Research
For my project I used both primary and secondary research. For my primary research, I went out to Cardiff and Oxford to check out history museums and castles. Using My camera I got high quality images of structures and weaponry for my concept art. For my secondary research I mainly used the internet for visual sources. I also used the internet to look up consistent architecture styles within the genre I was studying. Foe example I found out that sci-fi and fantasy likes to use irregular shapes for their structures.
I prefer secondary research in general as they are a lot cheaper than primary research and since the internet is easily accessible with a plethora of information, I don’t see a reason to use other forms of research for this project. If I were to actually make a game I would use primary research and make questionnaires and spread sheets but since this was a small project and since sci-fi was for one of my chosen genre the more beneficial form of research was secondary and internet for it’s images and accessibility.
Tools used
For making my assets I used Maya 2017, Photoshop 2017 and Unreal Engine 4.
All of these had it’s uses. Maya for modelling, photoshop for texturing and mapping and Unreal Engine for rendering and making textures look more realistic.
I used Maya the most in this project. Modelling was the most important part of making assets and I technically didn’t need Unreal Engine to make my textures look realistic, I could have just done that in Maya. Maya was also useful for making UVs which was very important for making applying textures.
Photoshop wasn’t just used for texturing it was also used to make normal, specular and roughness maps using it’s adjustment feature. It is an excellent and easy was for making different maps.
Unreal Engine was used for making some other assets such as my magic circle and force field.
This was the force field. I made this with the help of my tutor and taught me how to animate the static by using flipbook.
Some of my assets wouldn’t have looked the way the did if it weren’t for Unreal. My neon lights and flag would not have had a better visual effect if it weren’t for unreal engine.
To conclude, all of these softwares had it’s use but since I spent more time on Maya I can safely say that Maya was the most beneficial.
Workshops
I wouldn’t have been able to make my assets if it weren’t for the workshops lessons.
The Pillars I made were made using the knowledge I acquired from my first workshop lessons with Gareth when we made the Archway.
The wall and tower I made using the basic knowledge I learnt with Gareth. All I did was basically take advantage of the extrude tool and edge loops.
For the Unreal side of things I used my knowledge from Lee’s lessons. I mainly used emmissive textures and opacity masks. If it weren’t for these lessons then my assets would not have the visual effects to make it look more sci-fi.
Job Roles
The job roles covered in this project was 3D modeler, Texture Artist and Concept Artist.
The skills used for 3D Modeler was use of CAD, Maya and a lot of problem solving. The problem solving skill is really necessary because sometimes things may not work out the way you want it to when modelling. For me I had problems with my UVs as I had stray vertices. To fix this problem I needed to delete faces and merge vertices together.
Texturing I needed to use my Photoshop skills. Texturing requires the use of UVs meaning I needed to use my problem solving skills to figure out how to fix UVs. Often I would use automatic mapping so that UVs are automatically arranged. This made this made the texturing process longer but easier. I also used Lambert to texture which was good for occasions like whenever I needed to use textures with not a lot of detail such as scratched metal.
Concept artist required me to use my photoshop, research, photography and drawing skills. My sketching lessons with Kelly came in useful here as I like to draw in perspective. Concept art isn’t my strongest job role. I need more practice with the graphics tablet and shading. I find the most time consuming and boring job role and I feel as if it is not for me.
Texturing and Modelling is my strongest role but I prefer modelling as I like the creative aspect of it.
What went well?
Applying the normal, specular and roughness maps I made from photoshop whent really well. It made the textures look more detailed especially when it came to metal textures. The roughness and normal maps made scratches on materials look more visible and the specular map made it look shiny.
Unreal Engine also aided in making my assets look more visually stunning by making my neon lights emmissive. These emmissive textures made my asset look more sci-fi looking and futuristic which helped emphasize the sci-fi genre.
What went wrong?
The thing that went wrong was the fact that I had stray vertices in my wall assets. This happened because I didn’t undo extrusions and created duplicate faces. This would lead to planar maps being unable to unfold. Also when using the Difference tool I needed to make sure that vertices were connected with edge loops by using the multi-cut tool.
To fix the extra faces and stray vertices problem I needed to merge vertices together and delete the extra faces. Some times to make life a lot easier for myself when making UVs I extract faces from an object which would create a separate object.
I learnt from my mistakes and now, rather than making a complicated object as a singular object I will make a separate file or make it as separate object.
Presentation
To sum up my experience with this project me and my partner needed to make a presentation. In this presentation we needed to explain pretty much everything from beginning to the end.
We received feedback from our tutors and some members of our class and overall it was all positive feedback. I was proud of myself for not losing my cool and I was also proud of my partner who stated time and time again that he doesn’t like speaking in front of people and he did well.
To improve with the presentation my partner just needed to escape his bubble and I just needed to make more eye contact with the audience.
Asset Pack project – Powerpoint
Nick Amalin 