<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[My Site 1]]></title><description><![CDATA[My Site 1]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Sun, 19 Jul 2026 18:22:37 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Evaluation]]></title><description><![CDATA[I am very happy with the finished result of my project, I pushed myself to learn new techniques which worked well and fit into the theme of the project. However, in the future, I want to improve my foliage by using methods like splines which help make foliage look a lot more natural. They are also used to make foliage have more variation which would have helped a lot in this project. I also would have taken more renders of the early parts of my project to improve my documentation of the...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/evaluation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69fb1e99f97c5203756479e7</guid><pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2026 11:39:39 GMT</pubDate><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 15 - Continuing presentation]]></title><description><![CDATA[For the final week of this project, I continued presenting my work in preparation for the deadline, as well as my Rookies submission. My main aim this week was to show off the technical art I had created. This includes my mesh decals, Niagara particles, vertex painting and world space normal materials. I created graphics for these which displayed the nodes and techniques used, as well as the end result. The tech art display graphics: I also took static renders of my scene this week with full...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-15-continuing-presentation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69f9da545caf4ed272bcea24</guid><pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 12:08:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_392a4614be1a464ab11a87e442e0dc63~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 14 - Presentation]]></title><description><![CDATA[The main focus for this week was beginning to present my work in preparation for the hand in as well as competitions like the Rookies. Before I began this however, I replaced some of my old exterior pillars which had not been improved, to the current pillars which are made with individually modelled bricks. New exterior pillars I then used the light complexity view in Unreal Engine to go through all my rooms and try and optimise the performance as much as possible by removing overlapping and...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-14-presentation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69f0793389aa25024edf3111</guid><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 15:22:17 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_fec893e99c0b4025ae996cb8aaed031e~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 13 - Poly Cam experiments, asset creation and post processing]]></title><description><![CDATA[The main focus of this week was experimenting with using the PolyCam app (Polycam, 2024) to scan in a real life object into my scene. I decided to experiment with scanning in a plant for this. I imported the scanned plant into ZBrush and experimented with ZRemesher to created a low poly. I created a material for the asset in Substance Painter and then imported it into my Unreal Engine scene. The problem with this was that the low poly was 20k polys which was way to high for an asset at such a...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-13-poly-cam-experiments-asset-creation-and-post-processing</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e771a326bcdbcbc3d25dd4</guid><pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 13:39:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_dea4b146d04c435ab19ad9b395e8263a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 12 - Candles and roofing]]></title><description><![CDATA[I received feedback from my lecturer at the start of this week to add interest to blank areas such as the one I have circled here. I decided to fill this area - and similar ones in the top half of the scene - with some roofing and hanging lights which would be visible from the camera in certain areas. My aim was to use this to had some more depth and make the environment feel more like a real interior. I first created simple wooden planks which would be used as the roofing using Maya, ZBrush...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-12-candles-and-roofing</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69dbd90f43e56f31776e2dec</guid><pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 18:57:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_9617e3e642f8408991c25f670959353a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 11 - Assets and finishing environment layout]]></title><description><![CDATA[I started this week by acting on some feedback I had received in a previous week on my table asset: It felt slightly too stylised and that there were some shading issues on the top metal parts of the table. I amended these issues by taking the high poly back into Zbrush to ZRemesh it to a low poly. This time I turned off the "adapt" mode on the ZRemesher so it would soften the asset less each time I remeshed it. This is what was making it look stylised last time. I then used the Move brush...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-11-assets-and-finishing-environment-layout</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d4da24aa897e41188a9322</guid><pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:43:18 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_7c1207852f2f468eb41cbb6ee8bf5191~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 10 - Lighting, Mesh Decals and Wagon Asset ]]></title><description><![CDATA[I spent the first half of this week focusing on the lighting of the scene after reading the lighting section of an article which goes through the pipeline of rendering an environment (He, 2026). I started off by deleting all of the current lights I had created so I could start fresh. The only lights I kept were the ones in my shrine asset. I created a strong directional light to act as the sunlight and then added point lights to all of the torches to act as the light from the flame. I added...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-10-lighting-mesh-decals-and-wagon-asset</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69cc136bf7044e6cf7a32f88</guid><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 20:28:58 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_dfb85672b7784a449f6fd811931fd080~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 9- Statues and shrine room]]></title><description><![CDATA[While planning what I wanted to do during week 9, I came to the conclusion that the edges of my scene between walls and floor still felt quite empty, even with the extra rubble mesh that I had added last week. To improve this, I planned to make a brush that would generate pieces of rubble where ever I would choose. I would do this by using a foliage brush with various pieces of rubble so I could use the paint tool to apply the rubble to my scene. First, I needed to sculpt the high poly...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-9-statues-and-shrine-room</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bfce4e60de372da577f119</guid><pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 09:20:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_34c29a9da6eb48b397e3644448146859~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 8- Shrine room and rubble]]></title><description><![CDATA[The first thing I did in Week 8 was plan the shrine which would act as the main point of interest in my environment. As most of my environment was dark and felt abandoned, I wanted the shrine to give the impression it has lasted the test of time and still had the essence of magical significance. I decided I would do this by making it have stained glass windows, with light shining through them from the outside, which would symbolise the elegance of the shrine. The rest of the shrine would...