Author: rabidadmin

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A Long Overdue Update

Work on the Knick-Knacks asset pack has been, for the most part, completed. Not only did we need to create the assets for the knick-knacks themselves, but also for the demo level in the asset pack. Creating all-new assets for the demo level was necessary because we didn’t want to use any assets from other asset packs for staging. This is allowed on the Epic Marketplace (with some very strict limitations), but we wanted our own assets in the packs that we create.

Some work needs to be done to make the screenshots a bit more photorealistic, but that shouldn’t represent a great deal of work. Some tweaks to the lighting and some adjustments in the post-process volume should make the screenshots look better. Overall, we are happy with the way that the asset pack has turned out.

Now, before we can list this on the marketplace, we need to create an LLC and get our privacy policy updated, along with the EULA posted (yes, we know that isn’t up yet).

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Integrating KnickKnack into UE4

The work has begun on integrating the assets that have been created into UE4. UE4’s render engine seems to be less forgiving than the one used in Substance Painter, and as a result, several objects have had extensive UV rework done to them. The Chinese Farmers are among the worst culprits in this regard, with them needing the entire model to be rebuilt and new UVs applied. Oh well, so it goes.

In the image above, you can see some of the assets that are completely done. The snow globes are also done and integrated, complete with scripts so that the snow flies around when you interact with it. These are not in this shot, of course. The hanging foot dolls were the most challenging, but are also among the best assets in the entire pack. The legs use a spline to tell UE4 where to draw the legs, and the geometry for the legs are spline mesh components. It is a great system in UE4 and we plan on using this technique a lot.

The assets will all have clean and dusty variants to them. In the image, the nesting dolls are shown only with the clean versions but there will be dusty ones as well.