Portfolio 1 - Week 2 (High Res)

 For this week's project, I chose to make the high res model so that I could later bake it onto the game res in Substance Painter. The first image is the reference I found online. This is similar to the 'How to Train Your Dragon' art style but not official artwork for it. The second image is from Maya, before importing it into ZBrush. The third is in Zbrush. I didn't do much sculpting because halfway through the assets, I figured that there isn't much silhouette change and can easily be textures instead.

Common Art Sprint #1 Delivery

This Sprint, I was working on refining assets based off of last semester's feedback. I have made EKG monitors that will be placed next to the operating table. These are the closest I can get to a Blade Runner aesthetic. For the future, I will have to redo all tools to look as if they were in that universe. As for the texturing, I will have to match it as best I can with materials from the Blade Runner movies. There will no longer be placeholder textures since I will be moving to the next step from C level.

 

If not playable, access with this link:  Common Art Test 5/24/22

Summer Semester Research

 This semester, I will be researching the Ue5 Nanite specific workflow. When I think of Nanite, I think of high-poly meshes that can directly import right into the engine with no loss of detail. So it can be directly from ZBrush, without having to bake onto a separate mesh. I can also use photogrammetry scans in my project. I am still unsure about which type of high poly mesh I will include. Most likely a statue of some kind. Since I have never used it and the engine is fairly new, I have to admit, it is a bit worrying about using such a high poly mesh in Unreal. But given that it plays a big part in this newer version, it should work out just fine.

Here is an example from the Unreal Engine 5 Demo. In the first, the mesh is extremely detailed, looking like something out of a film. The second one, you can see that these meshes consist of LOTS of tris. Yes, these are the wireframes for the rocks. It's mindblowing.

Portfolio 1 - Week 1

This week, I planned on creating the proxy for the 'How to Train Your Dragon' environment along with the first lighting pass in UE5. The first image is the reference I will be using for the overall project. The second, is my camera matched perspective for a sense of scale and right positioning. The third is the outcome in Maya with a mannequin there for scale. I know that it is not exact, but since it is an illustration and no known focal point, I did my best to align the mesh with the reference.

Here are two angles from my first lighting pass in UE5. I felt that it wasn't the strongest but was in the right direction. With it, I noticed that some of my proportions are off based on the lighting itself.

Portfolio 1 Plans

For my first portfolio project, I'd like to make an environment in Dreamworks' How To Train Your Dragon universe. Here's a concept piece found on Artstation that is similar to that of the movies' art style.

Schedule:

Week 1 

        - Block out with proxies

        - First Lighting Pass

Week 2 

        - High Res Sculpt

Week 3

        - Game Res

        - UVs

        - Second Lighting Pass

Week 4

        - Fully Textured

        - Final Display in Ue5