Post Brief
I created this Post so I could begin addressing some of my Projects issues and to further express and expand elements of my FMP Project, from its design path to what skills I had expanded upon from Year 2, what strengths I selected to improve and build upon, to what knowledge was gained then in Year 2 to how it applied to my Year 3 work and Projects. It will help me layout and Link many aspects of my work from Year 2 (THND) and those learnt skills and show them implemented further in to my new Year 3 Project (Urban Environment). I will explain why I have used earlier adoptions and principles and additionally why I chose to take the route I did in both Year 2 and again why I furthered that Development style and ideas generated more in Year 3 as-well as showing how I expanded upon what I had already learnt in Year 2 to help me really excel and improve my Year 3 Project as a whole in many unique areas. This Post will help me consolidate and deliver information related to above and as stated other areas of development over those 2 Years from self initiated Projects that I designed and created to help me explore further aspects of Games development within the Unreal engine to Unreal showcased Environments to singular Asset Developments to my Texture creation and Material Generation all within the Unreal engine.
Introduction
In this Post/Document I want to Introduce and discuss the reasons why I adopted my eventual Year 3 FMP Idea. I brainstormed alot of ideas and Researched a great deal in to my subject area at the beginning of my Year 3 Project. As I really wanted to showcase my skills and already existing learnt abilities brought forth from Year 2 in to Year 3 and promote those skills over the course of my Year 3 Project and for my end of Year Degree showcase. However I had learnt so many new skills, in both the Art of creating nice looking 3D Models, to creating Textures and Materials to finally my prowess and use of the Unreal engine and its Blueprinting system. And wanting to really showcase them all within my Year 3 Project it proved a challenging start really wanting to cram all of that in to my FMP Project but I knew I could really excel in my Year 3 if I just pursued and polished up those already existing Skills, gained in Year 2 by bringing them forward in to Year 3 and continuing to develop and learn and research therefore building upon them, fine tuning them. I have over the course of my Degree from that start all the way up until my finish that I had a great deal of interest when it came to making and creating in 3D to the Art of Simulation of that Object in the Unreal engine using the Unreal Blueprinting System. I really enjoy nothing more than creating something in 3D using 3DS Max as an example to then Simulating that Asset in the Unreal engine, this bringing that Object to life, through User interaction and simulated Functions.
My Thoughts-Planning my Year 3 Project
Ideally in Year 3 I had wanted to create a Game really fixating on that idea, with it being a constant drive for me, right from day one. My fascination even from a really early age for creating Games has always existed and has constantly pushed my imagination and creativity forward having that as my personal number one Goal. But that one exists solely for me, from using the Games Factory in my Teen Years to create 2D Sprite driven Games to my now learnt knowledge creating Games but now in 3D using Industry practice Tools and Software. Such as the earlier mentioned Unreal but also 3DS Max to create now 3D Models rather then 2D Sprites, although that option still exist within Unreal, to create 2D Sprites ‘Called Flipbooks’. That burning desire to understand higher more complex Software, Game engines pushing way past the fledgling knowledge needed to master a 2D Game engine or Framework like Game Factory to Mastering the Unreal engine and Object Driven Node based Logic system, fully 3D and to today’s standards capable of creating all manner of Games but at a recognisable 3D level today. The Game Factory is obsolete and massively outdated now, but still it brings back fond memories with it being the start of my obsession with Games Design and Creation, in-fact I still own my original PC version. I digress but the above gives an understanding to just how strong that desire was and now possessing the needed knowledge by the start of Year 3 to actually achieve that desire was overwhelming but after many discussions with my Tutors I knew It was right to scale back my idea in Year 3 to help me really bring my Project to a fine finish with a high polish. Not wanting to again over-reach again like I had in my Second Year Project (THND). So I began scaling my idea back, knowing what aspects I wanted to keep and why really trying to focus and hone those skills I had already worked on and progressed, so I could begin refining them and specialising my skill set to allow for a better footing and possible transition in to employment. Fitting more closely with what games companies look for and require as it fits a more modern day pipeline there is no one man does all position, it is far more segregated than that, with people generally specialising in one particular subject area, such as Object or Prop Designer, Environment Artist, Character Artist, Material Artist, to Level Designer.
