Environment Creation Part 2

By Meg Sugden
UV Mapping the Environment 
I then began to UV Map everything in the environment. This was actually a fairly simple job and I managed to get though it fairly quickly without too much of an issue. I wanted to ensure that I mapped out pretty much everything even though some elements may not be actually seen, but I wanted to image what it would look like if it was a game level as well. 

To begin with I didn't really know where to start so I began with the trees in the background as these seemed like they would be pretty simple, which they were. They unfolded to produce a good shape that would be easy to apply a texture too in the end and as I used the same tree, just changed the sizes I could easily apply the same texture to all of them.

I then moved only onto the fence posts that went all the way around the edge of the level. This was definitely the most tedious part to the UV mapping as I did have to texture them individually as they were all completely different shapes and sizes, but again this was not difficult due to the fact that they were just long cubes that were stretched out so all I had to do was alter the shape of the UV's in the texture editor. The best ways in which I could do this was to apply a checker texture first and then manipulate the UV's so that the checkers were clear and more square and fitted in the shape well. 

I then went about filling in the smaller objects in the level looking at the barrels and crates and then also the stones that are around the camp fire and the stones that are in the houses. As these are just all the same rock that has been duplicated I wanted to just create one unfolded UV Map and then just apply it too all of them and see if that works before individually unwrapping all of them. At this stage I also started to black out the areas that I had already UV Mapped, just so that I knew what had been done and what was still to go. 

I then moved onto looking at the climbing tree, this was fairly difficult to do as I had a lot of faces that didn't seem to be attached to the main part of the geometry but I think this is were I have made a mistake when cutting the edges in order to split up the object. But I will give texturing it a go and see what the outcome will be in the end and if it doesn't work I will do it again.

I then UV mapped the pieces of wood that stuck out of the huts and as once again these were all the same object just duplicated and then rotated, I just UV Mapped one, and then will wait to see how they turn out and otherwise I will UV Map them all. I then also UV Mapped the wood that was left on the fire place.

I then looked inside the huts and UV mapped the sleeping mats that were in there, these would all be really colourful and well patterned and unique for each animal. I also UV Mapped the wooden divide that is in Chief hut so that that can be textured as well.

I finished up looking into the rest of the level and the little details before moving onto the huts themselves. These were very difficult to do as in some areas there were faces that were not meant to be there, and after trying for ages to get the map to be completely blue I gave up and decided to just duplicate one hut that I had already UV Mapped successfully and then had just changed a few parts of it around.

I then finished up with the tipi hut and the scattered food that was on the floor before ensuring that everything was coloured black so that I knew that I had UV Mapped everything in the scene. Once I was done I had a quick check around and ensured that I liked the look of the scene, which I really did before handing over all of the UV Maps to Stuart to be able to texture as we are going to be hand creating all of our textures. 

Texturing the Environment
I then went onto texturing the environment. For this Stuart was the one that created all of the textures as we wanted to ensure that it was consistent and used the same layout and colour scheme and just generally looked like it all fit together, which it did. For the textures we wanted to use a very cartoony look that was consistent with the characters and ensure that they had black lines left in them just to bring the cartoon/comic nature to the environment which once everything has been put together will look really great.

I really like the look of this so far and I think the overall look is going brilliantly. The feel of the environment is the right kind of cartoony nature which we were looking for and so far it looks just how we anticipated and with each texture that is added the more the environment comes to life.

Overall I am so happy with the final result. I think the textures that Stuart has created are fantastic and look great in the scene, now is the time to take this into Unity and start modeling the floor and adding in the sky box so that we can bring this to life even further and create an brilliant environment that comes to life when you walk through it.