Game Production

Week 9

Initialising Ideas:

In this project, we are being asked to create the 3D model of a house. We're granted total creative liberty as long as the concept is appropriate and plausible within a game; with the freedom of choice, I began by making a few mood boards to consider my options and visualise these ideas before I start putting pen to paper.

Since this concept is the one I'm most drawn to, I also included some prop ideas and carried out some research by observing how Nintendo tackled this concept by utilising the "noclip" website for a detailed look at the environments.

Since I dedicated the majority of the lesson to my mood boards, I only had time to create one iteration for my house block-outs. I built this one up using a plane with multiple segments length and width-wise for flexibility in adjusting the mesh, curving it outwards as it extends upwards. I then selected the vertical middle edge and dragged it upwards to form a triangular roof. Following this, I extruded the top faces outwards to form a roof, followed by the front parts of this area to achieve the sheltering function of a roof. To finalise the roof, I extruded the sides of the roof outwards for a curved effect, adding whimsy to the mesh through curvature. Finally, I used the inset and extrude tool on certain faces to create windows. With the base house done, I cloned it and scaled it down to create a porch/entryway for variation in the model.

Dev Log Evaluation:

I left this session feeling satisfied with my progress, off to a good start with this project. I believe what I learned from the previous project has translated to this one with my efficiency greatly increased and my confidence in creating a mesh much more evident; I'm now aware of preventing ngons, able to build a mesh much quicker and feeling more confident overall.

Since I spent so long on the mood boards, I must aim to get my other block-out iterations finished in the next session so I can start applying visual details in Photoshop and furthering the concept.

Trim Sheet Exercise:

In this session, I continued my work on my house block-out iterations and practiced applying a trim sheet to a 3D asset; trim sheets function similarly to texture sheets, with a 2D image of the textures of your model, but its distinction is that it can be used for multiple faces for the sake of efficiency. This allows you to progress significantly without a lot of work done, since one texture can account for many assets. We were tasked with applying part of a premade trim sheet to a rectangle to create a textured beam to understand the steps of this process before beginning our own versions.

To begin, I pasted in a box primitive, scaled on Z to increase its height, matching the shape of a tall beam. In the material editor, I dragged in a physical material and the downloaded trim sheet, attaching it to base colour and right clicking to assign it to the selected asset.

Next, I applied an unwrap modifier and in the top right dropdown menu, selected the trim sheet material to apply it to the model.

With each face unwrapped and the trim sheet applied, this is what the sheet looked like.

(Before I corrected the unwrap's position.)

The image above portrays the faces slotted into the right areas as I ensured each face matched the texture it was placed on; for heightened immersivity, I placed opposite faces onto the same beam texture so that adjacent faces didn't have the same appearance, breaking plausibility.

With the unwrap complete, I collapsed it and was met with my final result. I pressed F4 to turn off the wireframe for an idea of how this asset may look in an unreal scene. Our tutor informed us that this trim sheet wasn't the best example to work with as the edge dressing is done with added value when the edgewear of the wood should be lighter, showing the exposed inner wood; due to this incorrect texturing, the beam appeared much darker than necessary which was a reminder for us to be aware of the tonality in our trim sheets.

For the next iteration, I wanted to deviate from the slim appearance of the first so I decided to create a house with a front facing porch and a much longer core, with rooms likely on each side. This concept was inspired by some of the houses found on my mood board, aiming to create distinction between each iteration; I furthered this variation by curving the rooves inwards, instead of outwards like the previous one. This alleviates the softness within the scene and establishes a much cozier, approachable atmosphere. I liked the overall layout of this one, but it was feeling bland, which I fixed by pulling the central edges of the roof down so almost all of the edges curved now, feeling fluid and stylised.

For my final iteration, I aimed to increase the complexity of the layout for a more interesting composition. I believe taking it either way can work for my concept - the simpler layouts feel more like a manually baked and built gingerbread house, manageable to build and cute, whereas this one could reflect the gingerbread house concept within a world enveloped in sweets. This would give me plenty of opportunities as everything is built from sweets so any degree of complexity works as I can only really see a literal architect being able to make a gingerbread house with this shape in real life. For this one, I used the first iteration's assets and scaled them to achieve this intricate layout. While this mesh is complex, I believe it's visually interesting with the overlapping sections. The main challenge would be to create so many textures due to all the faces but since we're using trim sheets to cover multiple faces at once, this issue is eliminated.

All Iterations:

Dev Log Evaluation:

With my block-out iterations complete, I'd like to start my concept sketches to understand what colours I'll use, patterns on the building, and details like props surrounding it. I'm feeling satisfied with my workflow as I got these iterations done efficiently, so before I go onto the next step, I'll ask my peers and tutor which house they favour to take that to the next step and polish the mesh.

Overall, this lesson went well and I'm glad I understood the trim sheet tutorial and followed it with ease which is a testament to my improved skill and familiarity within 3Ds Max.

Week 10

Modelling the House's Base:

In this session, I took what I learned in building the house's iterations and began making the developed final model.

