Conclusion

During this project I have defined myself as an artist, I have enjoyed the process' I have taken during the development of the 3D environment. Which will lead me to become a 3D environment and prop artist as theses two areas are the ones that interest me the most.
Through out this project I have pushed myself to learn and understand new techniques, I feel that I have accomplished this I have gain knowledge of many techniques which can be used in future 3D work.

Although under the pressure to complete this project on time I have missed certain key areas which I will need to re-visit to gain a full understanding such as displacement maps I understand the overall process needed to produce this but I do not fully understand how this can work in various situations I hope to take a more detailed look into this technique during my own personal time.

I plan to also improve on my overall shader knowledge as during this project I started to use more complicated shaders such as the water shader.
Shaders are great tools to make 3D work look unique and there is so much that can be done within this technique I would like to pursue this and learn how various game engines use shader networks and how to produce more unique shaders.

I was happy with the final outcome of my scene, apart from a few areas which I felt lacked which if I went back I would improve this if the time to do so was there. Firstly the modular building I developed for this project they were developed in a way in which it would be very simple by making these simple they lost the detail needed to really push out a sense of a medieval scene I spent a lot of time on shader work and less time on these modular assets, I would of liked to gained skills in high poly modelling or sculpting as I would of been able to not only increase my skillset as an artist but I would of been able to produce more detailed and unique assets.

Animations during this project I had various visions in which animations were needed, I did not want to use any preset animations inside of UDK I wanted to produce all my own work for this project. Animations I could not understand how to import them from my 3D application to work inside UDK I tried various online sources for guidance and there was no luck, for example I wanted my flag assets to have cloth physics to give realistic movement as I could not use my animations produced within Maya I had to find a simple fix which I did, an animated texture which from distance works but it still lacked the desired effect I intended to portray.

Lastly project management, I have really come a long way since my first year project where there was no sign of any kind of project management, I started to understand how to plan my project during my team project Game Development, using various management tools then allowed me to understand how I can plan for my own personal work which I did through out this project using set and personal mile stones, keeping track of all work needed through Trello the project management tool this helped me get to a finished state. Yet I still lack somewhat due to time planning in some cases I did not plan the amount of time needed for Asset X this some times kept the work load heavy due to poor time planning but because of this I have started to understand my personal limits as an artist and now I have the opportunity to work on the limits and gain new skills.

To summarize I have enjoyed the overall development process of this project and I hope to keep refining my skills as a environment artist which can lead to future opportunities within the games industry.

Final Cinematic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBclVHP2dto

The above link will take you to my developed final cinematic for this project, I had to use a link as I kept encountering upload issues for this blog.

 As seen with my final cinematic it consists of a more fly through than random points broken up and edited together although I have seen many online show reels where certain areas of an environment are recorded then edited to fit each other.

I wanted to use my own direction and not do what everyone else does. So for my cinematic I wanted to show the flow of the environment as if it is a playable level even if this is not meant to be played I am aiming to be an environment artist and I want to show how I can not only create 3D work but I want to show how I can create a level/3D environment that can work in a video game situation.

Final Renders - Before Cinematic

Concept Art Recap

Post Processing

Post processing my final stage of this environment, Post processing can be used for various changes and enhancements to the 3D environment this range from, Light bloom, Motion blur, depth of field and color enhancements.

I produced a post processing chain which holds all the post processing settings, I started by adding an Ambient  Occlusion Effects using this added and defined more shadow information through out the whole environment. The second process added is known as an Uber Post Processing effect this is where a lot of the setting take place. I started to add a slight bloom not to much to over power the scene just enough to give off the bloomed effect this was mainly shown on the wooden lamp posts.

I used the Tone mapper this is for color alterations that change the overall color within the scene I used this to define the desired atmosphere, It contributed to the color continuity throughout the scene by giving off a more grey tone across the scene. This also helped increasing the shadow definition which really helps push out the more lit areas really defining the lighting within the scene.

Below I will show two images both rendered in the same position within the environment, showing the changes made when attaching the post processing change into the world properties. 

Non Post Processing

Post Processing 

Final Additions/Changes

Subtle Changes from the Original Concept Art

Figure 1. shows some areas that I have added/changed from the chosen concept art. To start I added wooden posts joined by rope surrounded the main wooden bridge this added extra depth to the scene also broke up the repetition of the wooden planks. I also added wooden lamp posts which are placed in various areas through out the scene, I wanted theses to not only break up repetition but I wanted to add another light source which are used in the more darker areas in the scene.

Next I decided to add a barge/boat which would be placed within the water again to break up repetition and to bring to life the scene. This lead to an issue I noticed at that point I had a sewer entrance connected to my scene to show water flow but the water flow lead to a dead end which would mean having a boat would be irrelevant as I wanted my scene to be realistic I looked into ideas which I could use to make use of the boat asset.

I decided to make a port callus gateway, I made the gateway attached to an archway placed at the dead end, Having this shows how the boat would travel throughout this scene. 

Figure .1 

Figure 2. depicts the scene in the more earlier stages but you can see the huge space between the houses leading up, this also show great repetition with the texture attached the floor. The changes I have made change are seen within Figure 2.1. I started by compacting the road/street leading up as realistically in this time the houses were very closed in together so by compacting the street it helped define the sense of a medieval environment.

To fill in space I started working on assets which would be relevant to my scene using previous saved reference. I added variations to the houses not too much as I thought during this time the houses would be near identical. alongside theses I have also developed assets to fit into this scene such as; Market stalls, Haybale shelters, crates, barrels, lamp posts and medieval cannons. All assets are seen within figure 2.1.

Figure 2

Figure .2.1

Displacement map, The development for this has taken a lot of time due to the fact I really did not understand how the process worked, during this project I started to gain and understanding of this process. I went back to my displacement map as I was not fully happy with the outcome shown during the Alpha milestone. Figure 3. shows final material as you can see the displacement maps is taking effect here and it noticed straight away although this is not perfect as my current skill set this is to the full of my ability.

For this material I increased the specular density this allows for a more defined spectacular I thought this works well due to the fact the stone work is in contact with water this specualr gives the effects of a somewhat damp stone.

Look Up Tables - UDK

I wanted to start finalizing the environments color scheme, During my research into this I found a technique used across level designers where the process creation of a look up table it produce, A look up table holds the color information which can be used across the whole environment keep color continuity through the scene.

Using an RGB table and a screen shot taken from the current environment I started to create a look up table to be used within my scene, I started with levels and curves inside the Photoshop settings to define the shadows (darker areas) within my scene. I also increased the brightness and contrast levels which lead to a warmer sense of color within the environment as seen below.

I have uploaded at the end of this discussion showing the slight effects that the look up table changed within my scene, More work may be needed for the desired effect, also post processing will coincide with this.

LUT - Test

RGB Table

Normal

Attached Look Up Table