#prop modelling

The Buffers Cafe.

The first Bin that I attempted to create was overly complicated and I feel that it was a failure in attempting to create a simple model with complex geometry. Though I also believe it was a success in teaching me workflow and not to over complicate my models. 

The problem came in when I beveled the opening to the Bin and had to model the inside of it with that bevel there. This created many difficulties, especially when I needed to add a box within it so that was the inside of the bin instead of just extruding the bin downwards. 

After a hard look at the model I realised it was covered in N-gons and had to fix most of them, then I needed to clean up the model via the Cleanup tool before I could unwrap it. 

This is to show how overly complex the model is on the wire-frame just for a bin.

When trying to Unwrap this model I felt it was an absolute nightmare and not worth the end product for something that should have been much simpler than i had made it.

Consequently, I decided to re-do the model and within many less hours of the previous geometry, I managed to finish most of the model. I still wanted the bin to look more futuristic and personalised so I added geometry in different places that would not make the model too complex, but still stand out. 

I found that there were  a few N-gons in the model and had to clean them up before going into the UV’s and Unwrapping them. 

The Unwrapping for this Model was a bit of a pain with lots of small bits to it and differing in sizes of topology. 

On the hand, it was much easier than the previous unwrapping of the complex Bin that I had made before. The UV layout for this model I feel came out extremely well and I used up a large amount of space, almost leaving no space outstanding. 

When it came to putting this model in Substance Painter, I was now confident to tackle this texturing process properly. With many smart masks, smart materials, alpha maps, and emissive materials, the Bin model came out amazing. 

A closer look at the normals of the smart materials, showing how detailed the model is and how it actually looks like belongs in a grungy cyberpunk world. 

For the TV I had realised that it looked too simple. If I was doing a different type of theme then I would have been fine with a straight flat-screen TV, therefore I varied it by changing small things with the model to give me something more to work with. The first variation was a TV that would go on the corner of a building, this one I was still not too happy with but it was something to think about. 

The next one is a screen that looks quite like a TV but its a holographic projection and has a peculiar shape. On it would have been some sort of advertisement and maybe cracks on the glass. 

This is the variation that I went with where the screen itself was extremely simple, but on the back of the model there are brackets that would hold the screen up. This gives a player something to look at and appreciate that they are in a cyberpunk world. 

Then the simplest design was just a normal Flat screen TV that I would work on mostly in the textures.

The unwrapping of this model was fairly easy as the model was extremely simple and had no geometry that was overly complicated.  

My main problem I have with this unwrap is that the layout does not cover all of the UV space that I have to use. Meaning that the textures of my TV model could have come been better quality. 

At the time i was texturing this model I was confused as to how I would make the materials separate to give the TV screen its lights and the rest of the model a scratched steel smart material.

After leaving the texturing of this model for a while and working on the Bin further. I came back to change this models Smart material to make it darker, making it match the rest of my models. Then I went online and found a Glass smart Material that I added onto the front. I did not expect the material to be so dirty and full of grunge, however I was quite happy with how it looked. As the screen is almost unrecognisable as glass, it does look odd however, I like that in a world building sense it looks as if it has been left unused for years.  

After looking at many Bollards that are out in the streets. I decided to keep it simple with this model and use Substance Painter as my main tool to make this model look futuristic. The model itself I believe came out well.

I decided to add little extra indents so that the lights would be separated like some Bollards have them. Once again giving my models more personality so they aren’t bland. 

Unwrapping this model wasn’t particularly difficult as it is mostly cylindrical and most of the model gets unwrapped when I use the cylindrical Unwrap. 

I feel that the layout of this unwrap came out a lot better than the Bench as there is less room. However I feel there was still lots of room that I could have used. Such as the inside of the cylinders could have been filled with some other parts of the unwrap.  

When I first textured the Bollard I think it came out well for a game or world that was futuristic but, relatively clean as I did not understand how to texture correctly in Substance Painter. Much like the same problem with the Bench model. 

Then after learning more about Substance Painter I took it back in and edited the texture to give it a lot more rust as I feel these Bollards would be in the open. Meaning it is open to the elements, so I gave it a lot more deformations as well as some slight mold too. 

For the models I wanted to make them practical in a real life situation so that they would look as if they could be inserted into a city in the future. I started with a cube and separated it into the legs, the glass panel and the main body of the Bench using Edge loops.  

Next I bridged the legs across giving the Bench its foundations and started inserting edge loops on the legs to make bars across it. On the main body of the Bench I moved faces outwards so that it gave the model more personality, as well as extruded faces inwards this being where I will texture the Neon Lights. 

At this point I felt that the model still looked bland and could use some more geometry. Therefore, I added a block underneath the model which, will be textured with an emissive texture. Then I brought the legs inwards into the model, this changing how the model looked more than I could have imagined. 

The initial unrwapping of the Bench was irritating until I got help from my 3D Modelling Tutor Paul Bannon. He taught me how to Unwrap efficiently using hotkeys and shortcuts, making the modelling process quicker and in my opinion a lot cleaner. 

The final wrap came out well with all the texture cubes being the same size and no warping in any parts of the model. If there was anything I wish I improved on was the layout of the unwrap as there is a lot of unused room that I could have utilized to make the texture be higher definition.  

When I took my Bench into Substance Painter I felt that the textures were lacking a lot of things for a Grungy cyberpunk environment. However, at the time I did not know how to use most of the tools in Substance Painter properly. At the time I was happy with the model but later on when I learned new techniques on how texture in Substance Painter. I threw it back into the program and had another try. 

I feel that this texturing came out a lot better after learning a lot more about Substance Painter. By baking the textures and adding smart masks to the model I feel it actually looks like a Bench that has been left outside for years.