Week one research and early concepts.
This blog will keep track of my progress and log anything i can use when writing my project up in full
I will begin with the project
we have been told that the project can be off our choice based around the theme of utopia. I started by looking at the definition of utopia which is from source oxford dictionary "an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect" quote
I have created a mind map highlighting some of the aspects to consider when i am at the stage of designing and making the 3d environment.
This gives me a of information about ideas I can generate from the theme of utopia such as their is no such thing as a utopia because there can never be a absolute paradise their can however be near utopia, places where from a glance appears to be a utopia when in actuality it is not this analogy can be made into the foundations of an idea for a project.
I am starting my project by looking at different instances of utopia that are fictional non fictional historical mythological and Biblical.
Religion-biblical.
when looking at utopias from biblical point of view the first thing I would look at would be heaven which from a religious perspective is the ultimate utopia definition of heaven "a place regarded in various religions as the abode of God (or the gods) and the angels, and of the good after death, often traditionally depicted as being above the sky." because of the mysteriousness of heaven the idea of heaven differs from everyone perception however it is a common view that heaven is a place of wonder and absolute fulfillment source of this information found at a debate between the different aspect of an utopia founded by me.
Piece of concept art called the Golden city taken from a new site.
Another religious utopia that is on earth is the garden of Eden this is depicted as a natural paradise free of death and suffering, rather than a golden city the garden of Eden is a whole different utopia whereas heaven is a place of luxury and fulfillment the garden of Eden is ironically depicted as a more natural simplistic and basic lifestyle.
A painting by Cole Thomas depicting a idea of the idea of a garden of Eden.
Because of religious utopia having now bases for fact they is no definitive representation of that utopia
However their are some utopia attempts based around the ideology of religion such as new harmony a historical town based in the united states that was an idea of a utopia made into reality
New harmony as envisioned by Robert Owen
Their are other types of utopia such as scientific and technological utopias which is a world where because of technological innovations their is no poverty or hardship this is a well know type of religion because it is a utopia that has not happened yet rather than a utopia that was.
A economical utopia is a world where their is great profit usually associated with capitalism and commercialism sometimes these types of envisioned utopias are known as a golden age an example of this is during the 1020s or the roaring 20s where their was great profit and as a result a booming economy following the great depression which resulted the end of that frame of mind.
another type of utopia ideology is political this is where this is no war resulting in no devastation or death resulting by different countries feuding over thing such as money or land this is depicted as having a united global political system where there are no borders this type of Utopian idea is found in the science fiction genre such as star trek with the galactic federation.
one common theme i have come across during the research is that utopia exists in the past for example because during biblical times and before their was a more simplistic lifestyle where nature provided all the desires you needed this is a common theme associated with utopias a simple basic lifestyle
the first instance of a real Utopian society based off mythology and historical fact with fictional elements
it was during the Greece classical era where the citizens of a city would be segregated into a rigid class system "golden," "silver," "bronze" and "iron" class systems where gold class citizens would get the best education and lifestyle and that classes privileges diminished from left to right. this is another common theme i i want to explore having a segregation between people of different classes it reinforces the face that an Utopian environment is only a paradise to the people more higher up on a social class system.
My interpretation of a is based o the fact that their is no realistic way to create a utopia because the translate of utopia is a fictional place therefore it is impossible to have one. this is what i am basing my idea around creating a near utopia were the place is a paradise to the privileged it will am looking in the direction of creating a 3d environment i decided to create this because because it works with my strengths with 3d models and it is a type of 3d modelling I have not done before.
different utopias in media
film-equilibrium a Utopian society that eradicated emotion so their envisioned way of perceiving culture would be neutral creating normality with no expression of individualism resulting in a singular perspective and frame of mind in order to create a perfect utopia. however because it has been forced on people signifies that this cannot be a utopia because of free will in a world where anyone can do whatever they want makes creating a utopia difficult because people can make the choice of creating chaos
Video games-wolfenstein the new order. This game I am using as a research point it takes the concept of a forced utopia a utopia that no one wants this is similar to the utopia style as the book and film 1984 it takes an extremist political arty and they create a perfect ordered environment where their is no individuality and their fore everyone has the same state of mind.
by suppressing all other ethnic groups they believe they are making themselves pure and apparently creating a perfect society and a perfect gene pool
Climate of fear "Culture of fear (or climate of fear) is a term used by some, writers, journalists and politicians who believe that some in society incite fear in the general public
"to achieve political goals. this concept combined with a Utopian theme is an interesting concept to explore. An example of a climate of fear would be per ww2 Nazi Germany where the masses were kept in line through fear fear which was enforced by the gestapo or secret police this prevented political differences that could undermine the Nazi regime. This method of control is extremely unethical because of its use of torture fear and brutality towards the citizenship of that particular society.It is however effective to a certain degree it kept people withing their control but as the price of become unpopular and reviled.
various street furniture taken from video games found and taken by myself to analyse the techniques used to create these 3d models
1st person images of street furniture taken from the video game dying light.
bins, lamps, building design and structure. all of these models have been created
Novel-1984 by another reference to a Utopian environment in media is the book and adapted film 1984
After The Atomic War the world is divided into three states. London is a city in Oceania, ruled by a party who has total control over all its citizens. Winston Smith is one of the bureaucrats, rewriting history in one of the departments. One day he commits the crime of falling in love with Julia. They try to escape Big Brother's listening and viewing devices, but, of course, nobody can really escape this novel also included the concept of a climate of fear.
This scenario is instead of a utopia is is the opposite the environment of A dystopia however Nineteen Eighty-Four is a utopia only by definition. But it was impractical because you can't treat humans that way, and we have always considered a utopia to be something we want even or would want. But we've turned the word into something we want. We don't want Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Research for the project type i want to do a 3d environment using Maya I should first look at other 3d environment in video games for reference i should look at simplistic urban environments such as half life
in order to make 3d environments i need to use the skills such as research skills and being able to relate that to my project, 3d modelling skills texturing skills these skill will be needed in order to create my 3d environment.
A section of urban environment art taken from google image.
When looking at 3d environments one of the main point that has to be taken into consideration is lighting where the light is coming from and how that effect the mood of the environment for example and night environment scene creates a more calming cold auto compared to a lighten happy lighter day environment.
another thing to take into account to asset placement such as street furniture like street lamps benches etc.
for researching 3d environments i should look at building design street furniture design (street furniture design is similar to my induction project) composition of the scene lighting texture.
Building research for this I am looking at a design that signifies identically and should their fore have similar texture and shape the building should be tall and slender this would indicate a shortage of space having a building higher and thinner enables more people per building.
for this I should look at inner-city apartment building and communal structures that houses more than one occupant.
for the street furniture i am looking at having a slight future yet realistic concepts for street furniture for this i should look at video games that have similar characteristics and design.
The video game series Mass effect which has futuristic street furniture which has a style that is sleek rounded and holds a universal design for example different races like human or one of the other human and non humanoid aliens have different styles and colour's but they have a basic universal design showing each race design have been influenced by each other and based of the races size and shape. this is something I think is unsuitable because in the time frame it would not have the characteristics previous said i should be looking at more street furniture in the style of Neo (young)
for example Deus ex.
My idea in detail
My idea is to create a 3d urban environment based around the theme of utopia or rather a near utopia because of the definition that a utopia is a "imaginary place" i intend to create a near utopia there people are suppressed and segregated in order to create order, by destroying free will you create a environment with small amounts of crime along with a Climate of fear a climate "Culture of fear (or climate of fear) is a term used by some scholars, writers, journalists and politicians who believe that some in society incite fear in the general public to achieve political goals." my aim is to combine climate of fear and utopia to create a 3d environment that incorporates those elements. the time frame of the overall environment will be slightly futuristic approximately 20-30 years for research i should look at society and technological development over the previous 20-30 years so i can get an idea of what types of designs I should use.
Research for various street furniture
Street lamps.
Here are some old lamppost designs some modern and futuristic i will compare these differences to develop my own designs.
A common factor o these lampposts is that there high in order to illuminate a large amount of area they are also slender at the bottom in order to minimise space it takes up the light can be of any verity such as normal bulbs or led i should use LED to give the environment a sterile lighting look.
I have researched verity of benches used by public outdoor areas a common feature is that they look basic only having simple shapes and easy to construct
they also don't have any padding making them uncomfortable used to deter people loitering or sleeping on them i should take these factors into consideration
Dumpster I have research dumpsters of a different verities both real and fictional and comparing the differences and their overall structure analysing the dumpsters i have found they need to be big and metal in order to hold a lot of heavy waste.
Research into street bins unlike the dumpsters the bins are used for small waste items and are smaller they also have to be easily accessible for both user and emptier here are some examples of varying size shape and materials
This Street furniture has similar characteristics for each other they are typically cylindrical shapes with removable plastic bags to remove rubbish this should be considered when texturing and modelling.
Research into army/military police checkpoint
one key feature involving my 3d environment is a police checkpoint i am including it because it creating an impress of a oppressed government being covered by a facade of protection from criminals when in actuality its purpose is to impose normality.
here are some researched images of what army checkpoint look like visually
a key characteristic with checkpoint are military equipment such as sandbags guns barbed wire chain linked fences i should research these individual elements in order to get a clearer image.
Research into Texture Researching texture is important to plan out in advance because it is a major ascetic detail that is a factor in creating their correct atmosphere. research i should conduct are pans for future and modern building to see what materials they are made out of and the impact those material re to the environment and to onlookers.
if in the future their is a material shortage then this would reflect the textures of my building i think that my building in my 3d environments would have cheap yet study materials that don't cost lots of money yet show towards onlookers a appearance of strength and stability from a social point of view and because these building are new there would be minimal degradation of the new buildings. and would therefore look new and clean.
Different styles of structures-Art deco
a visual structure style of buildings that exists in the time frame of the 1920s-1030s America
they combine bold geometric shapes and large imposing figures.
this symbolizes strength and greatness.
Brutalism large overlapping geometric raw concrete form that are used to create building used during the 1960s.
Gothic revival and neo Gothic
used mainly in England during the 18th and 19th century this style of architecture was highly decorative and sacrificed efficiency for fashionable this art style originated with medieval church structures throughout Europe but was revived during the Victorian period.
Research into textures from a Utopian perspective and a environment prospective
textures in an urban environment primarily users masonry for the buildings such as brick, concrete as well as the road which is made from cobblestone or tarmac.
Other material/textures would be wood for doors and window frames glass for the windows metal and other materials for street furniture i should take these into account when finding textures that are appropriate for a urban environment and that reflect my idea for a utopia.
using brick with its orange colour its roughness and simplicity gives the environment a ruggedness look it signifies that a building built from brick is build for function not for appearance brick cheap easily supplied in large quantities and is easy to build with
Using concrete give neutral cold smooth tone to the environment it signifies normality and conformism because of the lack of creative freedom concrete is seamless which gives the buildings a fortress like quality it signifies strength because of the sturdiness and strength of the building. With concrete there are limitation to the amount of detail that can be put into the building simple geometric shapes similar to the brutalism building style.
wood I would not use to construct large buildings it is cheap and can be used to construct small housed quickly usually used as temporally structures wooden housed have a wooden shell with drywall to fill in the gaps however wood in large buildings are used in window frames flooring and mostly interior that would not be seen in a 3d environment wood is Eco friendly because wood can be regrown providing an endless supply of potential materials at the sacrifice for durability.
The texture and materiel of the roads and pavement are down to environmental perspectives because this is an enclosed environment these will be little amount of cars and would therefore only need to have low maintenance roads such as cobblestone which is durable and is low cost these factors are important to consider when deciding on the road texture here are some examples.
I think that in the context of my Utopian environment I think that the material for the main buildings will concrete I have chosen this because of the climate of fear aspect of my Utopian environment using this smooth neutral looking material provided a mental image to onlookers of a place of compliance and therefore signifies a no tolerance to crime or disobedience. Other textures would include propaganda posters that would contain message used by the gestapo the gestapo were the secret police in Nazi Germany and contributed to its climate of fear this is important to look at because of the significance of having a secret police within a society.
here are some example of poster that i plan of using taken from the film adaptation of 1984 and v for vendetta.
