Welcome to Project Davao. A passion piece and a work in progress.
An art piece I'm currently creating on Blender and homage to a little known city that I grew up in back in Philippines. Thought it would be nice to document the process and write down some of the challenges and triumphs during this journey.

I started this project early January of this year (2023) and I've been on and on off with it since. I wanted to keep this stress free and put in the time whenever outside of work. This was meant to be a setting for a short music video I was making for an Armored Core piece but as the time went on and the scene become more elaborate, I decided it deserved its own post and title. So here we are... with a blog instead...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
00_Pre-production:
Before any project its customary to spend a little bit of time gathering references and inspiration for my work. It wasn't very hard as I already had a vibe I was trying to go for. So I spent a couple of hours hand picking my favorite scenes to reference from. I am generally looking for great examples of lighting and atmosphere, but also examples for level of detail. Helps to ask myself questions like; How dirty is the street, or do I want trash flying everywhere and how much of it?  

00-references from Zootopia & Big Hero 6

01_ From Scratch: 
2023-02

Now that I got some references to go from I started filling out the city with basic shapes. Some boxes and cylinders represent various buildings that I will later flesh out as we go. Adding a few then removing a couple, playing it loose until I get a nice overall silhouette that I generally like. I like to fix and update elements of the piece along the way, it helps me from being stuck on one thing.   

01a- block out using basic shapes. 
01b- Created a camera then added some detail to the market in center. Still freestyling as we go.

02_The Market & Plaza:
2023-02

Spent more time fleshing out the buildings that's most visible to the camera. Wanted enough detail to make out what each building was without overcommitting to any one idea.  I went with a groceries market and a small bar in one block then another plaza across the street. Aside from reference I am also using my own memory from my time there. This freedom of creativity allows me to add as much fun stuff as I like.

02a - "Buong Pagkain" is Tagalog for "Whole Foods" and Orly's Bar & Grill.
02b - "Ning's Plaza" next door can be home to a couple of shops. Something I can decide later down when I circle back to add detail  to the scene. 

03_ a Hotel, Mall, & a Night Market
2023-02 (Sounds like the beginning of a joke... )

 While the shape of the building might represent what I want them to be, like in real life there needs to be some kind of advertisement. Making sure that the viewer knows what they're looking at is important. To do that I try my best to elaborate on everything in sight. Add signage where it makes sense, add business names, food, and things that are commonly seen in that region.  

03a - "Hari" means King. I added a Hari Hotel behind bar and possibly the beginning of an open air mall structure. "Mall of Asia".
03b - Fleshed out the side alley in case the camera needs to pan or dolly down the street from left to right. 


03c - I couldn't get away with calling this place Davao if I don't include a Night Market. Like in real life, I will fill this space up with street foods and local delicacies.

04_ South East Asian Vehicles.
2023-03

Had a blast doing research and making these vehicles to populate the scene with. Also had a nostalgia trip about holding on to my dear life as I rode in several versions of these growing up there. Not the safest but I promise you will get to where you need to be.

04a - Trikes were common form of travel. I think it would also be in-authentic if I didn't have at least one of these guys in the scene somewhere.04b - Along with some Mopeds, Vespas, and a couple of motorcycles. 
04c - Because why not... a Boba truck.

05_Local lighting
2023-03

With a little help from Google I looked up the local altitude and plugged the numbers into a Sky Texture node and fed that into my background.  

05a - Now we have lighting that is accurate to the climate. 

05b - Simple lighting using nodes.

05c - added more small details to the background and even added the Armored Core for scale reference. 

06_ 4 Months Off
2023-07

At this time I spent it focusing on my personal life and health. I travelled with family and friends and did a lot of other stuff outside the world of art. However, coming back into a large project like this one after being off for so long can feel really overwhelming, but I have a plan.

06a - parked bikes from different angles. 

06b- Slowly adding smaller details that the scene is becoming alive.

07_  Basic Materials
2023-08

Started applying basic materials to the scene. Also added emmisive materials to a few of the windows and a couple of spotlights to give it some life.

07a - Applied basic procedural materials. I remember shooting myself in the foot here as I quickly over complicated the scene by adding too much complex materials that bogged the entire thing down. 

07b - After I ran into that last issue of the file being too dense and laggy, I decided I needed to start from scratch and link all of the objects into the scene instead of having them live there natively. Since I modeled each element in a separate file I was able to quickly instance all of the assets back into the scene for a fresh new take. This second attempt was more stylized and more bubbly, but I ultimately decided to shelf this idea for another project.

08_ Materials and atmosphere
2023-11

08a - After cleaning out the scene of its previous materials, I was determined and took my time over the last 3 months to find a style I generally enjoyed. Plugged in a couple of hours a day until eventually, all of the assets you can see in scene has some type of material on it. Added an atmospheric fog, sprinkled some salt, kissed my monitor, and its now ready for salad.

09_ om leh du Foliage
2023-12

09a - Can't call this the Philippines if there are no coconut trees and bananas! I took to Google maps streetview and cruised around my old neighborhood for some references and inspiration.

09b - Spent an afternoon to develop my own grass system for the first time. I felt like a mad genius for putting this together!

09c - The grass is greener where you water it. I have sliders for length, girth, density, and all of that, but not for water. 

Although there is already a lot in the scene there is still so much more I can do to liven up the place. 

-----------------------------------------------------------
Work in Progress - Updated live - Please come back for the sweet updates.
2024-03 - upcoming uploads:

-Graphic design
-more environment props
-flesh out the scene to be more "alive" with world building elements