Secluded Hive

Environment: Secluded Hive

All of the assets within this project were modeled, textured, and coordinated by myself. The architectural elements reference a variety of historic sites and exhibit my ability to develop an intricate environment from a modular kit. Hero assets were conceptualized myself and also developed from modular kits. The effects throughout the scene were setup with blueprints in UE4 to create variations and dynamics. Various tools were used in the assembly of the assets: concept taken through low-poly modeling (Maya), UV layout (Headus UV Layout), high-poly sculpting (ZBrush), texturing (Substance Painter), procedural assembly (Houdini), game engine integration (Houdini Engine), lighting and effects (Unreal Engine 4), and video/audio composition (After Effects).

Project Breakdown

Below is the complete environment modular asset kit used to create the game environment. Each are used in multiple instances and linked to specific locations in a Houdini Digital Asset and coordinated with the Houdini Engine and Blueprints in Unreal Engine. Materials were structured with vertex painting parameters to enable variations throughout the environment.

Below is a showcase of the details behind the drone variations, including the land and aerial drones, drone hive, as well as other hero assets used in the environment. 

The drones, drone hive, orb pedestal, and bridge were procedurally assembled in Houdini with modular kits created in Maya and linked to Unreal Engine through Houdini VEX parameters and Houdini Engine. 

Workflow Analysis

The following videos are some of my documentation used in the above Secluded Hive game environment project. Documentation is a critical part of my workflow as I use it to reinforce my learning, preserve knowledge of the project, and to showcase my methodologies. My aim is to breakdown key steps in the process so that I can refer back to them as necessary over the course of a project or in other projects.

The Secluded Hive project was initially called Waterfront Courtyard, as it is intended to be part of an ongoing project to further develop the environment beyond the inside of the courtyard.

Mesh To Texture Documentation:
Workflow documentation from modular mesh kit development and organization in Maya to coordinated texture sets in Substance Painter for use in Unreal Engine 4. Using the modular mesh kit and their corresponding textures, the aerial and land drone configurations were assembled in Houdini and UE4 blueprints and linked to material instances that read the textures to allow for vertex painting.

Mesh To Texture Documentation:
Workflow documentation defining a mask layer and texture for meshes to receive color variation in Unreal Engine via an exposed color parameter that can be defined per instance. It notes the mask definition in Substance Painter, material master and instance structure, and application in UE4 level and blueprint instances.

Work-in-Progress

As a big fan of augmented reality, I saw this drone asset as a good opportunity to test its versatility in AR using Unity and Houdini Engine.  The short video below showcases it with some interactivity built into the UI.