This post is basically a in-depth look at how I made the Air Hockey Table asset in Maya, including the reference images to support me, the process of making it, and the evaluation, what I think about the final product and how to improve it in the future.
Reference Images
What I like about this image is that the aside from the wooden façade of the table on its sides, the overhang resemble more of an arch rather than a pile of straight steel beams stitched together to make an overhanging archway. I can definitely model something like that in my version.
A basic shaped table with two supports rather than four. What I can take away from this image is that the red lines on the smooth icy surface is alot clearer than in the other ones. I could do something like that.
I’ve chosen this image because of the scoreboard being a decent shape for me to build in Maya, and it’s noticeable by having a different colour from the arch its hanging from. I’ll try and model the scoreboard this way.
What I like about this image is how the two main colours of white and blue compliment the smoothness of the table’s texture. It’s smoothness is something I could replicate in my version.
Process
I started by making a cylindrical polygon and extruding the top, remembering to keep the supports to a realistic approach without overloading the simple leg. A little extrusion and offset in the polygon allowed me access to select the faces of the top polygon and extrude that out to make a long table support.
I duplicated the object and moved it in the Z axis, then I selected both and duplicated both to make four table legs that will act as a support for the machine I am about to create.
By making a curved edge using the cylinder polygon, I could make the table with the magic of mirroring said polygon and extruding the edges to make it legit. Leaving the middle of the table exposed, I applied a rectangle to act as the icy surface of the field.
Naming conventions are important for any given asset made in Maya or any other 3D modelling software. I carefully selected the right polygon to name as it was presented.
I left a little bit out using the edge tool and hit CTRL to wrap an edge around the middle of the inside. This allowed me to extrude points as to where to put the hockey goals. I also applied the same on the outside for where the putt would end up.
Next was the overhanging scoreboard to make the asset more appealing. I first created a cube and scaled it’s Z/X axis to make a cuboid. I then used the edges to bring them in closer to each other to make this weird looking shape you see here.
Next up was the cylinders that would act as the archway of the asset. I extruded the faces of one end of the cylinder and rotated the vertex faces using angle snap. I had to frantically position the beam as to not make it dis-orientated. Afterwards, I simply mirrored it to make the other side.
At the top of the beam, there is going to be a moderate-sized scoreboard to detail the player’s progression and time left. I used a rectangle for this one, edge-looping the bottom half and selecting the edge to move down. I then selected each face on either side of the beam and scaled it to a reasonable size.
Finally, I decided to apply edge loops on the scoreboard and extrude it to make the display board on either side using separate polygons I will combine later. Now the asset is ready to be brought into Substance for texturing. With this, I exported the asset as an FBX folder and saved it to the lab’s C: Drive and also backed the folder on Box.
Substance Texturing
Before I had to do anything yet, I needed to make sure to bake the asset first so the model would look a lot cleaner and smoother when it’s eventually ported back into Maya for the finishing touches. These are the channels by default, but I needed another channel, especially for the ambient occlusion, which is basically a channel responsible for detailing shadows for when you have exposed edges. I clicked on the plus sign and selected the AO, the first one down.
First thing’s first, I applied a texture to the exterior for which I would like to have steel and gave it a nice blue colour to act as the structure’s base. Here’s where things get technical – I had to think about how the ice sheet in the center of the table was going to be, as it had to show a little grunge and ice, but also smooth and shiny. I settled on an aluminum texture because it closely met all of those criteria.
I wanted to spruce up the asset by giving the scoreboard some digital text to display either the score or timer. I settled on the latter and set it to 5 minutes, although this is usually what I would get had I gone with the score option instead.
I added a red line down in the middle of the smooth, ice surface that determines the size of the player’s field. I ensured I place this align with the support beams that jotted out of the edges of the table. I achieved this by adding a new fill layer and masking it, going to Alphas and selecting the line I wanted.
I also gave the supports and beams the same steel texture, but coloured them differently to distinguish themselves from the other. I think that’s finished, so I exported the textures and added a greyscale shader and attached Mixed AO to it, selecting the Gray Channel option in the drop down. I changed the text to match the texture it was assigned to and checked everything else. Seems good to me.
Bringing Textures into Maya
Now here’s the part where I thought it would actually be difficult, but turned out straightforward. All I had to do was to apply a standard surface shader to this asset (and all of my other assets too.) Starting with BaseColour, I worked my way through the textures I had saved in my source imagines folder and matched them to the attributes. This is the map for the Roughness for example.
After all of the textures were applied, I had to plug in the AO (Ambient Occlusion) texture I received from baking the asset in Substance. Now the asset is all ready for lighting and making it look nice in front of a mint backdrop.
Evaluation
All in all, I have made a pretty decent looking hockey table, being that this was the first asset I started modelling. However, the design does look a little basic, and I wished that I’ve could’ve done more with the asset, like splash on original artwork around the edges to make it unique. Another nitpick was the implementation of both the score and the timer, as I wanted the players to see the text clearly without sacrificing the amount of space on the scoreboard. For this reason, I settled with just one feature.
Leave a Reply