Modular Environment production for games

Modular environments help save time in their creation and resources because it allows the game engine to instance objects to save processing power or memory.

Texture mapping using a 'Main Texture map' or 'Texture Atlas' is when there are multiple textures in the scene saved into the same texture file, usually in a large 1024, 2048 or 4096 texture.

To create a 'Texture Atlas' in Photoshop we need to first choose a square image size ideally big enough to meet the texture space needs and then using the 'Guides, Grid & Slices' preferences we typically set up the Grid line to be every 128, 256 or 512 pixels. The subdivisions option can be set to 2 or 4 depending on if we need extra grid lines. It is important to be sure the grid is set to use Pixels as the measurement.

Example of how a Texture Atlas holds different textures

Once we have created a 'Texture Atlas' we can create a plane object in 3ds Max with an equal amount of segments as the texture (length and height are 1 meter). Converting the plane into an editable poly then allows us to select the faces of the parts we need (such as a door or a window) then we can click on 'Detach' under the 'Edit Geometry' options in the Modify panel.

A quick example

This is just a quick example I have made in order for me to explain how practically this can be used in game design to speed up the process of level creation; creating cut out objects from a texture map allows us to quickly create a level and it is useful for creating modular pieces (like lego) as all of the objects will be of the same sizes.

Dumpster Development

I have been given the task of creating a 3d dumpster model for a 3rd person action adventure game set in the grimy streets of a modern metropolis. The technical specifications required me to work in Centimetres so I went into 3ds Max set the Unit Scale to Metric 'Centimeters'. The model had to be within 650 triangles and the texture was to be 1024x1024. 

To proceed with this task I first went outside to find a dumpster to use as my reference. I took some photographs using my smartphone and jotted down some approximate measurements. 

Reference Photographs 

Modelling the Dumpster 

My first step was to create a box with the correct measurements in as the width height and depth. 

Used the Bevel tool to hollow out the box. 

 I used the connect edges to divide the lid into sections to allow me to reshape the top side. 

I created the wheels by making a Cyclinder and a Box, I used the Bevel tool to shape the box into a wheel connector. I was able to delete the hidden polygons on the Cylinder that were covered up to save on the polygon count.  

After the wheel was created I was able to move the pivot to the top of the wheel and then position it at the same height as the base of the bin by copying the Z co-ordinates over. 

Cloned the wheels to make additional wheels. 

I created the handles on the sides out of a box and using the Bevel tool. 

 Then I used the Mirror tool. 

Once the handle was positioned correctly, I set the pivot to 0,0,0 and mirrored it to create the opposite handle.  

Texturing and Texture Creation 

UVW Unwrapping. 

I rendered the texture for use in Photoshop later to allow me to create the texture. 

Next I wanted to create an Ambient Occlusion map to add shadows to the texture. I searched for how to bake ambient occlusion on Google to remind myself how it was done. 

I set the Renderer to use Mental Ray and under the Output I set it to create Ambient Occlusions with 1024x1024 dimensions. 

I had to combine the two textures into one using Photoshop, then saved them in the Texture file keeping them on a separate layer and setting it to Multiply. 

 I copied parts of the reference photos into Photoshop and edited them to fit the textures. 

Copying the texture into another document, I was able to create a specular map by desaturating the image and then changing the lightness of different parts. 

I created a bump map bitmap image by copying the texture and desaturating it, adjusting the brightness for where the bumps need to occur. 

Go Bananas Dumpster (click to view in 3D)

Evaluation 

I think the strengths of my Dumpster model are: that the model looks realistic in shape and it's texturing. The dimensions are approximate to the real thing and it is within the polygon limits set by the brief. 

The weaknesses for the model: the textures on the wheels aren't perfectly round, I could have made them more realistic by taking more reference photographs of the wheels. The bump map could have been better if I spent a bit more time on it. 

Creating flora with Opacity mapping and a level of detail version

This week I have been working on a model of a banana plant. It is also the first time that I have used Opacity Mapping. 

Here is the texture I used for the model

I copied the texture into a new Photoshop document and coloured all the solid areas in white (RGB 255,255,255) and the transparent areas in black (RGB 0,0,0). 

In the 3ds Max texture editor I added an Opacity map and selected my alpha map image. 

Here is how the Opacity map and texture appears on the leaves

This is how the full model looks

To make the low poly Level of Detail version I rendered the model with the Front and Left viewports (saving each one as a PNG file). I then loaded the images into Photoshop and created 2D textures by resizing them to fit 512x512 pixels. 

To create the Alpha maps textures, all I needed to do was Duplicate the layer from each texture into a new document, added a black background layer (RGB 0,0,0) and then selected the pixels for the tree using the control key and mouse clicking on the layer icon and filled them in white (RGB 255,255,255) by pressing ctrl + delete. 

The low poly tree consists of 2 planes, rotated 90 degrees and a third plane for the bananas

Banana Musa (click to view in 3D) 

Banana Musa LOD (click to view in 3D) 

Delorean Task

I was given the task of texturing this DeLorean model. 

I used the unwrap UVW modifier to begin texturing, it was a very long process. Here is the final texture map: 

Textured DeLorean

I decided to create a specular map for the model so that different parts of the model would appear more metallic. I achieved this by copying the texture into Photoshop, desaturating it and then by changing the brightness to however specular it needed to be (the white areas are most reflective).

Whilst looking at photograph references, I added some extra parts to the vehicle (whilst keeping it to less than 1500 triangles). 

Some of the things I used and learned whilst working on this project were: 

Extrude, Bevel, Bridge, Boolean Compound Objects, The Reset XForm utility, Flipping Faces, Collapse All Modifier, Quick Planar Map and Quick Peel. 

DeLorean DMC-12 Time Machine (click to view in 3D)

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Unwrapping a Cylinder

The differences between unwrapping box shapes and more advanced shapes such as cylinders is that cylinders have many more faces to texture. 

To unwrap a cylinder we first select the top and bottom of the cylinder and using the Quick Planar tool, position the faces in the UVW map window. 

Next we want to unwrap the sides of the cylinder by selecting the faces around the cylinder and then using the Cylindrical Map option under the Projection tab. Taking the Scale tool within the UVW window, we can scale the textures to the correct proportions. 

Once we have all the UVWs scaled correctly, we can use the Pack tool to arrange the UVWs into the texture space. 

Now we can use the Render UVW Template option in the Tools menu to create a texture base for editing in Photoshop later. 

The Amazing Barrel (click to view in 3D)

3ds Max Basics

In the first lesson with Mike, we were introduced us to 3ds Max. 

The interface is divided into separate viewports, by default there is the Top, Front, Left and Perspective views. These views allow you to view the model you are working on and is where you work on the models. 

The right hand side of the screen are where you can add primitive shapes such as boxes, spheres, cylinders, etc. These are within the first tab. The second tab is the modify menu which gives access to changing the primitive shape options such as the dimensions. It also is where you access the Modifier list where you can modifiers such as the UVW unwrap.

The top bar above the viewports allows you to select or see which mode the mouse is set to. Such as select, move, rotate, scale. There are also options to snap to grid, rotate with angle snap, layers and render to name a few. 

At the bottom of the screen there is the key frames which are used when animating.