Intro
Underneath you will find my evaluation of this entire project in different segments. I am analyzing each task I did throughout the project and looking at what I succeeded in as well as what I did wrong and how I could solve this issue in another way. I will also go over the issues I resolved how they helped me improve on that task and how this will help me on future projects.
What was this project?
This project was in a group of five that all had the same goal and different skill sets to come up with and create a functional multiplayer, first-person shooter with a couple of game modes such as team deathmatch and free-for-all all. These game modes would both be played on a one map that Kyle and I both developed.
My role in this project was to design and develop a map that would consider the game mechanics that the programmers would be making. I also had to consider the weapons that were being made by the other 3D artist, as this would impact the gameplay but the most important part is making sure the map is fun and diverse. I worked closely with Kyle during the planning and development as he was taking on some of the workload as well as him being the only other 3D artist that would be able to help and overlook my work. I aimed to take screenshots and videos of my work to show the process and progress over the eleven weeks.
Arguably the most important part is the evaluation, which will help me understand my imperfections in the project as well as highlight what I did well. This will help me learn and improve my skills as well as make sure that there are areas in which I have not learnt at all and can have the necessary time dedicated to understanding these areas. To be more precise, I can look at the personal goals that I set from my previous project to see if my time management skills have improved, my skills in Adobe Substance 3D Painter have enhanced and my topology techniques are cleaner. I will also be able to analyse the industry skills I have such as 3D Modelling, texturing, research and planning.
Below you can find my evaluation for each topic in the drop-down boxes:
Proposal
From the start, the proposal was built on multiple pre-existing games that conveyed our ideas for the project which determined what I would be making for the next eleven weeks. There were different segments with varied word count goals on the proposal that had to be met.
These segments involved:
Pathway preferred media specialism was the first topic that had to be answered as this section determined what area I would be working in. This had to be a small explanation and a small analysis of what I have succeeded in and what I have the most interest in. The project rationale is an analysis of all of my previous projects and a big explanation of what I learned what skill sets I have gained from those projects and why these will be useful for me in this project. The project concept is an overview of what our idea for the game project is as well as pointing out what my personal goals are that I want to gain from this project. Reflection and evaluation is a small plan for how I will asses myself after the production phase. This will allow me to get the most from this project and will allow me time to see where I have gone wrong and right throughout this project. Lastly, resources and a bibliography are how I will showcase my primary and secondary research on my blog.
During the first week of this project, I immediately started on the proposal as this would make sure that I knew what I was doing. However, my attention was divided for the very first week as we had an industry week which I had to work on. During the first week, I worked away at the segments but I did not get as much work as I wanted to get done. The second week my attention wasn't divided which meant I managed to get all of the proposal finished. One problem I have had is that our map idea changed between week three and week four which meant that some of the proposed ideas were now incorrect. This was mainly an issue with the time planner which I will go into further detail on down below.
Time Planner
The time planner played a massive part in the first half of this project but failed me in the last three weeks of production. This was due to my team member Kyle and I changing our minds on the map design which meant the things we had planned to create were now not a part of the plan. This meant I had to go off the top of my head and keep mental notes on what I had left to do which made this more stressful than what it had to be.
On the other hand, the time planner was very useful for my research as it guided me through all the stages that I had to do such as my primary and secondary research as well as reminding me to do my survey at the right time. This showed me what I should be focusing on in different weeks and showing me what I should be expected to complete before it's too late. I aimed to stick to this time planner throughout the whole project as it allowed me time to research, plan and produce whilst giving me time to check through my work and then evaluate the whole project at the end.
To help secure success with the time planner, I referred back to my project concept to make sure that all the work I had to complete was on the time planner and spread evenly throughout the eleven weeks so that I would not be really stressed on certain weeks and then on others have nothing to complete. I think I did this to a poor standard as I was struggling to finish off my props in week seven which was stressful when I knew I had more complex models to start on and they weren't something that I could delay as they are the main piece to my puzzle.
To conclude the whole-time planner, I think it was very useful in the early weeks of my research as I stayed on course for each of the weeks and efficiently produced a great amount of work. In the second half, I either underestimated the amount of time I needed or did not accommodate for the unseen issues I would face during the production of my props. This is making my conclusions hard to reach as I still would have struggled in the production phase on the building and crane if I had given myself more time on the props.
