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Pre Production
Dungeon scrawl layout:
For the layout of my tent I planned it out using the website dungeon scrawl which I've also used in past units. This allows me to have the layout down so I can use it as a reference to look out when building my environment. After dungeon scrawl I took the design into photoshop to label everything as can be seen in the photo above. And i will use this later on when i start building in unreal.
click to preview:
unreal Blockout
From my dungeon scrawl layout i made this making sure to import scale guy so that it can be a decent size with the assets I will make in Maya later on. the whole thing is a circle like a regular "big top" tent and the ring in the middle is the performance ring for where people would preform. the middle panel will late be replaced by a curtain asset hopefully with the two side ones just being walls. the two big blue areas are where seating goes. i forgot to take screenshots earlier on so i hid the seating area which left the holes in the floor.
After the first two pictures i added the stairs which i added as bench type design. i also added a fence around the ring connecting to the two walls at the side of the curtain.
even though i showed screenshots of the outside of the tent i wont be adding a texture to that as the game sequence will take place completely inside. After this i added a roof out of an unreal geometry cone flattening it down a little before adding vanity desks in the background where the performers would put on makeup and keep other outfits around. i think i could add more to the ouster side of the Blockout however i don't see the point in doing tat as the player will only be able to see the inside.
I added 3 scale guys which will be replaces by the three characters designed, ringmaster will be in the ring, clown on the side-lines and snake charmer in the back room area however you will not be able to communicate with her in the demo.
lighting in unreal:
for the circus aesthetic i thought that a spotlight showing on the centre of the arena would help to set the mood. the colour choice i went with was a purple and pink, although the traditional spotlight colour is a pale yellow or white i wanted something more colourful so that it just looks a little more interesting to look at. this choice in lighting allows for a more colourful scene too, it is able to to easily show that the vocal point of this game scene is the centre ring and that lets the player know what to focus on.
asset creation
fancy stepping stool: my first asset was this drum step/ stand object which is just a cylinder that i will texture later on with a circus theme. automatic unwrap and layout to do the uv before putting it into substance where i made the base a yellow wood with a black border and the diamond pattern is another image from that i made into a substance texture. i wanted to change all my props so i ended up turning everything into a plastic texture including this. the colors all stayed but the only difference is that now it is a plastic texture.
pole: just a pole, gonna use it to create a guard rail between the stage ring and audience. just a stretched out block that will be textured as just plain black with the regular border. I uv automatic unwrapped the pole and put it into substance where I baked it and gave it the plastic texture. so far this has been my third modular asset and the easiest.
stage light: to go at the top of the tent for lighting, maybe used
to have the lighting coloured if I feel like it fits the tone. the
base of the light is made out of a cylinder with the handle being
just blocks stretched and the square around the light that holds the flaps was made out of a block that I deleted a smaller square within and bridging up the gaps together so it makes a suitable piece for the light. currently not uv mapped. since I have this asset in 3 separate pieces combined the three objects together and uv mapped it with the help of the lecturer before putting it into substance. This is my first fmp prop that I added a texture to, I used a matte metal texture for everything but the inside light piece where I painted it a yellowish white colour.
popcorn machine: i plan on adding the popcorn and insides with textures. uv mapped with automatic before being exported into substance to be baked and textured. i used painted steel in red as my base colour and added the popcorn machine texture as decals from the drawing i created earlier as seen below.
Here is a screenshot of all the layers i used. the layers that are lablled with the different views are the sides that i drew out and brounght in as a texture. you can also see two other layers for the base colour in the same red as the drawing which i got byy using the colour picker tool and you can also see the border folder which i used to add lines on the base of the popcorn machine and to cover up sides of the decal texture that looked a little messy. that was mostly needed on the top and bottom of the decals, the sides fit together decently on their own.
vanity desk: 2 person vanity desk with mirrors, chairs and makeup box and brush holders to be put in the backstage area. Made with just blocks stretched out and combined together with cylinders as brush holders. this has all been turned to a blue and black colour combination textured seperatley as can be seen in the props below.
chair: regular chair mostly to be used for the vanity area. made out of 6 blocks stretched out and combined together. i did the same method of uv automatic and putting the uv shell in layout to uv map before taking it into substance. For baking i set it to "use low poly mesh as high poly mesh" so that i don't need to have a high poly and low poly version. in substance i drew in the black border in the same wood texture as the chair alongside everything else this also had the plastic change to match
stool: simple stool to be used in corners that look a little too empty. cylinder
that got a bevelled edge for the seat, the legs are just stretched blocks.
in substance everything is textured as wood with the borders being the same.
the wood texture got exchanged for a plastic one later on.
coat stand: holds hats and stuff but will mostly just be used to fill in some more space. made out of just cylinders. baked in substance i make the texture all brown plastic to imitate wood. i also added a decal of my own dog as an Easter egg.
block prop: just a block from Maya that got automatic unwrapped. in substance i added the colour and black lines manually but for the stars I used a downloaded document of a star as a texture bringing it into substance. after getting rid of the background in photoshop.
this is the video that taught me to import the star:
Substance Painter - Importing images - YouTube
vanity mirrors: I used a plain block from Maya and only needed to automatic unwrap to uv. for the shiny part of the mirror in substance i used the silver pure material and changed the roughness to make it more shiny. but then i changes this all to a plastic material. the mirror portion is still reflective although not as much but this change was to match the aesthetic i am planning to achieve.