I have a screenshot below that I captured from Art Station. It is an Image of their Jobs board, but its just those Jobs within Naughty Dog that I have shown. It had a vast array of Job titles on one screen that I could exploit to express my point. It has a varied array of unique Job Titles for many available positions within Naughty Dog the company. As you can see they vary like I have stated above and are certainly more focused to specific key areas. Such as again as an example, Environment Artist etc…
Art Station-Jobs Board-Naughty Dog-Screenshot 1
Why small Urban Houses VS large Skyscrapers?
I will break down that process further below really getting to the core of my design idea and why I went the way I did with so many options available to me and why I had picked repeatably now the idea of a small City or Town environment showcasing terraced Houses like those seen in Hull over the towering Skyscrapers of more luxurious abroad destinations, like New York. I have included two images below showing both of those examples, Photographs. Just as an example of the masses of difference between the two. I found it an interesting comparison right back in Year 2 when first planning THND. The over looked aspect and the perspective the change in height difference provided was different, changing the setting and location to a small Urban Town or City over that of a massive City was intriguing and it was clearly something worth exploring more. As I continue on I will pursue this avenue of my development more and express in greater detail what took place and what factored in to those decisions I made during the course of my Year 2 and Year 3 Project developments.
Reference Image 1-The City of Hull-Street view
Reference Image 2-New York-Street view
I have also added a further two reference images below, the first showing my old school friend the Games Factory as mentioned above, the second image shows the Logo for my new best bud, the Unreal engine also mention previous. I have included both simply for reference. However the first image is quite nostalgic for me and brings back a great deal of fond memories of where my passion began.
Reference Image 1-The Games Factory
Reference Image 2-The Unreal engine.
Year 2 (THND) Strengths and Weaknesses-Roads
In Year 2 I planned and created an Urban themed Game that I called the House Next door. THND for short. It had many things I admired and many things that I had achieved to be proud of, but I was still learning so the execution and finished Game was not to the Highest of standards, looking back. Then I was very proud to have called it my work I still am as I can look past its flaws and really appreciate what was achieved. 3D Design Styles and Choice: My knowledge in 3D Design had grown utilising techniques such as Modular design and the use of free floating Geometry to construct my 3D designs, House Assets. Through this development I had become more fluent with aspects of standard Block Geometry with my designs in 3D opting for more solid angular Geometric Shapes over that of fluid Geometry. That seen when depicting the Human form and forms of nature as examples. Where as in my second Year I focused heavily on those solid non organic shapes as expressed and this had become quite a skill, one that I wished to extend and build upon further in my Third Year, I will come back to that point later. However extending upon that Building style in 3D is great but to add extra Realism to my Third Year design I knew already after looking back at my older work that I would need to add more shape to certain objects, more fluidity, a greater merge and flow to my assets, I bring to light my Road Networks, I will quickly below show both old and new to show that difference, and what I mean and its eventual finished achieved look.
Year 2-THND Road Network-Screenshot 1
Image is from THND and I have Highlighted in orange the Road to show its straight, using more simplistic Geometry to achieve the 3D Asset and the overall look. I found it took away from the realism of the scene as Roads often seen in Hull are more fluid as they merge from one Road section to another, as I have expressed.
I have also included an addition Link to my Blog Section dedicated to my Year 2-THND Project which you can use for further information.
Year 3-Urban Environment- Screenshot 2
The Image above is from my final Year 3 Urban Environment. I have again Highlighted the Road in orange. This time it shows its more fluid and curved design as it merge from one section of Road to another. This idea and improvement was undertaken because of the short comings of my Second Year Project and how I evaluated the look and feel of it before I began my work in Year 3 to see what I could no doubt improve upon. This was as stated one of the things to be improved upon and the Road it-self as I found in Year 2 it took away from the realism I wanted to achieve but as seen above in Year 3 I have corrected that mistake and as is visually apparent the look is far more realistic and as mentioned the curve and more fluid shape and design of the Road certainly helped. Other elements such as Texture or Material Quality, Material Design and Creation full PBR and the use of Baking Techniques also helped greatly but I will again explain these elements as this Document progresses.
Granted showing these examples in this order does lack further clarity, for example how and why I selected other aspects of my project for Year 3 bouncing off of my learnt skills and knowledge from Year 2. I will continue to go over relevant points as move forward, I have shown the two images above as they where mentioned now so to draw the link early allows for a better comparison and a more refined understanding of my point and how it was concluded early on and how that factored in to my Year 3 Project as it developed.