Planning consisted of me researching many topics such as colour and shape theory, looking at the props I would need as well as the the kind of building design I wanted to create. This all fell into one place for me which was mood boards. To do this I used a website called Miro where I created many frames which had loads of images on everything I intended to create. This was very useful for me as it allowed me to organize all of my work into sections. The first section had all of my props which was completed first as this was the first thing to do on my time planner. The next mood board was the map layout designs and mainly getting an idea from pre-existing games such as Call Of Duty as this determined what sizes and shapes our buildings would be.
For level planning I worked on a grey box scene which determined the layout and the kind of buildings we would have to make for our game as well as the props that would fill out the remaining areas. This worked out very well for us as we realized the original theme we had planned to make was hard to organize and make it seem natural in the grey box scene. This is when we decided to make the final grey box, which was a really good guide throughout our entire project.
Looking back on this part of the planning I would not change a thing as it was so useful to keep going back on and a good reminder for things we still needed to research or produce. One thing that we failed was having an accurate scale. This meant that everything Kyle and I made was different sizes and even when moving them over to the Unity project they were ten times smaller than what they should have been. This is an unclear area for me and something that I want to look into and get right on the next project as it caused many issues and wasted a lot of time by having to scale everything to a rough height by eye instead of having a set size to change it to.
Primary research was useful for me because it allowed me to ask questions about topics I was unsure of or to see if I had missed anything asking what props you expect to see in a first-person shooter allowed me to gather feedback and make sure that I had not missed any props off my list of things to create. I would do this survey again next time as it is always helpful to have other people's opinions on the things I plan to research and produce. Looking back I wish I stuck to my plan of making three of these surveys because the first one was so helpful. However, I did not know what to ask for my second one and the last one was supposed to be gathering feedback on the models I had created but I could not fabricate the survey in time as I was still making some of my models on the very last days of my production due to unforeseen delays.
Secondary research was the least useful as colour theory was informative but turned out to be useless when texturing my level as this was not something I took into consideration. Looking back I wish I had used this more as my buildings and props could have been colour-graded better. This would have led to a better result so knowing this I will look more in depth into my colour theory on my next project so that I can improve on my overall environment visuals. Shape theory was something that got left behind when 3D modelling as I was not creating anything that was supposed to be like my own version of modern architecture. Shape theory just turned out to be a waste of my time as I never looked back on how to incorporate this into my designs. For future projects, I hope to include shape theory as I create more interesting designs where I can have a free choice of ideas and strive for intriguing shapes and layouts.
My part in the collaborative research was to find out our age rating
The weekly logs were useful so that I could summarize everything that I had achieved that week or take notes for next week for things that I still have to complete but could have used the weekly logs in a better way such as creating a simple list of things that have been backlogged for me. This way I would look back on my weekly logs and give them more purpose. I made the weekly logs hard for myself as I did not complete them at the end of the week like I was supposed to which meant that these were done a week later so I could not remember everything I did. Looking back I wish I completed these to a better standard and made them more useful for me so that I'm not wasting time doing a basic summarization. This is something I will work on on my next big project so that I'm utilizing everything I produce. If I could do this again I would be strict on myself to do more work and further explain the issues I've had in that week so I can learn from my mistakes and take them into the next week.
When starting my production pipeline I went in order of doing all my props then moved on to my main piece which was the building and then squeezed in at the end was my crane. Looking back on this I should have put more time into what order I did these in as it would have sense to start with the main building as this was a key part of my work whereas the props are smaller and less important. This would have allowed me to miss out on any props if I did not have the time to complete them but now I have an unfinished crane in the final product because I did not have the time to UV unwrap and texture it all. One thing I would do differently next time is spend more time constructing a better workflow and managing my time so that I am not under a lot of pressure towards the end.
Prop modelling went smoothly across the board as I did not run into any major issues that held me back. When looking at my prop modelling process, I would not change a thing as I think this went well for me. I hope to follow the same steps on my next project as the rhythm and flow of making these props this time around was really good. The couple of YouTube tutorials I watched beforehand like the shipping container and the crate videos were really helpful as I did not know where to start when making these props and were used as more of a work flop tutorial rather than how to 3D model these props. I would have done this for all of my props but the lack of YouTube videos made this impossible to do, however, I now have my own YouTube videos if I were to ever revisit these models with intentions of creating them again.
UV unwrapping my props proved to be difficult when learning it through trial and error as my experience in UV unwrapping is slim to none. Looking back on the number of small issues that held me behind, I wish I researched UV unwrapping more so that I could have a better understanding of how the whole process works. I have learnt a lot through doing this trial and error process such as when using a duplicated prop to make sure that it is UV unwrapped so that I do not have to repeat the same process on an object that I have already done. Next time I am going to research UV unwrapping so that it is not as difficult as it was this time around as well as practicing beforehand so that I can build my confidence in this process. This will make sure that I am not held behind on my next project like I was this time.
Another thing I failed on was texture resolutions. I originally thought that when I exported my textures from Adobe Substance Painter they would be really clear and look like a 4K texture. However, this was not the case as I needed to make my models the right texel density in Autodesk Maya which is something I have recently learned how to do. Next time I will practice using this method so that all my models are the right resolution based on their sizes as this will better optimize the game because on my pallet model, I had an in-depth 4k texture on an object that did not need it but on the flip side my shipping containers had blurred scratches and an overall low, poor quality.
Prop texturing had its fair share of issues, however, this mainly relates to me not properly UV unwrapping half of my props and I would find this out in Adobe Substance Painter which meant I would have to go back to Autodesk Maya. After fixing the issues, texturing went pretty well, however, I am not happy with some of my choices of materials and a prime example of this is the crate texture as these are made out of planks of wood. Mine does not resemble that in the slightest but this same texture worked well on my pallet model as this wood is obvious where the planks are. One good thing about the pallet model that I am proud of is the nail heads that I painted on as I have never done this. Before starting my next project I want to get more practice with painting on other textures as I recently learned that you can paint things on such as stickers and general writing. I believe this would boost my texturing skills and bring my models to the next level if I were to achieve this.
Another thing I am not happy with is my drum barrel as I originally did this wrong in the video I uploaded because I made it a plastic material instead of a metal material which is what I researched. So I went back and quickly changed this to look metal but upon rendering this prop I found that it was reflective. When I tried to fix this issue I found that I could not because it was a set material where you could only change the colours. This is why I want to be able to make my materials from scratch so that I have complete control over all the different properties and feel this would be a lot more rewarding for me if I could do this. Next time, I will look further into texturing and creating my materials so that I can fix these small issues as well as achieve this goal of mine.
My concrete barrier was so close to perfection but was let down by two problems. The first issue was the stretched texture on one of the faces that I never got around to fixing as this was not a priority at that time but I am sure that this was only due to me not unfolding that one face. The second issue was when it came to rendering the concrete barrier on a turntable as I lost all the quality in my texture. I tried a couple of ways of fixing this such as turning the samples up to 256 when rendering but this did not seem to change the smoothness of this object. Next time I want to have more time to look into issues like this so I will consider giving myself more time on the time planner so that I can troubleshoot these issues.
Overall, I am happy with the props I have produced but I feel like I could have done more if I did not have all the complications when UV unwrapping. I think that this was my biggest letdown because it should have been a simple process that I somehow kept failing on. This had a massive knock-on effect when heading into my production of the building as I felt that this would turn out disastrous. I am happy with some of my models such as the pallet and concrete barrier as I feel these turned out realistic which is what I originally aimed for. Looking back on this prop production phase, I do not think I would or could change anything that would prevent or fix the issues I had and is just an unfortunate queue of events.
To a certain degree, I feel like I did not model this final building as this building was the same one from my grey box scene due to me being heavily concerned about the time I had left to get this completed. This meant that I added on to the current grey box instead of starting from scratch again. Looking back on this choice I would not change it as the building design turned out exactly how I wanted it to. Modelling this building was nerve-racking as I had never worked on something as big as this before and it was a completely new area for me, however, I had plenty of drawings to refer to so that it was accurate to how I originally planned.
As mentioned previously, scale was an issue when putting all the pieces together and one way I would like to improve on that when modelling is in my drawings as I did not have any scale to refer to. This would have helped me in many ways such as knowing how big to make the doorframes and window sizes as well as how high the ceiling should be. This is seen in the top half of my building as the ceiling seems a lot smaller when compared to the first floor. Next time, with an accurate scale, I would like to try making a modular building, meaning I would create separate walls that are all different from each other and then slot together to make the building. This would in return allow me to make multiple buildings that are different from each other, meaning I could take on the other building that was in our grey box level with confidence instead of my team member Kyle Williams.
