polybot onboarding process

Welcome to the Hart’s Hollow Team!

Contact Info

Ryan SellarsBusiness/Creative Director912-513-1515rtsellars@gmail.com

Nina ParkProducer808-393-1889ninacpark@gmail.com

Matt Doucette!Lead Programmermatt@mattdouce.com

Max BenjaminLead Designermaxbenj@gmail.com

Sunny SattariProducer818-554-2882sanazsattari@gmail.com

Team Structure

aka who to contact first if you have any questions.

Remote workers (i.e. riggers and sound designers), Nina is your best bet and generally will get back to you within a couple of hours.

Team Structure – 3D Artists

• Tom, Alexis, and Randy are our dedicated texture artists.

• Everyone else can both model and texture if they wish (ask the above 3 if you need help with texturing)

• If you feel unsure about doing hand-painted textures and want to learn (DVDServer > 3DMotive > 3dmotive_handpaintedweapontexturingcourse)

What we expect of you

• At least one low-priority asset finished every week (5-7 hours)

• Hero asset = 2-3 weeks approx.

• Character = 2-3 weeks approx.

• A screenshot/model sheet of the completed asset also up in copy (jpg)

• You’ll have your own folder with your name on it in Copy. Within your folder, each asset you do has it’s own folder that has

• 1) the mesh

• 2) all the maps the mesh needs

• 3) a screenshot showing several angles of the mesh with at least diffuse on

Programs and Tools We Use

Google+/Google Hangout

• We’ll be using Google Hangout for team meetings as you can vidchat with more than 1 person and screenshare.• Make a Google+ account and friend at least all the leads on it.• If you don’t like Google+, well . . . too bad D:<

Copy

• Basically like Dropbox except better cause you get 15 gigs instead of 5.• Refer people so you can get more :D (5 gigs for each person who signs up)

• You might have noticed that you don’t immediately have the LoHHfolder in your Copy folder even after downloading the desktop program to your comp.

• Do not panic. We will fix this.

• On the desktop app, find the preferences for Copy.• Go to sharing. There should be the LoHH folder listed there.• Right click > Accept sharing

If that doesn’t sync it:•Go to Copy in your browser• Find the LoHH folder (either in Shared With Me or blubot)• Click on the LoHH folder• Click on Actions in the upper right of the screen• Select “Start Syncing”• Bam. You’re done.

Unity Basics

• Creating/Using a Project Folder

• Explanation of the Windows

• Importing Meshes

• Prepping Your Mesh for Level Design Use

• Renaming Assets

• Moving Meshes in the Level

• Game Objects

• Hierarchy Organization

Creating a New Project Folder

• A Unity Project Folder is basically like a Maya project folder. • It’s where all your stuff goes and where the scene file will reference meshes, textures, materials, etc.• When making a new project, import all of the packages listed (they’re the default ones Unity gives you)• If you are making an entirely new project folder via your computer window and not Unity, remember that the folder you choose has to be completely empty.

Creating a New Project Folder

• After the project folder is created, Unity will make a folder on your comp (in this case the project is called nina_testStuff)• The “Assets” folder is the only one you mainly have to worry about and where you’d put all your meshes and stuff.• You can create folders within folders in the project (either in Unity or simply in through your comp)

1. Hierarchy: Works like the Outliner in Maya. Able to rename stuff. Drag and drop stuff into Empty Game Objects (like null groups in Maya)

2. Scene: What’s in the level. Pretty self explanatory3. Game tab: Clicking on the Play button at the top of the screen will take you into the Game tab (which is

like the Play in Editor mode in UDK)4. Inspector: Shows basic stats/info/attributes of what you’ve selected5. Project: Everything that is in your project folder6. Console: Like an error log. If anything goes wrong and the level can’t play, check the Console tab. It might

help you to figure out what’s wrong

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6.

