Gym details - December '18

I have a list of tasks now, and the longest portion is for the gym. I tackled a few of these this month. 

UV mapping for gym roof (and improved ship-lap texture)

Old-style basketball court markings

Updated bead board texture for balcony

Rear pool windows

Completed pool model, including portion under water

Detail of the deep end of the pool

Photo reference for the pool from the 1923 Rosemary

Pool room with brick wainscot

Transparent motion water texture

908 South Race

In an effort to acquire more green space surrounding the school, District 116 started purchasing houses neighboring the school, and demolishing them. The house on the corner of Iowa and Race streets, 908 South Race, was one of these. Working only from a pair of reference photos, I modeled a reproduction of this house. Comparing it to the reference photo, it looks like it is not tall enough, so I may have to go back and correct that. 

Reference photo from the Champaign County Archives

908 S Race, recreated in Blender

Imported into Unreal 4.21

Fly-through version 7

Here is the new fly-through video! Although it's obviously not complete, the video shows many of the things added since February. 

Cooking lab, Music room, and Air Washer

I have been working on adding props so that the upcoming flythrough video looks a bit more polished. Two of the areas previously featured -- the tower and cooking lab -- had little or no props. I have amended that!

The Cooking Lab

Photo reference of the Cooking Lab from The Rosemary 1923

"American School Building Standards" (1910) used to create the tables in Blender

Cooking lab in UE4

Table close-up

Plus, new additions in the attached Pantry:

Pantry with work table, slop sink, and ice box

Detail of ice box

Photo reference for the ice box from an antiques auction site

The Music Room (Tower)

I am fully aware that Music classes may never have been held in the Tower, as there is no photographic evidence. My only evidence comes from the original building programming written in Royer's blueprints. 

The instruments I used are also far from correct -- the upright piano is a modern model, and they wouldn't have had a trumpet in a school orchestra in the 1910s (it would have been a cornet). I used models for the instruments I found free online in place of ones I will create later or purchase higher quality. 

Yes, that is the UHS crest embossed on the piano. I'm going to have to replace the piano eventually, so let me have my fun! :-)

Photo reference for the music stands

Oh hi, JS Bach!

The first phrase of "ORANGE AND BLACK", written to commemorate the new high school building

Basement/Boiler Room

Royer's plans just have a square with the words AIR WASHER written in it. I had to research what that would have looked like, and found that the Carrier Air Conditioning catalog from 1913 is posted online, and had a detailed diagram of the machinery. 

Carrier Air washer

Air washer traced in Blender

Air washer in UE4, with animated steam and flywheel, and drip decals on the floor

Also added to the basement was the second set of stairs and the north windows:

Extra Props

I saw a chair at McKinley Presbyterian Church that looks more like the classroom chairs from the school, and took enough photos to trace it in Blender. This model will gradually replace the Mission-style chairs I made earlier:

Chair at McKinley

Chair imported into UE4

Finally, even though it is unlikely anyone will ever see it (you really have to LOOK for it), I put a shelf in the Art room supply closet, which also necessitated the creation of a wooden create:

A new flythrough video is coming soon -- I promise!

Biology props and Boiler room

Just a few additions this week:

There is a projection screen in the reference photo for the biology classroom (tables, chairs, and microscopes were posted earlier) ...

So I naturally had to create a period-appropriate slide projector, illuminated slide, and accompanying light shafts (the light shafts "shimmer"):

Also, I have an idea about the boiler room, so I started creating the bones and props for that:

Exterior door

Coal-fired boilers

Stairs to the outside

Static lighting: solved! ... for now

I have been working with light rendering and FPS issues since March (see the latter part of the March 2018 entry). However, after strategically switching numerous items to "static" and correcting their lightmaps, I think the problems are solved for now. I currently get 30-50 FPS when playing the project live. 

The "blocky" lightmap UVs Blender creates don't work very well in UE4. If I import the static mesh to UE4 as a new actor, UE4 creates a new and improved UV lightmap that seems to render shadows much better. Of the two screenshots below, it is the second that results in superior shadows:

Lightmap UV created by Blender

Lightmap UV created by UE4 upon import

 Here are some screenshots of the exterior to show the improved lightmaps:

I also added some furniture to the dining room:

Added tables/chairs to the cafeteria:

Added tables, chairs, and microscopes to the biology classroom:

I'm using a masked transparent decal for the chalk "drawings." I start with a white-on-black image, then use that as a mask to reveal a noise texture. The result is a relatively convincing chalk effect: 

Finally, I figured out how to correctly insert door motions into Sequencer. Previously, Sequencer would "forget" the assigned doors upon save/reopen, which is why the camera flew right through all the doors in the previous video. Now, I insert the entire door+doorframe into Sequencer, and move the nested door relative to the frame. There should be a new flythrough video soon!