Professional Brief Practice (Ubisoft Project): Week 3

Planar Reflections

This week started with reflection issues. I found out the weird 'leaking' was caused by Screen Space Reflections. This was because SSR can't reflect objects that are off-screen. Even though it's not as efficient I decided to use Planar Reflections as a one-off for the door to help fix this problem.

Substance Designer

I made the chrome material quite polished and shiny, so I can dent and destroy it in places if I wanted. I also added a slight warp which added some nice results on the door, as this made it looked as if it was bent into place when the door was made.

I used this chrome material and created the trim sheet which I had planned out. I took a square and manipulated it into place to blend the materials together in strips.

I tried to bevel the edges in Designer but I wasn't sure if they were at a 45 degree angle to fit together, so I used 3dsMax to extrude and then chamfer the edges to be sure.

I then baked this down onto a plane in Substance Painter and exported the normal map.

I blended the Normal maps together to create the bevelled trim sheet.

I was pleasantly surprised on how well it had worked. I'll definitely use this technique a lot more in future as it is relatively quick now I know what to do.

I  used references from my wall at home to create the painted walls. I wanted it to be quite a subtle texture and mainly show up where the light hits it. I can also add decals if needed to break up any tiling. 

Baking

The test bake went well with some minor issues around the centre which went away when I unwrapped it properly to bake.

Vertex Painted High-poly

Baked Substance Painter

It still has some minor errors which the cage didn't fix so I might try and re-bake the jukebox in marmoset if I have time.

I tested the colours from the jukebox in the scene to see if they would work, the scene definitely needs more colours than just a lot of red! I think this may come through when I add in bits of food right at the end. If not I may need to tweak the lighting. I quite like both versions of the jukebox but after asking quite a few people we all agreed the purple/blue one definitely fitted the scene better.

I chose some songs from the 50's which I felt appropriate, even though you can barely see these in engine, it was fun to make.

I did add in some extra geometry at the top of the jukebox as it was quite obvious after seeing it textured. I'm pretty happy with how this asset is starting to come together.

I also added in some tables at the other end of the diner. It did mess up my key shot but it definitely makes the scene feel a lot more full.

The assets aren't fully textured yet and the glass is just a place holder at the moment. I want to work out what food and drinks I want to have in the diner before finishing these assets fully.

Decals

For the logo of the diner I wanted to mix in the Futurama and Pizza Planet logo with a 50's style American Diner sign. I think it didn't turn out that bad, looking back I think tilting the rocket up would of helped make it look a lot less stiff.

I placed a decal of the sign opposite the clock and made a mesh plane to create a sticker on the door. I'll definitely go back and make these more worn and tatty at a later date.

Originally I wanted to make the light box menu out of decals so they were more easily changed. I didn't realise decals don't work on emissives so I decided to stencil them on in Painter instead.

I made quite a lot of decals in Substance Painter, here are just 3 of them that I used most throughout the scene.

I made a decal master material and exposed the colour, roughness and opacity so I could create instances of each decal to change them as I wanted.

I did end up putting a tear in the sticker sign from the door as it gives a nice detail to the outside.

This is the environment so far:

Unfortunately I didn't give myself enough time to make everything I wanted to, especially a lot of the alien assets, such as the peculiar food which I plan to do. I also would love to add in posters and typical diner decorations to dress the scene. I am very happy with what I have learnt through this project though as it will definitely help for my FMP.