Touchup and new houses

Right, yesterday I managed to get on pretty well but I think ill change the colours quickly on the workshop. I don't really like the overly brown tint as it looks pretty fake so ill lay it off a bit and see how it goes.

Quick 2 minute job


This works better as it blends with the other houses also, I think I will model or make some alphas of foliage which can intersect or overlap the roofing area. My very tightly packed texture sheet for this workshop (and other buildings) wont allow me to do this but in UDK it should work a treat.

Right next I think ill try and texture my longer house (yellow with beams) and also my first house I attempted. I need to speed up in the modelling of these buildings now so I can place properly.


Right a few texturings later, still to be finished but i think to have some form of climbing plants on the sides of the house would help it. Its looking a little too plain and needs some colour to break it up. If I should paint on these plants or leave it for my models. Not really sure, the PSD of the texture sheet will be kept handy if it comes to that.
I will continue on this house until all the areas are covered.

Right after this I was starting to get a little bored and I was interested in looking about how to do convincing grass, I managed to find quite a good tutorial which helped - it focused on rendering to texture techniques which I didn't really understand.
While I realize these are small assets which i'm directed against it will be quite a bit part of the level and while I wanted to get a sense for how foliage can assist my buildings.

Anyway yes it started with making a few high poly meshes involving the bend, FFD3x3x3 (which I never even heard of before!) and turbo smooth modifiers.
The idea is to model the individual blades of grass, taper them and with this ffd modifier being able to bend the blades to get a natural effect. Make a few variations of the blades then with a 2x2 segmented plane in the background arrange it so the bottom 2 segments will be 1 model while the halved segments above will be 2 different models.



I haven't really experimented that much with high to low baking or other render to texture techniques. In my vehicle project I learnt about lighting maps which was just a touch on this.
Anyway yes, the idea was to then duplicate the blades and move around as desired. Have them quite close together but not too close and to add to the natural effect to have smaller blades on each side of the 'model'.

Then after that is quite a long technical way of doing things with rendering to texture making alpha maps, colour maps, highlights 1, highlights 2, and base colour.

These are all the maps I created from the render to texture 3dsmax route.


Fairly easy to do actually and the plan was to merge these all onto 1 PSD to get that nice looking grass texture you see in games.
It s actually very technical to do but produces really nice effects, I couldnt believe the result!



Was pretty chuffed with this.

So then was about assigning the textures to models and then arranging around using bend modifiers so the model is seen from all the way around. Then arranging in clumps, I thought doing it as 1 big clump, a medium clump and a small clump which can be put in certain areas would be useful particular around my other assets.



SO put into groups and then exported to UDK, and here is what they look like in Udk.


The idea is to have a grassy texture underneath the grassy model so at the moment it looks a little weird but im confident that when I come to terrain texturing it will work well.



So yes that's grass, Im really pleased with the results and I feel a lot more excited now to see it actually working. Why I didn't do this in the first place I don't rightly know but there you go!

Right Iv sort of sidetracked a little here but I still plan to get all my buildings done and placed by the end of this week. Once they are done and placed then everything will slot together.

Ok so more progress.


Its slowly getting there though my reference for this house isn't as good as my others so iv been having to nick some textures form other houses its going well though but I still reckon it looks quite boring and not much going on. Ill try to crack the clay towards the bottom of the model for interest and maybe add a few bits of moss but that's about it. I think in udk once I get the fences modeled ill vary it a little and maybe have a little bit of a wild garden around areas. Also maybe I could model some little plinth things which could be nailed onto the wood, whatever I do I don't think ill be able to fit anymore on my texture sheet for this building so ill have to place things onto it. Which is good as it gives me freedom to move around.





Ok so that's house 3 done, though I think this looks more of a store room. Think it works reasonably well but again ill have to see what other foliage ill use and see if I can place around to make it a little more interesting. So next ill work on texturing up my first house then after that Ill have to model and texture 4 others.

Texturing and S'nuff

Right so recently had a presentation, I had doubts about my amount and quality of work before the presentation started and what was said re-enforced my concerns so I know that im on the right track.
Basically I needed to have more of the bigger assets modeled, placed and textures. To be honest I was concerned starting doing this which is why I worked on the smaller things first rather than the correct way of important to less important. Anyway! anyway! I also knew that I had to spend more time on trees to get them nicer looking.

Straight from that I decided to work on my little 'shed' which will have a couple of variations especially for near the fishing piers.
Started with the modelling.


Then continuing with the texturing which went pretty well actually!



Although its still quite plain looking, I think ill have to spread more greens and things around. Obviously these sheds will be full of things so that will aid, also being surrounded by trees and other things to stop it looking nasty, could maybe also make a few little signs which are pinned.






So that was the shed, which I managed to complete in a day, fairly happier with the project now and by doing more of these bigger things it should start to come along nicely.
I continued on the workshop also - i think ill edit this slightly as the colors seem a bit weird. I have kept psd's of my textures so any tweaking will be an easy affair.



