IMS218 Asset Creation

Some screenshots of my going-on-final build. Barring the technical issues I feel like this went along fairly well! Had my computer been a bit more capable I could list a few things I would have liked to add or develop, but I'm really happy with how everything's turned out. I definitely got the most enjoyment out of working with the 3D modeling, making textures, and working with particle effects. Blueprinting was, as always, a bit of a challenge, but thankfully I'm much better at it now than I was at the beginning of the semester. 

Some textures I made using noise and panning. I first made a simple one to figure out how panning worked, then I made a more complex one using the noise that I'm using for the energy core/cryotank center piece of my level. Hardest part was actually just figuring out what exactly I wanted to make using the noise, but after a bit of messing around I'm really happy with what I settled on. Other than that I spent the majority of the week building out the facility part of the level. I'm planning on alternating working on the facility and the natural environment outside of it so I can keep coming back to each with a newer perspective. 

Some updated WIP shots of my environment. Mostly been focusing on getting the volumetric clouds and the water system working nicely, and so far so good. Most issue I've had so far was getting the lighting to work properly, but after a few runs it's going a bit better. I'm hoping to work next on building up the foliage a little bit, maybe sculpting a bit more landscape detail, and implementing a couple more assets. 

A test standing stone asset based on the Calanais Stones from Scotland. I plan on hopefully making a couple more of these of various shapes and sizes and maybe some texture variations. The challenge with this one was trying to balance the number of polygons, which I think is something that just takes time and practice. 

A test of some environment creation and basic structure building with some assets that I made earlier. The most challenging thing was getting the landscape to actually work, considering all of its details and complications. Accidentally making the base landscape piece way too big caused some rendering issues but luckily I know what I'm doing a bit better now. All in all I think this is a good start to building an interesting environment for the project. 

Two texture variants of a tiling wood floor, likely to be used in a deteriorating log cabin with some of the other assets. Most challenging and interesting part of this was the boards, as they have slight gaps in between them, so it was a fun challenge to make the UVs and textures work nicely. 

A stripped log trim that can go along the tops of the wall pieces from the previous post. The main issue I found when creating this was remembering exactly how to import textures correctly but that was very quickly remedied. Other than that brief hiccup the whole process went along very well. 

Modular environment assets, this time featuring some cobblestone walls I will use for building various structures. The main challenge with these versus the other wall assets was the inclusion of an actual, transparent window. Working with the multiple layers and material types in Substance Painter is getting more and more doable as the project moves along, so I'm happy for all the practice I'm getting with these different assets. 

Modular wall for a deteriorating cabin. One side has plain logs while the other has an old window. Most of the challenge within this was still figuring out Substance Painter. It is deceivingly difficult to manipulate the rendering setup, both the camera and the lighting aspects, but trial and error is generally enough to figure it out. Hopefully I'll gain even more understanding of the software in time. 

Main challenge with this part was learning to use an all-new software! Substance Painter is really cool but there are all sorts of bits and bobs to figure out. So many buttons that do so many things. However, I think it will very well considering it was my first time using the software! Looking forward to figuring out how to use it even more efficiently.