Exploring the Naumachia of Parc Monceau with Minsar : Part 2
How I found and chose the assets
This is the second part of a four-part article presenting the technical and conceptual work-through of the experience:
- Part 1 — Context
The building itself, why I chose it for my experimentation and what were the goals of the experience. - Part 2 — How I found and chose the assets
The search for the assets, and why I chose them - Part 3 — How to optimize 3D models for real time applications
Basic concepts to use when you know very little about 3D modeling for real time applications - Part 4 — How I prepared the scene in Blender before importing it in Minsar for the final result
Temporary workaround in Blender, and experience crafting in Minsar!
Recreation of the experience we can see in Opuscope’s first video
In Opuscope’s first video, we can see the reconstruction of a naval battle, with two ships which sink each other, and with our CEO Soraya Jaber who interacts with an informative UI. I wanted to reproduce that experience as faithfully as possible. As a result, the very first 3D object I needed was of course a ship.
As I explained in the first part, Minsar is not a 3D-modeling tool: it allows the user to create entire scenographies and experiences by importing already-created content (personal or acquired through a 3D provider). That is why I had to create or find my assets before importing them in the software.I could have modeled them myself, but two reasons pushed me to try and find them on the internet: I can model but I’m far from being a professional at it, which leads to the second reason: I wanted to do the experience quickly. However modeling the ship myself could easily have taken several days. Fortunately, there are a lot of websites where you can search for ready-to-use 3D models: CGTrader, Turbosquid, or Archive3D. There are also great 3D providers such as Sketchfab, Google Poly or 3D.io. Soon, it will be possible to import directly in Minsar from Google Poly or 3D.io, as it is now the case for Sketchfab models.
To know what I had to search, I started by documenting myself on the type of ships that were used during antique Naumachias. I read that triremes, biremes and quadriremes were frequently used. On Sketchfab, I searched “Trireme” and I found this magnificient model by Alint. In the description, Alint explains that the boat was inspired by a Greek model.
It seemed satisfactory to me, and there, we can see that I was confronted for the first time to the question of historicity versus interpretation. I could have chosen any boat, maybe even a model from a video game, yet I felt it was better to find as plausible a model as possible. Indeed, I wanted a schematic experience, yet I wanted to put some historical feel in it.
Hiring the crew
A warship without any warriors is hardly a warship at all! I found very cool low-poly models by Marcofaci. I liked these models immediately, first because they were low-poly (and I couldn’t prevent myself to think about triangle optimization), and second because their schematic aspect fell completely into place with the general idea I had for the experience. And more, I had a gladiator AND a Roman character, which gave me the opportunity to make at least two different sides in the battle.
Yet there I had a problem: the Roman soldier was perfect, but I was a little bit more disturbed by the gladiator… Actually I would have rather had a Greek warrior. Of course, the gladiator could have been Greek, and using a gladiator also made sense since this was a reconstruction of a reconstruction, which was itself initially acted by men condemned to death sentence. Yet, I wanted it to be clear visually, I felt that having specific symbols and attitudes was best in the context of a schematic reconstitution: that is why I slightly modified Marcofaci’s gladiator. I cut his head, and duplicated the roman’s to put it on the gladiator’s shoulders as well. Let us note, here, that this technical manipulation was induced by a pure artistic choice, and that I could very well have imported the gladiator in Minsar as it was originally designed.
Arming the men
Then, I downloaded a Spartan helmet made by Anthony Yaez, and I modified it a little (I’ll explain why and how in the third part). Then I proceeded to texture it in Substance Painter: I tried to follow the same style as the roman texture, both stylized but with some subtle color variations.
After that, I duplicated the Roman’s sword and put it in my new Greek officer’s hand. I also wanted both warriors to have shields. For the Greek warrior, I downloaded Gamekorp’s Greek weapons set, and I took Kingy’s Scutum for my Roman warrior.
In this second part, I explained how I found and chose the assets I wanted to use for my experience. I also explained why I made some particular artistic choices which led to some technical manipulations of the assets, which wouldn’t have been necessary had I decided to use them directly in Minsar. In the third part, we will enter much more into the technical detail of how you can optimize 3D models for real time applications.
