The BRAWL² Tournament Challenge has been announced!
It starts May 12, and ends Oct 17. Let's see what you got!
https://polycount.com/discussion/237047/the-brawl²-tournament
It starts May 12, and ends Oct 17. Let's see what you got!
https://polycount.com/discussion/237047/the-brawl²-tournament
Best Of
Re: Losing Your Artistic Voice to Convenient Asset Packs
it comes down to time saving imo. Why model the same tables, chairs etc, loosing production time that could be better used for other assets\optimization, when theres a pack that fits the art direction and is well made ? Why model the same rocks\cliffs you see everywhere from scratch ? If you have time\budget then go for it ! if you have tight constraints and you need to maintain quality look, then i guess its okay. It depends alot on productions.
At the end of the day, when youre working for a project, you arent beeing hired for your artistic vision 100% , sure it matters when making assets, but youre making someone else reality come to life.
At the end of the day, when youre working for a project, you arent beeing hired for your artistic vision 100% , sure it matters when making assets, but youre making someone else reality come to life.
Joao Sapiro
4 ·
Re: Losing Your Artistic Voice to Convenient Asset Packs
To me it's more than losing your artistic voice : it's a tradeoff on your knowledge
Alone or as a team, this shortcut rarely goes somewhere sustainable in the long run, one pays to get assets faster in the beginning, but also learns close to nothing and doesn't develops the project's creative core, which will fuel artist's creativity with time and unite them into the same vision, because each one helped building it. Plus you're still stuck with a gap between what you want and what you can achieve (and that can become frustrating, what if suddently you need an asset that doesn't exist ? But can't start to ideate on how to make it...)
I'm only "okay" with that, personally, if the production budget is very tight and makes this decision vital for continuing the dev
Alone or as a team, this shortcut rarely goes somewhere sustainable in the long run, one pays to get assets faster in the beginning, but also learns close to nothing and doesn't develops the project's creative core, which will fuel artist's creativity with time and unite them into the same vision, because each one helped building it. Plus you're still stuck with a gap between what you want and what you can achieve (and that can become frustrating, what if suddently you need an asset that doesn't exist ? But can't start to ideate on how to make it...)
I'm only "okay" with that, personally, if the production budget is very tight and makes this decision vital for continuing the dev
Vexod14
3 ·
Re: Do you think polycount a dying platform?
oh also, we're not farming your posts to feed our ai model
... or are we?!?
... or are we?!?
Eric Chadwick
4 ·
Re: [WIP] Jedi Realtime Character - Metahumans in UE 5.6
Meant to update that I added the light part of the lightsaber last week. I'm torn between making it blue or yellow but leaning more towards a classic blue so that I can have some nice orange-y environments
Also a little gif of the fake hair wind and the flickering effect on the lightsaber.
Speaking of environments, I get so very lazy about making backgrounds/environments that I usually give up and do a base colour background but a friend got me motivated this week so I took some screenshots in Jedi: Survivor and will try to replicate the feeling in a simple but less lazy way. Otherwise, here's a test with just a super basic HDRI and some lights.
Anyway, still need to do a polish pass over the textures, improve the skinning of the belt and bag area, finalise some poses and work out how to present this
Also a little gif of the fake hair wind and the flickering effect on the lightsaber.
Speaking of environments, I get so very lazy about making backgrounds/environments that I usually give up and do a base colour background but a friend got me motivated this week so I took some screenshots in Jedi: Survivor and will try to replicate the feeling in a simple but less lazy way. Otherwise, here's a test with just a super basic HDRI and some lights.
Anyway, still need to do a polish pass over the textures, improve the skinning of the belt and bag area, finalise some poses and work out how to present this
Re: Do you think polycount a dying platform?
Frequently, if I spend a decent chunk of time giving feedback in the 3D Showcase, I get no response back. Makes it so I don't really leave a lot of feedback on the forums like I use to. I still enjoy perusing the art though. I still check the rest of the forums here and there to see what you crazy kids are chatting about these days.
TBH I kind of like smaller communities. Everyone who posts here, I recognize them. Its sort of comforting. You're all like my dysfunctional family who gets to tell me why my art is bad.
TBH I kind of like smaller communities. Everyone who posts here, I recognize them. Its sort of comforting. You're all like my dysfunctional family who gets to tell me why my art is bad.
Ashervisalis
4 ·
Re: Do you think polycount a dying platform?
Welcome to greentooth.ai please upload your image for critique!
*uploads*
thinking...
thinking longer for a better critique...
greentooth.ai: it's shit
*uploads*
thinking...
thinking longer for a better critique...
greentooth.ai: it's shit
jStins
3 ·
Re: Sketchbook: Frank Polygon
Subdivision sketch: it's all the same.
This is a slightly less serious continuation of the previous posts about subdivision modeling and attaching shapes to curves. Only with more pictures and less text.
-Keep things relatively simple and solve major topology flow issues before adding edge sharpening support loops.
-Let the shapes define the loop paths. Match the segments of the intersecting shapes and use the existing geometry as support whenever possible.
-Avoid unwanted deformation or disruption of the segments that make up curved surfaces.
