Challenges on my journey and new intrests

Challenges 

Tris count crunching

When making the house I ended up making it quite expensive after all the modelling and since my tris limit was 8,000 I needed to find a way to reduce the count without taking anything away. After some research I found out about the Pro-optimiser modifier which reduces the tris count. When using it I made the mistake of looking at the tris count for the entire build not just the house so I ended up making it way below the limit which gave me some wiggle room to add more windows.  I was also able to use this function on the props so I didn't have to limit how many I had too much and it also allowed me to keep some of the more expensive assets.

Skewed mesh

This was particularity frustrating when I first encountered it as whenever I imported my 3ds model into the Unreal engine it was making the house and only the house have a right side tilt, but everything else was fine and I couldn't understand why. At first I went through the import settings to make sure things were all correct and I also tried to import using a FBX 2013 file as I found that others were having issues with the up to date export formats, but to no avail. After a hour of panicked googling and pure stubbornness to give in, I managed to find a 30 second YouTube video that showed how the mesh's bounding box can get distorted when modelling and it needed to be reset using the ' reset x-forms' button in 3ds max , this fixed the issue. From this I learnt to take a step back and consider what I my process may have cause an issue and is there a way to fix it easily.

New interests

whilst going through this project I was able to explore a lot more new things from trim sheets and the use of visual script (c++ for unreal). The most notable things that I've found I enjoy is the scene building I did right at the end, the tinkering with settings and making a fleshed out scene was really fun to do and I especially liked to tinker with the material settings and making particles. 

I also discovered a unexpected interest in the visual scripting behind unreal, I didn't end up incorporating any in the final product but at one point of the journey I was trying to figure out how to make a trigger box turn on a light so that when you walked near the door the light turned on and lit up the crack in the door. This interest I am now pursing and have been learning basic c++ coding via YouTube videos. Although its one of the harder programming languages to learn, much harder than the more straightforward python which I've had a go at before, it is the base for most games and heavy engines such as unreal as it is more robust and having knowledge of it is nothing but useful to me going forward.

Project self reflection

I am overall pleased with the outcome of this project, I managed to meet not only the project brief but also the original vision that I had set out to achieve right at the beginning of this project. I went for a more realistic looking model which meant beams and overall shape was not overall exaggerated and I was trying to keep in mind the structural integrity of the building, this meant placing beams were support would be needed and making sure any kind of warping i did to the basic shape didn't  look like it was about to collapse.

One thing i think went well in this project was the shape of the building itself, it started off being quite square and this made it look dull but through series of evolution's which I outline in my blog “the journey of the house’ I took it from that dull little block to a more fleshed out and interesting looking building. The main reason I made such changes was because I wanted that slightly wonky and looming feeling of the architecture I had done my research on as seen in the blog post’   ‘   .  I tried to not over do it so it didn't look cartoonish as I was going for that more realistic look but I did exaggerate the bowing of the side structure as it gave the building a bit more character.

One thing I could have improved was the detailing on the roof, I think if I had loop cut and edited the steps of the roof structure to match the dips in between the tiles it would have turned out looking a lot nicer than it did. The roof was my least favourite part of the entire model as although I liked its overall shape, its structure looked a bit too messy for my liking. If I were to redo the roof I'd have set out individual plank shapes for the layers of tiles, aligned the uv’s more, pieced it together than then merged it as it would have been quicker and may have produced better results with half the hassle.

Another positive of this piece, and the main one overall, is the work I did in the unreal engine to set it in a scene. I am very new to unreal so when I was putting it all together it was a lot of tinkering to get things right. I managed to figure out how to make a texture look more three dimensional using normal maps and how to make things glow using emissive maps. Since I had limited textures to work from I figured out how to adjust the colour and saturation of a texture so I could make the flooring look a bit different from the stone wall even though its from the same texture. Below are some screenshots from the material editor of materials that I tinkered with myself including a firefly material that flickered that I used to make my own particles as I wanted some smaller floating details of some sort but I wasn't using starter content so I made my own.

