Statement of Purpose:
The purpose of the City Project is to hone in one asset modeling from references. As the weeks progress so will the detail and expansion of the environments. I aim to achieve a stylized asset library that and easily be changed to photorealistic through shaders and slight tweaks to geometry is necessary.
Schedule:
Below are the references I will be using the most for look development and modeling purposes. You will notice that one is a drawing and that was chosen to help with the stylized aspect while still holding true to proportions.
Modeling Progress
I started this project a few weeks ago and had time to get a few base models done. During that time I only really focused on the buildings and their detail until I got tired of the same one and moved on for the time being. The drawn reference, which I call "ref. 1", was the only image I was working from at that time. After realizing it didn't have enough detail for me, I chose the photographs to aid in replacing that lack of detail.
This is the start of "Building 1". I really took a liking to the look of the two brown buildings on the left of ref. 1, so I started with those. This model has about 13 separate parts that make up the façade. The sides clearly do not have the same amount of detail. This is done purposely since the sides will be hidden against other buildings.
To work on a slight style, I've adjusted the vertices so there are no perfectly straight lines. It is hard to tell without close-ups, but the perfect lines are much more noticeable if I hadn't adjusted them. These are only the base models so the overall look can still change depending on the development.
For Building 2, I used the same base and swapped out the windows. While working on Building 1 I left cutouts for the windows so I can easily snap in a new window for any other building. All it took was changing width and height to get the general shape. The windows were model off of the edges of the holes I left. The railing connected around the parameter of the building also got a change. As for the single window railing, it is the same as Building 1 but with minor changes to the bottom portion. I will try to add a comparison of copied assets after a few more buildings are done.
Week 4
This weekend had little progress to show since I was out of the state for most of it. I did, however, start to block out the beginnings of a street-side. I duplicated Building 1 and adjusted the roof to get an idea for the next building's roof. Building 3, the next one, is a little more complicated but I should be able to use the same base. The base of Building 4 also started this week.
Since I knew I was going to be gone this weekend I decided to model some assets that will be used multiple times throughout the scene. It proved to make the best use of what little time I had to work.
Small Objects
The lamp post is a staple element that is a necessity for any street scene. I did my best to keep the Geo simple and light to avoid unnecessarily heavy objects. The lamps are tucked away between buildings so there is little reason for them to be extremely detailed.
The other object is a trash can. There will be many of these throughout more in view than the lamp posts. A little more detailed but nothing intense. I am still going for a lightly stylized scene so I plan to utilize these in the shading and rendering to push the style. I haven't used Substance Painter yet, so this might be the project to try it out on.
I began the model of another building. This one is a lot more straightforward and relies more on texturing than modeling.
Building 4
It started off as a box primitive and after a few edge connections and extrudes, the lower building came together. To model the door and windows I repeated the same process after analyzing the reference for a while. Since I like to use Ref. 1 for modeling, it can be a little hard to get an exact understanding of the details. After looking at other references of sliding doors I realized it didn't matter. The detail was just too small to add that many polys.
There aren't too many small details so I worked in anything that I could see and dramatized it. I've created a small inset seam on the body of the building as I modeled upwards and sized it up to make it more noticeable.
The next steps are to bevel all the sharp edges and make little imperfections. Building 4 is pretty basic, but it has a lot of objects dressing the outside.
Week 5
I worked on being extra meticulous and organized this week. After I opened my file I realized that it starting to get messy (mostly just naming and grouping). I spent a while renaming objects and grouping them into their correct spaces. This didn't take very long since I tend to do this as I finish models. Over the past week, I was speed modeling so I wasn't paying close enough attention.
Other than organizing the outliner, I spent hours making sure that there was no overlapping geometry and deleting unnecessary polys. This process took a lot longer because I had to work through all of the models previously created. There isn't a visual difference other than in the wireframe. Even then, it is still minimal.
Here is a layout of all the models so far. The building on the far left is the newest and had a few props with it. The base of the building was finished last week so keeping with the organization I used this time to work on beveling and neat geometry. The building has a lot of right angles meaning there could've been a ton of added polys. I decided to only bevel the prominent edges.
The only problems I ran into are breaks in the edge loops when I tried to select them. This was fixed by finding the problem vertices and determining the problem. Most of the time it was overlapping vertices from extruding, so it was simple to correct.
The electrical box was the first prop I did for the new building. I started with a box and deleted the back of the box that connects to the building. A quick bevel to all the remaining edges and a copy of the whole object game me the top of the box. The front frame was just a few extrudes. I kept all the extra edges on the flat surfaces so I'll be able to copy and resize these boxes easily. Doing these small things cut down my modeling time by hours later on since I'm able to reuse most of my models.
The bottom pipe was most complicated because I really wanted it to be a smooth bend. The pipes are always the most annoying pieces. I've learned to draw a curve and extrude a circle along it. It's not my favorite thing to do when the curve doesn't want to cooperate.
The last prop for the week is the vending machine. I had to look at a few references because I did like the look of the one in the main reference. The modeling was simple to break down so it went relatively fast. After so much modeling in a day, it becomes second nature to break down anything I see quickly. The basic shapes in silhouette and details quickly came out but the irregular shape for the coin slots is giving me more trouble. I am debating making it a second object.
Week 6
Toon Shaders
I needed a break from modeling this week since all I've been doing for multiple projects. Deciding to work on shaders, I played around with toon shading. The last time I used the shader it was accompanied by OSL shading to create a drawn effect. Cell shading was a fun challenge but didn't give the result I wanted. The slight gradient shadow colors and the soft shadows on the front worked a little better. Not sure if I will keep the shading for the final version, but I could just have multiple variations of the look.
To get this color I used two ramps. The shadow ramp has 4 colors ranging from purple to tan. Using a Vramp for the gradient allows the shadow to have stricter variations depending on the light. This was only done on the main part of the building so the wood on the bottom needs the same treatment. The toon shader was also giving me some trouble getting the wood color to bounce up. I fixed this without sacrificing render time by making another ramp for the main color and added a similar color to the wood.
Small Props and Building Adjustments
Before I took a break from modeling, I was able to get out some small props.
A bucket, bottle, and a traffic cone. These are super minimal models because of the distance from the camera. Even getting a few detailed shots of the scene you see little so no faceting. I accidentally assigned an AiStandard shader to the cone which is why it is the only white object.
I never got around to working on the front of the vending machine, but I did rearrange the buildings to give it more of a street look.
The street finally has a sidewalk and I think it is really starting to place the scene. A new building is in the works but the detail is hidden from view. I am researching some references with similar buildings. Not sure what the building actually is so I am hoping I can find some answers. I think understanding the function of a building makes it easier to build.
The next plan is to start modeling big projects again since I am still waiting on the plates for Eden's Void. That was supposed to start this week but I haven't received anything to work with yet.
Week 7
I started working on a generic car that can be slightly changed and used multiple times in the scene. This is my base structure and it was made using simple box modeling.
Everything on this can be modified to a completely different car model with little to no intersecting vertices. To achieve that I had to simplify all of the main joint areas. Beveling the edges causes most of these build-ups and can either be solved by detangling the polys or completely removing them. I chose to completely remove the polys and create my own. It took a lot of merging to center vertices and figuring out where to create a bridge. The bridge tool is my favorite to use when making new polys because it only works with anything with 4 sides or more. This for some reason is great for finding any unmerged points or double edges. It keeps my work neat.
The measurements aren't even close to perfect since I did this from the top of my head after seeing all the cars in the reference. I should get a better understanding once I get some wheels put in.
Week 8
More details on the car. I added rear lights, license plate divet, and small adjustments to the overall profile. Then I remembered that I still needed tires to proportion the whole thing out. Tires are the one thing I spend way too much time on, specifically the treads.
I try to keep them simple but I can never find an efficient way to extrude the little detail. I had to go around the entire tire and select all the polys. It took forever and this is just a placeholder in case I want to change to a more realistic tread.
This is what the whole tire looks like compared to the car and it's pretty clear on what needs to change. The biggest issue is that the back is looking like the front. I am going to have to find some similar cars to the ones in the reference to get a better understanding of the overall look. On top of that, I will get the mirror modeled and placed which should take long at all.
(I finally got word from Eden's Void and hopefully will be submitting that work by next week's post.)
Week 9
This is probably my favorite update since my renders are starting to look like a complicated scene. The photo on the right was saved around the beginning of my work this week. There was some minor tweaking and a few added props. I also saved the render out raw by mistake so it looks different compared to the later images. I finally got back into modeling the little details and I think it is really pulling the scene into what I want. Focusing on the electrical elements and the water drainage I started with the AC unit on the left of the center building.
The AC unit was pretty simple. I took a box, beveled the edges, deleted the hidden face, and scaled it to size. The frame piece is a copy of the box with the faces deleted. I then bridged the edges to give a more solid look. The inside corners were triangles so I couldn't use 'bridge'. Last week I ran into the same problem so I used 'cut' to create the fourth edge. I then realized how stupid I was being and completely forgot that 'fill hole' exists. Of course, I then used that and it was a lot faster. The pipe that is coming out of the bottom is copied from the window shield on the bottom. Cylinders will forever be the bane of my existence. I hate everything about changing their direction. The water drainage pipes look fine now but the time it took for them to not look pinched on the turn was too long. I need to find a better way to model pipes. I shouldn't have to use a extrude along a curve just to do a single turn. I didn't, but I was really considering it. The little rings that connect the pipe to the building were really easy so it was a nice destresser after dealing with the pipe.
The other portion that I worked on was yet again, the positioning of the buildings. In the reference, there are trees poking out of the ally so I am assuming that there is a courtyard. I took the wall design from the reference but the courtyard shape from other images. Haven't decided if I want to add a gate yet so the left side of it is unfinished. For the little building on the right, I pushed the front face back further and added a plane. I was going to do all the cutouts in the building wall but then it causes too many problems that I don't feel like having to fix. With the plane, I was able to easily make the grid without worrying about the building's geo and double faces.
These are the result of this week. The elements made were able to be copied and changed a little then placed throughout the scene. I changed the lighting a little bit to make it a little more interesting than midday sunlight.
I finally got the footage for Eden's Void so next week's update is going to be the compositing shots.
Week 10
Eden's Void:
I was finally able to work on/ finish the VFX for Eden's Void. This was a senior thesis I got to work on over the quarter. Even though I just got the footage to work on, I was still involved at the earliest stages. There were practical effects that I came up with and had to run rehearsals for and be on set for them to work. The shots that I was given later involved screen replacement and despilling.
To start, I had to take the footage they gave me and convert my shots into exr files. Since the length of each one was pretty long and I wasn't using my PC the process took about an hour. Once these were done I chose to do the screen replacement first. The last time I had opened up Nuke to do any green screen work was last fall, so I had to do a little relearning. The shot list was three screens and two despills. It was pretty straightforward, but I was given the whole rough cut and had to cut out the shots I saw. With no list to follow, I ended up missing a screen replacement in my initial workday. This would have been fine if the director actually looked at what I sent the day I sent it. I was given the "These look great, thanks!" then days later got a message that they need another shot done. On top of that, I was working on other finals and the director needed for class the next day. My PC has had a ton of licensing errors with Nuke so I've been going to Montey to work. The last shot in this post is going to be on me learning Premiere Pro and using it to roto a shot.
Screen Replacement 1:
The shot wasn't complicated at all. No pans or zooms, just the screen. I decided to use this as the first shot to work on for that reason. I was able to relearn Nuke better this way. Keylight was my best friend during this process. It ended up giving me the best key out of all the methods I tried. After getting a solid pull from the larger portion, I adjusted the black clipping so the keyboard and table looked accurate. My last step was to take out the X's. We used tracking markers because the director and DP kept changing the shots and it would've been easier to have them just in case. All I did was roto paint them out and the shot was almost complete.
With the screen placed I noticed that it looked too black for a computer screen. I added a color correction node and used gain to wash out the screen. Then to match the camera quality there is a grain node. Those two nodes helped set the replacement into the scene.
Screen Replacement 2:
This one was a little more complicated since the actor's hand crosses over the X's multiple times. The markers were more important in this because he does move the computer screen. To get the markers out I had to roto paint them out and then paint the hand back in over it as they crossed. The shot was about 430 frames and the movements were so fast and erratic that it was a better option to go frame by frame and paint than to animate a roto spline. It was extremely tedious but was worth it in the end.
The same network was recycled from the first shot and adjusted to fit. This shot also had a major reflection so it was important to pull back that black clipping from the first key or it would've been erased.
Despills:
These are simple enough to put into a single section. The reason I mentioned that Keylight was my best friend is that it also took care of these. All I had to do was plug it into the footage and type "1" into the RGB green spot. It perfectly took out the spill. Really they should've just turned off the monitor but for whatever reason, they didn't and I wasn't in the room to see it.
Screen Replacement 3:
Finally, we get to the last-minute Premiere Pro shot. Since I don't have access to Nuke at home I had to come up with another solution. I remembered my roommate mention that Premiere and pull a decent key so I thought I should start there. She was right. The key was really nice but I still had the problem with the markers. I am not familiar with Premiere past converting and editing the footage together. So it went to Google to find anything on roto painting in Premiere. Not to my surprise, I found nothing. The function of animating a mask became known to me though. I first tried to use an opacity mask to reveal the layer underneath. It worked great until I went to make the second one. The two masks were fighting each other for whatever reason. Scraping that idea, I sifted through the effects and their properties for a while until I found Alpha Adjust. Seeing the word Alpha brought so much hope for the function, and I was right. It worked perfectly and I was able to add and animate multiple masks without any problems.
The next steps were using opacity, transform, and feather attributes to animate to masks. Unfortunately, the actor passes over every marker at least once so I needed to do them all.
Annoyingly enough, when I called the director to ask what she wanted on the screen she said just have it looked turned off. We put a green screen on there because she wanted to come up with screen features later. I loved getting practice in comps, but the indecisiveness that was the reason for the green screen was starting to get to me. I am sure she had different plans for the screens but it just never unfolded.
I am clearly a modeler, but working on rotoing again was really relaxing and fun to do again. This final post doesn't match anything else on the blog so I think I am going to continue the city project blog and post this week onto a new blog post.