23rd April ~Dan's Update

For the last few weeks on the project, I've began to get a lot of the smaller assets done including more fun stuff, like making the bin more novelty and something that would fit into a school environment (Chicken Bin!). I've also added smaller details to the room in general, such as the door frames, which i made separately from the main walls so i could play around with the placement more. 

Smaller things such as potato smilies and putting our faces on the milk cartons, i thought would make good little Easter eggs for the player to find, and make my area more interesting to explore (need to get pics of everyone, so we all make a guest appearance).... and in hindsight, I need to make that plate actually round (y).

I've placed most of my main assets with the cafeteria and kitchen areas, though i still need to play around with the final placement of everything... i was holding off doing that until i have pretty much all of my assets done so i can experiment with how everything looks in different positions before i finalise the lighting. 

All the furniture in the kitchen is done.... i just need to populate it with small assets like pots, pans, cutlery, etc. depending on how much time i have left, i was considering adding a walk in refrigerator, as there is a lot of spare space in one corner of the room that i think would be ideal. 

Ive borrowed someone else's doors as a place holder for now, as i think it helps to give a good impression of the area being closed off. There are still quite a few problems and things that need fixing in my area, such as what im going to use for the main wall texture, and sorting out the map channels on a few tile able textures i used for things like the tables (the legs shouldn't be wooden!)

Id also like to look at making a partially broken ceiling for the main cafeteria area as ive played around with collapsed furniture, and would like to add some sort of rubble and a hole in the roof, to show more dereliction.

update andrew timms 22nd april

since my last blog update i have finished my helicopter and imported it into udk i ended up using 3 1024 texture sheets.

i then started creating some general assests that can be re used around the level



switches etc

strip light

fire extinguisher...classic

doors

fire alarm and bin

book cases and books

after doing a few general assets i wanted to do something towards a room so helped alex as he asked me to help him with his classroom.

blackboard

table with lunch boxes(untextured)

broken window

 where the helicopter has come in there is obviously going to be a broken wall the wall texture shown is just a placeholder and i was playing around with foliage alphas to make it look like plants have come in through the window this still needs finishing.

 

broken walkway

the walkway will have also have been damaged by the helicopeter so i used toms walkway model as a base and modified it.

rubble

 i started playing around making a few rocks and rubble and grouped them togther as some will be needed where the helicopter has entered the building, but they can also be used elsewhere if needed.

something i still need to do is light map my objects for udk and i plan to do it this week

Update 22nd April

This week we have been pulling everything to together and started to fill out the level a bit more.

We finalised the first portion of the map - Creating a new area to force the playeraround the map more.  The corridor consists mainly consists of existing assets, but we also made some lockers and a coat hanger to create a cloak room area.

I have also made a few more random assets and updated others to help fill gaps in the level and make prettier.

I currently working on some plants and foliage.  I am hoping to have some bushes to hopefully help guide the player along a path.

I am planning to make a thorny bush and also some flowers to randomly spray around the map - Using local plants as reference.  I still have to make more variations of the grass and vines - These should hopefully fill a lot of gaos in the level and help mask bits too.

Update from Maffy ~ 22nd April

The classrooms I have been working on are looking pretty good; I have been making a lot of assets and improving the textures lately. I think you can actually tell what my classrooms are now that they have assets in them.

My art classroom needs a bit more attention, but I have made the main assets for this room, it just needs a few more little objects in it to create a more cramped and derelict feel. I would like to add creepy children's paintings to the easels and some decals of splashed paint and hand-prints to the walls.

The anatomy mannequins in my science room have been very successful and I am working on creating my birthday party scene to add a bit of psychotic humour to the level. The test-tubes and beakers need a little bit more work on them, as for some reason the glass texture isn't working after reimporting the meshes twice, so I will be working on that. We have spent a bit of time figuring out how to get from room to room, resulting in having a smashed through wall in my science classroom, I will need to move my assets round a little to fit in with this but I think it looks quite good (texture still needs matching up though!)

Also I changed the blog title... spelling mistakes, come on guys what is this?! XD

update andrew 27th

still doing this choppa which i want to get finished very soon

i decided to add in the cockpit and change the seats inside so i can use the same ones in the cockpit and the part you walk through.

 

 

 

unwrapping was a bit a challenge but i got their eventually i started texturing but i wont post a picture at this point i will get one up in the next few days. i may need to take some more pictures to use for texturing.

 

 

i was finding my uvs were not big enough as i have made everything relative in size so textures are consistent and when i started texturing things were coming out way too blurry so i had to split it into 3 which will probably be 1024 each i will see how it goes.

 

 

after getting bored of doing the helicopter i decided to make some quick small assets from left to right is a bin, plug socket and a fire alarm button i will probably model the alarm itself and a strip light then hit the sack i should be able to texture them all by tomorrow and try and get them in udk :).

 

Update from Mackie 27th March

I have been spending a lot of time looking at lightmaps - For some reason there were always nasty marks in the seams between assets.  There are many factors into why this happens, I've posted the most useful tutorials I found on our facebook group.

lightmaps overview
Forum help

I have also been upgrading all my assets and started on the second floor.  We really need to update the level with everyones stuff as soon as possible and really finalise the path of player.  Items will need to be fixed and re-imported no doubt - I still want to re-unwrap a part of my walkway and add vines/plants.

In the future I want to make a ceiling or something to look up at, vertex painting, animating (doors/mobile/flickering lights), sound files, more assets (couches, tables etc), and how to finalise/archive level

A second floor doorway WIP - Might make more windows to add impact

Modular walkway parts in mid-production - just about finished

Upgrading my wall & floor textures

I added the UDK skybox - Can replace with own later

shiney

 

adam osbourne updates

after talking to alex king co art director i made some revision i made my wall texture tileable to make it more Consistent i plan on later to add some mold and cracks from vertex painting to make it more interesting because at the moment i think its quite bland .i then moved on to further with asset building .

after building all my chairs and texturing them and my desks i moved onto my screens which will be a big vocal point in my level and screens.also worked on some more interesting assets to make my room more important by modeling a key and axe and cut of hand when we spoke about the idea for the level we said we'd find a key in my space to enter the final room . and the hand and axe was to incorporate the blood trail through the map as a kind of path.

by next week i want to have done a few alphas for damaged glass and foliage and maybe some paper about like in resident evil .

20 March Update

A quick update here so you know the general status fo our level.

We have spent quite bit of time to get the ball rolling and organised.  The main level geometry is there - the walls, floors, pillars all the vital parts.

There are a few different zones established -
* Reception
*The atrium
*Playground/gym
*Classrooms
*Cafeteria

On top of that we have a helicopter which will be a nicecentre piece.

The level from a distance.  We have plotted a path from south to north, zig-zagging & back tracking to use that space

We have made a few tiling textures so we can throw them on assets and use for multi-sub objects

We also have started to go through a "hit-list", but are a little behind where I personally would like to be.  Its the half way mark now.

The view north after leaving reception - A little Bare while we decided what to do

Tuesdays are our official team day where we collate our efforts and check where we are at.

 

Here is the hit list for the upcoming week column 1 = meshed, 2 = textured, 3 = successful intergration with level

Everyone has access to UDK and can make Prefabs.  It is important that we all get some UDK experience share the workload.

A list makes it easier to focus and means less faffing - If anyone (myself included) doesnt complete it there better be a good reason or else

white boxing and asset building adam osbourne 

after working out which indivudal parts of the map we are working on and an initial asset list i moved on to white boxing for concepts and just to get a better fell for the map

 also gave me a better idea of which parts of the map need to be filled out with lots of assets and bits that need be blocked of with barricades i also needed to decided where light would be coming from since we decided to use mostly natural light in our level

after building the walls and applying the basic texture i imported it into udk unforuntly the way i modeled the room the desk verts had to be indivdual moved to fit the room rather than one repeated asset but luckily my part of the building is the only room with round desks.

i wanted to lave big open windows so that they could be boarded up so latter on i could use lights to shine in to the room through the gaps and then maybe some alpha glass on the floor and vines .

because the desk are very simple im going to have  tome come up with a way of breaking them up and more interesting using vertex painting and breaking up with damaged chairs bricks and rubbish.