exporting and importing

Exporting from Maya

To get my model ready for export i first selected it and moved it to the centre of the world via its pivot point, I did this so that when the mesh is imported into the game engine it is exactly where placed and not offset because it is done in conjunction with the centre of the world. Once the mesh was placed into the centre of the world I then froze the transformations so that the attributes are reset to the default without losing the geometry , as well as this I then went to edit and deleted by type and selected history so that is deleted the history of my original model . My grid at home was already scaled to the size of that in Unreal 4 so I didn’t have to worry about that I simply went to file and pressed export selection, this then brought up a box with exporting option inside all I needed to change was add smoothing groups to on and then change the type of fbx file it was using I had to change this to 2013 because that is what unreal engine is using.

Importing into Unreal

Once my export was completed I loaded up unreal engine and once I start up my default scene I was finally ready to import, this is the most simple part f the process all I have to do is go to file import and once there I can simply import straight into Unreal 4 and this will give me a box of meshes I have imported and from here I can simply drag the mesh straight into the scene and there we go the mesh is imported into Unreal engine. I Could improve the detail by adding a texture and effects because its not relevant for the brief but I may revisit it in the future.

Asset Creation 2

Asset Creation 2

I thought that my model didn't show my theme well I didn't

really capture the new style reverting to old broken down wasteland look so I decided to go back to the drawing board and look for some inspiration which I found a lot of in the new game fallout 4 which was released not long ago which captures the feeling of a waste land and a modern world decaying back to uncivilised and hostile world. So I began my modelling process again with some major changes like using 3 struts instead of 4 and a platform that attaches  only hallway up the struts instead of the top and the water container being changed to a sphere shape that its on top this change I was happy with because the shape was no longer boring and it still was recognisable as a water tower.

Pillar Asset Peer Review

Pillar Asset Peer Review

Once my pillar was created I went ahead and set up another peer review with my classmates so I could get feedback on what they thought of my pillar, to do this I came up with 3 questions and posted two images of my model so that they could check it out and answer my questions, my three questions were

1. Does the model convey what the pillar is and its function?

2. How could i improve on the design of my model?

3. When it comes to texturing what materials could you recommend to use for the model?

I got some mixed feedback but mostly positive especially on how that its easily recognisable of as a water tower when it came to the texturing question the consensus was that I use a rusted metal type texture for it and bits of wood. Even after this peer review I still feel the shape and design is too basic so I may go back and recreate the design

Heres the link to the peer review

http://my.liv-stu.co.uk/vle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=2343

Asset Creation

Asset Creation

I began the creation of my pillar design with creation of a single cube which would be the base of one of the four struts that would hold my water tower upright, I then began by scaling it to the size I wanted and then I pressed the insert button to change the pivot point location and by holding V I could snap it to one of the corners of the box, once this was done I could duplicate my box to create 4 all together these would be the base for each strut on the water tower, because the pivot point on each cube is snapped to a corner this means I can snap them to the grid and keep everything perfectly aligned and equal space away from each other.

Once this was done I then used the edge loop tool on each of the tope edges to create an inner square and then selected the face in the centre and extruded the face upward on all four of the cubes so they had equal height, I then snapped this top section inward so that the four struts nearly converged into the centre.

I then created another cube to make the platform that would sit on the four struts once it was sized and scaled correctly and positioned in the right place I then had to combine all the sections and stitch them together. I started this by edge looping the platform so that it created four faces that matched the top of the four struts once this was done I then deleted out the faces and then used the selection tool on vertices to move them onto the vertices to be merged with once this process was completed for all of them I then selected them all and used the tool merge components which stitched all the geometry together creating one mesh.

I then went on to create the section of the tower that would actually hold the water this process was simple, I created a cylinder and moved and positioned it on the top of the platform in the centre I then scaled it to the right size and after this was done I had to create a pointed roof section on the top which was simple because cylinder caps have a vertices in the centre so I selected it and moved it up a little bit this created the pointed roof geometry I needed. After this was created I followed the same procedure I used to add the platform and struts together to stich the water container to the rest of the model.

That completed my model but I believe that my model is too low poly and not enough detail but we shall see what people say in the next peer review.

Maya basic toolset

Extrude Tool

The extrude tool is one of the most commonly used tools when it comes to modelling weather this is basic or more complicated models, it’s a tool that can be used on faces, edges and vertices and it takes the selected geometry and extrudes it either outward or inward depending on your requirements and even lets you manipulate the extrusion with the move rotate and scale tools to give even more control over the geometry.

Edge loop, Cut face and Multi-cut tool

Firstly the edge loop tool is used to create looped edge around the mesh along the edge you selected and then circles right back to the beginning point giving a complete loop, this is good when I want to smooth or add extra lines for manipulation of geometry but when the mesh becomes more complicated the edge loop sometimes has problems creating a loop around the whole mesh and can create unnecessary or unwanted edges which can mess up geometry and cause over problems so its good tool to use but is more advisable to be used when at the beginning part of the modelling process.

