocking the walkway but it could easily be edited to be passable. I wanted to get the lighing and the feel of the room more through this pic.

Group Notice 02

2008-02-03T15:32:00.000-08:00

Hey are the more accurate plans of the Queens building. This help us out loads on our finishing concept work and vastly help with the 3D =P

Concept Art

2008-02-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

A bit more concept art, using the colour palette, for the front lobby area. Its in my usual rough speed paint style, so isn't the neatest thing in the word.

If anyone else is trying to do a picture using the palette, remember:

1) That the palette is a guideline, not a rule, if you try to do it just using palette colours it will be very hard and probably not be as good as it should be. Sample colours from a whatever reference photo you are using if doing it digitally. The shortcut for culour sample is Alt+mouse click if you don't know already.

2) The colours we sampled were largely in direct light, this means that if you need shadowed areas you are going to have to darken and / or desaturate the colours. If you don't know how to do this or are unsure of how much you should do it you can ask me or Nikki (or anyone else you can get hold of, but I can't guarantee they'll know either, though they probably will)

3) Detail is not the most important thing for broad concepts like this, it would be better to have

a couple of very rough pictures which give the idea rather than one polished piece - it may look nice but it'll only help us with one thing out of many different bits of the building we have to do.

Also:

Download a copy of the palette and have it open while you work, as you'll be belding colours of even pickign similar/complementary colours to go, scribble them down on your copy of the palette and save it. Obviously don't do it over the exisitng colours.

Anyway, when you are done you have the colorus saved as reference, or in theory, you could show it to Nikki, and if theres any particularly good/useful colours there it could be put into the overall palette.

Very rough concept for the stairs, it probably looks a lot like a mass of squiggles, but I can always produce a far more polished version if necessary.

Photos Galore

2008-02-02T11:11:00.001-08:00

Here are the photos I mentioned earlier:

http://hosted.filefront.com/Alexholt/

In the Queens and Snow file, we have demonstrative shots of the front hall, main hall and back stairs area. It also has a selection of average snow pictures I took this morning.

Also in the lichens, ferns etc there is a ton of lichens, mosses and a few other bits and bobs that should help make whatever you do look a bit more natural, even if you just use them as a subtle overlay on some surfaces should add a greater sense of detail.

Hope that helps.

Concepts and snow

2008-02-02T08:20:00.001-08:00

I've got snow pictures that I got eariler and will put up on the k drive on Monday, and here are all the concepts I've done. Including the last one which I did today.

Various Things

2008-02-02T06:26:00.001-08:00

Firstly, the concept I did the other week:

I also have two batches of files for people, the first is of snow I got earlier this morning and also pictures of the rooms of the Queens Building at a nice flat angle for cocnepting off (rather than the previous complex angled arty shots)

Secondly I have an 80mg zip file of mosses, lichen, icy ferns etc as reference for any of that stuff you include in your concepts. We do need some kind of signs of that stuff: bear in mind that you get lichens even right in the middle of antartica, and it'll also add more interest to the scene.

At present, filefront isn't working, but as soon as it is, I'll put the links up.

Group Work Plan 01

2008-02-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, the meeting today was a bit sketchy so I wanted to write down what I believe needs to be done for Tuesday.

Carter (Tech Lead) : A basic block model of the Queens Building created in the Unreal 3 engine.

In order to continue we need the block model to work off.

Nikki (Art Lead) : Nikki needs to see as many of the groups art work to create the Art Bible of our chosen style.

Unless we all find time to show Nikki our work the Art Bible wont be possible. We have until Tuesday to arrange a meeting.

Ben (3D Lead) : A technical specification (a rough one if need be) of all the assets in the Queens.

This isn't too crucial at the moment but it would be nice to think ahead.

Dale, Alex, Ben L, Hicks : will continue with concepts, if you feel you have done enough concepts then feel free to model some in 3D.

Note: Models created at this point in 3D may not be used, it depends on the quality and if the model fits with Ben and Carter, also if you do model don’t texture them, it will take too long.

That's about all, additionally I will look into time management and how to write a proper schedule as well as finding ways we can all communicate better.

