Meet the Unity Demo Team and The Blacksmith FAQ
After the demonstration of our video The Blacksmith at the GDC conference in March 2015, we were literally bombarded with questions. In this article, we present the team that worked on the project, as well as answer questions that interest our users. And this is just the beginning. In the near future, we will publish even more articles on the creation of The Blacksmith video.
Meet the Unity Demo Team
Our demo-team is based in Stockholm and is a small, fairly autonomous unit of the development department. We work on the Unity engine and create content in parallel with its updates. Thus, we are the first to test the new engine functionality.
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From the point of view of performance, working with the alpha or even pre-alpha version of the engine cannot be called effective. But there are obvious advantages in this - already at the early stages we can identify potential problems and organize work processes.
Each of our projects is unique in its own way, which is why we often encounter problems that are lacking the functionality of the current version of the engine. In such cases, we have to develop the prototype solutions ourselves in accordance with the specific requirements of the project. Subsequently, when the solution has already justified itself in practice, we transfer it to the main development department for adding to Unity. For example, the prototype of a physically accurate shader was first used in the Butterfly Effect project, when we realized that such a system simply could not be done.
Butterfly Effect (2012)
A bit about our demo projects
In the process of working on a physically accurate shader for Unity, our team created several demos, gradually complicating the task to achieve the maximum quality of the PBS technology.
We started small. In the project The Doll (Doll), we simulated a single object combining different materials to test a new shader on it.
The Doll (2013)
In The Teleporter project (Teleport), we again limited ourselves to one object, but this time we made it much larger, added animation and surroundings to test the image-based lighting system (IBL) and reflection probes.
The Teleporter (2014)
We made several side projects to experiment with the shading of various materials (leather, car enamel), and then started creating the Viking Village video ( Viking Village ), which is a ready-made gaming setting. In this project, we added a number of related systems to see how a physically accurate shader will interact with them. After the release of the project itself, we published an article in which we talked about the technologies used.
Viking Village (2014)
In the Viking Village project, we used a new lighting system, although at that time it was still at the development stage. Taking this opportunity, we also tried to create content based on scanned textures. We believe that this approach has great potential, since it not only reduces development costs, but also significantly improves picture quality, making it more realistic.
Since we set out to gradually raise the bar, the next logical step was to work on a character. This idea we implemented in the video The Blacksmith (Blacksmith). As part of this project, we continued to work on a physically accurate shader, as well as tested narration tools in Unity, which were then at an early stage of development.
The Blacksmith (2015)
About the creators of the movie The Blacksmith
Veselin Efremov is an artist and art director with 14 years of experience in gaming studios such as Scattered / DeNA, Crytek and Black Sea Studios. During this time, he managed not only to try himself in various areas of graphics, but also to effectively build the work of the departments under his leadership. Veselin joined the Unity team to get a new creative experience, which for him was the project The Blacksmith. In his work, he pays special attention to optimizing processes for creating high-quality graphics. At the moment, Veselin lives in Stockholm.
Behind Torbjørn Ledre has many years of experience in programming AAA-class engines and games. He led several projects DICE, Ubisoft and EA, and later even released a few games on Unity. Now Torbjorn cooperates with us remotely - from the Swedish hinterland.
Damien Simper worked in television, film and gaming industry. He began his career as an animator at Walt Disney Studios in Australia, and later began working with gaming content as chief animator and head of the gaming blue-eyed department at Australian company Plastic Wax. Damien currently lives in Copenhagen with his family. Here he led a department at IO Interactive for several years before joining the Unity team.
Interestingly, our team members never got together. Moreover, Torbjörn and Damien are still not personally acquainted. Torbjörn and Veselin have already collaborated remotely - at the previous place of work, they together released two games on Unity. But for all the time they created The Blacksmith video, they haven’t talked live. For the first time they were able to personally discuss the project before the release - on board the aircraft on the way to the GDC conference.
