Doing big updates for my portfolio, and I decided revisiting the Jurassic Park stuff was good for several reasons. I will be releasing my new updated models & environments on a standalone build with Unreal 4.
This will be interactive environments that you can explore. I am not promising a game like last time, because that is too big of a promise to keep or commit to, so for now this is a virtual tour of Jurassic Park that you can use with your VR headset, and if I feel like it after, maybe more, but this is about updating my portfolio & exercising my independence, and I'm happy to share my work with you as a explorable world in Unreal 4. I have not created an Unreal indie game page yet, so I will be using this mod page initially.
So as I said, I'm doing this for two reasons. Firstly is my portfolio: Artstation.com
Secondly, to tie up some loose ends, really enjoy the independence that I have now, that I didn't have then, cause back when I was doing this mod in 2008, not only could I not program, but my 3D modelling skills were also still in their infancy, so I required help with just about everything, I was way too dependent. These days, I don't need that kind of help, and so revisiting this project with my updated skills & finishing things that I previously could not, feels really satisfying. Plus, making Jurassic Park assets is fun & a great addition to my portfolio :)
So, to start off, I redid the Raptor Pen, completely from scratch.
Why from scratch?
The original model was made in Hammer, so it wasn't even a model, it was brushes. I was rubbish at 3D modelling back then. Because of that, the old model was later touched up by another artist. I have a problem with that, because I want the Raptor Pen to be my own work, so that alone was reason enough to redo it from scratch, but the old model was also full of inaccuracies. So now there is a better model, and I did it by myself.
So what's next? I am doing an update to another old project, giving it a quick facelift for Vray & UE4.
That will be a couple days at most, with that one, I just need some updated renders/screenshots, nothing crazy, but after that, I will be focusing more on the Visitors Center.
I also started on a redo of the exterior of the Visitors Center. The old model was a collaboration between me and John Harvey, and it was also not accurate, so I'm redoing it as well, because this is about my updating my portfolio & exercising my independence.
The interior on the other hand is almost entirely my work, so it doesn't need to be redone much. There are some proportion adjustments I've been making with the Rotunda, since my old model was disproportionate, but I will be finishing and detailing that next. The interior and exterior of the Visitors Center were separate sets in the movie, and they don't line up, so I will be treating them as such, and making them separate models for accuracy, so that you can enjoy both sets as you remember them. Later on, I'll merge them, which will require modifying the design/deviating from the film. I'll give you guys the option to choose which Visitors Center you want to tour, so you'll have 3 options.
On top of being able to make everything myself now, I also have much better references in 2019, so I don't have to deal with the inferior picture quality of a 2003 DVD release of the film this time.
Keep up the great work!