CAGD 373: Sprint 4

ePortfolio

Sprint 4: Stars Align

Publication - 12/03/25

The Goal

            By the end of the semester, my team will present to our classmates a faithful recreation of the Comet Observatory from Super Mario Galaxy. To create such a complex scene, the skills we have collectively learned will be pushed to their limits.

The Role

            By this sprint, I have grown accustomed to my role as lead and producer. I've appreciated the ability to discuss with my team what needs to be done and then assign the work myself. I would also like to thank my team for being so trouble-free, as we have not once run into an issue with the project. Assigning cards and feedback on workload has been helpful, and I have expanded my experience in communication within a CAGD team.

The Sprint

            During this sprint, I worked on prop work and a mix of the remaining environmental work I had leftover from the last sprint. The props I mainly worked on revolved around the star variety, the Red Star power-up, and the Power-Star collectible. I finished the library pathway, which remained from the last sprint. I also spent time revising some UVs during break, as some needed some attention. During the break, I also focused on preparing the team for the texturing section. This took time, but the materials produced look nearly identical to the real ones. I've added at least 40 cards to the Trello Board this sprint for texturing, which has bloated our graph, but in the coming days, the cards will quickly dwindle.

Library Pathway

In Game

The Result

Working on this pathway was difficult at first since the original topology for the pathway was not suitable for using the Boolean tool. This required me to redo the topology to make it easier to use the tool. After using the tool, I had quite a long process of fixing NGONS. When done, the result was better than I expected as it was very similar to the real thing.

Red-Star Power-UP + Crystal

In Game

Red Star

Crystal Enclosure

The Red-Star shape was pretty simple to make, as it was similar to the launch star I made last sprint. I did implement a few more design choices with additional beveling and sizing to ensure it was as accurate as possible. Designing the crystal enclosure seemed daunting at first, but I eventually realized it was a cube rotated 45 degrees with a shrunken top and bottom. To ensure texturing would work properly, I made the model double-sided to have a face showing no matter which angle. The models are separate, as the player will be able to break the crystal to use the power-up to fly around the scene.

Power-Star

In Game

The Result

The Power-Star is essentially a more simplified version of the Red-Star. This will be a form of collectible for the player in the scene. In Super Mario Galaxy, this is the main collectible to gather, so it makes the most sense to add this as an interactable.

Material Gathering

Materials in Painter

These are a few of the materials I've verified for my team to use on the assets so far. I have a few still in progress, as the results I am seeing are not on par with what we need for the scene. I've used Adobe Substance Sampler generously to help form these materials; most of these materials are taken from screenshots and turned into materials. This approach seems to have worked for more basic areas, but in more intricate ones, this does not work. I am currently working on a solution to this issue before my team's progress is impeded by it.

Adjusting UV's

Terrace UV's

Fountain Pathway UV's

Kitchen Pathway UV's

Some of the assets I created in previous sprints had subpar UVs, and the models themselves could have used a touch-up, so I used my break to refine some models and UVs. These were some small adjustments, but they will improve the texture process going forward for my team.

The Result

            This sprint was long with the break, which allowed for some extra productivity if people were available to do so. This sprint was our most productive point-wise. This I am proud of, we have used this longer sprint to the best of our ability and made great progress. Next sprint will have the most points done as it's our last, and a majority will be texturing the models we have already made.