Modelling: Saloon

I decided to take a break from the Titanic model as i said in my previous post so that i culd look further into my research and reference and also to work on more concept ideas as the model evolves. with this in mind i have decided to tackle working on the saloon which will be in one of the main towns of the game which will be shown on the map when i upload it. i thought this would be a interesting peice to begine work on as it leaves multiple directions open for me when i come to do high res renders. a saloon is a perfect peice to use for social observation in art and i felt it would be rich in helping me tell the stories of individual characters without the viewer ever actually seeing the character at all.

so i started this model first by using the unreal tournemant 3 characters as scale as UDK will be the engine me and a fellow student will be using to bring this game into a fully playable end peice rather than just cinematics and high res screen shots. using these reference models i could scale the heights of the ceilings and such and get a general blocked out shape using a box. i then used the shamfer tool on the corner of the saloon to give a area where the door could be to give it some of the period stylisation. i added a boardwalk giving it the tiered steps that are also common of the architectual style of this period and as you can see in the picture i added a balcony and a roof facia which is also used for the signage for the saloon.

as you can see i have taken multiple screenshots of the work so far from different angling this helps to demonstrate the work but also give me the creator a deifferent perspective on the building one which you as the player would see whilst walking around in the environment, this is important to get right before putting the building into the engine. also when rendering any issues with lighting or ahdows can be detected and the probvlem solved befor eht issue becomes any worse.

after closing inspection of the scaling of the model as i began the early stage of the interior i realised the width and lengthe of the saloon where not substancial enough for the interior i had intended for this building so before going any further with the interrior i adjusted these factors as you can see in the picture im now happy with these changes are happy to now start again with installing the interrior.

Modelling: Titanic development, stern

I was now happy with the shaping of the front of the ship and the only other further work to do on this was to add detail and damage detail also, i felt that before starting on this i would start work on the rear of the ship and do the rest in stages jumping from the front of the ship to the back so that the overall shape lined up.

I started by working on the stern by using the original blocking out shape to get the side elevation shape of the sculpted ship correct before moving onto a front on perspective of work, this can be seen in the image below.

once i was happy with this shape i added more vertical loops so that i could start to bring the the shape of the stern of the ship front on to give it the ship the Titanics trade mark reaer end.

as you can see from the image above i brought in the verts to give the same shape as the reference that i was using it was slow work but rewarding to see the shape emerging from what was before a square box. i continued ths until the basic shap was there as seen in the image below.

when i finally got the basic shape i required for the stern of the ship as seen above i then worked on defining it to get a more accurate and smoothened feel overall and also added some slight detailing.

you can see in the picture above the detailing i worked into the front end of the ship taking a break from the stern to give me chance to look further at the reference material so that i could get the shape as close as possible to the subject matter.

i then transfered these details across onto the stern of the ship also working on the rear decks and as you can see the stern shape is alot smoother than seen previoulsy.

i added a few more details to the reaer but felt happy with the shape and happy to continue with other things. i felt that i should take a break from this model for a while and concentrate on other models whilst at the same time studying further the reference and research to do with the Titanic so that when i return to this model i can set out more things to add or even detract as i feel neccessary.

Modelling:Titanic development

i have starte modelling the front of the ship as of yesterday and so far it is going well still alot of detail to be added but been careful where i add detail and where i dont add detail to allow most of the features to be present without overloading the polygons

Firstly i started with a side elevation and a slice through front elevation of the ship i turned the side elevation on its side and using the line tool created a spline in the shape of the ship to scale with the scale image always taking into mind that when scaling all axis of the pkane the image is on would have to go up in the same denominations so that the scale would be kept throughout. ones i had closed the spline i then converted it to a editable polygon that replaced the outline that i had created with the line tool. now using the front elevation of the ship i extruded the polygone to match the width of the image making both the width and length both accurately to scale. this now meant i had a perimeter box to build within i set this to a transparency level so i coud obviously see what i was working on within. i then started building the model by creating two box primitive and positioned them where the break in the two halfs would be and began on moddeling the fron end first.

i added extra swift loops to the box primitive as i felt fit to the imagery i had and worked using the image that is shown in my reference that shows the gradual changing in the shape of the hull which i felt i had gotten pretty accurate and was happy to progress on and tidy up what  fet was wrong when issue arrose.

i then started to block out the structure of the super structure on top basicall adding more loops and extruding them out to get the basic shape ready to add further deatail later in the models development.

i then added some materials to get a idea of how it would look with a rust like texture on it as i had atisipated using on the final model. this gives insight into what it looks like in different colours but i feel the use a full texture of rust is a little severe and gives it a orange/pink colour which does not fit with the realistic art style of the game i am working on.

using a copy of the render i decided to make a more intricate concept peice using both the render and actual images from my reference to overlay on the image to make a painting/collage effect which i feel clearly displays the concept i had in mind for the final scene in game.

