ASSETS: Creation Process

Here we will go over the overall process our assets underwent in order to reach completion, addressing our approach how we solved the problems we encountered.

Power Plant models

Firstly, due to the intrinsically futuristic and sci-fi nature of the power plant; myself and the rest of the modelling team used the references selected by our producer, this was a straight forward way of bringing the models to fruition in a short space of time with a lack of concept artist; and given the enormity of the power plant: it ensured that the aesthetic throughout this part of the game was streamlined and consistent. Of course the reference was still merely a guide, which we could use to direct our own artistic ideas and approach.

Outskirts house models

For the outskirts house models, I took a different approach. I generally started by collecting images of ephemeral objects and creating a sort of mood board using Kuadro; I then presumed by creating a general block out of the asset I wanted to create and started to shape it according to the general aesthetic of the game and art bible. Technically, given the short space of time and the great amount of assets required; increasing turnout and efficiency was paramount. Short cuts such as shift right click in Maya (enabling me to access the required tools easily) were very useful in terms of increasing turnover of assets.

Figure 3 Asset Reference Image

Figure 4 Easy access of tools to increase efficiency

Towards the end of the modelling process I gained more confidence to play around with artistic presentation of the model to create a worn appearance more in line with the post-apocalyptic disserted feel of the game. I achieved this by deleting and extruding in edges and faces; additionally, I distorted vertices to add to the weathered appearance.

Figure 5 Creating worn look using only tools in Maya

Texturing

Figure 6 Polygon fill tool in combination with brushes

In terms of texturing , this process was relatively straight forward; it required firstly uving in Maya which was mostly staright forward , the most challenging asset was probably the house given its enormity and having to fit everything into one UDIM.

After Uving, it was texturing next , for this I used Substance Painter; it was pretty straight forward for the most part. Since the textures are flat , polygon fill was the main tool used in combination with the use of brushes to give the textures abit more character.

The biggest challenge I faced when it came to texturing exporting the house textures from Substance Painter. when I exported the house asset from Maya; after combining the different rooms together I did not then apply one shader for all objects combined or I was not aware of the extra effort required to plug the separate texture set in once exported into Unreal. Not having the same shader for all combined parts of the model meant random parts of the house were on different texture sets strewn all over. Which although was useful when navigating around the different parts to texture in Substance Painter with better accessibility and visibility; was also very challenging when exporting the end result textures , it meant more time was required to plug in the different textures in Unreal which was rather inconvinient.