Experiments In Unreal Editor

 

Here I have been experimenting in the editor trying to get the ceiling texture look just right, really wanted to perfect the gold leaf look. Made a specular especially, didnt seem to work when connected to the specular but I experiement with roughness and metalic and came out with some good and fun results. I would really like to master textures, and the editor. 

Most Relevant Reference Books

 

This 2 Books from the Libary were my Main reference's. Such nice books!

In the future I would love to sculpt and use filigree this detailed and elaborate in a project, I went for something more simple this time as I did not have time to increase my sculpting skills to this standard.

First/ Sadly Final Render

Lots of improvements that could be made, background lighting, shadow intensity I would like to be more but still able to see the horses and textures.

Sculptor: April Young

“My work utilises both 2D and sculptural media to explore the role of mythologies in a contemporary context.  I’m interested in the durability and cross pollination of stories, and the relationship between real and imagined times, people and places.  I attempt to place my work at the crossover between classical mythology – the stories that have endured for millennia – and contemporary experience, which continuously adds its own chapter to the legacy of storytelling.”

I stumbled across this amazing artist, April Young. I really enjoy her work, the first image I saw by her is the one below and I just thought Whoa the textures are really unusual and interesting, there is a lot of depth to them as there are images within, If I managed to accomplish anything close to the level of detail and style in her work I would be a very happy man.
Not so much the top image but the one below, I like how the paint seems to have worn away revealing different colours as well as something more beautiful, to me it looks like building illustrations. I really like the idea of something hidden beneath the skin. Unfortuneatly apart from the top quote I couldent find much on the artist so am left to make up my own theories of their meaning.

Sculpt Progression

I never found out the reason for the problems I had with baking and my texture, the mystery remains unsolved however after sending it to George it apparently worked when he opened it. When he sent it back to me he had changed the UV map to increase efficiency, and to have the seams in less visable place, see below.

Spiral Pole

The Poles in which Carousal Horses are carried upon seem to vary quite a bit but most seem to follow a spiral type design. I spent too long modelling such a simple thing, I modelled a Spiral (above) but then had lots of trouble baking it onto a more low poly cylinder. I then spent ages trying to make this work, I think it would of eventually but the spiral was at such an angle I couldn't make the top flat, without making N-gons and distorting the shape. After lots of struggle George showed me a much easier way, to create a spiral effect by making a light map in photoshop, and then importing it into either Crazy-bump or X-normals. This worked much better, quicker and allowed me to use just cylinders . Previously I didn't know how to do this in photoshop (especially rulers), so found it really helpful.

Creative Tangent: Four Horses of the Apocolypse

I stupidly did not update my blog every day, If I had you would see that I put quite a lot of time and energy into researching about the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. In the end it was all for naught as I thought it best not to go with the idea. My idea was to have the carousal, have horses that were the horses of the apocalypse on, however I started to think that there was something corny about this idea, as if it was trying to hard to be scary. I later thought that it would be cool for the abandoned carousal to have been graffiti'd slightly, perhaps four of the horses being graffiti'd in a way that symbolised each horse of the apocalypse Conquest, War, Famine and Death. I felt that this was a good way of getting the message across more subtly, less in your face and would allow me to experiment with graffiti designs and textures. However I eventually came circle and left the idea to go back to what I had originally intended to create.

Above show some digital variants and experimentations of the concept I had for the horse of Death, which I scanned in below. I was very happy with how it looks but then changed my idea to having the horses graffitied on instead in which case the skeleton wouldn't be so precise and clear. 

I was particularly proud with the drawing above and is the only real 2d art I have done this project however my project is aimed at doing 3d so had not planed on doing any. 

Above is a concept I did for what a carousal horse may look like if it had been graffitied to symbolise the horse of conquest/ famine. Apart from Death having a skeleton sprayed on him and War dripping in red spray, the other two were harder to think of symbols. As the horseman of conquest is always shown to be a king of some type, I thought a crown was the closest to resemble this, and to have each Horse with its Roman numeral scratched and painted onto the head.

Above are pages that I scanned in from Dave McKean's graphic novel Signal to Noise. They show how Dave McKean has portrayed/ illustrated the four horseman of the Apocalypse, I really like them all. 

