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Monthly Noob Challenge January 2016 (36)

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polycounter lvl 9
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eXecutex polycounter lvl 9

Hello everyone and welcome to the Monthly Noob Challenge for the month of November.

Hello everyone. I am the new host of the challenge, and I'm glad for the opportunity that Wulf passed to me. I hope I won't disappoint you for the coming months !

This month and the next to come will include environment(exterior and interior) and prop. It's all up to you which you choose to do.
Again I'd like to thanks to those who helped choosing the proper concepts for this challenge, and I hope you enjoy yourselves making them.

Join our Skype group if you want! Add me on Skype and I will add you to the group.
Me: oli-graphics

You don't have to join the Skype if you don't want to, and you don't need to ask to participate in the challenge, just start working and post your progress in this thread!



 Artist: unknown


Artist: https://www.artstation.com/artist/nja3d



Artist: https://www.behance.net/GiovanniMaisto


Feel free to approach either of the concepts however you like but I'd recommend making it as modular as possible to save time and keep things optimized. It's really up to you, and as long as you are learning, it doesn't matter right?

Also if you want to change up either concept a bit, as some people wanted, then feel free. Interpret these concepts to your liking.

There are some things that I would like to point out to for newcomers.
If you only want to do a few props as best you can, then feel free to go ahead and do it. This way you can gradually work on building up to a full scene before diving head-first into the whole ordeal.


Please read all the rules before starting.

When you are just starting out making a scene, it can seem complicated or imposing, so take the time to break it down. 

Think about how you can re-use assets, re-use textures, break it down as simple as possible and plan it out. A lot of people will break it down in their own way when they start out their challenge. Gather some reference images as well for different parts of the scene, maybe gather some refs and make it your own.

Take your time planning and blocking out, it will set you up for success later on.

Here are some specifics.
  • Try to post one critique for every post that you make. This will make for a better learning environment and help us all grow as artists.
  • You must use a game engine to present your work. Unreal Engine and CryEngine are very common engines that can be used, but feel free to use any alternatives that you want.
  • You must try your best and finish as much as you can in the time frame provided.
  • Post what you are working on in this thread so that way it's a more centralized place for advice and critique. We don't need to have 1000 disjointed threads littering the forums. 
  • I would strongly encourage you to go and look at other games and see how they make their assets as well   as get concept art to give it your own feel, but it must stay very close to the concept, if not super close. 
Well that's about it. If you think that any rules should be changed, or there should be new additions to the rules, please let us know.

All that matters is that you learn, while being able to effectively critique others, as well as accept critiques on your own work. Remember to have fun. Cheers!

Replies

  • Zocky
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    Zocky greentooth
    Well, count me in for the outdoor environment, good luck everyone!
  • BucketOfNuggets
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    BucketOfNuggets polycounter lvl 6
    I'm really keen to give the outdoor one a crack. Have no idea how to approach the water though. 
  • Harford
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    Harford polycounter lvl 7
    Great concept choices! Wow
  • Markovnikov
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    Markovnikov polycounter lvl 6
    And once again, the concepts are far beyond my ability. Guess I'll be sitting this month out as well.
  • aaronmwolford
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    aaronmwolford polycounter lvl 8
    @Markovnikov. Don't sell yourself short. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the entire concept then pick a few pieces and focus on those. It's all about starting with an asset and building upon it to make a greater scene. 
  • Zocky
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    Zocky greentooth
    Markov, just give it a try and do your best; i'm not exactly the best artist around here, and i'll have to learn unreal engine 4 quiet a bit, but the concept looks to fun to miss it.

    These are always good because you have limited time and you would be surprised how good your work could end up being. Just give it a try, it can't hurt.
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Looks fun!! I may try this one! Happy New Year guys
  • eXecutex
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    eXecutex polycounter lvl 9
    @LanceUppercut I'd recommend you use the water system within UE4 which I suppose it's not that hard to setup. And there are plenty tutorials on how to do it on youtube from EPIC themselves. I hope that'll be useful to you ;)

    @Markovnikov Try not to limit yourself, because now and then you will have to face things you never see coming. Never question your ability, cos you don't know what you don't know. So, why don't you think outside the box and just start something, it won't hurt at all, you don't need to finish it. You never know till you try it ;)

    And remember, every artist was once an amateur. 
  • AllyAlbon
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    AllyAlbon interpolator
    Oooh, I was going to add an indoor hand painted enviro to my folio and this one is gorgeous - count me in for this month.

