[UE4] Fisher Price Castle Adventure - A Diorama Tribute

Lucas Annunziata · Nov 2016

Latest Update:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/1g/bfjn5z8d5w7j.jpg

Original post:
November is the month that I finish a project. This idea has been kicking around in my head for a while now, and I'm finally ready to attempt to do it justice. One of my favorite toys as a kid was this castle:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/br/mli8hl5wdtvv.jpg

I am going to recreate it in 3 dimensional space.
Modelling in: maya
Texturing in: substance, photoshop, quixel, and zbrush
Final presentation: Unreal 4

First pass at an asset list:

Geometry
Castle Model
Unique Rock scupt
DrawBridge/chains
Wrought Iron Gate
wooden Window
Wooden table
Torch
Shield
Banner
Carpet?

Materials
Tiling Castle Brick
Tiling Stone Floor
Tiling Wood
Window/doorframe trim
Floor trim/stairs
Wrought Iron
Moat Water

Particles:
Torch Fire

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/hd/66kw3qza3plb.jpg

Lucas Annunziata · Nov 2016

I've gotten to work on a super basic blockout. Plopped it in the engine, and realized that unreal 4.13 has sequencer in it, so I spent a bit of time setting up some static cameras to plop out screenshots each day that I make some progress so I can make a cool gif when its done.

The sequence is just a series of still camera shots with an event track. When it switches cameras, the event track has a keyframe Screenshots_01, etc.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/v5/1pqa54rntd5k.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/tm/3zpkt4pminip.jpg

Lucas Annunziata · Nov 2016

Got a blockout brick material on there, along with a bit more blockout detailing.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/91/eza2uganz591.png

Lucas Annunziata · Nov 2016

Makin a little bit more progress. Still blocking out some wierder sections of the castle, and dealing with having added thickness to the turret and wall interiors and how that has messed with some proportions.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/eq/ivwcd9l0h6gv.jpg

Dave Dind · Nov 2016

Solid blockout and planning! Seems doable with the time you've got left

Lucas Annunziata · Nov 2016

I've been taking my sweet ol' time with this. I've mainly been putsing in substance designer and messing with shaders. Look! Some overdone parallax occlusion bricks!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ko/0msm05vvmglx.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/q9/98u9w31psgdz.jpg

Dave Dind · Nov 2016

Funny to see this from the reverse side as it's lookin' nice and realistic, and then bam! It's a flippin' toy!

You seem to be getting along famously with designer though

Lucas Annunziata · Nov 2016

@Dave Dind
Designer has been a great challenge. I really like how quickly I can get the absolute basics of a material setup that looks passable until I can come back to it later and give it some loving it deserves. Being able to change tiling amounts and experiment so non-destructively has completely changed up my workflow.

Messing around with my vertex paint material. It now can blend the top layer with the bottom layers normal to get some forms showing through. The normal mip bias allows me to blur out the normals a bit as well.