I think I could have added more edge highlighting to the wooden beams on my trim sheets as they do look a bit under developed and that little bit of extra detailing may have helped them look more interesting . I was quite happy with the decorative beam however as it had more personality in it with the little creatures carved into the wood and if it weren't for the fact it would have made the model look terribly noisy and over detailed I would have used this for every beam.

The two main things I learnt in the time I was doing this project is firstly how to use a trim sheet resourcefully through the re purposing of one section for a few different items , such as the metal sample that I put on my main trim sheet which I used for not only the smoke stack but also the bars of the lower shop window which saved me making a whole new trim just for a black line. The second thing is the ground I now have in unreal as through the trial and error I went through in this project I learnt the basics and also how to fix things that have gone wrong along the way. I now know how to make my own particles and even started to look into the c++ side of things even though I never ended up using it in this particular project.

Reflections

The outcome of the cubeworld project is something I am quite happy with, the outcome matches the original concept I planned out, I also was able to experiment with layer effects and how the colour affected the way the scene felt overall.

One thing I think ended up working out really well was the way I used shape language in the scene to indicate the overall feeling of the area. The bottom sections that I had to represent life were full of soft and rounded shapes making it look more friendly and non imposing, on the other hand the higher level that I had to represent death has much sharper shapes which makes it seem more intimidating and cold. These contrasted each other and brought those impressions out more than if they were just stand alone pieces.

Something I think I’d go back and improve on is the lack of smaller props that could help to flesh out the scene more. This scene currently relies on larger features such as a large statue and grave but smaller details such as a unlit candle sat at the base of the statue or more smaller flowers to populate the edges of the river would have been a good way to further feed the narrative of the piece .

My favourite part of this piece was the way I painted the rocks and water as they turned out really well. The streaks in the painting of the waterfalls mimics the way that a waterfall looks like in real life where the translucency of the water causes an almost stripy pattern in the falling water. I tried to keep the rocks rather rounded and smooth and this came across well in the final image and I managed to achieve this whilst still giving it the features most rocks have such as divots and cracks to make the shape look more natural.

I think that overall the outcome of this project was successful and met not only the original brief but also the imagery I set out right at the start. There is always room ofr improvement such as the introduction of smaller contextual props to complement and add to the larger ones I already have in the scene .

Setting up and details in UE4

When I was starting out setting it up in unreal I at first wanted a nighttime scene with foggy streets and a gloomy atmosphere, a Victorian setting with the light from the gas streetlights providing an amber contrast from the colder moon lighting. However I changed this idea when I was messing with the light and found out how to get the perfect amber sunlight which made me rethink my idea and do instead, a little warm village shop that looks inviting and has light pouring out from it making you want to go in.

This I think I managed to achieve, I made light leak out from windows using a mix of emissive maps, point-lights and a spotlight. The emissive maps gave the impression that the light was on inside the house but didn't bounce off the surroundings much so I added point lights where I wanted such an effect which is seen in the top attic window and the light bounces nicely off the overlap of the roof that looms above like a flat cap. I used a spotlight to point light outwards from the shop window and most importantly the door I left ajar and I colour picked the lighting to be the same as the suns colour so it would have that same amber warmth that makes it seem homely. I also tried to make it look more atmospheric by adding fireflies to the scene. Since I wasn’t using the starter content set I had to make these myself which was fairly straight forward. I created a material with an emissive map and had it set to flash. Once I had my material I made a particle system that spawned a few of the material ball I just made and have them float around.

I still used a cobblestone effect for the flooring which was part of the original  concept but I didn’t make the texture completely greyscale ,I added some three dimensionality through the use of normal maps which translate an image to colour code the depth of the image or painting. Though the use of this map I was able to make the flooring and wall look more realistic . 

One thing I wish I had done is utilised the sound features in my scene by adding quite talking ,which I would sample myself, coming from inside the building and I think this would have really added nicely to the entire scene and a finishing touch . 

