Part Two: Triple A Asset, Thompson Sub Machine Gun. Final Steps. (CGA Year Two)

After constructing the high poly model using Maya and Z Brush I was ready to create My low poly model. I would then bake the high poly onto the low poly using X Normal.

I made My low poly model using a variety of techniques that I have learnt from both tutors at university and online tutorials. The first one being the reduce tool, this cut the number of tris in my high poly Maya model down by about 40%. I then manually lowered the tri count myself from there by deleting unnecessary edges and merging vertices using the target weld tool. I also completely remade certain parts of the gun such as the trigger. I did this using the quad draw tool to draw a simple mesh over the top of my high poly one. I also completely remade the internals of the receiver. This lowered the tri count by a huge amount.

The model was reduced from about 3 million tris to 18,000 tris.

Now that My low poly model was finished I started UV unwrapping it one piece at a time. This is crucial as I need to have a complete set of UV's for the low poly so that I can transfer the detail of the high poly onto it through the creation of normal maps in X Normal.

I finished unwrapping My UV's then combined the objects together. After combining I was left with one mesh that had all of its UV's mapped, all I needed to do is click UV layout and Maya organised them all into the 0-1 space in the UV Editor.

I was now nearing the end of this project. I exported the low poly along with its UV layout and plugged it into X Normal. I placed the high poly into X Normal along with the low poly and baked out a 4k Normal Map and a 4k Cavity Map.

I then opened up Quixel 2.0 and plugged both maps into DDO along with My low poly mesh. I hit create and off it went.

Once DDO had finished I opened up 3DO and looked over the low poly with the maps applied. I then began to make changes in Photoshop to the maps, I added text onto the side of the gun using NDO. I also tidied up the normal's.

I added the company logo onto the top of the receiver.

Once I was happy with the normal and cavity maps I began to texture using the colour ID's. Colour ID's specify where I want the textures to go.

Using the colour ID's I added smart materials from Quixels library of textures.

This represented the final step in modelling/ texturing the gun. I tweaked the cavity maps a bit and voila, I had a complete model.

Now that the asset was complete I decided to render it in a scene using Unreal Engine 4.

I created a concrete bunker and some dog tags to place into the UE4 scene to help present my work and set the Tommy gun in an appropriate environment.

I created a set of dog tags using My name, just a small easter egg and a way of Me leaving my mark on the scene.

I added particle effects into the bunker along with lights.

Dog tags in the scene.

My complete UE4 scene.

There are a few tweaks I might make to the scene before hand in such as scaling the textures to fit and changing the lighting conditions. But all in all i'm happy with the way the scene, along with the asset has turned out.

I hope You enjoyed following Me through this process from start to finish, thank You for reading.

Group Project, My Documentation. Bibliography. (CGA Year Two)

Texture and Image References

-          4770x3178, Stone. 'High Resolution Textures: October 2014'. Seamless-pixels.blogspot.co.uk. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

-          Canstockphoto.com,. 'Footprint Clipart And Stock Illustrations. 8,154 Footprint Vector EPS Illustrations And Drawings Available To Search From Thousands Of Royalty Free Clip Art Graphic Designers.'. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Nov. 2015.

-          Decorcamp.com,. 'Textures >> Wood >> Flooring Parquet#36 Wood Floor Texture - Decorcamp.Com'. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

-          Etsy,. 'Items Similar To December 8, 1918 - German Newspaper - WWI - World War One Amazing! On Etsy'. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

-          Flickr - Photo Sharing!,. 'Old Clock'. N.p., 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

-          Gamebanana.com,. '2048² Aged Wood Panel Floor (Devhub > Gamebanana > Textures > Wood) - GAMEBANANA'. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

-          Invaluable.com,. 'Lucian Zabel Works On Sale At Auction & Biography | Invaluable'. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

-          Ivangraphics.deviantart.com,. 'Tree Bark - Texture, Pattern'. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

-          Legacyinspections.com,. 'Legacy Inspections'. N.p., 2007. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

-          Mb3d.co.uk,. 'Metal Rusty And Patterned Seamless And Tileable High Res Textures'. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

-          Mb3d.co.uk,. 'Plaster Seamless And Tileable High Res Textures'. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

-          Minaco-uk.com,. 'N/A.'. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

-          Mindmillion.com,. 'Gold Textures, Gold Fill, Gold Seamless Background 3'. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

-          N/A., Andy. '30+ Stone Texture Examples - Designrouge.Com'. designrouge.com. N.p., 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

-          N/A.,. 'N/A.'. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

-          Profilm.de,. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

-          Salvomie.com,. 'Salvomie : Reusable Metals > Wants - Page 1'. N.p., 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

-          Sites.google.com,. 'WW1 German Propaganda #3 (Deutsch Propaganda #Drei) - Hannah & Adrian's Wiki'. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

-          TextureX,. 'Free Wood Textures Wood Grain Texture Table Surface Brown Stock Photo Design'. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

-          tileable, Rough. 'High Resolution Textures: Rough Stucco White Dirty Paint Streaky Plaster Fine Detail Wall April 2014 Texture Seamless Tileable'. Seamless-pixels.blogspot.co.uk. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Group Project, My Documentation. Level Tri Count. (CGA Year Two)

For this project We were given a tri count limit of 100,000 tris. I counted up the number of objects in the Unity Scene using the Hierarchy and added up their total tris. I did this to ensure a 100% accurate tri count. And to make sure I meet the hand in requirements.

The More We Know: The Price of Knowledge. Level Tri Count.

Bookshelf Open Cupboard, Broken Shelf. 413 tris x 32 = 13,216 tris.