Technical Talk & Time Constraints

For my Carousal I wasn't sure weather to continue the Carousal as if it was normal/ still in good condition or to make it more like the abandoned fairs from my post 'Abandoned Circuses and Fairgrounds'. We agreed that to have it more dilapidated would be more interesting and tie in better with my overall theme of memories. We went on to talk about the Technical side of things, and how that the varnished wooden floor of the Carousal would have been worn down over time though use, and would have most shine wear feet could not go e.g. under the horses. Also wear the varnish wears the wood will have become more susceptible to outside conditions such as moss and rot, perhaps even warping in places due to damp. The varying of the varnish could be shown with specularity/ gloss map, and the deterioration through lack of and use of textures. The lighting from the carousal will still be on despite it's dilapidation as they are the main sources of the atmosphere I am trying to create, although many will be broken or off to support the suggestion of its abandonment.

Given time constraints I may be unable to model four complete different horses all with different textures. With this in mind, I discussed with Nigel what to do and settled on doing multiple textures for the single model I already have, I plan on making these textures to give a more worn down look than to what I previously had. I would have preferably had signs of deterioration within the sculpt (normals) to accompany the textures and make them stronger however I think I may have left that to late. I plan on making at least four sets of textures, one for each coloured horse. The horses will then be arranged in a formation within the carousal where the outer circle has the most and the smallest the least (e.g. 10, 7, 4), there will be only three layers. This will hopefully give the illusion of density, so the viewer perceives more than there are.

Viewpoint
I decided with Nigel partly as it was originally intended to be from a child's viewpoint and because it makes the carousal horse more imposing to have the viewpoint from a lower angle. This would allows us only to see the inner part of the carousal so the horses, ceiling, floor and steps. This gives me less to worry about modelling wise allowing me to concentrate on getting all the texturing and lighting right.

False Perceptions

Today I had a talk with Nigel about my project and where it was heading with the time that I have left and in terms of the meaning behind it.
A lot of 3D art is not about replicating real world perfectly into the computer, for one this would be a hard task and would take up a lot of processing power but it also just doesn't look correct when done theres simply to much going on. In terms of realistic games it is often more about creating optical illusions that create impressions of the real world.

Before Television Carousals, Fairgrounds and Circus's were huge they were once thriving with people who had come to experience something new and exciting. My Carousal is one within someone's memory, and the meaning behind it deals with the idea of perception. We hold are memories dear to us but in the end they are such unreliable things, we supposedly retain them in our brain for mosts of our lives and yet are access to them is limited, hazed by the mists of time. Memory related diseases such as alzheimer's give us insight to just how powerful memory is, the way someone can be shot back in time generations within their mind is obviously awful but also so fascinating.
With this in mind the Carousal represents an embodiment of memory, as well as of a memory of the Carousal itself. The Carousal and its horses decline into ruin is a metaphor of memories inevitable degradation over time as well as how memories can be altered sometimes tarnished by later perceptions.

We take photographs most often to capture special moments, we then use these to help us to remember these moments however a kind of paradox forms in which are true memories fade and then instead of being kickstarted by them they adapt to the photographs.

Uncompensated Light= A truer version
Dreamy, Sepia, old
Ridley Scott, memory constructed blade runner
tungsten lighting, take a photo without flash, filter it out

The Hartford Circus Fire: The Day the Clowns Cried

The Hartford circus fire, which occurred on July 6, 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut, was one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States. The fire occurred during an afternoon performance of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus that was attended by 6,000 to 8,000 people. More than 165 people died and more than 700 were injured.

In mid-20th century America, a typical circus traveled from town to town by train, performing under a huge canvas tent commonly called a "big top". The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus was no exception: what made it stand out was that it was the largest circus in the country. Its big top could seat 9,000 spectators around its three rings; the tent's canvas had been coated with 1,800 pounds (820 kg) of paraffin wax dissolved in 6,000 US gallons (23,000 l) of gasoline, a common waterproofing method of the time.

The circus had been experiencing shortages of personnel and equipment as a result of the United States' involvement in World War II. Delays and malfunctions in the ordinarily smooth order of the circus had become commonplace; on August 4, 1942, a fire had broken out in the menagerie, killing a number of animals.

The next day was a Thursday; the crowd at the afternoon performance was dominated by women and children. The size of the audience that day has never been established with certainty, but the best estimate is about 7,000.