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-8-shrine-room-and-rubble</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69b5619bd1b1d9cdf2160c8b</guid><pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 15:11:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_77d1eb6451fc43a8803b538898a6ddbe~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_883,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 7- Asset improvements, level design and tech art]]></title><description><![CDATA[The first thing I did this week was post my scene on the University forum to gain some feedback on the project. My lecturer suggested that I should add some more divisions to the archway I had made in the previous week to increase the resolution. I reimported my model back into Maya, added these segments and recreated my high poly. I then applied the same texture in Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine render of archway with increase resolution My plan for my exterior was to use a single 2k trim...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-7-asset-improvements-level-design-and-tech-art</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69aeb7fa7eb34e89d6fe4563</guid><pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:16:47 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_94f457a18a37411d85178d62335f0ca3~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 6- Archway]]></title><description><![CDATA[This week I wanted to challenge myself with a more complex asset which would replace my current placeholder pillars in my modular kit. My plan was to use the current pillars as a base for each side of an archway which would frame the walls of the interior. I began by collecting reference, mainly from a garden archway online store (Redwood Stone, 2020). I then created the low poly mesh in Maya using my current pillars as a base. Wireframe render of archway Ambient Occlusion render of archway I...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-5-archway</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69a2eace3a2716aeb2199386</guid><pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:37:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_8315561ec4a943ab826d0d790b7bc868~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 5- Flooring and asset creation]]></title><description><![CDATA[Before I started on my week 5 work, I received feedback from my lecturers on my trim sheet from week 4. I was advised to add some more albedo variation in the rock and more height variation in the welding. I researched a few more images and used them to make accurate changes to my trim sheet. Render of trim sheet on wall after improvement Once these changes had been made, I began creation on my main task of week 5 which was creating floor tiles. I planned to do this using one 2k trim sheet...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-5-flooring-and-asset-creation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">699ede6abf1bf6f6a2a698a0</guid><pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:56:58 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_baf0964ddeb948fcaf1981692940e462~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 4 - Trim sheets]]></title><description><![CDATA[My plan for week 4 was to create a single 2k trim sheet material which I could use for multiple meshes throughout my piece. We had been taught to do this by baking high poly meshes onto a plane before texturing them in substance painter. To gain a bit more understanding on the subject before I started, I watched a couple YouTube tutorial on trim sheets by Abe Leal 3D (Abe Leal 3D, 2025a; Abe Leal 3D, 2025b). I also used an article breaking down a high quality trim sheet (Collins, 2026) as...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-4-trim-sheets</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69958195e46cb5907d9b878d</guid><pubDate>Wed, 18 Feb 2026 10:36:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_c519f11bdb714ced858a0978441b5078~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 3 - Tileable materials and improving modular kit]]></title><description><![CDATA[I began week 3 by downloading Substance Designer for the first time to create my first tileable materials. I followed a tutorial on a Mural (mural.co, 2026b) provided to us by the university to gain the knowledge I would need to create my own material. My idea was to create a semi-organised brick wall with dark brown colours which could be used for my desert walls or my interior walls. As I had no experience with this software, I decided this material would be taken as an experiment, and may...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-3-tileable-materials-and-improving-modular-kit</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6989c9a0d292196f8b29f059</guid><pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:25:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_da090ce9a2314841a371a3cd329d9ce1~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_735,h_589,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 2.5 Modular kit refinement]]></title><description><![CDATA[As I had finished my block out sooner through the week than I had expected, I decided to begin refining my modular kit for my interior. My plan was to completely recreate the walls and pillars with more detail. Using the inspiration gained from my reference gathering in the previous week, I planned to create a window-shaped frame in the centre of the wall piece frame which would hold a rock sculpt. As I would not be sculpting such high poly at this stage of development, I created a place...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-2-5-modular-kit-refinement</link><guid isPermaLink="false">697e309c6b10ec989298f887</guid><pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2026 17:03:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_6f0ec1faf5114884b4ec4719476186a5~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 2 - Planning and Blocking Out]]></title><description><![CDATA[To begin week 2, I refined my idea for the rest of the project. During week one I had compiled a mixture of ideas in a mood board using PureRef and I wanted to begin week 2 by properly creating a plan for my project using these references. I wanted to be ambitious with this project, therefore I wanted to create more than one modular kit; one for an interior environment and a separate one for an exterior environment. My idea was that I would combine these and create an outdoor area which would...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-2-planning-and-blocking-out</link><guid isPermaLink="false">697e17566379b93199b281ec</guid><pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2026 16:26:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_e9dbdbc4d1204832b67c6e7feb9b6c98~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_955,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Week 1 - Ideas and reference]]></title><description><![CDATA[To begin my project, I had to choose between 3 game franchises to base my environment on: Warhammer 40k, Diablo or Baldurs Gate. I wanted to push myself for this project and differ from the previous projects I had already worked on. My previous projects had been predominantly sci-fi assets which I have got very used to modelling and are not as challenging for me any more. For this reason, I decided not to do Warhammer 40k due to the large amount of sci-fi features which would not push me to...]]></description><link>https://samayer15.wixsite.com/sam-ayer-blog/post/week-1-ideas-and-reference</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69737f08befaa1002190ff3e</guid><pubDate>Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:07:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c54c2_de321a481d8945dab0082825a2c74b20~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sam Ayer</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>