UE export hygiene (unreal-export skill checklist) plus a gameplay defect the new
probe caught:
- FBX export now uses mesh_smooth_type="FACE" (was OFF, which is why every import
logged "No smoothing group information was found"), and the round parts are
shaded with shade_smooth_by_angle(35 deg) before export, so columns and
medallions read round instead of faceted.
- SM_HeroFacade had complex-only collision, so capsule sweeps and line traces
passed through the wall: the player could walk through the hero facade.
auto_generate_collision was tried and rejected (coarse hulls bulged into the
street; the QA wall probe went 0/35 -> 2/35). It now uses UseComplexAsSimple,
saved on the asset, like the terrain.
- New -qaselftest facade occlusion probe: 40 m traces sideways from the road
centre at walking height, required only where a building is staged (explicit X
spans mirroring ue_build_demo_map). Result 0/9 -> PASS, alongside transect
0 holes and wall probe 0/35.
Docs: release-checks records the probe and both collision attempts; Tools/README
lists the new phase; MEMORY records the smoothing/collision lessons.
Detail pass on the hero, all verified by measuring the built mesh:
- Column base moulding: a 1.36 m wide, 0.22 m tall cylinder at each shaft foot
(2.00-2.22 m). The shaft previously started straight off the square pedestal,
so the base never read in silhouette.
- Abacus: a 1.30 m square, 0.14 m thick slab over each capital. It takes the top
of the capital zone, so the colonnade still ends at 9.70 m and the 53.1 %
proportion is unchanged.
- Medallions fixed: they were built with the Z-axis cylinder helper, so the two
'discs' were pancakes lying flat on the parapet coping (1.1 x 1.1 x 0.02,
z 14.02-14.04). New disc_on_wall() helper rotates the cylinder 90 deg about X;
they now stand 1.1 m across on the parapet face (y -1.32..-1.28,
z 13.05..14.15).
Hero rebuilt (95 parts, 2420 tris, still 14.50 m), re-imported, DemoMap rebuilt,
screenshot set re-rendered. Part report records the new dims and their assumption
notes. Screenshots README notes the detail pass.
Adds Tools/facade_detail_concepts.py: generates architectural detail plates from a
local reference photograph through OpenRouter's image models. Spec-driven (eight
studies: door recess, entrance, column order, entablature/cornice, parapet/motto,
window rhythm, street wall, banner), never overwrites (writes -vN), writes a
.refgen.json sidecar (model, prompt, source photo, SHA-256) per image, and keeps
all output under the gitignored Art/reference/facade-details/ - local only, never
shipped. Stdlib only; http 429/5xx back-off; refuses to write a sidecar containing
the token. 11 tests cover the study table, prompt assembly, next-free naming,
data-URL decoding (both response shapes plus a refusal) and the local-only rule.
Measurement pass on the plates: the hero window panes were at Y -1.98, i.e. 1.44 m
in FRONT of the wall (Y -0.50) and ahead of the column line, so the glazing floated
in the colonnade instead of reading as openings behind it. Moved to Y -0.56; hero
rebuilt, re-imported, DemoMap rebuilt, full screenshot set re-rendered.
Docs: Tools/README row, Screenshots README known-issues entry now records the fix.
Measured from the built mesh, the colonnade (columns + capitals) was 6.90 m of the
14.50 m elevation = 47.6 %: the entablature (3.40 m) and parapet (2.20 m) were
using 5.60 m of the height. Thinned both to 3.00 m and 1.80 m in
hero_facade_build.py, which lifts the colonnade to 7.70 m = 53.1 % - inside the
50-60 % band - with the envelope, motto band and medallions unchanged relative to
the parapet.
Hero rebuilt, re-imported (bounds 2604 x 1257 x 1450 cm), DemoMap rebuilt and the
screenshot set re-rendered for review. Hero part report updated (columns 7.45 ->
8.25 m, entablature 3.40 -> 3.00 m).
TODO: colonnade item closed. MEMORY records the FBX-vs-blend --out gotcha.
Adds the five remaining verified south-side buildings to the demo block
(6922, 6902, 6838 El Capitan Theatre, 6822 Budget, 6806-6820, 6800 Lee Drug),
exported in place from the OSM blockout by Tools/export_block_frontage.py,
imported to /Game/Hollywood/Frontage/ and staged by the demo builder with the
look material set (stone for the theatres, stucco for the retail run).
Adding neighbours exposed a pre-existing placement bug that was invisible while
the hero facade stood alone in an empty field:
- UE south is +Y here (south sidewalk Y +718..+1447), but the hero sat at
Y -1450 on the NORTH side of the street.
- It was also at X -12024..-9420, 26 m east of the 6840 footprint; the frontage
gap between 6902 and 6838 is X -14591..-12082.
- The two north-side buildings were on the SOUTH side, because their exporter
mirrored Y.
Fixes: hero moved to X -13336 / Y +1307, inside its frontage gap; the frontage
and north-building exporters no longer apply a Y mirror (the FBX preset already
lands Blender -Y south on UE +Y south); player start and demo cameras moved to
the north sidewalk looking south; sun raised to pitch -62 so both frontages read
instead of the north side silhouetting.
Result: the demo is a street - continuous south frontage with the hero in it,
both sidewalks, the road with the designated crossing, and the north-side
buildings across the road.
Screenshots re-rendered and approved by the owner.
Squash of branch frontage-block-0.1.0 (PR #6).
Completes "Materials and look development for all exported assets". Every
exported surface previously carried a flat Constant3Vector fill, which read as
plastic. ensure_material() in Tools/ue_build_demo_map.py now builds a
procedural material per surface:
- base colour blended between two shades by world-space noise
(WorldPosition -> Multiply -> Noise -> Lerp -> BaseColor) for large-scale
variation,
- an explicit roughness and specular so the surface type is readable.
M_Asphalt 0.92, M_Concrete 0.88, M_KerbConcrete 0.85, M_Ground 0.98,
M_RoadPaint 0.62, M_FacadeStone 0.72, M_Stucco 0.86
Site meshes take their material by mesh name; the hero facade and the two
north-side buildings take theirs by actor label, so they are covered even
though other scripts stage them. Materials are deleted and rebuilt on every
run, so a look change cannot be masked by a stale asset.
Result: the facade reads as warm stone with surface variation, asphalt as dark
asphalt with grain, concrete and kerbs lighter and matte, and the north
buildings in stucco instead of flat grey.
Screenshots re-rendered and approved by the owner. The richer texture-based
pass (baked/procedural brick_facade, seamless_concrete, glass, material
instances) stays in the 0.1.4 facade patch.
Squash of branch materials-lookdev-0.1.0 (PR #5).
Completes "Geographic attribution display" for 0.1.0. The demo is built from
OpenStreetMap data (ODbL 1.0) and needs attribution wherever the derived work
is shown, so the credit now lives in the running game, not just the documents.
- AGigLineHUD (C++): plain AHUD::DrawText in the bottom-left draws
"(c) OpenStreetMap contributors" and "Data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors,
ODbL 1.0 - openstreetmap.org/copyright", with a shadow pass so it stays
legible over bright pavement and sky. No UMG widget asset is involved, so a
cook cannot drop the attribution through a missing widget reference.
- AGigLineGameModeBase: HUDClass = AGigLineHUD, so the credit is on by default
in both the DemoMap and the ReviewMap.
- AGigLineShotActor: screenshots are requested with the UI shown, so the credit
appears in every capture under Screenshots/ - the obligation is provable from
the images rather than only described.
Docs:
- THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES records that the attribution is displayed in-game and
where the code lives.
- Screenshots/README documents the overlay.
- TODO marks the item done and narrows the remaining ODbL question to the
shipped-derivative-database posture.
Squash of branch gameplay-attribution-0.1.0 (PR #4).
Completes "Fixed daytime lighting and basic ambience" for 0.1.0. All 14
screenshots approved by the owner.
Lighting rig (Tools/ue_build_demo_map.py):
- Sun pitch -50 / yaw 120, intensity 4, warm (255/245/230), atmosphere sun light
- Sky light 2.6 with real-time capture, sky atmosphere, height fog (density 0.008)
- Unbound post-process volume with fixed exposure (min == max brightness) so a
shot cannot wash out or crush to black depending on how much sky it frames
- Dynamic-only: r.AllowStaticLighting=False plus MOVABLE lights and mesh
components, so the editor's "LIGHTING NEEDS TO BE REBUILT" warning no longer
fires and nothing needs baking
Bugs found and fixed on the way:
- Blender diffuse colours do not survive the FBX -> Unreal import: every site
material arrived white and the terrain arrived with WorldGridMaterial, which
is what actually made the scene look blown out. The demo builder now creates
and assigns M_Asphalt, M_Concrete, M_Ground and M_RoadPaint.
