UC'09 "END GAME" | TEAM UPDRAFT | 3D
polycounter lvl 10
Hard to believe it's finally over, here's our final shots:
First post
Lets do this boys and girls
Edit:
Idea so far: Giant spaceships resembling pirate ships are assaulting Earth, dropping anchors that tear through buildings as they "sail" and shooting red hot glowy cannon balls that break up concrete and possibly cars. Going to be lots of smoke, glowy, and that sorta thing.
Suggestions appreciated!
First post
Lets do this boys and girls
Edit:
Idea so far: Giant spaceships resembling pirate ships are assaulting Earth, dropping anchors that tear through buildings as they "sail" and shooting red hot glowy cannon balls that break up concrete and possibly cars. Going to be lots of smoke, glowy, and that sorta thing.
Suggestions appreciated!
Replies
Still very much a work in progress! Give suggestions! The crazier the better!
Update: Added some splosions and fires and other random updates
much prefer the city version tho, pirates tearing up the desert doesnt seem all that terrible
Decided to try a Bit of desert and bit of city, also decided to make the nuke a volcano since I didn't like the idea of old school pirate ships droping high tech stuff (obviously some placeholder photo reference):
Kinda leaning towards going back to the original like rooster suggested, but tell me what you guys think. I gotta get some sleep, got a lot of stuff to sleep on
just random blabla..
like your concept!
Added walls of clouds, this'll let me do cool smoke effects with the cannon balls as if they were missles with "cloud trails" as they poke through the clouds. I also plan on having lighting on the clouds to pump up the firing cannons.
Erich, took your advice, i actually got "burned" by snow last time i tried it so i switched it up, just accents of snow now. Much happeir with this direction. The scene looks like a lot of fun to put together and nothing too impossible to pull off. Kinda defined 2 factions, the PC and some "tree huggers", who are very into nature, and very screwed as of this moment.
I may create a second ship type fighting the green grins, their destroyed hulls can litter the battlefield, but things are filling up fast as is.
The PolyShip will follow suit in style. probably going to do a combination of zbrush for the ganley woodwork and high poly modeling for the bits of metal plating and bolts.
Blockout so far:
QFT! Good luck man!
Sup Erich, I'd be more than happy to have you on my team! This gives us an excuse to think of a witty team name. Would have liked to have said this myself but for some reason i'm unable to access polycount today. Anyway, think of cool stuff for the scene, particularly buildings (and the subsequent rubble) that could be blown up by the polycount fleet. I dig your style from your portfolio page, would fit nicely in the scene!
Erich: It'd be awesome to have someone on the team! Hopefully by the time you get my messages you haven't found a better one
Kaburan: Thanks dude, you too! (if you're entering, and even if you're not)
Adam: Haha! I'll definitely take that as a compliment.
UPDATE!
Anvil's mostly done. Going to do a little more detail work on the wood, but frankly it's not going to be that close to the camera, would rather flush out the scene. I'll really polish this bad boy up If I've got spare time.
First time trying Linear Interpolations (LERPS) in UT3, they're not nearly as much as a pain in the ass as I thought they'd be and no pixelation! (well ok, kind of a pain in the ass, that's the price you pay for quality! Way harder to retool this stuff with your diffuses and specs spanning like 4 different files per object rather than 1)
Quick addition, solved the annoying seams i'd always get from normal maps wherever I had UV borders by just putting a thin "dust" mask over those seam edges. Super dark and no spec and bam, seems gone! I think the dust actually makes the prop look better too. Just a heads up to anyone experiencing seams.
Edit: More updatedness, did more concepting
Final Note: Totally beat LOoooooong day of artin'!
This is more of a layout then a beauty. And kept out little details to focus on what the world would be like...excuse my inability to draw. Haha. Looked a bunch of Prince of Persia concepts for ideas.
