Friday, September 19, 2025

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Modular Environmental Creation Part 3

 

 Stage 03 Sculpting Phase

 

Process

Using Reference When Sculpting 


 Rendering Shots in ZBrush

 

Importing from ZBrush Into Unreal (Nanite) 

 
 
 
Adding Complexity to our Sequencer Shots

 

Movie Render Queue Set Up


Beauty Shots

 


Sunday, September 14, 2025

Tech Art Homework #4

 

Intro to Blueprints

 

Dynamic Material Blueprint Actor

 To invent a Dynamic Material Blueprint Actor, I started by creating a blueprint with the SM_machinery_circular mesh from the Harbor Pack and making a duplicate of its material to use as its new dynamic material. Then I changed I created new parameters for a new base color and the amount that new color would affect the overall color of the asset, renamed them, and plugged those nodes into the A and B pipes of multiply node and then plugged the output of that node in the B pipe of a multiple node that already existed in the graph. 

 After that, I went to the Event Graph of my blueprint and set up a "Get Keyboard Control" graph and a graph that would make it so that the pink base color would become brighter when the "G" key was pressed, which I labeled "Dynamic Base Color" in the image below.

 Then I set up timeline for this effect, called Pink Value, so that it would take 3 seconds for the pink color to return to it's original value.

 Once the blueprint was ready to go, I compiled and save it and then played the level to test it out. It did what it was supposed to, the pink color gradually increasing in brightness over the course of 3 seconds and then gradually returning to normal after I let go of the "G" key.

 

Blueprint Activated by a Trigger Event 

 To invent a blueprint which is activated by a trigger event, I created a new material called "M_SimpleBox" to apply to a box asset from the Harbor Pack. In this material, I created two different base color notes and plugged them into a Lerp node with a parameter plugged into the Alpha pipe to control the amount. I also created parameters for both the Metallic and Specular amounts.

I applied this material to a box and then added that box to my blueprint. Then I added a Collision Box in my blueprint and changed the scale to surround the box.

 Once this was done, I went over to the Construction Script section of my blueprint and created a graph to make a Dynamic Material Instance.

 Then I moved on to the Event Graph, where I created a graph that would change the values of the Metallic Amount, the Specular Amount, and the Lerp Amount parameters of my material once the player entered the collision box area and would return to normal once the player was out of that area.

 After compiling and saving my blueprint, I tested it out and it went from purple to a shinier green once the player entered the trigger zone and then return to normal once the player stepped out of that zone.

 

File Directory in Perforce


 

Friday, September 12, 2025

Use of Value and Contrast

 

Wizard of Oz/Wayfinder 

Character Designs for Value and Contrast

 

 

Line Art


Value Pass

 

Gradient Pass


Perforce Submission


 

Monday, September 8, 2025

Modular Environmental Creation Part 2

 

 Stage 02 Refinement Phase

 

Process

Adding Booleans Cuts to Our Shapes

 
 
 

Creating an Emissive Material

 
  

Simple Rotation Blueprint

  

 

Level Blueprints

 

 

Setting Character Movement (Walk Speed and Max Jump Height)



Setting Up Lighting and Atmosphere


 

Beauty Shots (True Fullscreen Screen Shots)

 

Thursday, September 4, 2025

Use of Basic Shapes

Wizard of Oz/Wayfinder 

Wicked Witch of the West Basic Shapes

 


Basic Shapes Design



Perforce Submission 


 

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Modular Environmental Creation Part 1

 Stage 01 Blockout Phase

 

Process

Mannequin Import/Establish Scale in Maya

 

Building Proxy Objects in Maya


Creating Materials

 
 

Creating Prefabs with Unreal Blueprints


Beveling Our Edges

 

Creating High Quality Screen Shots

Artist Interview Research Project

For Artist Interview Research Project, I interviewed Sean McDermott and asked him about his experience as a 3D Gameplay Animator in the indu...