UH Masters FMP Space Station Level

bobtheartist

A group of us games art masters students are collaborating on a space station level design for our final major project over the summer.
Currently in the design document stages. Actual work on the level starts late May/early June. The level will be built in the Unreal Engine.

A brief story of the level is that it is a research station posted to monitor and study a black hole. One of the research projects on the station is looking into an alien ship that comes out of the black hole, and during the course of this research the alien gets loose and starts causing time distortions. 

Our aim for the FMP hand-in is to produce an interact-able level and a cinematic cut-scene.

bobtheartist

The idea is that we are creating a space station level that exists in two timelines at once. We are going to experiment with map blending. Looking into stencil buffers was also suggested to us. 

Since we have three environment artists working on this we will each take a department room to model as well as all of us working on detail and hallway assets.

bobtheartist

Dump of all the modular modeling tests and level blockouts.

Zee_DeCoY

Second environment artist here, my job is to create the Research and development wing of the space station. I have tasked myself with creating multiple unique rooms within the area, with a satellite in the middle, that is being built. 

For the first couple of days, I wanted to lock down the centrepiece of the room - a massive satellite being constructed.


I also did some basic texture passes to get a general idea of how it would look

The Uvs are not organised correctly, and there are many pieces I still want to add on top of this, so hence why the blocky feel to it.

I am still unsure about the solar panels (given that the space station is near a black hole, my brain can't comprehend how this would work) I am trying a couple of different approaches to the panels themselves





I will revisit the satellite at a later date, once the rooms are put together a bit more.

Now for the rooms:

Depending on size and complexity, I am limiting myself to 80k polygons / room (not including the central area. One side of the room is a missive 10m large door which has an airlock allowing transfer of goods as well as release of the satellite into space. There are 2 floors that are connected via stairs, and room #3 is a large elevator for goods. Room #4 might be a central command centre, which might pass through the airlock door, thus allowing the viewer to see how the airlock looks like. The airlock will not be accessible for the player.
#1 - Grav-room (gravitational wave research)
#2 - Office area with server rooms
#3 - Elevator
#4 - Central command room
#5 - Material resarch
#6 - Introduction area (the player starts from this room)
#7 - Small research room (undecided)
#8 - Small research room (undecided)
#9 - Machinery room
#10 - Construction room
#11 - Goods storage.
#12 - Goods storage (maybe airlock controls?)
#13 - Airlock Door

There is also opportunities for small corridors placed within the layout, allowing for additional rooms to be added - depending on time.


As I am on a very strict deadline (1 room per day - not including props and texturing) I am trying to lock down a different feel for each room that is still connected. 

Day 1 - Gravitational distortion testing chamber

This room consists of a vacuum chamber and containers in the back for cooling

Whilst I am not completely finished with the room, I need to move on.
Day 2 - #10 - Workshop 
For Day 2 I chose a smaller room to focus on;  I imagined something similar to a small wood workshop, which could be focused on the planning and sorting of the satellites pieces. 

As I am making up the look and feel as I go, this process takes a bit longer than I have hoped, but it is still in line with the 1 room per day concept.



As I had a bit of left over time, I tested some maya lighting as well as UE4 lighting tests.




I am currently on Day 3 of room construction - focusing on the large door as well as the elevator for today (something simple)

bobtheartist

Current progress on the Hydroponics area.
3DS Max build of the Algae tank and gantries. The tank and gantries are made out of modular sections to make texturing easier, and quicker. I added a flair out on the railings to add a bit more interest to the silhouettes. Pipe parts on the Tanks are also modular to reduce time on producing them for other assets.

Most of the base assets are in Unreal with colissions. in terms of the level i just need to sort three things.
1. The pit on the first floor holding all the pipes and the waste recycling vats.
2. The elevator shaft.
3. the stairwell.

Next on my list of things to do is to to the UV's and textures on the main assets. Linking everyone's levels and getting the streaming working early on means less trouble later and more time to fix any problems that might come up.

TheRealRyan_

didnt realise this was a shared thing lol. here is the link to the thread i set up for my stuff. and a few images of the first character. 

http://polycount.com/discussion/187541/ryan-gilbert-fmp-review-and-critique#latest

need to tone down the normals map of the face in unreal lol