This project has developed a lot as I have progressed with it, in terms of added narrative, style and execution. The choice of making this into a game tutorial simulation was arguably what brought this project to life, but first I would like to discuss the style of this project and how it was making this.
Surprisingly, the hardest part of this project was making everything look stylised. While stylistic modelling and texturing look simpler, the process of creating it was harder for me to successfully do than making photorealistic models and textures. This wasn’t expected, however, I feel it was this way because, during my master’s degree, I have been learning how to create realistic VFX, almost photorealistic, so changing my mindset while creating this project was hard to adjust to. I had to go back on some textures or models and simplify them, and make it look more ‘cartoon-like’. It also required a lot of hand-drawn textures, something which I had not explored yet.
This offered a huge learning journey for me, which is something I wanted to achieve with my FMP anyway. I wanted to try out something I hadn’t explored before so I could learn during the process, but also have variation for my portfolio after my degree ends.
Overall, the development of this project has also been a stand-out for me. Originally, it was meant to be just a showcase room, but turning it into a game tutorial offered an insight into my game design skills, and also gave this project a lot more depth, adding a story and narrative gave my project a reason and substance rather than just showcasing my models and texturing. I took this layer even further and managed to write a story that can be presented nect to my project in the exhibition, giving even more character to this project.
Animation was also a huge part of this project and something that I also developed. This added another layer that I can show in my portfolio for the future.
If I could improve on this project in any way, I would develop fire and particle simulation a bit more, I showcased this in my personal project, however, it would have been a great addition to this project also. Some obstacles preventing me from doing this however were time, and not wanting my project to look too modern or less stylised. I managed to add volumetric lighting however in place for this, which transformed my project completely, and would have been missing something without.
I am extremely happy with this project, and most of all it was so enjoyable to create. I have always been a huge fan of fantasy, and it was like watching my imagination be brought to life as I developed this project. I would love to develop this game and story in the future, so it has also brought exciting opportunites for me.
Having finished my main project, I showed it to some peers, and my course leader. There were no major improvements identified for me to change, so I decided to work on my story of the basis of ‘Realmscape’ to set next to my project at the exhibition this week. I felt as though this gave more of a backstory to my project, and would be a great addition, an idea my course leader had given me too.
I already had been coming up with the lore for Realmscape as I was doing my project, so the story came quite easy for me to put together. I found relevant illustrations to accompany this story, and it is now ready to print. Please click on and scroll through to read:
This week I finished my project, leaving only my help with the exhibition set up and Realmscape story to go in the exhibition left to do.
I started by identifying the missing frames by running a script, assisted with AI, made with help from someone I know:
I then re-rendered these images, and added them to my Nuke file. This was then sucessfully rendered out.
I moved this across to DaVinci Resolve, where I found I could comply the exr images together on there, and colour correct on this software instead. Ultimately, using the exr image sequence directly from davici resulted in better quality, and the colour correction was more beneficial on here also, so I used this instead. I colour corrected my sequence as the raw images were very dark, so it was as I rendered it in Arnold render view in Maya, ensuring the lighting was as I wanted, and saturation/contrast levels were the best they could be/
I decided to then find an image to use as the speech decal where the text would be shown as the narration for the game tutorial. I found a simple curved rectangle and imported this to DaVinci.
I changed the opacity and size of this box, and this was my base for the narration. I then returned to the script I had made and synched all the narration up with my sequence. I picked a font which would look like it’s typing out, and that had a retro stylized look to it.
I then decided to find a royalty free fantasy soundtrack to go in the back of my video. I went through a lot of songs, trying to find one that had peaks of excitement and troughs of delicacy at appropriate times for my project. This was important as the sound can add to the viewers experience and add emotion at appropriate times. I found a perfect soundtrack that synced up and lasted the exact amount my video was and imported this into my project.