Tiling textures are a crucial component to 3D art and asset creation, in which an image without seams can be pasted onto a surface and spread infinitely to cover lots of area with little effort; this can be seen in 3D house models which use the fundamental materials like wooden beams, plaster walls, and stone/brick foundations. Therefore, I plan to analyse the details in each texture both in reality and stylised 3D game art to understand their notable details and extract this info to use in my own textures.

To polish the mesh, in edge constraint mode, I selected certain edge loops that were warped by the scaling and normalised it on the Y axis for a cleaner model.

Dev Log Evaluation:

At this point, I had the general base of the house complete, still needing to add details like beams, windows and the roof beams but I was working at a good pace and feeling ready to start my textures.

Week 11

Starting Textures:

To create the chocolate biscuit, I started with a soft brown and added to it with a chalk brush of lighter, cooler colours and darker, warmer browns reaching red to add hue variation. Then, I blended it with a "scratch blend" brush to establish the biscuity foundation.

Next, I created a layer above the foundation and filled it with a solid brown colour. Going to the "Filter" dropdown tab and choosing "Noise", I applied some for some fuzziness. Lowering the opacity of this layer created subtly in the texture, resembling the grainy surface of biscuits that combine with the softness of baked goods.

Finally, I checked that this tiling texture offset properly in the "Filter" tab, selecting "Offset" and putting in 512 for both units as the file was 1024x1024; I only had to clean up a few seams that were an easy fix so it was ready to import to 3Ds Max.

For the final touches, I took a near-white colour with a brown hue and a special effect brush known as "Splatter" to sprinkle in drops of icing sugar to create the dusted effect. The brush itself is likely used for liquid splatters but using it at a low opacity and selecting the "Size by Pressure" option, drawing lightly with my pen, allowed for gentle sprinkles of sugar.

For the biscuit beams, I started in greyscale to ensure the baked nature of the beams, so thin that the edges are darkened, showed strong contrast. I used the same "Chalk" brush to create the grainy texture in a lighter tone, showing the baked edges which I used a darker tone to emphasize. Finally, I added subtle splatters of sugar to finish the texture in greyscale.

I used a gradient map starting with muted orange and finished with light beige to imitate a shortbread beam. I followed this up with more pronounced splatters of icing sugar, and painted on dark and light splotches to show crumbs. Next, I create a clipping mask layer above the beam with the "Overlay" blend mode selected to change the hue. I used a vibrant coral pink, since it alleviated the warmth and coziness of the shop and topped it off with some light pink around the edges for edge dressing.

Creating Windows:

With these textures completed, I unwrapped and tested them on the current model and they worked fine; my tutor approved of the edge dressing on the beams.

Week 15

Developing the House:

At this point, I had the main areas of the house textures complete so I developed the mesh some more and worked on a few more textures. I was already in a good place for Game Prod so I didn't feel inclined to work on it over Christmas. At this point, I aimed to finish my tiling textures and trim sheet so I could finish the model and gain feedback.

Brick Tiling Texture:

Roof Tiling Texture:

I then unwrapped the foundation and applied it to the brick tiling texture, very easy since it was just a box.

I made the roof as a separate texture, starting with a plane primitive and pulling the middlemost vertical edges upwards.

I then dragged up the very middle row of vertical edges to mimic a triangular shape. Finally, I dragged the row of edges aside the middle outwards for a slightly curved shape that was low poly and beneficial to my budget.

The unwrap for this was simple, being two parts of a plane.

For creating the beams, I started with a long box primitive and selected the vertical edges, using the connect tool a few times to add horizontal edge loops; I selected these new edges and scaled them inwards for a stylised beam shape. For the touches of applying the beams to the house, I duplicated them and used FFD 4x4x4 in the "Control Points" mode to warp them into shape.

I received feedback that my old windows, supposed to be hard boiled candy glass, looked like human flesh and the bubbles looked like pimples; due to the short time I had to redo them, I whipped them up with a layered gradient of bubblegum pink, using streaks of an airbrush with a light pink to mimic the diagonal shine of stylised window panes, followed by sparkles made with an airbrush ~80% hardness. The white chocolate icing was made using a hard brush to paint the foundation, followed by a lighter coloured airbrush to create its soft look.

To create the roof beams, I created a tall box primitive and selected the vertical edges, using the connect tool to create horizontal edge loops; I then scaled the top and bottom faces outward for a curved, stylised effect and adjusted each edge loop diagonally to create half of an arch. I then duplicated it, applied the mirror modifier and selected "Y" to swap it around, combining the adjacent verts for a full arch.

To create the side roof beams, I duplicated the first arch and selected the outward-most faces on the back, holding shift to extrude them outwards. I then deleted the duplicated part of the arch and aligned these new beams with the roof for a connected look.

