Client Project – Ticket Office 2.0

So back in Semester 1 I created the Ticket Office for the client project and it was pretty time consuming and riddles with problems and my texturing wasn’t fantastic either, overall I want to say that I aren’t impressed with my working on it to be honest.

Well in Semester 2 I wanted to get back to it and smarten it up, but with my time being monopolized by the Gate House, I was pleased when Tim offered to do it. Handing over my model and texturing, he took it and then within the week, he edited the model, correcting as many of the problems with it as he could. And of course he fixed the shoddy texturing that I did as well. In the image, on the left, is my version of the model with it’s textures on, while on the right is Tim’s reworked and edited version. As can be seen, it is much cleaner, tidier and the texturing is more in line with the original image of the building.

Client Project – Gate House Changes and Final Renders

Ok then so I finally finished the gate house model that was to be placed within the Paragon project level. On the left is a final render of the original building that I created, which was high in poly count and difficult in texturing, whereas the render on the right is a simplified version that was created by Scott Beach, who helped me with the model texturing and taught me about Multi Sub Objects and texture sheets with the model, while helping me finish up the model because it was taking a long time to make.

My version was rather high in its poly count, because of the detail I put into the windows and the roof, whereas Scotts version was very low in polys but still looked like the model that I intended to make.

My model doesn’t really fit the design perspective for the project as it was too high a poly count for a building considering the size of the level and our need to make sure everything fit without taking up too much of the overall poly count. If we were to be creating a high poly, finely rendered version of the level or I were to use it in another piece of work, then it might have been ideal, but to fit the design perspective, the simplistic version that was created by Scott suits our endeavor a lot more.

Client Project – Table and Chair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the final renders for the table and chair I created that are to be put within the Project Paragon level that we have been working on.

I had a little bit of difficulty with the chair design as I wasn’t sure what sort of chairs were being used around in 1914, but after some initial research, I settled upon a simple yet effective chair design that was shown to in use throughout cafés of that time. I also created a table that can be scaled and moved to different widths so that multiples of them can be placed throughout the café for the patrons to sit at. While they are using the same wood texture on their Unwraps, I felt that this was necessary because they could be part of a set, or they could be altered at a later date, but I feel that the same wood texture is a great way to go as they could be matching and the café owners could be seen as not too picky as to what they are using for people sit on and at while in the café.

 

Client Project – Ticket Office Final Render

Ok then so this is my final render of the Ticket Office for the client project and I must say that this final product is actually pretty good, even though it did cause me a heap of trouble with certain parts that eventually were rectified, such as there were parts that were stick out and blocking the doorway, and the texturing wasn’t completely satisfactory.

But fingers crossed that is all sorted out now, the final model is in UDK, with the collision all sorted out and in place. I am surprised at how much time I spent on this building to be honest, as I thought that the basic shape and texturing would be a minimum couple of weeks job to complete, but as it turned out it was a lot closer to a couple of months, so I really need to work on my skills within 3DS Max to get my models completed a lot quicker and with a lot fewer problems cropping up along the way.

Client Project – Ticket Office

So for the past few weeks, while texturing for others within the group, I have been working on the Ticket Office that is to go into the Booking Office section of the Train Station.

I have had a few problems with the creation of the building itself, such as parts that would overlap, double faced sections and the like, and I’m still not convinced I have managed to sort out a lot of the wrinkles that were in it, such as the not so curved tops of the clock sections and the slightly too thin sections where the doors go. But I have done my best to sort these problems out with some help from others in the group.

The texturing itself went smoothly for the most part, with only one or two minor problems that were soon solved. The only problem that presented itself that I couldn’t really solve is the small piece of marble paneling near the door, many of the parts merged together in the UVW and made it hard to texture them properly, but other than that, the rest of the building is correctly textured.

The Client Project So Far

The client project is well underway now, with the level being developed quite nicely and the buildings and assets slowly being placed to build up the overall level. It’s going good.

But to get to where we are at the moment, there were several things that we had to take into consideration first. So naturally, we had meetings. Lots of meetings.

Through the many meetings we had at the beginning, we were able to work out a plan for how we should proceed.

First came the initial research, breaking off into teams of four, we each went out and researched a part of the history of the area that we are building, taking photos, talking to historians, gathering information from the archives and the internet, putting together a map of the area and how it looked at the outbreak of the first world war and the sort of things that were to be in place there, from the buildings to the signs and much more besides.

Once we had the research in place, we made lists of the assets and buildings that needed to be created, placing them in the correct categories depending on their importance. We then each took assets and buildings to create and set about creating them, several of us took up the role of unwrapping and texturing the finished models, then handing them back to the creator of the model so that they could place the finished product into the overall level in the game engine.

Through these processes we have slowly brought together several sections of the game level. We are still a long way off but we are slowly progressing and adding more to the level, making sure to take care at each stage to make sure we are achieving accuracy and detail without making mistakes.

Client Project – Unwrapping and Texturing Assets

One of my weaknesses within design is Unwrapping and Texturing my models and making them look good instead of a pile of rubbish that isn’t worth a second glance. So for the benefit of experience, I took up texturing for the Client Project and took a load of finished models from another person in the group and took to unwrapping and texturing them for the level that we are building. Of course these are quite simple models because they are just simple things, but I needed the experience and it seemed like a good place to start instead of jumping straight into something difficult like a full building.

Below is an image of the rendered items without the texturing on them, because it was rendered in 3DS Max without the texture materials dropped on them. What I did do was separate them and save them as individual models because it was easier to sort and unwrap them while they were individual models instead of as a group. But once they were separated, it was easy to unwrap them and texture them in photoshop. I checked all of the textures back on the individual models to make sure they were covering properly and then I exported the models as FBX files and the textures as TARGA files so that they would work in UDK. I did run into one or two problems because like I said, texturing isn’t my strong point, but I managed to get these assets completely textured and imported into the UDK level that we have been building for when it comes to pulling everything together.

Client Project/Interactive Environments – Ticket Office

 

Ok then so to update on the client project. We’ve finally gotten into the building of the level, which is awesome because it’s starting to shape up as we are putting in the buildings and the assets so it’s starting to look really good.

I recently uploaded and imported my Ticket Office building model into the level and put it in place. Now I aren’t used to UDK at all, so I still find it to be a pain in the backside when it comes to putting stuff into the level, but with a little help I managed it and got the building in place while also importing some assets that needed to be placed as well.

Below is a screenshot of me importing my building into the level, with the content browser open so that I could drag and drop it into the level once I had imported it into my folder. I also needed to scale my building a little bit as well because once it was placed into the level it looked a little small in comparison to the rest of the level and the blocked out buildings, so I had to use the scaling tool to make it a little bit bigger so that it was on the same scale as the rest of the level.

Client Project – Project Paragon Wiki

Ok so we are several weeks into the project now, and even though we have a long way to go in terms of gathering information and building the level, we have made headway and this post is really just to direct my happy readers towards the Wiki we have created for the project and offer the information that we have gathered, along with additional information and a little more insight into the project and how we are getting along.

The web link is http://www.project-paragon.wikia.com

If you feel like having a look and are interested in what we are currently doing with the project and how we are progressing, then go for it, alternatively there are the other members of the groups blogs that can also be viewed as we are all offering updates with information as to what we are working on individually and as a group.

Client Project – Ticket Office

So we are slowly moving away from working on the assets of the level that we are creating for the client project and beginning work on the major buildings in and around the station in order to get them completed, ready for insertion to the UDK level. I am working on creating the old ticket office that still stands in the station today, even though it is no longer used.