I have again included another Link but to my Year 3-Urban Environment Project for further information on this Project Please use that Link.
3D Design Style and Choice-Continuation
As much of my discussion involves moving back and forth between Years and Projects and Ideas and Topics this Post can appear disjointed at times. I have where I can provided Notes and Cues to keep the discussion on track and flowing. This section now refers back to my previous mention 3D Modelling preferences this is a continuation on that. Now I quickly bring to light Hulls older architecture and the shape of those structures VS newer more modern buildings and what I found appealing about that aspect of Hulls older architecture and smaller Urban Houses over that of sprawling Cities and Skyscrapers. To explain alot of Hulls older Architecture is of a more angular design, Square, with sharp edges and angles. Granted this was no doubt due in part to the limitations in technology in as an example the 1900’s VS the Modern day, this making Angular and Cuboid structures far easier to build. Where as Modern day Structures can be a great deal more fluid as our understanding of construction and design has allowed us to created building that can almost appear to defy gravity, brick is no longer our greatest means of Building Construction. Opting for Steel Braces for supports over that of old conventional Brick, this expanding our previous limitations. I have below given examples of those differences in Old fashions Vs Modern day Structural Designs.
Hull-Old Brick Building-Angular
Hull-Modern Day Building-Shaped/Smooth/Rounded
To continue as I explored further that aspect of Hulls Heritage during the course of my Year 2 Projects both my Joint Heritage Project and my own THND Urban Themed project I had become rather familiar and proficient at it in terms of my 3D designs and the execution of them to some degree, I wanted to continue that development further, to really hone those skills in that area of my 3D Design. This would help me build massively upon that already existing knowledge and as of this my Year 3 work will be of a much greater standard a convey similar design to that of my second Year THND Project but having now honed and practised that skill it will like I have said be to a much higher finish quality and will be a massive improvement visually and in terms of accuracy than my Second Year work. Addressing some of the issues raised from Evaluating my Second Year work, such as the poorly constructed Houses, with this being a main feature their slightly poorer finish quality really let them down, being half Textured and un-finished. Just the completion of that House Asset in Year 2 would of greatly improved my scene as a whole visually, sadly time became a factor and I was un-able to fully complete everything and again I have stated this has been noted and it has become a priority to plan only what I believe I can complete knowing now that it was a big factor in the over-all look of my Year 2 Environment. This time around in Year 3 I was far more selective and knew now to limit my-self in some areas of my design, so I selected what I could cut during my design to help me manage that time frame more, now in my Second Year I tried to create both an Interior and Exterior to each of my Houses. This time around in Year 3 I plan to only create the outside. That limitation should allow me to focus in and spend more time perfecting the exteriors of my building and as the inside will not really be viewed I can bring the exterior quality and realism to a much higher standard, Researching their exterior differences to help me really maximise upon them and make each of my Year 3 Houses stand out from one another yet still share enough similarities to one another to look like they belong together.
Year 2-Un-Completed Assets-Missing Textures (80%)
The Highlighted orange areas show missing Textures and un-finished Assets, due to time limitations I was un-able to complete certain Assets, this being one of the main ones and most noticeable. They are the Window frames on each and every one of the Houses shown in Scene in this shot.
Year 3-Fully completed Assets-No Missing Textures (100%)
The Highlighted areas shown in orange on this image show every available item almost in scene just to show that every one of them was finished to completion. As I have stated I set in place more control and really tried to maintain that control throughout my Year 3 FMP, to stop me falling in to the same trap as I did in the Second Year. Not trying to over reach but still trying to push my-self to achieve. Finding that balance was essential to help me really create a spectacular final Year 3 FMP Project.
Why small Urban Houses over towering Skyscrapers in my Environments?
Whilst on the subject of choice I want to just express another reason I chose smaller Urban Cities such as Hull over larger Cities like New York and that being mainly over-popularity. Alot of well known Games seem to go for that wow factor using larger Buildings to that advantage. But this overlooks the small guy, the often overlooked beauty of that scaled down size and scaled back design. Bigger doesn’t always mean better, so to tip it on its head I decided I really wanted to showcase the small this time around in my Projects starting in Year 2 and my THND Environment. The idea spawned their and got carried over as I progressed that skill in to my Year 3 Project, the Urban Environment my Final Major Project. The drive to show something new in my designs rather than just repeating what had already been seen over and over again. I wanted to offer something visually new to the User engaging with my Game and as most Players testing and Viewing my creations where local to me the appeal to them is the same as it is for me, the familiarity of seeing something we are use to seeing everyday recreated in 3D is quite the spectacle and just makes you smile, a sense of pride perhaps. Either way it offered something new and more close to my heart that what was done in the droves already. Now I say this but I do understand and get the appeal to the wall to wall glass of a Skyscraper catching in Game light and watching the reflections of the Sun streak across its surface, it is certainly beautiful no doubt. But that has its own uniqueness. However that can’t match up to the rugged character a small old fashioned Building seen in the Old Town of Hull has. Totally unique in its own way, a 360 contrast to the Towering walls of glass of a Skyscraper being mainly brick and often only a few stories High. How could it even match up you ask. Well to me its simple, we will never build such a building again, why would we. We posses far greater techniques and better methods of construction now, meaning that those rare few remaining Gems we have that have been protected provide more allure, a collectable if you will. That intrigued me, the one of kind nature each one of them seem to posses, even when they shared so many similarities such as that seen in Terraced Housing. Yet each one still retained its own personality a querkyness all of its own. That is what I wanted to capture that personality. I fell short in Year 2 only being to create one variation of House. In Year 3 However I excelled creating many unique variations all with unique features each of their own and even add-ons to allow me to further add those unique elements further separating them from one another but as the architectural Style of the House remained the same the flow of the Street still remained. I even managed to create a 3 Story building, which again really help add that distinction I wanted but still kept my seen in keeping with the Theme and style of Old Town Hull. Below I have created a Slideshow showcasing some of the most popular games that all adopt a City as their main Map this clarifying my point. Although many Games can still be found with smaller Towns and Cities the List of Larger Cities far outweighs it. And still non quite fit the criteria of Hull or a similar small City.
Games that Feature Cities-Image Collection
Hulls Heritage-How this impacted my Decision in Year 3
Whilst working on my Heritage Project in Year 2 and already enjoying many aspects of that design and the Research that went it to it. I was also creating my current Game Project as I have mentioned previous (THND). That creation was really helping me hone that Design type and I enjoyed creating that style of Building or House as stated above. That helped drive my decisions also. But in conjunction with that was my Heritage Project Development. As I was Joint Developing that Project we had to do alot of field work as a Group exploring many parts of our Old Town. Looking in the Heritage Museum as a study to help us re-create that part of the City centre, additionally I was tasked with creating the Maritime Museum. During this development a real fascination was created and a profound level of respect was brought about for the craftsman ship and heart that went in to such a Building, then becoming ever more curious I began studying the uniqueness of older building and Houses looking at their oddities, sloping Roofs, batter and weathered exteriors, added features over time, filled in Windows, Moved Doors, exterior fittings, replaced features, repair work. The list gets extensive but you get the idea the character each of them possessed seem to shine above all else, modern buildings paled in this respect and could not match that level of character. It was time, only time could add those elements of wear, time and use. Each told a single story of its life. I found that idea so appealing that it excelled my exploration in this area. It pushed me and urged me to continue that Development and those ideas further if I was presented the opportunity. This would then bring me on to my Year 3 Project Idea, and you can see how that other work and Research had impacted me on a deeper level given me a never before appreciation for the older Architecture of building and Houses especially those seen in my local area. I have added an Image below of my Maritime Museum from Year 2, just for reflection.
Year 2-Maritime Museum-Old Buildings
Additionally for further information please find below a Link I have included showcasing my Year 2-Heritage Project.
Year 2 Research-Cobbled Roads
Whilst Researching in Year 2 for my Heritage Project I began to get a real curiosity for Cobbled Roads, the look of them and the character and wear was appealing to me as I could almost see how it would look replicated in a Game engine. Watching as I controlled the light as it fell between each of the Gaps of the un-even Bricks. Casting shadows and catching light forever changing as the shadows bend and wind between them as they stretch across the Cobble Surface. I could see it in real life and it was splendid and I really wanted to try to replicate that in my Year 3 Project. Not being able to take advantage of it fully in my Heritage Project in Year 2 nor my Self initiated Year 2 (THND) Project as it was the wrong fit I really wanted to try and create something for my Year 3 Project having gained such a fascination for them, that being our old Cobbled Roads, still heavily preserved in Hull as they have alot of Heritage and as I have stated they do look stunning. I have some Images I collected below just showing some of the Roads in around Hulls City centre.
