Production Week 7
Week Ending 3rd May
Our deadline is fast approaching! We only have Willow for 2 more weeks and after last weeks feedback the whole team had to address roughness values to avoid uncanny valley! Did we achieve it? Find out below...
Viktor - Art Director
We're getting close to the deadline and the whole scene is coming together really well. I'm very proud of what we've achieved so far and there's another week of production left!
This week we had to fix roughness values of the meshes as the last feedback mentioned how they don't seem to be the correct values. After everyone fixing their bit, it made a really nice progress. Little thing that you can't really see but feel when it's off.
Then, I've had to tweak some of my meshes that looked out of place, so the column had some minor adjustments to it's geo and texture.
For the wooden beams, I've finished the last bits that was required. All looks good.
I've jumped on to help Hannah with some quick orange meshes for her foliage. It's a strange method, as SpeedTree uses different meshes for each LOD than dynamically generating it, so I had to make 3 LODs for each orange.
The last bit for the bottom floor's architecture was the corner pillar. Had some minor edge weak and a little bit of extra geo added to it. Still needs some decal work.
Last evening I've set a quick challenge for myself. Goal was to get the photogrammetry data and have a final mesh of the bread in engine in less than an hour. I'm happy to say, it was in engine in 43 minutes! Photogrammetry is quick.
Urim - Prop, Environment and Cinematic Artist
This week was another week of getting closer to the deadline. With another 2/3 weeks of production, we had to make sure everything important had to be in the scene as soon as possible.
With that being said, the first thing I worked on this week was finishing off the bowls and plates textures. This took quite some time as I had to draw the designs from the references in painter. I was struggling a little bit with roughness maps but managed to find a good balance for ceramic plates material.
After this, I worked on getting some audio in the scene so that when the player plays the game, they'll be able to hear some nature sounds. I gathered about 3 different sounds, which were: Spanish people chatting, subtle winds, birds chirping. This gave an impression as if you actually were in the mountains and in the region of Spain.
Once the audio was done, there was a few pieces of the architecture that needed to be done on the second floor. Specifically, the beams that went across. The player can't go upstairs so a 1k texture with basic oak wood material would do. I made them modular so it would be easier to place them around and cost-effective to the environment.
Lastly, I spent Wednesday afternoon putting together another sequencer cinematic of the current scene so that we can get valuable feedback the next day. We then had a chat about what improvements we can do to the gate, as it's currently too big and needs revisiting. This would be my first thing to do next week.
Shay - Material Artist
This week I started fixing the roughness values on my materials as the tutors pointed out that roughness values in the scene felt off. It was a quick fix so It didn't really take much time to do.
I started to place the decals around the wall to break it up. I feel like it looks much better now. I also placed some on the floor as I felt like it was to clean. The decals that I made for the wall actually worked really well with the floor, with a couple of colour tweaks in the material editor it fit in quite nicely. I also made a trim to put along the top floor as it was still a place holder.
Feedback we got was really good! Just a couple more tweaks that need to be done to make it better.
Willow - Lighting Artist
As we get closer and closer to the deadline the team has begun to get everything in the scene and it's really starting to look fantastic! The aim was to get loads of the decals and remaining assets into the scene. Which we definitely achieved. For me lighting was still my main job. In the previous feedback I was instructed to make everything brighter to feel like more of a hot country. This was mainly done through the intensity and the bloom. This also means I had to adjust most of the scene to fit this new look, adjusting shadow levels and the light intensity around the whole environment. After feedback this week tutors have also helped me identify what areas need further refining. Right now my focus will be balancing out point lights around the scene. and fixing some dark spots around the environment.
Josef - Prop + Environment Artist
As we are now getting closer to the deadline with 2 weeks of production left. Getting final assets placed into the scene was the most important thing.
This week I was finishing a pillar architecture asset and started working on my storage cabinet final pass. This took a steady pace due to the top of the pillar being a complex floral design. Simon chipped in and basically said the pillars detail wasn't quite finished. So I added on an extra 2 days to finalize the high poly and textures. This feedback from Simon really helped, and pushed me to improve.
There was still an issue with the tree looking patchy so I tried to fix this with a new material set in speedtree. Viktor was a great help whipping me up some new orange meshes that used a brand new orange material I created with the help of Juriaan our tutor! He was a great help several times over this week helping me install xNormals properly so I can get nicer dilation and fixing a broken speedtree material which was not reading my maps properly!
The last thing I needed to fix this week was the structure of the flowers on the clematis. This was a bit fiddly to do as I had to replace all of my flowers, but it has lead to a much more natural and realistic end result. I made them a bit smaller as well so that they were more to scale when walking around the scene.
Knowing we needed to work on more decals to break up our scene a bit more I provided some petal and leaf meshes to be scattered throughout the scene. I used the foliage brush tool in unreal to scatter them around.
Adrian - Prop & Environment Artist
This week Adrian has been super busy. After a sudden realisation that the original door he was working on was too modern for the scene he had to start over. Working exceptionally hard to rectify this problem Adrian created a new awesome door for the scene. Although we really loved the old door, this new door fits the aesthetic and time period much better.
He also created some really nice new windows in a complimentary painted green wood which will be a nice accent to our courtyard. Just need to figure out what to put behind those blinds!