Fire Disaster
The fire began as a small flame after the lions performed, on the southwest sidewall of the tent, while the Great Wallendas were performing. Circus bandleader Merle Evans was said to have been the first to spot the flames, and immediately directed the band to play "The Stars and Stripes Forever", the tune that traditionally signaled distress to all circus personnel. Ringmaster Fred Bradna urged the audience not to panic and to leave in an orderly fashion, but the power failed and he could not be heard. Bradna and the ushers unsuccessfully tried to maintain some order as the panicked crowd tried to flee the big top.

The cause of the fire remains unproven. Investigators at the time believed it was caused by a carelessly flicked cigarette but others suspected an arsonist. Several years later, while being investigated on other arson charges, Robert Dale Segee (1929–1997), who was an adolescent roustabout at the time, confessed to starting the blaze. He was never tried for the crime and later recanted his confession.

Because of the paraffin wax waterproofing of the tent, the flames spread rapidly. Many people were badly burned by the melting paraffin, which rained down from the roof. The fiery tent collapsed in about eight minutes according to eyewitness survivors, trapping hundreds of spectators beneath it.

It is commonly believed that the number of fatalities is higher than the estimates given, due to poorly kept residency records in rural towns, and the fact that some smaller remains were never identified or claimed. It is also believed that the intense heat from the fire combined with the accelerants, the paraffin and gasoline, could have incinerated people completely, as in cremation, leaving no substantial physical evidence behind. Additionally, free tickets had been handed out that day to many people in and around the city, some of whom appeared to eyewitnesses and circus employees to be drifters who would never have been reported missing.

While many people burned to death, many others died as a result of the ensuing chaos. Though most spectators were able to escape the fire, many people were caught up in the hysteria. Witnesses said some simply ran around in circles trying to find their loved ones, rather than trying to escape from the burning tent. Some escaped but ran back inside to look for family members. Others stayed in their seats until it was too late, assuming that the fire would be put out promptly.

Because at least two of the exits were blocked by the chutes used to bring the show's big cats in and out of the tent, people trying to escape could not bypass them. Some died from injuries sustained after leaping from the tops of the bleachers in hopes they could escape under the sides of the tent, though that method of escape ended up killing more than it saved. Others died after being trampled by other spectators, with some asphyxiating underneath the piles of people who fell over each other.

Most of the dead were found in piles, some three bodies deep, at the most congested exits. A small number of people were found alive at the bottoms of these piles, protected by the bodies on top of them when the burning big top ultimately fell down. Because of a picture that appeared in several newspapers of sad tramp clown Emmett Kelly holding a water bucket, the event became known as "the day the clowns cried."

Little Miss 1565

The best-known victim of the circus fire was a young blonde girl wearing a white dress. She is known only as "Little Miss 1565", named after the number assigned to her body at the city's makeshift morgue. Oddly well preserved even after her death, her face has become arguably the most familiar image of the fire.

Her true identity has been a topic of debate and frustration in the Hartford area since the fire occurred. She was buried without a name in Hartford's Northwood cemetery, where a victims' memorial also stands.

Segee's confession
In 1950, Robert Dale Segee of Circleville, Ohio claimed he was responsible for setting the circus fire. Segee, a roustabout for the show from June 30 to July 14, 1944, when he was about 14 years old, said he had a nightmare in which an Indian riding on a "flaming horse" told him to set fires. He further claimed that after this nightmare his mind went blank, and that he did not come out of this state until the circus fire had already been set. It was said Segee fit the description of a serial arsonist right out of a psychiatrist's textbook. Segee also knew intimate details of the incident, which some believed only the real arsonist could have known. For instance, it was never made public that the circus had two smaller fires of undetermined origin prior to the tragedy. Segee admitted setting both of them as well. These statements, Segee added, were in response to a later dream he'd had of a woman standing in flames urging him to confess.

In November 1950, Segee was convicted in Ohio of unrelated arson charges and sentenced to more than 40 years of prison time. However, Hartford investigators raised doubts over his confession, as he had a history of mental illness, and it could not be proven he was anywhere within the state of Connecticut when the fire occurred. Connecticut officials were also not allowed to question Segee, even though his alleged crime had occurred in their state. Additionally, Segee, who died in 1997, denied setting the fire as late as 1994 during an interview. Because of this, many investigators, historians and victims believe the true arsonist—if it had indeed been arson—was never found.

Personal Account
Actor and theater director Charles Nelson Reilly, who was thirteen years old at the time, survived the fire and dramatized it in the film of his stage show, The Life of Reilly. In a 1997 interview, Reilly said that he rarely attended the theater, despite being a director, since the sound of a large audience in a theater reminded him of the large crowd at the circus before the disaster. He also said during his latter show that his mother, who told him not to go the circus on that day with his friend and disobeyed her, caught them sneaking out of her sight and scolded at them, "I hope it burns to the ground!".

Abondonded Circuses and Fairgrounds

I really love these photographs, the thought of things being so completely abandoned is a scary one. There must be some reason, some story of why they were left behind. My imagination often leads to darker stories as the way they look now is just haunting and its hard to imagine them as places of entertainment that were once full of people. I was fascinated and surprised to find just how many of abandoned sites like these there are. All of them full of forgotten amusement rides and decorations, I feel that the years they have been left alone, slowly being enveloped by nature has given them an eery beauty.

These images are one of the main reasons I chose to do a lonely carousal, the macabre feeling that that they spark some were deep down in our primal instincts fascinates me as there intention is often the opposite. For example the clown, meant to be a humorous entertainer seems to be mostly thought of a scary figure, with a large number of people having phobias of them.

I am thinking of creating my Carousal to have this derelict kind of look, as it is meant to be an illusive eerie Carousal, so perhaps its the last remaining amusement standing of a long ground fairground.

Atmoaphere

I really enjoy this photo, i'm unsure weather or not its been manipulated but it personifies a really unique atmosphere. Unlike the others I have looked at this carousal has varying coloured lights, these appear to be the only light source within the image and have a great effect shining through the thick fog, attempting to illuminate the horses so far ahead that they hidden in the mist. The coloured lights other than the standard oranges help to give it a more magical and mysterious feel than the warm welcoming one. 

I like the imagery of the horses appearing from and vanishing into the fog, as if they are coming out from nowhere. This carousal is really big and with it being shrouded in fog becomes kind of claustrophobic. I imagine that riding on the horse being unable to see their destination meant that it felt like the horse was just going on and on forever, other than the horses just going round in circles. Anything could appear out of the fog either in front or behind, I like the idea of the fog getting thicker and then finding yourself on a horse on the middle of a field. Now I think of it if i were to use Fog it could symbolise the blurriness of the childhood memory, but the lights/ feelings of that memory are clear and vivid.

Dave McKean's Colour Scheme

Dave McKean is one of my favourite Illustrators of all time, I have always found his work mesmerising, due to the depth they have. He creates such beautiful often sereal art, his covers always stand out amongst any other comics. I first found out about him as I was drawn to the Sandman series of comics which is based around dreams, I think his works are the closest kind of art that come closest to ever depicting dreams. Since then I have gone on to explore many of his other his works, which I Love. The use strong use of multimedia really gives a unique style, I would really like to practise his style at some point maybe I will this summer. 

For a long time now I have wished to capture the kind of art style of Artists such as Dave McKean within the art style of a game. In the future I would really like to experiment with art styles within games, as there are so many styles that have been achieved in illustration that game artist have not yet explored. 

I have noticed that Dave McKean often appears to come back to this amber, orange, reddish and black colour range. You can see examples of what I mean below. I mention this as it is a similar colour scheme to that as the Carousals in the post below, however the images below give of a much more darker vibe. Perhaps I could use a colour scheme more like Dave McKeans to help such a whimsical thing as a carousal to invoke a more darker feeling. The more browny tones remind me of days past, like a memory. Perhaps Sepia the bright orange and reds of the carousal could be surrounded by an environment of more sepia tones, as if suggesting that the memory of the Carousal was much more vivid than that of its surroundings.

Carousals! The Warm Glow

Above is a mood board of Carousals, I picked images that all portray that warm happy feeling. Obviously the glow of the carnival lights has a lot to do with the warm fun happy aesthetic that they give of. I particularly enjoy all the reds oranges and yellows contrasting starkly with the night, I feel that in my project where the carousal is alone in the darkness the lights will have even more of effect. Weather or not a lone lit carousal still gives of a 'warm happy feeling' is the players opinion.

