---
# System prepended metadata

title: <19096503>J5Z1020_journal
tags: [Environment art, Games art, Uni work]

---

###### tags: `Uni work` `Games art` `Environment art` 
# <19096503>J5Z1020_journal
(https://hackmd.io/@fd9CN8fTQKOfbEHhoj1LQQ/rJfTek5Mi)
### Character and Environment Art (J5Z1020)
### Games Art BA(HONS) L5
### Junaid Sheikh

---

# Core Project
Metropolitan Ludotopia is a thematic referring to themes stemming from the words Metropolitan, Ludo and Topia.

- Metropolitan: Relating to a large city or the inhabitants of a large city
- Ludo: to play
- Ludotopia: The space where gameplay happens

From the definitions, it is possible to roughly envision what kind of environments would exist and how those characters would fit into a metropolis designed around playabilit.y

---

# Ludotopias in games
### Fallout
Fallout is a game franchise that creates a ludotopia by spawning mechanics and map design. The Wastelands are an open world zone spanning different parts of the US. The map prompts the player to explore the zones of possibility that the games have to offer. The gameplay thrives on creating 'random' events for the player to interact or partake in to receive a reward or sending the player to specific locations as part of a quest.

The 'random' encounters the game provides are rolled and triggered through exploration, usually when the player walks past specific locations or by fast travelling to allow for the entire open world zone to act as a place for gameplay to occur. The randomness is amplified in Fallout 4 with the Legendary enemy mechanic, allowing for some random enemies to spawn with boosted combat stats and the possibility of dropping a highly valuable weapon for the player to use or to sell for bottlecaps, the in game currency. 

By creating a ludotopia based on a set map and randomised enemy types, loot spawns and events, it creates a space for gameplay to occur as there is always something to engage the player.

![](https://i.imgur.com/UiU41vd.jpg)
*"Fallout 4 - A Deathclaw that spawned with a Legendary parameter", [steamcommunity.com](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2863893184), screenshot, posted by CozyCat, 17 September 2022.*


### Gears of War
Gears of War is a third person shooter game that creates ludotopias by map design, focusing its potential for gameplay via potential combat zones, uses of cover in combat and intentionally constructed pathways for players to progress. The gameplay mechanics for taking cover harmonises with objects in the map design such as fallen debris and various other objects of hip height to the character, which allows the player to instinctually know it can be used as cover.

![](https://i.imgur.com/e41we20.jpg)
*"Gears of War 4 - Character taking cover behind a crate", [news.microsoft.com](https://news.microsoft.com/en-gb/2017/10/26/twelve-ways-the-enhanced-gears-of-war-4-will-blow-your-socks-off-on-xbox-one-x/), screenshot, posted by Microsoft, 26 October 2017.*

The linear storytelling correlates with the map design by creating important interactible points of interest in each chapter. By focusing on the playability of map designs, each stage has a unique level design that prompts the player into using skills learned through gameplay to manipulate the environment to their advantage. This in turn creates a ludotopia that is optimised for gunfights, flanking enemies and contesting certain points of interest during story missions as well as online competitive play.

### State of Decay
State of Decay is a game franchise that creates a ludotopia through spawning mechanics and map design. The game offers 5 maps, all unique in their design with unique bonuses for specific outpost locations and bases that the player can claim. The game provides the player with the objective of cleansing the region of plague hearts, a unique enemy that creates a hostile environment in the region by spawning zombies in enormous numbers, depending on the difficulty.

The general gameplay consists around the player scavenging around the map to search for resources that will allow the player to upgrade their base, protect it from raiders/zombies, obtain unique weapons and kill plague hearts in order to progress into the endgame finale. The hardest difficulty typically provides better odds for random missions, deadlier enemies and increased consequences or penalties from bad decision making, which requires the player to learn how to manage their resources effectively or it could cause their community to die permanently.

The ludotopian aspect comes with the randomised loot, randomised special zombie spawns, potential quests for other allied/hostile factions in the map and randomised survivors that you may encounter and recruit to your community. The map is populated with lots of objectives for the player to engage in, creating a space for gameplay to occur.

