Project Proposal

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.