REAL vs REPRESENTATIONAL

The concept of the Real vs. the concept of the Representational - 

THE ICEBERG

The iceberg questions the perception of a real landscape - a distorted depiction of land, made more fluid and poetic through its formation.

The notion of the iceberg is one of mystery and reveal - a floating island of which the majority is hidden from view. 

 

THE LANDSCAPE 

The act of producing an island which is hovers between the real and the representational - 

The iceberg floats in water, but the fake island floats in the sky: 

 
 Inspired by real landscapes (representations): 

 Green pines/soft hills/bright light

 Rough foliage/rocky outcrop/daylight

 Mossy growth/jagged cliff face/in the shadow

 Tall trees/rocky mountains/glow of the sunset

Shrubby growth/rocks and rivers/overcast

THE MODEL

 THE TEXTURE  

 

WEEK 01

CRYENGINE 3 - VIDEO TUTORIALS notes tips tricks

GETTING STARTED AND FOLDER STRUCTURE

The CryEngine folder structure:

(1)      The folder structure features a bit 32 and a bit 64 editor. The 64 editor is faster, however uses more processing power. The 32 bit editor uses less processing power, so can be run on less powerful computers.
(2)      The Editor folder contains all the files which are used by the Sandbox Editor. It is divided into various folders, such as Materials, Objects, Sounds and styles. 
(3)      The Game folder contains an assortment of .pak files, which can be unzipped. They contain all of the files which are used in the game, and can be opened and accessed. 
(4)      The main folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\Crytek\CryENGINE_PC_v3_4_5_6666_freesdk) contains the 'system.cfg' file, which can be opened in notepad and edited. This file contains information regarding the game, and can be edited to change certain aspects of game play - e.g. turn off all sounds etc.
(5)      The tools folder contains the SettingsMgr application. This should be run so as to check whether or not the rc.exe path is valid.


OVERVIEW OF THE USER INTERFACE

Tips and Tricks regarding the CryEngine user interface:

(1)     Select Objects window can be opened by pressing CTRL+D 
(2)     Select Objects window allows you to Hide/Delete/Freeze entities by selecting them from a list.
(3)     The Asset Browser (accessed by clicking a button called "open asset browser") allows you to find textures, brushes and/or sound through the use of a search bar. 
(4)     The Database Viewer (accessed by clicking on a butten labeled "DB") allows you to browse through the Database using the 8 tabs - Entity Library, Pre-Fabs Library, Vegetation, Particles, Music, Reverb Presets, Game Tokens
(5)     The Entity Library in the Database Viewer allows one to change interesting paramaters, such as whether an object can be picked up, how much damage it can sustain before it is destroyed etc. 
(6)     The Reverb Presets tab in the Database Viewer allows one to assign reverb noise to certain indoor environments. 
(7)     The Lighting panel allows you to change the time of day, where the sun rises and sets as well as the path which the sun follows over the environment. 
(8)     The Time of Day  window (View/Open View Panel/Time of Day) allows one to change the time of your level, and by accessing the 'Toggle Advanced Properties' section, one can change a variety of different aspects of the way the game is rendered, such as the saturation. This tab would be very useful for setting up a mood for a level.
(9)     The Flow Graph window (accessed by clicking the "FG" button) is used to script levels. The scripting which the CryEngine game uses is very visual, and done through the linking of various paramater windows. 
(10)   The Track Viewer window (View/Open View Panel/Track View) is used to animate a camera through a level, creating animations. 


CUSTOMISING THE EDITOR

Ways in which I would customise my setup:

(1)    I would use the Configure User Commands window to create two commands - one to turn off music, and one to turn off the display info. These would be very useful, as I tend to listen to music as I create work on a computer, and also the display info is somewhat distracting. I would drag these commands into a window and attatch it to the top of the display. 
(2)    I would change the console background colour to a light grey, as opposed to the darker colours which appear on default. This would make it easier to see some of the command buttons. 
(3)    I would turn on the Auto-Backup feature, and set it to 15minutes. I find that the default of 5 minutes is too frequent and becomes annoying as the game pauses for a second to save the level. 
(4)    I would turn on the "Show Geometry on Mouse Over" function, as it shows you clearly which entity you are selecting and how big seperate entites are when there is a variety placed close together. This would make the game-use a lot more smooth. 
(5)    When using the game on two screens (i.e. when my laptop is connected to my screens at home) I would have the editor windows all compiled into one window and placed on a seperate screen to the viewport. This would give me more room to view the actual game, rather than covering up large sections with windows. 


VIEWPORTS

Ways of moving around the viewport:

(1)     Using the WASD keys to move in the different directions. This could also be teamed up with the features of the mouse (e.g. middle mouse button = pan etc.) 
(2)     Using the GoTo feature. This would be useful to check the progress of the build from one area. 
(3)     Using the saved Camera Tag positions. Similar to the GoTo feature, but this one also saves the camera angle, and is assessible via the F keys.


USER INTERFACE PANELS

(1)     CTRL + T opens up the Select Objects Window
(2)     F3 turns on the wireframe view
(3)     "Open Asset browser" tab opens the Asset Browser 
(4)     The button "DB" opens up the Database Viewer Window
(5)     The Flow Graph Window can be accessed by clicking on the "FG" button.


THE LECTURE - 50 words or less

The subtle manipulation of perspective through the use of unusual materials - e.g. the sculpture made out of rubbish which cast a shadow of the couple.