small details

I DID IT! There was probably a simpler way of doing it but I figured id start from the beginning. Sooo I deleted it from UDK applied new separate materials (ones that UDK would pick up as they are already part of a material) and exported that and boom jobs a goodn. Haven't got a clue why it worked that time and not last night. Oh well alls good now :)

I sorted the normals and the specular out for the photo frames today, it was really quite hard to choose just 3 photos. I was overwhelmed with the outcome though, they are never far from my thoughts and seeing them in game with my work I know they will be chuffed. I intend on putting a sepia overlay on the photos to give an aged effect, I think also increasing the contrast will help with this.

The overlay adds a small difference however I think it will work well. The only issue I am worrying about is how brown the asset as a whole is looking.

From this I went and created a lantern. I had been meaning to create one for a while now as I think it will give the scene an older feeling. This took roughly 4-5 hours, unwrapping and light mapping which isn't that bad. If I can continue at a pace like this I think I might just be able to catch up with myself. I say that now but I think it might be due to me waking up at silly o'clock in the afternoon and feeling like I haven't done anything all day. Needless to say I have had a few energy drinks and will stay up to sort my body clock out. Hopefully if I sort my body out it will be easier to be more productive.

Plan & day log. (4th &5th Feb)

Okay so after I shut the computer down last night I realised I need to create a proper list that has everything I've done so far and where its up to. the left side is the essentials - foundations walls and floors ect. the right is filler items.

my aim is to have the modelling and unwrap boxes ticked for all left hand items by the end of the week. To do this I went over every item is have and created a UV check list. The only assets I need to create for the left hand side is the downstairs flooring and the roof. These should be achievable within the time frame by the weekend. It shouldn't take too long to finish off the walls UVs as all bar 3 are light maps and the texture UVs I need to alter are small alterations/double checks as UDK flagged them up.

The assets on the second list are assets for the exterior or to add to the interior. The exterior ATM is a dream. I have wasted a lot of time dilly dallying about and now I am seriously regretting it. I am going to go full FYP mode over the next 6 weeks. I know I can do this so its just a matter of motivation. Time to kick my own arse into gear.
Once I've finished with the light maps I think I will move onto getting base textures down on everything on that list, its not going to be too hard as most of its already done, I want to be able to get them to a standard where I can leave it and it will be able to pass on its own. From there I will work down the list of the right hand side. I am going to plan out weeks, what I need doing within them. I doubt it will contain much modelling as I don't think ill have much time unless its small items that wont take that long. A key issue I need to get in my scene is the foliage. I have started up a sheet with some ivy on however it isn't finished. Once I have that I should be able to make the plants up and add them into UDK.




9pm:
Okay so all the wall pieces are pretty much now done, all that's left is the roof and the triangular wall pieces, hopefully that will be a quick fix but we shall see.

5th 2pm:
So last night before going to bed I realised one of the unwraps were wrong on one of the smaller wall pieces so I had to redo that, that's done now. I also went and created some boxes and finished off the bottle to try and fill my scene a bit. I've decided on removing the inner of the bottle to see if that gives the material a better effect. From that I went and created a prefab of bottles and jars. This has been placed by the kitchen counters and if I have time to create the exterior there will also be one there.

8pm -1am

WHY! Why aren't you working!!!!! Okay so I created the door, did the unwrap ect. assigned the correct material ID and even put a random material on to ensure the engine would recognise the separate ID's. so when I came to put it in engine I thought it would be as simple as it was when importing the windows and assigning the IDs on them meshes. But nooooooo! this isn't working! I've done everything the way I did with the other meshes but this one is being a &^%$£&*!
UDK has just crashed and I am not opening that back up! I've most likely lost the recent file that had the door in, fortunately its just a mater of reimporting the door and the door frame. I am calling it a night, ill look at it again with a fresh pair of eyes, hopefully ill of calmed down by then too!

Goodnight, ill update in the morning.

Clarity

Okay so I've seen a few friends scenes that they are creating and I realised I need to get the assets in the scene. Only then will I be able to see the errors ect. So I've added in the roof support beams in, from this I realised the triangular pieces are too small, well they aren't on the original max file however to allow movement on the second floor I've had to raise the beams slightly. This was done on with the rotate tool. Now I just need to go back in and make the pieces slightly taller. I think I might have to completely remake them due to the angle they were cut and getting them to align with the other pieces.
Before I do this I am going to create the roof. I think I will be doing this in two sections.