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Adding the details

 Once I had done the colouring of the scene I started to work on the little details that help to breath a bit of life into the piece. this includes particals, sun-rays and colour dodge for a glowing highlight effect.

So starting with using colour dodge, this is a great tool for giving a piece dramatic and glowy highlights and I personally really like the effect it can give a piece, however it is very easy to go too far. One minute your highlighting one spec of water and the next thing you know the entire lake looks radioactive. To avoid this I stuck to only using it on very specific areas which I knew it would work well on, I also zoomed out regularly to check that I wasn't overdoing it and getting carried away. I think the colour dodge really helped to bring out the highlights in the bushes and the water, it especially worked nicely in the water as it gave it a sparkling fantasy feel which was very nice. This was also enhanced by the use of particles which I placed around the base of the waterfalls to represent the drops of water being flung about by the force of colliding with the water below as normally with a waterfall you will have a misty cloud of water that has splashed back up .

I then went on to adjust the lighting to make it more dramatic and to do this I used overlayed washes of contrasting colours. This worked nicely but I do think it could have been improved if I had put more detail into how the lighting played upon the leaves in the tree as it could have added more depth which would improve the overall scene. I used a blue tone for the shadows as it complemented the green and blue tones already in the bottom level and contrasted the top tier were most of the sunlight was hitting .  I was perticually  happy with the way The shadow worked on the hedges as it it really helped to push the depth in the pushes that little bit further as it did fall a bit flat beforehand as the tones in the colouring were all the same which isnt accurate to what it like in real life.

Colour variations

 I tried out some different colour variations though the use of gradient maps, I did this so I could explore the different options and how they effect the atmosphere of the piece. By doing this I can choose which one is best for the narrative of my concept.

Variation  1

This variation is a little bit darker than the rest but provides a nice contrast for the bright bushes and water. This darkness suits the graveyard level as it gives a feeling of  grimace and its a displeasure atmosphere which is fitting for a graveyard. I do think however it is a bit too dark and the details get lost in the meshing of the colours and this needs to be avoided for things to stand out.

Variation 2

This one was more saturated with the green bushes and blue water really standing out against the grim and dark looking graveyard which suits the narrative I have for the scene. But I do feel that the graveyard is falling a bit flat and needs more contrast in the bushes and trees perhaps to bring it to fruition.

The water is much the same as the last option but the way it plays with the colour of the bushes well and they complement each other. 

Variation 3

This variation was my favourite as it balanced the vibrancy in the area that represents life and the contrast in the graveyard area is nicely balanced overall. But I do think putting the gradient from the first variation overtop with a decreased opacity and a blending adjustment may help give those undertones some more bass.

Variation 4

This colour variation  has some really nice elements but it is a bit loud. The green tone that runs throughout the piece works really nicely with the greenery and the soil but not so much with the stone, metal benches and water. Think it would work well if I merged the colours here with another  variation to keep the bright greens and natural tones whilst finding more fitting colours for the area's it does not work as well.

Conclusion

Out of the four options the one I liked the most was the third variation as it had a nice balance but it could benefit from smaller elements from the first variation and the green tint on the foliage from the four variation.To create a ideal mesh of the first, third and fourth variations I will use the third variation as a base which will be the main influence and then overlay the other  two options overtop with reuced opacity .

Cyclindrical still lifes

 

For week 10 we were asked to make up a still life of rounded objects, so to build up my scene I used a wine bottle, Christmas crackers , an angel decoration and a candle holder. I chose these because they had varying shades of darkness and they were mostly all reflective which I have found a challenge to recreate using pencil and I wanted to challenge myself a bit.

The initial sketch

To get the basic shapes in I blocked in boxes were the items were in the scene based on my measuring, which I did using a pencil. This gave me a bounding box to flesh out the items shape more and fill in smaller details. One that was particularly difficult to get down was the candle holder as the base was quite had for me to make out in because of the lighting in the room and also the way the neck blends with the base was hard to get right on paper but I think I managed it in the end

The most successful part of the sketch in my own opinion was the crackers as I managed to simplify down the key shapes and didn't include every single crinkle as it would be hard to decide going forward and was a thing I could re introduce later on.

