Smaller Table Assets!

Over the course of this week, I have been creating smaller assets to go around the tables and walls to make the tavern look busy instead of looking like an empty room.

Last week I created a picture frame which is currently on the wall. It took me a lesson to create and flooded into the next lesson to texture (3HRS) and I was seriously debating whether to smooth the product or if I should keep it the same so I took advice from my modelling partner and we both agreed that the picture frame should stay unsmoothed. Currently we are trying to find non copyright art to put in the frame and if we cannot find any, we may have to create one. We are trying to stray away from taking on big projects such as creating art for a picture frame as we have a few days until the project is due to be submitted.

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I have also created a bowl, pan, shot glass and will be creating more assets later on in the week (tomorrow on my day off and Friday).

The bowl was fairly simple to make and only took me half an hour.

The pan was a little bit more complex as I had to get the handle right, the depth and I still need to correct the textures and give the pan a little bit of wear as currently the textures are too perfect and for the environment which it is going to be placed in, the pan would have wear, scratches etc. So the next blog post which I create I will have images of both assets and they should be in the game.

 

Synoptic Project Submission!

This is the last week we have to perfect our game and get things finished and polished up.

The deadline for the project is this Friday (24th May) so this week I am going to be creating a few small assets to go around the environment. I don’t have time to create huge assets so getting things that will fill the world is vital.

I am going to be making things such as food, cups maybe a pan etc. I currently have a few food assets which I will update the blog on soon and I will update the blog on other assets which I create.

Another thing which we are doing in the game which is sort of an easter egg is some things which myself and Ethan have modelled are going on the shelf behind the bar. I am adding the Pac-Man machine which I made a few days ago.

I will update the blog soon with the first smaller models completion.

Pac-Man Arcade Machine!

Hello, in this blog I will be recapping the process of making my Pac-Man machine.

Earlier on I was in a discord call with Ethan and we were discussing things which we could model (things to go into the VR Project and portfolio) or just things to create which can be sort of a mini project. After doing some research on sketchfab and artstation trying to get some ideas of what I could make I came across an arcade machine which I thought looked quite nice and I decide to have a go at making one of my own.

I settled on doing a Pac-Man machine because it is a common arcade game and people can associate with Pac-Man. Within about 10 minutes I encountered my first problem which was the shape of the arcade machine. Because the arcade machine uses joysticks and buttons which sit on the actual machine I had to model based off this. I had to make sure that their was a platform for the buttons and the joysticks to sit on which made the shape harder to follow when doing the edge of the arcade. After 5 minutes of trying different shapes I settled on a shape which I liked (the final design).

Once the basic shape was modelled I started going into detail with things such as the screen. The arcade screen has depth to it therefore I extruded the face and made a nice panel flowing around to give a monitor effect. I also added a coin slot just to make the model look more realistic. After this I went around each edge and beveled it to give it a more smooth and flowing wooden look. I did this because if the edges were left pointy, when texturing it would look very bad; even just the model itself would look poor without the edges beveled.

This is how it looks in Maya fairly standard.

The hardest part of the model was texturing. As you can see from the title the machine is a Pac-Man machine. This means that it needs to be Pac-Man themed. Doing this wasn’t going to be easy.

So I started searching the internet for Pac-Man images I could apply to my model and I found a main menu image and an in game image and used the stencil tool to apply the images to the machine.

I have only ever used the stencil tool 1 time (this time) so it is extremely new to me and what I didn’t realize is that when painting the stencil on it only does it in one colour (the one which was selected at the time) so this meant that I had to go over each thing and colour it by hand as I didn’t know any other way.

After a time consuming process (to the main menu screen) I finished to model and it turned out pretty great. This is what it looks like textured and rendered in substance painter.

I will also post the sketch fab link underneath the renders.

 

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Pac-Man Machine! by DylanNextGen on Sketchfab

Synoptic Project – Team Review!

In this blog post I am going to be explaining how I feel regarding my team. What we work well on, what we are not doing well and how we can achieve a higher grade.

Ethan – Ethan has been an outstanding partner to work with. This is because he is clear whilst communicating and always helps me if I have a problem. His models are always up to high standard and is always looking for ways to improve our project to get a higher grade.

Andrew – Andrew is the guy who is behind making the game work. So far he has been doing an exceptional job. The game itself works really well however he has ran into a problem recently with the enemies spawner and how many they spawn per wave. Even around the tavern he has made things collectible and able to be picked up such as cups, swords etc.

Josh – Josh always goes the extra mile for the group giving ideas and giving pointers on how to improve. His animations are really good and right now he is creating a whole new animation of a few characters doing idle things such as drinking and sitting.

Jayden – Jayden started off quite slow and wouldn’t really communicate however as the project went on he started to communicate more. Once he finished his enemy, he started modelling little things to go around the environment which are very well modeled and really make the tavern look a lot better. The one flaw I have with Jayden is that he doesn’t communicate often and doesn’t join when we are having product reviews.

Completed Long Table & Hatchet

During this mornings lesson I completed the table. It took me 2 hours to make it and 30 minutes to texture it.

