Dawid Batog
A blog/portfolio documenting each unit of my work
UNIT 7 - An integrated approach to time-based problem solving in art&design
Firstly, I was introduced to the program and engine known as ''Unity" and learned its simple basics such as terraforming and adding basic details such as water or grass
I first had to set a project in order to make sure that everything regarding my scene is easily accessible for me and the program.
I also had to import several packages that are there to help me in the future with different aspects of making the scene. All of the packages that I've imported are shown on the right along with the directory that the new project was saved in.
WIth a blank scene open I needed to create a terrain that my scene would be placed on. I then began to terraform the terrain by using the different available brushes. I wanted to create an area with mountains so I sculpted those first, then I moved onto creating the surrounding area, using the same brush but with a smaller 'Opacity' I changed the area around the mountain to a more jagged surface.
I then textured the area by changing to the Texture tab and importing 4 different textures offered by one of the packages I loaded earlier. The texturing works in a very smiliar fashion to how texturing worked in 'Mudbox' so it was quite easy to adapt to this method. I textured the whole terrain using different textures for different segments of the terrain
I then added some palm trees to the beach-looking area and added grass to all of the areas with the grass texture, althugh it is not seen in the screenshot as unity renders everything real-time and the camera was not close enough to be seen. I then added some water using one of the existing settings from the water package I loaded earlier.
To test out this 'game' I placed a controllable character into my scene and began to navigate around the area. To create correct lighting I've placed a light from the GameObject menu and changed it's settings to have 'soft shadows'. At one point I changed the controllable character to be a first-person camera in order to take a screenshot of the mountain as the third-person camera had no y-axis controls.
These are some screenshots of the different areas in my unity project. The first and second pcture were taken with a 3rd person character controller in the scene whereas the last scene is using a 1st person character controller as I was aiming for a more cinematic shot.
Some of the areas which I thought would look good in-game did not actually turn out to be as good as expected, especially the second image as there was too much grass and it did not fit the setting it was put in.
I was quite happy about how the screenshots turned out since this was my very first time trying out Unity and its features
NYC Project sent and improved in Unity to create an interactable enviroment called "Freerunner"
I took these screnshots with the intention of presenting them alongside the video shown above.
I believe that these screenshots capture what my Unity enviroment was and the overall feeling that it gives off when interacting with it. Some of the images also attempt at creating a better scene by implementing the "Rule of thirds" into them.
Evaluation:
As most of the work was already done (in a previous unit named 'Unit4') all I had to do for this project was to add some minor interactivity using the "rigidbody" feature of Unity. I believe that the interactive game turned out well however some parts of it could have been improved, especially the realism of the scene as the only real debris that I've added were two types of cardboard box and 3 different variants of a coke can. It was much harder to make ladders work as they are intended but having ready-made scripts available online has made it easier to implement them however the ladder script itself has many issues including randomly pushing the character controller off the ladder or just outright not registering the controller, regardless I've even managed to create a zipline using the ladder scipt and rotating it sideways instead of the intended movement of upwards.
Research :
I was tasked with researching a certain period of history in order to base a unity enviroment on it. This would be created entirely from scratch similarly to the previous "Freefunner" project.
I've chosen to research "The Battle of Berlin" and I will base my playable enviroment on it. I've gathered several images that will help me get a greater understanding of the time period and aesthetic.
To begin, I've mapped out the different buildings that I was planning on including in my enviroment. I decided to plan out a large number of buildings and then remove them depending on the amount of time that I have left.
I also began to map out the road and the bends that are in it. I created the bended road by using 'Booleans' on a part of the road and intersecting it with an arc shape created with 'Bridge'.
For the straight road I've mostly extruded it downwards and somewhat inwards to create a more natural look.
Modelling and setting up the Unity enviroment:
I will be documenting my process notes throughout the creation process of the Unity enviroment:
I wanted to create my own tree that would be included in a mini-park section of my enviroment.
I've achieved the shape of a tree by modyfing the vertices of a cylinder by using the 'Move' and 'Rotate' tools. I've created several of these shapes as some would be used as branches for the tree when resized.
I made sure to texture the shapes before duplicating them any more in order to save time later on in the future
To create a more realistic enviroment I've attmepted to create some debris , more specifically rubble. I've started off by creating a flat square shape that is subdivided 5 times. I then used the move tool to manipulate the surface in a more unstable manner, this would make the rubble look more natural.
After manipulating the surface I've textured it with a texture of rubble, but I realised that the texture was too blue and so I changed the hue of it to be more grey.
I experimented with the 'round' option (pressing 2/3) but ultimately I've settled on the rough version as round objects do not export that way into unity
I started working on my first building. I wanted to make sure my buildings are as detailed as possible and so I've decided to also 'booleans' the interior of the building instead of just putting textures of the windows. This allows me to put more detail into the building.
Using 'booleans' I've created the windows and I've also created the damage on the building as this is set in a war zone.
To create a more realistic building I've decided to include support beams in between the concrete.
This would give the building another layer of realism. I've textured the beams with a simple rusty metal texture and I've somewhat modified their vertices using the 'Move Tool' as some of the beams would be more damaged than others and this would add another layer of realism to my enviroment.
