What The Heck Happened To The Scale?

Disclaimer: like most people, I have to do things like this in my"spare" time. Gotta make some money, and fit 2 or 3 hours in a day. Luckily, I am faster than I used to be.

So, time to get modeling. I use Maya. I am very comfortable using Maya. It is an extremely deep program, and I have an immense amount more to learn. But, I can model pretty quickly in it when I have a game plan. So, to start I only need the broad strokes. I know I want this circular entrance surrounded by rock. And I want it to lead to this kinda Halo 2 final fight scenario after a long epic hallway.

Scale is key. The player must be able to navigate reasonably while still maintaining a sense of epic, and still fitting in a Halo-esque scenario. So I get the broad strokes modeled, and I need to get it into Unreal to see how it feels. Now, this is a chronicle. So it is only fair to state the bad with the good. During the day, I can be distracted. I had been modeling at 1/4 scale, and knew I needed to export at 400%. Instead of multiplying times 4, I multiplied times 400 the first time! I get it into UE4 and holy cow! The Forerunners were frickin' huge! Anyway, this is why we block things out and test before details. An easy enough fix at this point, but disaster later. So I adjust the scale, re-import into Unreal, get my son to test drive. I get a thumbs up! At FIEA, we learned to test often. Iteration is key. Better to make a mistake earlier than later. This test is to get a good feel for scale:

Where do we go from here? Details! Now I have to be smart about this. I should make pieces that can be used again. Modular. I should expend energy on what is closer to the player first. Stuff further away doesn't need as much detail. This isn't super detailing. That comes a bit later. This is refining shapes. This is where things fit together - or don't.

Halo, SWAT and More Than You Can Chew

So I'm mass deleting emails one morning, and I run across the daily Artstation jobs notification. I start scrolling through them, and catch my breath. There is an environment artist opening at 343. I had just recently updated my resume, and quickly typed out a cover letter. Application away! I am sure it is just going to be a "no," but wouldn't it be cool if it wasn't?

The very next day I get an email, from a recruiter, for 343. In a nutshell, show me some Halo stuff. There is none in your portfolio. It's true. I had been focusing on gearing my port for Bethesda. Plus, all the work I have done since graduation is protected under NDA. I will have to generate something new to be considered for this position.

A little background: why am I so excited about 343? Well, it starts back with Halo 2. Yeah, that was Bungie, but 343 carries the torch now. After getting accustomed to dual toggle fps, Halo 2 quickly became one of my all-time favorite games. My youngest son and I played SWAT every day,...and dominated. I am a staunch gamer. And my Halo memories are some of my fondest. I don't like what happened to Cortana, but I will continue to play every entry. 5 was awesome btw.

Anyway, I have to make a Halo environment. I figured I would make this blog to chronicle my process. I have an education from FIEA. Time to prove to 343 I got what it takes.

So where do I start? Research! Research! Research! I started combing through hundreds of Google pics looking for something particular. Realistically, I know that this will probably be another "no." The competition is phenomenal. So I need my time investment in this to be optimized. Therefore, I will be combining an exterior environment with and interior. I want to combine old with new - show something familiar but update it with current gen graphics. I want to show what I have learned about lighting. And lastly, I can't help but remember some of my favorite sequences from previous Halos. So I choose some pics with all that criteria in mind. Time to take the pics into Photoshop and arrange for a single reference pic for modeling.

Nice! What is next? No time to waste. Gotta start modeling. I'll start by blocking out the space. I have an Unreal scale figure. I'll block it out around him.