- Only one of the three crossings reached the game: each zebra band was its own
object, so Blender renamed the duplicates .001/.002 and exact-name site
assembly skipped them. All bands are now one Crossing_Markings mesh.
- Demo cameras: street-level sat inside the facade body (rendering its unlit
back face) and the crossing camera aimed at the s=36.6 crossing instead of
the designated s=130.1 (UE X -14956).
- The terrain had no material and imported as a bright default grid.
- Cleared a committed Android File Server SecurityToken (plugin disabled and
shipping-excluded; the value must stay empty).
Docs:
- Screenshots/README.md: one consolidated table for all 14 shots with map,
camera view and description; all approved.
- MEMORY.md: records the material-import, exposure, light_color struct,
band-naming, camera-bounds and lighting-build traps.
- TODO.md: lighting item marked done.
Squash of branch gameplay-lighting-0.1.0 (PR #3).
Root cause of the empty review frames: EditorLevelLibrary.load_level/new_level
are deprecated no-ops in -nullrhi commandlets, so staged actors landed in the
current world and got saved over the wrong map. Switched both map builders to
the LevelEditorSubsystem and reordered the review builder to save ReviewMap
before the DemoMap section (the switch-back to a map that only exists in
memory silently failed, writing demo content over ReviewMap).
Rebuilt both maps, re-rendered every screenshot; user visual check passed.
Screenshots/README.md cube naming corrected (A grounded, B floating), approval
states updated; TODO.md visual-review notes closed. MEMORY.md records the
deprecated-call and save-order traps.
- New C++ AGigLineNPCPerson: reusable NPC/pedestrian prefab built on the MPFB
human. ACharacter capsule half-height 83 cm (total 1.66 m, head top ~1.66 m
so a 1.60 m camera doesn't clip), the character skeletal mesh on the built-in
mesh as the visible body (feet on Z 0), AutoPossessAI for 0.5.0 pedestrians.
Staged at Z 0 in the review scene; captured as review-npc-prefab.png.
- AGigLineShotActor now names screenshots by stable camera name (no list-index
prefix): inserting or reordering cameras no longer renumbers files or orphans
the old ones. Re-rendered all review/demo shots with stable names.
- ue_build_review_map.py: chmod the target .umap before save_map (git marks maps
444 on checkout, silently making save_map return False and dropping stages).
- Screenshots/README.md, ROADMAP, TODO updated for the prefab + stable names.
- DemoMap.umap rebuilt by the render pipeline (north buildings + demo cameras).
- Drop the /Screenshots/* gitignore exclusion so review PNGs are committed
(LFS-tracked) alongside the review README.
- AGENTS.md Visual review: PNGs are now committed, not kept only on disk.
- 13 review/demo screenshots tracked (25 MB LFS).
- mpfb_character_export.py: new --pose idle folds the A/T-bind arms down to
a relaxed standing rest pose (baked via pose.armature_apply before export);
new make_diffuse synthesizes a warm skin-tone diffuse with a darker
shorts-suggestive band, replacing the Cycles v2-skin bake that came out
black and was slow at 1024^2.
- write_png now encodes from img.pixels via numpy (fast) because img.save()
writes black for an in-memory image.
- Re-exported idle character, re-imported to /Game/Test/Character (138 bones,
warm M_Character_Export/T_Character_Diffuse); removed stale T_Skin_Diffuse.
- Untracked the review PNGs again: the Screenshots/ gitignore rule had been
dropped and the parallel session had committed the PNGs, against the
AGENTS.md 'never commit the PNGs' rule. Restored the ignore rule; only
Screenshots/README.md stays tracked.
- README/roadmap/memory updated; review-01-character re-pended for approval.
Tools/ue_build_demo_map.py builds /Game/Hollywood/DemoMap: sun, sky, the hero
facade on the building line, six site meshes imported with collision, and a
player start on the north sidewalk. Tools/ue_import_site.py imports the site
FBXs; terrain, road and sidewalks use complex-as-simple so a simple hull cannot
ramp over the kerbs. Art/blender/site/export_site_fbx.py exports one FBX per
object so each can carry its own collision.
Reset (R) and pause (Escape) join the character and the input context: reset
restores the spawn transform and clears momentum, pause is a real game pause that
releases the cursor. DefaultInput.ini captures the mouse on launch.
Three placement defects found by measuring the imported actors rather than
trusting the plan: the spawn was on the wrong sidewalk because the FBX flip
inverts north, a mirror I added to the exporter double-corrected an already
correct sidewalk, and the street meshes only carry part of the north walk - the
rest is terrain.
zwitschi