Also worked on 'house number 2' which I was happy with, I had the dilemma of windows but I didn't really want the inside visible to the player. In my reference I had a snap of a sort of reed cover which I thought I could place inside the windows. Also had a good reference shot of a door which I used.



And this is everything in scene, I will continue to model and texture the remaining large assets and get them placed. Once this is done I should be able to get a better picture of what my level is going to look like. I will also look into foliage again as they are pretty important, all is going well and I feel a bit boosted to get my things done now! Im feeling a little more confident now and amd looking forward to it!

house 3/Pub

Right next im going to attempt to model this house from my reference, I was thinking this would be suitable for the pub of the village as it looks the most modern. What ill do though is model this as it is and maybe use for an individual house and then modify for the pub (I need to consider how its going to be made as ill want to make a little yard also) but for now ill model this as it is.


Right basically as this is a different sort of house than what iv been modelling there probably wont be as many triangles involved as it is basically wood and a clay substance and most will be done in the texture, I still want it to have a certain amount of detail though. So on the picture iv started by drawing a box with a few segments and then manually add wooden planks and edit slightly. Once again I will be unwrapping as I go along to save time.



Ok so this is the base done, the house does look very regular but I will be morphing slightly ti make it as rickety as possible - reaching 1509 triangles and the moment (which is alright for what it is).

Workshop

Right, one of my biggest assets now - the workshop. I want this to be one of the most detailed of my assets and in my reference there is a lot going on inside it, this is also in the middle of my level and so acts as a sort of focal point.
Ill be going through my processes while working on it as im sure there are elements ill have to think about while doing.



So first of all I thought doing the wooden pillars would be the logical place to start, drawing 10 sided cylinders, 'rickety'ing' up to give the effect of tree trunks and placing some holes. On my reference the way this is done is by shearing a rectangle in the cylinder of the trunk but on each pillar afterwards the holes go down past the original on the other side (probably a way of giving it more support).
There are fences inbetween each area also.



Getting all together, the distances between may change as I model. Im unwrapping as im going along to save time, I do not want too many variations of the poles as it eats up the triangles and will have difficulty fitting on the texture sheet.



Going well, at 1080 triangles though but being one of my 2 biggest assets I think that's alright.






In my reference it seemed a little weird as the whole workshop faced backwards towards the village with no means of getting inside unless walking behind. For my level however I want it facing outwards to invite the players inside to have a look.


I decided to rearrange things a little, and opened up the front a bit more and swapped the safety anchors to the other side. for argument sake I could put 2 on the corners at the front..




Hm Im not sure why but this does not look like a workshop to me.. It seems to have more of a quality as a stable - maybe its because there are no assets around or inside it but... I dont know whats wrong with it. Maybe having a look in UDK will inspire whats wrong with it - if anything.

Hm it looks alright but it isnt 'fat enough' I don't think
This is better, I still have to add the boards to it, I think at the back to ill have some planks, making a wall, to give it more of a secure effect.

Here iv added the fencing around the area and also resized it slightly as it still looked too short. I think its size now is a good thing but what im going to try now is putting up some boards at the back of the workshop (thinking of terms of security if the village were real) Im not sure if its going to work but Its something I need to have a go at.


This is just quickly testing with planks put onto the back but.. Don't really like it all that much, if it was 1 complete board of wood I think it'll be alright but.. the gaps in this (as inbetween boards) I don't like. I can try to simply scale them so they fit properly.



Ok so managed to get this far today, think iv done reasonably well. With a board on the back I do prefer and also if necessary I could hang a few assets on there. reached 6946 triangles which is probably reasonable for a tier1 asset. As I said at the start of this post assets which I will model will go inside it so it will not be as bare as it looks.
I will continue to model some more houses - hopefully get them all done by the end of this week.

House 2

Modelling another house today, I started straight away on this.

The house that ill be doing now is one based upon :


But also this for the roof :

(as the roof for the other looked rather plain)

I think this house will be duplicated a few times towards the start of the level.

I didnt really think to record screengrabs but I managed to get to this stage

A bit squarer than the one I did previous which also makes this a lower tricount than the other (I will be doing the doors and the windows a little later)
I forgot to make certain sides high enough for the roof so ill do that now, since I wanted my houses to look a little more modern than my reference I think ill add a beam to this straight section seen in the image and then above it have a slightly different material.



So this is the final thing for that house, I lengthened it slightly as in UDK it looked a little stub.


I also just put my modeled assets into UDK which ill start arranging properly. Since the houses are the biggest things at the moment ill try and get the rest of them done as soon as possible.

The next building Ill make is the workshop area based upon my reference, think this is going to be my biggest asset with the tricount (next to the boathouse) but ill try and restrict it as much as possible, for example the fencing I wont model every little branch used but use an alpha.



This is going to be the biggy but the insides of the workshop, i.e the kiln stool baskets etc will all be separate assets (some iv already modelled) which will be placed in Udk, so ill only be modelling the structure.

House

Ok so I managed to get my fish rigged and a few animations done.

Iv been receiving concerns with the look of my project - thinking more about how the houses are going to look being tier 1 assets.