---

# Ludotopias in Films/Books
### Hunger Games
The Hunger Games are an example of a book and film series that has built a ludotopia through storytelling and characters that are a part of the environment they live in. The general plot consists of a post-apocalyptic America where young men and women are selected from each zone to partake in a free for all battle, with the aim of having one successor come out on top.

The 'gameplay' occurs during the tournament, where two people from each district fight to the death. The eventd that transpire revolve around the 'players' from each region killing off each other by any means possible, usually through finding weapons.

The thematic of a ludotopia is not presented in the conventional video game format, but the Hunger Games would most likely be a story driven battle royale game consisting of players engaging in a tournament setting. 
Throughout the books and film adaptation the characters develop their personality through interacting with one another and a story arc becomes present after doing so.

---

# World Building
### PureRef Moodboards
In order to generate ideas for the project, I utilised PureRef to create moodboards of various concept art, environment designs and varying styles of 2D and 2.5D art scenes that gave inspiration to the theme of Metropolitan Ludotopia.

![](https://i.imgur.com/QJ7zKme.jpg) *PureRef moodboard on the concept of a metropolis in contemporary, futuristic and dystopian settings.*

My vision for the project is to create a metropolis in the near future, so these references have been selected for their portrayal of metropolitan cities in a future scenario.

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/wn7YhcC.jpg) *PureRef moodboard on the presentation of a metropolis in the combat genre, specifically in "Beat em' up" and "Hack and Slash" games.*

The representation of characters in combat/fighter games is something I wish to build on, which is why I have chosen these selected games for inspiration.

---

### Character and Environment Lore
After researching I decided upon creating a future dystopian metropolis in which criminal gangs work in collaboration with the government to kidnap people for experimentation in order to create a genetically superior breed of the human race.

In this metropolitan zone, it is known that criminal organisations are behind the kidnappings but the general public don't know that the governing power are behind them. 

The gameplay would occur through map design and a few randomised events, but in a series of set map locations rather than an open world map to better fit the storytelling.

The character that is part of this society has an aim to find the truth after their love interest disappears. The gameplay would be centered around the character traversing the city in search for answers and to hold the organisation accountable for the distress they have caused to the citizens of the metropolis.

---

# Elevator Pitch
After learning about elevator pitches, I decided to create one for the project as a way of providing a "mission statement" for my work that I can always relate to later. Below is an elevator pitch for my game set in a Metropolitan Ludotopia.

*'A casual gamer who has an interest in story-rich gameplay and old school beat-em-up arcade games may take fancy to a fighter game set in a futuristic city where humanity tests its morals in the name of scientific discovery.'*

---

### Full Game Concept Lore
- Welcome to Sanoha Peaks, a bustling metropolis built on its thriving technological industry. The city by day is picturesque and has the perfect blend between cityscapes and natural landmarks but by night, the streets become plagued by criminal activity, and members of society that are willing to look the other way. 
- You play as Celia, a cop whose lover has disappeared in the vastly increasing pile missing person cases. Among hushed voices, everyone knows that the Brass Lillies, a gang with citywide ties are involved but no one can ever prove it as they always use a fall guy to pass blame for their ranking individuals.
- Seeing as missing person cases are almost never solved, Celia decides to take the law into her own hands and find where Theo (her partner) is, taking down anyone who stands in her way.

---


# Technical Skills Development

### Blockout Review
I began creating blockouts as a method of creating iterations for a 3D environment using Maya. Blockouts are useful as it allows for concept art to be easily translatable to 3D assets. Concept art is usually stylised and without 3D application which at times could make 3D modelling more difficult.

Creating a blockout can help with creating simplistic iterations, which can then be drawn over for concept art. By working in this order it removes the potential for future problems when modelling.

I will use blockouts when developing my stages for the game after I've created my thumbnails in order to be more efficient with my designs.

---

### Modelling in ZBrush
In my ZBrush workshops, I was able to learn about the anatomy of the human face and the key features that define a human head. I was able to sculpt a maquette of an eye section of the head, a nose, lips and a anatomical skull.

ZBrush was reasonably quick to pick up as the main tools for sculpting could easily manipulate shapes. The Move tool, Clay Buildup and Masking tool allowed for me to pull apart simple shapes and morph them into complex assets.

