World space materials

World space, or world aligned materials use an absolute position in the map to determine how to display the texture, instead of relying on the UV wrap of each mesh. I have experimented a bit with world space aligned materials before, but finally got them to work. The wood floor I have been using from the PolyPixel Freebie set is already world aligned, so I just transferred those material nodes to my custom 6x6 hall tile. However, I learned how to do it myself, and I changed the interior brick materials to world aligned materials so it is easier to place the tile coves throughout the ground floor of my school level. I learned how to create these using this excellent video: 

I ended up using a slightly different method when it came down to connecting nodes in the materials editor, but he explains it very well. 

My versions are below. With the world aligned materials, the normals don't work correctly if the texture is facing the wrong way, so I had to make separate x-facing and y-facing versions. There is probably a way to do this within a single material, or through a material instance, but that is beyond my abilities for now. In these screenshots, the tile coves are two separate meshes: one for the long sections, and another for the corners. They line up perfectly because they have the same axis. The textures always line up because they use the same world aligned material as the adjacent wall. Also, I am able to use the same mesh for all of the long sections because the world aligned material automatically scales the texture properly. The wood wainscot sections all have to be separately scaled in Blender and imported because the wood material is not world aligned. These world aligned brick materials have saved be numerous hours in scaling and importing -- I just line up the axis of each tile cove, and they're done!

Hallway details video

As mentioned yesterday, I created a video showing the steps I use to create the hallway trim elements in the UHS: 1914 project. 

I apologize for the audio quality. I used my headset mic for the first time in years; in the future, I will use a real mic. 

Hallway details and props

I have been busy finishing details on hallway wainscot and marble bases. This is a very tedious task, and takes a while. I may make a video of all the steps required. This is the finished product, though:

To break the tedium of doing the trim work, I created some props in Blender. The wire on the phone is my first successful use of curves in Blender. Curves make it tons easier! (video tutorial at https://youtu.be/jmzXqjEdF0E) 

More items for the main office, including file cabinets and the 1869 map of Urbana: 

Period appropriate US coins (after an afternoon of research into currency available in 1914):

A desk fan based on a 1909 model (also using curves for the guard on the front). The animation is triggered when the player enters the room:

I decided I did not like how the "murals" looked in the Gallery, so I replaced them with embossed Tudor-inspired wallpaper, and updated the greeting panel to match:

Typewriting classroom

The reference photos from the 1926 Rosemary include a photo of the Typewriting classroom:

I had already created the room long ago from the blueprints, but the props were still to be created. I found a model of a Typewriter online:  

Created my own typewriting desk based on the reference from the 1926 Rosemary:

And finally found the cover of a period typewriting textbook:

And all the pieces together in UE4:

The phrase on the chalkboard is from one of the later chapters of Rational Typewriting method.