When I went to West-Stow the buildings they were quite rickety anyway and from my reference I was going to base my modelling upon that.
Here are a few examples;



I think a lot of this is going to happen in the textures but how these houses are made are with quite random and odd shapes, the entire thing slightly slanted and what-not add to their character and to what I was trying to achieve. I was considering trying to concept a little bit to slightly modernize the houses, thinking along the lines of chimneys and windows mainly.

Now iv got just over 40 assets done but I think I will now try to model one of my houses from my reference and see how it goes. As this is a tier 1 asset I will give more triangles to the detail compared to other things which I have done. Ill do the smaller of the houses first to get an idea.

In some cases I may have to exaggerate the rickety quality as some of these houses have been reproduced with straighter planks of wood, the buildings like my planned pub (long yellow building in the above picture) I can do to that style pictured, but some of the smaller ones looked to be more recently re/built where I may have to vary slightly.






This is the one ill have a go at, but ill add a few windows and make the roof slightly higher (like seen in my whitebox mock up for this building)

Just a bit of progression;


Looks terribly basic here but what iv done is made the general shape first just out of a box then to add more detail I decided to draw cut in-half cylinders which I'll then manually line up and place all around the building. Then adding a few loops on certain ones then moving/scaling/rotating to get the effect. The base building iv made I believe Ill keep to give the wooden pieces to rest on, 356 triangles so far.
There will be a beam in the middle of the entire structure with more cylinders going down.
On the reference on the wood also are little metal poles sticking out (for structural integrity im assuming) which ill also model and place.

Also iv noticed that nearer the corners of the house the logs are thicker for support also.





Making houses rickety is pretty time consuming work! Currently at 2928 triangles, Im not entire sure if this is too steep. Briefly looking back at the other buildings they are mainly flat pieces of wood, this type seems more cylindrical and so gives more triangles.. Im guessing this is alright for the important assets. Just gotta keep going - so far im liking the results obviously being better with textures applied.



Cut out pieces near the windows, its going well but the triangle count I am concerned with.. I Cant decide if its a good number or not - though in my triangle budget it'll be fine I don't want to over stretch what is low poly. As I said before this house is more unique as its made from more cylindrical wood... Anyway what ill do now is select a few of these cylinders and delete them/resize a few to again give the effect that I am after. I think after that I will then try and join the edges of the cylinders to make the building compact and get rid of the original box I created.






Yeah, this works pretty well but as ever im concerned with if that triangle count is reasonable. I reckon ill try a baking technique (nothing iv done before)and see how it goes from there - as I said while I can probably afford the triangles it doesn't strike me as good practice to get into.

3848 simply seems too much to me..

Ummm.. well I planned to do the baking thing but I got to this stage and wondered if it was actually worth it for this asset.. It seems like a lot of work to do and since iv about 103 assets to get through I don't think ill have the time for it..
I think I will bake for other assets though but this house as its rather complex with the half cylinders duplicated a few times.. the other houses wont be as awkward as this, which I think I will use the baking technique as the wood appears to be cut properly (still irregular though).


Its all a confusing circle but I think this particular house I will use about 2 times and as Iv said I can afford the triangles.. Will have to see.
For me to understand the baking progress I think my next step is to make another of my houses and try it there. Once I know how to do it properly it should put my mind at ease.

Progress

Now I think it crunch time to get my smaller assets done then I can start on the bigger more important ones.

Right, what is left on my list for the small are;
Apples for market
Corn/Corn for market
Fish/Fish for market
fishcages
fishingrod
logs (few variations)
metalbowl/tray
Oars
Outdoorkiln
Pile of ropes
Pubsign
tree stump
work table
wooden wheelbarrow

Ill work my way down the list until each one is completed.
In terms of fish, it would be logical to get a few names of river types. Getting primary research of the fish will be difficult and as for texturing its likely ill have to paint on based from images from the net. Most of the fish will be seen on the market stall but to have a few in the shallows of the river might be quite good to do and animate.

So from http://www.norfolkbroads.com/explore/the-fishing-guide/
"Bream, Roach, Eels, Ruff, Perch, Rudd, Tench, and Pike as well as estuarine species such as Flounders, Sea Bass, Grey Mullet and Goby and migratory Sea Trout"
Since iv modeled an eel cage I should at least do an eel but to do all in the list wouldnt be feasible - think only well known ones should be done.
Eel, Bream, Perch, Pike, Think they will do.


I think these fish will be quite fun to model actually - again something iv never done before, these fish are quite stylized and I think they will be good displays on the market stalls. In many games iv only seen very basic almost generic fish - im no fisherman by any means but in these RPG games they all tend to me the same sorts of things not that I know the breeds.

Good
I also got some reference of logs from home which I can use for modelling assistance.

Think ill try a few fish, break up my modelling a bit as recently iv been modelling tools and things.

Bit of a blegh day today as I had been feeling under the weather however I did manage to get my fish modelled and the eel rigged at least.
Dodging illness I actually enjoyed making these - texturing should be fun also.
Ill also do variations in boxes of the ones to be sold to market.



Hope this illness is only a 12h thing!