These two images are posters taken from v for vendetta the top one show the poster being defaces this indicates a different opinion to the social norm and is a perfect representation of the idea of the society is a near utopia
This style of poster sends a
clear message with little colour or visual imagery
giving the poster a clear straight forward message with a underline meaning to the posters true message.
These style of poster has more colour and visual imagery to reinforce the message given by the poster. these poster have a greater amount of fear and hostility to portray it message using easily recognisable images like a eye watching what you do creating a society of no privacy where you are watched at every moment of your life for signs of rebellious nature.
for the texture for the street furniture it depends on the actual item i will be going into more detail during later posts
The propaganda is used within my Utopian society is to reinforce the ideal that are the foundations of that society such as compliance and the suppression of ideals that would compromise compromise a Utopian environment such as crime and opposition from a political point of view.
early concepts on the layout of my 3d environment.
from a rial point of view that has been colour coded to see where the road is an where is ends.
colour code white=alleyways and pavement
red=rode
green=out of bounds
it is important to sub divide a environment into zones so you can categorise what goes into those zones for example in the green areas there will be no detail because there will be no players and would be no need to have any modelling in these areas
Red content this will contain a basic modelling of a road and pavement with texture will also contain checkpoint
White these areas will contain street furniture such as street lamps benches bins texture of the pavement and texture for their respective street furniture
the black areas highlighted will be building that have been modelled and textured.
my plan is to have building that i have model based around my research into structures that related to my Utopian idea a perfectly ordered environment building that all have similar shaped having pieces of street furniture symmetrical to indicate the appearance of order and peace. based around my climate of fear idea i will be incorporating aspects that indicate a police and militaristic presence such as chain linked fences with barbed wire checkpoints and bollards.
Initial Ideas
Here are s few rough initial ideas about the type of building structures i want and possible manipulations and variations of those styles to suit my need.
Even though in my opinion Gothic architecture would look interesting within an Utopian setting i feel that for my utopia Gothic structures is too decorative my building need to look purely for practical purposes with very little regard to detail. However the idea does appeal o me to add a few Gothics features into my environment i will look into perhaps the windows or the roofs of goth structures
in terms of the textures for Gothic structures the material and tones would suit my needs very well but because of the time frame i would need something more modern.
Looking at Gothic architectures has given more insight on what to look for for the ideal structure type i should continue to look at more modern variations of architecture rather than medieval or neo Gothic.
This type of structure type is more plausible for my environment it is much more modern compared to Gothic and would therefore fit my criteria much better it has very little decorations and is made out of large concrete block making the d=structures look imposing. If i were to use this variations of building i would changer the overlapping compartments making the building much more blocky and simple as well as making them more slender to make them look like over population is a issuer so buildings are build higher rather than wider. The textures also meet my criteria as said before when talking about the Gothic texture my textures need a more modern look brutalism textures meets that it had large concrete blocks that i wanted and it has the same tone of colour as i wanted. This is the best style for my environment however it would be a variation of brutalism as said before i would not use overlapping compartments instead going for a more simpler design is is both accurate to my Utopian idea but also better for my time management because it would take less time to make.
I do not like the look of art deco i think that it pointless to put into my environment because of its highly decorative design and colourful textures. However art deco buildings are build high sand thin this is a characteristic i can take out of art deco to put into my environment other than that i think that the style of structure art deco docent meed my criteria for my Utopian ideology.
After looking at example of building structures I think that I can take characteristics and information a well as ideas form various style such as the building style of both brutalism and art deco and the textures of Gothic and brutalism. Overall though brutalism meets my ideas almost perfect overall my environment will have no specific style of architecture but more a hybrid of various forms of architecture because of this their are no rules to abhor because of this this for example in Gothic their would be very little modern elements with no bright colour, I can shape the textures and the structures however i see fit.
From looking at these different styles i should be able to start developing my ideas into more unique looking buildings i should also look into street furniture as well.