Colour Palette

2008-02-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

OK here is the colour palette, if you think we need more colours etc please say.
This will be tidied up in the Art Style Guide so this just a draft for now so everyone can stick to the same Colour Palette.

Group Notice 01

2008-02-01T07:39:00.000-08:00

It's been a bit bumpy recently I think we can all agree on that. I want everyone to forget what has past and concentrate solely on the project at hand. This blog will indicate my personal opinion on the best way to follow out this project.

Since communication is a key issue I want find some solutions and these are ones that I have come up with.

1. Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I shall be doing my part of the group work from 1:00 to 4:00 in the labs. This is so if anyone needs to contact me in person you will know where I am and I will notify to rest of the group.

2. There will need to be a few more group meetings to help our group communicate and get back on to the right track. Meeting up loads can be a problem for people. I would like to know the dates when people are free for group meetings.

So far we can't have a meeting

Monday afternoon
Tuesday afternoon
Late Thursday
Friday

Some members have activities on these days, this narrows us down to lunch times, Wednesday and possibly weekends. One solution I came up with was if someone is too busy to attend a meeting I will personal meet them at a place comfortable with them as to discuss what has happened.

3. I have started writing a diary, although I'm writing it, it is a diary for and about the group. Everyone can read it and write in it if anyone wishes. The reason for this is to see how we change and to look back on things if need be. Also the diary will indicate who was given a certain amount of work. If the work isn't produced everyone will know because it is in the diary.

Before the day ends I will of given you all the Unreal 3 engine, I will drop it off at each of your houses to save time so you all can concentrate on work. Also I will have with me a copy of photoshop CS if anyone needs it. Having the Unreal Engine is a good opportunity for us all to understand how our models are manipulated in a game engine. Good knowledge on what happens to our models when they're made means we will have good knowledge on making them, it will benefit us all. Remember though since we have little time simply just look at the Unreal Engine, play around a little, try and relate it with what your currently doing and try not to conflict with what Carter is doing =).

These are a few changes I hope they all benefit you all. To conclude as far as I'm concerned everyone is the leader, everyone must have their own input otherwise we will crash and burn again. The leader title is a bit miss leading all I am is the singular voice of the entire group.

After you all have Unreal and the latest Photoshop, a new blog will be posted containing the schedule. It's hard to predict when it will be up because I don't know how long it will take me to give you all Unreal but it will be up for tonight. Further more I will look into how to communicate properly and how to mange time.

Come Group look sharp keep smiling and lets have fun with this bloody project =D YAY!

A few ice referances

2008-02-01T04:40:00.000-08:00

Not of them were great but I managed to get some at Nottingham Ice Rink yesterday, theres more in the k drive.

Ideas.

2008-02-01T04:35:00.000-08:00

The Metal crates with the chairs in.

A bunch of wooden crates they could possibly have brought with them with things they need in... maybe I make them look damaged or something...

A few window concepts =P

2008-01-31T22:31:00.000-08:00

I will hopefully show you more later on today during to meeting with Powell.

On a side note, I think all of our work is blending in quite nicely, I think were as close to our style as we can possibly get. I think we can pretty much get started modeling, plus we're running out of time. During when we model we will need close observation on each others work so it all fits in.

yo guys

2008-01-31T17:01:00.001-08:00

hello team blice as u know i have been working on walls and vending machines this week so this is what i have got

Rail Concepts

2008-01-30T13:19:00.000-08:00

I basically decided the best way to concept rails (and also stairs) is to knock up a few tiling textures and stick them on a cylinder (along with a normal and spcular map) to see they look like. I'll design the bridge deformation as line drawings, and then once I get both the damage and texture approved then I'll do a final reference image. In the mean time theres no point me doing a massive number of combinations when it can be done much more efficiantly like this.

Anyway:

This is just a plain metal texture, with a bit of scratching, mainly just for comparrison.

This is a rusted texture with flecks of paint, probably more rusted than we are going for though.

This is a more 'painty' texture, basically theres still a lot of paint still on it, although ideally I want more still.

Edited version of the previous texture, now with 500% more paint.

I'll update this post later, I'm going to aim for a bnout 3 mroe textures, and a load of stair designs. If anyone has suggestions for textures, either about different textures, or features you like/dislike of any of the others just reply to this post.