I think I could have paid more attention to the symmetry in the wine bottle as it looks a bit uneven as is but I did end up fixing this later on when shading the piece

Tonal shading

Using a range of pencils from 2b to 6b I added in tonal shading, by slowly building up the tone I tried to recreate what I was seeing and I think it turned out pretty well.

The most successful part in my opinion is the crackers as the metallic shiny surface was a challenge for me going in and is why I chose them because I wanted to see if I could recreate it. I learnt that the contrast of dark and very bright highlights close to each other is what gives that reflectivity of the material without making it look dented. 

I am also happy with the way the candle holder turned out as I managed to use the highlighting on the bottom half correctly as it inform the structure of the item further.

Improvements could be made to the shading in the angels dress as to make it look more like the crystal structure that it is as it didn't quite come through in the drawing as much as I would have liked it to

Also the bottle isn't perfectly symmetrical and the right dips a bit in comparison to the left, measuring the dimensions more thoroughly may be the solution to this, focusing on the measurements on one side of the line of symmetry and then reflecting that across. The shading on the wine bottle is good however as I am particularly happy with the recreation of the light reflections near the neck of the bottle.

based on feedback I enhanced shadows and highlights which ended up further pushing that shiny effect on the metal and wrapping on the crackers, more detail was also put into the base of the angle decoration to show the transparency of the plastic and how it lets the colour of the candle holder through is a dispersed way.

X Y Z drawings

I think that in this piece I managed to reconstruct the television I based on of my oragraphc drawings on from on of the previous tasks, I did struggle a bit with the stand of the television as it was hard to figure out how to piece the pieces together but in the end it turned out okay and wasn't distorted which was my main concern. I do think that improvements could be made to the main screen area as the left side isnt straight and this skewed the piece slightly. But this is a simple fix since it is only a line drawing.Another improvement would be looking again at the variation in line weight as on the right side there is a nice amount of variation of both light and darker lines but on the left it is under-developed and this throws off the entire piece, making it seem unfinished.

Overall I am quite happy with the outcome of this task and it made me think of what I was drawing in a more three dimensional  sense but improvements could be made and I will be taking my mistakes in this piece into account and be more mindful when creating the next XYZ drawing I do.

Improved drawing

In this improved version I used line weight and mark making to add value to the object, I this worked perticularly  well on the rim of the television as the lines are all going the same way but have varying levels of darkness to them giving the impression of depth. I used the direction of the line to inform the shape, for example the lines on the front are all either horizontal or vertical which clearly separates it from the diagonal lines on the stand and rim. I tried to add the impression of a fuzzy screen by creating a diamond like pattern and then almost completely erasing it leaving only a slight glaze similar to that of the screen  on the tv I studied. I think there are still some structural issues that could be resolved through more accurate measuring but currently the top left corner looks skewed. 

Additional work

orthographic reference used

New drawing based on feedback given

Based on the feedback I got from my tutor I tried to do another xyz drawing using another one of the orthographic drawings as reference. This one I think worked much better and the shape didn't end up distorted like it in my first attempt. I perticually like the way I managed to get the inner container to look like it was sitting inside and not just a design on the outside which I was worried about .  I do think the perspective could have been a bit more exaggerated which would make it look more realistic , also the bottom line in the left side is at too wide an angle in comparison to its parallel line at the top , fixing this would make the perspective look more accurate.

Orthographic reference used

Additional work

Tonal Shading

 

  

Adding shading to the blocked out tonal sections was the most tedious part of the process, but is easly broken down into three stages.

Stage 1

To start of I painted in some general shapes and getting their very rough values in so compositions and tone can be check so we can make sure everything works well with each other. The reason I do this over the entire piece and not a focusing on smaller parts is because you can get lost in one part and then zoom out and find out its in the wrong place or that its just not working even though you have sunk a hefty chunk of time into making it look so detailed.

