About the Project
During my 3rd year studying at Sheridan College, I was tasked with picking a new art skill to learn and making a project focused on it. I chose to learn 3D art and gain experience with the entire process.
Garden Diorama is a model viewer that allows you to inspect its details from any angle. It features a garden scene with an abnormally large turnip at its centre!
Garden Diorama Viewer
My Roles in the Project
3D Artist
Created a large volume of unique 3D models using Maya
Learned how to effectively UV Unwrap models
Created textures in Adobe Substance Painter and Photoshop
Exported models to Unity with consistent anchor points & scale
Concept Artist
Created artwork to pitch my ideas and reference during the development
Pre-Production
Project Overview
List of Required Tools
Development Pipeline
Pitch Package
• Prepared a pitch package around a project focused on learning a new art skill
• This was an opportunity to gain experience with the entire process of 3D Art
• My Pitch was for a 3D diorama because I could make a bunch of different objects and learn new techniques for each one
• Dioramas are packed with detail and meant to be observed from many angles
• I included a project overview, a list of required tools, and a development pipeline
Concept Art
Concept 1: River
Concept 2: Farm
Concept 3: Garden
Blockout In-engine
Diorama Concepts
• Started with 2 drawings of basic nature scenes, I liked the farm aesthetic the most
• After presenting these 2 sketches, I had a 3rd idea of a large turnip in a garden
• The garden concept was approved so I quickly got to work on a block-out in-engine
• A Turnip at its centre is the Hero Prop
Garden Kit Concept
Greenhouse Concept
Tools & Containers Kit Concept
Brick and Wood Kit Concept
Character lineup Reference: Over the Garden Wall by Cartoon Network
Kit Concepts
• Referenced character line-up sheets used for cartoons
• Everything is drawn side-by-side with measurements
• Separated into different kits to keep things organized
Modelling
Walls Clipping Into Eachother
Final House Kit Models
Modularity
• Wanted the house kit to be modular
• Measurements needed to be precise so each piece could snap together
• I struggled to make everything align properly and made lots of different iterations
• Grid snapping and setting proper origin points were the solution
Optimizing the Large Turnip
Optimization
• Models like the Turnip were way too high-poly
• Sometimes the auto-retopology worked great but other times it didn't (n-gons)
• Sometimes it was better and faster to just remake the model (See Turnip #3)
• I realized the turnip didn't need a high poly count because the textures would provide more detail
All Models
• Created 26 Models across 4 Kits
• Learned lots of new tools and techniques
• Kept consistent scale across all models
UV Unwrapping
Before Unwrap
After Unwrap
Unwrapping Models
• Learned the importance of clean topology
• Had to remake some models because the topology was too messy
• Cut seems in less visible spots
• Arranged UV shells with consideration for rotation and scale
• Established a consistent workflow to unwrap all 26 models quickly
Texturing
Learning About Filters
Achieving a Hand-Painted Effect
Finished Textures
Texturing
• How can I achieve my desired art style using substance painting?
• Applied filters to realistic textures to imitate brush strokes
• Created modular material pre-sets to drag and drop onto each model
• Hand-painted finer details
Importing to Engine
Animation In-Engine
Title Screen With Controls
All Models Imported Into Unity Engine
In-Engine
• Created a diorama viewer in Unity Engine
• Dynamically transitions from outside the greenhouse, to inside with the Turnip
• Spin around to inspect from any angle
• Playable in your browser on Itch.io
Final Product
Play for Free on Itch.io!