Finally he started on some accents to these props. Including a new door trim based on feedback received and an ornate door handle.
Our deadline is fast approaching! We only have Willow for 2 more weeks and after last weeks feedback the whole team had to address roughness values to avoid uncanny valley! Did we achieve it? Find out below...
Viktor - Art Director
We're getting close to the deadline and the whole scene is coming together really well. I'm very proud of what we've achieved so far and there's another week of production left!
This week we had to fix roughness values of the meshes as the last feedback mentioned how they don't seem to be the correct values. After everyone fixing their bit, it made a really nice progress. Little thing that you can't really see but feel when it's off.
Then, I've had to tweak some of my meshes that looked out of place, so the column had some minor adjustments to it's geo and texture.
For the wooden beams, I've finished the last bits that was required. All looks good.
I've jumped on to help Hannah with some quick orange meshes for her foliage. It's a strange method, as SpeedTree uses different meshes for each LOD than dynamically generating it, so I had to make 3 LODs for each orange.
The last bit for the bottom floor's architecture was the corner pillar. Had some minor edge weak and a little bit of extra geo added to it. Still needs some decal work.
Last evening I've set a quick challenge for myself. Goal was to get the photogrammetry data and have a final mesh of the bread in engine in less than an hour. I'm happy to say, it was in engine in 43 minutes! Photogrammetry is quick.
Urim - Prop, Environment and Cinematic Artist
This week was another week of getting closer to the deadline. With another 2/3 weeks of production, we had to make sure everything important had to be in the scene as soon as possible.
With that being said, the first thing I worked on this week was finishing off the bowls and plates textures. This took quite some time as I had to draw the designs from the references in painter. I was struggling a little bit with roughness maps but managed to find a good balance for ceramic plates material.
After this, I worked on getting some audio in the scene so that when the player plays the game, they'll be able to hear some nature sounds. I gathered about 3 different sounds, which were: Spanish people chatting, subtle winds, birds chirping. This gave an impression as if you actually were in the mountains and in the region of Spain.
Once the audio was done, there was a few pieces of the architecture that needed to be done on the second floor. Specifically, the beams that went across. The player can't go upstairs so a 1k texture with basic oak wood material would do. I made them modular so it would be easier to place them around and cost-effective to the environment.
Lastly, I spent Wednesday afternoon putting together another sequencer cinematic of the current scene so that we can get valuable feedback the next day. We then had a chat about what improvements we can do to the gate, as it's currently too big and needs revisiting. This would be my first thing to do next week.
Shay - Material Artist
This week I started fixing the roughness values on my materials as the tutors pointed out that roughness values in the scene felt off. It was a quick fix so It didn't really take much time to do.
I started to place the decals around the wall to break it up. I feel like it looks much better now. I also placed some on the floor as I felt like it was to clean. The decals that I made for the wall actually worked really well with the floor, with a couple of colour tweaks in the material editor it fit in quite nicely. I also made a trim to put along the top floor as it was still a place holder.
Feedback we got was really good! Just a couple more tweaks that need to be done to make it better.
Willow - Lighting Artist
As we get closer and closer to the deadline the team has begun to get everything in the scene and it's really starting to look fantastic! The aim was to get loads of the decals and remaining assets into the scene. Which we definitely achieved. For me lighting was still my main job. In the previous feedback I was instructed to make everything brighter to feel like more of a hot country. This was mainly done through the intensity and the bloom. This also means I had to adjust most of the scene to fit this new look, adjusting shadow levels and the light intensity around the whole environment. After feedback this week tutors have also helped me identify what areas need further refining. Right now my focus will be balancing out point lights around the scene. and fixing some dark spots around the environment.
Josef - Prop + Environment Artist
As we are now getting closer to the deadline with 2 weeks of production left. Getting final assets placed into the scene was the most important thing.
This week I was finishing a pillar architecture asset and started working on my storage cabinet final pass. This took a steady pace due to the top of the pillar being a complex floral design. Simon chipped in and basically said the pillars detail wasn't quite finished. So I added on an extra 2 days to finalize the high poly and textures. This feedback from Simon really helped, and pushed me to improve.
Hannah - Foliage Artist
My week has mainly been filled with "small tweaks" which when it comes to foliage and using speed tree I feel like there is no such thing! First point of call was fixing the roughness values of all the foliage to help them read more realistic.
The last thing I needed to fix this week was the structure of the flowers on the clematis. This was a bit fiddly to do as I had to replace all of my flowers, but it has lead to a much more natural and realistic end result. I made them a bit smaller as well so that they were more to scale when walking around the scene.
Knowing we needed to work on more decals to break up our scene a bit more I provided some petal and leaf meshes to be scattered throughout the scene. I used the foliage brush tool in unreal to scatter them around.
Adrian - Prop & Environment Artist
This week Adrian has been super busy. After a sudden realisation that the original door he was working on was too modern for the scene he had to start over. Working exceptionally hard to rectify this problem Adrian created a new awesome door for the scene. Although we really loved the old door, this new door fits the aesthetic and time period much better.
He also created some really nice new windows in a complimentary painted green wood which will be a nice accent to our courtyard. Just need to figure out what to put behind those blinds!
Finally he started on some accents to these props. Including a new door trim based on feedback received and an ornate door handle.
