After consulting Sean Oxspring about this idea, it seemed it is perfectly possible to import my Maya scene into Unity (a game engine). The exciting thing about this is that 1) I will be able to shoot some walkthrough gameplay to include in my showreel, and 2) I can actually create some interactive aspects in the scene, to get it looking more like a real video game.
Sean gave me a few basic lessons on how to import the objects from Maya and reapply their textures, as well as getting around the interface of Unity. I've found it's quite easy to pick up, but mainly because there are some similarities it has with Maya.
I started by creating a new ground in Unity and using the software's manipulators I could 'paint' hills onto it. The grass texture is a combination of a software plug-in and one I painted in Photoshop which can be brushed over each other using the terrain tools.
I was able to create some collision physics with the log pile so that on starting the game, they are in the air but by the time the player can turn to face them you can see them bounce and roll off each other.
Unity makes it very easy to add some special effects like fog to the scene. The fog is on an animated plane which you can place anywhere in the scene just like an object in Maya. I decided to add this around the house to make it more atmospheric.
I've been experimenting with lighting in Unity as you cannot import lights from Maya, which means I will have to create all my light sources using Unity. But this isn't a problem, as lighting in Unity is actually a bit easier than in Maya - the lights appear as they will in game in the editing mode, so colour,intensity, scale and direction is easier to judge in this case.
The sky box is also made in Unity, which has some default sky boxes to choose from. You can also create your own texture to use as a sky box, but I don't feel that I have enough time to learn that at the moment as it is a little technical and it is more important that I finish other aspects of the level first.
I've imported all the assets I created in Maya now, I was able to duplicated and manipulate the angles and scales to create some variety. The lighting has also been successful, all I had to do was get the right colour and intensity for the window lights. I combined a point light with a spot light (aimed at the tree and the ground) to create some bounce which just makes the light a little more realistic.