Asset Concept: The outdoor enviroment

2008-01-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

Concept:
3d parts:

pictures to use to make sky:

Just incase....

2008-01-28T14:07:00.000-08:00

Just incase anybody wasnt clear or had forgotten what they needed to be doing i thought i would write it up here just incase, basicly this week we just need to prepare to start moddeling next week so all the major assests need refrence and concept pictures so that they can be modeled easily and effeciently later in the project.
So take the staircase as an example, to make them well I would:

-Go and take pictures of it from all angles
-A draw a concept of what it will look like with our chosen style applied to it.
-Collect any pictures needed for texturing (ie dirt textures, cgtextures is good for this)

I know it seems a bit crazy to make a concept picture of a bin or something small like that but if we really think about what every object is going to look like before we start modelling then it will improve the quality of the model and speed up modeling time. And remember that you may not be making the assest u have concepted in 3d, so it needs to be good enough for someone else to work from.

Yea so this is what everyone is doing this week:

Hicks: walls, floors, vending machines and broken bricks by wednesday
All pipes and radiators by saturday
That big metal door by monday

Dale: windows and wooden boards by friday
doors by monday

Joey: pillars by wednesday
crates by saturday
electrical wall boxes by monday

Ben L: broken lift by wednesday
statue in front entrance by saturday
fire extinuisher by monday

Nikki: flags, posters and banners (including symbols) by saturday

Alex: Stairs and railings by wednesday
Seats and chairs by saturday

Tom: glass bricks by wednesday
cameras by saturday
display cases and noticeboards by monday

Me: outdoor enviroment (the area not acessable by the player) by wednesday
lights by saturday
Technical specifications and 3d workflow by monday

So when you have done an assest concept post it on here and give it to Nikki.

Cheers guys

THE IDEA

2008-01-27T21:40:00.001-08:00

for those people who don't know what I m thinking of how it should go....I have done some concept sketch's in the style i think fits the idea, if u don't agree then please post some of your concept work to show me how its coming along.........ok

My Stairs

2008-01-27T17:09:00.000-08:00

Total Tris = 1674

I wanted to give to impression something menacing has just ravaged up these stairs pulling and tearing as it ascends. Ok so I know the whole butcher creature thing has pretty much gone I still wanted to model I would enjoy doing.

It's not finished however it is completely textured. I have aloud room for me to make more steps individual however as of now they are all the same.

All of the textures where taken from the original pictures I had from the factory from last year and some new one I went out to take with Hicks, Ben and Carter.

In total its taken me about 11 hours. I stopped now to show how long it takes me to work but I will post a finished one with a more detailed texture. The stairs are a major part of the Queens Building so I reckon they should stand out. Not only should they look like our chosen style but also like the Queens Building.

I'm happy with these stairs because they look like how I visioned our idea looks but at the moment it looks like a 3D model and not realistic stairs...

Time for some 3d stuffs

2008-01-25T05:59:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow team mates, i have a task that everyone needs to complete so that i can start planning the 3d side of this project. Basicly what i need to get out of this is the knowlage of:

-How you model.
-How fast you model.
-Which parts of the moddeling process we need more paractice in.

The object you will be making will be a staircase, similar to this one I have made:

Heres the technical constraints I would like you to work to:

- under 2000 triangles.
- one 1024x1024 diffuse map.
- one 1024x1024 specular map.
- one 1024x1024 normal map.
- It should be a single centered object to a realistic scale.

Tips

-There is no need to attach every step to the rest of the model, just make sure its part of the same object at the end.
- all the cylinders in my model are 5 sided.
-I used splines and lofting (like the tree project) to make the railings.
- Try to add some variety like broken bits to make it more interesting.
- When unwrapping try to overlap everything that you can but do not flip or mirror any polys because the normal map will invert.

It would be good if it fitted with the art style we have already talked about because then hopefully we will be able to use it in the final level.

Finally, if you dont think you will have enough time to do a whole staircase then try just making part of it, i would rather see a small part fully textured than just the mesh.

