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! 

Elm trees

Neighborhood streets in the early 20th century were lined with American Elm trees. I used Blender's Sapling Tree generator and an image of an actual Elm leaf to create several variations on Elm trees to use in the UHS: 1914 project. 

A still rendering directly from Blender:

A flythrough-style video with the tree models imported into UE4 with falling leaf particles and animated leaf materials: