Immersive 3D Design Visualization: With Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine 4

by Abhishek Kumar

Overview

Discover the methods and techniques required for creating immersive design visualization for industry. This book proposes ways for industry-oriented design visualization from scratch. This includes fundamentals of creative and immersive technology; tools and techniques for architectural visualization; design visualization with Autodesk Maya; PBR integration; and texturing, material design, and integration into UE4 for immersive design visualization.

You’ll to dive into design and visualization, from planning to execution. You will start with the basics, such as an introduction to design visualization as well as to the software you will be using. You will next learn to create assets such as virtual worlds and texturing, and integrate them with Unreal Engine 4. Finally, there is a capstone project for you to make your own immersive visualization scene.

By the end of the book you’ll be able to create assets for use in industries such as game development, entertainment, architecture, design engineering, and digital education.

What You Will Learn

• Gain the fundamentals of immersive design visualization
• Master design visualization with Autodesk Maya
• Study interactive visualization with UE4
• Create your immersive design portfolio

Who This Book Is For

Beginning-intermediate learners from the fields of animation, visual art, and computer graphics as well as design visualization, game technology, and virtual reality integration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781484265963
Publisher:	Apress
Publication date:	12/16/2020
Edition description:	1st ed.
Pages:	301
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr. Abhishek Kumar is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the Institute of Science at Banaras Hindu University. He is an Apple Certified Associate, Adobe Education Trainer, and certified by Autodesk. He is actively involved in course development in animation and design engineering courses for various institutions and universities as they will be a future industry requirement. Dr. Kumar has published a number of research papers indexed in Scopus and Web of Science and covered a wide range of topics in various digital scientific areas (image analysis, visual identity, graphics, digital photography, motion graphics, 3D animation, visual effects, editing, and composition).

He holds eight patents in the field of computer science, design and IoT. Dr. Kumar has completed professional studies related to animation, computer graphics, virtual reality, stereoscopy, filmmaking, visual effects, and photography from Norwich University of the Arts,the University of Edinburgh, and Wizcraft MIME and FXPHD, Australia.

He is passionate about the media and entertainment industry, and has directed two animation short films. Dr. Kumar has trained more than 50,000 students across the globe from 153 countries (top five: India, Germany, United States, Spain, and Australia). His alumni have worked on movies such as Ra-One, Krissh, Dhoom, Life of Pi, the Avengers series, the Iron Man series, GI Joe 3D, 300, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Prince of Persia, Titanic 3D, the Transformers series, Bahubali 1 and 2, London Has Fallen, Warcraft, Aquaman 3D, Alita, and more.

Table of Contents

About the Author ix

About the Technical Reviewer xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Chapter 1 Design for Creative and Immersive Technology 1

AR, VR, and Emerging Technologies 1

VR for Entertainment 2

VR for Digital Architecture 3

VR for Simulation and Training 4

VR for Product Visualization 5

VR for Space Exploration Simulation 6

Chapter 2 Tools for Architectural Visualization 7

Maya for Design Visualization 7

Substance Painter for PBR Texturing 8

Quixel Mixer 9

Acquiring Materials from Quixel Megascans 10

Immersive Design Visualization Using UE4 11

Alternative Applications for Design 12

Blender 12

3DS Max 13

Unity3D 14

Chapter 3 Basic of 3D Modeling: Assets 17

Basic Maya Controls 17

Blocking Out an Asset 22

Adding Symmetry 25

Adding Duplicate Faces 32

Using the Multi-Cut Tool 40

Joining Objects 44

Adding Details 49

Isolating the Inner Object 59

Removing Unwanted Faces 67

Making Final Adjustments 69

Starting the Detailing Phase 78

Correcting Angle Problems 86

Doing a Shader Test 93

Reducing Poly Count 96

Chapter 4 Interactive Visualization with UE4 103

The Unreal Engine 4 Interface 103

Level Editor 111

Output Log 113

Chapter 5 Creating Virtual Worlds 117

Creating the Asset Library 117

Creating a Basic Level Layout 118

Adding Details 130

Chapter 6 Creating UVs 135

Unwrapping the Headset Asset 135

Testing the Unwrapping 146

Chapter 7 Lightmap Analysis and Correction 151

Lightmap Analysis 152

Using Lightmass Importance Volume 159

Eliminating Baking Errors 161

Baking the Scene 163

Chapter 8 PBR Integrated Texturing 167

Substance Painter 167

Quixel Megascans 169

PBR Texturing 173

Texturing 179

Applying Materials 184

Dealing with Dirt 190

Chapter 9 Material Design and Integration 201

Exporting from Substance Painter 201

Working with Materials in UE4 205

Applying the Material to a Mesh 214

Chapter 10 Real-Time Emissive Materials 219

Master and Instanced Materials 219

Creating Emissive Materials 223

Chapter 11 Importing Assets in Detail 233

Import Settings for Assets 233

Generating Automatic Lightmap UVs and Other Settings 237

Chapter 12 Creating a Level 243

Importing a Quixel Megascans Texture 243

Final Renders 252

Chapter 13 Testing and Fixing Errors 255

Lighting Problems 255

Shadow Seam Problems 258

Chapter 14 Design Visualization Capstone Project: Aesthetic Development 265

Extending the Level 265

Adding Final Touches 270

Chapter 15 Immersive Design Portfolio 275

Cleaning up and Previewing Our Scene 275

Interactive Simulation 277

Portfolio Presentation 288

Conclusion 294

Index 297