The next tool which can be used for adding edges is the cut faces tool to use this you must have faces selected and then once you select the faces press on the tool and then drag the mouse to draw the edges but these only cut across the selected faces which can be handy for adding extra edges in very particular places without creating messy geometry and messing with the whole mesh, the downside of this tool is the fact that the line is created free hand and so sometimes the lines are not symmetrical or straight due to the angles in the perspective view port.

The third tool for the creation of edges is an addition that only got added to Maya 2015 and wasn't previously available the tool works by snapping and creating edges between vertices and edges it can also be used to add edge loops by holding CTRL while adding in the edges this will loop around the mesh like the edge loop tool. The downside of this tool is that sometimes in the more intricate parts of the geometry the snapping isn't completely accurate and can give you wonky results and such.

Maya Basic Tools

Maya Basic Tools

UI

The user interface is what holds the whole tool set and options than are inside of the program that is used for 3D modelling, animating and other various purposes.

Channel Box

The channel box shows all the attributes of your selected objects geometry such as position on the x,y and z axis, scale and rotation, this also grants access to more options such as editing the object with more subdivisions, shading options and material editing.

Tool Shelf

The tool shelf contains all the short cuts for all the usable tools when 3D modelling and arranges them into an easy to see and understand shelf that helps to speed up the usage of each tool. If you want to add another tool to the shelf you just control, shift and click the tool in the menu and it will add itself to the shelf on which your using.

View Ports

There is many different options when it comes to the view ports, on its default option there is 4 windows which is the front, side, top and perspective, the most important of these is the perspective view because it allows 3D modelling and editing of geometry in the 3d perspective so you can rotate and move around the object and see it from every side and angle. There is default panel layouts for available also in the Maya UI but I can click on the panel layouts and give change the combination of views I want to use.

Navigation

The navigation tools set can be used with move/scale and rotate objects and geometry made in maya, all of these can be used in conjunction with the selection of edges, faces and vertices, the move tool does what it says and lets you move the object and geometry around the grid and 3d space provided in maya. The scale tool allows you to increase or decrease the scale or size of the object or geometry, and the rotate tool allows you to rotate you objects and geometry in any and every direction and angle.

Asset design Peer Review

Pillar Idea Peer Review

After I finished my design process with the creation of my mood boards mind maps and brainstorms I thought that I could improve on my ideas by creating a peer review so that my peers could review my work and give me feedback on thing that they like or think that I could improve or change just so that my idea is realised to its full potential, for the peer review i showed my two moodboard ideas that were created on Pinterest to my peers with 3 questions to answer

level Moodboard

https://uk.pinterest.com/harleypendleton/level-design-unit-9/

Pillar Mood board

https://uk.pinterest.com/harleypendleton/unit-9-pillar/

This is the first peer review in my design process

http://my.liv-stu.co.uk/vle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=2041

As you can see I had a lot of positive feedback especially concerning the use of a water tower in my level so I decided to keep this idea, the lack of negative feedback was concerning though because I felt like things could be better but all I got was positive feedback so decided to stick to my ideas.

Unit 9 design process

Design phase

This unit is all about designing a level and asset that fits the brief set by the London based studio splash damage, the object must follow the art tests brief but due to the nature of the brief we have been given free reign of the design of the level and pillar, the main focus of the unit is to know the process of creating a asset and exporting it from Maya to unreal engine 4. I'm keeping this blog to show my process in the creation of my asset and to make sure the it fits the parameters of the brief.

Brainstorm

To help me come up with my idea for the design of my level and asset I have decided to start a brainstorm so that I can get multiple ideas down and comb through for the better ideas, this will help me see all my options when it comes to the design process.

(insert brainstorm design page image)

Mind map creation

Once my brain storm was completed I combed through and picked the ideas I like better or thought would work in conjunction with the brief better, mind maps are useful for this because you can go into a lot more detail about your design because you can branch off things like the functions, materials and textures you can apply to the asset/level. But on the flip side mind maps only look at things as a whole and not specific aspects so this can be a problem when showing others your idea they may know where your getting at with your idea but not all the finer details.

(insert Mind map image here)

Mood Board creation

Both my Mood boards were created on Pinterest so that I could explain in greater detail why I picked each reference picture this was better than the original plan of creating mood boards on Photoshop because I can get more information into my mood boards on Pinterest than I can making them in Photoshop , here’s the link to both my mood boards

Level Mood board

https://uk.pinterest.com/harleypendleton/level-design-unit-9/

Pillar Mood board

https://uk.pinterest.com/harleypendleton/unit-9-pillar/