Cobbled Roads-Image Collection
The images shown above are more recent examples and where not taken from my Year 2 collection. I selected the images above as they contained just Cobbled Roads from around the whole of Hull, I could be more specific. As the Highlight of my previous objective was to capture alternate Materials in Year 2 appose to what I needed for Year 3. So images of Cobbled Roads where not as thourally Researched prior to Year 3 commencing. They where observed and the idea was raised and a Cobbled Road was even created for the Heritage Project but to a much lower quality than what I wanted to achieve in Year 3. Year 2 had many draw backs, them not looking overly detailed and raised being the main but they also looked very tiled over a large surface. I wanted a great deal more realism than that in my Year 3 Project. That meaning if I develop a Cobble road a great deal more research and planning would be needed in Year 3 before I moved forward. In-fact it was undertaken and masses of Research in this area was done. Having locally sourced content I will briefly mention helped massively, choosing the Location I did in Year 3 being a smaller Urban Town meant my Visual Material and Research could all be done locally this massively reducing time spent Researching using other means, additionally the Research could be more accurate and more relevant. Just to state but my actual Cobbled Road Media used seen in my Final FMP Year 3 Project was sourced very locally infact right outside my place of learning, which allowed me to take my time sourcing and collecting them and it also allowed me to take lots of individual section shots encompassing a very large section of Cobbled Road, this reducing that tiling issue seen in the Year 2 Heritage Project as every section used would be totally unique and as realistic as possible being sourced from actual taken images. A great deal of extra work went in to the Year 3 Cobbled Road and it wasn’t quite as simple as simply taking some Photographs but I am stating that sourcing my Research locally really did help in regards to development time and the accuracy of my mimicry from real world to Game engine.
Locally Sourced-Cobbled Road Imagery
The images above are just a few of the images I had taken in Year 3 to help me create my replicated Cobbled Road in 3D. The process as I have stated wasn’t a simple cut and paste job on to some 3D geometry it involved a great deal more knowledge, knowledge I had only just begun to come to grips with nearing the end of my Second Year, that is a process known as Baking, to be more specific the Baking of a High Poly Mesh to that of a Lower Poly Mesh, I would need to master such a skill to manage and pull of my Cobbled Road to the effect I envisioned in my mind so clearly, I knew that I could not create every brick of my Cobbled Road as from already existing knowledge I knew for a fact that the Game engine ‘Unreal’ would not support it, so this technique ‘Baking’ must have to be applied. This moves me on to:
Baking an Industry Practised technique.
Baking in Brief as I have gone over this subject many times during my Year 3 development so I do not want to fully go over it again here. But as stated above it is the Baking or ‘Taking of’ a Higher detailed Mesh and its Topology and Baking it on to or ‘Placing’ it on to that of a Lower Poly Mesh. In a nut shell you take the information of the Higher Poly Mesh in my Case my Cobbled Road complete with over 200 bricks and you take all of that detail and used memory and you fake it on to a lower poly Mesh lets say just a single Geometric Plane and you do that using a Normal Map, this can save masses of memory. A Normal Map to briefly explain is a Subsurface Texture Map that gets acted upon by the Game engine ‘Unreal’ so when light hits it the Higher Detailed information you captured as a Normal map will show up in the Reflections or Shadowing. A Normal Map is usually Purple in colour and the Topology or contours or your Models topology is Displayed in a Gradient of that Purple. So the Topology of your Higher Poly model can normally be visibly seen on your Normal Map. In my case again I could see all of my Individual bricks as if stamp in Purple on my Normal Map. The Light in a Game engine then reads that Gradient information and from that it can determine and fake in that depth in Game. I have included a Normal Map example below of my Cobbled Road.
Cobbled Road-Normal Map-Example Texture Map (Not to size)
The image shown above although not to scale is of my final PBR Baked Texture Map created for my Cobble Road using a High and Low poly Version of my 3D Model and Baking them using Substance Painter. I want to now show a final image of my Cobble Road VS that of Prior Images above to show how much effort went it to the replication of that real world Cobble Road seen as examples in that imagery to my version created in 3D for my 3rd Year FMP. And as I have related how that was all impacted and developed off the back of my Year 2 Project as I chose to selectively continue to harness those already cemented skills and abilities but enhance them to better acquaint my-self to the Games design industry to give my-self a better chance of future employment and to better showcase my strengths and abilities.
