Building Materials

As the time line suggests, by now I should have chosen a Dynasty and drawn a few concepts of what my village arrangement could be like as a final set of assets, however due to the amount of feedback I received and work that needed to be done to get up to speed with refining my dissertation, I have pushed the time line back a week to fit in some more posts about textures and materials.

I was advised to look more into texturing as the textures are very important when considering modular components can be tiled and placed along side each other. With this in mind, creating seamless textures is going to be a priority, however before attempting to create some of my own I would like to also research into materials from Chinese architecture as to get some practise for the real thing later on in the project.

 The Chinese used a lot of wood in their structures and also later on some stone, however it was mostly pressed earth and wood. But why did they chose to use wood over the stone? Stone as they would have known was always to last longer. The wood has environmental issues such as weathering  fire hazard and insect damage, however they still chose to build with wood materials, but why?

"Wooden buildings last long enough for more than several generations to live under, but not long enough to become part of archaeological excavations. Buildings were made to be lived under, they weren't made to last thousands of years solely for our benefit. Those that were built to last, such as tombs, did last."

Finding that the structures are made of wood was easy, however all books and websites seem to only suggest wood and not any particular type of wood. However after an hour, I found a website which gave a hint as to what wood was used and why. This wood was White Cedar or also know as Melia azedarach, or even Chinaberry tree. This tree is often found in southeast Asia and produces toxic berries but is mainly used for it's timber, the wood is of medium density and varies colours from light brown to dark red. The seasoning process of the 'Chinaberry' tree is relatively simple as the planks dry without cracking and also have a resistance to fungal infection. This would mean that having huge cracks within the texture isn't required.


Melia Azedarach/White Cedar/ Chinaberry

Small texture file of dark wood



Photograph courtesy of Ronald G. Knapp
1987, Shifuxiang, Zhejiang Province

Tiles are a consistent part of Chinese architecture and keeps the insides of the construction dry, the materials used is clay from the earth, however they use a special construction method to make these which I found that will also help me with my model tile construction.

To the right you can see a woman rolling clay out to the dimensions of the block on the floor, this gives the tile a relatively manageable shape with the tile creation.



Photograph courtesy of Ronald G. Knapp
1987, Li village, Jiande xian, Zhejiang Province






The clay is then rolled over a 'pot' like shape with the makers markings on them, after it has dried it is removed and separated into quarters, which must mean the angle that a tile must be is 45 degrees. It is the fired and painted if necessary.






The walls of the buildings are not load bearing walls and so are made with compacted earth which is then painted white to protect the earth from insects and also weather. I also found that the flooring is made of large slabs of stone from the mountains, From this research I can then find materials that will be needed and create some tileable textures for practise.

Links:


Describes the wood used as White Cedar:
http://www.designboom.com/architecture/the-art-of-timber-construction-chinese-architectural-models/

Chinaberry pictures:
http://www.delange.org/ChinaBerry/ChinaBerry.htm

Clay tile creation:
http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/3artile.htm#tile3

Darkwood creation:
http://www.tutorialchip.com/freebies/showcase-of-high-resolution-dark-wood-texture-designs/

Increasing my markable limitations (Polycount and textures)

As feedback I have received a suggestion to research into polygon total and give myself a budget to work with throughout the modelling process. This would have to consider the game engine I will work within (UDK) and also it's limitations in terms of exporting and also texture creation restrictions.

To begin I will by talking about texture limits, from past experience I have found that UDK will only accept textures that are created in 8 bit mode on Adobe Photoshop, this however is not a problem and but a small tweak on the texture creation process. Without doing this, the program appears to crash and close as the texture import process begins, I must avoid this to not waste time. Also upon researching game design forums I have found that UDK will only accept textures in powers of 2, this is also a good habit to get into as other game engines will have the same principle. So 256 x 256, 512 x 512, 1024 x 1024, 2048 x 2048 and 4096 x 4096 are acceptable, however I don't plan to be using the last suggestion as these are considered texture sizes for 'hero' models or player model textures..

"General textures for Static Meshes and CSG Surfaces should still be only 512x512 or 1024x1024 in most cases, with only high detailed textures being at 2048x2048, and that is it."

With this information I have decided that the maximum texture size I will use for my individual modular pieces will be 1024 x 1024 pixels, the models I'm making are not 'hero' pieces and wont need incredible texture quality, also the texture will need to be tile able as the models I'm producing will need to be seamless in texture when positioned next to each other, because of this I cant have a piece of detail that stands out on the textures or the player will see that it is easily tile able.

From a mock up model I created a few weeks ago (see previous posts) I constructed a small section of a Chinese building to get used to the Dougong building method. From this I found that the building was 10k polygons, however there are methods that I could of used to reduce the total poly count size. I was also given advice by my lecturer of how I could split up my model to reduce the poly count in terms of each model, doing this would help dramatically to individual pieces, but not the overall kit that I will be creating. This poly count is very high for what I want to create, however I am aiming to build a model that is architecturally as accurate as possible without loss of detail due to poly count size. From researching into poly count and experimenting in 3dsmax, I hope to build my whole kit to be under 45k polygons, although I would prefer to work at a higher polygon limit, this is for a game engine so it will need to be optimised as such and thus a limitation is needed to be put in place.


