In this blog post I will run through all of the Phase 3 assets that I was tasked with making for the major project.
Trays
To create this tray, I created a cube and scaled it down, I then used a lot of Booleans this was to cut out the specific squares that I wanted on the trays, I then fixed the UVs and Normals as this amount of Booleans really messed my UVs up.
Drinking glasses
For this glass I used a circle which I extruded in different ways to create the shape of the glass, I then smoothed the whole thing to make it look like glass in terms of roughness.
Assortment of glasses
For the remaining glasses I did the same technique as the first glass.
Pipes
To create the pipes that will be used in the engine room, I started out with a singular cylinder.
To create the pipe shapes, I used the spin tool to turn the cylinders in different ways/degree amounts to create various types of pipes, to finish the ends of the pipes off I extruded the ends outwards, then insetted the face and shrunk it down and then deleted it.
I did this because it makes the pipe look like it can be connected to other pipes.
Piston Blocks
To create the piston blocks, I started out by creating the pistons that will go into the block.
I then created the block which is a square that has been extruded from the bottom and made smaller.
I attached the pistons to the block and then booleaned the objects so that the pistons would cut out holes where they would go up and down in. I did this to make sure I’m not breaking immersion by having the pistons phasing and clipping through the block.
Piston block holes
Engine
To create the engine, I began by mirroring a cylinder along the y axis and extruding it in various ways.
I then added a box in the middle of these cylinders with some small pipes going out of the back of it, this is where the piston box will live in the final game.
I then added an area inside of the box for coal to go as this is a steam ship, i also added off shooting pipes which go to the paddle, I also added a housing unit for the valves/gauges and some more pipes/levers.
I added a pipe that goes towards the roof which is where the smoke goes.
Finally I added a metal flap and 2 gauges to the housing unit.
Throughout the Major Project I have received some feedback from the group about models that could be changed and or improved, in this post I will go through some of these.
Feedback 1: One bit of feedback was that my barriers on the outside of the boat had issues with collisions and also Normals, I was then asked if I could change them up and remake them, I then made a completely new barrier which was a big improvement over the previous one.
Initial BarrierUpdated Barrier
Feedback 2:
Towards the end of the project, when I was importing my boat into unreal, I ran into some issues with the Normals and backfaces. To optimize the boat, we decided on joining the whole boat together inside of Blender and importing into unreal, this however caused issues with some parts of the boat being invisible. I fixed this by spending some time flipping and recalculating Normals to make sure everything meant to be visible stays visible.
Before imageAfter Image
Feedback 3:
It was brought to my attention that I had some mesh issues with the boat, this being that the bedroom window had broken topology, this was only visable in unreal therefore it could damage the experience of the game, below is an image of the problem.
To fix this I decided to remake the wall out of one continuous mesh to avoid any errors. Below is an image of the fixed version.
In this blog I will go present images of my assets once they have been textured with materials from Poly haven and AmbientCG
Phase 1
Sink
For the sink I went with 2 textures, the first being metal for the taps and plug, and secondly a cream colour for the sink. I did the cream colour as it looks like porcelain which was heavily used during this time period on appliances like sinks.
Bath
For the bath I used similar textures as the tap, this is because they are in the same area at all times and also because it is the type of material used during the time period.
Wardrobe
The wardrobe is textured in dark wood as I think it suited the design more than light wood or other types of wood, I also did this as wood is the most common material used for wardrobes.
Snub Revolver
For the snub revolver i used 2 types of metal, the first being shiny metal for the barrel of the revolver, and also the trigger, secondly, I used a rough metal texture for the body and chamber/hammer of the revolver, this is because I think it suits the revolver better than being entirely shiny.
Finally, I used a fabric type texture for the grip, this is because it would not look right or be appealing if the entire revolver was metal, this is because of the perception that metal is rough and cold while fabric can be warm and soft.
Toilet
For the toilet i used a few textures, these being a green rough texture for the pipe, a dark yellow box, a cream base of the toilet and also a wood lid.