Bookcase with Book Texture. 240 tris x 31 = 7,440 tris.

Tall Pillar. 80 tris x 12 = 960 tris.

Short Pillar. 80 tris x 18 = 1,440 tris.

Large Safe. 194 tris x 1 = 194 tris.

Window. 136 tris x 20 = 2,720 tris.

Main Entrance Counter. 56 tris x 1 = 56 tris.

Key Rack. 660 tris x 1 = 660 tris.

Main Entrance. 626 tris x 1 = 626 tris.

Banister Upper Straight. 934 tris x 2 = 1,868 tris.

Banister Upper Left. 1,472 tris x 2 = 2,944 tris.

Banister Stairs. 1,111 tris x 2 = 2,222 tris.

Stair Joining Piece. 2 tris x 1 = 2 tris.

Straight Stairs Short. 208 tris x 1 = 208 tris.

Straight Stairs Long. 256 tris x 2 = 512 tris.

Inner Wall Supports. 288 tris x 1 = 288 tris.

Tower Window. 262 tris x 2 = 524 tris.

Tower Banister. 778 tris x 1 = 778 tris.

Large Desk. 2078 tris x 1 = 2078 tris.

Plate with Food. 420 tris x 1 = 420 tris.

Chair 1. 730 tris x 1 = 730 tris.

Logs. 12 tris x 41 = 492 tris.

Single Door. 736 tris x 6 = 4,416 tris.

Double Door. 1004 tris x 2 = 2,008 tris.

Chair 2. 224 tris x 44 = 9,856 tris.

Library Walls, Floor, Roof with Materials. 2,276 tris x 1 = 2,276 tris.

Table. 590 tris x 14 = 8,260 tris.

Small Round Table. 192 tris x 4 = 2,360 tris.

Fireplace. 312 x 1 = 312 tris.

Fireplace Metal. 560 x 1 = 560 tris.

Log Burnt. 12 tris x 3 = 36 tris.

Gas Lamp Wall. 172 tris x 12 = 2,064 tris.

Poster 1. 2 tris x 8 = 16 tris.

Poster 2. 2 tris x 1 = 2 tris.

Book Row. 92 tris x 91 = 8,372 tris.

Book Stand. 118 tris x 1 = 118 tris.

Book Open. 200 tris x 10 = 2,000 tris.

Book Dark Blue. 144 tris x 7 = 1,008 tris.

Book Blue. 144 tris x 1 = 144 tris.

Book Brown. 144 tris x 2 = 288 tris.

Book Brown Leather 1. 144 tris x 1 = 144 tris.

Book Brown Leather 2. 144 tris x 2 = 288 tris.

Book Black Leather. 144 tris x 4 = 576 tris.

Book Green. 144 tris x 7 = 1,008 tris.

Book Purple. 144 tris x 1 = 144 tris.

Book Maroon. 144 tris x 5 = 720 tris.

Large Painting. 244 tris x 3 = 732 tris.

Rug. 2 tris x 2 = 4 tris.

Rug 2. 2 tris x 2 = 4 tris.

Beer Glass. 294 tris x 2 = 588 tris.

Quill With Feather. 980 tris x 3 = 2940 tris.

Lantern. 454 tris x 1 = 454 tris.

Candle With Holder. 700 tris x 1 = 700 tris.

Key Silver. 224 tris x 3 = 672 tris.

Crate. 88 tris x 21 = 1,848 tris.

Key Gold. 148 tris x 2 = 296 tris.

Ground Plane. 2 tris x 1 = 2 tris.

Small House. 20 tris x 12 = 240 tris.

Block Lighting Bias. 36 tris x 1 = 36 tris.  After Alterations in Unity – 84 tris.

Lab Set. 2994 tris x 1 = 2994 tris.

Gas Jar. 144 tris x 5 = 720 tris.

Lever. 188 tris x 1 = 188 tris.

Total: 99,820 tris.

Group Project, Finishing off the Level in Maya/ Unity. (CGA Year Two)

Once I had finished building all of the textured parts for the level I began exporting them individually as FBX files with the media embedded. I exported them directly into the assets folder of a new unity scene which I had open.

You can see here how I made everything once.

I made everything once with the intention of exporting the objects from Maya to Unity and then duplicating them around the Unity scene. I will fully build the level within Unity.

I placed all of the objects into Unity and constructed the level.

I decided to tidy up the Hierarchy in Unity by grouping the assets together. This allows Me to keep track of the number of objects within the scene. 

I tidied up the scene and applied finishing touches to the level. This included lighting and adding mesh colliders to all of the objects in the level. I did this to ensure the player doesn't clip through objects in the world. The lighting also helps to create atmosphere and set the scene.

I made all of the library walls, floors and ceilings two sided to stop light pouring in. This will create nice crisp shadows around the windows and build upon the atmosphere.

When I turned the faces two sided I noticed thin white lines of light seeping through the mesh. To solve this I edited the lighting bias. I also placed a long thin block across the edges where the floor and walls meet. I did this to block any remaining light from breaking through the edges of the mesh.

I then added in Fog along with a ground outside and external buildings. I also changed the Sky Box from Unity's default Sky box to a simple Gray Lambert. This really added to the fog and removed any hint of a horizon. It now appears like an extremely overcast day. It also builds upon the atmosphere and premise of the story line. It is a ghostly, barren world. Was this caused by war? Or is it symbolic of the characters death? I wanted to leave that for the player to decide.

I then went back through all files that I will submit to make sure they are well organised.

For example:

I reorganized all of the objects within the scene into corresponding groups that make it easy to find individual assets within the Maya file.

This was the final step in the construction of this level. It was now ready to hand over to the game designer.

Final Screenshots.