Project overview

The UHS: 1914 project is intended to represent what Urbana High School (Urbana, Illinois) looked like when it first opened in November, 1914. I have been working since the end of July on this project, and have taken screen shots whenever I add something significant. 

Why Urbana High School? I am an Urbana native, and when I was in high school, I became interested in historic buildings through an interest in my own school building. It has a certain character that many other schools lack. I originally researched the building as part of a speech class project. It then grew into a traveling slide presentation, then to a website. Throughout, I learned enough to know that the building looked much different when it first opened, yet did not have a visual way to communicate this. The outcome of UHS: 1914 will be a way to show others this beautiful structure as it was originally built and designed by local architect, Joseph Royer. 

This project also documents my learning of 3D graphics. I saw a video on YouTube in summer of 2017 where someone used Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) to make a forest scene in 60 minutes (https://youtu.be/M3vRl8FKhKU), and thought "I could do that!" UE4 (www.unrealengine.com) is free, and there is extensive documentation, so it was easy to get started. Whenever I got stuck (especially with the coding), there was a YouTuber ready to help me out with an instructional video. 

I have also been learning Blender (www.blender.org). This is open source/free 3D modeling software. All the custom models for the project are created in Blender, and imported into Unreal Engine. Blender has been a bit trickier to learn, but there are many YouTube videos to show how to get started. In particular, Andrew Price, the Blender Guru, has been most helpful. I like learning from him because he not only shows how to use the software, but why his method is ideal. 

The end goal is indeterminate. Once I finish modeling the building, I can easily create a "fly-through" video or hi-res screenshots. Since I am using UE4, I can export the project to a number of platforms (Windows, OSX, HTML5, Android, etc). But what will it do? As of the moment, it is a "walking simulator," but others have made suggestions, such a scavenger-hunt game, or capture-the-flag. After all, UE4 is a game engine, so anything is possible. Let me know if you have any ideas!