Phase 2
Kitchen Tables
I used the same wood texture that i used for the wardrobe here as I wanted to keep a consistent style throughout the boat with the type of wood used on objects.
Sitting Chair
For my sitting chair I used 3 textures, these being a red fabric, brown leather and also wood.
The first of these was used for the body of the sitting chair, i used this texture as I thought it was
Bowl
For the fruit bowl, I used the same wood material as the other wood objects, however I also an orange/yellowy texture for the oranges, initially i had a very high-quality texture for it, however I didn’t want to limit performance or make it look out of place so i swapped it for a scaled back texture like this.
Dining Tables
For the dining table, I used the wood texture however I made sure the UVs on the top were spaced out realistically, this was because I didn’t want the player seeing odd, shaped textures on the top of the table as it could possibly break immersion within the game.
Bench
When texturing the bench I used the same wood texture as the other objects.
Chair
For the chair I used the same wood texture, however I also used a black leather material for the cushion that gets sat on.
Phase 3
Engine
For the engine i used multiple textures.
The first being a clean metal for the coal compartment, housing area and middle pipe, this is because this can be changed out for new parts from time to time.
The second texture was a rusty green painted metal colour used for the outside pipes, i did this as they have probably been in the ship for a while and may have rusted overtime due to crew negligence.
The final texture is a black outline for the gauge cylinders.
Pipes
For the pipes I did the same textures as the engine for the same reason.
Pistons
For the piston block i used the rusted texture for the box, and clean shiny metal for the pistons.
Trays
For the tray I used a yellowish off-white colour, this is because I wanted it to look like Bakelite which was one of the most used plastics at the time.
Boat
For the boat I used many textures, these being dark oak wood, painted red wood for the paddle, metal for pipes, wallpaper for inside of rooms, carpets for downstairs floors and much more.
Below are some images of different areas that are textured.
Boat Full ViewBalconyDining HallCorridorEngine RoomPaddle
In this blog post I will run through all of the phase 2 assets that I was tasked with making for major project.
Kitchen table
When starting my kitchen table asset, I began by making legs for the table, I used cylinders which I extruded and shaped.
I then created the body of the table. This is simply just a cube which I insetted underneath and brought the underneath face upwards.
I then added a cube onto the legs which I insetted and deleted the faces, I did this because I thought the table had a lot of empty space which was underutilized and I think that having the this makes the table look better.
Chair
To start the chair, I added a cube which I beveled, this created the cushion which will be sat on.
I then created the legs for the chairs via cubes.
I used the same thing I did for the legs for the back of the chair.
Finally I added cubes across the back of the chair so that it looks realistic to a chair in real life.
Bench
When creating my bench, I firstly modelled the individual planks of the bench, I did this instead of a curved single object with a texture on it as in my opinion it works better when making it just like how it is made in real life, than faking it.
Once I made the planks I added sides to the planks and also legs.
Sitting Chair
I began modelling the sitting chair by creating the cushion that is sat on.
I then created a rough design of the sitting chair by using a mirrored cube so that the design on both sides would be the same.
Once the initial idea of the chair was laid out I began beveling certain parts to create a curved surface.
I then beveled the top of my chair, and also created a pillow, i made this by creating a cube, subdividing it, extruding the middle vertices along the y-axis and then turning it into a cloth sim.
To finish off the model I created legs and attached them to the body of the sitting chair.
Fruit Bowl
To create the fruit bowl it was quite simple, firstly I added a circle and extruded it upwards, I then beveled it and then extruded upwards and out to create the dip in the bowl.
To create the oranges in the bowl, I used UV spheres which I subdivided and added a displacement modifier to it to add roughness which isn’t related to the texture of the fruit. I then added an orange colour to it
Dining room table
To begin my dining room table I added a cylinder which I extruded upwards and then extruded out to create the table surface at the top.
I then beveled the table from the main surface to the cylinder going downwards, and added a couple of faces that were extruded outwards to create a non flat design.
Finally i added legs to the table which i mirrored along the x and y axis
In this blog post I will run through how I made all of the phase 1 assets that I was tasked with making for the major project.
Wardrobe
When I started out creating the wardrobe asset, I began by making a base to the wardrobe with 6 legs, I did this to get the rough layout of the asset, before continuing on with it.
After the base was complete, I then moved onto the body of the wardrobe, all I did for this was extruding the faces upwards to create the back, side and top of the wardrobe. I then created the partition in the middle of the wardrobe which splits both sides of the wardrobe apart for 2 separate areas to put in clothes.
I moved onto the roof and doors next, firstly I made the roof of the wardrobe slanted so that it wasn’t a simple 90 degree turn which looks unflattering,
After I finished the roof I then moved onto the doors which were simple cubes which I copied and put on either side of the wardrobe, I also created a door handle for it by adding a cylinder to the scene, changing its rotation, beveling/extruding certain parts to create a door handle shape.
Once I created the door handle, I then moved onto the final touches, first being the inside the the wardrobe, I decided to add a shelf to the bottom and the top of each partition, I also added a clothes rail which can house coat hangers with clothes on it.
The final touches of the wardrobe consisted of checking that all the geometry was good and didn’t have any problems and also making sure the doors pivot points were in the middle on the side so that when exported into unreal, it will be able to open like a normal wardrobe door.
Sink
When creating the base for my sink, I looked at many designs of sinks from the 1910s/1920s, these gave me the general idea of what I was creating and assisted me in production.
After the base model was complete, I continued on with the model and added detail to it, I started by adding a ledge to the back of the sink.
After I created the ledge, I then added the drain in the middle of the basin.
Finally I created both the taps for the sink as well as the plug
Snub Revolver
To begin creating the revolver, I started by making the grip of the gun I did this by using a plane which I shrunk and extruded in the shape of a grip.
I then moved onto the body of the gun which I used the same technique for, however I created it as a solid block but used the knife tool to cut out the middle where the cylinder of the revolver lives.
Once I finished the body of the revolver I moved onto the barrel which was 4 cylinders. Firstly I created the two cylinders on the front of the gun and then the two half cylinders on the side which I sliced in half and mirrored it onto the body of the gun next to the barrel.
I then created the trigger and trigger guard, I used 2 cubes for this and extruded them to create the appropriate shape of the objects.
I finally moved onto the cylinder of the gun which I used a simple cylinder for which I then cut shapes into to make it look like a real revolver, I then created the hammer of the revolver and put it on the back of the body.
Bathtub
I started the bathtub by adding a cube to the scene and extruding it along the y-axis to make it longer.
Once I got the basic shape down I added a high poly rounded cube and booleaned it so that i could cut the exact shape of the rounded cube into the top of the standard cube.
Once I did that I added the tap to the body of the bath, I did this by using the spin tool on the cylinder to extrude it in a curve to create the look of a bend in pipe/metal.
Finally I added faucets to the tap and rounded off the sides of the bath.
Toilet
When beginning to make my toilet asset, I started by adding a cube and a cylinder to an extruded base plane. I then extruded these up in the rough direction which a 1910s/20s toilet would be in.
After this I added the toilet bowl on top of the base of the toilet.
Once I created the bowl and lid of the toilet, I created the pipe which goes to the box connected to the wall.
Finally I created the toilet box and also the chain which is on the side of the box so that it is flushable.
SS Arctic
To begin with, I added skirting boards around the bases of walls. I did this to stop there being a perfect 90-degree angle where the floor meets the wall.
After finishing the skirting boards throughout the ship, I created the paddles which are located on the rear of the boat, I did this because the player will be able to see it when walking around on the balcony.
I then made an engine room.
Below are some untextured views of other areas of the boat.
For my role in the Major Project, I had to research several items which correlates with my job, this being a 3d modeler. To begin the research, I started by looking back on my proposal and the different blog posts that I created.
Firstly, I looked at the idea development post, this is because it includes 2 mood boards that I created in preparation for modelling the boat, this is helpful because it helps me understand different features of the paddle steamer which I can model to add detail to the final boat.
Moving on from the proposal, I began to look at what models I needed to make and if I needed any relevant images to assist me in the design, production and texturing phases of asset creation. For the most part I’m able to get the models created without references, however for some I needed some help on what they looked like, the models in question are below.
Snub Revolver For the revolver I needed a reference image to get the correct dimensions of the model. Below is the image that I used for reference/research; this also helped me decide the textures needed.
Boat For my Boat I used my mood boards from my idea development blog as I already had all the images I needed just from that.
Toilet
For the toilet model I needed something that represented the time, therefore I used an old drawing from the victorian time, as it isnt too far off of the games time period, therefore I think it still works.
Sink
For the sink I decided a specific design based on an image I found, this helped me decide how the sink would look when modelled.
Our group plans on adding a lot more to the game within the next few months, however, to do this, we must have good communication, therefore we have multiple ways of communicating with each other.
In this blog post I will go through the different ways of communication within our group, Aswell as the different ways of managing the production of our game, this will include group ideas, such as discord usage, google docs usage Aswell as Gantt charts/different charts showing progress among ourselves.
Asset list
This is an asset list with mine and Cameron’s planned assets on, the key indicates what stage we are at in development and what phase (importance) the model is, this will help us plan out what assets we are making and when we should make them based on their importance and also relevence to the game as a whole.
Group Google Doc
My team has created a Google Docs page which helps with the creation of our project, it gives us the relevant information that we need to know to create and complete the game, this includes but is not limited to, inspiration for our game, information on what assets are used, e.g. audio and finally an explanation of the overall story of the game, going into detail about it.
Gantt Chart
This is the Gantt chart that my team is using, this part specifically is for the myself and Cameron who is the other 3d modeler.
This Gantt chart spans 30 weeks, this being until the end of term when our game is to be finished by. It helps us understand the time scales and how many weeks we should take on each set of models, for example the highest priority, (Phase 1), models will be created first, this along with research and texturing will take us throughout the first few weeks until we get to phase 2 and so on until we finish the models all together and have a finished game at the end.
Group meetings(In person and digital)
My group has had several meetings to discuss the progress/production of the game, at the early stages of development we had 3-4 meetings over a 4-week span, this was to get the early plans up and running and our roles sorted out and finalized.
In addition to in person meetings we have had a few meetings on discord where we talked about what we need to do in our team and what else could be done to further the project, this has helped solve problems that we may have encountered during early production.
Throughout the time we have had making the game so far, I have created several assets, mockups and concept art depicting my tasks within the production. In this blogpost I will go through each of them with descriptions underneath about what they are and how I did them.
Paddle Steamer concept
My first concept that I created for the game was the main paddle steamer which the game is set on, I decided to make this to show the group a rough outline of what the ship could look like and how it could be designed further along in the production cycle.
I made all the key things that paddle steamers have, for example the chimney for the steam to leave from, Aswell as the paddles on the side of the ship that lets it move. This lets my team know that I am creating the right ship Aswell as that I know what I am supposed to do.
I created this ship in blender and rendered it in blender using blockout textures.
Paddle Steamer Render
Revolver Concept
One of the assets that I plan on making is a revolver, this can be used in a couple of circumstances, for example, it could be the weapon that the murderer used, or it could be the weapon of the detective who the player plays as.
As I plan on creating this asset, I decided to make a quick concept version of it, without textures but instead having a grey blockout colour to show that it is not a final model, but an early test version of it instead.
I created this in blender using multiple objects that I modified to create the proper shape of the revolver, this is shown below in the image.
Uncompleted Revolver
Corridor Concept
As I am creating the environmental assets for the game, I decided that it would be good practice to create a corridor concept for what I may create further down the line.
I made it simple so that I can go back and modify it depending on team feedback, this is good as I can create it to be modular so that it all fits together like a Lego set and also lets me create different variations of corridors in no time.
I created this in blender using some planes Aswell as cubes.
