Project Proposal
Intro
For my specialist
project I will work towards creating a 3D Environment diorama in a WW2 theme.
The environment I will be researching, designing and developing is the interior
of a German war room fitted with some luxury office furniture set in the
mid-1940’s when German was at its peak during the war. I have chosen this
particular theme and setting because of my own personal interest in history,
this project will stray away from military side off WW2 and focus more on the
German high-command. However, due to the horrific crimes, I will be replacing
any Nazi references such as; swastika and eagle with the iron cross and having
no reference to the Nazi party to avoid harming anyone.
I have
chosen to create an environment because of my curiosity in becoming a 3D
environment artist, this projects gives me an opportunity to create something
unique, taking influence from various concept artists and architectures who
interest me, challenging my 3D skills as an artist with the hope to improve my
overall workflow. Creating this environment diorama will give an insight into
what the setting and atmosphere would look like on a larger scale.
Throughout
this project I will create a weekly blog where I will show the development of
my environment, I will a create a Gantt chart which I will use to show the time
frame and milestones of all the different tasks to ensure I meet deadlines. This
project should take 12 week to complete and will provide me with an insight
into the industry I hope to go into, being able to plan, design and develop a
project whilst working to a tight deadlines.
To see if I have been successful with my environment, I will
present it to various people who are interested in games, I will
conduct my own questionnaires to find out if people understand my environment
just by looking at it, as well as any input they which to add, I will then use
these results to finalise any last minute changes. This primary research will be
vital when it comes to polishing of any 3D models, it will ensure that my
completed 3D assets and textures are appropriate to the theme and with a high
degree of quality.
Statement
of intent
My main aim
of this project is to have a fully textured 3D assets placed in a diorama using
software such as Maya 2015 and Photoshop. In order to get the best
results I will have to maintain a high quality of work whist working to
deadlines and poly limitations. Firstly, I plan to brainstorm ideas and create
mind-maps taking inspiration from various concept artists and video games
combining art styles to create something unique. Using these reference images, I
will begin to create various layout concepts and then use these to finalise a
basic 3D block-out of my diorama. This block-out will be a low-poly model of
the environment’s layout, and it will have the basic shape of the interior
walls and architecture. I will then go on then use this block-out as a
reference of placement of props within the environment.
I will create
more mind maps for the types of props that will be within my environment, I
will have a variety luxury office furniture which can be easily duplicated
around my environment such as; tables, chairs, sofas, lamps, rugs, books, and
picture frames. I will also plan to create more unique props such as a
war-planning table, battle-maps, battle pieces, banners and a large fireplace.
Once I have a mind-map of all props I will then create a mood-board and take
influence from different styles of props, I will then begin to the model the
basic furniture individually in Maya,
once modelled and UV’d I will then import them into my block-out and place them
within my environment. I will then move on to adding more detail to the
architecture in my environment, adding an inner-extrude into the wall to add detail
to where light will be, I will also begin to create wooden panels across the
ceiling.
Justification
I have chosen to do this particular environment because of my
own personal interest of the whole WW2 theme, this project allows me to create
an environment based of actually events in history. Producing this environment
will give me an insight into how the Germans used a unique style of
architecture to show supremacy during the third Reich. This will expand my
knowledge and fill my own curiosity of what life was like for the leaders of
such a corrupt regime. This project will also allow me to cover an area of 3D
which I haven’t experimented with as much, such as modelling, UV’ing, texturing
and rendering the interior of a building whilst showing the developing stages,
improving my overall 3D skills.
Discussion
I will also
be conducting secondary research into Germany during WW2 and exploring how the
leaders of the Third Reich used architecture to show supremacy during the war.
I will be researching Albert Speer, a leading German architect who designed
some of the most remarkable buildings of his time and taking influence from his
architectural style. These buildings were created to demonstrate wealth and
power of Germany, using a new ‘Nazi architectural’ style, a combination of
art-deco and neo-classicism. I feel this idea is unique because it strays away
the military side of war and gives me an opportunity to show another way of
life during WW2. I will be putting together a bibliography of all research reference
used throughout this project.
Literature
Review
I will also
be taking influence from multiple video games, movies and TV programmes before
I start any 3D modelling. Games such as Wolfenstein,
and Bio-Shock will be great video game
references. Wolfenstein in particular
will be a great reference due to the storyline of Germany winning WW2, it will
be great to see another artist’s interpretation of Nazi architecture looking at
how they have used composition of props. Also, I will use Wolfenstein and Bio-Shock
as texture references, both have a similar art style but by combining them I
will hope to create something original. I will also be using the movie ‘Inglorious bastards’ again taking
inspiration from their interpretation of a German headquarters taking
influences from various scenes from the movie. I will also look at the TV
series ‘Game of Thrones’ taking
influence from their style of a war-room, taking influence from their war-table
with battle-maps with strategy war pieces.
Methodology
I will use
research I have conducted to create several layout concepts and block-out a
basic map which I will then use as a guide whilst modelling detail. I will also
create concept sheets for unique objects/ props and some architecture within my
environment, ensuring I have a front, back and side perspectives, this will
help me be more efficient when it comes to modelling the environment in 3D.
However the majority of inspiration will be from other artist’s concepts,
looking at how they have gone about creating it and trying to incorporate it
into my own work.
I will be
doing most of this project in Maya 2015,
I will use this software to model and UV all models within my environment, and
I am giving myself a poly-limit of 30,000 for all 3D assets. Difficulties faced
in this project will be texturing and rendering my 3D assets, this is because
they are my weakest areas in 3D. This project provides me with an opportunity
to improve these skills which I will do by watching various digital tutorials,
providing me with new texturing and rendering techniques improving my general
skills and workflow.
Once I have
my 3D assets UV’d I will neatly lay them out use the snapshots, for my my
diffuse map I then use these to begin texturing in Photoshop, however before this stage I will need to bake AO and
normal maps using both Maya 2015 and xNormals to see which gives me the best
results. Once I have baked these maps I will start to gather my own resource
texture library, combining them with some hand-drawn textures in Photoshop which will hopefully create my
own unique style. I will be using a various reference images from my own personal
texture library which I have collected, however for more hard to find images I will
be using the internet references to find these textures which are hard to find I
will be using the internet for reference. After my environment is textured I
will then import my finished diorama into Unreal
Engine and Marmoset to see which
gives me the best rendering results.
Benefits
At the end
of this project I aim to have a fully modelling, UV’d, textured and rendered
diorama of a luxury German war-room with a good standard of detail so it can be
used as a piece of art in my portfolio, with a poly-count less than 30,000,
which people can easily recognise without any explanation. I hope to gain a
deeper insight into being a 3D artist, learning new 3D development techniques
and improving my overall workflow. After completing this diorama I will begin
to type up a post-mortem which will consistently show the development stages of
this project, showing what went well and wrong and any changes I have made
along the way or any I would make if I were to redo this project.
Project Timetable
Throughout
this project I will follow my Gantt chart to confirm I’m on target for all
tasks within this project as well updating a weekly blog showing my
development.