I then thought something was missing, and this was the feeling of selecting items when the narration prompts the ‘player’ to in this game tutorial simulation. I wanted it to feel as though the viewer was actually witnessing what the gameplay would be. I decided to add the animation of arrows selecting what item you were interacting with.
I then decided to add the sound of selection when this appeared each time. I found a sound that perfectly fit in with the game, a mellow clicking select sound whenever the arrows would appear.
I then added the introduction I had made in Unreal Engine, and got this to fade out and into the beginning of my image sequence, which completed my video, and rendered this out. This concluded my main project, and I was really happy that I now have a few weeks to think about any improvements I could add and make my background story for the exhibition.
This week was my final week to complete the two week task of rendering out my base render without any graphic narration overlay added. This required a lot of waiting for the render, planning ahead and troubleshooting, meaning there wasn’t too much practical work to document this week.
I decided to render my scene out by using the render farm at university, as it was taking way too much time and power on my laptop. I am really glad I allowed myself a week for this task as there were multiple troubleshooting issues I had to overcome. These included:
Making my file paths all linked for my textures when using the remote desktop ready for the render. – (Overcome by editing file paths).
Time. My render was estimated to take five days. – (Luckily it only took two days).
Realising I didn’t have the correct animation rendering on one part – (Overcome by re-rendering these 100 or so frames to the same file path and writing over them).
EXR images wouldn’t render into an mov file in Nuke. – (Overcome by uploading the images onto my own laptop and doing it directly from Nuke on there).
Size of all images was huge, meaning transferring them was difficult and time consuming. – (No resolution to this but forward thinking of allowing more time than planned).
Eventually, I was able to submit these images to nuke, and add colour correction, and render this out swiftly.
However, I realised that there were frames missing, that must have been lost in the many layers of transfers that happened. My task for next week is to re render on Nuke the mov with the missing frames which will be easy to add to the file directory when I run a script on what the missing frames are and repeat the process of writing the sequence out as an mov, using the same Nuke script I have made previously.
After this has been completed, I am going to start working on the overlay of graphics and speech narration.
While I was waiting for the render this week, I researched the best software to do this on. I came to the conclusion I would be using DaVinci Resolve, as this will have professional looking results, has the elements I need for this project, and I am familiar with this software.
This week I worked on finishing touches to my project before conducting my test render. This included slight changes to animation and lighting.
After my meeting with my course leader, I decided to add volumetric lighting in Maya to my room. I thought this would add detail to the room and showcase some more skill without taking away from the stylized look.
I looked up some tutorials and gathered that using spotlights to create a ray-of-light look was the best option.
I created a spotlight, turned up the intensity and exposure and changed the colour.
I then adjusted the direction of light to appear through the window, and adjusted the intensity and exposure levels to look more blended.
Then, I added the same to the white window, creating a white ray of light.
I did the same to the other final blue window.
This is the view of all my lights from an upwards perspective.
I then decided that being that my windows are somewhat transparent, they needed a background of trees outside. I made this by using a jpeg as a texture on a plane of a stylised environment and placing them at angles behind the windows and doors in which the camera would be able to see them.
I then decided to key frame a golden beam that would show when the chest was opened. I key framed the size of the beam and placed it above the staff.
Lastly, I noticed my render included quite a bit of noise. I added the denoise (noice) element to arnold render, which improved this massively.
Next week my aim is to render out my scene fully. I will allow some time for troubleshooting also.
This week I finalised details of modelling, texturing, and finished all animation for my project. This is a huge step in my progress that I am happy about.
I started by changing the models of my alchemy workshop table legs. The oriinal design looked too chunky and messy, so I decided to make a more elegant mesh using sweep mesh and drawaing a more delicate swoop for the legs. I then tried twisting the mesh however decided that it qould look better without this element.
I then designed a sign for the alchemy workshop to fill empty space on the table. I modelled a basic frame shape which was bevelled for smoothness, with some extrusion details.
I then textured this in 3D substance painter. I used a stylised wood texture, then hand painted a cartoon potion symbol.
