Trouble in UDK

Having a few problems with UDK and it is getting to the point where i may just keep it in maya as i am able to control the lighting in there much better and i understand it a lot more with a game engine, its a bit different there are so many things i just dont understand at the moment! I am hoping some people on a forum will be able to help me out!

UDK and texturing

UDK first real time of using this and it is going slowly, UDK is a game engine so you can see what your work will look like if it was in a game so everything is in realtime. The project will take longer than i thought due to the fact that i am learning udk as i go. If it fails after many attempts i have the back up of using maya but dont wont to have to.

I have started to import my objects in something that is taking a while to grasp, as you need to do it in a certain way to use features of udks lighting system.

So, i am also starting to texture bits and bobs as i am getting confused by it all, so here is the water tank that sits on top of one of the buildings. Nice and dirty, yum!

Colourboard and unwrapping

Well, the colour board is on its way....

Yep today, i have been able to do a bit of work. Had to do a bit of xmas shopping and all that, but with that out the way now it is all systems go with this one. Whilst, looking/scouting for jobs which i enjoy doing, but its finding the right companies, i look at other peoples showreels who work at these places and who i admire, but man they raise the bar every time. But, i am sure something will come a long soon, i have faith in that!

My last bit of work That's Life will be in 3d artist magazine, issue 24 so hopefully that will do me some good!

But, whilst doing the colour board i have also been unwrapping the objects and here are those images i have been promising, basically i dont want those boxes or numbers to be stretched and it is going well so far.

Those wireframes were bad...

So, i decided to do a nice render of it instead not much has changed in terms of looks, but i have started to unwrap the objects and play around with some basic texturing.

I think i have said it before but unwrapping uv's is almost as painful as wrapping up a present even though they sound completly different! I normally use automatic unwrap in maya to understand what the different shells should look like, i then tweak, move, scale and rotate until i am happy with what i see. I also use a image that has boxes and numbers all over it so i can see if my uvs are stretched or not, why use this image? well if the image looks stretched my textures that will look awesome in photoshop will look crummy on my model, boo!

On the forum i am a member of (Polycount) i have put this work on their and they feel that extra objects like bouys, fishing rods and ropes etc will benefit.

But images are easier to show and my next update will go more into unwrapping uvs, for now an image of Harbour Town!

Harbour Town

Well, the last piece wasnt really grabbing my attention and i wasn't excited about working on it, so i have gone back to an art test by splash damage they give you a concept of a lil harbour sort of scene and ask you to model it, texture it etc.

So this is what i came up with for now in all its wireframe glory, inspiration on the style came from Isaac Orloff you can see links to his work in older posts. Majority of modelling is done want to add some extra bits and bobs like fishing rods etc

Fruit Stand

Here are a few screenshots of the next piece of work my be, its for the Eat3d next gen scene competition, i am a bit behind due to the work i had been doing, i am now looking for work but in the meantime i will carry on working on my portfolio!

So here they are one is the sort of layout i will go for the other are close ups of the low poly and the high poly which i will transfer through the use of normal maps!

Final

Well here it is, i feel it is now finished, will try to render out a video will only be 10 seconds or so as it takes a while to render out each frame.

I have learnt a lot on this project on all aspects of the production pipeline and have found new ways to improve my work flow. I want to say thank you to Isaac for allowing me to use his concept, if i could i would create all his stuff in 3d he is such a great illustrator with some lovely work.

There are some bits and bobs i would like to improve upon, but i feel this happens in all work i look back at some of my old work and think to myself what was i doing.

But i hope you enjoy this piece and i have started my next bit of work which will hopefully not take as long as this one now that my contract as ended at my work place!

Here is a link to his blog if you want to check it out:

http://orloffillustration.blogspot.com/

Carbonmade

Hey all, you may not know but carbonmade is a free website host for portfolios mine is on ther at the moment not fully updated but has some extra work that isnt on here!

www.simonharvey.carbonmade.com

95% done

Here is the latest and it is so close i feel, i just want to add some detail to some of the textures like the, shoes for example and the big tyre as i feel that tyre is standing out way to much!

As for the final image i will have two one with all the bits and bobs exerywhere and the second like the original image, with just the caravan etc, so no road, canyons or even a floor it will just be grey around, may also do a brown pass like my first render.