Time Machine: Sci-fi Circle Normal Map

Successes and failures whilst normal mapping my pylon.

I'm unsure what happened to the map on the left, but there's heavy distortion all over the mesh and none of the information is near correct.

This normal map had my indents going in the wrong direction and looked strange on my model, this is what happened when I imported the normal map that I had baked in Xnormal to Quixel and converted it from a PNG to a PSD.

Though I liked this normal map, she indentations were a little too extreme, I fixed this in quixel.

This is the map used on my final model, which worked really well.

Time Machine: Sci-fi Circle

Inspired by my previous assignment I decided to create a time machine composed of a circle of pylons. I took a more science fiction approach using large flat planes to define the shape.

I tested this idea before I went any further by duplicating my mesh into a circle in Maya. I was really pleased with this preliminary check and decided to continue.

Unwrapping the UVs was simple due to the objects extremely low complexity.

The completed UV map to the right.

This is a screenshot from the turntable of my final pylon design with Albedo, Normal, Specular, Roughness and Metalness maps applied. My 

Here is the pillar among friends, a circle of. This Circle of pylons would send players throughout time, to a random destination.

Damaged Pillar: Doric Column Map Renders

Albedo Map
Using two photographs of sandstone

Normal Map
Obtained from Xnormal after hours of work

Ambient Occlusion Map
Made using an AO map from Xnormal and Quixel merged together

Xnormal AO

Quixel AO

Specular map
Converted from Normal Map in Quixel

Height Map
Absolutely no, this did not work

Displacement Map
Also no, this was an absolute failure

Damaged Pillar: Doric Column Normal Mapping

1. Too low resolution

2. Not dense enough

3. What

4. This is better

















5. Why are you doing this to me

6. Finally

7. This is wrong, damn you Quixel

8. Strange glitches on square face

Object space map, just to see if I could.

Damaged Pillar: Doric Column

After struggling for a while to model my first pillar design, I moved onto something a little more achievable. I began to design the low poly mesh as a Doric Column.

After placing all of the largest shapes in the correct areas, extruding and combining the bottom and top half; I was ready to export the mesh from Maya as an OBJ file and import it to Zbrush.

Whilst in Zbrush I attacked my column with all of the wear and tear I wanted to see on the final render.

I realized I had missed a step in decimating my mesh, as the damaged sections were far too high in tri count in comparison to the rest of my mesh.

I decimated my mesh in Zbrush then reimported it. From left to right are the; Decimated, Low Poly, Damage and High Poly meshes. The damage now had to be bridged onto the low poly.

Bridging 1

Bridging 2

This process is not exactly difficult, but it is one of the most time consuming tasks I have ever encountered. It can become quite dull after a while, though the finished result is worth the effort.

UV mapping

Baking

Something went horribly wrong with my bake and the normals were crushed, stretched and distorted. I spent a long time attempting to fix this as can be seen below.

My first UV map, which did work, but it wasn't densely packed enough to make use of the 2048x2048 resolution.

I encountered issues with this map and I am still unsure why. The low poly and cage were both the exact same topology and the high poly was in the exact same position.

I decided it would be easiest to map the whole model again as opposed to puzzling over it for hours on end.

Here can be seen my final UV map, which worked perfectly. I am extremely happy to have this finished.

GS: 2000 word report/essay

Write about what a game does and/or means to its players

What does the game do for who

What do the games narrative and mechanics mean to the player

Metagames, what do games say about games

How does the gamd respect diversity

Look at your bibliography, are the authors respectable

Think about art theory, philosophy, literary theory, this shows how in depth you have thought about what you're writing

Allow time for editing - leave for a day and come back

There's a 10% margin either way

Get down the descriptions first then edit later

14th Apr Video Game Studies: Reflecting (on) games

- magic circle
   - a games stuck in development for 40 years
   - you are in essence a play tester, editing and  improving the game as you play

- far cry primal
   - critics disapproved, claiming the game to be nothing more than inflated dlc

- meta games
- Stanley parable and Undertale
   - Stanley parable breaks fourth wall to comment on players decisions

- the beginners guide
   - dialogue on mental health
   -