Year 3-Cobbled Road-Final Images
Cobbled Road-Recent Example Images
Creating a Realistic Cobbled Road in my Year 3 Urban Environment
Looking over the Image collections above it is clear to see the remarkable similarities. I have in comparison to my Year 2 work in Year 3 captured a far greater level of realism with my Road Asset un-like my previous Road seen in (THND) in Year 2. Where the realism of my Road fell short, wanting to continue that knowing at the start of Year 3 reflectively where I went wrong in Year 2 with my design I could now produce a much more realistic Road Network, applying all of those previous learnt skills but bettering them this time around, doing more Research and planning as stated and applying industry practised techniques again as I have mentioned above ‘Baking’. Then you add to that the appeal I have with older home born architecture and how a Cobbled Road looks and the character they both posses by the end of Year 2 the idea just kept evolving and shunting it-self in that direction, every decision made was riding right off the back off another, a constant evolution of progression and thought, as I really wanted to create and pull off a realistic looking Environment but depicting something I am familiar with. With all of that obsession dating back to the Games Factory, not being able to back then keep up with what was new as I simply lacked the skills back then to create anything more than old obsolete 2D Games that where fun for me but they where never going to stand out in the world of Gaming. Finally being at a point of creation and beginning the start of my 3rd Year this was my time to really nail it, push it way past what I have ever been able to create before by applying all of my sourced knowledge from decades of obsession to try to create something truly realistic, beautiful to look at and unique and different with that essence of life flowing within it. So using all of that gained knowledge and directing my-self correctly I hoped to build upon what I already knew to the point I knew I could achieve that goal, push my existing skills as high as I could over the next Year by building on them rather than trying to adopt totally new practices and or picking something way out of what I am use to, as an example going from Environment Art and structural design to Character Artist. Although creating a Character still appeals to me, I would be achieving a Year 2 level of Quality in my 3rd Year having to learn a totally new path where as sticking to what I am good at but really excelling it I could achieve Year 3 quality work in my 3rd Year, something that looks as real as a Photograph would.
Local Research and the Pro’s
Another Reason that factored in to my Year 3 Final Decision was the locality of my Research. Now given the fact that I was rooting heavily already for Small Housing estates and a Small City like Hull over larger Cities built up of Skyscrapers but the fact that I could locally source my Textures for Materials and Research locally on foot was also a massive incentive for me. And that idea certainly factored in to my final Design for my Year 3 Project. As stated you can see how every time I would want to sway from my choice it was hard to given how everything kept pointing back in that direction. I found the whole Research stage of my Project in Year 3 far easier to manage and bulk up when all I had to do was step outside. The results and quality I could Research locally would yield far greater result than any internet search of the same time, yes an Internet search could possibly yield more varied results from other locations that arn’t Hull if I wanted that type of comparison, but I don’t I want it to look and feel as much like my local area as I can, really trying to emphasise that point and create that look. So alot of factors applied when considering why creating an area that I am familiar with and is local to me is a bonus but I will also give some further examples of what it offers. As explained less searching is needed when I can simply go outside. Secondly inspiration strikes when you least expect it, so living around my design criteria allowed me to notice things that would often go un-noticed. As was once quoted to me ‘Always look up’ meaning well look up because you will miss so much if you don’t.
Missing Roof Top Elements in Year 2
I really pushed that idea and developed it more in my Third and final Year, adding lots of detail to the Roofing of my Houses, unseen in my earlier Year 2 Street Scene (THND). As the finer details where missing in that version, those details now included in my Year 3 Urban Project, included TV Airfields and more varied chimney Vents and also additionally a Roof Vent that has also now been included. I have inserted some images below showing how I have now built upon that original Idea from Year 2 but with a greater level of Research and detail, this giving my Year 3 Urban Environment a more Realistic look.
