THE CONCEPT

Floating Islands are a great way to create self-contained micro-environments, while adding as much detail and creative touches to them.

In this assignment, you will be assigned a set of random parameters that will define the theme of your Floating Island.

The parameters include an environment, a setting, a season and a time of day.

Environments: Urban, Woodlands, Swamp, Desert, Frozen Tundra, Underground, Alien and Underwater

Setting: Post-apocalyptic, Fantasy & Mythology, Futuristic, Steampunk / Gothic, Noir

Season: Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring

Time: Day, Night

Once you have your theme, you will be in charge of art directing and creating all of the 3D elements that make up the Floating Island.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OdYrg

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rXeD5

 

ART & TECHNICAL DIRECTION

The first step will be to create a concept art of your Floating Island based on the theme assigned. In this stage, you will establish the style and feel, colour palette, mood and any additional elements that will bring your Floating Island to life.

Art Direction: You can use any medium necessary to create your concept art (i.e. traditional, photography, digital, tangible).

The style can range between lo-poly to realistic. The submission deadline is Week 07.

Once the concept is finalized, you will create an asset list that will include all of the models you will build to create the Floating Island.

Provide both the concept art and asset list as one PDF document.

Technical Direction: The Floating Island will be built using mainly Houdini, especially the elements that require procedural approaches i.e. rocks, vegetation and repetitive structures. Hero assets can be created using additional 3D software. Use all of the skills you’ve learned so far when approaching this project. Remember to bake out high-resolution detail into normal maps.

The asset list will be integral part for this step.

Each and every element created will be UV mapped and textured. Consider also adding animated elements.

For the final presentation, you can use Marmoset, UE4 or traditional 3D rendering/compositing to light and render the Floating Island. The submission will include the 3D files (.hip + any additional 3D files and textures you’ve created in a zipped folder uploaded to Blackboard).

The turntable will be posted on YouTube or Vimeo with the link posted on Blackboard.

 (Michael Ekker, class of 2020)

 Consider this project as a portfolio piece.

WEEK 1 COURSEWORK

Start planning the Floating Island based on the theme assigned.