Self Evaluation

Sorry this is way overdue.

I came across quite a few problems during this project and thus learned some things too. My time was heavily taken up by other assignments but regardless; 1) I should have evaluated what time I had better to make assets and 2) I should not mess around with project folders during the last few hours of submission.

In the end I've had to make a few shortcuts and make new assets out of manipulating others. I guess that's helpful especially when trying to fill up a room, but I would have liked to have made some more 'from scratch' assets or at least do a better job of what I had. I also wish I could have gotten my animated texture working for the washing machine. It was working in blender but not in unreal.

In regards to the aforementioned problem of messing with project files; I tried to clean up my project by deleting the starter pack, without realising I hadn't copied over everything I needed. Turned out I removed some vital assets to the brick wall material and after much fussing around and panicking I had to stick with the brick texture.

Then there was some ambient stuff I wanted to include, like dynamic music and sound effects.

Regardless of all that, I am still happy with what I have. I was able to populate the scene with plenty of interesting objects and I think I've done a good job capturing the ambience of the concept art.

So far

It's been hard getting time to work on this and other assignments. I've had on in particular which took up all of my time. Since coming back I've had to fix a lot of the normal mapping on my models and work to simplify them too.

I have different washing machines, but one in particular is giving me some hard time, and I know it's going to be more of an issue when I try for animated textures again.

Review of Assignment 1 progress.

I encountered a lot of problems during this assignment. I couldn't get the animated texture for the washing machine working, the model for the locker inverted whenever I tried to mirror it and wouldn't merge together so I had to create a new asset and some other issues that for the most part was just a nuisance that chewed up time. I wish I could have done more with the time I had available to better flesh out this assignment. I do quite like the Unreal Engine and Editor. It's very well built and quite aesthetically pretty.

Entrance, Corridor to be duplicated and first asset.

All the other assets

The cans were placed in the air so every time the game started the pile would look a little different. It's also quite fun to shoot those paint cans.

The banners (Which replaced the locker) and the trolleys. I attached a banner to a trolley to make it look like a new asset.

A not so animated washing machine.

I'll see to uploading a video of the level as well.

Trolley and other assets.

I've been having a lot of trouble with the trolley. I've tried to make the poles cylindrical but I then had issues merging them together and keeping their form. I restarted it with cubes instead and without realising I must have spinned some polygons because when I reopened the file there was polygons everywhere (I wish I had taken a screenshot). Because it would have taken too long to try and fix it, I restarted again and this time finally got it working.

I've textured the models. For now they're just simple texturing with a Glossy BSDF. I'm hoping to render them out with a toon shader and outline.

Quick Update

Just a quick update. I've been having some troubles, mostly with texturing and a trolley I'm working on. I think I'll get it done in time but it's taking a bit of work just getting all the verticies and edges lined up properly.

Trolley

Door

Some Models

Here are some of the models I've been working on.

Locker

Paint Bucket

Asset Priority

Just a quick list of Priority assets

Textures to be added

And the 5 chosen assets are....

I should have done this by now, but I need to choose 5 assets to model for my first assignment.

First thing I'm going to model is the Washing Machine. This looks to be a more complicated model, considering I'm going to have it animated to look like there's washing inside of it. The door will have an animated texture on it and I'll give the entire machine a bit of a vibration to look like it's operating. The problem is that it looks like a combination of top (with the dials at the top) and front loader (Door at the front).

Unless it's a dryer. It's hard to tell. I could make the three different machines as part of my 5 assets assignment. 2 different types of washing machine and one type of dryer. I don't know if it'll be allowed however.

The other assets I'm going to make is a large trolley, a locker, a paint bucket and a door. These are all high priority items for the final assignment.

'Thumbs' of the 'Nail' variety

In order to get a good idea of the whole 3d space, not just what is portrayed in the picture, I needed to draw some thumbnails of the what is behind the 'camera' and a top down of the area. We're free to recycle assets already being used so I did just that. 

I'm extending the trolleys from the original picture so they're up against the wall with a sign to indicate storing them in such a place. Next to the trolleys are some lockers, a wash basket, a bottle of chemicals and a triangle banner which has all been recycled from other assets. This brings my asset total up to 48. 

Apart of the assignment is to have a hallway extending from the original room. Of course this hallway has to be related to the room, but not sure if it needs much in it. I've decided to so I can extend the embedded narrative I have going. I'm still tossing up which story I prefer, paint or murder. The murder scene will just have a dark ambiance and the blood streak leading to a closed door with muffled noises on the other side. The paint scene will have the laundry room just as creepy but upon opening the door the mood immediately changes to joyful with bright lights, happy music and colourful paint everywhere. 

 

Look at those assets!

Next step is to take a look at what is in the scene and how much modelling is to be required.

Psychedelic! 

By blocking out objects with colour it's easier to get an idea of how much modelling I need to do and how many unique items there are.

Asset List 

Box shapes

1. Washing Machines * 2
2. Open Washing Machine
3. Dryer
4. Toy trolley
5. White board
6. Door
7. Lockers
8. Wall note 1
9. Wall note 2
10. Grate cabinets

Semi box shapes

1. Wash Basket
2. Filled Wash basket
3. Trolley half filled
4. Trolley full

Miscellaneous 

1. Paper Banner * 2
2. Post-it notes
3. Dolphin magnet
4. white board eraser
5. door note
6. fire extinguisher
7. pipe
8. coat hangers
9. Clothing rack
10. Jacket
11. Emergency Procedure/first aid kit
12. clock
13. Paper Kite
14. Bench
15. Chemical bottles
16. Rags
17. No smoking sign
18. No Dogs Sign
19. Blood splatter

Room Structure

1. Shiny Tile Floor
2. Brick Walls
3. Panel Roof
4. Windows
5. Pipe

So that's 40 different items I will need to populate the scene, not discluding the items that can be duplicated and altered slightly.

And so it Begins...

Well, not really. This is week 2.

To begin with we were asked to choose from 4 different pictures of concept art to base our Real Time Scenes on. I've gone with the Laundry.

Dun Dun Duuuun!

I didn't notice the children's toys and decorations initially, so I assumed this was a regular laundromat for either an apartment building or some other establishment. Upon noticing the decorations however I thought that perhaps this could be within a kindergarten or preschool. That is definitely not paint on the ground, although that could make for a funny twist if following the splatter leads to buckets of various paint down the hallway. There's obviously been a murder here and I imagine the blood leads down the hall and into another room that would not be accessible, perhaps there could be signs of a struggle by the victim. 

In regards to audio; there will be the sound of kids playing outside, the washing machine running (which will be animated as well), some suspicious sounds coming from the locked door (stabbing, huffs, various Foley) and maybe some ambient music to set the mood.

I did research this piece of concept art and found it to be a part of a zombie game called ZombieU. I decided to stay away from the zombie motif considering how overused it is lately.