BA3 Research into Architecture 5

At this stage I have started creating a simple yet helpful piece of architecture in Maya. Using what i have learnt from our directed study sessions, some online research, and some of my own images and studies.

Having these images as reference I began simply by extruding the faces for the window panels inwards.

Following on I added the interior arches as I am have no knowledge of creating high poly geometry to be baked down. So for this particular piece I will focus on recreating the right panel in the outline image and perhaps go into more detail, though not necessary, it will act as good practice.

Next the arches were created unnecessary edge loops removed. In the future however I believe it's best to begin removing unwanted edges much later in the process as their early removal create triangulation that made reapplication of said edges difficult.

The overarching cover was extruded from the main face and made to seem faithful to the original image.

Inner grating was made for the windows. (In real production of a game these would be a higher poly creation used to create detail and shadow and would then be baked onto a flat face to save on tris).

After learning that the mesh of an asset does not need to be connected and that some pieces, especially those of a different material, can be a separate mesh and simply clip into another mesh and not need to be joined. As a result I extracted the curb above and replaced it to save on unnecessary tris being used to eliminate n-gons and merge meshes.
The curb is now a separate mesh but combined.

Next I went through the mesh removing unnecessary vertices and edges through either deletion or merging.

The same was also done with hidden faces as they would be impossible to view when placed in a scene.

Finally the window ending up looking as above. I was pleased with the outcome and believe it was faithful to the reference images.

The next stage would be to break up the geometry and make it seem more "organic" as it is currently too clean in the state it's in. I shall leave it for now however and work on making constructed designs more natural in a later study.

Thoughts:

So far I am excited about this project. this study piece has enabled be to apply what has been taught in our directed studies and aided me in understand the tools far better as well as some of the pipeline processes that go into game design.

Continuing on from this I plan to create 2 or 3 more pieces hopefully attempting to texture one by the end before being given our project brief. I like this 4 week research period we have been given as I feel it has given us a chance to explore the program better, understand our subject far more, and give us freedom to venture in our research without the pressure of creating things tailored to our brief. More studies will be made similar to this as well as some further research into other areas that go into creating a 3D asset.