Courier newspapers and Tower Ghost

First, Mayor Diane Marlin of Urbana was gracious enough to write a quick Facebook post earlier this month about my blog. 

Within the first 24 hours, the latest fly-through had over 1000 views. As of today, it has over 2400 plays. Through all the shares, comments, and re-shares, many people have expressed their joy at seeing the Project. I am grateful for everyone's enthusiasm, and I now feel especially encouraged to see UHS: 1914 to completion. Thank you to Mayor Marlin, and to everyone who watched the video, and chose to let me know how much they liked it. 

In an effort the add an educational gameplay element to the interactive version of the project, I added newspapers strewn throughout the building. Newspapers from the Urbana Courier-Herald are available online at the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection, and are fully searchable through the magic of OCR. I found several issues that deal with the opening of the school -- particularly the delay because of the fire. Even though the papers are searchable, I found myself reading entire issues because the history contained is fascinating. 

Within the game, I set the newspapers to change once they are read, so the player always reads the issues in sequence. Approaching any newspaper in the building will display an option to read the paper, upon which the full-resolution page appears, and the applicable article zooms into focus. The player must extinguish the fire in the coal bunker in order to read the article about the school actually opening. 

Going back to read these again, I saw a detail about how smoke was pouring out of the manhole covers over the coal bunker, so that necessitated adding smoke. 

Getting the newspapers to change correctly took a lot of work, so I followed this up with something "fun:" the tower ghost. The ghost was not something originally on my list of tasks, but two developments encouraged me to add it. 

First, a piece of free software exists called MakeHuman. This originally was an extension for Blender, but now is a stand-alone application. The program allows easy creation of fully modeled and rigged digital people. "Rigged" means that the model can immediately be animated. Body types, faces, clothes -- all are customization. I used the software to generate an appropriately spooky-looking lady with a long dress. 

Second, the Carnegie Mellon University Motion Capture Database is available online, and the data has been converted to be compatible with Blender. Numerous videos on YouTube describe how to combine these animations in Blender with models created with MakeHuman to make game-ready assets. I found an animation of someone walking up stairs, and combined that with the woman I generated from MakeHuman. 

Imported into UE4, the addition of some lighting, sound, fog, and a touch of post-processing makes the effect quite convincing (and legitimately frightening!). She appears in a special, random sequence. Rather than spoil the surprise, I will only post a still screenshot here. 

Spooky!

New flythrough with Gym addition

I posted this to YouTube on Christmas, but only now got around to writing about it. The November video (v7) was slightly retooled, and a new video of my current progress on the 1918 gym addition was spliced in the middle. The transition is not perfect (it reminds me of the B&W-to-color transition in Wizard of Oz), but it still gives a good idea of the current state of the project. 

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