If u have any questions my number is 07736683971

Oh yeah this took me about 15 hours to do so aim to finish by monday :)

Lobby blocked out

2008-01-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

Okies heres the front section of the Queens building blocked out i took a bit longer on it than it should have done but at least i know its all to scale and we won't run into any problems down the line

My Concept

2008-01-24T03:15:00.001-08:00

Lobby Concept

2008-01-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

Heres the concept for the lobby. Still wip focusing on the use of light and colour over any niggly details

my concept

2008-01-23T15:31:00.000-08:00

heres the concept i did tonight:

game theory

2008-01-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

I have decided to gather info, on other games in are genre to try and pick out the thing in the art style that make them different to the other games out there, by doing this I believe that it will give us a more clear view of what to do with the art style in our level.
I hope the art directors are thinking about the art style and I hope this helps out to define what to do and what not to do.....ok

I am going to look at such games as Silent Hill 3, Resident Evil 4, Doom 3 and Stalker...... shadow of Chernobyl I have chosen these games because of the distinctive art style and game play elements.

start with silent hill with its dingy and dramatic art style, the thing with silent hills is that they relay on big creatures they use the suspense in the level and the posioning of the lighting to bring your attention to something in the level it also has a good amount of dramatic play with the character and in the older games it had a grainy filters to give a feeling of fear because of the way that it is precieved in people minds with a feeling of dread and it adds a ruff look that clouds your vision.

It also loves to play on the twisted deformed human structure , giving the player a feeling of unease, which is something I do really like about the silent hill games, I also have noticed that the prop objects are fantastically made and are given a good poshishining to add to the suspense of the level. the art style of the game is a very nicely do. but they still do the thing with having a very clean main character like all but a messy environment the time and it just looks wrong.

next doom 3 I loved this game because it probably one of the only game that has scared me, and thats a bonus point right there, and the art style is very good because of the way they have made this facility on mars come alive, using the shadows and the light source of the torch is great, because of the way it was done, like not being able to shoot with the torch out created so much panicking from the players side, and using the creatures, thing that would kick the shite out of you in reality's and traps they love traps in doom,

the art style of this game is very dependent on the lighting in the area and the amount of technology within the area because it was quite overwhelming and it created loads of crevasses in the walls and the floor, that they use to scare you, the way that the scene looks is very clean and new making you feel out of place.

resedent evil 4 I haven't played this one but you can see from the pics that it the style is no where near dependent on lighting as the other games this game has a very nice art style that gives it a...... I wish I was not here feeling , and I think its a good aspect to drive the game because they relay on ashocking amount of enemies and lack of ammo to scare you, but thats not enough,

the art style is cairred very we'll from the level design to the characters in it just like in silent hill and they have the same style of very clean main character, and all the textures have a sort of grainy look that give the scenery a nice fade, and it adds a feeling of confinement.

now bio shock the art style in the game is great and it projects the 1930 so we'll the game is fantastic and the lighting is done very we'll to add suspense to the scene and it all works we'll with the characters within the world, the only problem with it is that it way to easy. the art style is done with a series of different places cut to gather and then blended in with a great 30's theme to make the game flow work so much better. It also used its steam punk add on to make it seem more different than normal like this is how it would have been if there where no restrictions and that makes you fear the potential of the world your playing in.

stalker... this is a very good game but it works in 2 different ways with the player, to make the player feel the at ease and to scare him, because night turns in to day and the world is a good size, so in the day you'll get to know the world around you and when it night it makes every thing different this is a good method i think, the art style is old but its still done well, the area that you know will change, types of creatures, solders and other forces will keep fighting with each other to take control of areas , this make you very uneasy and untrusting after a while.

the art style of this game is old and odd because the way its done is with a basic look but nice attachments and weired creatures, that have a very organic form but twisted distorted out of shape, the fleshy tone colour of these creatures gives you a clear view of what happened they do use the lighting in the game nicely but its mainly more about night and day.

2008-01-23T08:51:00.000-08:00

I didn't want you to use these as textures, but as reference and i do have more so if u catch me online later I could add some thing to help you.