  • Markovnikov
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    Markovnikov polycounter lvl 6
    I'm not selling myself short. I'm making a perfectly accurate assessment of my inability; I've never touched any engine beyond Blender's internal ones, I have no comprehension of lighting nor composition and my texture work (both hand painted and realist) would require deific levels of generosity to be called sub-par. That, and I'll be away from my desktop for half the month and thus be even more limited than usual.

    About the most I could do is produce a half-finished low-poly model and watch you all patronisingly pretend to fawn over it.
  • mrgesy
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    mrgesy polycounter lvl 7
    I'm really keen to give the outdoor one a crack. Have no idea how to approach the water though. 
    Man unless you also happen to be a VFX artist, just download water effects from the market place and tune it. Else you'll spend the whole month making water that will kill your environment.
  • putka
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    putka polycounter lvl 6
    I'm not selling myself short. I'm making a perfectly accurate assessment of my inability; I've never touched any engine beyond Blender's internal ones, I have no comprehension of lighting nor composition and my texture work (both hand painted and realist) would require deific levels of generosity to be called sub-par. That, and I'll be away from my desktop for half the month and thus be even more limited than usual.

    About the most I could do is produce a half-finished low-poly model and watch you all patronisingly pretend to fawn over it.
    This post combined with your avatar made me laugh out loud.
    Being away from your desktop for 2 weeks is the only legit excuse though.

    I looked up your dota stuff and I fail to see the extreme lack of required ability for this. Look at the assets in that kitchen concept. Your dota stuff has much more complicated shapes and your texturing skills are easily enough to make it look appealing.

    Dropping this into an engine shouldn't take more than a few hours of some noob tutorials and would be a fun experience anyway.

    I'll give the kitchen concept a shot :P

  • Count_Crushmore
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    Count_Crushmore polycounter lvl 2
    Happy new Year everyone!

    I am as noobish as it gets, but I will try my hand on the kitchen Scene. Don´t expect anything great - but the relativly simple shapes and flat colors give me the impression that I might be handle some of those, learn something about Mapping and Texturing on the way, and have some fun while doing it.

    Maybe I won´t get far - but as a legendary Butler said two days ago: "I´ll do my very best!"

    Have fun all of you - I am looking forward to see what magic you´ll be working!
  • mrgesy
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    mrgesy polycounter lvl 7
    I'm not selling myself short. I'm making a perfectly accurate assessment of my inability; I've never touched any engine beyond Blender's internal ones, I have no comprehension of lighting nor composition and my texture work (both hand painted and realist) would require deific levels of generosity to be called sub-par. That, and I'll be away from my desktop for half the month and thus be even more limited than usual.

    About the most I could do is produce a half-finished low-poly model and watch you all patronisingly pretend to fawn over it.
    NO EXCUSES SOLDIER! GET OUT THERE AND MODEL THAT PROP CONCEPT!

    No seriously man, look at it. Its made up of boxes and many simple shapes. You don't need to texture it, just make the finished high poly, piece by piece.
  • Markovnikov
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    Markovnikov polycounter lvl 6
    @putka Oh gods, you looked in that thread? I knew I should have deleted it.
    @mrgesy And cloth wings. I.e. the bane of many an artist's existance.
  • mrgesy
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    mrgesy polycounter lvl 7
    @putka Oh gods, you looked in that thread? I knew I should have deleted it.
    @mrgesy And cloth wings. I.e. the bane of many an artist's existance.
    Meh those wings would be simple to do. Just model the structure. Ignore the folds and tears but make sure they sag a bit. When you're comfortable you can proceed to the next stage of sculpting them.
  • mrgesy
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    mrgesy polycounter lvl 7
    Here's my breakdown of how I would create the first concept: 1. Turn on computer and open UE4 2. Just Create it!
  • vonBerg
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    vonBerg polycounter lvl 5
    NO EXCUSES SOLDIER! GET OUT THERE AND MODEL THAT PROP CONCEPT!
    +1 I need this as a poster or printed on a coffee mug.

    You can only learn by trying something new, so I decided to take on the exterior (Environment) challenge.


  • -Rapscallion
    Brogress.

    Trying to get over perfecting proportions and styles before I hit the texturing, and just nonchalantly continue with this.
  • BucketOfNuggets
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    BucketOfNuggets polycounter lvl 6
    eXecutex, thanks for the tips. I have only played with unity so I will probably stick with it for this one. 

