sci-fi concept ship

Some more images from the last year.. This is a quick concept ship modelled in Maya for a game project,it was done fairly quick and loose based on a concept sketch I was given.The side boosters are pretty weak but I actually kind of like the bulky front part.

Low poly ship model

Quick look at a low poly model built midway through last year for use as a game asset in Heroengine,the single 1024x1024 texture map contained diffuse specular and normal mapping for the engine.

Click images to enlarge

Damaged texture version

1 year of blogging...

I hadn't even noticed until today but been blogging now for over a year.This time last year I was at university and after thinking of possible blog names over and over I decided "fuck it!..sharks with jetpacks..at least I'll remember that!".So over the next few days will be posting some work old and new from over the last few months and hopefully will still be blogging a year from now.

The visitors centre 2#

Added the cable car into place.

The visitors centre

Little bit more modelling on my free time game project...This is work in progress on the Trespasser site B visitor centre,similar style to Jurassic park version but much smaller.In the game it would have been aimed at investors and be filled with displays showing of some of site A as well as showing off some of the dinosaurs.

Click to view fullsize.

JP game...

Not a lot of progress on Jurassic park remake game because of other work,another shot of hotel/guest lodge.Still needs a lot of bump mapping and detail.

Unity tips and tricks: Modelling stage

Getting a good performance out of Unity in large open worlds can be tough so optimising needs to start at the modelling stage.These are some quick things I've discovered as I've been learning on my latest project that can help keep frame rates smooth.

When it comes to mesh's the trick is to combine,Unity has a combine script but I found it caused the start up of my game to be really slow.There are a couple of scripts available to combine in the editor but I haven't found the results to be great.In the modelling stage in makes sense to combine objects into one and delete history and junk that may be left behind,this reduces the file size also.If you have a static set then try to break it into chunks (1500-4000 triangles per mesh) and make it use the same single single texture map and material.

Hotel set is one model,using one 4k map.Interior objects will be added to this map

Model in stages starting with a low detail version and play builds of the game as you go to keep things in check,Unity has some great asset sets but many of them (the tree sets in particular) will kill frame rates.

Modelling buildings quickly is a lot easier than it looks,if you make just a couple of basic building shapes you can add small changes to make them appear different.Make sure the normals are facing the correct way and also if you can run Unity and whatever modelling program you use you can export to Unity and see your model updated instantly.

Trespasser:Bamboo hotel

Another work in progress from my Jurassic park Trespasser remake,building a guest hotel based on the style of a concept I found in the making of book.The hotel is linked via cable cars crossing the large valley,the terrain isn't painted or dressed properly with plants yet but this gives a rough idea how it will look.

About 2 hours modelling and textured in Maya.

View from the walkways.Click images to enlarge.

Trespasser project

Another couple of hours and a bit more progress,modelling cable car platforms and monorails which lead through Jurassic park's site B.Still a lot of open spaces to work I've started work sculpting rocks in Mudbox which will be added last along with all the vegetation.

Mountain overlook and cable car platform

The monorail-cable car.Work in progress.

Trespasser:Update

A couple of spare hours here and there I've been adding to my remake of the Jurassic park game Trespasser.Re-building and texturing based on the original games design,this is first stage modelling, a lot of detail to be added...

The beach construction site,mostly a simple test ground for the game controls.

Monorail platform,based on the originals design.

Trespasser 2

Quick recreation of original Trespasser game texture using Photoshop,the original texture was split into two parts both 256 x 256 so wasn't really usable even resized.

20 mins in Photoshop making remaking the texture and adding to engine.

Screen grab of the original game environment and prop.

Trespasser

I've been working like crazy the last few weeks but found a few spare hours in the dead of night to work on a project I've had in mind for ages...I'm re-creating the environments from the 1998 game Jurassic Park: Trespasser using the Unity game engine.The project is basically a fun quick experiment in open world modelling that I will be working on anytime I have a free hour,these are some of the first shots from in the engine (the landscape texture and trees are just temporary).

Roughly based on a concept drawing for the original game.

Work in progress of the Beach level (the trees are terrible).