Week 11 - Forefront Friday: Promotional Video Research

In preparation for next week I have been looking at promotional videos of real time game environments created by other artists, so that I can examine them and make my video stand out. To clarify, I am not looking at game trailers but videos designed to showcase an environment within a game. I have chosen these examples because they are all recent and were posted within a few months of each other, making them a good indicator of the competition I am facing as I publish my work onto the internet.

I would say that not all of these videos are at the forefront. I believe they are mainly adhering to an established standard for showing off game environments. I think that being aware of what is expected from the industry is a crucial skill and I want to make sure that my work is conforming to this standard.

Rob Linssen:
 "Válenfall" - 7 days Ago

This is a stylised environment showing off the large scale of the location. Lots of sweeping shots give it a good sense of scale.

Joseph Armour:
"The Pale Elk" - 2 Months Ago

https://vimeo.com/274110496

This is a more kinetic video with some movement within the shots. My own video will most likely be much slower paced with less animation.

Emma Drew:
"Abandoned study" - 3 Months Ago

https://vimeo.com/269523304

This is an interesting project for me because it is similar in theme to what I am going for. I like to see how others have executed the same concept. She has shown off a lot of the foliage in this video which is something I want to do as well.


Vistorovschi Victor:
"Torrens Gallery" - 6 Months Ago

This video is really professionally made. The editing is very well paced and does an excellent job showing off the environments details.

My thoughts on these examples:

I have tried to select a range of artists across different skill levels. Whilst the quality of the videos may vary, all of these environments have let the visuals do the talking. I will be choosing to do this for my promotional video as well because I feel that if I try to explain my project it will come off as looking amateurish in comparison. Besides that, one of the primary objectives of my project was to tell a story through visual means. It would be antithetical to my goals to explain the plot and concept when I have intentional left those as a mystery for people to solve.

One thing I have noticed is that music they have chosen is very understated and in some cases is mostly ambient noise. I think this is a good idea because the visuals are the focus. I have a particular song in mind that should enchance the mood I am wanting to create and not compete with the environment itself.

Shot Inspiration:

I have also looked at this video of the Winchester mystery house because I feel it has some eerie shots that will lend themselves well to my environment:

A promotional video of the Winchester mystery house.

ARMOUR, J. (2018) The Pale Elk. [Online Video]. June 8th. Available from: https://vimeo.com/274110496 [Accessed: 03/08/2018].

DREW, E. (2018) Abandoned Study. [Online Video]. May 13th. Available from: https://vimeo.com/269523304 [Accessed: 03/08/2018].

HKDEUS (2018) Torrens Galley. [Online Video]. January 27th. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIeohE6i0h0 [Accessed: 03/08/2018].
 
HOUZZ TV (2018) Winchester Mystery House POV Fly Through. [Online Video]. February 3rd. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S5505SeNLA [Accessed: 03/08/2018].

PROJECT R0LIN (2018)"Válenfall" - Stylized Environment Flythrough. [Online Video]. August 1st. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26jUcpYosBw [Accessed: 03/08/2018].

Week 11 - Thursday: Grand Piano

I am adding more props to my portfolio. I did say I wasn't going to create any further assets but I saw this piece by Epic Games artist Scott Homer on Artstation and I was completely inspired:

Scott Homer Destroyed Grand Piano (2017).

It was the beauty of the grand piano being completely destroyed that made me want to create one for myself. My Unreal Engine scene has been occuppied with calculating light bakes at the moment which has left me with not much else to do besides 3D modelling. I decided to spend this time creating another strong asset piece to include in my portfolio.

A grand piano I created in 3DS Max. The low poly model is in blue on the left.

It took me three days spread across doing lighting tests within Unreal Engine to finish the asset:

The finished portfolio piece.

I am going to be using this asset at the end of the hallway so that it gives the illusion there is much more to explore.

CHUPP'S PIANOS. (2018). 1926 Mason & Hamlin Model AA Grand Piano [Online Image]. Available at: https://www.chuppspianos.com/pianos/mason-hamlin/1926-mason-hamlin-model-aa-grand-piano-ebony-fully-restored/ [Accessed: 30/07/2018].

CHUPP'S PIANOS. (2018). Restored 1930 Steinway Model D Grand Piano [Online Image]. Available at: https://www.chuppspianos.com/pianos/steinway/steinway-model-d/1930-model-d-grand-piano-270927/ [Accessed: 30/07/2018].

HOMER, S. (2017). Destroyed Grand Piano Diorama [Online Image]. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XXEdl [Accessed: 30/07/2018].

Week 11 - Wednesday: Tutorial and adding foliage to the interior

In todays tutorial, I received some feedback on my foliage decals. They were considered unrealistic and the details of on the surfaces projected by them were coming through underneath. Thankfully I was shown a much better way of creating realistic vines using planes to simulate leaves and parallax occlusion mapping to add a bit of depth.

I first went back to 3DS Max and created some planes that were mapped with a leaf texture. What you see in the images below are the leaf planes with their alpha masks displayed:

Two types of vines I created to put in my environment. One is a generic vine card that I can repeat throughout my scene and the other is a specific piece that I can use to hang over the balcony in the entrance hall.

For my leaf planes I have added some edge loops so that I can animate the leaves slightly in Unreal Engine. This also gives the leaves some better definition as curving the planes makes it easy to see the leaves from multiple angles in the engine.

A close up of my leaf planes with alpha masks displayed.

I used real geometry from the vine decal that I had created to help me align the leaves. Using the align spacing tool I was able to quickly create a spline path and then make my leaves follow it just as I had done with the pattern on my rug asset.

The leaves following the paths I created. The vine geometry will not be used in the engine only the leaves and the larger plane.

Below you can see the texture maps I created for the individual leaves:

The normal, albedo and alpha maps for the leaf.

When taken into Unreal Engine the vines look like this:

The vine model in Unreal Engine.

I have used my original alpha mask from the vine decal to cut out the plane. Using parallax occlusion mapping I was able to give some further depth to the cut out vine texture. The leaves are using their own material as you can see in the image above.

Below you can see the effect of all the vines clustered together in the scene:

Multiple vines placed together to create the ivy on the house.

I think these are looking much better than what I had before. Bringing some greenery into the interior is also going to help make the environment pop. In terms of my criteria for determining my colour palette, I think the inclusion of the colour green is going to emphasise that nature is slowly taking over the mansion.

Week 11 - Tuesday: Interview with Playground Games

I've just gotten off a skype interview with Don Arceta the lead environment artist at Playground Games. I received some feedback on my major project environment that I will be adding to my Unreal Engine scene. The main points of critique were for the floor in the hallway, that he said looked far too rough, and that the walls that could perhaps have the imprints of where portraits used to hang on them.

One of the shots that I recieved feedback on.

I enjoyed the interview and have taken this as an opportunity to improve my handling of a professional interview setting. I was somewhat nervous but I tried to prepare for the interview by gathering as much information that I could, to answer any questions he may have had about my work. I was asked to reflect on what I felt was my weakest and strongest areas, but fortunately this question did not catch me off guard as I have been reflecting on these very things as I write my blog.

I was complimented on my work and Don said he was loving my environment so far. I asked questions about where I would fit within the company and was told it would be somewhere within the asset team. To my surprise however I was told that most of the 3D modelling was outsourced to a third party. I found this a shame because this is my favourite part of the process. For my career I would ideally like to be one of the people creating the 3D assets, so I will be continuing to apply for other opportunities in addition to this.

Whilst this may not lead to anything, I am confident that my work can stand up to scrutiny. I look forward to completing this project so that I can fully display it on my Artstation page. I only showed Don work-in-progress screenshots on the Polycount forums so I am eager to finish this and show it off properly.

Week 11 - Monday: Project Recap

At the start of week eleven I feel my environment is really starting to come together. I have imported the majority of my assets and have got the lighting to where I want it to be. The remaining steps will be to improve the foliage on the exterior and hopefully bring some inside as well.

The entrance hall.

View of the hallway.

 View of the first floor balcony.

 In the hallway looking out towards the entrance hall.

The exterior still needs a lot of work as this is where most of my foliage will be seen. I am hoping to bring some greenery to the main entrance hall as well because this will add some nice contrasting green light to the interior.