Stage 1 Blocking

So I a bit of planning and blocking out yesterday and monday. I started out just blocking things in UDK with BSP's keeping things rather large and on grid to make sure everything fits. Exported it to max and created basic blockout models which I then sent back to UDK and replaced all the BSP stuff with static meshes. Also made some placehoder materials and textures . Rather basic now, I will also need to add things like support pillars for the buildings, foundation and trims, and after that I'll be ready to dive into detailing out the assets. As long as i maintain dimensions everything should just snap into place and fit together well. I also plan on integrating the bridge supports into this scene so right now as they are the only finnished assets they stand out quite a bit. Also textures on them look way to saturated in UDK but that's and easy fix inside of the shader. 

I think I'll be stepping back from this piece for now as I saw an awesome opportunity on one of the LinkedIn groups I just got accepted in: an open art test with the possibility of maybe paid internship. The image looks like a really fun exercise, with lots of Zbrush happy-times . I usually don't do this kind of cartoony style so it should be an interesting challenge. I like learning new things, with every piece I try to learn something new, so this looks like the perfect exercise even if I end up not getting the position. Ahh lot's of things to do.

Bridge support and further plans

 So here is the bridge support. I decided to try out dDo in making of the texture. It’s a really nice program, there are still some bugs and quirks because it’s in beta, however it’s still pretty solid, and saved me a lot of time during texturing, especially for things like wearing of the edges, and because a lot of the things are automated it’s easy to quickly try out different things. I think I will be using this program in the future for texturing assets, as it makes things much faster and more efficient.

 I like the direction the bridge is going in and decided to make an entire environment for it, and practice some modularity. That’s the reason why I decided not to texture the concrete part of the bridge for now as it requires an alpha channel and for optimization purposes I want that texture shared with other assets that would also require an alpha such as vegetation and decals. My aim in making the rest of the environment is make things as modular as possible so there will be a lot of texture sharing. Here is the list of textures I plan to have for the entire environment:

-          Bridge support texture: hero asset

-          Concrete (bottom of bridge, walls, rubble)

-          Road pavement

-          Metal (wall plates, miscellaneous assets)

-          Texture with alpha for: broken part of concrete, broken pavement, vegetation, decals.

-      Glass elements (for windows)

-      Miscellaneous (signs etc.)

Also textures to be used in UDK for vertex blending:

-          Rust

-          Paint

-          dirt

My aim is to finish this project by next week Wednesday, which gives me a week and a few days to polish up the scene. As inspiration I would be using the first concept that I posted, however I am not going to make the scene looking exactly like the concept, the concept is more of the idea, however I will be improvising as I go to make the scene look unique.

Here are the textures of the bridge support: