Planning And Modular Workflow

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In my search to find more information on modular environment creation I've found many different resources that go about creating environments in many different ways. The planning, creation and usage of the modular assets can vary depending on the needs of the game in which it will be used, the limitations on which the environment is created around and also the workflow that is used by the team of artists.

Polycount Wiki - LINK

Even though the tutorial is based around using Unity3D, the theory and planning surrounding modular asset and environment creation is used in other game engines and workflows. I found this tutorial interesting as it showcases how not only models can be used in a modular fashion but also textures by means of a texture atlas which requires additional planning while modelling the assets.

Whats a texture atlas?

Full Blast - LINK

A texture atlas is the name given to a diffuse map that is used across multiple models and has a number of different textures on it. This is used in some environments and used on weaker platforms as it saves on memory usage as the engine will only be drawing a single texture for a multiple assets/large environment.

This style of texturing can be used not only to texture large environments like cities or landscapes very quickly but also to texture separate assets in a smaller scene thus reusing a texture and saving on memory usage and project time.

Planning & Analyzing Research

When starting off with planning and researching the environment and style of the scene, its good to collect various reference material to help break down what textures you will need and how best to break up your modular assets to create easily usable pieces.

This tutorial goes over a techenique where you break down how many textures you need and how oftern they are used. He also goes over vertex colouring were its possible to use alpha channels with details such as cracks or graffiti that can be placed on-top of the original texture, thus giving more detail and variation to the scene. Breaking down the forms of a scene will help me understand how many different models and textures you will need to create.

Modular assets aren't just limited to the assets that snap and pivot together like the skyrim examples in my previous post here. Modular assets in a game environment are anything that can be used multiple times but can be slightly changed and altered each time, an example of this is grass, trees and rocks which are all the same models and texture but can vary in size, rotation, vertex painting for details etc.

Methods

In the tutorial he goes over three possible workflows when creating a scene.

Textures > Models

•  The idea is to collect your textures in a texture atlas prior to creating the scene, this includes the spec/nor/gloss textures.
• The benefit of this method is that you can apply your textures as you model the assets and have visual feedback as you create the scene.

Models > Textures

• Blocking out your scene and planning out the modular assets as efficiently as possible prior to texturing
• This process is slower to get to a point where you can visually see how the scene is coming together and can result in lose of interest in the project.

Both

•  This method combines both previous methods together, this means you create a texture atlas then block out your scene. You can use these textures as a test prior to recreating the models and then recreating the textures
• This workflow is slower and requires a redo of your initial test textures and models but can result in efficient and well planned out scenes.

Summary

The tutorial has given me a good idea on how I'll begin to plan out my environment once I've decided on an art style and theme for the scene(s).

This has mainly been research into how best to go about understanding a piece of concept art and breaking it down into textures and assets prior to jumping into the software and making it and the importance of thinking modular about the environment where possible.

References

tucho. (2012). Top down ship shooter . Available: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110194. Last accessed 31st Oct 2014

Metalix. (2012). Efficient planning and modular workflow for game enviroments. Available: http://cgcookie.com/unity/2013/01/07/efficient-planning-and-modular-workflow/. Last accessed 31st Oct 2014.

Time Line Till Proposal

In anticipation of the proposal hand in, I've decided to layout my plans on what I'll be doing in the weeks leading up to Friday 7th.

A total of 37hrs has been put aside for the remaining time which should be enough to collect the remaining research material and complete a mock proposal prior to the hand in date. I have given myself a lot of time with the feedback / proposal changes as there may be topics or critical reference material I have missed or need to look at closer. Hopefully I'll get some feedback on the Friday 1st for the first mock hand in and will be able to work on my second mock proposal if required to or go straight to the hand in version.

There's a few key blogs & research tasks I need to spend a good amount of time on, probably alot more than I've tasked on this time table as I'm stating the minimum I must do.

• Fri 24th - Decision on whether I'll be doing a interior or exterior modular asset kit
• Sun 26th - Decision on architecture and theme for the scene(s)
• Tues 28th - Criteria - Must get approval from Dave

Friendly Art - Vertex 2

 

Free Magazine - Here

In this article, Philip Klevestav explains why its essential not only for the artist's to plan out their asset creation but to also collaborate with the level designers to understand the importance of simplifying the modular design kits and keeping the assets friendly further into development. Philip Klevestav is currently employed as an Environment Artist at Blizzard Entertainment.

Standardize

Keeping a consistent measurements throughout the game is essential when designing modular assets and should be the first thing that is decided prior to creating the design kit. Collaboration with the whole team to decide on a standard unit scale and the testing of the design kit will help avoid adjustments to the game system later on in development.

Testing Design Kit

Testing out an asset kit before moving onto creating the final assets is essential. You want to test out as many assets as possible, usually the most common ones and use them in ways that may not be obvious at first. This ensures once they get to the level designers as finished assets, they will work as intended, the level designer already has knowledge of the asset kit and the level building should be both fast and efficient.

Design kits are basically prototype building blocks for your modular kit, not only do they serve you as the base test meshes for the final assets but they can also help you block out your levels / scene's fast or rapid prototyping.




Friendly Design

When creating both the design kit and the finial assets, you will end up with many different assets that can have different center points and possibilities of axis rotation. It's good practice to standardize a pivot point rule or system among the team and stick to it as much as possible, this will make using the assets in the level building stage much easier which will save time which in turn saves money/work.

Each asset can vary in terms of its pivot point, this is mostly determined by what the asset in question will be used for and if there are other assets that need to link up to that pivot point. Most modular pieces will be have there pivot point on a set unit position to snap to grid but some off grid assets may have it central to mesh.

Summary

This article was fairly interesting and informative and gave me a good idea of how I can improve on making my assets much easier to use, not only for myself but for anyone that may use them in the future.

He focused quite heavily on the idea that with proper planning, communication of the team and testing of the kit itself is not only recommended but totally essential in the design phase of the kit.

Further in the article he describes his experience with how player collision can affect your design choices with assets and when texturing assets that it needs to be readable and not over used or complicated to the players. I'll probably go back on this last section once I've done some more research and got some prototype assets created for testing.

Reference

• Philip Klevestav. (2014). Friendly Art. Vertex. 2 (1), p24-31.