Furthermore i should also compile a list of characteristics most of my building should have
1) Simplistic and unordered
2) Tall and thin whenever possible
3) large concrete block for the material with dark colour and tones
4) thin windows
5) narrow alleyways
6)highly illuminating street lamps with a l.e.d effect white light.
6)clean streets with little clutter to give it a sterile look.
Because their is very little architectural styles with street furniture because of this I will be designing a non styled street furniture that will followed the characteristics when relevant to street furniture as listed earlier.
Initial ideas for the styles of building I will be doing.
this is one of my initials ides it is a tall building so it is able to hold large number of people in a small surface space i chose the thin and tall look as looked at previously in art deco.
i chose the slanted roof to give it a more interesting design compared to the other variations of the same building but with flat roof.
This is one of my initials design for s factory that will be put into my environment i decided to put in a factory in order to give the felling of part of the environment an industrial look the texture of this will be a gritty concrete cinder block texture with large metal smoke stacks where the smoke would escape from this design was influenced by factories from the industrial revolution a large ugly looking building that wasn't design to look spelling but rather make for practical purposes only
making the factory look like this gives an indication for a heartless attitude see people nearly as assets.
These are some of the building that will make up the bulk of the city i designed them in a way that they can be combined together or easily changes so they all look different detach time i reuse them for example i able to combine the large tower to the other building or take it off to create new buildings or extrude or scale the building or even moving the windows to give them a more unique design. This method of building enables me to build up a city much faster enabling me to get better quality work done for this project.
i decided to include a number of curved buildings because most of the buildings i have created will be difficult to fit around edges so it will make some concept and generate ideas for building that go round 90o angles.
I think that some of these collection of buildings would look good in my environment, however i do not think the top right building would be very practical in my environment because of its size and proportions. other than that i think i can integrate these building into my environment successfully. Also the bottom left one will be difficult to place into my environment because of its diagonal shape
I think that this design is too large and too tall for my environment i will work on some revisions of this building in my concepts having it made in Maya would give more insight for these initial ideas
These are initial ideas about the kind of buildings that I want I will be refining them more into concepts for the majority of my concept work I will be using Maya.
building 4
Here are some initial ideas for the style and type of street furniture i will be using.
whereas is think the design for the street lamp on the eft i think that this design is too impractical and too decretive for my utopian environment instead I will be looking at more modern lamps that are slightly altered to look different to five it a more slightly futuristic look but retains its simplistic practicality.
here are some group building concepts i have done i plan on putting these into Maya to see how they look in 3d
from left ton right from the top 1,2,3,4
Building 4 mock up in a 3d environment
one factor I have kept when creating my designs is to have the general theme of the building as tall and as thin as possible to give the impression of large population much like the 1920-30 new york having to build taller building because of diminishing ground space I decided
on having a brutalism style of building using large concrete block and bold geometric shapes
with linking it to my Utopian theme i have decided on this style because it signifies a ordered environment perfect symmetry and geometry i have also linked the climate of fear into the building design by having it made out of concrete creating a prison like environment making people more compliant.
After taking my concept creations into Maya I now have a better understanding of the methods of creating the buildings and the necessary and not necessary to create a building
here are some of the street furniture i have created concept for
street lamps i have chosen this shape and size because throughout the lifetime of the street lamp they have gotten taller in order to disperse its light further so i therefore made the lamp long. The lamp itself is a L.E.D when i put in lighting this is something to consider because the L.E.D gives off white light rather than a more yellow with the conventional lights.
here is a version of the street light in 3d version.
Here is a rendition of my concept from s 3d perspective
the texture of the light i think would be a form of light alloy making them cheap to produce the shade would be a dull metal so the light wont reflect of the metal the material should be light absorbing
From looking at the 3d perspective i thin that to improve on this design i an add more shape to the cylinder holding up the light giving more wider base so it gives the appearance of having wiring and electronics inside it making it look more ascetically pleasing and more realistic.
concept for street furniture bins
Ws specified in the research of the bins the shape of the bins are typically cylindrical made of metal such as stainless steel which is easy to clean and is more hygienic i should look into this for my texture.