![](https://i.imgur.com/Krsy7Aj.png)
*Pictured above: Eye and Nose model test, made in ZBrush.*
![](https://i.imgur.com/wX5KMhM.png)
*Pictured above: Front view of a skull model, made in ZBrush.*
![](https://i.imgur.com/89TXB9K.png)
*Pictured above: Side angled view of a skull model, made in ZBrush.*
![](https://i.imgur.com/IKHuQYa.png)
*Pictured above: Front topology of a Male torso, made in ZBrush.*
![](https://i.imgur.com/6yi4EBP.png)
*Pictured above: Orthographic view of a Male torso, made in Zbrush.*

---

### Creating Prefabs for World Building

Creating a metropolis setting that is fluid in design can be difficult, especially when trying to create pathways for activity to occur. By creating simple prefabs in Maya out of 2D planes/faces, I was able to create a grid based cityscape.

![](https://i.imgur.com/XqTHpNg.png)
*Image above: Simple prefab pieces created for building cityscape layouts.*

![](https://i.imgur.com/l5uMK30.png)
*Pictured above: Application of prefab elements in Unity, creating a small building layout.*

---

### Texels and Trim sheets

After testing some methods of creating environments in maya, I began to think about how I would apply textures to my models and how I could use trim sheets efficiently by having repeating patterns. I constructed a basic structural pillar and using a rough textured pattern, I was able to create a textured pillar.

![](https://i.imgur.com/najg0qW.png)
*Pictured above: Patterned stone texture applied to a block for reference and proper application to an asset.*

---

# Case Study

### Synopsis
I began to explore the industry for individual research, looking at various articles on Environment Art, as it is a field I would like to explore more of. I wanted to improve my skills in modelling and texturing environments as I wanted to create a stylised environment for my project.

The topic of this report is about creating a Night Hotel Diorama in Maya, Substance 3D and UE5, produced by Arti Burton about 3D Environment Artist Luke Chayo.

### Introduction

The purpose of this case study is to learn about the workflow of a professional 3D Environment Artist and potentially find some useful processes that I could follow in my project.
So far, the key issues I found with my process was my difficulty with translating my thumbnails and concept art for my environments into 3D modelled assets and so with some research, I was hoping to improve upon my skillset and have an efficient workflow during the production process of the project. 

The article I chose to explore, written by Luke Chayo would explore how they produce modular pieces as well as explaining how the environment was lit and rendered in Unreal Engine 5. This is significant as it would provide some valuable information about how to develop environment art and 3D environment scenes.

### Research - Concept Development process

Luke Chayo previously studied Film and Production which paired with their interest in video games sparked their exploration into producing video game assets.

They began their creative process by finding references in the real world environment, looking at how a closed atmosphere can occur in a small location. Exploring the atmopshere of a location can be a great source of inspiration and can help with visualising an environment a much easier task during the production process.

Being able to produce your own primary research is valuable as it allows for more tailored sources of data to be used. There are plenty of sources that can be found online, however finding specific sources can be difficult due to the vast amount of images and shared content online so producing your own sources can produce valuable sources.

Chayo began discussing the importance of composition and how important mood and lighting is for a scene. They mentioned how they found difficulties during the concept and blockout phase of the projects as they spent a lot of their time iterating compositions of scenery, but without the help of concept art references or photographs.

During the article, Chayo said, 
>"When looking at concept art, I focused more on the mood and lighting of the scene but overlooked important aspects like composition. This would be a major oversight on my part."

This is an important part of the process that I didn't previously consider and I began to identify the significance of composition. It is easy to create iterations, but creating the right atmosphere using lighting is a valuable resource for conveying the mood of the scene.

### Research - Modelling process

Chayo began to explore the use of Unreal Engine and creating modular assets for a blockout. Creating modular pieces would be a very easy way to create a full scene with minimal effort as well as making it easy to tile textures using Trim Sheets. 
An important piece of information that I found was the use of modular assets being produced in Maya and organised in Unreal Engine. The software was capable of using variation modifiers, some of which included the number of windows on a building face, the aspect ratio of the windows, and whether it was an edge piece. 
This would be the most important part of the production process as it provided the opportunity to create a layout as freely as possible rather than being tied to a structured and complex asset created as one piece.

### Research - Texturing process

Once they created their layout of their scene using modular assets, Chayo was able to create a tileable texture in Substance 3D Painter, with the goal being that the material was to tile seamlessly. This meant that certain textures that you may apply to a model would need to be dialed back and applied accordingly as the tile would repeat. Once the materials were created and finalized, Chayo would import the textures into Unreal and plug them into a basic material instance so that they could be dragged onto the models.

In the article, Chayo discusses the potential of creating variation with textures and how important it is to create a variety of textures to apply onto models so that identical models could be organised and create unique assets from the same models.

When discussing decals Chayo said,
>A lot of material variation comes from the use of decals. For the most part, I made three different types of decals for the scene; Graffiti, Dirt, and Puddles. Once in the engine, I would layer the decals until I got the desired effect. 

This is a useful way to produce variation in assets that are comprised of identical tiled models and textures.

### Research - Lighting and Rendering

Iterations can factor into a lot of ways that you decide to compose the scene using lighting. To create an effective mood and atmosphere, lighting is key and so this was a topic that I was keen to learn more of. Having the right references can contribute heavily to the way you compose a scene, specifically whether your scene would be at day or night and the types of activities that could occur in the scene at that time to create the right atmosphere.

Some important processes to note during their use of Unreal Engine was the use of various tools and modifiers such as BP Sky Spheres, Directional light, Tinting and Volumetric Height Fog. Below is a list of notable functions in Unreal Engine that may provide some useful processes for creating the right mood through lighting, shadows and weather.

- BP Sky Spheres are useful for adjusting the sun's position in the scene and how bright stars appear.
- Directional light can be used to simulate moonlight.
- Various shortcuts using tools such as Atmosphere Sun Light would allow for the scene's lighting to be positioned correctly
- Tinting is a common practice in the film industry for shooting day-for-night scenes.
- Volumetric Height Fog can be used to enhance the depth of the scene by adding skylights and applying shadows to the scene.

### Recommendations from this Case Study
I would hope to utilise the information that I gathered for my own projects and begin my process of creating a Metropolis scene. The key information that I found, more specifically about creating an atmosphere through composition of a scene and lighting would pertain to the production process of all my future projects and working practices for environment art.

### Conclusion
From reading the article on Luke Chayo, I was able to understand a different way to tackle the production pipeline and how to produce assets in a simple yet effective way through the use of conducting primary research, gathering the correct references, creating repeating assets, tileable textures and lighting procedurals. 

### Reference

The referenced article, Written by Arti Burton who conducted the interview on Luke Chayo can be found here:

*80 LV - Arti Burton, 12 December 2022, Creating a Night Hotel Diorama in Maya, Substance 3D & UE5, https://80.lv/articles/creating-a-night-hotel-diorama-in-maya-substance-3d-ue5/, accessed 19th December 2022.*

---
# Environment concept

After the ZBrush and Maya modelling workshops, I began to work on creating some character concepts and thumbnails for my environments. I did some research on existing cities and came up with three specific themes that I would like to have in my metropolis. I was able to picture how I wanted my environments to look and began concepting my ideas afterwards.


![](https://i.imgur.com/SlRdqL3.jpg)
*Pureref moodboard on famous landmarks, architecture and cultural design relating to three key themes chosen.*

---

### Environment Thumbnails

I created a variety of arcade inspired stage designs for my environments with the aim of creating a side scrolling stage that the player could interact and fight in. 
I kept in mind that I would need to plan out modular assets when blocking out in Maya. I wanted to have a broad spectrum of ideas to select from so that I could explore a variety of environent designs in existing cityscapes and how they might be influenced by the local cultures or the architectural style of that country.


For the Bridge theme, I looked at the the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco for inspiration as it gave the best representation for bridge scenery in a cityscape. The Golden Gate showed an interesting characteristic for what a highly populated city would require in terms of infrastructure.