The most time-consuming part of creating this building would have to be the stud walls I had created on the second floor as these were painful to UV unwrap because once again I had not UV unwrapped an object that I knew was going to be duplicated. This would have saved a couple of hours as well as my sanity and is something I will be on the lookout for on my next project. Another way to save time on these stud walls would have been on the texturing because I later found out that if I put all the UV unwraps overlaying each other they would be textured all at once. This means that I would not have to face select all of them individually which would save countless hours. The same can be applied to the UPVC windows I had created as the majority of these were similar sizes. The windows were a quick process as I had learned from my past mistakes with the UV unwrapping as I only had to do this a few times for the ones that were a different size.
One grey area for me is the choice of textures which comes back to my research. I did not do any research into textures which then proved difficult when trying to texture my hotel. One particular part that I am not happy with is the bottom two floors which have this old stone look to them. At first, I did not think they were too bad however, they do not fit the theme that was intended and this is something that my team members agree with. Next time I want to dedicate the time to look in depth at the different types of materials my 3D models are supposed to have so that I can have more accurate-looking models in my future projects.
One thing I am disappointed in is the billboard not being complete as this covers a big section of my building which now looks very boring as there are no windows to break it up. The reason for not completing this was due to I did not have the time to learn how to paint pictures onto an object in Substance Painter. Before my next project, I want to learn how to do this with confidence as it could add a whole new level of detail to my models.
Overall, I exceeded my expectations with this hotel as I initially doubted my capabilities. I think that I gave this my best shot knowing I had never tried anything in this region before. The part I am the most proud of would have to be the floor layouts as I felt that this mattered the most because I wanted to have a balanced layout that meant that no player would be at an advantage or disadvantage. My reasoning for this is when I look at other maps such as Nuketown as this is one of the most iconic maps that I used to play and I someday would hope to create something as iconic as this map. I have found some weaknesses in my building production but this is something I expected as this is my first time attempting a full building. Recognizing these flaws will mean that I can learn and improve next time as I enjoyed every step when making this 3D model.
The outcome of my buildings, props and level design is something I am very proud of. I managed to meet the initial goals that I set out to do throughout this eleven-week project and proved what I am capable of. Putting myself in the deep end forced me to push back and be better than what I was and for me, this is the way forward on future projects as this showed me that this is the way forward in learning.
One thing I would change is the amount of preparation I did before getting on with 3D modelling. This would mean looking into YouTube tutorials that would show me how to UV unwrap as this was one of my biggest hurdles in the production phase. This would have saved a lot of time as I would have been clear on what I had to do to get successful UVs and hopefully avoid all the problems I ran into. I will be considering this when working on my next project as this was my most valuable lesson during this project and I would not want this project to not be a stepping stone in the right direction.
Unfortunately, I did not receive any feedback on my final product as I never got the chance to do so. This would have been critical to show whether this final product was any good as the only opinions on this are from myself and my team members who for the most part will like it. Having that outside feedback would have allowed me to see the strengths and weaknesses of this final product from an outside perspective meaning I could have more things to improve on that I do not already know about.
This product exceeded my expectations as they were not high, to begin with, however, I am still more than happy with how this turned out. The layout and theme can be seen throughout the map as it all works cohesively which is the most impressive part considering I did not make everything on the map. I think this shows good communication between me and Kyle Williams as we worked closely to make sure nothing seemed out of place.
Now that I have finished the project, I am happy with the outcome and the gained confidence in my perseverance to complete the task at hand to the best ability. The high amount of issues I have faced throughout the production phase and throwing myself in the deep end to try and complete something I have previously never attempted has made me realize that I am capable of doing these challenging tasks. Something that helped me to keep pushing through the difficult times was knowing what the final product could look like and this kept my motivation high throughout the entire project. I have learned many valuable tips and tricks as well as basic knowledge of software that I am not comfortable with such as Adobe Substance Painter.
I am happy with the progress I have made in this eleven-week project and I am excited for what future projects will throw at me as I realize that the fun parts for me are learning something new or finally fixing something that I have been struggling with. Doing these projects exposes all of my weaknesses and strengths as a 3D modeler and team member which then gives me the space to improve and overcome so that I can be better for the next project I work on.