A small Pagoda I found online

Links

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99738

http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/pagoda-chinese-3d-model/392786

Job hunting, yet again...

From my feedback i've been told to look at 3D Environmant Artist jobs. This criteria on these vary somewhat as they aren't always necessarily for game studios, but for graphic design studios.

Position 1 Unknown company (through Blue Skies Marketing recruitment)

Position: 3D Environment Artist
Career level: Executive
Education level: N/A

The company is a leading provider of state of the art software and services to major global retailers and manufacturers. They also specialise in Macro and Micro space solutions, Category Management, Virtual Consumer research and Internal Communications. They are on the lookout for an enthusiastic individual to join the company as a 3D Environment Artist who will be responsible for visualising a variety of retail environments.

As 3D Environment Artist you will have the following skills and experience:

• Experience in an equivalent multi-media based business preferably dealing with FMCG.
• Technically minded, a quick learner, and great attention to detail.
• Excellent problem solving and technical skills.
• Medium/low polygon modelling and Texture creation.
• Experience in 3D Studio Max and Adobe Photoshop is essential.
• Experience in V-Ray and Texture baking would be beneficial.

Link:
http://www.onlymarketingjobs.com/job/1142733/3d-environment-artist/?utm_source=Indeed&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Indeed

Position 2 Bioware Studios EA

Position: Environment Artist
Career level: Varies upon applicant
Education level: BA or above

BioWare Austin is seeking an Environment Artist candidate with meticulous modeling and texturing abilities to do level/environmental art.

• Bachelor’s (BA) degree from an accredited 4-year college or university or equivalent industry experience preferred
• Up to three years in game development, with an understanding of Real time Graphics issues, shipping one or more titles
• Proficient knowledge of MAX and/or other 3D software package, Photoshop, Z-Brush
• Ability to work within a style, including a style set by another artist
• Solid understanding of color theory, and be able to create balanced & appealing color palettes
• Experience using proprietary editors, software and tools
• Skilled at modeling supporting assets with or without concepts and designs
• The ability to create custom materials and all associated maps (bump, normal, parallax, spec, etc.) for new or existing assets
• Understanding of material shaders and proprietary tools
• Thorough understanding of architecture and nature
• Solid understand the aesthetics of environment, function vs. form relationships, as well as what makes a game level fun and intriguing

Link:https://career4.successfactors.com/career?company=EA&career_job_req_id=27449&career_ns=job_listing&navBarLevel=JOB_SEARCH&jobPipeline=Indeed

Dissertation proposal feedback and changes

I recently received my dissertation proposal feedback, and although it wasn't fantastic, I still have to act upon the feedback to create the best journey of learning possible. So below is feedback from both my markers and which I will be acting on as soon as possible. I've outlined in orange what I will need to do to overcome the issue with the proposal or the dissertation overall.

FIRST MARKER COMMENTS:-

Your learning outcomes are reasonably concise. However, you propose to gain a better understanding of texture creation and UV unwrapping, and neglect to include a single entry in your bibliography which addresses these outcomes. This is very concerning. Similarly, you propose to improve your modelling skills ‘overall’. This is an incredibly vague proposition, and impossible to mark. You must be more specific. What are your poly and texture budgets, and why? What textures will your materials comprise of, and how will you be creating your normal maps? Are you intending to create a realistic environment?

I understand how this is important to the dissertation as an assessable piece. Here i will need to look at current examples and my own mock model example and produce a total polycount I can work with. I will also have to research into how large size textures are used in current games. I will although be creating my normal maps using Nvidia's Photoshop normal maps plug-in. I will also be doing a research task where I find and research materials found in an ancient Chinese village and then attempt to produce a tileable texture for that material.

 Your analysis of job adverts is perfunctory. I do not understand, however, why you are referring to a ‘3D Game Artist’ when, presumably, you are tailoring your dissertation to the position of 3D Environment Artist?

 

Although my job searching was slightly off with 3D Game Artist instead of 3D Environment Artist, I didn't think it was "Perfunctory" effort on my part, however. As they are different job positions I will plan to research a few 3D Environment Artist positions and see how they differentiate in terms of skill requirements. to a 3D Game Artist. This will also aid me in choosing whether to focus on improving my 3D modelling efficiency(Polycount) or improve my texturing skills.

 I can see what you are intending to create Tom; however, before you progress, you must provide a more thorough framework for your assessable criteria, and this should be used to better inform your time line.

 

Hopefully, researching deeper into the areas named above, this will eliminate such confusion and produce a markable dissertation.

 SECOND MARKER COMMENTS:-

 Overall I thought this was a solid research proposal. You have undertaken appropriate research into the style of the buildings that you are proposing and this is guiding the research. In regards to the bibliography I wonder if there are more texts dealing with the issue of modularity in the construction of assets and their utility for game production. You have been blogging regularly and this has allowed us to see how the project is progressing so that is very good. Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

Since this has been marked I have created another blog entry on modularity, however I will research further into modularity in the coming weeks.

The theory behind Modularity

I was asking some of my readers about my blog and queried them if there was anything missing that they would liked to of seen on here and two of them suggested more information or an explanation about modular assets and what their specific purpose is in a game and the theory behind them. From I've been looking online at articles and found a post by a Bethesda studio employee named Joel Burgess and he explains the theory of modularity and the benefits it gives to his game studio.

Joel explains that modular assets are an import factor within their games due to the fact that the majority of the games he's been involved with are hugely scoped. Fallout 3 (2008) and Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (2011) are games which consist of vastly open worlds which all need filling with content, filling this world with unique designs and models would just be inefficient for the development team as well as the game engine running the games.

Joel mentions that to construct their levels the team construct systems known as 'kits' In this instance he explains how a pipe kit can be used over many different areas within fallout 3 and it's levels. A kits purpose is to be a set of models or items that can be positioned together or uniquely to create something that is often larger as a whole. This pipe kit below from fallout 3 is made up of only four pieces but have a variety of combinations when used together.

Modular assets are fundamental when it comes to Bethesdas techniques in making their games. Although Skyrim was made by a team of only 90 people they were able to make one of the largest open world games on a console to date. Apparently the content in game spans over 16sq miles, this is a big space to fill, and with a small team this would of been impossible without modular assets. Well not impossible, but extremely inefficient and time consuming nonetheless.

Bethesda use the principle that the main character, if humanoid should be exactly 6ft tall or 128 and about 32 Unreal Units wide. As I'm also making a first person game with doorways I will have to also take this into account. Joel suggests that all of their doors within their games are wide enough so that two characters can pass through the doors at the same time, so at least two characters wide. And so maybe I should also take this into account.

I have also noticed over the articles I've seen about modular assets is that they all use a type of grid or scale. Joels calls it a 'footprint' in this article and he stresses how important it is to keep to the grid laid out initially at the start of development. Kit pieces that a level designer finds that don't fit with the grid quite right should be noted and given back to the artist to create a solution for. Luckily the way in which the Chinese build their houses is relatively symmetrical, so constructing houses on a scaled grid would hopefully be pretty straight forward.

Carcassonne, a well loved board game of mine was also mentioned to contain modular art assets within it's creation, however I attempted to think of  my own board game which consisted of different modular assets within it. Settlers of Catan I also consists of modular assets also I believe, with the same principle as Joel explains that is used in Carcassonne, Catan creates a different game board everytime you play a new game, if you don't use the regular set up for beginners.

Links

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JoelBurgess/20130501/191514/

https://starfosterblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/settlers-of-catan.jpg

To village or not to village

Elevated view of a courtyard house in Beijing

After having a discussion with my dissertation adviser about my proposal it was suggested to me to maybe change the overall outcome of what I was producing. He explained to me that the main point of modular assets is that they can be relatively small but create something with great complexity. Although I was proposing to make an ancient Chinese temple with courtyard, this would not require that many modular assets to complete. Furthermore once I had completed the models, they wouldn't have much reusable value, which completely goes against the whole point of creating modular assets for level design. This then made me rethink about my total outcome and bring me back to an idea that was mentioned within a previous meeting, and this was to create a small Chinese village from modular assets.

From images and diagrams from 'The World Atlas of Architecture', houses and temples are made using the same techniques architecturally. Although they are not so flamboyant, they use a lot more enclosure space and white walls. Red timber skeletons are still a huge feature, although they are not so obvious as the temple. Clay tiles are also a common feature as are the way the buildings are organised, through my  research I have found that symmetry is used throughout the whole of Chinese architecture through the construction as well as the orientation and positioning of each building. This is because the Chinese believe in 'balance' within their daily lives.

Also with the creation of a Chinese village I also have the opportunity to make my own smaller temple for the village. As the Chinese are highly religious in their culture, most or all villages have their own temple, be it large or small. If I have time I could also create a small Buddhist temple from the modular assets also. A house in China are simple forms, the majority of houses have courtyards joined onto their houses or even the house surrounds the courtyard. There are no windows on the outside walls, but only on the inside facing the courtyard, this also ties in with the south facing gate, this technique stops cold prevailing wind from the north. The only entrance to the house is often a small gate or fence facing south.

The size of a house is often dependant on wealth, size and the taste of the family, but generally a House compound will have an inner courtyard. Below is a few diagrams showing the basic layouts of many house designs throughout China, this is also similar to how I would hope to design my own assets.



Three-sided courtyard house

Four-sided courtyard house






Double courtyard house

Links

Blog/website that explains the different types of houses, also good variety of diagrams:
http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/3intrhme.htm