Here are some of the concept within a 3d format
From looking at these designs from a 3d perspective i think that the best design is the cylindrical barrel design its blends into my environment well its low poly and is a realistic and practical design the material i will use for it will be a dark stainless steel i have chosen a light shade of material to add to the mood of the environment.
the texture i will be using for the bins will be a aluminium or other light metal i have chosen this because it will be easy to clean and it is seen by the public and it would make sense therefore to have the bins look ascetically pleasing it is also hygienic.
The texture i would make the benches out of would be a verity i will be having more that one bench this one will be made out of wood i have chosen this because wood is weather resistant easy to produce and doesn't rust.
here is the concept for the bench in a 3d environment.
Concept for a bus stop and shelter i am including a bus stop because it provided an indication of a public transport system and because of the quality of it also indicated the amount of funding it gets this is an important factor to consider because it indicated that the people in power want to have ordered environment and therefore bused that run on time and are at a decent quality i have chosen this basic because it a bus shelter only has to be a simple structure to stank in and includes a bench for waiting
concept for the bus stop.
Here is a concept for a dumpster. This design follows typical urban dumpster design a sloped rectangle shell to provide easy access with a rubber lid with and hooks on the ends so it can be lifted up
i have chosen this design because it is the most suitable and appealing design to do and is therefore the most obvious choice.
The textures i will use on the dumpster would be a painted metal shell that has a rusting quality because of its exposure to the elements with a black rubber lid for the top the paint will be a basic colour such as green and the decals on it will have hazard stripe and graffiti on some of the dumpsters i will add these decals in photoshop as well as adding the rusty aspect to it as well
here is a mock model of this concept in a 3d environment
Here are some concept for a checkpoint.
because this is not a war zone i thin that the sand bags are useless I therefore think they would be impractical for the design.
These concepts have to look lie they belong in a narrow urban environment making the large tower impractical for the scale of the 3d environment i will be including barbed wire with chain link fences as well a sand bags into my designs
The overall texture of each of the individual components would be dark sheet metal for the building giving it a menacing and makeshift quality so it looks like it is temporally set up cheap steel wire metal for the fence and barbed wire and sacks filled with sand for the sand bags.
Here are some of the checkpoint concepts in a 3d enviroment
Here are some early concept for the basic layout of the street this plan includes where the placement of the street furniture and the buildings which building type their will be
Here is a revised layout i have done in an 3d environment the street furniture placement will remain relatively the same and it has been made ton scale with using a human sized analogue
I have also taken into account level design by having no spaces that allows a player to go through into a out of bounds area. and have also taken into amount about having no invisible walls and in staid placing things such as buildings in the way or some form of obstructions such as the checkpoint halting the players ability to move within the environment and therefore being able to predict the player movement throughout the environment and placing asset accordingly i have taken this into account when planning out my design
The labels of the building are listed on the concept section of the building type the yellow markers indicate bench placements I chose these location because they are spaced out and therefore offer convenient places that they would be needed. the small blue markers indicate the placements of the street lamps i have chosen these locations because they are spaced out and methodical to give the appearance of an ordered environment. Three dumpsters will be located within the three alleyways. A bus station will be placed on the corner of the upper part of the street. as before the colour are indicating the sections of the environment.
3d environments
Lighting the environment will be night my lighting for the 3d environment will be from the street light that are being place around the environment they are LED so they emit a white light other light sources will come from a ambient light source from the moon which gives the environment a slight light so it isn't completely dark i will also include a glowing piece of mesh to give the appearance of a bulb from the street lamps.
other light sources will come fro spotlight at the checkpoint these will not be LED so they will give of a slight yellow light.
I have chosen the LED light sources because it give a appearance of a evolved society they have taken out the outdated normal bulbs and put in more efficient bulbs It also provided less of a opportunity for crime activities to take place which reinforces the Utopian ideology
I now have all the research i need as well as enough concepts to create my 3d utopia urban environment. I will start by placing a flat mesh which will act as my ground base for placing the assets from their i will create the road which is a flat surface with two raised platforms around the side as the pavement i will model this by extruding the two sides upwards and adding geometry to the inside edges to create a curve. The texturing of this asset will be easy because of its flat geometry as stated before the texture for the road will be asphalt for the road and cobblestone fo the pavement the curb of the pavement will have a slight curve which will either require more geometry or a texture that will replicate this effect and therefore would not need the added poly count.
Here are some concept on the look and style of this model
after doing this i will start on making the street furniture creating some different variations of my concepts to create a good looking and low poly design.
I have now began work on my environment i will be staying to my plan as much as possible but i am leaving room for improvement if i want to add something else to a part it all depend on how all of my assets look in a 3d environment the advantage of creating concept pieces witnin an environment makes the transition into 3d easier and more efficient in terms of seeing the object from various angles and seeing how each of the shapes turn out.
I have began setting the scene using lighting and textures to create the atmosphere and mood of the scene. If i was putting this into a game engine i would be using the engines lighting system the main forms of lighting within the scene would be from the street lamps and the ambient lighting that will illuminate the scene so it wont be completely pitch black their will also be various smaller light sources to give the environment more depth i will also be looking at ambient occlusion to as stated before to add more depth
here are some of the early renders i have done of the progress of the environment.
this is a early render i will be adding slight colour and shadow alterations the give more of a colour contrast between the alleyways and the streets for the texture of the buildings i gave it a very grey scaled gritty industrial environment a place that has a element of safety because of the chevrons on the side of the road the well lit and well build buildings however this is another site of the atmosphere of the environment a behind closed doors mentality to it.
i have begun looking into with ambient occlusion. Ambient occlusion is where a computer calculated the corners of objects and add pockets of shadows this is a way that computers are able to create realistic lighting and shadows without having to calculate trajectory of light bouncing and re bouncing off object this is a very inefficient way of doing this especially if your making a 3d environment for a video game in maya in order to have both ambient occlusion and textures you need to put them into photo shop and overlay them in order for both aspect of shadow and texture to mend through into one image.
I have made large amounts of progress making and positioning the various assets according to the plan of the environment.
This is what i have so far I'm having my environment made into two parts one is with as style previously stated before. This decision is based off the social idea of segregation this is this is the idea of separating two types of people whether its race gender sexuality or even social class my two separated types is nothing is based of political where people are accepted by that group in a position of power or not.
the environmental differences between the two will be the building and the buildings texture as well as some part of the street floor texture. The grey scaled environment is industrial as evident of the factory while the second part will be taller with more space and generally more privileges and as a result would have a better life style.
I have also made a checkpoint it divide these two parts i also added spot lights for added illumination
for the checkpoint i have used a method of texturing i have never used before where you use the transparency tool to texture black and white pattern this being chain link fence creating a see through quality whereas trying to model something like this would use up a lot of geometry ans would therefore be highly inefficient.
For looking at level design i have decreased the need for having invisible walls by adding objects that would add obstructions to limit the players movement within the environment i also added building that blocks off the alleyways I'm taking these kind of details to create a better level design as helps with immersion.
I am now beginning the second part of the level this will have slightly altered structures some will be build higher to give the area a better looking quality the major difference with this area will be its texture i have chosen a smaller brick texture for the buildings with a cleaner texture for the pavement as well introducing a grass texture for some garden areas i will also be adding lighting differences this area will have a better looking l.e.d light which will have a purer white quality compared to the yellower light of the first area.
here are some renders of the second area of the environment I have cratered.
Furthermore combining the image with photoshop can create more interesting render by skies clouds or adding filters
because of the ability to manipulate the renders i can alter aspects within the render than would be difficult or time-consuming or down right i possible from with Maya.
After the completion of part two i have all but finished the end product of my project which is a Utopian environment based off the idea of introducing it through a climate of fear
Evaluation of the various aspects of the final major project
Research in regards to my early research into utopias I feel i have done a through job by looking at the definition of utopia and from that looking at the various applications of this belief and from researching this i am able to formulate my own variation. some of the good things I looked at was the different types of utopias and not only researching this but also researching things like 3d environments building styles lighting and 3d level design and not only have I been thorough in my research Also i have used by 1st and 3rd person research to get the best most accurate research possible i have also been consistent in my time researching for my final major project.
some of the thing I wished i did was go into more depth with the research for the 3d environment by looking at more video games for inspiration. for improvement I should do more 1st person research material. I have also researched different utopias in media for this I looked into video games because this is the best media to look at for this project because it contains a lot of the thing I need to include into my environment. I also looked at novels and movies
overall I am satisfied with the research i have done for my final major project.
