Week 07 - UV Mapping and Basic Texturing

Our assignment this week revolved around 3 primary tasks:

Clean up the car model.

Add a feature (600 poly max).

Create the UV Layout and PSD file associate with base colors for new texture.

After cleaning up some of the lines on my model, I started working on a heavier bumper for the front end.My first iteration seen here, was kind of clunky. It looked neat, but was too many tris.

I ended up attaching the version shown here. It is a bit too "rigid" for my liking. I will need to play around with it more.

I also reduced the poly count on my wheels from 356 a piece to 276, (-80 per wheel, - 320 tris overall). Reduced entire model w/ new piece included to 3506 tris.

I then proceeded to try and clean up the UV Mapping using the planar tool for the larger chunks and layering similar UVs that would have the same color. I had difficulty getting a handle on all the small extra pieces.

My inspiration for the basic color scheme was the Defiance Charger, I'm hoping I can add some roughness to the textures in Photoshop.

First pass of the UV Map, but I had forgotten the tires!

Still needs some work done, cleaning up the bits and pieces and separating out the mirrors and spoiler.

Week 06 Maya Modeling

Our assignment this week was to model a relatively low-poly Dodge Charger using Maya. The primary goals with this task were to stay at or under 3000 polygons. Have separate meshes for the wheels, axles, and body. Retain symmetry along the Z-axis.

Side Reference

Front Reference

Top Reference

This was my first pass at modeling out the basic shape of the car. I was trying to stay true to the shape and began moving the edge loops for the wheels and grill.

As I further polished my design, I wanted to make sure I kept as close to the reference image as possible.

My final pass at the model.

The Car Body: 1540 Tris

All 4 Wheels: 1424 Tris (356 per wheel)

Spoiler: 108 Tris

Both Axles: 20 Tris

Total Count: 3092 Tris

I did not want to sacrifice resolution for the sake of 92 Tris over spec. I could quickly reduce the overall count by flattening the grill section or by reducing resolution on the wheels.

Week 05 Pretty It Up!

This assignment we were asked to do a beauty pass on last week's level.

Unfortunately, the level I had created was not really compatible with any of the asset packs available to us, so I went back to my lumbermill level and worked to make it look nicer.

Week 04 - UE4 White-boxing and Mechanics

For this assignment I tried to use the blueprint skills I had picked up over the last few weeks and to make something interesting. I focused more on white-boxing and making sure most everything was mechanically sound, while next week we will focus on the aesthetics and pushing in asset pack resources.

My initial idea was to have a level that was half-boxy, cold, and rigid - while the other half felt a bit more organic. Squares to circles. I ended up mixing and matching a bit. I settled on the theme of Futuristic Power Plant.

The first area is the loading bay, the piston-like cubes moving overhead are energy cores.

We see some robots fly by, depositing new energy cores for when the old ones need replacing.

The doorway to the fusion area, watched over by a tracking red sentry eye.

I imagined these as bubbles popping with electricity. They change color from purple/yellow to red when you get too close, fair warning! In the next iteration, touching the bubble will kill you.

We can walk over this area because perhaps we are a robot ourselves.

Elevator to the maintenance platform.

The maintenance platform is made of pure energy, when we reach the top, it forms to connect the loading bay and the fusion area. The blocks trying to push you off were to make the bridge expanse more interesting, but I plan on changing them out and instead having the bridge "form itself" underneath your feet as you walk across.

Back atop the loading area, we must traverse the energy cores, being careful to avoid the security beams.

We can also collect a few duckets on the way! These are tentatively slated to be power cores that preserve your energy as you traverse the level, in which case they would be more evenly distributed throughout the playspace.

The level certainly has some good scale to it. I chose to make the clouds move quickly and the sky a deep bluish-purple, I'd imagined the power this plant is generating would suck all the bright light from the surrounding area. Plus it just looks cool.