Carousals give of the same feeling as an old toy, I think its how whimsical they are that makes me feel this. Really they are just like one giant toy brought to life perhaps this is why I feel set on edge by them as it doesn't seem quite right.

For too long I have strayed from the wording of my proposal. But looking back I had intended it to be more about the viewpoint of a child.
From a child's point of view looking up at this huge bright machine could cause different reaction. I imagine them having mixed feelings of awe as well as fear being overwhelmed by the lights, music and movement. Some may even Imagining the horses to be alive and be overjoyed or scared by this.

Quick tangent: I was thinking an interesting mechanic for a game could be to allow the player to choose how they the child react, if its positive they may go on to have a nice time but if they choose negative repeatedly the story and environment would continue to darken, as fear begets fear so everything just intensifies. Like a dream or taking drugs, if you let yourself think the bad thoughts then bad things will happen. Im unsure where this mechanic would lead to in the long run, but choosing the negative reaction would lead to the players point of view being skewed and warped into some nightmarish world. Maybe end with the child being put back in the pram where you succumb to sleep.

PBR recap

We had a tutorial with George in which he went over PBR with us how it works and how to use it, I found it very helpful and hope I can use it to the get the greatest results in my model. Below is three images that show a rough progression of a PBR process.

Inside of Unreal.

Lucas Sparks - Abandoned Carousal

This project was based off a concept from the Last of Us DLC and is rendered in real-time in UDK engine. The entire scene is ~100k tri's and all aspects were done by me. All elements are modular and the grass/vines/leaves are cards created and baked out in Maya. Programs used: Zbrush, Maya, UDK, Mudbox, Knald, xNormal, Photoshop and Premiere.

Annoyingly this is pretty much exactly what I want to do, although I want mine to create a more sinister feeling than this as this gives of quite a warm atmosphere even though its meant to be abandoned. I imagine this is due to the lights which looks really good and I want to do the same however if this means that It gives a warm feeling I may re-think that idea. Apart from the broken fence and ivy growing up it, Its hard to tell that this is meant to be abandoned. Hopefully mine will get across that it is derelict but perhaps not totally abandoned, be more spooky.

Here we can see just how low poly his final version is, it is pretty impressive the amount of detail he has got in to something this low poly. I imagine mine will be a slightly larger carousal overall.

These are good but I am hoping for mine to be better to stronger form, perhaps more high poly all together. Also he only used one type of horse although he did alternate the colours, I will probably do the same but am hoping to have more than one to show the variation of carousal horses, some of them may also be damaged missing limbs, scratched and graffitied.

The environment enhances the effect of it being abandoned muchly, it looks much better as part of something than on its own.

Among the Sleep

Among The Sleep invites you into the mind and body of a two year old child. After being put to bed one evening, mysterious things start to happen. Being played in first person, the game let its players immerse themselves in a child's limitless imagination. I would like the level to play a lot like this, with the players perspective being skewed into what I want them to see and feel. I want them to feel the familiarity of the Carousal music, yet scared and confused by its random appearance. If possible I would like to create lighting that created huge shadows across the floor and up the surrounding trees if I have time.

Narcolepsy Issues

Recently I feel my Narcolepsy has been getting worse, hours seem to fly by and I accomplish so little in them because of it, it makes me depressed which I then think makes things worse. I used to be on medication before uni, but I came of it as i didn't feel they were doing much good. When I came to Uni I had a pretty flexible timetable so could control it by having scheduled naps but recently even with them I seem to find myself feeling that I have wasted the day even though I have dedicated the whole day to work (minus lunch and tea). I came of the medication also as in the cases of lectures they seemed to do little good but when on them my body would overheat when I drift of as if in some kind of internal battle, and I would wake at the end of the lecture all sweaty and with a headache.
Tomorrow I plan on going to the doctors to see if I can re set up my prescription, perhaps they will be more effective as my body has not had them for a long time. Im hoping they help this time even if its just a fraction I need all my time to get the grade I want.
I did try energy drinks but they are unhealthy and bad for you.
I also found out that Winston Churchill had Narcolepsy, so theres hope for me yet :P
I thought it relevant to mention all this as it has been effecting my work flow and speed, though I do try my best not to bring it up as I don't like people to think me using it as an excuse.

Circus Posters