Portfolio 3 - Week 2 Proxy Character cont.

 I've decided to stick to one project since the time we have is shorter than usual. So I'm sticking with the character, Mirage from Apex Legends. Not only is this my first time making a character, but I have to follow a different workflow to convert it to nanite.
 I have to get the base mesh first, UVs, detail, texture. Since this is new to me, I'm trying to do as much research as I can to make Mirage using good techniques. This is taking A LOT longer than expected however. I haven't gotten the UVs done because I'm still doing my best to get base meshes on his body before continuing. 
 Putting most of my focus on the head was probably my biggest mistake. I tried to make it match as best I could but got a little too carried away.

New Schedule:

Week 1: Proxy Sculpt
Week 2: Proxy Sculpt / UVs
Week 3 Tues: High Res/UVs/Practice Posing
Week 3 Thurs: Fully Textured and Posed for Final Display

Common Art Sprint #5 Delivery

 This sprint, I've done:

Pannable Conveyor Belt + New Conveyor Textures

Improved Radio (Won't fall apart + new mat)

Materials for the Monitors and Assembly Machine

Portfolio 3 - Week 1 Block out / Proxy

 Since the 3D Research assignment was due this week, I focused more on that than I did for this week's project. It was tough making the clothes for the character. Since it was really my first time making one, and spending most the time in ZBrush, I had to research videos on ZBrush to familiarize myself with it. Maybe it would've been better to stick with a character rather than over scope myself and do both an environment and character. 😅

Week 1 - Block Out Level / Proxy Sculpt / Character UVs
Week 2 - High res character / Character UVs / Proxy Environment
Week 3 - Game Res Environment / Textures for Both
Week 4 - Final Textures / Lighting Passes / Final Display of Work

Research Project - Unreal Engine 5 Nanite

Unreal Engine 5 Nanite

What is Nanite?

Nanite is a new mesh rendering technology in Unreal Engine 5. It allows the creation of film quality assets for real-time games. 

It's no different than how anyone currently works in Unreal Engine. All you have to do is enable Nanite when importing any static meshes that do not deform. Anything else, such as skeletal meshes or anything with world position offset cannot be Nanite.

How does it Work?

When imported into Unreal Engine 5, the mesh is analyzed and its tris are put into groups called clusters. The maximum threshold is 128 tris per cluster. But those clusters can swap depending on what is being rendered. 

The method used is called culling. So wherever the camera is placed and what its looking at, will change the cluster groups. 

For example:

When it is CLOSER to the Nanite mesh, there will be SMALLER clusters (High LODS).

When it is FURTHER from the Nanite mesh, there will be LARGER clusters (Low LODS)

*Think of each cluster as its own LOD

So the camera renders what it needs to and culls everything else. Clusters give more controls on what exactly gets rendered. 

Anything NOT in the camera view is culled. Even if part of it is in view, it won't be culled but most likely use a lower LOD.

UVs and Texturing

When UVing and Texturing Nanite Meshes, there will be a change in the usual pipeline to get it in game. 

Resources:

How to Texture props for Nanite - https://youtu.be/lrvPduSC4c8

UE5 Tutorial – Nanite - https://youtu.be/ADIldob0Sxg

Nanite in UE5: The End of Polycounts? - https://youtu.be/xUUSsXswyZM

Absolute Beginners guide to UE5 | Nanite - https://youtu.be/9NgDle3J9lo

How to make Nanite Meshes for Unreal Engine 5 in ZBrush and Substance Painter! - https://youtu.be/uxTteEHDhtA  

Portfolio2 - Week 4 (Final Display)

This has been a wild week with capstone, common art, and 3D. I was able to texture the Ghost Cockpit but I feel like I could have made it look a little more realistic. But since it's sci fi, most of it would pass and it won't be considered cartoony. But I'm glad I got to recreate an environment from an existing IP. It felt like actually working on a real Star Wars project.

Schedule:

Week 1: Proxy out scene / Create Skysphere
Week 2: High Res / Game Res
Week 3: High Res / UVs / 1st Bake / Create Skysphere
Week 4: Fully Textured / Final Display

Portfolio 3 - Reference and Schedule

 For my final portfolio piece of the Summer semester of 3D Art, I'd like to incorporate a character in my environment. This character won't be playable however, it'll just be a statue sculpt. I have never made a character before and would like to make one before I leave FIEA. I will be using nanite in UE5, as its part of my research project. So I'll follow a different pipeline to bring this sculpt into my environment. I will be using Megascans for my foliage to focus on the statue and the rest of the environment.

Schedule:
Week 1 - Block out of level / Proxy sculpt / Character UVs
Week 2 - High res character and environment
Week 3 - Game res environment / First pass of textures for both
Week 4 - Final Textures / Lighting passes / Final Display of Work

This environment will be a garden with a statue in it. I want to push for different statues but that'd be over scoped within this time, so I'm sticking with one for now. Since I want to create more in the future, I will sculpt him in an A/T Pose so that I can rig the mesh and have him in different poses. 

I chose this character, Mirage from Apex Legends, because I feel like having a garden of statues would be something that actually fits his personality since he's so full of himself. Not only that, but his character is known to create different holograms of him, so having multiple statues would fit too. 

The environment would have this general garden walkthrough with the statue(s) as the main piece that draws the viewers eye. 

To make this fit in the same universe as the character, I used some reference of an upscale outdoor lounge from Apex Legends.

This outfit of Mirage's is the one I am referencing for the sculpt. It won't have too many intricate details as it would just be a sculpture.

These are my main references I am using. I hope to use the layout of the garden (below), with the architecture from the game (top), and the character with the same pose for the statue.

Common Art Sprint #4 Delievery

At first I made my screens to appear more like the reference I was given without even thinking about the ratio of them. Then, I converted all my screens/monitors to have the 4:3 ratio and made a modular hood that I could put on any of them. I was also able to fix UVs on the conveyor belt to have it pan correctly but couldn't get in engine on time. 

Portfolio 2 - Week 3

This week, I modeled as many details as I could that had to be modeled. Everything else, could be textured in for the next week. There are plenty of buttons, but most don't have a silhouette that pops out, so I'll just stick them in the walls. I had enough time to create the skysphere this week instead of next week. I made it so that there is depth to it when looking out the ship. The material node was a reflection vector, which made it "move" however you looked through the camera. 

Schedule:

Week 1: Proxy out Scene / Create Skysphere

Week 2: High Res / Game Res
Week 3: High Res / UVs / First Bake / Create Skysphere
Week 4: Fully Textured / Final Display