Year 2-THND-Roof Tops-Missing Elements
Year 3-Urban Env-Roof Tops-Added Elements
As an extra note on what is seen on the Roof tops of my buildings, T.V Aerials. As it may be something of less relevance if I was creating yet another Game filled with skyscrapers or if it was factored in it would never really be appreciated. At-least not as much as it is in a Game Environment where you can constantly view the tops of the Houses from Ground Level. It means making the Roofs look more interesting really helps spice up that Sky Line and Roof top view. All of this just helping with realism by creating a really interesting and disjointed looking place with lots of unique and alternate angles and heights and positions to things and objects within my environment in my Year 3 Project when compared to that of my Second Year (THND) Project.
Blueprint Mechanics-Year 2 VS Year 3
Day and Night Cycle-Comparison
Reflectively looking back over my second Year work having used that throughout my Year 3 Development as a Yard stick in order to compare my work. It allowed me to view both my strengths and weaknesses addressed from my completion of my Second Year work. I could from that ascertain what I could improve upon and further advance to aid my progression and over-all development in my Third and final Year.
I did this by practising that ability of Blueprint construction creating Game-play Mechanics by constructing many Game Prototypes, they would help me try new Blueprints out of my Main Projects so I could test the Viability of that option before implementing it in to any other Main Project, this way it was clean and controlled and left my Main Project, as an example my Urban Project undamaged. Until I had fully worked out the bugs and or made sure the idea was even viable in my Main Game-world or Project. I have below Included a Link to my Year 3 Additional Projects List, I created this list to help me manage all of my extra work that was created whilst developing my skills in many different areas of design, from Blueprinting as stated but also other areas such as, Building Design, Low Poly. To Texture and Material Creation. All of these other Project as I have mentioned where created simply to help me better refine my Skill sets across the board so I could really push my abilities forward in Year 3 to help me create a Beautifully Realistic Urban Environment.
Year 3-Additional Projects-Honing my Skills-Link
This brings me now on to Unreal Blueprinting and how I developed and furthered that ability/skill in my Third Year building upon the already gained knowledge and experimentation (Experimentation Linked above) throughout my Second Year Projects, both the Heritage and THND. Having practised that Skill throughout my Year 2 on many unique elements of Game-play, both in the Heritage Project but more so in my THND Project which I am going to continue to discuss here by showing what was achieved then, to what I eventually achieved in my Third Year in my Urban Environment, and it will draw the line connecting the two. Showing how I used the template and understanding from my first attempt in Year 2 to how I developed and pushed that ability in Year 3 to better my end result, more controlled Blueprinting, a broader understanding, a more refined approach and a more advanced system as a whole. I have included some reference images below which show how my work had progressed from Year 2 in to my Year 3. I will discuss one particular area of Blueprint Development, and that was a ‘Day and Night Cycle’ which I created back in my Year 2 THND Project, and then again in my Year 3 Urban Environment. The system did however get massively overhauled in Year 3 and was built again from scratch but using all of the knowledge gained from Year 2. The Day and Night System in Year 2 was not as precise timing wise as my next version was in Year 3, additionally some of the extra features I planned to incorporate in Year 2 where un-finished where as in Year 3 they where fully completed. I will explain the Day and Night Cycle was created so I could control over elements of my Scene in timing with Night, so the Street Lights as an example would Turn ON when it became Night and then off again when Day Breaks. This was implemented in Year 2 but in Year 3 I made fuller use out of a similar system by keying it in to other elements also, so the Weather system worked in Days off the back of the Day and Night Cycle and also other elements such as House Lights would also be toggled ON and OFF. To sum u Year 3’s Day and Night System was a far superior version than that of it predecessor. I have 2 Videos Links attached below, the First shows my Year 2 THND Day and Night Cycle and then the Second shows my Year 3 Day and Night Cycle.
Year 2-THND-Day and Night Cycle-Video
Year 3-Urban Env-Day and Night Cycle-Video
Higher Quality Materials in Year 3 over Year 2
Continuing on this section much like the rest is me showing how I used the Evaluation or my own observations on my Year 2 work to help me plan and pursue my Year 3 Projects but to a much greater standard using my 2nd Year as my jumping off point by progressing similar skills by building upon them. This section is no different and in it I am going to show and discuss how my Material or Texturing ability, their Quality advanced greatly from what was seen in my Year 2 (THND) Project to my eventual Final Major Project my Urban Environment.