Paintchat

2008-01-22T08:03:00.000-08:00

Ok guys,

Here is the link to the paint chat that we will be trying. Hopefully it'll suit our needs. Anyway it's a program that allows you to upload pictures etc and doodle on them but also it's a chat room of sorts.

So the basic idea is that we can upload concept art, or 3D and everyone can see how it's going and then write on the image what needs to be changed etc.

If you could just have a quick look at it that'll be cool.

Everyone should register and it's really easy to use and hopefully will help us a lot

ClickHere

Me, Myself and I

2008-01-22T08:01:00.000-08:00

Strengths

Hard worker when I put my mind to it

Know Photoshop

Good, imaginative drawer

Competent 3D modeler

Optimistic but still realistic

Will try and do and as much as I possibly can for my team

Competitive

Weaknesses

Low confidence

Won’t always say if something is bugging me

Competitive

Too ambitious

Easily distracted.

Benefits

Imaginative and a problem solver

I have a printer…

I have a fairly up to date pc…

Will work to the best of my ability

Problems

Might not be easy to reach in evenings because of spending time with James or playing WoW.

The first and last time...

2008-01-22T06:56:00.000-08:00

This is my research I did during the day on tues, I won't be using megauploader again so here's the two links.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8UN6HDPE - found bricks

and

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OMVTEGC3 - peeling paint

You guys know me really....

2008-01-21T17:24:00.000-08:00

okey, if u guys think these are wrong just tell me, i would rather know.

Strengths-

-Fast and accurate 3d modeler.
-Im pretty good at normal mapping now.
-I can quickly pick up new software.
-I will go out of my way to do something as well as i can.
-Im not afraid to ask.
-Im honest.
-Im organised.

Weaknesses-

-I often look for a quick and not nessicarily correct way of doing something.
-I will always see the bad side to a situation first.
-Im not afraid to say something even when its not really my place to do so.
-If i have something in my mind i try to impose it on everyone around me (kinda links with last point)
- Too self confident.
-Sometimes im too competitive (but being competitive can help drive you)

Benifits-

- Im always willing to help you guys out in anyway.
- I talk to Ben Mathis all the time now. (i did actually already ask him if he had any tips for doing ice ect, and he said no but im sure we will find use for his help sometime)
- Im not going to give up until ive done the best i can for this group.

Problems-

- I have been given jury duty for potentially 2 weeks (from feb 11th) so i have to go back home then. Ill still be online in the evenings tho.

Notes from Queens Building

2008-01-21T16:24:00.000-08:00

1st Area – Courtyard of Pain!

- Snow drift blocking exit
- Metal door under glass bit, or glass bit removed/smashed
- Snow everywhere
- Statue bent over, flag/banner in place
- Smashed and boarded windows
- Crates and shipments
- Drop the trees, keep stumps
- Reception – pill box
- Bullet holes

2nd Area – Stairs and reception

- Staircase blocked
- Door ajar, ice coming in, fading
- Door to main room blocked with bits of wood and junk, tables
- Half open lift, flickering light
- Lift shaft stuck between ground and second.
- Radiator burst with ice
- Peeling pain, rust, steps damaged.
- Bullet shells around windows
- Reception. Some pillars collapsed.
- Burst pipes, water frozen on the floor
- Doors frozen shut by ice

2nd floor staircase

- 3rd floor staircase broken (for now)
- Windows slap dash boarded, daylight coming through
- Below freezing still, less ice
- Ammo boxes
- Frozen guns
- Signs of life
- Railings bent or cut away
- Peeling paint on railings
- Could do something with lift

Lift

- Could get in and fall down one floor

2nd floor main room

- Banners hung from walkway
- Broken and cracked glass bricks
- Roof areas smashed in parts, light shining in.
- Circular window – room on other side is very dark with hole in roof (or roof missing) circular window partly boarded up.
- Square window broken
- Light at beginning of the room, then dark, then light
- Cameras
- One walkway broken
- Bricks and debris around
- Bodies hanging on far walkway
- Glance over and see bodies a bit.
- Blood icicles from hanging people
- Dripping water where sunlight hits
- Snow below broken skylights
- Middle circular window boarded
- Second lecture room will be open.
- Banners hung above lecture room
- A lot of walk way broken and damaged
- Benches damaged or taken away, moved to use as barricades