Stage 2

In this stage I started working further into rendering the scene, the key part of this process being to check  the overall image constantly. Two good ways to do this is firstly to zoom out and secondly to flip the canvas every now and then. Flipping the canvas forces the brain to reprocess the image again and this means the little things that go overlooked because you become used to seeing them and kicked back up into view. 

Stage 3

In this final stage I added the small details such as the trails in the bark of the tree and the edge shadows of the grass as it meets the dirt path , this is the bow on top of the piece and although these changes are not the most easy to see they build and support the detail around it and make a piece seem more fully developed overall.

Reflection 

I think that  the tonal shading went quite well in this piece, the strengths in my own opinion being the hedges and the rocks as they are rendered nicely. The hedges have variation so show the layers within the bush which is true to how it would look in person without having to spend ages over each individual leaf cluster. The rocks were a strength of the piece as I managed to keep a even balance of having them being rounded and smooth whist still having those more natural features such as cracks and uneven surfaces. I think the most underdeveloped part was the two benches as they seem quite boring in comparison to the rest of the piece and I think adding some detailing on the metal arm rests and the top of the back board would have helped to push it and develop this part further. 

Shape langauge in design

 Shape language is very important to getting across a message in your design. They can help to frame a narrative in a scene or can be key to atmosphere in a painting. During the making of the cubeworld piece I checked my shape language and silohettes to make sure I was on the right track and the design was effective.

Silhouette

silhouettes need to be readable, this makes the work more recognisable as a unique object or in this case landscape to the viewer. A great example of this is the London skyline, this is a popluar thing to be put on tourism gifts as it is an instantly recognisable image because of the variety in the shapes making it so distinct . With my worlds silhouette I wanted the levels to be able to be seen and not obscure each other to much which I think I managed to achieve.

After that I blocked in the tones more so the levels were clearer to check how the outline of each section worked against or with each-other.Here I could see that the way the top section overlaid the bottom section was correct and was not blocking too much of the other areas which would make it too overpowering and would out weigh the others too much .

Shape language

Since the concept for this piece was the contrast of life and death I made sure the shapes contrast each other, in the graveyard area I used sharper and harsh shapes and elsewhere I used rounded and softer shapes such as in the rocks where I tried to round them off more and the dirt is also shaded to look soft and without any harsh lines. This juxtaposition of shapes complements each other and gives more to the narrative of the piece than using random shapes across the entire piece

In the section with the benches I tried to use a mix of both because that area is more of a equal stage between the two and has both signs of life and growth and harsher elements of death. The graveyard level’s underneath area is much rockier and has pointed edges which is very much purposeful , this contrasts the rounded soil of the other levels and is a framing part for the level so has a big effect on the feeling the entire section has, making it more sinister than its peaceful counterpart below

The journey of the house

 The first step

The first draft of the house I made was very square and did not have many levels so its overall silohette was hard to read and not appealing to look at. It also would have been hard to make it look like a house with a shopfrount as it only had one level.

It also looked more like a small cottage than a townhouse structure which is what I originally wanted .

The second step

This wasnt a drastic change but It was a key change for improving the overall shape of the building and that is adding a side piece which makes the building asymmetrical which in turn results in a much less boring product in the end. But still the model looked a bit too stumpy still and box like

I also tried to make the roof look more realistic in this version as in the previous version it looked more like a tin cover than something with more of a structure like a tiled roof.

The third step

Here I fixed the issue with the shape looking too stumpy and also having more of a distinct shopfront due to the multiple levels, i also added a stone half base as I had seen this in quite a few of the houses in the research I conducted. The beams were made thicker as the ones in the previous model were too spindly and the thicker beams properly framed the house.A bigger window was added on the bottom level at the front as a way to properly define it as a shopfront and give it some more personality.

This is also the point I put in and organised the majority of the props for the diorama.

The fourth step

This was the final tweaks stage were I did mostly smaller changes, for example I made the roof more detailed and gave it layers so it would look less flat when in the unreal engine. I also made the entire structure a tiny bit thinner so it towered over more, like the buildings in The Shambles that I researched earlier on and was inspired by. 

The fifth step (feedback response)

This was the last bit before I put it into the Unreal engine and it was all about colour. The plaster on the house was too pale and it did not complement the purple undertones of the rest of the house, to fix this I messed around with the saturation of the texture until it looked more like aged parchment that fresh paper. It looks darker on the 3ds max model as I found that the wall texture was much brighter when hit by the lighting in the scene so I compensated for that a bit. I also went in and made the front door slightly ajar so that when I put it in the engine I could have light pouring out of it, this makes it seem more lived in and lively. Some extra beams were also added to corners were there was just plaster meeting plaster as it didn't look right for it to just be completely bare.

Time management evaluation and plan

 For the shop front project I knew Id have to be smart with my management of time. Based on projects I've done in the past I knew the most important part to me is the polishing time and working on feedback so I tend to do the base work quite quickly and go back into things based on a review either by myself or others, I do this very purposefully as if I fret about getting everything perfect first try then I will never finish because there will always something I could redo or edit to improve. Therefor by getting the ground work done first I am prevent having bit missing because I focused too much on one part . 

The first week I dedicated to getting the main trim sheet done and a rough model laid out. By sketching out the trim sheet and using that to model whilst painting it simultaneously I saved myself a lot of hassle and was able to check that things looked good on the model as I went . I also did the tiling textures along side .

The second week I focused on refining my model and finishing the props trim sheets which I did in the same way as the main house trim sheet so the props were already set up .This doesn't sound like much but is time consuming because its a lot of little tasks and refining the model was a lot of trail and error.

I wanted to focus the majority of the workload in the first few weeks so I could chip away at improvements later on in the project, giving myself more time to step away and now get to blinded by being used to what I see and not seeing possible improvements and also giving myself time away to handle work across other modules and personal projects. 

In the weeks to follow up until the feedback hand in I will chip away at refining and improving the model, re-evaluating what I do as I go along, acting as my own director of the project.Documenting the changes I made through backups to refer back to or to have on hand just in case of something going wrong, this will avoid a panic if the files corrupts for some unseen reason which has happened to me in the past and some programs files are very hard to recover so its best to have a backup.

After the feedback in week 9 I will push forward with adjustments based on what the tutors say and dedicate the two weeks to hammering away at improvements and finalising for the hand in on the 18th.

Texture sheets

 Brick

I went with stone bricks for this texture and I tried to make them look a bit rough and have some cracks and such on them. I do think that I could have added some more smaller amounts of texture to better finish off the texture as it does look a bit too smooth. The depth of the bricks worked well and  push it further I would have had a slightly different colour in the spacing's to indicate it was a sediment of some sorts. This texture would also double quite nicely as a cobblestone texture if I find out how to desaturate textures in either 3ds max or unreal, making it an adaptable texture.

Roof tiles

I painted colourful slate tiles for my house to add a bit more colour overall. I am quite happy with how they turned out but I do think adding a shadow that the bottom of each tile would help to make it look more convincingly 3D. I added edge highlighting to the side of the tiles to make them come further forward and contrast the darker area underneath to give the impression of them being layered over on another. I used gradient maps with this painting so I could experiment with the different colour combinations and I settled on this cooler toned red as the rest of my house was warmer toned overall so adding more very warm colours may have made it look dull. 

Plaster

My aim for this was for it to look a bit grubby and aged. I used a splatter effect brush and them a impressionist blender to apply and then disperse the colour more randomly so it looked more natural . I originally only did this to the top and bottom of the texture but based on feedback I re-did it so it was across the whole texture. I still wanted it to look worn and in need of a fixing though so I added some small cracks that showed some brick underneath which when put on the model added a nice element to the overall look of the building, giving it a bit more character.I also tried to keep it lighter when painting these cracks in so they weren't to harsh of a detail and more of a background detail to build up a bigger picture.