Week 39: Texturing and UDK

This week we’ve been working on texturing models and the procedures that prepares the model for it, as well as he importance of colour and tone. A time consuming process for the uninitiated, but I managed to pull through. While tricky to learn, it’s a process that’s usually easily mastered. Relatively.

I picked up my Urban-styled crate for various reasons. Firstly because I felt that it would provide an opportunity to see realistic, detailed surfaces applied on a 3-dimensional object while still retaining depth and not appearing like uncanny tapestry. I also wanted to see how wooden textures might be applied in different ways as well as what colour combinations might enhance the aesthetic goals I had in mind.

The final texture rendered in UDK.

In the end I settled for a dark moss green with a complementary light grey for its planks. I wanted to do something different from the usual ways that these props are usually portrayed with different shades of unpainted plywood. I thought of something that could help reflect the world where it might be found in. With urbanisation comes issues of hygiene and waste disposal and if not properly regulated can cause a less than attractive environment for all of your senses. So my goal became not just to make it seem downtrodden and ill-maintained, but also sickly. The dark yet matted hues of green on the core of the crate helps provide this aesthetic well I believe, giving contrast to the borderline white planks that encircle it. The result is something that almost mimics a rotted corpse, the green and somewhat peeled off hues of green reminiscent of decaying flesh while the outer planks would be the dried and exposed bone protruding from it. It’s bluntly put disgusting

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The colours are mildly altered, darkened to help convey a sense of cold which again contributes to my aesthetic goal. It further increases the sense of it belonging somewhere uncomfortable where you wouldn’t want to stay and rather find some place more inviting. It could work as an indication of danger as well, something poisoned and disease-ridden to stay away from (though for such ends I’d probably need to make its colours more aggressive and be more of an eyes sore, and not the dull hues drained of all vigour). For this example I chose a worn and withered look that would not only relay a sense of age and poor construction quality but also something drained of life and warmth in every sense of the word.

UV Map Checker and Wireframe.

The process of ensuring the texture would be consistent in position and size throughout proved more problematic than initially thought. It was at this stage that you could truly see whether or not your model was properly constructed, any errors forcing me to backtrack and redo edges and polygons more than once. If I had been more thorough early on I likely wouldn’t have had to put so many hours into correcting my mistakes afterwards.

That’s all for now!

Björn Erik Berndtsson. Graphics and Game Design.