vanity box: simple box i made in maya using the edge loop tool and extrude to get rid of the inside portion of the box. the material i used in substance for the box was just a matte plastic turned white. backed in substance with the same black border on all the edges to give the style of everything else.
makeup brush box: made out of a stretched out cylinder in Maya. the hole in the top was just painted on in substance in order to save time. the base material is the same white plastic as the vanity box. baked in substance and was later changed to this dark grey colour as to not look like toilet roll.
vanity desk: what may look like a bench is the main part of the vanity desk without the mirrors or little boxes. made entirely out of boxed in maya and automatically uv mapped before being put into substance. the base colours are steel painted in black for the legs and wood in white for the rest. the border is the same wood in black, this is where i learned that if you use shift you can create straight lines from wherever you last clicked was. this border stayed when i changed it all to a blue plastic intead of the grey wood.
box prop: as a final prop i created this box that will be used as a stand for the popcorn machine made out of a single block. this was baked in substance using the low poly as high pol. The sign on the front i added as a sticker decal to make the prop look more interesting. I plan on putting this around the entrance of the tent by the circus ring.
bench one: one of two parts of the seating are to go inside the tent. this was made out of one block but this ended up causing complications later on with parts overlapping in the uv editor. with the help of joe the bench was fixed and this was textured like the rest of the props and given the same border. before the texturing got changed to plastic with the same border.
bench two: this didn't cause as many problems and was textured the same as bench one. baked in substance and textured with he same brown colour plastic as bench one.
circus ring:
just a stretched out cylinder automatic uv mapped.
the inside of my ring that i textured with a rough leather texture due to the fact that it was the closest looking thing i could find to sand. but was then changed to plastic to fit with the theme of the rest of the scene.
2 identical wall panels to use to create the tent wall in red and white stripes made out of a single block and duplicated and uv mapped automatically before being baked in substance. using the texture "fabric rough" to imitate the canvas material used in other big top tents. when in unreal i ended up just using the white wall panel with the two different textures since they were the same. however this looked like a carpet got stuck to the wall so i changed the material to plastic in the same colours.
the roof: for the big top tent the ceiling had to be cone shaped which was doable but taking a cone, deleting the big circular face, then in object mode i extruded the rest of the cone and went to mesh display before reversing the cone. after this I put it into substance, baked it and using the same texture as the wall panels i did the diamond type patters to match the walls
middle wall: for the centre wall which acts as a patrician between the main showing area and the back room. I continues the circus theme adding stars with the red colour.
bowling pin/club:
i made this because i felt as if i diddnt have enough random props to place around and juggling pins seemed like a fitting prop. The main base was made with a cylinder that was then stretched out and with the help of my classmate Nate the middle portion was made to be bigger than the smaller end portions. the handle was just another cylinder that had an edge loop put at the top so i could extrude the top piece and then bevel to give the shape of other juggling pins that i used as references. this was then combined, and uv mapped automatically before being textured like that other props in unreal.
clown nose: every clown needs a spare nose so i created this to add into the dressing room. made out of a circle in maya and using vertex mode i dragged part of the circle inwards as the are the nose would get attached. automatic unwrap worked fine and it was textured as plain red with a white cartoonish shine. it is currently being modelled by scale guy
balloon: i feel like it would be more weird if their wasn't any balloons really. made out of a cone, a stretched circle and cylinder combined together and automatic uv'd. when texturing ill make multiple of the same texture giving them the colour purple so they stand out against all the red. the same decal from the box holding the popcorn machine i used again on the
balloons to create the feeling of the circus being a business.
human canon: looking at other circuses i started seeing cannons show up so i decided to add one to my scene as i have the time right now. i made and UV'd the base and main body separately to make it an easier prop to texture, this also allowed me to put a "spare" main cannon in the dressing room. the main cannon was made up of two cylinders, the main base and the little string at the end. with the use of edge loops and the extrude tool that was finished. the base was mostly rectangles with the wheels and middle bar being cylinders. textured to suit the main theme of the circus in red and gold with decal stars for decoration. in the actual maya model itself i diddnt know how to add individual bars onto the wheel so they were just painted on in substance which i thing isnt the worse as byou can tell that they are in fact meant to be wheels.
this is the current board i have with references for what ive created. alongside a prop list i created weeks ago of what i have to create. i did change a
few things on the list later on
and added some more stuff to
my level but i didn't write
them down
popcorn machine texture:
for the popcorn machine I though to save on time I would just have the basic shape of a popcorn machine and then draw out a popcorn machine in the lineart style I use for the rest of the props. this would save time so that I wouldn't need to create the inside of the popcorn machine whilst modelling which wouldn't even be a main prop so whilst at home I drew out a popcorn machines 4 sides with the glass and I will colour in the top and bottom part of the prop in substance painter and so will have seen above. I used one of the popcorn machines in my reference board as my main point of reference when designing this texture. i made the sides of the drawing grey so they would be easy to take out in photoshop i also was able to change the size of the canvas in photoshop to make it the ideal size for a decal which i found out was 12800x12800 pixels.
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