I then input these textures to the sign in the scene.
Next, I textured the mushroom mini roof I had around the room. I tried many colours in substance painter however decided that ultimately red would fit the room most. I used paint and paint dots to create a stylised texture for this.
Next I decided to sort out some of the basic lighting in the room. I created another window for the room, and used boolean to indent this into the wall so light would be able to shine through. I used surface shaders, playing with the transmission, colour and glow effects to create ambient lighting. I then edited some of the IOR rates on some materials so there would be reflection and specular glow in areas I wanted.
Then I focused on animating the last part of my project. Using key framing in Maya again, I started animating the camera. I quickly realised that I would need to sort out my timing of the narration that would apppear. I made a draft script with estimated timings so that I could solve this.
This meant I had to shift back some previous animations to line up with the new timings. After I sorted the previous animations, I was able to move on to finish the rest with appropriate timings.
I used many perspectives while watching what the camera was recieving to line up angles right.
Camera animations and technique
I then went on to animate some stylised bubbles rising from a potion on the alchemy table to add some motion to the scene. This was done by key framing scale and translation on the bubbles rising at seperate times in a zig zag pattern. Then on the animation window I made these movements non linear and smooth curves to ensure smooth movement.
Perhaps the most animated part of this scene was the rock guide. Not only did he have to guide the camera with movement but I wanted him to have a constant bobbing motion. These also needed to be smooth and consistent, so there was alot of editing this week of the key frames to be perfect.
Other animations included the treasure chest opening and staff being revealed, potions being scaled up when selected and bigger angles of the room with the camera.
Next week I will work on running through the animation and making sure all is smooth and in place. I will also work on adding stylised fire in lanterns to add some more motion in the scene.
This week I had the goal to complete all of my models by now. I nearly acheived this goal, with the exception of one or two models. This was mainly due to the fact I kept getting side tracked by other things needed to be done such as texturing and animation. However, this was not too bad as it was progression regardless.
I started this week by using the Unreal Engine skills we had been taught in tuesdays lesson to make an introduction video to my game tutorial. I started by downlaoding an asset pack of a ‘Dreamscape’ series, free on Unreal marketplace and coincidently very similar to my project name, ‘Realmscape’. I thought these assets would be great to lay out as a scene and title/loading screen. It took a lot of figuring out Unreal engine online, through my teachers and peers, and sometimes just figuring it out on my own.
First, I tried imporing my room into the engine ontop of a mountain I had used as an asset, but after a few moments of tweaking and arranging, I decided I wanted to create the outside building using the assets in the pack, and have it just cut to my room afterwards which would be rendered out in Maya.
Using the assets given, I assembled a scene of a stand alone landscape, a tower and runes floating in the sky. I then did a camera animation of it going into the room, where it will fade to black to reveal my room. I wanted the scene to be ‘loading’ as it zoomed in, to give more of a loading page feel, so I rendered the scene out as the assets were in rendering process. I then edited the clip using a video editor and added the motion graphics of my tutle being swept away as the camera moved in, and a loading bubble.
This will need some work as this is a draft. I also decided this week I will be showcasing my project on a CRT TV at the exhibition, so I will need to keep this in mind for the sizing of the screen.
Next, I decided I needed a texture on the top of my tables to set apart the wood textures from my models as they were blending in too much. I found a rune design that fits in with the look of my room and places this as tops on my tables.
I then edited the shape of my room to be more rounded in places, to fit in with the tower design on my title screen.
I then det out to work on the starting animation for my scene. This consisted of camera animating and making my models bob up and down to simulate selection for the player. I did this using key framing animation in maya.
I then made sure that the animation graphs for the camera were linear in places I wanted them to be, and tweaked some details of the movement in places.
Next, I focused back on my modelling I still needed to do. First, I really needed to improve my chest design, as it didn’t fit my stylised look I was trying to accomplish. I looked online for inspiration, and found a simple design I wished to replicate style choices from, primarily the shape of it.
