Week 07:

MURAL DEADLINE

General health update for the scene! Overall the piece is gradually getting there, the majority of bulky elements have now been textured. Leaving mainly: picture frames, secondary chair and vases to texture next. Which whilst the overall big impact pieces have been done (which isn't that obvious due to many of the colours being similar to the placeholder ones) what will truly start bringing everything together is the smaller props and decals etc as it greatly assists with breaking up sightlines and what is currently a modular box with a couple pieces of furniture scattered about.

I have since updated my lighting setup to remove the main god rays, whilst I did like the storytelling element of those, (as if some otherworldly force was directing you towards the focal desk) it ultimately made the scene feel cheap and non realistic. I may reintroduce them in a more subtle way but for now this is more reference accurate setup. Combined with some post processing to really bring out that greeny-yellow hue.

As for the lighting I was experiencing some issues with the shades, I attempted a couple approaches to make them illuminate whilst having textures but non were particularly satisfactory but will ask about these in next weeks session.

For elements that need some refining

The archway still has a texture issue in the center this is simply using an older texture so just needs updating and unfolding of the UV's where it had gotten stretched.

My coving paneling needs it's grunge turned massively down and ambient occlusion reduced (I have somehow lost the original file so need to hunt the GA machines) expanding on that I will explore heightmaps from Williams recommendation to help push up the carved elements whilst not relying on that ambient occlusion and grunge.

The floor still hasn't been updated...

This is the overall state of completed assets in my scene.

For the rug I used an image I found online:

Dicarpet.com. (2024). Mashhad Persian Rug. [online] Available at: https://dicarpet.com/mashhad-persian-rug-282x198-red-45290 [Accessed 25 Nov. 2024].

I then simply applied it to a plane, added some surface noise in Painter to create a more rug-like texture, along with some grunge over the top to help breakup the main pattern. Finally modifying the shape slightly in Maya to make it seem more "lifelike" even if a crumpled rug is one of my LEAST favourite things in real life it does really help bring the scene to life and is classically "Videogamey" where nothing can be just a basic flat rectangle.

‌The stairs are all using the same original wood trim sheet, with an instanced lighter version for the main steps. The repetitiveness could be broken up by a RVT over the entire texture but for the main focus points of my scene you won't be seeing a lot of the stairs instead taking a decal approach will help breakup the repetitiveness in key areas that I know will be getting focus.

Which can also be applied to other elements like some of the archway and main coving which are textured utilising another "Painted plaster and wood" trim sheet.

Whilst we are rapidly approaching the deadline I do feel my speed can now increase as will be more enjoyable small set dressing elements that can rapidly be added and truly start bring everything together. So will be lots of prop making and adding of books/ papers etc (A tried and tested best friend to the environment artist)

NEXT STEPS:

Hero assets, these urgently need to be completed now, whilst I have done a couple basic texture passes the main book still needs to be finished and hopefully animated (as a stretch goal) so any advice with that would be hugely appreciated. But as another key aspect of the rubric it's about time I gave them more attention.