99.9% Complete

First post in a while haven't really had the time as iv been busy finishing off the level. Here are some images on how it stands now, may need a tweak or two but its pretty much finished. Will put another post up talking about how how the project went at a later date.

Speed Tree and more errors

Iv decided to use SpeedTree to create a few trees for the level. I have been told that if I only want a a small amount of trees in the level i can use it because it becomes very memory intensive to use a load. 

So here s the first tree I made. Its a nice program to use and quite easy to get used to.

But again as usual there are problems with UDK. When i go to import the files from SpeedTree the textures, normals and diffuse import but the mesh always fails. Need more research into how to fix this but for today I'm done my head is blown from this.  

My first alpha mask

Today i finally made my first mesh with an Alpha mask on it. I'm really happy on how it came out, didn't have to much trouble doing it either which was nice for a change. 

Here is the model with no texture 

Here is the model with a texture and as you can see the fence is the part i Alpha masked. This saves a long time from not having to model the whole thing and its only one polygon. 

These images show it in UDK but as you can see I'm still having shadow issues. Rubbish!!! but at least you can now see where my rugby pitch will be. 

Shops finished and shadow problems

As you can see i have made a picket fence for certain areas of the map but having some trouble with shadows on different objects. My buildings are giving off shadows but as you can see neither the fence or street lights are casting shadows. I have tried production lighting also with no luck, maybe there's one little check box im missing. 

Finally put in the finished textures for the shops so now my town has three. A barbers, hair salon and a slim jims clothes shop. 

Fleshing out the town

Its starting to look better slowly. Now i have re-imported the houses and the one shop i can now visually see what the town will end up like. Now they are in there i can see flaws with the textures so i can go back and touch them up.  

The image above shows the long street that the player would first see.

This is where the three shops are going to be. There is three repeats in there at them moment but when i have made all the textures its an easy swap. 

The street lights still have the emissive textures on them and can be seen here lighting up the sides of the house. Not sure yet if i am going to keep them on, but anyway they are on for now. 

I placed the lamps in there to help decide on how many i may need and to help judge if the streets are wide enough. My next task for the town is to make the cobble stone roads for the car to run on. 

More Models and Textures

Iv finished the houses finally and the textures to go with them. As i have only a little town all the houses are the same terraced house. To keep them slightly different though i have created three different textures to place on the house, they are the same just got different colour doors. All three can be seen here.  

This is one of the three shops that will be in the town. These are also the same but will have a different colour front on them and will be a different sellers. I think i will have this hairdressers a butchers and a clothes shop.  

Had a bit of an issue with the texturing at first as its the first i have done in a long time but as i got on to the shop it got easier and i have seen mistakes i made in the houses so i will have to go back and adjust a few details. All the textures i painted by hand in Photoshop and the brick texture i acquired myself and tiled. 

This is a fence that will run alongside the rugby pitch on the roads and up onto the mountains to stop the car falling off the cliffs and drops. 

Models

Iv started modeling some of the assets for the level. Here is the start of a terraced house and the main bridge  or focal point. Not to sure of the bridge yet, it may need some more tweaks or a complete re-model. 

Basic Blockout

I finally got into the unreal engine and put down my block out for the level. It took some time to get to grips with the terrain editor but it came out ok. There are some other major tweaks that the terrain needs to undertake. 

There are basic blocks outs of house placed into the level this is so i could get the scale for the level right, also the main big barn that will set on top of the last hill and a farm house that will be placed on the opposite valley. 

Some Concepts

It has been way to long since i have put anything up on here and i'm kicking myself for it! Even though nothing has been updated on the blog i have been working on the level. Here are some of the conceptual design i have made for the assets that will sit in the level. 

This a concept of the main bridge in the level or the focal point. I have already modeled a bridge that looks a little different from this, but i may re-model it to help simply the design,

This concept is of the two smaller bridges that will run through the center of the level crossing the river. Both bridges will look like this just different sizes. The main bridge is the most extravagant bridge in the level. 

Both these images are small assets that are going to be placed through the streets and dirt roads that the cars will race on. The barrels will maybe placed on streets as barriers or in the main barn as obstacles.