I created this simple design using a cube and a cylinder, with extrusion tools and bevel. I kept the same lock I had created.
Next I took this to 3D Substance painter where I had a lot of challeneges such as UV errors, and Ngons in which I had to fix along the way. It was hard to get the UVs perfect due to the extrusion lines and depths. After fiddling about with many textures, I managed to create one that was fitting for my scene, and worked out in terms of the UVs.
I then implemented these textures to my chest in my scene.
This was definately more of the style I was hoping for, but needs to be fixed by lighting in the later stages.
I next decided to model my ‘character guide’ that would take the player around the room. I looked online for inspiration, and seeing as I wanted to strengthen my sculpting skills, I typed in clay models to find one I could take ideas from. I found this guy, which immediately made me think of a rock druid spirit.
I especially liked this head design. I started to craft a model similar to this design on maya. I used the sculpt tool to create the exact look I wanted out of a sphere polygon. I then used the sculpt tool also to create legs and arms.
I always wanted to keep my character as a ball like shape that would bob around the room, so I decided to take the head from this design and make that my ‘druid rock spirit’. It would be a rock that is alive and a guide for my game.
I textured this rock in 3D Substance painter, and made it a stylised rock texture, with some whismical marks on it’s forehead. I then added jade gems to the eyes, and a glowing green surface shader, to create an ominous glowing from the eyes.
I then started working on the animation of this rock to follow the cameras movements, and have a constant bobbing motion going as it moves. This was repetitive key framing and editing smooth movements in correlation to the camera timing on the animation graph editor.
I am happy with the amount of progress I have made. By the end of this month I have set myself the task of finishing:
All animation
Details on the alchemy table
Re texturing the walls
More details to the dress
Textures to the mushroom roof
Boolean the windows to the walls
Texturing details on the staff
Improving textures on the book
Improving textures on the bow and arrow
Modelling lanters
Creating fire in the lanterns
Lighting in the room pre-rendering
Then in the month of November will be rendering, troubleshooting and adding motion graphics and after effects to the project.
In class, we were given a task of setting a two week goal to be completed by the end of next week. For myself, I set a goal of finsihing all my modelling for my project. I set this because I believe the hard parts of lighting and animation will require more time than I initially planned.
This week I have made huge progress in my modelling and texturing of my room. I started by adding texture to the beams at the top of my walls and the cylindrical beams.
modelling a basic tresure chest that would be opened to reveal a staff for the player to use. For this, I just made a basic chest shape, using the scale tool to create a bevel effect to ensure less harsh edges, with a lock and bars going round the front. I then textured it a stylised wood texture with iron and gold. This texturing is a work in progress as I feel like it could be improved in terms of uniqueness.
I then made model for the base of my magical staff that would be revealed inside the chest. I decided to include a wing design, and rings at the top tha would have a spinning animation. I then added orbs that would be floating, and a handle.
I then moved onto texturing the staff. For the colours, I took inspiration from the early Zelda games. Blue and gold gave a regal feel, similar to the ‘master sword’ in these games. I also added a decal of a gold diamond on the wings, and used a stylised raw metal for the base texture. I then used glowing blue surface shaders for the orbs, trying to maintain the stylised cartoon look.
This staff is a work in progress as I feel it could use more work to improvee the texturing and modelling itself.
Next I wanted to make a simple wand as another prop for the room. I used the draw tool to create a spiral wand shape, then used sweep mesh to create this polygon. I then played with the scale profile, optimising and accuracy to get my desired shape. I then added a simple diamond shaoe on the end to be a gem.
I then went to 3d substance painter again to create a simple cartoon wood texture, and a diamond sheen on the gem.
I next worked on adding some details and textures to my bow and arrow. I added colour to the gems and appropriate colours to the rest of the models.
I decided I needed to add something under the bow to seperate it from blending with the table which I will set to do next week.
