I have enjoyed every moment of working on this project, from the stressful nights when nothing is working how I want, to the moments when everything is clear and working flawlessly. I have learned so much from this project, from basic Unreal skills, to workflow, to project management. I am also extremely thankful to the people who have helped me with the mouse character. While it was not completed in time, I plan to add it to the environment eventually. I would like to give thanks to the modeler, Rebekah Struck (https://www.rebekahmodels.com/) and the rigger, Antonio Rivera (https://www.antoniocintron.com/) for their outstanding and timely work on the character. It saddens me to not have the mouse in the village in this final version for the SCAD showcase, but these things happen. In any case, I am very happy with how it came out, besides all the roadblocks.
(2.19.5) High Res Stills /
Just some nice stills I took of the environment
(2.19) Wrapping up /
There are still so many things that I had wanted to do for this project but with my final deadline fast approaching, there is no time left to edit. All I can do now is make the presentation and breakdowns. It’s a little bit sad for me to be wrapping up on this project, I’ve spent the past two quarters hard at work on it and now it will be finished by the end of the week. There’s just a few frames left to rerender for the project presentation, then I will get to work on the breakdown.
Next time: Finished presentation with breakdown
(2.18) Final Stretch /
My list of things left to do has finally gotten short enough to look at on one small notebook page so I would call this project a success already. Still, I would like to do my best to get those final touches in before this is due. I’ve done the homes and the walkway leading to them as well as a small path that leads from the walkway to the shops. I would like to improve the texture for the walkway, but I’m short on time so I will just have to leave it at the bare minimum for now.
I also need to make the indirectly lit areas a bit brighter too. Thankfully that isn’t any more difficult than adjusting the ambient light intensity so that can be done right away.
Next time: water, quilts, improved lighting, and hopefully most of the other small improvements I have written down.
(2.16) Finalizing Lighting /
I think I’ve gotten to the point where I'm happy with the environment lighting finally. I’ve also learned that Unreal is still having issues handling subsurface in foliage so that is why my grass has not had functional subsurface like I wanted it to. Hopefully that will be fixed in their next update because I would like to experiment with foliage again in the near future. I’ve also finished redecorating the kitchen. It’s a bit roomier than before so there is a lot more open space.
Next time: Start on the tea area and get the river working.
(2.15) Third Time's the Charm /
After having my project break last thursday morning, I’ve spent my time since then recovering my project and reassembling things. It has been a bit stressful trying to get everything back in place by today’s deadline, but I am honestly kind of glad everything happened the way it did. I was not happy with how things were turning out for this project, mainly with the landscape and grass. This whole ordeal has given me the opportunity to redo both of those in favor of something better. I am using Quixel grass and landscape materials for the ground. I think if I were to do the foliage on my own, I would need a lot more time than I had to learn how to make nice and realistic foliage, so this is my best bet until I am at a point in my career where I know how to make my own. So far, my project is very close to where I was last week, and it is generally looking better overall.
Next time: finish populating areas. Possibly add back in the fixed trees
(2.12) /
Not much to show today visually, but half of the UVs for the blacksmithing area are done. At this rate, I can almost confidently say that I can have everything textured by next class.
Next class: All blacksmith shop textures complete
(2.11) /
Last week was midterms, and while I feel I made decent progress, I still have a lot to do in between now and finals. I managed to get majority of the kitchen and the shops textured, which was my goal, but I also have plenty more to texture. The blacksmith forge is what I hope to tackle soon. While texturing for the forge, I will cleaning up the shop and kitchen areas in the little areas left, and look into lighting more. I’ve been reading up on raytrace lighting with Unreal, but there isn’t a ton of documentation out yet. It seems simple enough and I feel I am at a decent point with the lighting already so I hope the small tweaks I want to make, will not be too difficult.
I am also having issues with the trees and grass. I noticed that they are overlapped with a static and animated mesh. I am not sure what is causing this and I can’t seem to phrase it correctly when searching Google for any leads. I also want to make the grass lower poly. I am considering using Quixel grass for it but at the same time, I want this environment to be mostly my own work.
Next Class: A start on blacksmith shop textures.
(2.9) Texturing /
Finally beginning texturing, it’s going along better than I thought it would. Minor adjustments could be made to the materials, but I’d like to get more done before I go back and clean up my textures.
Next time: continued texture progress. Hoping to get 50% of all textures done, if not more.
(2.8) UVs /
Not much visual progress today, but more of prep for texturing. 31 models have been prepped for texturing today so I will be spending my time during/after class to texture them. It shouldn’t take too long since some of the materials will probably be shared
Next time: Actually texturing the shops and more UVs finished
(2.7) Ray Tracing /
I am starting to look into the lighting while I do texturing, and I have mostly fixed my project so that no light baking will be needed, it should be 100% ray traced now. It does lower my frame rate significantly, but it isn’t a big issue since this is going to be more of a cinematic environment rather than playable. I am looking into properly lighting the sky with an HDR. I have put one on a Sky Light and a Sky Sphere, but I am not sure if that is the right way to light the environment. I will continue to look into lighting as I texture.
