Games Production - The Construction and Mapping of the Props

Again, I had to work with our Props Concept artist, who concepted many different assets to be scattered around and placed into our game. I also worked quite closely with our game designer, where we decided that there were going to be two types of assets. One being the Static Objects, the other being the Dynamic Objects. The static objects where assets that weren't going to move around during the game play. This was first priority, as the game designer needed to adjust them for the game. When the game was being baked, these still assets need to be present during the process. Cover points for the enemy have to also be added behind certain assets. Dynamic objects are different to there. The Dynamic assets have to be added in after the bake as the objects will move around and have physics behind them. These assets where smaller and more durable.

After having several concepts given to me and getting real life references myself, I started off with the construction of the static assets. These assets include a table, two types of crate, floodlights and a safe. These assets needed to be low poly as they were going to be scattered around the level. I managed to achieve relatively low poly assets. Me and the other Environment Artist, Ben Matthews, felt that the other room in our game needed to be filled. So we decided that I would create a tarpooling that will drape over the edge. This, itself, is still quite low poly. I would use a new process that I haven't tried before, the use of nCloth. This was combination of the physics and animation in Maya. The result was actually pleasing and really does add to the level.

Creating the Static Assets .

The next part of the process was to U.V map the assets. Many of these assets, such as the crates and the tables, were very square, so mapping them wasnt a hard task, it just required several cuts along the bottom and sides to fully map it. The difference was that as most of these were using the materials that had already been constructed by Ben (the other environment artist). This meant that the U.V's had to be scaled so that the materials would suit the assets and not look stretched.

Mapping the Static Assets.

The U.V have been adjusted to Suit Ben's Material.

Extracting the objects required the mesh to be separate. so that in Unity, the texture that had already been made by Ben, could be applied by to the assets. As you can see from the picture above, the U.V's have had to be scaled. This was a process that required me to take the asset into unity, apply the material to the assets and have a look at whether the U.V's needed to be extended. This crate that is pictured above didn't look good with the material on it, so I had to go back into Maya and then increase the size of the U.V's. As I was using materials that had already been constructed, The U.V's didn't need to be within the U.V range 0 to 1. So the U.V's here are much bigger than that.

The First Crate Type.

I decided that It would be best if I obtained so renders of the assets that were to go in game. This will help me and the Game Designer get a realisation of what the assets will look like in game. I tried a new process of rendering. This was something that I saw in a 3D Total magazine called "RenderMan". This was a process of rendering models in Maya that the famed animation company "Pixar" use. I applied a reflective metal and adjusted the settings of the crates. I also used an environmental light in the scene. I am extremely happy with the render and will continue to use this. 

The Second Crate Type.

I decided that to give us more variety in terms of cover. So I copied concepts that I had been given from our props artist. By having the two different varieties of crate, the player will have an unfamiliar environment. This crate has an unusual geometry, so narrowing down the edges of the crate was the biggest challenge. In this render I have used the same process as the other crate. This time though, I have used a plane as a floor and applied a reflective material onto it, this again, helps me and the game designer get a visual of what the assets will look like in game.

Health Pack/Safe.

At first, there where plans in which this object was going to be a health pack that the player picks up. We all had a team meeting and decided that it would make more sense if the health pick up would be the tubes on the enemies back. So we were left with this asset and felt that we would rather it not go to waste and still have a part to play in the game. That's when we felt that it would be best as a safe that would be placed on the tables to help fill the environment.

Health Pack/Safe.

I tried a new process of rendering, putting in clear glass. I'm not 100 percent certain whether or not we are going to continue with the glass. It would involve creating an inside for the safe. Also if it is a safe, we would want to present to the viewer what the people of this facility are hiding in the safe. We will apply a material the casing that will be different to the panel. This will separate the two sections.

 

Some of the Dynamic Props to feature in the Game.

We decided as a team that we were going to create objects that will be moving in the game. They will have physics behind them and certain objects, the player will be able to interact with. Again, I was working closely with the props artist Rastislav. He gave me a list of objects to construct, with some concepts. Others I had to make up or gain reference for. 

As the objects were going to use their own materials and maps, the idea was that I would have all the assets set up on the same texture sheet and apply the maps as a material to several different models. By using colour I.D's that I used in the gun, we can decided individually what model will have which material. This will save us on texture sheets, in which we are limited on.

I have split the assets into two different sections, "Assets_01" and "Assets_02". This means that each object has perfect sized materials and its easier to manage.

The Dynamic Props getting Mapped.

As you can see from the picture above I have managed to U.V unwrap the first set of dynamic assets. All the objects that I want to texture on the same map, then, like the gun, I press the "Layout" button so that all of the U.V's are on the same map and will not overlap each other. I have tried to keep the U.V's as neat as possible, so that when I come texturing the assets, there will be no stretch or distortion.