I also tested it in the game editor and noticed I fell through the floor a few times when on the stairs. So I am going to have to go and create a collision box for it to ensure it wont happen again.

I created and unwrapped an Axe today, I also placed photo frames on the desk I plan to create the memorial on. I hope to create a bit more story to the scene because I know full well ATM its not an environment its a mash together and its beginning to annoy me. Seeing friends environments has helped me a lot I think, its made me realise I've been going about it the wrong way. So I am going to finish the assets I have (no texture) and place them in the scene. I also have a dust tutorial I need to take a look at to add the the atmosphere.

Textures and memories

So Today I've been working on the stairs texture, its getting there, I still think I need to go back and work into it more, I don't know it just doesn't seem to pop or seem quite there yet.

So here is the wall texture I created, its got a lot more variation in than the mock up. I don't know if I should desaturate it a bit more though? I might have to try it out.

I've also begun working on the landing texture, I am still trying to decide if the slats should be the way shown or rotated 90 degrees.

I know I need to fix the edges a bit, blend the dark parts acting as the indent. These are a selection of photos I wanted to add to my scene. I know I cant add them all however the two gentlemen on the top row are Big Geoff and my Grandad Lee. I want to have these in my scene as since coming to university they have passed away. I was thinking of adding a few photos of them and creating some wilted flowers to put on the desk as a tribute as its coming up to the anniversary of Big Geoff's death and I don't think ill be able to go home for it.

Walls and Lighting

The images above are of my scene with afternoon lighting. After viewing a friends project i got quite concerned with mine and the lack of content. I thought if i started messing with the lighting what i have so far would reflect on what the final product would be like. I am still not entirely sold on it ATM and i felt that it was throwing another element into the mix that shouldn't be added just yet. From this i went back to daylight lighting and got frustrated at the project and what items need to go where. Looking back this was a waste of time however it helped me. I decided to remove all the walls and replace them. I know some people will be reading this and thinking well thats immature and a waste of time, why not take a break and go back to it? Well to be honest it helped me figure out what was what again. So yea am not as frustrated with it now :) 

So i added the triangle walls ( parts seen due to the roof angle.) I've modelled the rest of the upper walls, i just need to go back and unwrap them properly and light map them. I also need to properly light map the triangle walls. I fixed the texture (as shown in the images above) currently i am working on my laptop so once i am on the desktop ill upload that. one thing i am debating about the texture is if its too bright? I don't know if i should desaturate the texture to give it an aged feel or not. Currently i am swaying against it because it adds a bit of colour/bright vibe. I feel that most of the scene will be browns due to the wood, i don't want the scene to be dark and dingy.

Man it feels good to be working on FYP again :)

Man it feels good to be working on this again! Okay so i know i shouldn't have left it so long between working on this but other modules required my attention. So between other modules I've slowly been working on some textures, the flooring being one of them and now I've imported it into UDK i am starting to get excited again. It feels like things are coming together and i feel like am not as far behind as i thought i was, which is probably temporary and i am actually behind but hey ho, we shall see!

I started texturing the second wood mesh. it started of going quite well, it took me a bit of time to decided what end of the wood fit with what plank but the first half of the second wood mesh went really well. (I've not but in the dark sections for the planks yet like i have on the first wood mesh(bottom))

When it came to moving the planks into place for the second half of the mesh my brain kind of said no and i couldn't figure out where the planks went. Fortunately it didn't take me too long to realize what i was doing wrong. i was moving the group of planks expecting it to be the same as the previous half of the mesh. I feel like a bit of an idiot now as i was rotating and flipping the group of planks expecting it to work. only when i had a rest and started examining the textures did i realized i needed to take the last plank and put it at the start. Its a really silly mistake to make but i am glad i didn't take half of the day to figure it out.

 So now that that is fixed time to get the wood grain correct on the edges!

Starting to texture.

I began texturing this week. I am starting with base textures and working upwards, my main aim this week was to create the floor so it can then be tiled and used for the downstairs floor with minor modifications. I included the bake for the normals. This is for the main floor piece. 

I also went out with Joe Borley and photographed some run down locations for inspiration, particularly how the foliage would grow and form in certain situations. The main ones that interested me was how Ivy would grow and invade spaces. I have included a few images from this shoot.