Recently two more specialists joined us. Now, together with the producer of the project, our team consists of six people of different nationalities (Norwegian, Bulgarian, Australian, Polish, Lithuanian) from different cities (Umeå, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Vilnius).
In addition, an important role in the project was played by a separate team from Montreal, who worked with narrative tools. And finally, the soundtrack composer is a Swedish-American American who lives in Paris.
Perspectives
At the time of this writing, the physically accurate shader and the new lighting system in Unity 5 are already fully developed and widely used by developers. Narrative tools are still in development and require additional testing. Now comes to the fore the problem of creating post-effects corresponding to the quality of the improved shading and lighting systems of Unity 5. Therefore, we still remain in the forefront of testers to provide the feedback necessary for the effective development of new Unity functionality.
To improve the quality of the content and reduce the cost of its creation, we continue to explore and apply the technology of "smart" development. Instead of looking for solutions "in the forehead", we rely on the talent of specialists and competent construction of work processes.
We have compiled a special FAQ for The Blacksmith project. If you do not find information of interest to you, ask a question in the comments, and we will be happy to answer it.
THE BLACKSMITH PROJECT FAQ
What are the system requirements for The Blacksmith demo?
Recommended system requirements for playing video on a PC in Full HD resolution (1920 × 1080) at 30fps: Core i7 4770 processor and GeForce GTX 760 graphics card. On a laptop, say, on the latest MacBook Pro, the video plays at the same frame rate at 720p resolution . To play it safe, we used a computer with a GTX 980 video card to show the video at the GDC conference.
The original video and audio tracks were imported from Unity to an MPEG video that can be viewed on YouTube.
What version of the engine did you use to create the project?
We used assemblies based on official alpha and beta versions of Unity 5, and also wrote a sequencer on our own.
The visual aspects of the project - shading, lighting, post effects and everything related to rendering - were created on the final version of the engine. So we wanted to make sure that the visual series of the demo fully reflects the capabilities of Unity 5.
As part of the Blacksmith project, we also decided to conduct early testing of the ergonomics of the sequencer, one of the narrative tools developed by our team in Montreal. If we were not part of Unity, we would use the uSequencer or Cinema Director packages at the Asset Store to build the narration (placement of cameras, animations and visual effects on the timeline).
What is the structure of the development team?
The above three specialists took part in the work on the project directly on Unity. We considered that the artist (he is the scriptwriter and the director of the video), the animator and the programmer are quite a full-fledged team.
Each of us was responsible for his area of competence, whether it be graphics, animation or code. And the producer was involved in solving organizational issues, while working on other projects in parallel.
In addition, for some tasks that do not require working with the engine, for example, for concept art, 3D art, motion capture and writing a soundtrack, we hired third-party artists. The results of the work came to the appropriate specialist (artist or animator), who then transferred them to the project Unity.
How exactly did you expand the functionality of Unity? What unique tools were created within the project?
We wanted to achieve the maximum quality of visualization, given our limited resources, namely one programmer. He managed to expand Unity with several shaders and tools that helped realize all the ideas of the art director. Here is a list of components and shaders that we added to the Unity editor:
• hair shader
• Unique character shadows
• wrinkle cards
• Planar reflections
• Atmospheric dispersion
• Mixing materials based on normals
• Drawing of vegetation on any surface
• Rendering soft vegetation
• Tonal compression and color correction
• Blur image
• Tool for creating high-resolution screenshots
• Scene manager
Why create all these solutions as separate tools if you can add them to Unity as standard functionality?
One of the main tasks of our team is to test our own solutions. To do this, we do what most Unity users do - we use ready-made functionality that meets the requirements of our project, and in addition we create unique tools for solving specific tasks.
In addition, adding new features directly to Unity requires much more resources and time, because in this case, usage scenarios are not limited to one project, and features must be sufficiently universal for all genres, styles, platforms, etc.
Where can I learn more about the process of creating a video?
Wrinkle cards in The Blacksmith video.
Atmospheric scattering in The Blacksmith video.
Create The Blacksmith: animation, camera effects, audio / video.
The creation of The Blacksmith: concept and decoration.
In the near future we will publish several more articles on various aspects of creating The Blacksmith video.
Meet the Unity Demo Team
Our demo-team is based in Stockholm and is a small, fairly autonomous unit of the development department. We work on the Unity engine and create content in parallel with its updates. Thus, we are the first to test the new engine functionality.
')
From the point of view of performance, working with the alpha or even pre-alpha version of the engine cannot be called effective. But there are obvious advantages in this - already at the early stages we can identify potential problems and organize work processes.
Each of our projects is unique in its own way, which is why we often encounter problems that are lacking the functionality of the current version of the engine. In such cases, we have to develop the prototype solutions ourselves in accordance with the specific requirements of the project. Subsequently, when the solution has already justified itself in practice, we transfer it to the main development department for adding to Unity. For example, the prototype of a physically accurate shader was first used in the Butterfly Effect project, when we realized that such a system simply could not be done.
Butterfly Effect (2012)
A bit about our demo projects
In the process of working on a physically accurate shader for Unity, our team created several demos, gradually complicating the task to achieve the maximum quality of the PBS technology.
We started small. In the project The Doll (Doll), we simulated a single object combining different materials to test a new shader on it.
The Doll (2013)
In The Teleporter project (Teleport), we again limited ourselves to one object, but this time we made it much larger, added animation and surroundings to test the image-based lighting system (IBL) and reflection probes.
The Teleporter (2014)
We made several side projects to experiment with the shading of various materials (leather, car enamel), and then started creating the Viking Village video ( Viking Village ), which is a ready-made gaming setting. In this project, we added a number of related systems to see how a physically accurate shader will interact with them. After the release of the project itself, we published an article in which we talked about the technologies used.
Viking Village (2014)
In the Viking Village project, we used a new lighting system, although at that time it was still at the development stage. Taking this opportunity, we also tried to create content based on scanned textures. We believe that this approach has great potential, since it not only reduces development costs, but also significantly improves picture quality, making it more realistic.
Since we set out to gradually raise the bar, the next logical step was to work on a character. This idea we implemented in the video The Blacksmith (Blacksmith). As part of this project, we continued to work on a physically accurate shader, as well as tested narration tools in Unity, which were then at an early stage of development.
The Blacksmith (2015)
About the creators of the movie The Blacksmith
Veselin Efremov is an artist and art director with 14 years of experience in gaming studios such as Scattered / DeNA, Crytek and Black Sea Studios. During this time, he managed not only to try himself in various areas of graphics, but also to effectively build the work of the departments under his leadership. Veselin joined the Unity team to get a new creative experience, which for him was the project The Blacksmith. In his work, he pays special attention to optimizing processes for creating high-quality graphics. At the moment, Veselin lives in Stockholm.
Behind Torbjørn Ledre has many years of experience in programming AAA-class engines and games. He led several projects DICE, Ubisoft and EA, and later even released a few games on Unity. Now Torbjorn cooperates with us remotely - from the Swedish hinterland.
Damien Simper worked in television, film and gaming industry. He began his career as an animator at Walt Disney Studios in Australia, and later began working with gaming content as chief animator and head of the gaming blue-eyed department at Australian company Plastic Wax. Damien currently lives in Copenhagen with his family. Here he led a department at IO Interactive for several years before joining the Unity team.
Interestingly, our team members never got together. Moreover, Torbjörn and Damien are still not personally acquainted. Torbjörn and Veselin have already collaborated remotely - at the previous place of work, they together released two games on Unity. But for all the time they created The Blacksmith video, they haven’t talked live. For the first time they were able to personally discuss the project before the release - on board the aircraft on the way to the GDC conference.
Recently two more specialists joined us. Now, together with the producer of the project, our team consists of six people of different nationalities (Norwegian, Bulgarian, Australian, Polish, Lithuanian) from different cities (Umeå, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Vilnius).
In addition, an important role in the project was played by a separate team from Montreal, who worked with narrative tools. And finally, the soundtrack composer is a Swedish-American American who lives in Paris.
Perspectives
At the time of this writing, the physically accurate shader and the new lighting system in Unity 5 are already fully developed and widely used by developers. Narrative tools are still in development and require additional testing. Now comes to the fore the problem of creating post-effects corresponding to the quality of the improved shading and lighting systems of Unity 5. Therefore, we still remain in the forefront of testers to provide the feedback necessary for the effective development of new Unity functionality.
To improve the quality of the content and reduce the cost of its creation, we continue to explore and apply the technology of "smart" development. Instead of looking for solutions "in the forehead", we rely on the talent of specialists and competent construction of work processes.
We have compiled a special FAQ for The Blacksmith project. If you do not find information of interest to you, ask a question in the comments, and we will be happy to answer it.
THE BLACKSMITH PROJECT FAQ
What are the system requirements for The Blacksmith demo?
Recommended system requirements for playing video on a PC in Full HD resolution (1920 × 1080) at 30fps: Core i7 4770 processor and GeForce GTX 760 graphics card. On a laptop, say, on the latest MacBook Pro, the video plays at the same frame rate at 720p resolution . To play it safe, we used a computer with a GTX 980 video card to show the video at the GDC conference.
The original video and audio tracks were imported from Unity to an MPEG video that can be viewed on YouTube.
What version of the engine did you use to create the project?
We used assemblies based on official alpha and beta versions of Unity 5, and also wrote a sequencer on our own.
The visual aspects of the project - shading, lighting, post effects and everything related to rendering - were created on the final version of the engine. So we wanted to make sure that the visual series of the demo fully reflects the capabilities of Unity 5.
As part of the Blacksmith project, we also decided to conduct early testing of the ergonomics of the sequencer, one of the narrative tools developed by our team in Montreal. If we were not part of Unity, we would use the uSequencer or Cinema Director packages at the Asset Store to build the narration (placement of cameras, animations and visual effects on the timeline).
What is the structure of the development team?
The above three specialists took part in the work on the project directly on Unity. We considered that the artist (he is the scriptwriter and the director of the video), the animator and the programmer are quite a full-fledged team.
Each of us was responsible for his area of competence, whether it be graphics, animation or code. And the producer was involved in solving organizational issues, while working on other projects in parallel.
In addition, for some tasks that do not require working with the engine, for example, for concept art, 3D art, motion capture and writing a soundtrack, we hired third-party artists. The results of the work came to the appropriate specialist (artist or animator), who then transferred them to the project Unity.
How exactly did you expand the functionality of Unity? What unique tools were created within the project?
We wanted to achieve the maximum quality of visualization, given our limited resources, namely one programmer. He managed to expand Unity with several shaders and tools that helped realize all the ideas of the art director. Here is a list of components and shaders that we added to the Unity editor:
• hair shader
• Unique character shadows
• wrinkle cards
• Planar reflections
• Atmospheric dispersion
• Mixing materials based on normals
• Drawing of vegetation on any surface
• Rendering soft vegetation
• Tonal compression and color correction
• Blur image
• Tool for creating high-resolution screenshots
• Scene manager
Why create all these solutions as separate tools if you can add them to Unity as standard functionality?
One of the main tasks of our team is to test our own solutions. To do this, we do what most Unity users do - we use ready-made functionality that meets the requirements of our project, and in addition we create unique tools for solving specific tasks.
In addition, adding new features directly to Unity requires much more resources and time, because in this case, usage scenarios are not limited to one project, and features must be sufficiently universal for all genres, styles, platforms, etc.
Where can I learn more about the process of creating a video?
Wrinkle cards in The Blacksmith video.
Atmospheric scattering in The Blacksmith video.
Create The Blacksmith: animation, camera effects, audio / video.
The creation of The Blacksmith: concept and decoration.
In the near future we will publish several more articles on various aspects of creating The Blacksmith video.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/269643/
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