The table itself I based off a modern day picnic bench, and gave it a medieval style.

The bench itself was easy to model as the top is a cube. However doing the legs was the part where I struggled. I wanted to add a support beam because the legs alone made the table seem quite empty. It was just a big open space under the table and with the game being in VR the player will see that. I decided to add a beam going across the middle to fill the space a little bit.

I also completed the bench in this time. I wanted to add a bit of realism to the bench and with the game being set in a tavern, the wood would not be cut perfectly. So I decided to use jagged edges and made it distorted – sort of like it has been cut from a tree trunk and its safe to say that it really pays off in game.

These are the final products (plus a snapshot from in game).

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Once I finished the table I was thinking back to our product feedback and how Matt was telling us to fill the room with stuff and so I decided to create a hatchet. My idea was to have the hatchet stuck in the table and the player able to pull it out and walk around with the hatchet in hand. However with the time we have left I don’t know if this is a possibility however I will have the hatchet placed around the room on a few tables or on the wall. This is how the hatchet turned out.

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Today’s Work!

Over the course of the day I will be continuing to create larger models to go in the tavern.

I am going to start it off by modelling an the large table which will be spread around the room. I am doing this so it fits my partners timeline also. This is because he is modelling food and other items to go on the table.  This is some of the styles which I have been looking at.

As you can see I want long in length. However most of these have the wrong seats, as I am going to go for a bench however the style of the table was right so I decided to use those images.

Once I have finished the table, I will work on creating table assets such as cups, a few plates or bowls etc. We are creating these assets so the room doesn’t feel bare when you walk around. The room is going to hopefully have a lot of interact-able  models which the player can go and pick up – if not playing the game. My sword which I blogged about quite recently is in the game and is able to be picked up. We are doing this so if the player isn’t playing the game they have stuff to do.

After I have finished these smaller assets, I will start work on an axe which will go on the wall to take up dead space.

I have already made a shelf for the wall and will update the blog later.

Finished Tavern Table (1)

Yesterday I completed my tavern table asset and got it all textured and complete. The table took me 3 hours to complete and looks very good in the game because of the way the light bounces off it.

For this model, I asked Ethan to help me with the style of the legs as I couldn’t figure out a way to do it. He gave me a couple of ideas to work with and then I landed at this idea. I feel like these legs give the table a more polished look than what other leg designs would of.

Now (as said in previous blog post) I am going to move on to doing the longer table and then move on to creating the book shelf.

Project Check – Week 15

This weeks project check was a resemblance of the finished product. This morning during the project check, Matt was giving us little tips on what to add to make the tavern environment more whole and more complete.

This is what Matt said;

“Start needs to be easier – slowly build up the number of people. Circle timer on top of the towers to show how longs left. Tower on the table for you to place straight off. Throwing towers is great. Animation works well. I want more animated characters / elements in the scenes in the tavern. Environment needs developing further – go to research and look at taverns. Maybe if Andrew gives the environment scene to Dylan and Ethan. Big chunky assets. Stuff hanging from the ceiling, torches on the walls. Rugs on the floor. Go big and bold. Credit people under their work. Some images are a little dark. Ensure production schedules reflect your remaining tasks. Have a scrum now and reflect on your time for the final few weeks – update trello to reflect the remaining tasks”.

Some very basic stuff which we can improve quite easily. The biggest tasks will be the modelling and animating sitting poses.

The project check as a whole was very good overall. We got a green for quality of product (game), a green for the burn down chart, orange on the production schedule – as it is not yet updated, and a green for the artbook.

• Some of the improvements on the GAME ITSELF are;

 

• Change timings on the towers to make them last longer. (Andrew)

 

• Create bigger models to fill space & make the environment around the game more complete. (Me and Ethan).

 

• Get stuff hanging from the ceiling such as torches on the walls. (Me and Ethan).

 

• Animate characters into idle poses sitting on the stools and drinking (Josh & Jayden).

My next task will be to create a large shelf to go behind the bar. This will hold things such as books, drinks, bottles etc. This will make the tavern wall look complete instead of bare like its current state.

After this I will create a table (picnic length) so we can put food, plates, cups, bottles and other stuff on the table to give the room some atmosphere.

I will update the blog on my progress on the table and on the shelf/ bookshelf.

Finished Bar!

This morning I finished texturing the bar and it is now in the game. The bar looks very good as I said yesterday it takes up a little bit more room however that is not an issue. This is what the bar looks like (beauty renders).

I went with the green skirting as it makes the wood pop more. Especially with the setting of the tavern these colours will really compliment each other in the lower light. After the product review I will update the blog on how it went and what we will have to improve on if anything.

Creating the bar!

Today I created the bar. This will replace the placeholder bar which we have in the game currently. I think the bar looks nice and will make the game look better. The bar which I have created is bigger than the placeholder so it will take up a little big more room.

With the bar I have also created a beer pump which I am going to texture after the bar is complete. This is what the bar looks like.

I have started texturing it and I am going to try finish the texturing in tomorrows lesson with Matt and try to get it in the game before the project check.