    I've got a few ideas on how I could work around it. I don't like the idea of downloading premade stuff. Where's the fun/challenge in that :smiley: 
  • radioactivebritt
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    radioactivebritt polycounter lvl 2
    Brogress.
    [image removed]
    Trying to get over perfecting proportions and styles before I hit the texturing, and just nonchalantly continue with this.

    @rapscallionThis is looking good, and brogress is an amazing word. You made a lot of progress even with the smaller objects! Are you going to do the chairs?
  • YellowYeti
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    YellowYeti vertex
    I'd love to do them all but i dont think i will have enough time to do that, so i'm going to try and tackle the indoor one first, and if i have time, then the airship thing looks real fun
  • Nistrum
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    Nistrum polycounter lvl 9
    this is gonna sound like an odd question, but do you not want to divide those faces on the table and pans?
  • Nistrum
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    Nistrum polycounter lvl 9
    also i was planning my textures out, would 7 sheets seem a bit much for this?
     1 for the archetectural features.
     1 for the floor (512?)
     1 for the pots, jars and crockery.
     1 for the larger wooden features.
     1 for the smaller wooden features.
     1 for set dressing and soft objects.
     1 for the cooker/metal pots,pans.

    i planned it out like this.....
    does is seem like overkill?

  • Harford
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    Harford polycounter lvl 7
    Not overkill , seems quite okay to me ! There is a lot of sharing that can be done there
  • Nistrum
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    Nistrum polycounter lvl 9
    yeah, that was the plan. i feel a little extravagant giving the floor its own texture and i might still incorporate it into the walls (there are only 3. I suppose if i just made them into quadrants I could quite easily use the 4th quadrant for the floor, which would be pretty efficient and save on a draw call). But i will save that for when i start to plan the UVs. i want to make sure i have space for the window and cupboard spaces before i write off the space space on the sheet for the floor. 
  • Zolizzo
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    Zolizzo polycounter lvl 8
    Hello pals! 
    I'm new here, and pretty much new to making game assets as a whole. Here's a WIP, and one question!
    eXecutex said:
    • You must use a game engine to present your work. Unreal Engine and CryEngine are very common engines that can be used, but feel free to use any alternatives that you want.
    Does this rule out Marmoset Toolbag, as it's not a game engine strictly speaking, or would it be an acceptable option? Please excuse my ignorance as I'm a total noob at this game stuff.

    Here's where I'm at so far:


    Cheers, and happy new year!
  • vonBerg
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    vonBerg polycounter lvl 5
    First very rough blockout in Unreal 4.


  • -Rapscallion
    Brogress.
    [image removed]
    Trying to get over perfecting proportions and styles before I hit the texturing, and just nonchalantly continue with this.

    @rapscallionThis is looking good, and brogress is an amazing word. You made a lot of progress even with the smaller objects! Are you going to do the chairs?
    I'm making the entire scene, just thought about fleshing it all out before starting to texture.
  • eXecutex
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    eXecutex polycounter lvl 9
    Nice start everyone, just keep it up, research, find easier ways to do things and yes, go with the flow !

    @Zolizzo as far as I know marmoset is supposed to be an engine, to preview your model, so yes, that's acceptable as well. I think that rule shouldn't be there at all. It'd be better if the rule was to use any kind of render engine or real time engine instead of just that mentioned there. In this case, you can use whatever you want to present your work :)
  • Hikapoo
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    Hikapoo polycounter lvl 4
    Almost done with the base mesh
  • -Rapscallion
    Nistrum said:
    this is gonna sound like an odd question, but do you not want to divide those faces on the table and pans?
    For implementation to game, yes. But for blocking out - I am not thinking about topology, because it's likely to change and it's another minor niggle that will keep you from progressing.
  • Fisty
  • radioactivebritt
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    radioactivebritt polycounter lvl 2
    Welp most of the stuff is modeled and lightmapped.
    First lighting pass is...well lighting takes me the longest for a reason :(

    I either end up with harsh shadows or washed out shadows. *sigh*


  • vonBerg
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    vonBerg polycounter lvl 5
    Welp most of the stuff is modeled and lightmapped.
    First lighting pass is...well lighting takes me the longest for a reason :(

    I either end up with harsh shadows or washed out shadows. *sigh*


    Great result so far! At least it looks UV error free.

