Hey everyone,


This blog post is the fourth in a series focusing on the creation process of our upcoming Umbral Choir. We covered the game design aspect, now the art, and if everybody's on their best behavior, we will finish with a G2G vote or two! Ever wondered how the secret sauce was made? Here's your chance to find out! 


Today, we’re taking a look at the 3D art part, with the creation of the faction’s ships! This means watching Stevans work, and asking him a few questions...



We made a little video of the results (shown below!) at the end of the day, and we sat down with him to ask a few questions:


Can you please introduce yourself and tell us what your role is within the team?


I'm Stevans Robert, Lead 3D artist on Endless Space 2's live development.
Which means that I'm in charge of producing the 3D assets for the expansions and DLCs. My role is to assure that the visual quality of the 3D models is on point within the time constraints imposed by production, to make sure that the guidelines and the technical constraints are respected by the 3D artists, and finally give clear directions with regards to the interpretation of concept arts and their re-transcription to 3D within the game.


What were the inspirations and challenges behind creating the Umbral Choir ships?


What’s interesting with the Umbral Choir is that the faction is visually “abstract”. To visually transcribe the concept arts into 3D, we had to free ourselves from everything we might think of when we think of a ship, and make sure we don’t integrate any elements that could potentially evoke “humanoid” technologies or processes. That is why we are particularly concentrated on finding a rhythm for the assembly of different geometric forms, but also on the materials, which don’t respect the standard usages.


Could you please walk us through the process of creating the Umbral Choir ships?


First of all, there is a pre-research to select materials. This phase is the most important, as it is the material that will dress and give a real identity to the vessels.


 


Next, we retrieve whatever information we can from the concept artists (illustrations or 3D sketches), we do a ‘cleaning’ pass, and then we start the modelling.

The first step in modelling is called “High Poly” modelling. We create the model without taking into account the any technical constraints, the goal being to arrive at what we find to be the closest possible to the initial concept.


Then, we create a second model called the “Low Poly” model, a model on which we will keep a strict minimum and concentrate on the overall form. All of the details from the former model will be transformed into a group of textures that will give the impression that all of the details are actually present on the optimized model.



High Poly


Low Poly



Finally, we use texturing software, with which we apply the different materials that were prepared beforehand. We then add the final details, in order to give some life to the vessel, and once that is done, we export the whole thing in the game engine.


***


Watch the process here:





Here's the full *Work In Progress* result!




We hope you enjoyed this look behind the scenes at our art creation! Next week, we’ll move on to an exciting bit with a new series of G2G votes on the Umbral Choir! 


Now tell us: what do you think of this first revealed ship?