Week 1: First Week Back!

Our first week back had us get back into the whole Game Art world and the courses new structure, which now combines the 3D and 2D sides much more effectively. The critical studies section of the courses has also been updated, one part of it is to write up small weekly updates and this is exactly what this post is!

The biggest change we all had to face was the loss of both Diffuse and Spectral maps with the new PBR (Physically Based Rendering) system. The Diffuse map has been replaced with an Albedo map and the Spectral map has been replaced with a Roughness map, and honestly the new maps are not much different from the old ones. The thing I need to get use is the sensitivity of the Roughness map, as if it's pushed too far objects can look insanely shiny.

[1] Example of a Roughness map usage

The new map to come with PBR is a Metalness map, which is a simple black and white map. Black is non metal, white is metal but I personally think adding some grit into the metal could help portray a more realistic result, unless it is like a brand new car for example.

Our "Welcome back!" project was a group project where we were thrown into random groups. In these groups we had to work through a pipeline creating a small Viking dinning table scene, where we’d all eventually work on each others work. The Tri and texture budget was quite low making this a great first project. Working with random people was at first unnerving but by the end of the week things felt like they were fitting together within the group.

I modeled a hog's head, with a 600 Tri limit 

In the group, I had to texture this barrel, while someone else would texture the hog's head I created

At the end of the week we were also set our first full project, again a group task, but this time groups could be chosen by us which I think is a mistake, because within the first few hours all most everyone had grouped up back into their friendship groups. I personally think having random groups is a much better way to prepare us for the industry, as it’ll be very rare if we ever get to chose who we work with during our Junior years.

I’ll go into more detail about the project next week when we've actually started it and hopefully I will have updated the design of the blog too, I think it's time for a change!

Notes & References
[1]http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice