design for games 3d modelling : making of my lantern

this is how i made my lantern asset in 3ds max (objects scale able)

this is the reference image that I used to create my lantern however i did not copy the lantern exactly because i wanted to add my own style to the lanterns design.

the reason that i chose to do a lantern over a torch is because of the geometry of the torch would be to simple and would be more of a texture job rather than showing all the modelling skills I've learned.

LO1

i started with the base of the lantern because it was one of the simplest main parts other than the glass, the reason I didn't start with the glass is because its in the middle and its logical to work ether from top to bottom or bottom to top as part of a work flow.

i started with a cylinder with a medium amount of segments, from this basic shape i extruded down and out to create a wider base for the lantern to reset on, i then extruded down and out again to make this base even wider, once i was happy with the size of the base i added connects to shape it and give it a more rounded feel.

next i worked on the top first by extruding up once slightly and then extruding out to give the candle somewhere to sit, like before i added connects to reshape the platform, finally i inset the top face and wielded the verts in the middle to get ride of any engons.

(deleted the bottom face to save on polygons)

the second part of the lantern i worked on was the top even though I've just said its better to work in one direction, the reason that i have done this is because i cant use both the top and bottom as reference to find out how tall the glass has to be.

again I started with a cylinder with no subsections, from this cylinder i extruded down and out to create rim that I inset and extruded again to get the basic shape of the top of the lantern.

from this new shape i extrude the top inwards then up followed with and extrution outwards to create the cap, selecting the top face i inset twice and then wielded the verts at the top to get rid of any engons, from here it was just a case of pulling the centre vert and the ring of verts around it to give the top a more curved feel, this model is mostly made from basic cylinder shapes due to is rounded form.

i only made one handle for my lantern because i can copy the object later with the uv map already applied, this makes making duplicate object easier to unwrap later on.

once again starting with a cylinder i extruded the top and bottom out three times, from this shape i was able to move the rings of verts to bend the ends. (i could have used the bend modifier here but i chose not to because it does not always give an accurate result)

finally i cut a torus in half and attached it to the top of the handle to create the ring that would hold a strap.

the glass part of this model is one of the most simplistic parts even thought it is the part that is most seen by the player, the reason the low poly doesn't matter is the glass is transparent and there for the player will not be able to see much of the geometry anyway.
starting with another cylinder primitive with three subdivisions down its length i converted it to editable poly and then reshaped it into an egg shape.

i deleted the top and bottom faces as they are not needed for my model and reduces the poly count.

to make the candle and flame i used a simple cylinder to make the candle as its a basic shape, but for the flame i used a image of a flame on a plane with an opacity map applied, the reason i have chosen to used a image of a flame rather than make one is its more poly effective and looks more realistic. (if i knew how i would have made an animated texture)

finally i attached all of objects together to make the lantern.

LO3

the reason that i am doing LO3 before LO2 is because this is a very light oriented object because it is a light source its self.

the attempt of making the light glow was a reasonable success however the light was to bright and didnt look like the lantern could produce this much light, the way i achieved this was adding a glow effect to the outside of the glass to give the impression that light was bouncing around inside the lantern. (area omni light inside glass)

the second attempt improved on the first one by reducing the lights fall off circle, this gave the light being admitted a more realistic effect, the problem i found with this was i could not bring the glow effect into UDK or apply it once the object was completely attached.

the way i fixed it in the end was to use textures to make the omni more present in the glass.

LO2
i unwrapped all of the pieces separately and then attached them onto a single map, this made the unwraping of the UVs much easyer to understand.