Week 3 Assignment: Terrain Tool and Geometry

This week we were asked to construct a level using the terrain tool and geometry. For this assignment, I wanted to make a structure that felt "natural" and sort of a part of the terrain. Originally, I had wanted to do a sort of haunted mansion to fit in with Halloween, but settled on a lighthouse instead. I also used blueprint for the first time, creating the jump pads through a tutorial, as well as creating a trigger for the main light in my level. The light is remains off until a player gets close enough to it, then turns on and stays on.

The point light is in place by is currently not visible

Adding the trigger volume

The light is activated by the player

Blueprints:

Besides adding the light trigger, I also attempted to create an animation to open the door, but this did not cooperate, and I scrapped it for time reasons.

Here is a short video of my level

3D Week 2 Assignment: Minecraftish Level

This week's assignment involved creating a box in Maya, designing textures for the boxes, and then creating a level with the textured boxes.

First I began by creating the box in Maya:

The box then had to have each side separated from its other sides to create a UV layout that would allow each side to look different:

I then went into Photoshop to develop different textures to use in my level:

Beginning texture design in Photoshop

The four textures I designed for my level. The water cube has a transparency while in Unreal

After I finished creating my textures and uploaded them into Unreal, I began to design my level. I knew that I wanted to do something with lots of water and grass, and originally, I had planned on a large cave. Eventually, I scrapped this idea, as the layout became increasingly complex and not easy for a player to navigate. I decided to focus less on a cave, and more on developing a river structure, and maybe return to the cave idea. 

An image that I looked to for inspiration 

In my new design, I tried to focus more on the player's ability to move around the environment. It is much more open, the blocks can be climbed, and the caves that I did add can be walked into. To create the mountainous-looking terrain and caves, I used an original shape and then created a group that acted as a stamp. I also had to consider lighting. The caves and the angle of the sun created shadows that I found too harsh, so I added some point lights of varying color to make it appear more like a sunset. Below are some images of the completed level:

I wanted to add trees to the level to give it more of a jungle feel, but unfortunately did not get to that point after I decided to change my design.

3D Week One Assignment: Box Level

Our first assignment is to create a beveled box in Maya. We then had to import the box into Unreal Engine, texture it, and create something with the cubes.

Beveled Cube in Maya



For my level, I decided to create a Roman Amphitheater out of the cubes

This is the final result:

First Blog Post!