Next I decided to add some textures to some presets I had set around the room as props to make the space fill up some more. I added a green fabric to the dress, a leather look to the belt with a metal buckle, a simple sword material with copper and stylised raw metal, and the same metal texture with a blue hint for the helmet. I then decided to make the goggles night vision goggles, which will be explained to be engineered by goblins in the narrative. I added a glowing surface shader, and then leather and a metal buckle to the rest of the model. I then added texture to the dress stander I had modelled, using a cartoon wood again.
Next, I decided I wanted to make a mailbox, in which it would be explained when approached that players would be able to collect their mail and any aquired things here in the game when they saw this. I decided I wanted to make it look really fantasy based and cosy looking, so I modelled a draft with a sign handing down from a spiral of wood I had created by using sweep mesh again. I then created leaf shapes from planes, created the box itself with beveled sidesm and then made braches by hand drawing ans sweep meshing these. I created the rope for the sign to hang on by creating a sweep mesh, and then using the twist tool to give it that rope look.
I then took this to 3D substance painter where it really started to take shape. I added stylised wood to the tree parts. I added a leaf texture to the leaves, and then I drew of ivy growing up the main stand. I then added a stylised metal to the box, and drew of some decal like leaves and a symbol on the front. For the sign I made a mail symbol out of various decals I found. I then added a wood texture for the base, and a rope texture for the rope above.
I then added these textures to the scene. I was really happy with this model as it is exactly the look I wanted for this game tutorial, with the right amount of cartoony look and the overall style of the peice.
At the end of this week I still wanted to try and finish adding another major model for my room, as it was still looking really empty. I decided to model an ‘Alchemy Research Workshop Station’. I decided it would be explained that the plsyer would be able to craft potions from materials collected at these staions when they saw them in game.
I hand drew and swee meshed the table legs to be spiral shaped, giving more of a unique and elegant look to the table. I then added a table top with soft edges. Then I used other models to fill up the table with potion flasks and books. I then modelled some peices of scrap paper that would be sprawled on the table using a plane and multi-cut tool.
I then took this all to 3D subsatance painter where I added a stylised wood texture to the table, a stylised raw metal texture to the legs, with a hint of purple hue emitting from them. I then made the paper have a grainy papaer texture, and ussed the paint tool to add various elements to the page.
I then input these textures into the scene. I will be addding more clutter and details to this table next week.
Overall I am very happy with the progress I made this week and feel I am on track to completing my self set task of finishing my modelling in the next week.
Once I had my research and design ideas solidified, I began to start the basic modelling of the room shape. I wanted to create a variety of wall shapes to begin with so the room wasn’t just a box shape. I drew from the inspiration I had researched and decided tp create an arch shape for one of the walls.
I then created a basic circle shaped window which would be the source for ambient lighting further down the process.
I then created simple details that would be worked on in the future, such as a mushroom roof above the arched wall, beams, a display frame for a future sword and tables for my models to lay upon. So far this was all simple geometry placed for the stylised cartoon look I am going for.
I then started working on my first model: the amulet. So far, a new skill I learnt during this project had been the process of creating a mesh through hand drawing a shape and using the ‘sweep mesh’ tool to make this a polygon. I thought this would be a great way to create the thread for the amulet instead of using sculpting, and I could envision the polygon through a drawiing rather than editing a former cylinder polygon.
I then made the amulet shape consisting of a gem on the front, the main charm that opens and an orb that is revealed inside, I then later added details such as hinges and a hook connecting the charm to the thread.
Next was the adding details to the amulet, again, I used the sweep mesh tool after drawing a spiral design to create the protuded details, and copy and pased this design round the amulet. I optimised the topology so these used the least amount of faces so this wouldn’t impact render rate due to the detailing. I then added simple diamonds from a plate polygon. I textured the main gem using a surface shader, rubber for the thread and diamon for the diamonds. These textures were simple for now as I am focusing more on stylised work rather than photo ealism.
