Christian Area

Model design day one

BA7 Designs
Like my other areas i had a laid out plan of what i needed to design in the catholic area. The assets that i want to complete are:

• The Crypt
• Catholic grave
• Pillars

Due to some base sketches i did in BA7 i already had an idea on what this area would look like,that meant i had a clear concept of the design of the mausoleum and area around it might look like. that would be in my level.

I aslo had made a base layout of what designing the crypt would entail. I ended up changing the materials from this layout to something more set stone and marble as a pose to gold after my brief research into enochian . As i have learnt silver was used more than gold in the occultist christian etticate.

Reference photos

I first wanted to gather some reference for my gravestone design. To help me try and gather some similarities between catholic grave sites i gathered some design concepts, to help gather a variety of designs throughout the area. Though i only am going to spend a few days on these assets as i need to conserve for more time at this point. So reuse of textures and styles may be presnt in the design of these assets.

Models

I made these cross graves first, and used paths in photoshop to get the base shape of the cross and then converted the paths to polys and model the asset from there. Once i had made a base i decided to iterate the cross concept further creating indents, ring frames and plaques to go with the base cross grave, allowed for a range of iterations and variations within the model format. Beyond that i also included a range of texture sheet bringing out a whole other range of iterations of these assets.

I then designed some blank square and curved gravestones and also embedded some of these with crosses to have even more of a variety of gravestone

Square grave

The first gravestone i have made is based off of a magic board that was used by john dee, the magic board was a part of etochian and was used with communing with angelic and demonic forces.

Normal test

Darken texture sheet

Light texture sheet

Soften edges

I firs wanted to see the effecivness of the normal map so i decided to have a render without a texture to make sure the normal map came out on the object effectivly. Once i was happy with bump density and falloff, i added the texture sheet and softened the edges to complete the asset.

Nrm map

No Nrms

I continued to use this technique of checking normals for the other gravestones that had different textures for the same model.

lower intensity Nrm

Enochian and John Dee

After designing the first few gravestones i decided to do a bit more research into john Dee, i discovered a language known as Enochian which Dee actually created in his later life. This unknown about scripture is used for communing with spirits and supernatural beings. And has a wide range of imagery alongside its own alphabet (which i plan to use in the main plaque on the mausoleum.  Below is the website where i got most of my research on this topic. 

http://enochian.info/enochian-magic/ 


Alongside this research i found a number of ornaments that were kept by john dee, i have decided i am going to recreate one or two of the artifacts and place them subtly within my level. I have also settled on the names that appear on the various gravestones, I choose these either due to rivals or close members of john dee's life, and have created gravestones, using the bases i have earlier, accordingly.

After doing my research on Enochian i decided to add more occult factors into my level such as the pentagram of blood and some other iconic satanic symbols like the symbol of Baphomett, alongside john dees coin inscribed with his most famous ritual icon. 

Alter Design

After looking further into Enochian and john dee i decided to design an alter that would fit the setting of this area. This is not part of my orginal idea yet after some feedback from others, it feels like it will be a good addition to the level.

While designing the alter i wanted to have a range of symbolism ranging from john dee symbols, pernagrams and a symbol of Baphomett. During the modeling stage i aslo designed small crystal style objects around the base of the alter. The model only took me an hour to design yet unwrapping the various parts of the alter. When i started textureing i wanted to start with the base and choose to go with a dark rock/slate look.

After looking at the model again i decided that i wanted to add a top to model in the form of a sheet of skin. The skin teture i am going to use is part of unreals marketplace skin. I also added a base marble texture around the border in the middle and top yet later altered it into a more defined edge which really brings the marble seams to life.

Metals and Marble borders

I spent alot of time getting the marble texture that wrapped around the seams effectively. I also started with a gold frame around the main symbols, yet after some more research into enchion i chose to go with silver as it holds more relevance in satanic rituals.

Final touches and Unreal Engine
Finally i added a rock raised path in unreal and tweaked roughness and softness textures on certain objects. (Such as the gemstones specular roughness and metalic input levels) I would still like to add some more features to this asset as i really like it, yet i am still under time constraints and must push forward to complete the mausoleum and have everything ready in unreal. 

Christian Mausoleum Base Modeling

The centerpiece for this area is the mausoleum, this was my most tricky task and took me around a week to complete. The curved walls were the trickyist part to get right, after desiging a flat version i unwrapped the model and then bent it to the desiered shape. I then designed a main door that i had laid out and some side pillars to add as a brace for the main plaque that was going to be brought in.

The small pillars were designed then duplicated and scaled differently to match areas of the building. I got into the healthy modeling habbit of completeing an asset unwraping it and then moving on. As i broke the model down into sinular pieces it made the textureing stage simlar and more easy to deal with due to my time constrant.

After the main building was added steps were created and added to the base platform, the main plaque was also added and the side walls duplicated into an arch shape. 

Fine detail modeling and texturing

Now that i had a base layout for my mausoleum i wanted to add some more detail to it. I started by adding a different style of pillars and imbossed a valknut and a Amenia as an easter egg for the other areas.

I also added three crosses on the door the center one being engraved inwards whereas the others outwards. - with links to john dees views on christian cross. I also added another easter egg in each pillar one being john dees symbol which he inscribed onto each of his journals and the other being the native american symbol for eternal life.

I also added two ncloth flags, and added indents for candle holders around the top of the mausoleum. This is all part of my design with alterations in the pillar designs however i believe these changes are effective and are an improvemenet on my original designs. I also added a sheet Ncloth that goes over the base of steps.
I also engraved the main plaque inscribed with Enochian the inscription was translated from

"This is my final death before i become the hooded man"
In Enochian it looks like this

Although the full design is not exactly as is it depicted i believe it is an improvement in aesthetics and style, while still follows a clear resemblance of my original concept.

When texturing this asset i wanted to keep in theme with the alter i made earlier, with addition of a new stone material. I decided to go with the same effect as the alter boarders around the top of the mausoleum this was also later added to the walls.  Finally adding a marble texture going along the top of the wall

After getting a base texure feel and theme i started adding some more of the detail peices i started with the engraved plaques as i thought they would be easy place to start to gain a feel for texturing. I finally added some more vibrant colors to the scene with some deep reds for the flags and cloth along the bottom. Keeping in plan with the original concept i have kept a pentagram and the nordic earth symbol on each flag. I then started to work on the pillars and doors keeping in line with my marble and stone fashion. I changed the theme slightly when designing the door as i still felt the mausoleum felt too gray and needed some more color

Unreal Version

Blood Version of crypt

I wanted to Create a blood splattered version of this crypt for two reasons. The main being i really like the the clean version and want to reuse it in my future work, and the second being that this is meant to be the darkest part of the characters history where his work drove him mad and he had to discover how to become the hooded figure. To show that i want to create a creepy eerie atmosphere so to keep in line with my original layout of having a "blood splattered crypt" I altered the texture sheets and made new normals for the blood sheets and imported the new model into unreal.