Using Maya, we set the grid to 500 x 100 x 2, this means that each square in the grid is equal to 50cm in real life.
Sci-Fi Corridor
In this workshop we will be creating a modular sci-fi corridor using asset modelled in Maya and a texture downloaded from the popular texture website textures.com.
The assets we create will be set to specific sizes so that they can fit together to create a network of corridors suitable for a game level set in a space station or underground research base.
We added a simple cube, 100x100x100 and assigned a new material to it, our trim sheet.
Here is a collection of textures we will be using for this workshop:
We added the texture to the cube:
We re-aligned the texture to suit the cube more.
We c hanged the floor panel to 400×200 making it more of a panel shape.
We used Ctrl + E to create another face on the inside. We selected the outside and inner face alongside the side faces and slip the UV map, then used automatic. Because we will not be able to see these faces, the result of the texturing isn’t that important.
Go to image > image range in the UV menu and set -3 for both minimum columns and +3 for both maximum columns to tile the UV texture.
Adjusting more texture
Duplicate the shape and change the position of the new shape’s UV map so that we get the illusion of panels. If we keep copying this process, eventually we will get the floor of the corridor.
Then we creating a square with the dimensions 100x100x100 and moved it into the top left of our panels. We then shrank it inwards on the edge of the shape.
We then extruded and enhanced the size of the shape until we achieved a rectangle. The extrusion allows us to have multiple faces so we can use the edge tool to create the faces we want and extrude them inwards to create a half-arch look.
When I did this process in college, I aligned the UV texture map differently:
Next we need to add the correct UV mapping to the shape, in the UV Editor menu. We then duplicate this shape, after working on only one shape as this saves time and the repetitive process.
To connect these shapes, and start giving this model a corridor look, we add another square shape and extend it to reach from each side.
Adding some more shape and detail to the ceiling of our corridor, we use the face tool to move some faces inwards and the edge tool to adjust where the faces start and end.
After confident with the shape, we need to add correct texture in the correct places in the UV Editor.
Make these three shapes into a group or a single shape and duplicate it across the platforms to add beams to the inside of the corridor.
Adding another cube and giving it a subdivision depth of 5, we have a shape with multiple faces which we can resize and individually move.
Add the best and most appropriate texture to the different faces of this shape.
We added another cube to start creating the ceiling of the corridor. We gave it the dimensions of W – 800, H – 400 D – 100.
We gave the ceiling a subdivision width of 10. We selected corresponding faces and extruded them outwards slightly to represent lighting in the corridor.
We then textured this shape again… I think this process would get repetitive. However, after modelling our tanks in Maya and a few other workshops, using the UV editor to add texture is relatively easy now.
After the ceiling was complete, we saved this model from Maya as an FBX export so that we could use it in Unreal Engine. It is important to export our meshes into our content folder so that Unreal Engine can use them.
We had to do this process to enable the ceiling lights of the corridor to glow and actually emit light, however I didn’t understand this process very well.
We added the shapes with their textures into UE and duplicated
After adding the shapes and moving them into position, we have a single piece of the corridor completed.
We then select these shapes and group them as one so that we can duplicated and move the shape.
Lee did some complicated programming thing and made the corridor reflective:
To do this we have to double click on the texture when selecting the surface you want and this opens the unity tab. From here we can link together the texture to different maps such as AO, metallic etc. In order to do this we need a new texture sample for each map. To get a new texture sample use Ctrl + W
The workshop was useful to learn more about Unreal Engine, it was a nice introduction on how lighting can be used in Unreal Engine and how flexible the lighting feature is. It was fascinating to put a character into a world that I have created and see it actually come together and work. Despite it being a simple and short corridor, I had a lot of fun running around it.
Conclusion
In conclusion this was a very long process but I enjoyed modelling in Maya and transferring it into UE. I got to see how an FBX file can be used and how it can create environments. I struggled a little with using UE because the Unity Programming element of the workshop was very new to me so it took a little getting used to. I also didnt know I had to drag the texture maps into the Unreal Content tray so this made me confused for a bit.
Leah Morrell Games Designer 