I then used a brushed metal for the main amulet.
Next I decided to work on the texturing of the tables. I made some indents in the table to appear unperfect and cracked. I then sorted out the UVs and imported this model to 3D Substance Painter. On this software they have a stylised wood that looks perfect for the stylised indie game look. I then connected all the textures to my model and the result was this:
I then repeated this process for the walls using a stylised stone texture in Substance Painter, and hand drew on some moss coming from the top of the walls. I then added a light with a glowing surface shader to experiment how this would look in the environment. Using the sweep mesh tool I also made some beam details of a rope and some feathers hand drawn hanging from the ceilings which I would develop later.
Next, I went back to my amulet and added a glowing orb playing around with glow effects with a surface shader, this turned out to have just the look I wanted with reflection on the metal, I made an animation using key frames with the picot on the hinges of the amulet so I would see how this would look opening.
I then looked at texturing my floor, using a different style of stylised wood on Substance Painter. I thought the contrast of the wood and stone for the walls made a good seperation and divide in the scene.
I then started on my next set of models which was the potion bottles. I decided to make 4 potions; blue, red, purple and green. The process of modelling these was simple, however the challenge was actually making them stylised rather than realistic, a challenge I have been noticing to my suprise so far in this project. I used basic pre set texturing apart from when it came to the cork, which I moved to substance painter and gave a basic cork design. For the liquid I made a milk texture and changed the colouring, and also IOR and translucensy, and used glass for the bottle.
I then worked on making labels for the potions. I used sweep mesh to make the shaoe of the rope, and a plane for the label itself. Texturing the label in Substance painter gave me creative control of things like creating a burn effect on the paper, adding fingerprints, grains to the paper, and designing which text and logos to use.
I then added all these elements together onto the potions.
Next I worked on creating my bow and arrow model. I wanted this design to be very stylised like weapons we see on Zelda etc. So I went for a very cartoony style again for consistancy. I used sweep mesh to make the feathers on the end of the arrow, and to make the bow itself, then used simple polygons for the arrow, arrowhead and diamond details. I then textured my bow with a cartoon wood design. This model will be developed further down the line in the project.
Next I wanted to add some details to the window. I added a sweep mesh hand drawn spiral to the centre and diamond shapes around it to create a whismical fantasy design. I then added a surface shader to make the window transparent and glowing a bright blue to add ambience throughout the room. This was developed from inspiration of my room design research.
Next I wanted to start adding more details to the room. I decided the door to the right will be where the guiding character may come out of, so needed to be detailed and payed attention to. I added details to the door handle and arch above the door so it would have more layers to it, by adding a door knob and indents throughout. I then textured it on Substance Painter, where I again experimented with a runic symbol on the centre and a stylised wood design.
I then added details such as paint, details around the edges, leaves on the arch, and a metal frame for the door knob and arch.
Next I went back to wokring on my models and decided to start on the ritual book. I modelled a basic shape of a book and a simplistic bookmark hanging out. After sorting out the topology and various issues with the UVs which came through using the extrustion tool on parts of the book, I was ready to texture. In Substance Painter I really focused on creating wear and tear to the book, to give it an ancient effect. I added various hand paints of splatters, imperfections, and added symbolds and text.
I then added details like the bookmark design, making it a green colour with more runic symbols and a fabric vumped texture.
I then chose to fill up the empty ground with some rugs in the room. I was playing the game World of Warcraft when I noticed a rug desgn similar to what I would like to input into my room.
From this, I researched a design for a rug I could use in my room. I found a design that was for a ‘Mage Quaters’ with a whimsical design perfect for my room. I decided to create planes of variosu shapes, ovals and rectangles, I gave them some depth and in0putted this design onto the texture UV map and lined up the UVs. This fit perfectly into my room.
I am very happy with the developement of my FMP so far and feel like I have made huge progress throughout the summer. Whilst the project is far from being done, this was a personal sucess of development for myself.
