Week 7 Advanced Techniques,Advanced 3D

During the development of my advanced 3D project I wanted to start developing advanced techniques which I have never developed before this project. The new techniques in which I started to develop consisted of game engine shader work specific to a water shader, animated textures,post processing and displacement maps.

My final environment will be shown throughout the final show reel.


Shader Work - Water Shader 

Water shader, This was a massive stepping stone as an artist myself as I have never attempted to create such an in-depth shader, this took a lot of time when learning what nodes/expressions within the material editor do what, and how I can create a water effect which would fit my scene/concept.

Thick water Flow

Disperse water flow

The shader took place within the material editor of UDK as you can see from the above images it is quite a complex shader set up, to gain the desired effect I had to experiment with various values as seen above the top image depicts a more think waved water moment where as the the second image shows a slower more disperse water flow.

Final water shader 

Above shows my final water shader as you can see it is more condensed water flow I wanted to make it more thick and muggy as this scene depicts a sewer entrance so the water would consists of a more green like color, I feel I fully accomplished what I set out to do and as I understand how a water shader is developed I can use this in future 3D work. 


Displacement Map


Displacements map a whole new technique new to me as an artist, I found that it is a great way to really define my texture work within my scene especially the stone work seen on the floor throughout my scene. The displacement map is created inside the material editor working with height maps and normal maps  using a bump offset expression and while combining both the diffuse texture and normal map.o give the sense of depth seen within my displacement map. 

Displacement map -
Set up

Displacement map - Stone work 

The above images show firstly the simple set up for my displacement map while below this my final set up attached to the modular floor asset, Although this technique can be quite costly when it comes to the memory consumption of a video game. If used in the correct instances can work very well in defining the overall texture work. 

Post Processing 

Post processing allows me to add extra effects to my overall environment, UDK offers default settings which can change the overall effect such as lighting bloom or adding extra ambient occlusion. This also allows myself to add an overall material effect which can change the whole atmosphere, during my development I experimented with various values within the post processing settings, I have not gained a full understanding of the full potential of what post processing can offer, So I will plan to look into post processing for future work, this will be part of my final exit plan.

The images below show my medieval environment with post processing and without although. The images do not give the effect justice as within the game engine the differences are more noticeable than seen below. Using my post processing effect I have increased the shadow definition across the whole map, also intensifying the emmissive lights while darkening my scene this has helped define the lighting within my scene allowing for a more unique atmosphere.

No Post Process

Post Process Attached