References

Continuing on with the theme of Tikki culture of the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand that I used for assignment 1, These are the image references that helped me understand the shapes of Polynesian warriors and what kind of weapons they used. I know I want to create some kind of Guardian that would stay in the temple to keep watch over the valuable Idol.
I think it would be kind of funny to make a really buff stone golem type of character.

Along with Polynesian people I also researched lost temples and some more Tikki culture. I noticed common building pieces of large mossy stones, and Tikki Totem poles as well as the setting for these places being hidden deep in the jungle.

Sketches

Here he is! The Idol Guardian. This was my first time using a tablet pen to draw and I was surprised how much easier it made things. I just started drawing using my Idol as a head and continued the Jade/Gold/Red aesthetic all the way down and it just sort of came together. Polynesian culture has a lot of tattoo's that are often repeating shapes and lines, so I wanted my guardian to have them all over as well. I wanted him to have a traditional weapon that the islanders would have used, through my research I discovered that they are generally made of hard wood and adorned with shark teeth.

I added the weapon just for thematic purposes I don't plan on actually modeling it as it would be too complicated and isn't necessary

Modelling

Some progress shots of the modeling process, I made sure to be extra careful to try and keep the topology lines clean as I knew that if I didn't it would cause all kinds of hell when it came to animating.

This is the final pre-smoothed body that will be exported to Mudbox. Along with getting the shape/topology right I made sure to include the key definition lines that will help serve as a base for when I build muscle on with sculpting.

This is the final smoothed mesh I will be importing into Mudbox. (same as wireframe above)
I'm pretty happy with the overall shape of the model.
The main things I will be adding in Mudbox are muscle definition, this guardian is about to hit the Mudbox gym and bulk up! Along with 30kg of muscle I am also going to add the tattoo's as I want them to be 3D to give some variation in the skin.
I also need to re-sculpt the details on the idol itself, this will just be a repeat of what I did in assignment 1.

Sculpting

After 5 levels of subdivisions I was happy with the shape and level of detail and had all the modifications I set out to make on the model. I tried to keep the muscles as human as I could, I used pictures of body builders as reference for what each muscle would look like when pushed to the limit.

I am very happy with how this turned out and now I am now ready to export to substance painter and start texturing.

This is the new low poly model with the sculpting added in.

Here are some close ups of the final topology for marking purposes.
The only issue I have with it is that I put the elbow on the side of the arm instead of further around to the back.
Other than that I'm very happy with it.

UV Maps/Textures

UV map for the Guardian

Here is my final model for importing into Unreal Engine

Animations

Here are the 4 animations I chose to bring my Guardian to life.
Each of the animations represents a different stage of the Guardian as you approach and try to take the Idol.

Unreal Engine Digital World

First things first, I needed to create a grey-box skeleton to serve as a guide when building the cave.

I chose a hexagonal shape for no other reason other than that I like hexagons, from there I worked on thinking about the main pieces of the cave.
- 2x walls
- Totem pole
- Idol Alter

For the walls I knew I wanted one flat stone wall and one with an area for offerings, like I had in assignment 1. I imagined that if this temple were real, when the people came to pray to the idol they would bring offerings to leave for their gods. I wanted to create a space where they could do just that.

Once I had these main pieces in place I looked for areas that seemed empty, that ended up being the floor and the air space.
I decided to add some kind of hanging artifact that can connect all the poles together and some benches on the floor.
once these were added the whole room felt like it came together.

Here I sketched over a screenshot to finalise what each piece in the cave would be.
For the bespoke elements I decided on having hanging chains on the roof connected to a wooden hexagon, as well as wooden benches and totem poles.

Now that the plan is sorted I needed to collect some assets from Quixel to use as building blocks for the cave. Keeping with the original theme from the references I collected mostly mossy rocks. the only built objects I needed where for the door and frame as well as the offering benches.

Two wall variants on the grey-box.

I found these Tikki heads on sketchfab, they are exactly what I was looking for when I imagined what the totem pole would look like.

Here I tested a bunch of different wood surface textures to see which one would match best. I ended up modifying one that I liked the colour of and added some roughness to get rid of the shine.

Here is the totem pole.
I ended up needing to double up on one of the heads to reach the height but I think it works really well.

Here is all the current pieces put into place, can see the shape of the cave starting to form. I like it so far.

Here is the doorway with the combined pieces I had selected above. I'm happy that even though its brick it still blends in seamlessly with with rest of the rock walls

When making the chains I found this chain pack on Quixel, I tried using the metre long chain and using the warp function in unreal to bend it to shape. I needed 3 of the metre chains to reach the whole way but after trying for a good while I couldn't get the chains to appear as one continuous chain, the bends just didn't line up right no matter how I tinkered with it.

Chains placed one link at a time lined up with the grey-box.

Chains on their own.

Here is the cave with all the main features that are built using Quixel. I think its coming along very nicely, and besides the chain there hasn't been any problems so far.

Once the main structure was completed its time to turn out the lights, I used the geometry tools to construct a hollow box to surround the structure. I also added a little extra rectangular prism to serve as a small hallway outside of the main room. I think it will help add some variation to the walls as you pan around.

These are the two bench seats that sit either side of the Alter, I just made these in Maya and exported as FBX and then slapped a wood surface texture on them. looks great.

Alter Model and wireframe.

Alter UV map and Texture

Here is the final Alter model.
I chose this shape because it has a nice surface area for some detail but the top comes inward and focuses the eye to the platform.
As for the texture, I wanted the alter seem like an expensive luxury item and for it to stand out amongst the other colours and shapes in the cave already, so I used marble as the base and then added gold to the rim.
I also used the same red highlights that both the Idol and the Guardian have.
And to top it all off I put a hexagon decal on the platform to keep consistency with shapes.

Lastly I added a circle of gold to the floor to further highlight the importance of the alter + Idol.

Here's what it all looks like together.

!!!DISASTER STRIKES!!!

During my week 13 lab I had a great 6 hour session where I completed my project to about 95%. But when I got home and tried to open it I found it was no where on my portable hard drive.
I only had the version up to the picture above.
When I first opened my project in the lab I was prompted by unreal to make a copy of the project folder as the engine version on the lab computers was different to the one I have installed at home.
I naively assumed the copy version would be saved on my drive where the original project folder was, sadly this was not the case. Even though I saved my project 1000 times it was only ever saved to the copy folder on the lab computer, and when I logged out to go home it was all deleted.
I had lost ALL my progress, and was very sad.
The only remaining evidence I had that I had even made any progress was a single image I took to show my friends what I was working on that day.

Now that all this work is gone forever, you could say that this is the TRUE Lost Temple.
For it will never be found again.
R.I.P.

Unreal Engine Digital World Pt.2

Alas, I cannot give in, I will learn from my mistakes and move forward towards the projects completion.

Here I added a forest floor surface texture, and then some more stones and rocks to make it 3D and blend better with the rest of the cave.

I then filled the roof with boulders in the same way I built the walls, as well as added the wooden hexagon in the middle of the chains.

Next I stretched some large stone pieces to make the walls/roof/floor of the hallway and I also added some point lights around the cave where I plan to have flaming torches.

I then added my Idol in from the previous assignment. I love the way it looks on the Alter and the gold circle really ties it all together.

Next was the Guardians, I placed them around the Idol so it looked like they were Guarding it or performing some kind of ritual.

I made one last trip to Quixel to collect some clay items that could be used for offerings and placed them around the cave on the tables

Here is the 3 different bench areas fully set up, I didn't really have an idea about how to place them, I just tried my best to make it seem like they were used or placed deliberately by a human.

For the main lighting I wanted some flaming torches on the walls and then a God Ray coming down from a hole in the ceiling. I played around with the environment lighting settings until I had the right amount of fog and light.

To top it off I added some ferns surrounding the hole at the top in order to give the light a more natural and real world look.

Continuing on with plants, I added some grass sparingly to the floor of the cave, as well as some crawling vines around the stone walls. This helped a lot to break up the "samey-ness" of the repeated wall pieces.

And with that the scene is DONE! Time to make some rendered stills and a video.

Renders

The End