Evaluation of concept work
in regards to my concept work I decided to use a new way of creating concepts that i have not used before by making my early models not only in 2d but also within Maya combining simple shapes to see how well the geometry flows and seeing it it has a good design and shape that is contestant to the style of my environment.
in evaluating my concept work I wish i have more concepts for buildings that offer better and more detail to give my environment a less sterile look as well as concept work looking at various building styles rather than researching the style and choosing it then concept creating based on that concept style However apart from that I feel i have done a satisfactory job at creating concepts for each part of my environment roads street furniture buildings etc...this evaluation also reflect at my concept work for textures I find the textures I used for the environment to be a perfect and accurate refection for the mood of the environment I was trying to create combined with lighting it makes a very interesting combination of Utopian ideals and a climate of fear.
overall I am satisfied with the concept work I have made although I should improve my concept creating looking at other methods of creating concepts other than drawing and modelling for future projects that involve concept creating.
Evaluation of the 3d environment overall the environment did not turn out as I planned this is not a bad thing it show I have improved on my previous plans for the environment adding in better looking building designs and having overall a better environment as looks good yet is practical in relation to a low poly count, from looking back at the evolution of creating this environment doing from simple 2d plan overhear view to a fully modelled 3d environment gives a lot of places for improvement such as adding more detail with textures so to reduce geometry this is a point of improve I should look at in future projects. another point to look at is the lighting using different colours of lighting to create a different mood and atmosphere is something I have not done before however this did not deter me in playing this to my environment for improvement I should focus of my implication of textures creating more unique and custom texture by using Photoshop to fit my textures to my environment to have a more unique look.
i think that this project has been both a challenge and a experience to try out skills I have not used for 3 modelling such as applying lighting ambient occlusion transparent texturing large scale modelling as well as scaling object to correct real world proportions. I am more than satisfied with the work and the time I have done for this project however I still must continue to improve in order to create even better work for future projects.
evaluation of time management this is something I must work on although I am very detailed in my time management plan i find myself having to catch up repeatedly I should work on this aspect creating more realistic times for completing work and updating that time plan to make it more flexible in order to be as efficient as possible.
As a overall evaluation on how the project has done and if this project I
felt was worth doing in terms of progressing my knowledge about the industry i am trying to get into my opinion is that this project was well worth my time it is something i have not done before as well as it expanded my knowledge about the methods and techniques used to create 3d environment and with more practise i fell I can make a significant amount of improvement.
Looking back over my previous concepts and initial idea I have not strayed to far from those ideas However i can see a steady evolution of ideas and content from each stages reshaping ideas to fit each part of the environment.
Also looking back from my initial proposal it it was interesting to see the progress form simple underdeveloped ideas into a fully modelled and textured environment with concept initial ideas and research my ideas on what to do has changed a lot originally it was my intention to do a more Gothic religious variation of an Utopian ideology instead from analysing architecture and research forms of Utopian society I cam to the concision that this would not be the bet idea for me instead choosing a more modern style of environment building. As a results my expectations for this project has been massively changed through out me making it my expectations of the project were very small my expectation were very low I though that i would accomplish only a a small percentage of what i have accomplished and not as good quality I though I would only have a few houses and a much smaller street with less complex lighting. My expectations and predictions were wrong instead because of careful time planning and management has enabled me to maximise my performance and productiveness and because of this I am grateful I took the time and attention to details as I have in order to do the best possible project. For improvement with future project I should be more confident In my ability and try to eliminate as much self doubt about my work.
Bibliography.
Research images found on various sources listed below
all found on google images under search Utopian interpretations
3d environment research picture found after searching or them on google images
concept research street furniture found from internet sources using various keywords on search engines
Texture research images found on the website archive of textures called CGtextures. and propaganda research images found on Internet sources using the keyword 1984 big brother propaganda posters.
