Alamo VR/AR project

[Mike Amos]

There is an unfold plugin somewhere.

[baz]

@mike amos said:

There is an unfold plugin somewhere.

Flattery?

https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pauthor=Pumpkin%20Pirate

[cuttingedge]

I so love the 3d print.. how the texture came out is amazng ..Are the colors there right of the 3d print or is it repainted manually.. What kind of printer will give me this detailed output? Very well done...

[chippwalters]

@cuttingedge said:

I so love the 3d print.. how the texture came out is amazng ..Are the colors there right of the 3d print or is it repainted manually.. What kind of printer will give me this detailed output? Very well done...

Yes the colors are correct. I added a dirt layer and ambient occlusion layer in Substance Painter. I used Shapeways.com to print it. Cost about $150. You can find out more about the Z-Corp printers half way down this page. They're fairly expensive. I think they start at around $60K.

[liam887]

Good luck! My VR experiments are still ongoing, on hold a little while I expand my coding skills!

[chippwalters]

Some more stuff...

This tambour was located on the South side of the Alamo and used 4lb cannons to defend the South and East.

Gary Zaboly's map of the entire Alamo compound as it existed in 1836

The SketchUp model of the tambour

A quick SU SketchFX video of same:

[db11]

@chippwalters said:

Currently, I'm working with my new SketchFX Ex extension to figure out a custom render theme and video workflow for these in progress pictures. Here are a few tests..

I've looked at this extension and considered adding it to my list of plugins-to-buy. (along with Ambient Occlusion). I really like some of the effects and your examples look great.

How have you found it? Are you happy with the output? Is there any performance hit? Does using it without AO severly handicap the avaialble effects? (I use Twilight Render currently)

Oh, and the project overall is very impressive... but having seen some of your previous work (e.g. your Hyperloop presentation) I'm not at all surprised. Great work.

[chippwalters]

I actually really do like the SketchFX extension. If I had to get only one, I'd get the AO one as it helps you design by accurately showing you what the object looks like. Both give you the ability to create some really nice and quick renders and animations. I don't see this as a presentation tool to show finished work, I'd prefer something like Thea or Unity or KeyShot for that.

[db11]

Thanks for the reply. I imagine I'll probably end up getting both, but I'll likely take your advice and start with AO.

[chippwalters]

Some more updates. These are Unity screenshots from the Palisades scene, which is the place David Crockett and his men defended the Alamo from. It was supposed to be one of the most vulnerable, but due to Crockett and his sharp shooters, became virtually impenetrable.

Ultra low geometry except for the Alamo, which will be optimized next...
Also, we'll be adding a better ground texture as well.

Of interest, the shader I'm using was created in Amplify Shader for Unity and it's a pretty interesting shader. The goal is to NOT have too many texture maps for mobile AR. So, I've compiled 2 different shaders and the only custom maps per object are a normal and ambient occlusion map. The rest of the texturing is done with only a couple of diffuse and normal maps, plus a noise map for the dirt coming up from the ground. This way I can keep both the polys low AND the number of textures low.

[Stinkie]

[Mike Amos]

Coming along VERY nicely.

[chippwalters]

More updates.

This is our first real AR test. It's a bit shaky as I'm trying to move a mouse and hold the camera at the same time. No baked textures yet-- still trying to figure out how to do that in Vuforia...

[Bryan K]

Yes, looking good!

[liam887]

This is excellent cant wait for more!

[chippwalters]

Some updates. I'm finishing the architecture, though more slowly than I originally intended. Brought on a few new people, including Brad (motion animator) and some other helpful Alamo experts:

James Boddie
Jim is a superb Blender modeler and render and has created various Alamo scenes with INCREDIBLE realism. His 360 view is JUST AMAZING! We're looking to have him help with some of the modeling for the Witte project.

The Alamo Plaza as it might have appeared in 1836. The point...

The Alamo Plaza as it might have appeared in 1836. The point of view is about 17 yards from the southwest corner of the Long Barrack (Convento). Just to the right of the Alamo church you can just see the palisade over the low stone wall. The cottonwoods of the Alameda are visible beyond the palisade. To the right of the low stone wall is the kitchen which abuts the Low Barrack and main gate. The 18-pounder cannon is on the platform at the southwest corner. Next to it on the west wall is the blacksmith shop. The Treviño House (Travis’ headquarters) is the thatched-roof building in the middle of the west wall. The defense of the north wall consists of two substantial cannon platforms. Continue to see the north row houses, granary and convento. This 3D model of the Alamo compound is based on: Mark Lemon's The Illustrated Alamo 1836, A Photographic Journey. Abilene: State House Press, 2008. Rendered in Blender. -#Alamo -#Blender

Kuula (kuula.co)

Check out his main plaza parade, done with Houdini:
https://youtu.be/l6gl0b2-f7c

Another incredible view:
https://youtu.be/OMm9_zsjOxk

Rich Curilla
Rich is a noted Alamo and Bexar expert who has created some very nice SketchUp visualizations of San Antonio during the time of the Alamo siege.

His FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/richard.curilla.5

And a nice article on his curation of the John Wayne Alamo set:
https://www.southbendtribune.com/life/travel/as-it-deteriorates-alamo-set-could-be-forgotten/article_e3304551-9874-56cf-bf3c-6f917d71b27d.html

Here's some test animation work. Obviously not complete, but interesting.

[liam887]

Chipp what engine are you using to render the people, is that a random or scripted encounter? Also amazing work cant wait to see how this develops.

[chippwalters]

Unity 2017 and Timeline being used for scripting some AI encounters. Thanks. I'll post more soon.

[chippwalters]

Here are a couple new videos showing my workflow going from SketchUp to Unity. This first video deals with the very simple way 3D Coat creates great UV Maps for models exported from SketchUp.

The second video focuses on creating solid voxel representations of SketchUp models, then adding severe aging and effects in order to create a more complex model appearance while still minimizing model complexity. Once the voxel model is created in 3D Coat, it is then passed on to Substance Painter where it is used to bake normals and ambient occlusion maps on the simple UV model created in the first video. It ends showing how a shader in Unity can be used to minimize the amount of textures and polygons, yet generate sufficient results to be able to be used on mobile devices.

The second video is an hour long, which is typically long for instructional media. I've sped it up where I can. There are valuable points to be made all along the way and I hope you find it worthwhile.

[liam887]

Excellent video!