Further development is obviously needed on both the 3D aspects of this model and aswell the concept aspect of this scene this will be a ongoing thing and will be updated as i progress.

Research imagery:Titanic development

before development of the Titanic model i looked for a varied amount of reference images to get the best idea of how the finished model should look this was as well as the scaling blueprints shown previously, these images where to show the ship in its whole state instead of in sections as the working drawings depicted the ship. i have built up a large enough port folio of reference images that i feel comfortable now to begin the basic modelling of the ships intact shape.



although the images above show how to get the intact shape of the ship the model itself is to more represent the wreck of the Titanic which meant i have had to also research reference images to coincide with the Titanic in its current state so to get the best and closest representation of how the ship looks as a wreck these images are below.

also as i will hopefully be creating some interior areas in the shit if time permits  felt i should look at reference for the most iconic parts of the ship, first to come to mind was the grand staircase. this research will be continued, but below are some of the reference images i have collected so far of the interior.

further research:Titanic Development

i decided to research further into scaling for the actual creation of the Titanic model as previous research i had done into scale was more directed at scaling the Titanic to the terrain itself, i also wanted to look into the shapes for the titanics hull i was really plesed when i came across original white star liner blueprints from the building of the real ship these are shown below.

As you see from these images they show an indepth visual of the layout of the ship on all of the decks i also found further images as seen in the second blueprint sheet which the second one in the centre shows the gradual curvature of the hull whihc will be very helpful in the development of the 3D model as it pretty much sets out the positioning of the vertex's and the curviture of the loops. although this said due to the constraints of modelling this for a game engine some sacrifices in the shape will have to take place where i feel it be best due to the constraints of polygon count.

Titanic scaling

As shown in my first concept drawing i am wanting to use the titanic as a ship wreck which will be placed in the middle of a desert adding to the surreal feel of the game. taking this into mind i needed to find a way to find the scale in comparison to my level design which i am at the moment working on. i found an image that gave a close estimation of the scale of the Titanic in comparison to a person a car a bus and a airbus plane as shown below.

 i then took this image and shrunk it so to scale with the map itself and played around with different ways in which it could be layed out by placing it on the map in two sections as the wreck of the titanic is now. along with input from both my tutor Gareth Sleightholme and fellow pupil Paul Heath we agreed on the best way it should be display on the map with the stern section of the ship sticking vertically upwards as a tower and the bow of the ship laying flat as so it can be used as a shanty like city within the ships itself this i demonstrated below.

upon scaling the image upto the map layout it came apparent to me that i had underestimated ise the the scale of the vessel and this is one of the reasons i had to revise the layout of how the ship would be set in the terrain.

Initial environment reference research

Western/Desert reference research

 

Mountain/forest reference research

Shanty town reference research

 

Concept Art 1: Desert ship

When beginning this project the first thing that came to my mind that i really wanted to add to the game was the surreal concept of a large liner ship in the middle of a desert. i felt this would be a really strong visual element using the extremes of contrast to take the player out of the comfort zone i directly into the the surrealism of the environment around them.

I started by sketching out a idea utilising the use of a main focal point in the foreground to give a sense of the epic scale of the vessel in front of you. also in the distance between the two half's of the ship i will be adding a small bandit camp which will show the scale of the vessel in comparison to objects in the same area as the main focal point.

I then redrew the image cleaning up the basic concept to show a clearer idea of what i want the end piece to look like, i also added ink to the lines to give better definition.

i then started working on the image in photoshop changing the positioning of the ship to match better with the perspective of the environment around it. finally added rough splashes of colour to start me off, i will add to this developing the layers till i get the wanted look for the overall image this will be a ongoing work i will post as it progresses till its completion.

Basic storyline

A sheriff from the times of the wild west while hunting down a bandit finds himself sucked through a inter galactic portal to a world of forgotten times, a world linked by the mysterious portals of earth such as the Bermuda triangle. This world is strewn with the scraps of earth, giant ships lay dormant in the middle of vast deserts and lost planes sit on the top of mountains. Some of the human inhabitants of this planet, whom along with these vessels were brought to this world, have chosen to alter their new environment to fit with the lifestyle they had lived back home on earth, building cities and towns that wouldn't look out of place in the United States from the 18th to early 19th century, bringing a whole new meaning to the wild west. Some of the inhabitants have chosen to start their own civilisations far from other humans, and using the scrap of the discarded vessels they have built huge shanty cities. Whilst learning more of the bandit the sheriff was hunting he learns this is not the first time he has visited this strange world and he has developed the mystic ability to manipulate the portals to open at will, an ancient ability he has learnt from his native American friend. A worrying plan has been concocted were this protagonist wants to open a portal large enough to bring the earth through to this galaxy of insanity. The sheriff has made it his mission to prevent this from happening, searching the vast environment with time running out, he must push himself against all odds to stop this madness.