Environment Creation Part 1

By Meg Sugden 

Modeling the Environment
After the characters had been create I then went about creating the environment as I needed to get everything done now very quickly. I started off by first putting in the reference images so that I had something to work from. For this environment I wanted to ensure that I followed the reference images so that I could create what Stuart had inspired for this project and ensure that a family could live there and that they had everything that they needed.

To begin with, once the images were in, I used the model of the raccoon as a reference for how big everything in the environment was going to be so that I could model everything to scale using not only the background image but the raccoon as well.

I then started modelling the huts to begin with, as these are going to be mud huts I wanted to ensure that they were not straight and had lots of lumps and bumps in them so that they looked hand made by the family of animals that live there and I also wanted to make one slightly bigger than the others that would act like the chiefs huts where meetings would be held and he would also have a bed at the back. I then also made the tipi hut type house that they would have stored their food in and at this point I also began to add in pieces of wood sticking out and rocks in the mud walls so that this is how they would have held them together.

I then started creating the fence that ran across most of the environment to stop them falling in the water below by accident and I went along all the way around ensuring that the posts where very lop-sided and all different lengths and shapes so that it looks like they have just gathered them and cut them down to size and shoved them in the ground.

Once the general layout of the environment was finished I started to add the little details into the main area like the storage of barrels and crates that they had gathered from shipwrecks, which is why they are 'human' size and not to scale with the animals in the level. I then also added in a log pile, as this is where they would cut down the trees from the local forest and store them ready to cut them down to use as firewood and for crafting into weapons.

I then begun creating the big climbing tree which is where the platypus would sleep, so that it is high enough for the sugar glider's character is able to easily get to it and see him, and we really liked the idea that it was hanging down slightly over the cliff edge. I really like the way that the tree looks in the end and the hammock that hangs down from it really gives it nice touch.

Then I added in the forest that ran around the other end of the level, which will be thick and dense in the end, but this will be achieved with images in the background as it goes on and the first couple of trees here are just so there is some kind of depth.

Lastly I added in the scraps of food that are littering the floor and leading the platypus to the raccoon. I went with typical food like apple cores, which would have been in the scavenged crates and barrels, fish scales that they would have caught from the water around them, and then just general crumbs and leftovers to mix into it.

Overall I am extremely happy with the result of the finished environment and think that it looks great and I am very proud of the result. I believe that it conveys the concept art perfectly so far and I think that its just how Stuart imagined it and I am happy that I have managed to create in well. I have stuck with a very low poly environment that is also very cartoony at the same time so that it fits in well with the very cartoony characters. I wanted to ensure that it looks this way as we wanted to give it that sense of humour alongside the script. The whole nature of the scene works so well and I think once the textures are on there it will just add to the whole look of the environment.