    Are you using Unreal Engine?
    This might help:

    - Add a skylight / or increase the intensity. Or Add a Ambient cubemap.
    -  Increase the lightmap resolution of the assets.
    - Increase the bounces in World settings > bounces to something like 50-100
    - Lower the level scale in World settings. (Maybe optional)
    - Are you using a postprocess volume? (Color correct, crush shadows, global illumination, Ambient cubemap)
    - You van also Increase the GI intensity in details panel of the directional light.

    Good luck!
  • Nistrum
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    Nistrum polycounter lvl 9
    Holy Cow radio! fast hands! 

    @rapscallion are you not worried about it borking UVs etc?
  • Nistrum
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    Nistrum polycounter lvl 9
    @radioactivebritt  you tried messing with the light bounce setting?

  • Markovnikov
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    Markovnikov polycounter lvl 6

    Made some prgoress wit hthe prop. Worried I might have borked the proportions a bit. Gonna take a break and figure out how the heck the wing construction works before moving on to all the rivets. I'm also unsure as to whether or not I should go for the high/low poly hand-painted combo or brush up on my cycles rendering for this little guy.

    I'd offer critique, but you're all way ahead of me on the curve so anythign I say will just be obvious.
  • Nistrum
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    Nistrum polycounter lvl 9
    OK im gonna post a first WIP as a declaration of intent.. i will finish this before the 18th!


  • z3phon
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    z3phon polycounter lvl 12
    I'm thinking about participating in this challenge but I feel I still have much to learn in Unreal. I've got a pretty basic workflow related question I hope someone here could help me out.
    I see most of you are blocking the scene out in max. Once you guys complete the blockout stage. Do you export the individual blockout pieces to create separate files for each piece that you model and detail individually?
    or do you have like a "master scene" in max which you build up and detail all your props together in one scene?
    I'd appreciate it if someone could help me understand better the workflow between managing a scene between max and unreal.
    And I apologize if I'm asking a very stupid question. :P

  • BucketOfNuggets
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    BucketOfNuggets polycounter lvl 6
    I use maya but personally I block it out and assign it to its own layer so that it is easily hidden. I than begin to flesh it out piece by piece adding each section to it's own layer as to not slow down the program.
  • Nistrum
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    Nistrum polycounter lvl 9
    Z3phon. I personally block it out in maya, like lance i seperate large objects (Walls) into other layers to i can easily hide/make them not selectable objects when i need to. when it comes to exporting the files into Ue4 i will usually export either indevidual assets (Chair or table) OR i will export them by texture if i know they wont move or interact. so for example i know the chair and tables all use the same texture sheet. so i might export them all as one asset to 1 reduce the draw calls in unreal and 2 save me time having to import stuff later :P i am a lazy man!
  • artrynk
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    artrynk polycounter lvl 18
    Blockout geometry for base prefabs

  • vonBerg
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    vonBerg polycounter lvl 5
    I am currently using the plugin from Tom Shannon http://goo.gl/YV4JVi  and it works great! (3Ds max to UE4)
    It exports all individual assets on the origin (0,0,0). And it takes the position, rotation, scale and scene name of each selected object and you can paste that in Unreal.

    So I do most of the assembly of the assets in 3Ds max. Because I prefer the snapping options there. Using this plugin I can still use instances in Unreal.
  • _Datadieb
    This is what i did so far, using Blender
  • artrynk
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    artrynk polycounter lvl 18
    Still blockin, separate to base constructor, define where atlas/direct mapping will be
  • Hikapoo
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    Hikapoo polycounter lvl 4
    Ready for sculpting in Zbrush, also trying out toolbag 2 :)
  • Zolizzo
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    Zolizzo polycounter lvl 8

    Just got to detailing today, will continue tomorrow. Already learned a bunch about working between Maya and ZBrush in a tidy manner.

    @artrynk - really liking your block, looks like you've got the ratios down pretty good!
    @markovnikov - Come on dude, chin up! You're doing far better than I'd expect seeing how you talk about yourself! you still have loads of time too :D 
  • Anth
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    Anth polycounter lvl 3
    So I think i've pretty much got all the modelling done seems a little too spacious compared to the original, still need to correct a few things but bedtime I think ! 

    Here's what I got so far, not looking forward to UV unwrapping all this :p
  • Nistrum
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    Nistrum polycounter lvl 9
    nice work Anth. the room is definitely less wide than that, but that's what artistic licence is for right?
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