Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Final Image Captures!

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Okay, so my dear temperamental environment worked (mostly) long enough for some decent pictures! Here they finally are, BUT, some still have missing components. The entire bridge also wouldn't show up, as well as most of Madonna's space's exterior views. This is the best I could do.
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COMPLETED ARCHITECTURE
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For this scheme and its exploration of power, my main ideas and themes were scale, contrast and inversion. I wanted to present the power of my clients and compliment it in some places, but challenge it in others.
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OBAMA'S SPACE
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Barack Obama's space is where I wanted to explore scale and size. My ideas also led me to consider it amongst its surroundings and how they would work together to present an idea.
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Approaching from the bridge, the grand staircase, high levels and columns loom above you, hopefully invoking a feeling of awe. I looked at the White House and other classical buildings of importance for inspiration, but because of Obama's promise for change, I thought I should invert classical ideas somehow. Hence the collapsing columns, that don't actually hold anything up; literally 'shaking the foundations' of presidential history.
(Picture is missing bottom level walls)
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The first interior room, a high-ceiling auditorium with a stage for speeches.
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The building has a defense briefing room, with miniature 3D maps; one table shows a city, the other, a coastal fleet of ships. A communications room is opposite.
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Obama's actual office was designed as an expansive podium area. You ascend the stairs and enter the uncluttered room, whose focal point is the US flag and the president's table. The flag behind him represents his nation's legacies, and the panoramic view before him always presents his responsibilities.
(Picture missing glass wall)
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Finally, there is a en extended lookout area where Obama can go purely to look and think, and stairs ascending to a rooftop helipad.
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MADONNA'S SPACE
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Madonna's space also represents power through scale, but in a much different way. My central idea here was a building designed to reflect superficial power, and visions of self. Madonna does not have the responsibilies of Obama, attaining power through entertainment and commercial popularity. Thus the first elevator and the entrance is designed as a stage entrance, moving down levels of scaffolding and out onto the stage, where she is always the focus.
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The view from her office reverses this; it is like a V.I.P booth, where she always has a seat and a great view. From here she metaphorically watches herself and what she represents.
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I designed her office to be stepped and more self-enclosed. The attention is on her, and she can ascend and descend levels as pleases.
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But 'watching' yourself all day might make you insecure, right? That's where the competitor dartboards come in...
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MEETING SPACE
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Here is where the contrast comes in. I wanted the meeting space to be a humbling experience. The elevators approach from opposite and equal sides, with an identical walkway and a simple, symmetrical seating area. The view is completely 360 degrees.
(Picture missing glass wall)
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The dining table was the ultimate way to challenge the concept of power. I thought, what if such powerful people could be beaten simply by a table? It has a non-uniform surface with irregularly and annoyingly raised sections, so that you're always paying attention to what you pick up and put down, and where. I wanted to make them always conscious of their own roles, in a situation where they're not in absolute control.
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ELEVATORS
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Obama's elevator is designed like his office, simple and expansive. The seating makes it resemble a train carriage, with room for plenty of people. It effectively prepares him for the humbling experience of the meeting space.
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Madonna's first elevator is not her main one. It only serves as a stage entrance elevator, lowered down through scaffolding.
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Her main elevator extends the ideas of her space, like Obama's, but the opposite way. It remains enclosed, with a solitary seat, and sharp protusions, suggesting protection and self-assurance. It does the opposite to preparing her for the meeting space and table.
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Screwed-up image captures!

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I've come to a conclusion.
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There is someone in control of this environment, and it's not me.
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Half of the pictures I take come out with missing components! They're there in the game, but disappear in the picture. WHHHHY?!
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This is where the bridge was supposed to be, connected to the handrails (which are missing their base). The entire thing gone!
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FINAL ENVIRONMENTS!

Here are all the files uploaded to Mediafire (they were too big for Filefront). Aaah, and now that I've composed myself (sorry about those panicked posts...), i'll just quickly explain what was happenning and why there are different files.

1. When I tested my map, the sky was displaying as the white-blue-red grid it displays as in the editor. I tried changing the texture back, looking through its properties, but didn't know how else to fix it. After going through all the earlier saved files, I pinpointed the file in which it first happened, and realised that I'd deleted a little icon in that box outside the model area, that is pre-existing in the experiment 3 template. So I ended up reloading my model into the empty template. I've uploaded the earlier file as proof of the problem.

This is the EARLIER SAVED FILE where the sky was first deleted: http://www.mediafire.com/?dimwm2kj4ko

Also, some components were disappearing. Together with the missing sky this nearly killed me! But I followed all the help in the tutes and discussion board and it all seemed to work out...

3. ...Until the lighting! A majority of the lights still just won't work. When I 'build all' the lighting gets applied, and because it won't work, half of my environment is caught under big shadows and is pitch black. So I've had to settle for 'building geometry' only. The surfaces look flat, but at least you can see everything and walk everywhere. So I've uploaded two final map files:

This is the FINAL UT2004 MAP, WITHOUT ANY LIGHTING:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zhbdnnyzntm

The final UT2004 MAP, WITH LIGHTING (BUT NOT YET BUILT):
http://www.mediafire.com/?yzfjzd3ngo2
Note: I've just realised that in this file, for some really weird reason it's built itself an extra glass wall at the end of the bridge. When you first start, you can't get into the bridge on your right, so use Tab > Type "fly" > Enter to fly around.

4. And lastly...

The final SKETCHUP MODEL:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zhg4ngzizze



WARNING! Before you download, these are really big files! The UT maps screw up in the editor and in the game a lot, which is probably one of the reasons for all the above problems.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Ok, so I know i'm not in a unique position, but i've been trying to work through the problems. For some reason the sky, some surfaces and components won't show up, even though im trying the suggestions on the discussion board. Blogger is even screwing up on me, i hope this posts!

I think my poor laptop has been on too long and there are too many programs running, and there must be something wrong somewhere.

This is an earlier saved version of my map:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=9a7ebd4a48783b670de4fc1039a01674e04e75f6e8ebb871

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Sunday, June 21, 2009

TO ANYONE VISITING....


AAAARGH TECHNICAL FAILURES!

DESPERATELY TRYING TO GET THINGS WORKING AND TOGETHER. WILL HOPEFULLY HAVE STUFF UP SOON.

Peer Review - Week 5 of Exp. 3


Draft Environment - Model Under Construction

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This first image illustrates how I set about making my model. The first step was defining the area we would be building in in the Unreal editor. I made a cube in Sketchup and imported it in. I then scaled it back appropriately and used it as a kind of measuring tool to determine how many of these could cubes could fit in the Unreal space. I came out with a volume of 200 x 200 x 200m approx, which is the wireframe box seen below. This then defined what I could do in Sketchup.
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These images show the process of my Sketchup draft model. I created every piece separately, to import it into UT as a static mesh. And yeah, it took A LOOOONG TIME.
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And here are some shots of various stages of progression in piecing the model together. Considering Sketchup modelling first, making custom textures, and importing and rebuilding it... i never wanna look at another computer screen again!
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Sketches, Plans and Ideas

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A few of the pages from my notebook, with written and visualised ideas, model composition, client relationships, etc.
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CHOSEN CLIENTS: BARACK OBAMA (ABOVE) AND MADONNA (BELOW)
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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Custom Textures

Textures exploring types of movement.


Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Draft Elevators and Test Import

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Some elevator ideas. Just getting concepts from mind to 3D.
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Here's my first attempt at importing custom content from Sketchup to Unreal, with the above test elevator. It worked! (Anyone wondering why there are pictures of Rihanna and Kylie Minogue, wait until the final model comes together and you'll see)
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