Rain: Art on the Train Pt. II

General / 17 January 2019

Open

Generally speaking, my pre-production blogs on personal projects are posted early on in my process. I like to outline projects in writing first and share the plan with the world. I find that it helps me organize my thoughts and is some fun content for my readers.

I’ve been working on Rain for a few weeks now and it’s been…a struggle. The technical content of the piece isn’t the issue too much, modeling is going fine for now and I know what base materials I need to create. No, my main issues are one of time, energy and really just fucking hating my commute some days of the week (my ride home on 1/16 is one example).

First things first; my initial project outline.

Rain: A Diorama

Pre-Production Outline

  • Project Summary
    • A small diorama of a window and its immediate surroundings as depicted by my concept drawing.
    • Source inspiration is from Blade Runner and similar styles-Cyberpunk and Retro Futuristic concepts, movies, and games.
    • Story: An old, retrofitted building holds this window that looks out into the rain. Noir elements, like whiskey, coffee, books, and other references to a tortured detective adorn the window sil. Small references to source material can be found in the deco throughout the room. Everything is old, lower class, and failing while it is made to be functional.
  • Project Goals
    • Art on the train!
    • Learn Blender by tackling a small, simpler scene
    • Focus on high quality, realistic materials hand created in Substance Designer
    • Compose the entire scene using a single 4K texture set
      • Substance Painter for final Texture Composition
    • Rendered in Marmoset Toolbag and SketchFab
    • Polycount-everything is a hero asset, so high (but not unrealistic)
  • What to sell?
    • Entire Scene
      • Include all Files, SPP included
    • Materials Only Pack
  • Conventions
    • T_Rain_Suffix.tga
      • Ex. T_Rain_BC.tga
    • SM_ModelName
    • SM_ModelName_HP or LP for any models to be baked in Marmoset
  • Workflow
    • Models will be made in Blender
    • High Poly Models will be made in Blender, exported to Zbrush for damage pass as needed.
    • Bakes will be 16 bit PNG in Marmoset
    • Scene will be composed in Blender
      • Texturing: Full scene with multiple Material Sets will be exported to Painter OR individual models will be exported to Painter. TBD
  • Base Materials Required
    • Glass (Normal and Wet).
    • Drywall-Substance
    • Wood-Substance
    • Wood Floor-Substance
    • Concrete (Floor, Possibly exterior wall)-Substance
    • Wood (Painted)-Var of Prior Wood+Painter
    • Paint-Painter
    • Rusted Iron-Painter
    • Some sort of New, yet not hyper shiny, metal for tech-Unknown
    • Holographic Display-Krita
    • Plastic for the Wires (Painter)
    • Brick (Substance)
  • Asset List
    • Wall
    • Floor
    • Ceiling
    • Window Sil
    • Window
    • Metal Gate Mechanism
    • Piping
    • Hanging wires
    • Cup (Coffee?)
    • Book (by Philip K Dick)
    • Pills
    • Holo Display
    • Wall Support Structure (beams)
    • Maybe back wall of Brick/Concrete? Unknown.
  • Lighting Plan
    • Won’t know until the models are done, but plan is for feint blue or yellow light to shine from the “inside” of the window. On the “outside”, Neon Pink and Blue will radiate in. IBL will be overcast. VXGI usage will either vary or be not used.

Addendums and Edits

Now that I’m a few weeks into the project, I’ve already made a few changes to the project’s plan. Most of these are made in the interest of both time and ease of working on the train.

  • Blender is out, save for perhaps some small props
    • Why: I have started learning Blender at work and I dig parts of it for sure. I’m sure I’ll like it more and more as I use it and the interface in 2.8 (and usability vs other versions) is leaps and bounds more than what I remember. Unfortunately, Blender is different enough that I’m going to have to spend time making small, simple models before I’m confident enough to rely on it for my primary tool. I’ll keep dabbling while at work, but I’ll save the meat of learning for my summer “experimental period”.
  • Only Base Materials will be for Sale.
    • Why: By moving away from Blender for this project, I’m back to Maya. However, in my bid to cut personal costs, I have axed Maya LT. I’m thus using an educational version of Maya 2018. I have no interest in breaking any EULA’s, so I’m going to sit tight and just sell my Substances.
  • The complexity of the room has increased a bit, but the reliance on new Substances has decreased.
    • Why: Creative direction. I have a ton of reference and I’m trying to focus on shapes and silhouette of objects. Pipes have pretty boring profiles and aren’t going to give me a more angular look, so I need to find ways to make them interesting. The overall complexity and Substance changes are pretty minor, but I think it’ll be a benefit for the project overall.

How’s it coming?

My blockout is to proper scale and conveys the key parts of my scene, so that’s been a success. In fact, if I build my props to the sizes of the blockout, I’ll basically be able to build the scene out piece by piece and be done much quicker than I usually am.

I often screw up scaling of my parts a little bit each time.

What I am struggling with is building out my actual models. I’m focusing only on one so far-the simplest one in fact (vertical pipe) and I had problems the 16th of January with everything. My tablet wasn’t super responsive, Maya was acting like a fucking asshole, and I felt cramped and trapped in my train seat. I honestly would like to spend some time at work or at home on this but both are busy right now.

Although, I could probably work in a 4 hour block of working on Saturday and Sunday.

That might be necessary. I’m finding that I need, at least for this project as is, a steady block of hours to get into a flow and just build. This is a small project designed to be worked on while I commute, but aspects of the commute and my mental state after work so far (exhausted) are proving to be blockers. As much as I like a rigid schedule, I’m clearly in need of more flexibility.

Plan moving forward

For the time being, I’m going to try-keyword is try-to get in 8 total hours of art on the weekend (4 and 4). I’m also going to try to work on the train in the mornings only. For the time being, my evenings will be a gut call. I tried to force it last night and I got some work done, but after 20 mins or so everything went to shit. If I went by feel, I would be a bit more refreshed as I write this. Maybe I would have even tried to model today.

I’ve given myself plenty of time to get this done. There should be no reason I can’t work in some self care too. I clearly need it.

Dan

Report