Importing Meshes

• Before you are ready to import your asset into Unity, there are 2 questions you must ask yourself

1. Did I do all the technical stuff before exporting? (del history, change pivot pt, freeze transformations, etc. The same steps you would take before importing into UDK)

2. Is it named correctly according to the naming conventions?

Importing Meshes

• Right click in the project window > Import New Asset > Find your asset

• After importing meshes, it is very important you follow these next steps

Click on the mesh in the project window so that it shows up in the Inspector window.

Importing Meshes

• Click on the Model tab• Normals = Import• Tangents = Import• Materials = “Import Materials” is unchecked• Hit apply

Importing Meshes

• Click on the Rig tab• Change Animation Type to “None”

• (this is only applies if your

assets is not animated in game of course)

• Hit apply

Importing Meshes

• Click on the Animation tab• Make sure “Import Animation” is unchecked

• (once again, only applicable if your asset does not move in game)

• Hit apply

Importing Meshes

Prepping Your Mesh for Level Design Use

• So now you have your asset in engine, but hold up a sec, we ain’t done yet

• We need to prep the mesh to be ready for our level designers to use

• i.e. we need to add simple collision to it and make it a prefab

• (this is only a step or two more I promise)

This fence model doesn’t have collision so our rectangular player pawn goes right through it.

Prepping Your Mesh for Level Design Use

1. Click on the asset in the Hierarchy.

2. Look over on the Inspector.

3. Click “Add Component”

4. Add a simple collision mesh by going down to physics

1. 2.

3.

4.

Prepping Your Mesh for Level Design Use

5. Go down to Physics

6. Choose the collider best suited for the mesh

5. 6.

Prepping Your Mesh for Level Design Use

7. Exact dimensions of the collision model can be tweaked in the Inspector window

Prepping Your Mesh for Level Design Use

8. Drab the mesh with the new collision on it into the project window. It has now become a prefab and should have the “.prefab” extension

9. Rename if necessary

Now you’re done :D and this prefab is what our level designers will actually use to set dress/block out the level

Renaming Assets

• Via the Project Window: click on its name in the Project Window. Then wait a bit and you can rename it. (basically like how you rename things on a Mac)

• Via the Hierarchy/Inspector Window: Click on the asset in the Hierarchy. Rename it in the Inspector Window. (Or right click and select “Rename” in the Hierarchy)

• Note: this will only rename the individual asset in the level. Not all assets of the same type

Moving Meshes

• You can temporarily change the pivot point of an asset.

• Hold down the “v” key and move your mouse around. Doing so will snap the pivot to a vertex on the mesh

• Hold down the “v” key and hold down the LMB and move the mouse. Doing so will snap the mesh to the vertex of another mesh (e.g. You can use this method to snap an asset to the terrain)

Default, imported pivot Temp, changed pivot

Game Objects

• Game Object menu is found near the top of the screen

• Contains lighting and game objects (which are simple geometric meshes. Kinda like BSPs in UDK. Good for blocking out stuff but you don’t want them to ultimately remain in scene. Also useful for creating invisible walls in level)

• Empty Game Obj: Useful for organizing and grouping things. (Like a null group in Maya)

Hierarchy Organization

• Use empty game objs to help with organization and grouping in the hierarchy

• After making an empty group, in the Hierarchy, drag things into the group

Miscellaneous

• You can make prefabs of stuff by dragging them into the Project window

• If something is a prefab, its name will turn blue in the Hierarchy

• You can change the pivot of meshes and tools (center or mesh’s actual pivot, local or global for tools) near the top of the screen around the Scene window tab.

:D

If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to contact any of us at any time. (Nina or Sunny is your best bet and the first person you should contact). Glad to have you onboard!

Ryan SellarsProducer912-513-1515rtsellars@gmail.com

Max BenjaminLead Designermaxbenj@gmail.com

Matt Doucette!Lead Programmermatt@mattdouce.com

Nina ParkProducer808-393-1889ninacpark@gmail.com

Sunny SattariProducer818-554-2882sanazsattari@gmail.com