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Research - Architects

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Processes - Creating Pillars and Vaulted Ceilings

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Research - Creating Normal Maps In Blender

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Research - End of the World theories: Physics

I wanted a theme of my environmental work to be the end of the world/universe with unexplainable phenomenon appearing in the environment; due to recent events I don't know how likely it is I'll be incorporating such details, or if I even still want to, but here's the research I did into the end of the universe from a physics standpoint.

I chose the end of the universe because it allows you to take away and add rules to what we would see in our ever day likes; whose to say at the end of the universe gravity would still act consistently, there could be parts of a planet where theres no gravity at all and others where it's like standing on the surface of the sun, or maybe time splits and you're able to see what you've done and will do throughout time, doors could appear and lead to nonsensical places or corridors could stretch to the point where you'll never reach the end. There's so many possibilities and opportunities to create interesting worlds when the rules are adjusted.

From what I can tell, theres seems to be four major theories as to how the universe will end; I knew about most of theme before the research, but I found a great article on futurism.com that explains them quite well.

It's difficult to predict the end of the universe, but the outcome ultimately depends on three variables; the overall shape of the universe, it's density and the amount of dark energy that can be found within it. The first tel theories depend on the universe existing in a "flat" or "open" system (One that is negatively curved, like a saddle.)

The Big Rip:

This theory is based around the expansion of the universe caused by "Dark Energy" (A type of energy that we can't directly observe, the only way we know about it is by observing its effect on the universe). Dark energy doesn't just cause the universe to grow larger, it also increases the rate at which it expands.

The Big Rip relies on the assumption that the universe will continue to expanding and that this rate of expansion will continue to increase indefinitely - if this proves to be true, the theory says that the universe will grow so large, so rapidly that galaxies, stars, planets and even matter itself will be torn apart; giving the theory its name, the big rip.

Whether or not this theory would prove true depends on the critical density, which is the value between open models that expand forever and closed models that end re-collapse.

According to a theoretical physicist by the name of Robert Caldwell, if The Big RIP were to win out above all other end of the universe theories, it would take around 22 billions years for the Rip to happen. If the Earth were able to survive being incinerated by the sun by this point, which it wont, the planet would explode about 30 minutes before the final event.

The Big Freeze/Heat Death:

This is perhaps one of the most probable scenarios.

In this scenario, the universe continues to expand at an ever-increasing rate. As the universe grows in size, heat is dispersed throughout space while galaxies, stars and planets are pulled farther and farther away from each other. In the very far future, you'd look up into the sky and think you were alone, with the light from distant stars and galaxies being unable to reach you.

Eventually everything would be pulled so far apart that stars would lose the essential materials to form and thus the lights would go out for good.

It would continue to grow colder and colder until the temperature throughout the universe hit absolute zero. At absolute zero, all movement stops, everything stops. Nothing can exists in such a place, as there is literally no energy left. This is the point where the universe would reach a maximum state of entropy, the universe would be dark, cold and dead.

The Big Crunch:

This theory is said to be the direct consequence of The Big Bang theory and is kind of the opposite of The Big Rip. In this model, the expansion of the universe doesn't last indefinitely.

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Research - End of the World theories: Mythology

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GMTK - Clockwork Games and Timeloops

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Trying to Create Normal Maps in Blender

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Experimenting with Unreal Cloth Physics

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Unreal Holograms

This video shows how to make a hologram like material in the Unreal Engine. Since I'm making assets for a Sci-fi/Fantasy environment, I needed a way to display the more fantastical elements since Sci-fi usually overpowers the fantasy. One way to achieve this would be things you'd find within a fantasy settings and replace them with holographic elements, like flags, banners, perhaps even the paper component of scrolls.

The tutorial starts by giving the material a translucent blend mode and an unlit shading model, translucent makes the model see through and unlit means surrounding lighting conditions won't affect it.

The first section of actually developing the material is focused on creating the line/dot affect which stops the hologram from being a solid image. It does this with a combination of nodes, but its mostly achieved with two sine nodes that are multiplied by a parameter, this parameter determining how many lines/dots there were. Sine nodes are a node that creates lines with a small gradient between white and black, and these are used for the holograms opacity. Aside fro. The sine nodes, theres also a panner node which move the lines and a linear gradient node, these are then based on the screenalignUV which means the hologram material will look the same from any distance or angle. To get the dots instead of the lines, the two sine nodes are multiplied together after they're multiplied to themselves.

Next is the scan lines, these appear line the scan lines you'd find in old video, presumably to add some variation to the image, aside from the lines/dots that are already there. The scan lines start with the absolute world position, this is to help with determining which direction the scan lines are moving, we then need to mask the world position so we're only using the Z and since the colour of the Z inside of Unreal is blue, we only need to tick the blue and untick the rest. This is then divided by another parameter to determine the amount of lines and a panner is used to make the lines move. The panner is then masked with the green channel selected because in UVs, green is the vertical channel. Next a frac node is added to add the actual lines, then theres a power node to change the strength of the gradient and finally a lerp node to determine how dark or light the scan line can get, this is because we'll be multiplying these with the lines/dots and we dont want the scan lines to be wholly transparent or opaque.

After all the scan lines are done, it's time move into colour, which is possibly the post simple part; it's just two colours multiplied together with a fresnel node used as the alpha with a power node determining the strength of the fresnel effect. Fresnel is just a node that created a gradient between black and white depending on the angle that you're looking at an object, for example the edges of a sphere would be white because its curving away from you while the middle of the sphere is darker because you're observing it head on; the fresnel effect is used in this material so you're able make out the shape of the hologram. A Depth field and another vector colour node can be added to the colour code to give the image a gradient from one side to the other.

Second to last is the flicker effect which helps give the hologram a sort of aged, run down effect like the technology isn't holding up after so much time, like it's either been damaged or isng functioning properly, or simply just because the level of technology isn't capable of achieving a constant image; either way it makes it seem much more interesting. This is created with a time node that triggers two sines, which are then multiplied together and then an add node is used with a plus one, then its divided by two and finally multiplied with a VertexNormal node. All of this comes together to create a system that randomly chooses a value between 0 and 1, this is then multiplied with the lines/dots and plugged into the opacity, thus creating the flicker whenever the value changes. This is actually the material code that the creator of the tutorial originally used for the bulging effect shown in the video, but it incorporated it to opacity to create the flicker; however now that I look at it, it could've been done with far less nodes and be far more efficient.

Finally to get the bulge effect, it's the same process as before, but just plugged into the world offset.

While this material seems rather simple, it's actually built in an impressively modular way sk that when its turned into a material instance, all of the settings can be easily changed to create a completely unique look. I already knew how regular ScalarParameters worked, but this tutorial thankfully introduced me to the Switchparameter, which essentially acts in the same way as a branch would in a blueprint event graph.

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Further Development

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Planning Presentation

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Corvid-19 Impact

Due to the recent epidemic and the fact that I'm in isolation due to my immune system along with the fact that nearly all the schools have closed, including West Suffolk College, I now have to work from home.

I don't expect that I'll need to adjust my schedule too much in order to finish my FMP, but admittedly it'll be make the progress slightly more challenging, but I have all the software, so the challenges caused by the change is circumstances won't be too difficult to overcome.

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Weekly Reflection - Week 3

So far I haven’t exactly been following my timeline that I wrote for my proposal, I was meant to be practicing my skills in architectural and environmental design, however I found myself rather fascinated and stuck on what I had only meant to be a very minor effect; this being the ghost trails, I only thought they’d take an hour to implement and I could move on to working on environmental assets, that did not happen though as it took me most of the week just to get the effect working to a standard that I was happy with.

I did thankfully get that effect working, but my constant habit of placing too much pressure on myself and minor things still persists, I’m fairly sure I could’ve finished Thursday morning, but I just had to get it right.

Now, because I arguably wasted time on an effect that I may not end up using, I need to cram in as much practice in between today and Monday next week so I can feel like I’m as caught up as I could be.

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Research

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Research - Medieval Japan Architecture

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Research - Sci - Fi Architecture

Science Fiction Architecture can vary as much as real life architecture, even more so since it isn't beholden to our own culture and technology; that being said there are two styles that are used pretty regularly, these being extremely clean, and bright, even sterile or there is the opposite, which is rather broken down, unkempt and dirty. These two styles are often seen within the same piece of media, usually to display the disparity between the rich and poor, or the overwhelmingly strong evil compared to the heavily disadvantaged good guy.

Star Wars:

Given that Star Wars is based in a galaxy filled with countless different alien species, so the range of architecture and environments is vast. I'm going to focus on the worlds seen in the films, because EU and Legends are near infinite.

Tatooine - A consequence of Tatooine being a desert planet, all of the buildings that you see in the films are made of sandstone, with any other building resource rarely being seen. The buildings have a blocky quality to them, often with a domed roof. While looking at photos, most structures don't seem to have windows and those that do only seem to have holes placed into the walls, I assume because when you live in such a hot environment, you'd rarely need to close a window.

Aside from sandstone that dominates the environment, there's a few flashes of metal, mostly making up the doors of the buildings and the antennae esque moisture condensers that poke out from inbetweeners the buildings.

Kamino - The exterior of Kamino's buildings are a dark grey with lights shining through the windows from the interior, the shape the structures are mostly shallow domes, some growing in a point, all of them seemingly designed to allow rain to run off of the roofs into the ocean below. Each of the buildings are connected with walkways, these walkways usually forcing the individual to exit out and traverse through the constant rain. There are also many landing pads dotted through out, on the side of buildings, along walkways and occasionally even making up the walk way itself.

In the interior of the structured, it's all very sterile with white and black walls, with almost empty rooms and hallways, any furniture or equipment is usually scientific equipment, basic necessities like chairs or cloning facilities. While I can't explain why Kamino looks so empty, beside the fact it's inhabitants may be very minimalistic, I can explain the bright white walls; while we only see white walls, the Kaminoans can see th Ultra Violet spectrum of light, meaning the walls are covered in bright, vibrant, diverse colours from their point of view.

Coruscant - Practically the whole surface of Coruscant is made of metal after the entire planet was eventually converted into a city. There's a level, blocky layer of metal that seems to be consistent everywhere on the planet, then theres the spires that raise into the sky, all of which seem to be of a different design; there are more cubic towards, all hard edges and sharp corners and more industrial in appearance, then theres the towers that have plenty of curves, eventually ending in a sharp point, giving it a more elegant appearance. Then there are the towers that seem to have a combination of these two qualities. There are also large channels cut into the metal surface that run further down that you can see and these are used as hover car lanes with streets being built into the side.

Coruscant reminds me of a combination between the two extremes found in Star Wars, those being a galaxy is immaculate, as of brand new and a galaxy that is feeling the effects of entropy and everything is degraded to the point of falling apart. Depending on which level of Coruscant you're on, you'll see an entirely different environment. Any place where you can see the sky is in the best condition, the interior architecture being immaculate and of a faux greek/roman mix style. The further down you go, the worse the situation gets, the style used on higher levels disappears and everything become very utilitarian, it becomes more claustrophobic and cramped, the technology becomes more obsolete and decrepit, the walls are scorched black from pollution and neon lights and holograms light up the otherwise dark interior of the planet.

Desting 2:

Earth -

Cabal - The cabal in Destiny 2 are a very warlike, industrious and reflects in the way they build things,

Awoken - Awoken architecture, which is primarily seen inside of The Dreaming City, seems to follow the same principles of the Elven cities in LOTRs. All the buildings have a very organic shape, avoiding hard edges when ever possible and always having some sort of curve to them. It feels just as if you'd brought the LOTRs elves millennia into the future, there is a giant gazebo found inside of the Gardens of Elisa that looks like it was pulled straight from one of the films. The buildings are a bright white, with blue being the reoccurring sub colour, often incorporating gold trim in some way and they're almost always symmetrical. The blue parts of the buildings are in fact stained glass windows, intricately detailed and made up of many small geometric shapes that create a floral pattern.

The interiors of the structures feel like a fantasy castle/cathedral given a science fiction coat, though it may not even seem like science fiction from a screenshot, that may just be the added context from the rest of the game. The roome have vaulted ceilings and numerous pillars, arched doors and windows, these all add to the medieval fantasy aesthetic and make them seem like a cousin of the Norman style I discuss in a previous post, albeit a more grandiose cousin. The architecture itself is almost like a white marble with a few blue tones here and there, with gold continuing to be inlaid throughout the interior. You may also come across, large, crystal walls that replace the usual pristine white.

What is actually used to decorate the scene is in fact a multitude of different statues representing cultural figures in the Awoken's history, areas where plants are allowed to grow, usually to fill the larger halls or the edges of hallways (Further adding to the LOTR feel), there'll also be minor things such as floating lights, vases, braziers and many of the things you imagine to be in a fantasy castle. The walls are in fact covered in very floral engravings, continuing the theme created by the stained glass windows; these engravings actually serve a function however, as they are the Awoken's written language.

The layout of the Awoken building varies, but a common pattern is large rooms being connected to long hallways through an anti chamber, these anti chambers often having a central piece in the middle of the room, whether it be a statue or a kind of plant.

Vex - The architecture used by the Vex reflects their mechanical state quite well, all of the structures created by the Vex are all made of primitive shapes, namely cubes with cylinders and spheres making; they're the most simple shape and probably the most efficient shape to build structures out of and they're built in a very blocky manner, with parts of the shape jutting out and others receding inwards. The design of the structures varies slightly, they're built in such a way where they have an inner layer filled with technology, then there is a layer that looks similar to a metal cage and then the outer layer seems to be made out of concrete and it varies in the way these layers are shown. This layered system can actually help to display just how old he construct is. If the outer concrete layer is intact, the structure is generally rather new, then you get to the stage where the concrete starts to crack and you can see into the inner layer, then eventually the concrete is gone and you're just left with the metal cage and the tech, even after that the cage can be decayed to the point where there isnt much left besides some metal struts surrounding electronics.

There isn't many ways that the environment is decorated besides the slight difference of colour of the structures, or the overgrowth of plants that can often be found in Vex complexes, however you can occasionally see different stone statues depicting different Vex enemy types. (Which feels a little out place given their very mechanical nature, I wouldn't have thought machines would have much use for statues.) There are also points in the Infinite Forest on Mercury that you can see Vex have decided to put gold trim in their architecture.

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Research - Medieval European Architecture

Medieval Fantasy:

Due to the fanciful nature of Medieval Fantasy, everything is a slightly more exaggerated version of our own medieval history, cities and buildings are bigger, there are more people, often everything seems either more elegant, more decorated or on the contrary more disheveled and dirty. This is of course supposed to evoke the feeling of that environment and since we're not there ourselves, it needs to be amplified to get that feeling across.

Most medieval fantasy settings are European themed, and even though that is my personal theme or tone for a medieval fantasy, it's a shame that other cultures don't seem to get as much attention paid to them, despite the fact they have such histories, myths and legends that could easily be used to enrich a fantasy world. Their architecture is also very interesting, so I'm going to look at a few different cultures architecture and see how it could influence my own designs.

European Architecture:

I'm focusing on the architecture from medieval England because it's a rather complex subject and it could take a lot more than I'm able to talk about here.

After the Battle of Hastings all important stone buildings were built in a romanesque style, known as the Norman style in Britain and this continued for more than a century until eventually being replaced by Gothic in the later 12th century.

One of the main identifying features of Norman architecture is a semicircular arch combined with massive cylindrical pillars. Early Norman buildings have an austere and fortress like quality. The chapel of St. John within the Tower of London is a good early and atmospheric example.

The style appears most prominently in great keeps of castles such as Dover and Rochester in Kent and Richmond in North Yorkshire. Surviving domestic examples are far rarer, but include the so called Jews' House in Lincoln and the Constables House within Christchurch castle in Dorset.

Many Norman buildings were often decorated, with the walls, arches and pillars being painted. From the early 12th century carved decoration also became more common, which can be seen in the Chevron vault ribs of the "rainbow arch" Lindisfarne Priory.

Doorways were flanked by rows of columns, and topped by concentric arches often carved with zigzags, or encrusted with signs of the zodiac or animal faces. The heads of pillars were also frequently carved – perhaps with scallops, or stylised water-lily leaves like those at Burton Agnes Manor House in Yorkshire.

Wall surfaces might be decorated with tiers of intersecting round arches carved in low relief, as at Castle Rising Castle and Castle Acre Priory in Norfolk and Wenlock Priory in Shropshire.

In the later decades of the 12th century, a new architectural style began to appear. Its pointed arches may have been derived from the Islamic buildings which were seen by soldiers during the crusades. The style wasn't well regarded by renaissance historians, who dismissed it as Gothic, meaning barbarous.

At first, the new arches were simply grafted onto the old Norman normal features. At the ‘transitional’ church of Buildwas Abbey in Shropshire, for example, the main arches have shallow points while the windows above them are round-headed.

Byland Abbey and Roche Abbey are key examples of the new style’s rapid progress. By around 1200 a fully Gothic style (called Early English by the Victorians) had developed. Distinctive features included narrow pointed lancet windows, and pillars are composed of clustered columns and shafts of polished marble. Whitby Abbey and parts of Rievaulx Abbey were built in this style during the 1220s.

An offshoot if Gothic, called The Decorative Style, named for the elaborate stone tracery of its sometimmes very large windows, appeared around 1290.The west front of York Minster is a fine example of this style.

Sculpted embellishment was also lavished on arches (which were sometimes flattened and cusped, or ‘ogee’) and on column capitals and wall surfaces. Among the most impressive achievements of the Decorated style is the great octagonal ‘lantern’ of Ely Cathedral, raised in 1322–8 above the crossing and invisibly supported by mighty timber struts