Personal Work
As well as working on commercial projects, I have had some time to continue working on my own work. Previously I have started larger projects, and I have found that trying to complete these or stay motivated to work on them long term has been a challenge. So, learning from this I have recently started working on just a couple of smaller assets each week. Taking inspiration from a recent trip to New Zealand and my interest in railway buildings and infrastructure. I am starting out with a small scene that I will build upon as I go. I have found this to be a lot more manageable. Being able to finish a smaller asset more frequently, rather than diving in too deep has been helpful. That said, I still wish to complete a couple of my larger projects, but for now, I will focus on smaller personal work which I hope to show more regularly and build my portfolio with.
This is an in-game shot (Unreal Engine) of the scene so far. A simple warehouse building and a bit of street. I experimented with the new cinematic camera in UE 4.15, along with the post process effects. The fence that can be seen near the foreground is a spline asset, using the same blueprint as the track below.
A track side speed sign, used in NSW. This asset uses a simple blueprint to control which speed signs are available and what speed to display. (In NSW a section of track could have different speeds depending on the type of train. Yellow is the default speed, blue is for the Interstate XPT and white is for heavy freight).
Again, using a similar script to the speed sign, this distance post has the option to set the distance by rail (in kilometers) from the starting point (e.g. Sydney). I have also included an option to st the distance automatically however this is not implemented at this time.
Based on a tutorial I created a track spline for use in m y scene. I am still not 100% happy with the blueprint for this but for now it works fine. There are options to control the bank angle of the track (e.g. for corners) as well as change the track mesh and add a custom mesh to the end of each segment. This allows the script to be used for a lot more than just track.
Finally, here is an overview of the building. This asset uses two sets of textures, one for the main structure of the building and the other for the signs. This was so I could use the same material for the building on different models, with out needing to swap textures. There is also an additional mask texture for the building which I can use to re-colour certain parts in-engine to add variation, again without the need for multiple copies of the same texture.
I hope to continue updating my site with new content as I progress.