I have added glow to the crystals, but I can’t seem to choose which color I like best. The original purple in the last post is a color I enjoy, but it does not fit the environment. I’m thinking of using a teal but I’m not sure if I want more green in it, or more blue.
I’ve also fixed the terrain so that the doorways are back.
Next time: texturing the shops and more lighting research.
(2.6) Crystals /
Finally finished the crystals for my stump. I hope to get some feedback in class on the material because I’m not too sure if that color looks ok or not. I might change it to a light blue or a light yellow/orange. Maybe light teal? Either way, the geometry is there and tweaking the texture won’t take more than 5 minutes.
Next time: Texture the bridge that the stump sits on and have a stump top texture.
(2.5) Mid-Midterm progress /
It is now class 5 out of 20 and I believe I have made some decent improvements to my environment already. It might not look like much, but troubleshooting always takes half the time, and now I have a better idea of how to do things in the future. I have managed to get grass on my landscape. I used a small Houdini groom to create hair cards that I was able to use for my grass. This is definitely not an optimized workflow, because the groom is fairly high poly for something that looks so plain. I should have gone the image plane method but, live and learn. This method would probably work best for very specifically placed grass or areas that would have less of it.
I also modeled two flowers to scatter around the terrain and it made a MASSIVE improvement to the overall look of the environment. Totally shifted the mood of the area, making it much brighter, happier, and more whimsical.
For what it is, I am happy with how the terrain is coming out. There’s a few more small things I need to do to it, but it shouldn’t take long to fix it.
Next time: Crystals in the middle of the stump modeled. Possibly some texturing done.
(2.4) Loss and Recovery /
In the process of painting this landscape, I learned I made the terrain ridiculously high res. I didn’t know that I had done that until I went to create my terrain material and assign layer info for the paintable layers. I kept receiving an error for running out of video memory. Searching many forums, I was directed to a possible solution of increasing my page file size (still fuzzy on what that is exactly, but I know I probably shouldn’t be messing with it) and these results just seemed…wrong. I tried many times to assign this material with it crashing every time. Eventually that caught up with me and ruined my project. Thankfully I had made a back up, so not too much progress had been lost. I went in much more carefully this time and assigned the most basic terrain material I could, which is where I learned that it was incredibly high res. I was able to fix this in the terrain customize tool and now have a manageable terrain, though still very large and laggy.
These are most definitely not the final materials, but it is something that I have managed to get working in a short timeframe.
Next time: make sure I have plenty of back ups, fixed terrain materials, and grass
(2.3) Finalized Stump Mesh /
After weeks of fighting with the stump mesh, I’ve finally figured out how to properly handle it and bring it into Unreal. Importing the stump as one solid mesh, bark and top, would constantly cause issues with importing and exporting the mesh. Maya especially can not handle the mesh very well, so I had to separate the two sections out in Houdini, then reimport them into Unreal. This seemed to have fixed all of my issues with import and export, as well as freeing up some UV space. Now that the mesh is finalized and set in its place, I can take some time to fix the bark texture and create a texture for the top area.
Next time: I hope to get the terrain textures finished and some grass added. Maybe a sapling too.
(2.2) Fur /
Finally, the mouse is presentable! A lot of reworking had to be done for this mouse, mainly because the model had to be fixed for rigging purposes. This partially broke the groom, so I spent most of my time reworking the groom so it looked right on the updated model. The biggest struggle was fixing the UVs. So many hair cards, but so little UV space. I got the UVs to a point that was manageable, then handled the rest in substance painter. I repainted the skin as well so he got a nice full body makeover. I think this will be the last time I touch the mouse until animation is done.
Next time: terrain textures and fully textured stump
(2.1) Stumps and Trees and Fur, Oh My! /
Spring break was spent learning SpeedTree, learning a process for converting Houdini fur to cards, reprocessing the big tree stump and creating a bridge to support the stump. Good news for the mouse, I have a rigger and animator locked in for the mouse. I will be checking in with my rigger this weekend to see how things are going, or when he plans on starting.
SpeedTree was very fun to learn and I definitely hope to use it more in the future. The interface is a little different than most programs, but after a few tutorials, it was simple enough to use for basic trees. I really like the feature to create animations for wind blowing through the tree. This definitely adds some life to the environment.
Some improvements that could be made with these trees: variation in leaf color, tree type, age, and animation. I hope to add some small saplings to the village within the walls, and I plan to look into if vines are possible within SpeedTree.
Converting fur to cards was a simple process within Houdini, but prepping them for texturing has been difficult. Unreal does not accept UDIMS therefore I have to find a way to either stack the cards properly or assign multiple materials to sets of cards. I have worked out a texture within substance painter that looks alright for the fur, so once the UVs have been figured out, then it should be able to be textured right away and sent to Unreal.
Improvements: variation in the cards, higher quality hair texture
Reprocessing the stump provided a much better looking mesh than before. When bringing this mesh into Zbrush to close holes and sculpt the top and bottom, I normally use Dynamesh to create a better topology and fill holes, but in this case, Dynamesh destroys a significant amount of the detail in the stump. This meant for me that other methods of closing the mesh will be necessary. I used booleans and extrusions to create the top of the stump, but the bottom will be left open. I decided to hide the underside of the stump with a natural bridge which would also support the stump over the homes. This way, it took me a day or two of modeling the bridge, whereas figuring out how continue modeling the roots in a way thats consistent with the rest of the stump, texturing it, and shaping it over the river would take much more time than I am willing to give to it. Many other things must be done for this environment so time is very valuable at the moment.
Improvements: clean mesh on the stump without detail loss. More detailed bridge or root system. Will be adding the interior crystals soon.
Next check in: I hope to have a sapling modeled and fully textured with a wind animation as well as the fur fully integrated.
Week 10 /
Finally! I have time to update this blog. I’ve gotten a lot of work done but, as usual, there’s a lot more to do. Very happy with how it is starting to look, and seeing how much I’ve been able to get done, I have a better idea of how to pace myself and schedule deadlines for the project. The stump is still the biggest issue with this project. I will have to process it again as I need a higher poly model to copy to the lower poly model and I will also have to sculpt it in Zbrush a bit too. Either way, it’s coming along well. Over spring break, I hope to fully UV everything and finish the stump. I want 95% of the modelling finished before next quarter starts, because I plan to spend all of next quarter texturing everything, Learning SpeedTree for foliage, and lighting the environment.
Week 7 /
I’ve gotten a lot done, but there’s still so much more to do! I am over halfway through the asset modelling, excluding foliage. which makes me very happy because I can see the scene starting to come together. There is still a lot of modelling to do but it can definitely be done before the end of the quarter. None of the textures are finalizes, some are there just for reference but most of them just have a standard shader. Texturing, foliage and lighting will be done next quarter.
This stump has been causing me a lot of issues but I’m very sure I know how to handle it now. I understand the photogrammetry process better, so now I have a better idea of what my next steps with it need to be. This stump will probably take a lot longer than I have time for this quarter so I will either save it for spring break where I can let it continuously process, or I will let it process in between work times so that I can still continue working, and let it process. Either way, it will be done!
a WIP shot of the grains/spice shop. I plan on doing simple RBD sims for the grains so that they look naturally stacked in the jars. I did one for the corn already so that is my proof that this method will work and the kinks have been smoothed out.
Little farm shop! I thought it was super cute. Might put some spare parts, metal bits in the container in front of the table. A bargain bin maybe?
Assets galore! Not as much modeling as I had originally wanted to have done by this time, but I think I have made good progress. It is enough to have most of everything fairly decorated, especially the kitchen which I think is coming along nicely.
WIP layout of the kitchen. It will look much more filled in when the hanging herbs and moths have been added.
WIP of the dining hall. Will have a stage in the center for whoever wants to put on a show, bands, talents, etc. Will have some pretty string lights too!
Overview of the layout. The large mound to the left is where the kitchen and dining hall are. The shops may be moved but for now they are in front of the door to the dining hall. The large open area will be a playing field for the mice and there is farmland in the back for whatever they have chosen to grow. At the moment, I am researching a harvest mouse’s diet to see what would be a realistic crop for them. So far, it is lots of berries and grains. The large block at the bottom left will be the blacksmith building. I am not positive if this building will stay, but for now, I see it as a blacksmith/ weapons station.
Whats next:
Lots of modeling! I still have a lot of modeling to do before I can even think about textures. Though I am trying to make most of my models out of the same materials so that the amount of texturing won’t be too high or individualized. If there is time, I would like to create a procedural stone wall generator and a string light generator so that I will have some experience with the HDA workflow with unreal. Either way, there is still a lot to do. Even if this does not look halfway finished by the end of the quarter, I plan to do a lot of work over spring break where I won’t have to focus on three big classes at once. I will also be looking for a rigger to rig the mouse. I tried using Mixamo for a quick rig, but it messes up the tail too much for it to be passable. It’s a very short time frame to find a rigger and an animator but I will look for one either way. A friend of mine is also working on the groom for the mouse so when that is presentable, I will happily post it here.
Midterm Update /
Building this environment has been a major learning and relearning process for me. I have learned so many new things in the past 5 weeks and I am super excited to see what the next 5 weeks will bring for this project. I plan to take this project into the next studio class so in total, I will be working on this for 20 weeks. I hope to get the modelling and major assets out of the way by the end of this quarter. The stump and log have been giving me the most trouble but I think I have figured out the right way to handle those models so they will definitely be finished this quarter or if all goes well, in the next week or two. I am happy with how the squash kitchen has turned out, though if there is time, I want to update the textures a bit. Decorating the inside of the kitchen is still a work in progress. The terrain is finished, except for some minor clean up that happens when I find small issues with it when I come across them but nothing major. If all goes well, the modelling will be finished by the end of this quarter, which means that I can focus on texturing and lighting the environment next quarter.