The Chicago overpass and Brooklyn streets were useful for the street theme as it helped me to learn about the architectural styles in the US. I created different iterations of streets that might have high or low foot traffic and how the surrounding decors would hint at the streets being neglected or well looked after.

The Enclave theme was loosely themed around ethnic "towns" such as Chinatown and Koreatown, where a community of ethnic people reside and exhibit their culture through their architecture, food and historical values. I took inspiration from Chinatown, looking at the markets, restaurants as well as Japanese culture. I created iterations of main streets, alleyways, market areas and an onsen/spa area.

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/km5nvbd.jpg)
*Pictured above: Thumbnail iterations for environments within a metropolis.*

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/2l0bSvA.jpg)
*Pictured above: Painted set of thumbnails for each respective theme.*

---

### Creating 3D Environments in Maya
In order to create a visually correct environment scene, I created a blockout of one of the scenes that I created thumbnails for. 

I decided to go ahead with the Enclave sketches as it provided the best possibility to explore a variety of techniques and styles for creating each building. I wanted to explore decals and thought this would best be achieved in this theme as it allows me to explore a unique culture and learn about the architectural style to create my own stylised environment.

I began dissecting the scene, separating the surrounding furnishings and buildings as separate assets. Through the use of various techniques I was able to create several assets such as a restaurant sign, Chinese lanterns, planting boxes, ventilation/air-con units and plastic food crates. These assets would allow me to create what I believed to be an authentic Chinatown inspired scene in a metropolis. 

I found that the most useful tools when modelling my environments in Maya were the mirror tool and the Boolean tool, due to the efficiency provided from how quick it became to create procedural assets. I ended up using the same procedural assets for the Market plastic crates, as well as the Office building in the background which were made by creating half an asset and mirroring the object.

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/WcaNETY.png)
*Pictured above: Front view of the Restaurant building in my Enclave scene, featuring the main building, lanterns, restaurant sign and a Bonsai planter.*

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/ZVcVIWg.png)
*Pictured above: A restaurant/market building, featuring a market stall at the front, a variety of plastic food crates and an upstairs apartment area with an Air Conditioning unit.*

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/aQaVdtm.png)
*Pictured above: A snapshot of the scene in Frontal View, wireframe mode active to show the organisation of buildings and furnishings in the scene.*

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/ljmKDmO.png)
*Pictured above: The full Enclave scene in Orthographic view, featuring all the main buildings and themed furnishings, modelled in Maya.*

---

# Character Concept

In order to start concepting a character that would fit in my metropolis, I decided to do some research on female fighter characters in current games and female bodybuilders. I visualised my main character Celia as a capable woman in the police force who has trained and learned martial arts, so she would be quite lean and capable of taking on her opponents in combat.

Two existing female fighter characters that stood out for their aesthetical and practical design were *Chun-Li* from the *Street Fighter* series and *Sonya Blade* from *Mortal Kombat*. I chose to look at these characters a bit more in depth as they had interesting designs and were martial arts focused. 

Sonya Blade is an interesting character since they have a military background, which is similar to what I had in mind for my character Celia. She wears a lot of combat focused attire, which has developed over her multiple appearances in the franchise. 
Originally her outfit consisted of a headband, sports bra and leggings which has become more military focused by giving her a jacket, combat pants, combat boots and a belt with pouches.

Chun-Li was the first female fighter in the Street Fighter series and prides herself on being strong. She is an expert martial artist and Interpol officer, who wears a modified qipao (Chinese gown) and white combat boots. Chun-Li has an interesting stylised outfit which fits well with her personality and background.


![](https://i.imgur.com/SimMAHM.jpg)
*Pictured above: Pureref Moodboard showcasing some artwork and photographs that contributed to my vision for my character. I chose to look specifically at martial artists for inspiration.*

---

### Thumbnails

In order to start concepting a character, I created some silhouettes with some simple shading. I decided to add shading to create some dynamic silhouettes that would capture them in their fighting stances.

![](https://i.imgur.com/tIR1Nq3.png)
*Pictured above: A variety of female fighter silhouettes, inspired by female martial artists.*

![](https://i.imgur.com/J9ucFNE.jpg)
*Pictured above: A dynamic set of silhouettes with shading indicating clothes and poses.*

---
### Martial artist portrayals in real life and video games

Typically in martial arts, it helps to wear tight clothing with as few layers as possible in order to engage in hand to hand combat effectively, so creating a character that would use Judo techniques would require a specific style of clothing. 

Video game designers often sexualize female characters to make them look appealing to men rather than having a practical design. With the history of feminine characters in fighter games being over sexualised in the fighter game industry, I wanted my character to be able to wear comfortable clothing that wouldn't restrict their combat potential but also wouldn't be percieved as sexualised.

After doing some research I found that some of the more sexualised female characters came from franchises such as Street Fighter, Dead or Alive and Mortal Kombat, having a lot of the characters appear in short and tight clothing like bodysuits, lingerie or beachwear to attract positive responses from men

![](https://i.imgur.com/6vW1ZGr.jpg)
*Pictured above: Pureref moodboard on good and bad portrayals of fighter characters.*

For reference, I decided to create a Pureref moodboard on stylistic designs I approved of and designs I thought were bad portrayals of female fighter characters based off how they are portrayed and whether they are exaggerated to receive an illicit response. This would help me in my design process for my character.

---

### Concept sketches

Once I refined my silhouettes, I picked one to focus on. I began concepting some ideas, creating some simple lineart sketches. I took inspiration from my environment sketches as I wanted the character to work cohesively with the setting they exist in. 

I selected some key attributes of female fighter characters from my Pureref moodboard of characters and began creating some designs for my character, the clothes they would wear and how they would present themselves.

![](https://i.imgur.com/vLyhfXR.jpg)
*Pictured above: Concept sketches for Celia, the protagonist.*

![](https://i.imgur.com/kARlvKE.jpg)
*Pictured above: Concept sketches for Celia, the protagonist in colour.*

I created varying designs inspired by ethnicity in order to have a lot of opportunity for the character to develop and inspire the creation of my environment.

---

### Colour iterations

After creating some silhouettes, I developed them by creating colour palettes and clothing designs for the character. This would help in understanding what type of clothing would be best for the character to wear and fight in with as little restrictions as possible for combat potential.

![](https://i.imgur.com/3smhZsp.jpg)
*Pictured above: Exploration in colour palettes for clothes designs and side profile head shots of the potential character.*
These could present an opportunity to create skins in the fighter game.

---

# Further Research

In order to further my knowledge and skills, I decided to do my own research into creating anatomically correct character models, as well as how to create a character that can represent a cultural community in the correct method.

### Anatomical Study

I looked at professional female bodybuilders in order to study female muscular anatomy and how to correctly identify key muscles providing an opportunity to understand key forms in sketching anatomically correct female characters as well as creating a character that would be appropriately portrayed in the genre.

![](https://i.imgur.com/YWhBt3e.jpg)
*Pictured above: Anatomical study of the back, and identification of those muscles in a female athlete back pose.*

![](https://i.imgur.com/86ngT8e.jpg)
*Pictured above: Anatomical study of female torso muscles with colour coded muscles.*

By creating these diagrams, I was able to understand how muscles work in unison. I was able to understand the composition of muscles in the body, which would help later on when creating my 3D model of Celia.

---

### Research into martial arts: Judo

As well as studying female bodybuilders and female athletes, I decided to research about Judo and how it is used. Judo is a useful form of unarmed martial arts that allows the fighter to keep control of the field while on the move, which in arcade sidescroller beat-em-ups is a very useful tactical martial art in that scenario. I decided to look at simple throws and combat moves that a fighter might engage in the style of Judo to further my knowledge in what muscles and techniques are key for a Judo martial artist to have.

![](https://i.imgur.com/4hqD4dX.jpg)
*Pureref moodboard detailing some basic Judo moves that would be used by a typical Judo martial artist.*

---

# Further iterations of Celia, the female protagonist

I wanted to refine the character a bit more by exploring the types of clothing she would wear and her appearance as I felt the initial character was lacking some development and so I decided to do further iterations for her clothing.

