Environment Preproduction
Team members - Emily Evans, Holo Moon, Katy Templeton, Jack Degville
A detailed breakdown of my pinultimate module at Birmingham City University.
Our Goal is to create an apartment, set in 1985, in an alternate tech timeline with influence taken from a Cassette Futuristic world.
Organisation
Production Blog
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At the start of the project we wanted to take the time to sort our organisation out. I was able to create a schedule in Miro which gave us a visual representation of what each person doing and how long we had until the deadline.
Structure
We studied the brief intensely and were able to come up with a structure to our work which we broke down in to easy to follow Phases. This helped keep everyone focused and eased any anxiety that usually comes with such a large work load.
Team Management
We set ground rules early on to ensure everyone was on the same page and would be held accountable.
3D Environment Pipeline
A Pipeline was ironed out straight away so that the environment artists had a clear understanding of how we would approach production. This helped give us an idea of work load that would be required and prevented the team from over scoping.
One Thing Intention
We all had different expectations of what we were looking to achieve at the end of this unit and by letting others know, it meant we could assign specific tasks to members.
Floor Plan
Every important decision that needed to be made was done in a voice call with other members. This prevented things getting lost in translation and meant we could brainstorm our ideas quickly.
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Katy Templeton was able to mock up the floor plans and we were able to work through them as a team to highlight the designs that we liked and any areas that we would change. By numbering the designs and using Discord's screen share function, we were able to similate being in the same room and so prevented us from being hindered by the pandemic.
Everyone's opinion really mattered and so we made a note of all of the important questions that had come up when reviewing the floorplans.
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This would always be something we could refer back to if we ever felt like something wasn't working. Almost like our own personal reasonings behind our decisions, written in our words so it felt like we were reassuring ourselves of our choices.
Asset List
To help us with scoping the project, we created a basic asset list really early on.
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We divided the rooms up into Phases and then created a Rag rating for the assets in those rooms.
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This helped create a visual representation of what we needed to create and prevented us from going too crazy with our idea.
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The Asset list can also be taken right the way through to production, with rows for not only the asset research but also the asset creation such as Unwrapping and Testing in Engine.
Risk Assessment
With the asset list already split up in to phases, it made the creation of a Risk Assessment really straight forward.
The rooms in the earlier stages are the ones which are open concept. The later stages all have doors which can be closed in the event of us running out of time.
By having a contingency plan in place, it increases our chances of a positive outcome. We won't be forced to rush to finish the rooms and should in theory help us create a higher standard of environment.
Structure
Structure
Miro
We used Miro as our location for everything through out this unit but its main use was as an image dump. We were able to collect upwards of 1000 images to help ensure that we were able to give an authentic 80s feel. Researching everything from cutlery to curtains, nothing was too obscure.
Many of our future employees would have grown up in the 80s and we wanted to be able to create a truly nostalgic feeling when viewing our scene.
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The phrase, ' I remember that!' was uttered so many times whenever we showed our research to others that we knew we had an obligation to do this well. Everyone deserves to feel like a kid again, even just for a few minutes.
Image Directory
With over 1000 images , it was always going to take some time to load so to help counteract this, I created a filing system.
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I saved out each individual image and used a specific naming convention which allowed us to search for individual images.
Once the images were saved, I could replace them with a screen shot of the collection. Meaning the website would need to load just one image rather than hundreds.
There was a slight downgrade in picture quality but with the images saved on the google drive, it meant we could always refer back to the original if we ever needed to.
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Primary Research
As mentioned previously, we wanted to make sure this apartment would appeal to people who had fond memories of the era.
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In order to make sure it was authentic, we conducted primary research on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram with a total reach of over 5000 people.
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This not only helped us get ideas for what needed to be in the scene but also created an interest in our project. There are now future employers who have become invested in our idea and look forward to seeing our updates.
Scale
Even this early on in the project, we felt it was extremely important to nail now a naming convention.
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I for one found this extremely useful when creating white box assets. I was able to find the correct size and then label it using the naming convention which made it easier when testing out scale in engine.
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Having a filing system that everyone understands at the beginning of the project sets the foundations for when we eventually move in to production. If we're already in the habit of naming assets in a particular way then it eliminates the learning curve during what will already be our most stressful module.
Previsualisation
I have always thought of concept art as having to be handdrawn and it's where I feel I'm lacking.
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As you can see from the image here, I was never going to win any awards for my ability to draw and it was really knocking my confidence.
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Thankfully, Ashab, our Tutor, was able to show us a new technique that helped play to my strengths. By showing us that 3D doesn't have to work in engine and all it needs to realistically do is portray an idea or a still image, I began to fly.
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I was finally able to get my ideas down on 'paper' and didn't feel like I was letting the team down. I'm sure you'll agree that there was a vast improvement!
Kitchen Wide Angle
Kitchen Close Up
Prop Sheets
To create the above images, I used a combination of photographs and free 3D models.
To prevent myself having to use a new material for everything in the scene, I created prop texture sheets. Cleverly posititioned UV's allowed these to be used across a multitude of objects.
Example of Photobashed Asset
Cross-Discipline Art Test
To help bring the scene to life, we decided to test out the characters interacting with it. Holo had been using Unreal Engines new Meta Humans to create base meshes for the two girls in the apartment. I was able to take the mesh in to Mixamo and pose them to look more realistic.
Once these reposed meshes were placed in scene, I was able to send a render to Holo, that she drew over. The process was so fast but extremely effective and one of my favourite things that's come out of this unit.
Character Test in scene
Bedroom Previsualisation
It was a lot harder to make the bedroom look lived in compared to the kitchen as each item felt really personal to the character, Melissa. She had been designed by Holo Moon, our character artist, who had written a short description of her personality and interests. This helped me understand the key elements that would be required in the scene in order to get her personality across.
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Melissa is Character 2 in the apartment.
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She works as a waitress.
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She is very interested in fashion, but is not wealthy and so creates her own clothing in her room.
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She is always presentable and takes pride in her appearance
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She moved in after Edie, and is sometimes intimidated by Edie’s angry outbursts.
Holo is our Character Artist on the project and was constantly checking in to make sure she felt this is what Melissa's room could look like.
Melissa Bedroom
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Melissa Bedroom
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Texturelib.com. 2021. seamless beige tile texture 0074 - Texturelib. [online] Available at <http://texturelib.com/texture/path=%2FTextures%2Fbrick%2Fpavement%2Fbrick_pavement_0074>.
Laundry Room
The Laundry room area and front door doesn't require as much personality as other areas of the apartment. By making the previs, it has highlighted the need to make the area appear messier.
Laundry Room/ Front Door
Callout Sheets
Click images to view Bibliography
Kitchen Callout Sheet
Bedroom Callout Sheet
Laundry Callout Sheet