Tripolygon's 3D Modeller KesArts talked about the creation process of a new asset and shared tips, and tricks for creating worlds in Unity.
Introduction
Hello. I am KesArts, currently taking care of 3D modeling at Tripolygon. Since starting work as a 3D modeler, I have developed many different types of games and have been able to accumulate considerable modeling expertise. The fact that there is a sizeable amount of opportunity to work proactively in a new developing environment is another merit of being a 3D modeler. Since several Metaverse platforms are being developed through Unity these days, having a chance to create a Metaverse world using Unity was a new experiment and also a very captivating work. The piece that will be introduced on this occasion was designed with a simple path but has interesting features here and there to avoid being boring, making it available for Metaverse platforms developed by Unity such as VRChat, Zepeto, and AltspaceVR. I will now share the work production process with you all.
Concept
This work was developed based on the train stations of the 1900s when steam locomotives were invented, and I felt that this would turn out to be a very interesting concept. I had a lot of thoughts regarding the style of the work and was caught between creating a realistic style of a train station or a casual and stylish type. If you take a look at the sources, only old photos from the 1900s were shared, so sources for the stylish types were almost non-existent. After consideration, the decision was made to create a casual and stylish type rather than going for the more prevalent type. I believed that the process of re-defining the old style into a unique one would be interesting for me, and it is a style pursued by much current Metaverse content, and thus the reason why I made this decision.
I gathered information by looking over Pinterest and Google for photos of the interiors of 1900s train stations. I looked for those with arches and ceilings made of metal frames, and I got a lot of inspiration thinking about passing by the columns that support the ceiling.
Since there are a lot of types of steam locomotives, I selected a few of those that fit and added them to my Pinterest board for future use. From this source, I was able to gain ideas about colors.
Overall, I decided on using bright and stylish colors as I collected a few references through Google and Pinterest, and I began my work based on the information that I collected.
Composition
I had a lot of thoughts regarding how I should form the interior of the train station. There was a significant task of forming multiple paths in a small space. A 2nd-floor bridge would be created to allow movement on the platform between the rails, and if the passenger car connected to the locomotive were movable, more paths would be secured in the limited space. To make this overall level design and the 3D construction more efficient, UModeler, which is an extension program of Unity 3D Modeling, was used.
The interior of the train station entrance was inspired by the format of 1900s train stations, in which the ceiling of the 3 train platforms would be connected by 2 arch roofs, and then designed this in my manner.
The idea for the exterior areas of the train station was sparked by a train station I saw in a mountain village. If the train station was set in a city, I believed that too much time and effort would be necessary to construct all of the assets including nearby buildings. I saw this as inappropriate for Metaverse content and thus decided to create the train station in a remote mountain village. After creating nearby buildings in the village and mountains, I located them beside the train station. I didn’t construct the whole village, but I created and arranged a view from inside of the train station which would be visible after the game was played, thus optimizing the map. Through this process, I enabled high-level performance.
The movement inside the train station is somewhat limited, and to move around between platforms 1, 2, and 3, a bridge consisting of stairs was created and positioned. The overall interior was designed based on the image on the left and considering the size of the train station, two bridges were connected to add to the fun.
The ceiling structure is supported by an arch metal frame, and the hollow space in the middle is supported by multiple frames. This structure cast shadows upon the inside of the station when Directional Light was applied, and it made the overall mood of the setting richer.
After working on the overall setting and playing the game, I checked over whether the size was appropriate and made changes, identifying the paths accordingly.
With the interior setting constructed, the props needed such as chairs, street lamps, and clocks were created using UModeler, thus concluding the process of interior designing. After creating the interior setting, I got started with constructing the 1900s steam locomotive. Since a lot of references for locomotives were at my disposal, I had a lot of thoughts going into the selection process. I was caught between choosing a heavyweight or a neat locomotive, but since the concept was focused on the style, I decided to get inspiration from bright images.
Regarding the inner parts of the locomotive, there was not much information that I could utilize, so I depended on images related to documents in the design process. I mainly focused on the construction of the train and tried to make it as historically correct as I could.
Fortunately, there was enough information to depend on regarding the outer parts, so the construction process was undemanding. As for the interior of the train, I allowed the player to move around at their will. Thus, after giving some thought to it, I gave up the idea of adding detailed props and just included chairs so that there would not be any limits in terms of movement.
Texturing
Since I pursued a casual style of Metaverse content, I did not apply the Normal Map process for the overall texture, but rather applied the Gray Tone Map process to make it feel like the basic material. By applying the material in Unity, it was set so that the color could be switched for the same material, which allowed multiple variations with a small number of resources.
A material prototype for each material texture was made and copied for other colors to be assigned, which was how the material formation was made effortlessly. The level made through these materials depicted this casual style so well.
Overall, the UV was not spread out during the work and using the UV tool in UModeler, it's possible to freely change the selected plane in terms of the position and scale when used in a project. Additional programs such as Max, Maya, or Blender need not be used, and so most conveniently use Unity.
Using this technique, I ended the stylish-themed level design process by applying texture here and there. Next, I worked on the environment settings such as sky, fog, and light.
Sky & Fog
For the sky, I selected clear daytime as the general setting. I selected fog fit to the setting of the sky.
Light Map
It would be nice if Live Light could be applied, but to allow the user to look up at the sky in the Metaverse setting, a Light Map was used instead. To do this, first of all, maximize the shadow using Directional Light along with Point Light.
Directional Light
Starting with selecting the time and the direction of the sun, decide carefully on the position of the shades.
Lightmap
The first thing to work on is applying the assets using Lightmap Static and then generating Lightmap UV2. That’s because when applied, it can go through the process of baking the Lightmap. It can work using Umodeler, which is convenient because it is not necessary to use other programs with their strengths to generate Lightmap and LightmapUV.
When applied, the Lightmap scale option is generated in the final asset. The basic value applied is 1 and depending on the situation, changes are then made. When playing, the assets near the path are given options of values higher than 1, and the assets farther away are given values between 0.1 - 0.5.
For now, the size of Lightmap is set at 4096 Generally 1024 and 2048 are used but to make the quality of the shades higher, the size was enlarged. For optimization, it is suggested, to apply general settings.
URP PostProcess
First of all, in URP, it is not possible to apply Ambient Occlusion when generating Volume, so this is only available when AO has been generated additionally in the settings. For this to happen, one must go to the settings and click the Add Renderer Feature in the ForwardRenderer, which allows the addition of Screen Space Ambient Occlusion and AO.
The pros of applying AO are that, just like how the corner of a room is much darker in reality, it can make corners look darker and thus allow the expression to be more natural. If not applied, there will be an impression that the map is light weighted; thus the tool is frequently used.
Next, generate Volume for environment settings. The most-used parameters are Tonemapoing, Color Adjustments, Shadows Midtones Highlight, Bloom, Vignette, Depth of Field, and White Balance.
This can make the mood richer by using the color tones and Bloom.
Conclusion
This work was a fresh challenge for me. There were not many sources that I could depend on to depict a 1900s train station stylishly, thus forcing me to give a lot of thought to this work. However, it was a good lesson for me and I had a lot of fun taking up the challenge. As new Metaverse platforms are appearing, new opportunities are also emerging. As such, I want to make stylish 3D backgrounds based on various periods that are useful for Metaverse platforms, not only for games. I believe that UModeler, which is the tool that I used throughout my work, is the most optimal tool for current trends. The pros of Unity that stand out are that you can finish prototyping and 3D modeling work at once, so one does not have to go through the complicated import or export processes. Also, it is unnecessary to have to learn how to utilize complex 3D modeling software. Due to these pros, I firmly believe that it will appeal to indie game producers and Metaverse creators alike.