![](https://i.imgur.com/fWbvusI.jpg)
*Pictured above: Concept art for Celia's outfit, labelled.*

![](https://i.imgur.com/Y1qoxRs.jpg)
*Pictured above: Further iterations for Celia's clothing and colour iterations.*

---

### Character 3D Model
Using my knowledge of ZBrush, I began my 3D model for Celia. I started off by modelling the muscles on her body, making sure that she has a lean physique. Even though her clothes would hide some of her muscles, I wanted to create a strong and lean physique for Celia and apply my anatomical knowledge to the 3D model. By doing so, it would prove to be useful later on when trying to identify key joints and muscle groups when re-topologising later on.

![](https://i.imgur.com/SjUKVOa.png)
*Pictured above: Anatomical 3D Model of Celia, created in ZBrush.*

![](https://i.imgur.com/07UQM49.png)
*Pictured above: 3D Model of Celia and her clothing, created in ZBrush.*

![](https://i.imgur.com/1Qfucn4.png)
*Close up of Celia's 3D Model with clothing, made in ZBrush.*

---

# Texturing Environments - Adobe Substance Painter

Once all my environment models were finished, I began texturing them in Substance Painter. This software was relatively straight-forward to use, with a lot of the features in the software allowing for quick application of textured images.

Texturing was an important part of the process as it was the final process of the development for the environments, but also testing the models during texturing would allow me to find any errors in UVs that I previously would have created and organised. I managed to texture a few assets with some variations, creating some more diverse scenery, even though my model count was limited. 

I managed to find some errors in my models during the texturing process, which I acted upon to fix before finalizing all my textured mesh maps. I proceeded to bake my mesh maps and moved on to putting the scene together in Unity.

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/gohVxqi.png)
*Pictured above: A textured Market stall variation, Modelled in Maya and textured in Substance Painter.*

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/V5Q489i.png)
*Pictured above: Another variation of a textured Market stall, Modelled in Maya and textured in Substance Painter.*

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/BCaF9YA.png)
*Pictured above: A segment of an Air Conditioning Unit, Modelled in Maya and textured in Substance Painter.*

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![](https://i.imgur.com/KfB3bZC.png)
*Pictured above: A textured Chinese lantern, Modelled in Maya and textured in Substance Painter.*

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![](https://i.imgur.com/RRvA5pj.png)
*Pictured above: A textured restaurant building, Modelled in Maya and textured in Substance Painter.*

---

# Importing models to Unity Render Pipeline

Once all my environments were textured, I created a unity project, importing all my existing models from Maya as an FBX file. I made sure to apply the correct model properties to my imported models so they would be at the correct scale and began applying all the baked mesh maps to materials which would be dragged onto the various models, applying the textures.

Being able to put all the models together with textures in a scene allowed for me to visualise the scene fully in 3D, while also checking for any mistakes with textures not applying to the models properly. 

The production process was definitely the most time consuming aspect of the project as it required me to make sure all the models had correct UVs and on numerous occasions I would need to revisit some models in Maya and textures created in Substance Painter to correct any mistakes I had made during the modelling process.


---

![](https://i.imgur.com/dnju4Lk.png)
*Pictured above: A snapshot of the Enclave scene in Unity Render Pipeline.*

---

![](https://i.imgur.com/MPCA4I3.png)
*Pictured above: An orthographic snapshot of the Enclave scene in Unity Render Pipeline.*

---

### Composition of final environment

![](https://i.imgur.com/9hhkILu.png)
*Pictured above: Final scene in Unity, with Directional Lighting and Spot lighting to create atmospheric lighting.

![](https://i.imgur.com/LgzLfkr.png)
*Pictured above: Snapshot of the final environment, in Unity.*

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# Project Conclusion

I was unable to fully complete all my objectives for the project, some of which would have been beneficial for polishing my assets and creating a complete final output.
With more time to develop the project, I would try to animate the 3D Character model I produced via rigging a skeleton to the model in Maya. Retopologising would have been a crucial stage of development for the character model as it would allow for the model to retain detail but also run within a game engine. I would have liked to create a rig and potentially apply some animations to the character in the scene. 

Overall, the project has allowed me to learn of new workflows and different processes for developing assets, texturing through polypainting in Substance 3D Painter, texturing with Trim Sheets and composition methods for post processing.