Video Game Art

Here's a few images of some WIP game-related environment work I did a couple months ago, mainly to cure some boredom. All but one or two of the textures and models in the scene are custom built by myself, and of course all of the BSP geometry was built and lit by me.

I was sat in the opticians yesterday, waiting for my appointment. I noticed a TV with footage of the Royal Wedding on, mainly the flypast. I quite liked the helicopter angle of the Lancaster swooping across London low in the sky, and figured I'd use the shot as a template to showcase my AC130 model. Not really a final shot yet, there's still a few things I'm not happy with (the camera movement for one) but for a start it looks okay.

Traffik for Maya WIP

Here is a WIP video demonstrating my (almost) finished Collision Avoidance and Dynamic Path Detection/Selection frameworks.

In the video, the red and green cars (currently using cubes as placeholders) are configured to try and drive at 1.0 x the scene's global maximum vehicle speed (currently 10 units per second). The blue car is configured to drive slightly slower, at 0.75 of the max speed. The faster vehicles will travel at their maximum speed until they come into range of the slower vehicle, whereby they slow down until it is no longer within their 30-degree FOV, then they speed back up to their original speed.

Whilst navigating around the scene, the vehicles detect which curves begin at their current position. This enables them to detect which curve to move onto next, and in the case of branching paths, allows them to select an option at random to give the impression of conscious thought. This means when road systems are built, the user will not have to manually tell the tool which street connects to which - the vehicles will be able to automatically navigate of their own accord.

What I am currently working on today...

# TOM ROWELL - TRAFFIK PYTHON PROTOTPYE

import maya.cmds as cmds #REMEMBER TO UNCOMMENT FOR MAYA TESTING!!

import time, sched

vehicles = []

sceneLength = 0

timeIncrement = 0.0

sceneFPS = 0

class Vehicle:

id = 0

type = 'unused'

currentPath = 0

nextPath = 0

geometryObject = 'unused'

motionPath = 'unused'

ADL1 = 'unused'

ADL2 = 'unused'

ADL3 = 'unused'

def __init__(self):

self.geometryObject = cmds.polyCube()

for x in range(1, 4):

currentNode = cmds.createNode('addDoubleLinear')

exec("self.ADL" + str(x) + " = currentNode")

exec("cmds.connectAttr( \'" + self.ADL1 + ".output\', \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".translateX\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr( \'" + self.ADL2 + ".output\', \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".translateY\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr( \'" + self.ADL3 + ".output\', \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".translateZ\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr( \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".transMinusRotatePivotX\', \'" + self.ADL1 + ".input1\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr( \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".transMinusRotatePivotY\', \'" + self.ADL2 + ".input1\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr( \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".transMinusRotatePivotZ\', \'" + self.ADL3 + ".input1\')")

self.motionPath = cmds.createNode('motionPath')

exec("cmds.setAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".fractionMode\', 1)")

exec("cmds.connectAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".xCoordinate\', \'" + self.ADL1 + ".input2\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".yCoordinate\', \'" + self.ADL2 + ".input2\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".zCoordinate\', \'" + self.ADL3 + ".input2\')")

def queryVehicle(self):

print ("\n==Current Vehicle Query==")

print ("ID: " + str(self.id))

print ("Type: " + self.type)

print ("Geo Obj: " + str(self.geometryObject[0]))

print ("ADL1: " + self.ADL1)

print ("ADL2: " + self.ADL2)

print ("ADL3: " + self.ADL3)

print ("==END OF VEHICLE QUERY==\n")

def attachToPath(self, path):

print ("Attaching to path on curve \'" + path + "\'") # debug line

exec("cmds.setAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".uValue\', 0)")

exec("cmds.connectAttr(\'" + path + ".worldSpace[0]\', \'" + self.motionPath + ".geometryPath\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".message\', \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".specifiedManipLocation\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".rotateOrder\', \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".rotateOrder\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".rotateX\', \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".rotateX\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".rotateY\', \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".rotateY\')")

exec("cmds.connectAttr(\'" + self.motionPath + ".rotateZ\', \'" + self.geometryObject[0] + ".rotateZ\')")

# reserved for future additions

def testVariables():

global currentPath

print ("Test variable is: " + str(currentPath))

def initVehicle( x ):

global vehicles

newV = Vehicle()

newV.id = x

vehicles.extend([newV]) # add a new vehicle to the end of the list

def findVehicle( x ):

global vehicles

for v in vehicles:

if v.id == x: return v

def getSceneLength():

global sceneLength

global sceneFPS

sceneLength = cmds.playbackOptions( query = True, maxTime = True ) # get max length of scene

sceneFPS = cmds.currentUnit( query = True, time = True ) # get fps of scene

if sceneFPS == "game": sceneFPS = 15.0

if sceneFPS == "film": sceneFPS = 24.0

if sceneFPS == "pal": sceneFPS = 25.0

if sceneFPS == "ntsc": sceneFPS = 30.0

if sceneFPS == "show": sceneFPS = 48.0

if sceneFPS == "palf": sceneFPS = 50.0

if sceneFPS == "ntscf": sceneFPS = 60.0

sceneLength = sceneLength / sceneFPS # generate scene time in seconds

return sceneLength # return scene time in seconds

def runSimulation(simLength):

cmds.currentTime( 0.0, edit = True)

printTime()

print ("Running a " + str(simLength) + " second length simulation\n")

simCounter = sched.scheduler(time.time, time.sleep)

runTime = simLength * 100

print ("This equals " + str(runTime) + "centiseconds\n")

printTime()

for x in range(0, runTime):

simCounter.enter(0.01, 1, doSim, ())

simCounter.run()

printTime()

def doSim():

global sceneFPS

global timeIncrement

timeIncrement = sceneFPS / 100

newSceneTime = cmds.currentTime(query = True) + timeIncrement

print newSceneTime

cmds.currentTime( newSceneTime, edit = True)

print "\nAdding a bit!"

def printTime():

currentTime = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S", time.gmtime())

print currentTime

getSceneLength()

runSimulation(getSceneLength())

# === everything beneath this line is testing related ====

# initVehicle(1)

# findVehicle(1).queryVehicle()

# findVehicle(1).attachToPath('curve1')

# initVehicle(2)

# findVehicle(2).queryVehicle()

# findVehicle(2).attachToPath('curve2')

# mass creation testing - comment out between tests

Currently working on a set extension/texture painting exercise for my showreel. Painting a 4K texture for the fishing boat by hand at the moment. Here's a WIP shot of the texture in situ on the mesh.

Sci-Fi Work, Part II

Here is a WIP model sheet for the Jericho starship I'm modelling for the sci-fi shot. Currently only the basic blocked out mesh is complete, with some limited detailing and test textures.

Currently working on a background plate for my sci-fi shot sequence. Been working on producing a convincing procedural planet shader, as well as appealing lighting and atmospherics. Managed to get something looking reasonably nice so far. Have to render out a moving sequence and find some way of tracking the sun for the lens-flares.

First Proper C++ Program

This is it, my first real C++ program. All it does is print pythagorean triples between 0 and 100, but I'm proud of it :D

// PythagoreanTriples.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.

//

#include "stdafx.h"

#include "cmath"

float calculateHypot(int a, int b) // calculates square root of a^2 + b^2

{

float c;

c = ((a*a)+(b*b));

return sqrt(c);

}

bool checkInteger(float a) // subtracts int-cast version of c from c to determine if integer

{

if(a-(int)a != 0) return true; // if floating value, return true

return false; // if integer value, return false

}

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])

{

printf("***********************\n");

printf("* PYTHAGOREAN TRIPLES *\n");

printf("***********************\n");

int a;

int b;

//printf("The result is: %f", c);

for (a=1; a <= 100; a++)

{

for(b=1; b <= 100; b++)

{

float c = calculateHypot(a,b);

bool isInt = checkInteger(c);

if(isInt != true) // kinda reverse of what you'd think, but it only seems to work this way

{

int intC = int(c); // purely for display purposes - changes C into an integer value to cull trailing 0s

printf ("a = %d b = %d c= %d\n",a,b,intC);

}

}

}

}

Sci-Fi Work

Currently working on a sci-fi scene, mainly to test my own modelling/texture skills, as well as lighting large scenes. There's also plans to work up a reliable destruction pipeline, something I've been meaning to do for a while. Here's a random screenshot of the main starship in the scene. I'm currently remodelling and retexturing it, so I'll post some updates as and when that happens...