22nd November 2022
Now that my scene is set up, the plan is to focus solely on assets and get those in before the 30th November in order to stay on-track for hand-in on the 18th December.
My first, most important asset is obviously my Log Cabin itself. I focused on getting it up to a standard I liked before creating the high-poly variant. Then, once they were done, I had to move onto the unwrapping process.
I won't go too much into detail about the hard-surface modelling aspect of this module, but it is worth noting that I had never created any form of architecture before, and as such I had to get some advice from my lecturers, Shafeq Rahman.
I looked into what I could do, and considered very briefly using UDIMs after seeing them crop up in quite a few videos, but was advised not to due to them being prevalent mainly in animation as opposed to games. Instead, he advised me to make more than one texture map, splitting the cabin up by material or feature. So this is what I did, assigning matching Lamberts to the elements I wanted in a shared texture, and creating three different 4K UV maps.
From there, it was a simple export out and into Substance Painter, where I experienced what I like to refer to as 'frilling', which is where assets that are extremely close end up bleeding onto one another's normals. I noticed it particularly on parts such as the windows and the base planks.
It was an easy fix, going back into Maya and separating the problematic assets, reassigning them individual names, before re-exporting and baking the high onto the low by Mesh Name in both the Common Attributes menu and the Ambient Occlusion. This avoided most if not all bleeding onto other assets.
From there it was simply a matter of texturing the model as I normally would, layering different materials and adjusting the existing ones in order to get something akin to a natural looking Log Cabin.
Cabin Texture Map A:
 |
| Albedo | |
 |
| Normal |
 |
Packed MRAO Map
|
Cabin Texture Map B
 |
Albedo Map
|
 |
| Normal Map |
|
 |
Packed MRAO Map
|
Cabin Texture Map C
 |
| Albedo Map |
|
 |
Normal Map
|
 |
Packed MRAO Map
|
From there, as with all assets, I moved into engine and imported the base mesh and textures, and creating a material. For this I used the following prefixes / labels:
- Mesh = SM_[Name]
- Albedo Map = T_[Name]_D
- Normal Map = T_[Name]_N
- Packed Map = T_[Name]_MRAO
- Created Material = M_[Name]
While this isn't necessary, I felt it would speed up my workflow and aid me in the long run while trying to find different assets or materials. It also stops the project becoming cluttered or unreadable.
24th November 2022
Looking back at the initial plan, I only had one or two more things to make and import into engine, being a Tree Stump and a log pile both for residing beside the cabin.
To start with, I focused on creating the stump as it was not only a focal point of the scene, it was also a very big part of my hero asset. So to do this I took one of my trees, cut out the polys that were unneeded (namely the top and the leaves) and then filled in the center. I tried to use this base log, but the outcome was less than optimal. So, instead, I created one from scratch, adding enough geometry to make the stump look round as opposed to having visible edges.
I Smoothed it, then took it out into Zbrush where I sculpted in some detail along the bark, before baking the High Poly onto the Low
Once again I layered the materials up in Substance Painter, making sure I used the same material I'd used on the bark of the trees to have some consistency across all the models. I also made sure to add dirt and other imperfections, so that when rendered it wouldn't look perfect or too clean-cut as the man living in the cabin would have been hacking at it, meaning it would be dirty, and uneven, and thoroughly imperfect.
After that, I brought it into Unreal and set it up with the axe sticking out of it, assigning the materials in the same way I'd assigned everything else.
Then, after trying multiple times to create a realistic looking log pile for beside said stump, I decided to bite the metaphorical bullet and learn yet another skill: MASH.
MASH is a powerful physics tool in Maya that is most often used in regards to randomly scattered objects within a scene or model (such as sprinkles on a donut). I found a tutorial that walked me through every step of the way, and as such I created what I felt was a realistic-looking (or at least semi-realistic) log pile.
Step 1 - Create the basic low-poly Meshes and unwrap them. Lay them out in a UV Grid and make sure they are centered in the world with a central pivot (deleting all history and freezing Transorms)
Step 2 - Create a MASH network and switch to the FX Window. I had to open up the MASH window Editor purely because otherwise my MASH system would come in as an Instancer by default, which I would need to set to 'mesh' instead, and choosing a grid layout.
Step 3 - Go into MASH Distribute and set the amount along the X, Y, and Z axes, using the Grid Distribute option. Also changed the rotation, the mesh itself, and other settings to allow randomness in the model by using an ID Node and other
Step 4 - Add a Dynamics Node to the MASH editor and toy around with the different settings until there is a specific setting that looks right. I chose to add a collider to box in my geometry, which in turn stopped my logs from going too far from each other and rolling away from the scene.
Step 5 - Duplicate the Model, Delete all History and Transforms, and then texture it as I would any other asset, having already unwrapped the geometry so thus only needing one texture per log rather than having to texture each individual log.
Step 6 - Take the final model into engine.