Auditorium, lecture theatre

- Main planning room, maps and supplies
- Beds, squatter mats
- Warm, damp, liveable
- Seats ect broken away
- Littered with plans and newspapers
- Ripped curtains
- Blocked windows

2nd floor – far end stair case

- same theme as rest of 2nd floor
- sand bags
- staircase to upper floor blocked
- windows smashed and boarded slightly
- big door broken, can see a bit of outside through holes, would be barricaded

3rd floor – far end stair case

- smashed and boarded window
- stairs to 4th floor damaged
- burst pipes? Water creates ice areas
- slippery surface sign
- damaged railings

Ground floor – far end stair case

- No escape sign
- Container type things
- Door heavily barricaded

Main room bottom floor

- Furniture used to barricade other areas
- Smashed vending machines
- Floor damaged
- Lots of bodies
- Mist
- Piles of bodies in bags
- Classroom door to outside
- Bliceicles? (Teh F**k?)

"Quaid release your mind!"

2008-01-21T12:23:00.000-08:00

strengths......

good team worker

I'm ok

good drawer

Yeah

good modeling skill

Yeah

fast worker

No...

focused

No (not yet)

weaknesses....

slow drawer

yes

argumentative

A bit, (I don't see it as a weakness)

average modeling skill

I bit above average

mainly late to meetings

missed 1

not a team worker
lazy

yes

problems.

I get up late

Very late

I m slow getting in to work

very

I do something every week

yes, how much I do varies though

I'm easily distracted

Very easily distracted

I don't like meetings

I love the meetings

I like crisps

absolutely love em

benefits.

I get straight in to work

no

I like crisps

can't stand them!!

I obsessed with ice

I is obsessed

I work hard

depends what I'm working on

I do loads of drawing

depends what I'm drawing

I've tried to be as honest as possible, if any of disagree please let me know. Also I appreciate any criticism at any time. Half the time I will know if I'm not pulling my wait though.

Don't like it? Tough.

2008-01-21T05:08:00.000-08:00

Strengths,

- Reasonable at modelling
- Will work till stupid o'clock to get things done
- Happy to try my hand at anything
- Reasonable at photoshop

Weaknesses,

- Forever late in the morning
- Not brilliant at drawing on paper
- Can be overly loud
- Overly stubborn

Benefits,

- Will get work done on time
- Hard Drive can fit whatever we need on it
- Will follow resonable requests

Problems,

- Mornings

Love me love my stink

2008-01-20T15:55:00.000-08:00

Okies here we ghoooo0000

Strengths,

- Pretty adept at modelling
- Know mudbox/Zbrush and the work flow that comes with them
- know how to use the ins and outs of the unreal engine
- Good at photoshop
-Realist
-Pick up anything technical pretty quickly

Weaknesses,

-Trouble relaying information to people
-Average at drawing
-Intolerant to loud people
-Try to do too much stuff at once

Benefits,

-Live with Megan & Dave - Dave has a printer!
-Lappy can run the editor without any problems
-Focused on my job

Problems,

-Its always too cold

remember...who u r!!

2008-01-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

basically i would like everyone to do this because this is stuff i will need to know and stuff everyone else will need to know, I would like to asses all your strengths, weaknesses, problems and benefits.

I'll give u a brake down of it.....

strengths......

good team worker
good drawer
good modeling skill
fast worker
focused

weaknesses....

slow drawer
argumentative
average modeling skill
mainly late to meetings
no a team worker
lazy

problems.

I get up late
I m slow getting in to work
I do something every week
I easily distracted
I don't like meetings
I like crisps

benefits.