At this point, I received some feedback from my tutor; the house itself was looking alright since it'd become more complex once duplicated, but the main thing we examined was the colours. Something threw him off, and after some experimenting, we found it was the values; the pink beams of the roof were too similar to the other pink beams, those being too close to the white chocolate bricks. Therefore, we discussed how I could fix this and after communicating how I wanted to keep my chocolate biscuit base, he created this quick concept sketch as a vision for me. I wanted lighter beams so that it wouldn't clash with the darker green of my tinsel, but he showed how making new beams the darkest part of the scene, the green would still stand out. My takeaway was to create chocolate bark beams and darken the pink beams.

Week 16

Applying Feedback:

For the chocolate wood beams, I started with a flat brown colour, adding cooler, darker streaks as shadows will always be cooler. Next, I used an oil paintbrush with a warmer brown to blend the streaks for a blended look with more hue variation. I went in with the original brown to thin out the streaks some more, and using the darkest brown of the scheme very thinly to define the streaks' depth. Next, I added short, light and dark highlights to show the smoothness of chocolate. Finally, I went into "Adjustments" in the "Image" dropdown menu, selecting "Brightness/Contrast" to lower the brightness in order to define the beams as the darkest value of the composition.

After creating the texture for the new beam and unwrapping one version made in the same process as the biscuit beam, I began applying it to the mesh with the FFD 4x4x4 modifier. Looks much better!

Using another of the biscuit beams, I used the connect tool for more edge loops, allowing for a softer curve when I applied the "Bend" modifier at 180 degrees, which gave me a soft, rounded arch to sit above the window which fits the curvy, friendly atmosphere of this whimiscal house.

To create the next window atop the first, I unwrapped a small area and applied it to the window on the trim sheet.

I then entered vertex mode and moved them manually to fit within the arch, before extruding backwards for a window with dimension.

At this point, the base house was fully completed and I duplicated it, scaled downwards and adjusted so the beams lined up; this meant I was ready to create the porch and then move onto alphas.

Starting with a box primitive, I utilised edge loops and the extrude tool to get the desired size and dimensions of the porch, placing edge loops with the "Swift Loop" tool to determine what goes where, like the door. I duplicated assets like the arch and roof, scaling them down to fit the porch's magnitude.

With the correct materials applied and faces unwrapped, I began placing beams accordingly.

At this point, the house mesh was done and I needed to begin work on alphas and props.

Week 17

Alphas and Props:

For the candy floss foliage to represent tinsel, I used a thick ink brush to create the soft and fluffy foundations.

This was followed by using a "Cloud" brush at a small size and lighter green to create depth, the original colour making the shadows.

I added onto this with an even smaller size and warmer green, nearing yellow, to show warm light where the highlights are hit by the sun. Finally, I used an eraser with the same "Cloud" brush type to erase some edges to attain that thin, wispy texture of candy floss.

I also changed the hue in a duplicated version to a cream hue and increased the brightness a lot to match the other white chocolate icing assets.

I used the default brush with pressure by size selected to create the piped look of melted chocolate. This was followed by a soft airbrush of a lighter, warmer colour to create dimension in the chocolate, finalised with a thinner airbrush of a much lighter colour to create highlights that portray the shine of melted chocolate.

The minor icing alphas were all done through layering airbrush strokes, using a smaller size for the reflective highlights.

With the alphas complete, I entered the "Channels" tab in Photoshop to create a new Alpha layer, filling in white the areas I painted so they counted as opaque in 3Ds Max.

This is how they looked applied on a plane in 3Ds Max, with the Alpha format of a material displayed underneath.

Duplicating the plane, cutting areas out in vert mode and detaching them, all the alphas were finally applied and looking great on the model.

For the sign prop, I used the Chamfer tool on a box primitive for a curved biscuit effect.

This was the gift prop which I did edit to make it curve a little but I don't have a photo of that. This shows the props with their materials applied though, and the gift box needs its alpha bow taken from the sheet for the house.

Week 18

Entering Unreal:

With my models all complete in Max, I imported everything to Unreal. For the gift prop, I only made one and duplicated it in Unreal since it wouldn't effect the budget. I placed everything down, added two boxes with a mocha toned material attached for a neutral background still maintaining warmth, a green cylinder scaled on the Y-axis for a simplistic plinth, and smaller versions of these with a brown colour to suggest stepping stones leading to the house, potentially made of chocolate buttons to fit the theme.

Final Renders:

Dev Log Evaluation:
I'll say I surprised myself with the result of this house project, it turned out really well and better than I expected. I still feel as though I have a lot to learn but I've really grown in confidence using 3Ds Max, Photoshop, and Unreal in conjunction with one another.

I'm disappointed I didn't have time to include the star inside the wreath atop the house that would've really emphasised the curving silhouette of this house and representing the Christmas theme more, I have a small nitpick with the sign probably needing chocolate bark beams around it due to it feeling naked in retrospect, and I need to learn how to not accidentally paint human flesh repeatedly. I believe this even happened with the icing alphas as they were too orange-toned and appeared almost phallic which was certainly unpleasant.

That aside, I'm feeling good and ready to tackle the next block. Yay!

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse