February 2018

I had enough completed at the beginning of February to create my first fly-through. I had to learn how to use the Cinematics camera, called Sequence in UE4. This video gives an idea of what the finished project will look like:

Note that I had to keep the camera angles away from the surrounding site because it is mostly empty. Even the roof was incomplete, which is why the roof is out of the frame. 

Some more details I added in February were the attic above the auditorium: 

...the unique, curved first step on the main stairs:

... the railings on the "little" stairs under the main entrance:

... display cases in the main hallway:

... tables and trim in the art room (tower):

... additional furniture in the board room:

... nearly completed tower:

...and cabinets in the science storage room:

Working on the building site was made easier with a screenshot from Google maps (this will not be in the completed project -- it's only used to scale the elements to the building): 

Brick pavers based on photos of Urbana streets:

Some foliage and sidewalks added:

While Carle Park was already across the street for several years before the school was built, the Lorado Taft statue "Lincoln the Lawyer" was not in the park until late 1927. In 1914, there was instead a statue commemorating the Women's Temperance movement: 

When "Lincoln the Lawyer" was installed in the park in '27, the Women's Temperance statue was moved in front of the Flat Iron Building in downtown Urbana:

This statue was used for scrap metal in the 40's for the war effort, and no longer exists. Instead of attempting to recreate this statue, I used a model of Athena that looks similar:

January 2018

Happy new year! I was still on winter break for the beginning of January, so I had lots of time to work on the project. 

I started with the teaser in the auditorium. I used a photo of the Choir from the 1923 Rosemary to create a decal texture that goes directly on the static mesh. 

Again, I have no photographic evidence of the colors, so this is another occasion for artistic licence. 

The upper windows on the tower were a lot easier to model than the lower windows. 

I redid the north entrance arch, along with incorporating the leaded glass transom: 

Spent some time on the tower stairs, including correcting the arch over the entrance, and the correct railings: 

Instead of tracing over the letters (as I did with the main entrance), I used a font for the lettering on the scrolls. The scrolls themselves, as well as the stone books, were modeled by hand. 

Copper drainpipes: 

Rooftop penthouse vent: 

Ground floor windows: 

Windowsill in the biology window: 

Bicycle shelter:

Taking a break from the main building, I added the source photos to the gallery:

Turing attention back to the auditorium, I remodeled the wainscot based on the 1923 choir photo (see the photo at the top of this post). 

The stage was originally much smaller because there were dressing rooms in the wings. Both had a window, a sink, and water closet. This is the girls' dressing room, with a large portion occupied by the smoke stack: 

I modeled chairs and a table for the formal dining room:

I finished up the details for the gallery by adding a garden (sculptures are from Epic's Inifinity Blade GrassLands free pack) and completing the ceiling according to the Beddington Hall diagrams:

I added a room with exactly enough niches to display the original Royer blueprints (reusing the easels created earlier):

Finally, I added a balcony overlooking the ocean (again, the sculpture is from Epic's free Infinity Blade pack): 

December 2017

I took a few weeks break from the project for December concert season. I had enough time to model a roll-top desk. 

I used a YouTube tutorial (https://youtu.be/U_DY1lmHbLc) to create a menu system. This is the main menu. It's not evident from this still screenshot, but the background fades in, and the text washes down the screen. 

To add a sense of environment, I added foley sound effects when the player walks throughout the level. I used the tutorial at http://www.franbo.uk/2015/12/16/unreal-engine-player-footstep-audio/. The sound changes based on the surface type. The screenshots below show the programming to create the footstep sound based on the material and a random selection of specific sound samples for each cue. 

As a means to experiment with UE4 and practice modeling, I started work on a digital gallery to incorporate the source images into the actual project. I wanted it to look like a tudor hall, so I used real world designs as a basis. I also reused some assets I created for the actual school. 

Winter break started, and gave me a lot of free time to work on the project. I decided to use this time to finish up some more of the main entrance, starting with the tower quoins (stonework on the corners). 

The windows on the tower:

Tracing the lettering over the main entrance

 

Replaced the temporary steps with proportionally correct steps. 

Finished up modeling the proscenium, including the details on the sides. 

Added steps for the auditorium fire escapes, including the doors on the rear of the building.

Finally, here is the nearly complete arch on the main entrance.