Lights and Effects

Effects!! There are loads already in Unreal and I just tweaked them a little to give my scene a really nice atmosphere.

I found one tutorial that tried to explain how to make neon lights but didn't get any of it, so I faked it. It's just a tall box with a simple gradient texture on it. :P Lens flare produced by a regular point light.

Maps

Okay this is what I've learned about how to make my models look better, thank you Internet! I used my diffuse map and made a specular map which defines the shiny and highlighted parts of the texture.

The normal map was made by tweaking the UV map into a height map and putting it through a website which makes normal maps. Normal maps give the models the 3D feel, like the bricks were actual bricks and not just a wallpaper glued on the surface.

Playing With Materials

I have had a lot of fun with the materials within Unreal, and I haven't made any more textures myself as of yet. Also the effects are nice! Though I don't think I want my building to burn...

Collision Mesh

The actual model is underneath and the white parts are boxes which are named UBX_something which is then exported with the model as .fbx and automatically converted as a custom collision mesh when imported into Unreal.

Second Building

I actually made a whole new building using only the same parts as before.

Main Building

I'm so proud of my Main Building. It consists of only these 5 parts. (And one block for an inner corner.)

So yea. Time to get back on the saddle with the Unreal Project, but my trusty old Mac has started growing old. I have spent most of my time lately building my Stop Motion Set and doing other parts of the Visual Arts module, and making my 3D character (which had a deadline on Friday but I was promised extra time as my flight back home was on that very day). I have completely neglected this project and I feel sad, because I really like making buildings. But I learned how to use Blender (basics..)

I also noticed that Unreal has a different naming convention than I had, it's not nice. I want everything to be clean! Though I'm starting to think I should concentrate more on learning how to actually use this stuff, use 3D, than worry about underlying tessellation just yet. My models don't look good when rendered properly or put in Unreal. Next I will study up on normal mapping and specular mapping etc. to give more perspective to my textures. I know I can build models now but I need to make them look good too. Even though at work there would be one guy doing each part. I'd probably try to go for modeling or animating.

Digital Environment Design - Deliverable 1

Okay getting on: Fixes for the Main Building

When making the final renders of the building for the first deliverable I noticed a bunch of problems I hadn't realized from the crappy renders I did earlier.

• The inward corners of my building don't meet perfectly, I need extra pieces.
• The scale wasn't calculated properly. The building needs to be BIGGER.
• The columns could be more 3D and go out a bit at the center.
• The texture on the top piece.
• The square parts above the arcs aren't at the center when the blocks are assembled, there's too much space between them and the upper side. I thought I checked this before building it but I must have been careless.
• There needs to be some kind of a base where the thing stands on, as well as the stairs.
• Stairs are missing. :P
• The glass top is missing. :P