Air Traffic Control Room - Second Floor

The second floor.

Making the second floor asset was easy, making the one with the opening; not so much.

I hated modeling the opening because It was the first asset I realized I could only use once. I also got the size of the hole wrong the first time and had to re-model it.

It's done though, and Imported into UDK.

Currently I'm working on a grate that will border the second floor.

Air Traffic Control Room - Stairs

Up next comes the stairs. I had to makes sure I got the number of steps correct in order to use the asset twice.

I also created a platform area to put at the top and bottom of the stairs.

Air Traffic Control Room - First Floor Walls

After creating the floors, I began working on the first floor wall assets.

I wanted to have a curved wall, but knew it would be difficult to make the high poly curved as well. I decided to make the High Poly that would match up to a flat mesh, and then transfered the UV coordinates to a curved mesh. It worked out pretty nicely.

I also used the same method for a wall with and opening

Air Traffic Control Room - First Floor

The first actual assets I worked on were the floor pieces for the first floor.

Since I never really sketched out what the prevalent aesthetic would be for this project, I kind of just winged it when working on the floors. Luckily it turned out really nicely, and I've been basing everything on the floor aesthetic (that being metal paneling, bolts, and indents).

I started with the outer floor and worked towards the center. There are 5 total floor assets in total, including the two floor covers for the middle floor.

I'm hoping to be able to put wires and other small things underneath the floors so you can see them when the covers are not covering them.

Air Traffic Control Room - Blockout

After sketching some concepts, I went and did a block-out in UDK, something I never did fully in the original project. When I was happy with the blockout, I brought it into Maya and blocked it out some more.

I then went back to UDK and converted all the BSP into blocking volumes. This allowed me to import in some of the more complex models from Maya without needing to create custom collision for the assets.

Air Traffic Control Room - Concept Sketches

I'm posting this now, but this was started back in June (June 6th to be exact. I've been time tracking everything).

The above concepts were very quick sketches of the general shape of the environment. The basic design hasn't changed much from the original. Here's some more

-Futuristic theme: has lots technologically advanced devices and equipment. Lots of metal.
-Circular Design: I wanted to stay away from the square modular and see what curved modular was like (I've found out it's slightly more difficult).
-Assets must be as modular as possible: make sure you can use something more than once!
-Three levels: bottom floor, second floor, and third floor.
-First floor: has large center console with several screens to monitor aircraft.
-Second floor: has windows to see the aircraft, transparent HUD computers near windows.
-Third floor: access to roof.
-Outside: Going to cross that bridge when we get there...
-Fill rest of area with small futuristic things things.

Far from an Art Guide I know, but I think I'll do that for the next environment.

Improving The Portfolio: New Project

Well now, looks like getting a job in the industry right out of school didn't work out so well...

But hey, guess that means I just have to work harder to get known.

I realized from the get-go that trying to get a job in the industry would be difficult knowing I didn't have any completed 3D environments to show off (seeing as how there's always a need for 3D Environment artists).

When applying I was limited to positions like 3D Prop Artist or General 3D Artist positions. I knew that If I were to get anywhere, I'd have to start creating really awesome environments to increase the chances of me getting hired.

So, I've actually already started an Environment which some might find familiar. It's a re-design of the Air Traffic Control Room project I created when in school. I thought it would be beneficial to work on an environment that was still in my head instead of creating something new.

For anyone who is actually viewing this, I'll keep this updated as best I can.

And, for the sake of having some sort of media on every post, here's a picture of my Nerf Gun in UDK mobile on my iPod Touch. Hopefully I can add more simple 3D models to it to show them off at Game Conferences (if I ever get chances to go of course)