The Desert Sessions, PT. 2

I figured I would post some process on the modeling of the desert. I've been modeling like a fiend as of late, mainly due to the fact that I quit one of my jobs. It's amazing how much more time I have on my hands to do the stuff I actually enjoy doing, and it shows. So, the props you see below are mainly just things that I've been thinking about that you would find in the "straggler's" living space. No conceptual drawings or paintings are needed, they're just things that I know I'll have regardless of anything. Speaking of concept drawings and such, I'm still waiting on stuff in that department to start up, which will hopefully be soon. It's hard for me to tell. I will say that a new person is aboard now, one that actually does conceptualization as a soon-to-be living, so it's exciting to have him aboard. Joe is still tentative at this point, and Jake seems to have done his part which was a big help. So, nothing else really to talk about. I'm just gonna keep modeling until I'm happy with the amount of props I have. Then, I'll get my hands dirty with some texturing. Enjoy the pics.

**BONUS**

Some trees I made in Speedtree, the awe-inspiring tree generator I love so much. The textures for the bark and leaves are just placeholders:

New Website Is Up!

So, this happened a whole lot sooner than I thought it would, but my newly designed website is up! Thanks to the flash man, Ryan Harlow for making it functional. Now it's a pretty easy task to actually update it, since I designed it to have stuff added to it. This is the opposite of how my old, crappy site was. And to that old piece of crust, I say good riddance. And as you can tell by looking at it, this very blog is linked to it. Well, not much to say, just that the new site is up. Check it out at:

www.3dryan.com

The Desert Sessions, PT.1

Alright. so the desert is coming along nicely. I've even come up with an official name. Henceforth, it will be known as "Desert Straggler". I think it has a nice ring to it. Anyway, I've got some 3D sketching pics to show. Now obviously, it's extremely simplified. This version is made with the sole purpose to give Joe an idea of where things are within the level. Observe:

Okay, so what you're looking at is a cliifside that overlooks the ocean. Obviously, the blue is ocean, orange is cliffside, gray is ground, orange sticks are trees, the metallic looking square is a small shanty, the small cylinder in front of that is a fireplace, the red thing is a crashed plane, the large orange block next to the shack is a rock formation, and the block that looks like sand is a rocky beach area. Confused? I hope not. If not, here's the general concept of the area. Two men were flying their small plane above the coast of southern Australia when they lost control and crashed right near a cliff that overlooks the ocean. The crash was fatal for one guy, but the other survived and now lives alone, stranded and surrounded by nothing but desert and ocean. He has constructed a shanty for himself from sheet metal, as well as a small bonfire area, a grave site for his friend, and two tall light stands to help illuminate his habitat. You can see the crash site as well, which tells you that he didn't venture too far away from it. Now obviously, there are many plot holes in this story, and as to how he collected all this stuff, but I don't care. If I held back and made this totally realistic, it would be boring. He just so happens to have this stuff. Deal with it.


Before I even had a theme to go by, I knew a couple things that I wanted out of this project.

1) It had to be open ended, like if you took a chunk out of the map in Fallout 3. You can look around in all directions.

2) It had to be outdoors, so that I can show my skills in making exterior, organic environments.

3) I had to have something that would really let me sculpt some terrain, so I could show that I'm familiar with that tool set within Unreal.

4) It had to have a skybox.

5) It had to have some sort of water, whether it be a river, ocean, or lake.

6) It had to be more ambitious as far as scope goes. It'll take me until May at least. Trust me.

7) It had to take place during sunset. It's something you don't see as much as daylight scenes in games. Also, it'll be more fun and challenging to light as well as just looking prettier in general.

I this project fits all aspects very well.


Landmarks:
Shanty campsite- The metallic shanty mentioned earlier with a campfire in front of it. It sits right between the edge of the cliff and the wooded area. It contains many personal belongings, like a toothbrush, clothes, pictures, etc. Good little details that will tell a story. Situated between the campfire and rock formation are fixed up floodlights that he has duct taped and custom rigged together to stand properly.

Grave site- Not sure where it'll be yet. This can be pretty flexible. It will be a small dirt pile in the ground that has a small, crudely made wooden cross sticking in it. Simple.

Airplane crash- The prop that tells us how the player got here. It's a small plane that can only accompany two people. It'll have the front end all crunched up, with a good amount of grit on it. You know, it'll look like a crashed plane. For some reason, it keeps coming up as red and blue in my head.

Open space- Wide open area behind the crashed plane. It's almost completely flat, and you can see pretty far away. Minimal trees, but plenty of smaller vegetation. Gives you the biggest impression that it's a desert.

Cliff side rocks and beach- Next to the shanty is a bunch of rock formations that eventually lead to a half sand, half stone beach. If you are looking at the ocean, on the right opposite side of the cliff, there is no beach sand, but just steep cliffs.

Small wooded area- Located where the bulk of the trees are. It breaks the environment up a bit. Makes the composition of the environment better.

This all may sound kind of confusing, but after me, Joe, and Jake have our talks, it'll make sense like it currently does in my head. Haha.

And for a better idea of reference, here's my Photobucket page with pics of inspiration:

http://s573.photobucket.com/home/3DRyan

Now, it's on to learning more Speedtree and waiting for sketches. Huzzah!

Post Game Jam, Website, 3D Sketching, Speedtree, etc.

So, I got back from the Game Jam this past Monday, and I must say I had a blast. First, I went up to visit my friend Joe in Rochester. We hung out for a couple days, and then we both went to Chicago for a couple more. The main reason for this trip was of course, for the game jam. Let me first say this to anyone who read my little story on last year's jam. It was INFINITELY better this year. For those of you who didn't read said story, I got insanely sick during last year's trip. So needless to say, it was pretty hard to do worse this time around. However, in keeping with last year's tradition, my team biffed up pretty bad. Our designers and programmers were unable to get certain elements working properly, which made it so that I couldn't make pretty art for all to see. No hard feelings though, as it was a fault of technology and no person in particular. It didn't really bother me, as I got what I really wanted out of the trip. Meeting cool people, networking, and generally being around like-minded folks that do the same thing I do. Nothing is better. Having my best friend along for the journey definitely doesn't hurt either. So all in all, it was a great trip.

Now, onto future business.

The website: Will be up soon. I just gave Ryan Harlow, my friend that knows flash a hell of a lot better than I do, the needed files. So in a couple weeks, it'll be up. Now obviously, it's only the work that I've done thus far and does not include the demo reel or pics of the desert environment, which I have yet to do.

Speaking of which, that is coming along pretty well. Jake just gave me the map file that lays out the level roughly, and I'm going to edit some stuff to my will. Then I'll hand it off to Joe to draw from. I'll post some pics of the level as soon as it's done, which will be in a few days.

Lastly, Speedtree! It's amazing. It's basically a 3D app that lets you very quickly generate realistic looking trees, grass, and rocks, among many other things. I'm learning it right now, and it basically cuts my workflow right in half. Very intuitive, easy to learn, and it makes my life so much easier. So yeah. I'll post again soon.