..but I think the greentooth on the ship like that is hurting the impact of the scene. I am all for having him in the environment, but something more subtle (as a nod to the community) would really help this rather fantastic scene you have going on.
maybe put it on a cool long flag or incorporate it into the architecture of the buildings as a sign or carving for some shop?
also, just a thought, but maybe instead of anchors you could use harpoons that have shot thru buildings to hold the ships in place.
gl guys.
I'm happy enough with the anchor that i don't think i'll be switching it with harpoons, though that's a great idea and others might want to take it! I know there are several other large ship settings going on.
I really dig the basic structure of your buildings Cruxel, provides a nice contrast to the ships without going too crazy. I think if we jazz up those canopies we can really kick this scene up a notch, not to mention adding S'PLOSIONS! I'll probably take 'em and give 'em a higher vertical scale to match the feel of my first concept in the city, just make it more dramatic, while keeping the large foreboding tornado somehow.
I was thinking about the scene as i went to sleep and think a chicken coop is a perfect foreground element to have the anchor slice through, lots of broken eggs and feathers flying everywhere! (no creatures of course)
Anyway, I tend to get too long winded, time for some art...
Possible new direction for the scene, based on the initial concept and added some new ship concepts done by cruxel to establish an opposing faction.
Tell me whatcha think!
Decided to move the city into the actual windmills, each little town sits at the base of one of these giant windmills. Just focusing on general compostion right now. The focus is still probably going to be one large ship towing a couple anchors tearing up the town. Going forward me and Erich are going to need to really think about who lives here, what kind of architecture they use (the stone in place is just placeholder), and that sort of thing. Do they harness electric power? Do they defend thsemselves with cannons? What kind of really kick ass props are going to be in the street? All up in the air at this point.
Ideas are VERY welcome!
Maybe this area from 'Prince of Persia' could helps you because it seems quite pirate-ish...
http://pc.gamespy.com/dor/objects/890666/prince-of-persia/images/prince-of-persia-20081009113549296.html?page=mediaFull
http://pc.gamespy.com/dor/objects/890666/prince-of-persia/images/prince-of-persia-20080820105041173.html?page=mediaFull
http://pc.gamespy.com/dor/objects/890666/prince-of-persia/images/prince-of-persia-20080806093530392.html?page=mediaFull
Oh, cool anchor!
Anyway, did more concepting, wanted to pull my hair out after 4 hours and thinking i'd gotten nowhere when suddenly things just kinda fell together. Had too many elements, decided to pull back the scope and focus on the basics of what made the scene original. Still a rough composition but I think we have a much better focus now going forward!
Unintentional likeness to Assassin's creed going on right now, we'll work on that
And don't you worry Peris, we got some glowy planned
Tryin' to detail out the city structure. Ceilings will actually be sail-like and made of cloth. Vines overgrow the ropes that hold up these "ceilings", definitely need to flush out the feel of the flora over time.
UPDATE!
Long night of modeling and texturing, nearly done with the first pass on some of the chicken coop objects:
Just gotta finish the pillows that the metal egg holders are going to sit on as well as some eggs. Going to make various egg types for each size of egg for variety. Smaller coops will have smaller eggs sitting on them to imply different types of birds. Going to stick feathers on the top and bottem of the egg holders to jazz 'em up.
Fairly basic for now, will go back later and polish in more details/ colors once things are more finalized in the overall scene. Just using the same mats that I used on the anchor with unique normal maps for each prop, seems to be working so far, input appreciated
To this day i have no idea how to get rid of the texture seem in UT3 that's created along UV seams with normal maps.
High poly bakes should always be baked down into maximum range as possible and cutting the seams at corners and hidden locations hidden from it's lit location. Good luck and hope this helps Jeff
Shot from UT3:
You're right Will, I keep thinking i'll figure out how to get rid of those seems so i keep making the same mistake. Best bet is to just put the seam in better spots. Wont be putting any more seams smack dab in the middle any more. I'll probably cover these up with a medallion of some kind, the bird cages can use some spicing up anyway. Luckily the pillows cover most of 'em up.
Edit: Heavy tweaks to birdcage texture