The Colour ID Map generated for the Dynamic Assets.

I tried a different process this time when it came to creating a Colour I.D map. Using the rendering process "Turtle", I applied coloured lambets to the objects that I wanted to have different materials on. Then I opened up the renderer to and converted it to bake an albedo map with the colours still attached to the U.V's. I then had all of the objects that I wanted on the texture sheet selected and then by simply rendered the current scene. This gave me a perfect colour ID map and saved me a lot of time, instead of having to go in manually like the process that I took with my gun.

Extra Dynamic Assets to go in Game (Mainly Transparent).

Not forgetting that I also had extra assets, these where also dynamic, but I felt that it would help the work flow to split the dynamic assets in half. As I had 20 assets in total, a 10/10 split felt necessary. Again, I copied the same process as before. These objects where more transparent than anything. Ben had already made a fantastic glass texture, but I felt it needed to thicker, I took the texture and modified to create my own thick plastic material. Ben had done the majority of the work of this material, I just copied it and turned up the specular gloss opacity, so that it would appear thicker on the texture. This suited the majority of the objects perfectly.

Extra Dynamic Assets being Mapped.

As you can see from the image above, the U.V's are laid out neatly, ready for the texturing process. As I had already created the material "Thick Plastic" the majority of it didn't need on this texture sheet. If I were to do it here, it would affect all the other materials, which is something that I dont want to happen. This was discovered after going through the mapping and Colour I.D process, so they appeared on these maps, but were not affected by the materials applied on it.

Colour I.D Maps for the Extra Assets.

I also used the same process that I used for the colour I.D map before. This was because it was a very easy and quick process and managed to save me a fair amount of time. The green parts of the I.D map are the meshes that were going to be transparent, so they will not be relevant to this map.

Propane Tank.

This is a propane tank that I decided to model. I was told by the game developer, that if we had time, it would be interesting to have a object explode if you shoot it. So I went away and looked up real life references for a propane tank. Using images I found on the internet, I managed to construct a decent model of a propane tank. It will be good to put this asset in scene, even if we dont get the chance to make them explode, as it will help fill up the scene.

Lab Goggles.

The goggle have two different materials applied to them, one being the transparent plastic that I had modified from Ben's glass texture earlier and the other one being a black fabric which would represent the strap of the goggles. This has an interesting shape to it, I used the Curve tool to create the strap, which game me decent representation. The goggles, I feel, was a decent model with not too many tries in it. As it was transparent, the inside of the goggles had to be modelled as well.

Scalpel.

This is an assets that I had made of a simple surgical scalpel. As this was a research and development facility, with the addition of the chunk of flesh that is located in the centre of the map, I felt that this asset suited the project perfectly. There will be a shiny metal texture that will be attached to it.

Scissors.

I created a set of scissors to feature in our game. The problem is that for something as small as this, it has far too many polys in it. I was trying to make a real life model and at the time didn't take any consideration on how it will affect the game. So If I were to create this again, I would at least aim to half the poly count. It will also use a shiny material.

Test Tube Lab.

This was a simple model to create, but again, perhaps there are too many polys for such a small object. As a research facility, there will be many of these spread around the map, so it may affect the game play, which is something we may wish to avoid. This will use that see through plastic material that I modified. It will also come in a pair with another assets that I made, which is a "Test Tube Rack".

Test Tube Rack.

The reference that I used for this object was a school test tube rack. Obvious to its name, it will hold the test tube and display them. This was as low poly as I could get the rack, especially with the holes in the mesh. I used the same method that I previously used in the gun barrel, which gave me a great result. As you can see, the holes aren't a fully round circle, this is to save on the poly count, with the main effort behind these assets being dedicated to making them low poly, so it doesn't take many tris out of our maximum.

Wet Floor Sign.

In the concept that Razvan had created, he featured a wet floor sign, I felt that not only was this an easy asset to construct, but it was also more interesting to the scene. It has a fairly simple shape to it, with a traditional yellow plastic that will be applied to it. I will also go into the make and add text which reads "Wet Floor".

Fire Extinguisher.

The fire extinguisher was created off of a piece of concept art that was created by Rastislav. It was an interesting, more futuristic take on the fire extinguisher. So I followed the design closely and came up with a great result. This will be the basic textures that will be attached to it, Making it stand out on the grey shiny walls.

I was happy with the amount of assets that had been created, with them being scattered around the map. The next step of the process was to move on with the texturing process as all the assets had been mapped.

The tri count for all the assets in total, including the gun, numbers up to just under 70,00. This was great as it gave our other Environment artist (Ben Matthews) and Character artist (Jay Pickett) a decent amount to progress with their part of the work.