Off the Map: part 10

Even though we handed in our off the map now, because of that unavoidable mad panic during the last 2 weeks that happens no matter what project you are working on, I can finally write the blog posts I missed during that time.

This week was spent furiously making sure some of the more complex materials that would use vertex paining and panners could work, as well as populating the level starting with the big opening at the beginning of the level where Alice falls out the crying statue of her carved into a cliff. This was an idea very earlier on in the project that died down half way through before coming back.

I made a very simple mesh blockout in 3DSmax before importing it into zbrush and sculpting the details. I would then export it into 3Dcoat to make a lowpoly mesh. this system for the rocks meant I could quickly generate cliff faces and seas pillars and other rocks.

Once I had the textures I had to create the materials in engine which was complicated at first because I hadn't properly made vertex painting materials yet but once I understood how it worked it was easy. I also combined it with other techniques I had learnt. I combined the surface details normals with the sculpted normal of the cliff so I had small details without loosing the larger rocks baked in.

I also made the water effects using some masks and panners. I think this was one of the other more complicated materials. I made two normal maps which would pan in different directions to generate a falling effect and then the mask would stop the refraction property allowing the player to know the material was applied to a plane and break up the effect. I would also add particle effects to create the falling mist and other bits of vapor around the planes. Other small effects like rainbows also contributed to giving it a nice fantastical effect.