Gauging interest - Construction Details Blog/Book for CG Artists

RyanB

I've been considering a project for a while now and I'm not sure if there is enough interest in the subject.

I've seen a lot of games and cg environments that lack details in the construction. Artists will often leave out things like fire alarm systems, emergency lighting, street lighting, etc. They will also mis-place or place incorrect amounts of other equipment. They also don't understand what is behind the surfaces so when walls are damaged or under construction, there is just blank space.

I have seven years of experience installing and repairing fire alarm systems, electrical (both commercial and industrial) and elevators. I've worked side-by-side with other trades so I know a lot about how a building is put together.

I also have ten years of experience in games as a tech artist and another four years of independent asset production.

What I don't know is if this info would be valuable or just not wanted by anyone else.

I'm thinking about making a blog or e-book with:
- examples of common problems with renders and games missing construction details or getting details wrong
- info on what should be there and how it shoud look
- enough info on what is behind the equipment/walls so if it is missing it doesn't look fake
- photos of real world construction details
- examples of models, textures, lighting and scenes based on real-world
- how to fake/cheat and why you might need to cheat for gameplay

Any feedback is appreciated.

Kwramm

the problem is that a lot of people don't bother to research or think about how things are constructed in the real world. This is something we often hear from our clients - everyone really wants artists, from concepters to modelers, to think how items are constructed in the real world.

While I think some reference can be helpful, what is really needed would be an engaging way to make people think. And offer advice where to find resources. For example for human anatomy you can consult medical books, anatomy books, etc.

But where do environment artists go? While there are many books about architecture, which are good sources for actual real world building techniques (e.g. how is a steel concrete building constructed? what other materials are used, etc?), which are simple and visual enough for artists?

In my old company we had one super useful book which was called "The French Farmhouse" - it covered medieval style houses like you'd find in fantasy games. It was a guide how to renovate and rebuild such houses using the correct techniques and materials.

RobeOmega

It would personally be useful for me

Muzzoid

This sort of thing would be amazing. In general cliff notes even for what is important in technical fields is super useful.

I have a basic book on fashion which is just lineart of various clothes and clothing features + basic underwear types and it is one of the most useful things in my library.

RyanB

Kwramm wrote: »

But where do environment artists go? While there are many books about architecture, which are good sources for actual real world building techniques (e.g. how is a steel concrete building constructed? what other materials are used, etc?), which are simple and visual enough for artists?

In my old company we had one super useful book which was called "The French Farmhouse" - it covered medieval style houses like you'd find in fantasy games. It was a guide how to renovate and rebuild such houses using the correct techniques and materials.

There are no books that I am aware of written to help environment artists add construction details to their work. All the books I have are purely architecture, construction, art theory or software instructions/tutorials.

iconoplast

I would absolutely love this. I try to include these things, but I always feel like I don't have quite enough information to make it as accurate as I want.

RyanB

Thanks for replies. I'm going to start outlining the book. I'll produce a sample chapter for critique, probably starting with fire alarm or electrical details.

MephistonX

My suggestion would be to start off as a blog, then if it gains popularity compile it into an e-book with some extra's that didn't appear on the blog. That way you will get a bit of market research before you put too much time into it.

Btw I think its a very interesting idea, especially with games now having destructible environments, it's going to become a key area that players will see (as in between walls etc..)

Mask_Salesman

I adore that the poll is 100% yes so far. I agree with starting as a blog/pdf/e-book, much higher accessibility.

Function is often sorely needed in games, look at any, ANY env that has alot of pipe work and they are all just randomly slapped all over the place, intersecting willy nilly.

Teessider

I agree with with what most people are saying so far...start of with a blog/pdfs and then perhaps make a book (or maybe the blog serves as small snippets of said book?)

Either way I would definitely read this

Amsterdam Hilton Hotel

this is one of the best ideas for a game-art-related publication i've ever read

MephistonX

Just to add in a bit more to what I said earlier, if you get it to the book stage, you could also ask for people to contribute to a gallery or guest tutorials etc.. to give your book more unique content that is separate from the blog.

Look at Vertex as an example.

RyanB

Cool, thanks guys.

Vertex is awesome but I think it was more of a general game art book. This will focus specifically on real-world construction details that are often missing or done incorrectly in games. I will definitely be looking for feedback and critique.

I've decided that the test chapter will be emergency lighting systems.

I chose emergency lighting because:
- it's almost always missing from office levels in games or done incorrectly
- it is manadatory for building occupancy
- it can be used for gameplay (lighting paths in power outages, direction to exits)
- it adds visual detail and realism
- the rules for placing emergency lighting equipment is easy to explain
- relatively cheap to add to scenes (you can re-use models many times and still make it look realistic)