I get straight in to work
I like crisps
I obsessed with ice
I work hard
I do loads of drawing

I mean that you guys know yourself so basically i would like everyone to do this and try and fill it to the best of your ability and knowledge.

please read

2008-01-19T20:00:00.000-08:00

Hey i just noticed the blog has been set to private i think this is a pretty bad idea for several reasons -

1. Powell ultimately has to see what were doing, if he can't check this blog he doesn't know what were doing and were gonna get crap grades because of it

2. All the other teams have a free flow of information between each other, by isolating ourselves like this we leave ourselves at a disadvantage to information

3.People have to know what were up to and what progress were making if we don't make a song and dance about it it were gonna look like were constantly trailing behind

4.Any other groups/Powell won't acknowledge the stuff we've done if we don't show them

5.Being secretive like this creates tension not competitiveness

6.Its too late now for people to see our ideas and the copy them - even if they do having a freely viewable blog means people can see we came up with whatever idea first

7.If for whatever reason something monumental fucks up the other groups are gonna be less inclined to help us

Physics props

2008-01-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

Okies i've turned my testbed head into a physics object i can shoot around the room - you can do this with all the models but obviously the higher the polycount the more complex the collision box will have to be.
Was thinking this could be used for small stuff, like cups or something i really don't want to have to create complex collapsing ice sculptures or anything

Ice 2

2008-01-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

Alot smoother than the first one - looks like it has little bits of crap frozen insdie it which looks nice.
Could be used for froozen puddles or something like that i guess

gah coooobes!

2008-01-18T11:57:00.001-08:00

Sod that im not using a cube to show these things off, from now on my 'testbed head' will be used for showing off a shader

Reference Photos

2008-01-18T11:57:00.000-08:00

Here is my initial batch of photos for the first lot of concepts - if anyone wants any other views just describe it to me and I'll see if I've got something that fits your description.

Ice 1

2008-01-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

Okay I've pretty much finished the first ice shader, i imagine this would be used on stalacmites or whatever. I can alter the transparency to fit - its pretty low at the mo although its supposed to be ancient thick ice so it fits pretty well, also i've used an image of myself to act as a fake feflection if you will, as i like the idea of my face beaming back at ppl in the ice although im gonna change it to a saturated pic of the relevant part of the Queens building later

Ice Cavern diff view

2008-01-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

Hopefully this piece shows how it would be lit and the rough scale of the cave,

my inital ideas

2008-01-17T16:48:00.001-08:00

Heres my best idea concepted. Basicly the player starts outside in the winter blizzard type place, come into the building for shelter and as they go into the depths it is warmer and more damp but there is some kinda organic creature growing inside.......... i think it does lack originality but could look really nice in 3d

Conceptual Design 1 - Ice Cavern

2008-01-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

The blog to show people in our group pics n stuff

Request for Carter

Notes on Evaluation

FRIDAY!

gas masks

Group Meeting

Assesment structure for group project

And so

Cutoff day is this Monday

Moss Questions

Blockworld texturing (pretty much final)

Rough area plan

Snow?

Main room progress and stage placement pics

Main Room Asset

Annoted main room wonderings

Few idea's for the main room

Stuff for Tuesday

Lobby update

Almost finished the walkway!!

Lobby texturing and lighting update

missing email

Doorframe scale models for Nikki

Lobby wip - model pass

Wall Reference (for Carter)

A Few Belated Asset Guidelines

Assets

Modelling & Texturing Guidelines

Modelling Guidelines

Basic Guidelines

Naming conventions and file structure

Example folder

Additional

Bevelled edges

Units and Scale

Stripping

Stripping

Texturing & UV Mapping Guidelines

Basic Guidelines

Unwrapping guidelines

Photoshop guidelines

Height map texture

Exporting to engine

Asset completion checklist

WHAT U NEED TO DO NOW!

Please include .max formats on Monday

5 steps to making barbed wire

Lobby texture set

what ive been doin.

Lift with ice and bullet holes

Lift/ no ice texture layer

Concepts omited

Quick update on the wall textures

A word about cylinders

smashed glass refrence

art bible

gate concept

Newspaper - 16 tris :)

Concept refined(ignore the earlier post

Ben/maverick's concept 1

Work for the next two weeks! *updated with poly counts*

Bits and Bobs

main room concept

Group Notice 02

Concept Art

Photos Galore

Concepts and snow

Various Things

Group Work Plan 01

Colour Palette

Group Notice 01

A few ice referances

Ideas.

A few window concepts =P

yo guys

Rail Concepts

Asset Concept: The outdoor enviroment

Just incase....

THE IDEA

My Stairs

Work for the next two weeks! updated with poly counts