Now as I have shown in a previous section above some of my 2nd Year (THND) Project was un-Textured and un-FInished. This was obvious an issue as I have expressed, so finding a more streamline or effective Pipeline was essential. Much of my Year 2 Material or Textures where created by hand using Tileable Textures, taken or sourced for free. Meaning in many respects they where of a lower quality or did not always appear to belong to one another, so did not flow seamlessly. Some would be of one quality and another to a slightly lower, I managed well given my knowledge back then on process and Programs available, suing mainly Paint.Net and Photshop to produce my Texture Maps for my Buildings. I have shown an Image below as an example of this texturing process back then.
Year 2-THND-Textures/Materials
30% PBR 70% Hand Made (Normals)
Kitchen Assets
I have shown the collection of Kitchen Items from my THND Year 2 Project. I have shown this collection although different from below the Textures or Materials created where done by hand using Paint.Net and Photoshop to build up Layers of Types of Textures to create the looks above. The Extra Textures the Normal Maps where created using Bitmap to Material or Normal Map Filters available in both Photoshop and Paint.Net. They contained no real Metallic, Specular or Gloss or Roughness or even Height Maps. Those Values i.e Metallic and Roughness Maps where normally given generic Values inside an Unreal Material. Meaning the overall value of the entire object would change with that Value Given. I will quickly explain, I will use the Caddy as my Example. The Lid on the Caddy appears to have a shine to it, however that is faked and only exist because the initial Base Texture or Diffuse already contains that information in Colour giving the impression of Light. However in a Game engine that look will never change. It will get Light and dark but it will never Reflect Light or get a shine from it. That information in contained withing the Metallic VS Roughness Maps. If added they would allow me to target via a Texture certain parts of my Models UVs and apply extra Values to just those parts rather than the entire model. So in engine they would reflect Light as they are Metallic bu the Caddy body being plastic will reflect less.
Year 3-Urban Env-Textures/Materials
100% PBR
Street Assets
Now in Year 3 using Substance Painter I painted the Materials on to the above Models. I have shown the above image because it contains a bunch of items together. Also it shows reflectivity in different and alternate values, as many items are being lit differently as they have unique Materials and values to one another. Unlike the above Kitchen items these items will Light correctly in a Game engine, Unreal. They will all capture light based of the same PBR values as assigned by each of the Materials I applied created and Generated in a Program called Substance Painter. As stated this Program was the key to making my items look more realistic in Year 3 VS that of Year 2 Work. It is essentially a stand alone Program that allows me to paint on to my Assets directly using Materials. As an example in the image above there is a Stainless Steel Bollard. The Material applied to that is one freely given in Substance and it is of a Stainless Steel Metal. It has all of the Textures needed to create that look in engine compressed in to a single paint-able Material. So it will consist of PBR, a Base/Diffuse, Metallic, Roughness, Normal and Height Texture Map. Where as previously in Year 2 many of my Materials only contained a Diffuse, Normal and just global Values for Metallic or Roughness. Where as using Substance they are targeted Values according to Mapped Textures.
Year 2-Odd Textures Sizes and Limitations-To Improvements in Year 3
Additionally I used odd size methods in Year 2 to try and be unique, I will explain. Simply because I could and understanding file sizes more and why we use to the Power of 2 Textures within Gaming Engine. It’s because it makes it easier for the Computer to Compute as it knows to calculate both H,W as the same so 512×512 or 1024×1024 and 2048×2048. Or in my case I began using 3076×3076 simply because it is in-fact a correct file Size that sticks to that convention however it is not used in any Program that I have seen and that export Size does not exist so to keep my process the same as that which is used in industry I dropped the use of such a file size and opted for more correct Sizes, sticking mainly to 2048×2048 or 4096×4096 although that would be dependant on Model Size, the Larger the Model the Larger the Texture Map.
Year 3-Substance Painter-Re-cap
This now brings me on to a Program called Substance Painter which I began to learn by the end of Year 2. I knew in order to fully create a Realistic looking piece of work by the end of my Third Year I would need to learn and adopt this Program which will help me develop further my Texture and Material abilities. Using this program I can exploit and use fully PBR which by the end of Year 2 I had began implementing but with less knowledge than that which was gained by the end of Year 3. Having utilised Substance Painter for the entirety of my work flow and used it on every single object I created allowing me to stick to the same Material Types and conventions and all of them being PBR meant they would all fit together seamlessly in scene and Light correctly all giving equal values.
Games Design-Kyle Agnew 