To finish my building I needed to create a suitable roof. I've achieved this by 'Extruding' the roof out piece by piece.
To add more detail into the roof I've used booleans and some cylinders to create an imprint in the building.
After completing the roof I've decided to add more detail to the building itself and so I've once again used 'Boolean' to create a pattern on the building and I've also created small arc shapes that would go onto the middle windows to add more detail. The windows lacked a windowsill so I've once again used 'Extrude' to create a shape similar to that of the roof but less detailed.
I've realised that the windows were looking somewhat empty and so I've decided to create window frames (with handles) to fill the negative space around the windows.
I created a simple rectangular shape using a combination of 'Extrude' and 'Bridge' and then using the 'Insert edge loop' tool I've created some subdivision which I then 'Extruded' to create the handle.
I duplicated the frame and placed it into every window space in the building. I added some broken window textures to the two windows closest to the damage hole to add a more realistic effect.
I decided to recreate the road as the previous version's subdivisions were not correctly managed.
I then started to work on another set of debris using the exact same technique as before. Once again I had to change the hue of the texture, using photoshop to do so, in order to match the theme of concrete that is present in my enviroment. If the debris was a different colour then the illusion of realism would be gone from my enviroment as not all of the pieces would fit in with each other
I've decided to create a fountain to put in the middle of my mini-park. I created it by using the cylinder and hollow cylinder tool and extruding the shapes out to create a fountain.
I used 'booleans' to add some damage to the fountain in order to make the fountain seem more in place within the enviroment.
After exporting the fountain into unity I've used one of the particle packages in order to add a fountain particle in the middle of the model that I've created.
I also began to create another set of buildings using similar techniques to the ones used to create the other building
Using booleans I once again created damage in the two buildings that I've created. In order to make the holes more realstic I've manipulated the vertices of the holes by using the move tool.
I then once again inserted support beams into the holes to make them more realstic.
After that was done I've finally imported most of the scene into unity and I began working on more ambient effects.
I began working on several side additions to my scene such as a lamp post and a siren. Both were made by extruding a cylinder and combining it with another extruded shape. I used a 'Spotlight' in unity and animated it to spin around to create the siren effect and I used a direct light when placing the lights into the lamp posts.
I also decided to create a flag with the soviet symbol on it in order to symbolize the events that happened when berlin was attacked. I had trouble making the cloth material two sided but realised that all imported objects from maya can replace the plane that the cloth was based on and so in maya I created a shape that would be the cloth and replaced it in unity allowing my flag(s) to be two sided.
In a similar fashion to how I created the buildings I also wanted to create an area where a buildng once stood but was destroyed.
Using techniques discussed earlier I've manipulated the shape of the building to look more destroyed and I added support beams to give the site a more realistic look. I finished by making the ground of the ruins more unstable as that would indicate where the rubble went once imported into unity.
The debris I've had present in the scene so far was mostly lacking any kind of 3D realism and so I've decided to completely remake it.
After research online I've learned of a tool under the effects tab named "Shatter" which allows the user to break an object into several pieces. In order to use this tool I first had to create an object and slightly manipulate it's vertices by using the "move" tool combined with "soft select"
After manipulating the object I needed to delete its history by going into Edit > Delete by Type > History. This then allowed the "Shatter" function to work as intended. With the selected settings I applied the "Shatter" effect and got several broken objects that were once the manipulated sphere.
After applying a texture to the new pieces I've arranged them in a more random manner to simulate debris. I've done this 4-5 times, each time trying to make the debris different to the previous. After completing the debris I then placed them into my unity scene.
To make my enviroment resemble Berlin more I've decided to include the 'Brandenburg Gate' in the enviroment. I did not need to put in too much detail into this model as the player will never experience it from up close.
I began by simply "Extruding" the shape of the pillars from a cylinder. I then textured it with a texture of marble using a Cylindrical UV Setting. I did the same for the upper bit of the gate and for the statue of horses I textured a plane with an image of the statue. I changed the angle of the plane to give it the illusion of actually being fully 3d.
Overall my scene was complete but needed some population and so around the scene that I've created I've placed duplicates of an already created building to give off the ilusion that the scene is an actual city.
Screenshots + Walking Around
Evaluation:
In the end I belive that I created a believeable scene and I am happy with the final result. If given more time I would have put more detail into the surrounding areas to create a bigger enviroment all together and possibly expand the playable area more. I used all of my reference images in some way to influece my enviroment of Berlin however there are some major flaws within my enviroment.
Most of the rubble/debris present in my enviroment is tetured very poorly and could have been improved on. Another flaw is that the inside of the buildings is very bland and unrealstic, if I were to improve this I would add some basic furniture to make the scene more beliveable.
In my own time I've created a much more realistic tank model to replace the poorly made caricature I created when time was running short. Sadly the model was too polygon-heavy for unity to render it and my entire enviroment so I created some still images with a stripped-down version of my enviroment (I removed a lot of buildings that were not in view) along with a 3D model of the tank itself. To go to the page with the model of the tank click here :