Below is an example of what that process could look like using parametric primitive shapes and booleans. Start by lining up the primitive shapes and adjust the segment count in each until the segment spacing is roughly aligned. Run a boolean subtraction operation then bevel the edges around the shape intersection and snap merge the verities to clean up the loop path. Merge down the inner and outer loops to their respective shapes and use the space between the support loops to make up any difference between the existing surfaces.
(Streamline the modeling process by using modifiers whenever possible: boolean, bevel / chamfer, weld, mirror, etc.)
Here's what that looks like unsubdivided, subdivision smoothing applied, shading preview.
But what if has a cylindrical boss? Just flip the hole inside out.
But what if the hole is on an angle? Just rotate the intersecting cylinder.
But what if it's a countersunk boss on an angle? Just add a bit of a taper and let the support loops bunch up where the shapes cross over.
But what if it's a shorter countersunk boss on an angle? Just ignore the non-planar quads, they'll smooth just fine.
But what if the hole is offset from the center line? Just match the segments.
But what if it's an offset countersunk boss? Just let support loops bunch up where they ride over the non-planar quads.
But what if it's an offset hole that's skewed? Just rotate the intersecting shape and make sure the segments match.
But what if it's a partially recessed offset boss that's skewed? Let the shapes define the flow. It's all the same...
On a more serious note: there's a lot of prior art out there and one of the best places to look for examples of how other artists have already solved similar modeling and topology problems is to check out the how do you model this thread in the technical talk section.
It's a really valuable resource where a lot of experienced modelers have
shared examples and insights. Definitely worth searching or maybe even
skimming through.
Manually searching it page by page is a bit daunting but polycount does have a search function and it's also possible to limit search engine image results to a specific portion of a site so that can be an easier way to visually search for topology examples of similar shapes.
(Focus searches with
site:polycount.com how do you model this and a description of the shape.)
FrankPolygon
3 ·
Re: Sketchbook: Frank Polygon
Subdivision sketch: No. Really, it's all the same.
In some ways angular shape intersections are just curved intersections without curves and curved shape intersections are just angular intersections without corners.
Both curved and square shapes can be joined to curved surfaces using the same basic loop routing strategies. Though there's some differences in how the edge loops coming off the corners of angular intersecting shapes need to be routed across the existing geometry of the curved surface or reduced (stopped) between the support loops where the shapes are joined together.
These are just a few fun examples that use the same segment
matching and loop routing strategies from the previous posts but also use diamond or
triangular quads to reduce extraneous edge support loops in the space
between the inner and outer support loops at the base of the shape
intersection.
Diagonal rectangle to curve: some of the corner support loops can be connected directly to the existing edges of the larger cylinder. If there aren't enough adjacent edges in the curved surface to connect to then use a triangular quad to reduce the loops coming off the corner of the rectangle.
Diagonal cube to curve: each side is the same length so this cube connects to the cylinder in the same way another cylinder would. Just run the support loops off the vertical corners into the existing edges of the cylinder and redirect the loops coming off the horizontal corners to complete the loop flow path between the existing segments of the curve.
Pyramid to curve: Line up the vertical point with an existing edge in the curve and leave some space between the other two horizontal points and the existing segments of the cylinder. Redirect the loop flow from those horizontal corners to complete the loop path and reduce the edge loops from the vertical point with a diamond quad.
Mismatched segment densities on curves: adjust the density of the unconstrained surface so every other segment aligns with the existing (denser) geometry then route the loop path around the shape intersection and use diamond quads to reduce the left over segments. As long as the difference between the two shapes is constrained to area between the inner and outer support loops it should smooth cleanly enough to be passable.
(This kind of topology problem isn't super common but sometimes the density of one shape is already locked in by the geometry of adjacent surface features and it's not feasible to re-model the entire thing or there's some other constraint that means only one of the shapes can be changed.)
Interrupted rectangle to curve: The complexity of this shape intersection depends on whether or not the intersecting geometry needs to connect directly to the edges that make up the curve. If the rectangle can be placed between the segments of the curve then it's fairly straightforward. If the rectangle needs to line up with the edges in the curve then routing the support loops into the curve is a bit more challenging.
In this example one side of the rectangle connects directly to the edges that make up the cylinder walls and the other side of the rectangle lands between the existing segments of the cylinder. The basic loop routing around the shapes is fairly straightforward but the extra loops coming off the rectangle need to be reduced using triangular quads.
Some additional examples of angular shapes interrupted by curves:
Cylinder to truncated cone: segment matching is a bit more difficult because the taper of the cone biases the mesh density towards the top of the shape. The key to segment matching here is balancing the density between the top and bottom of the cylinder because resolving the sides just requires adding an extra crossing loop that runs perpendicular to the edges that make up the sides of the truncated cone.
Some additional examples of merging shapes with truncated cones:
Something to keep in mind is that most complex models are essentially just a collection of simple forms joined together. So, when searching for solutions to topology problems with complex shape intersections, it's unlikely that there's going to be an exact copy of the same thing, at the same angle, using the same number of segments, having the same basic loop routing strategy, etc.
Rather than trying to find a single example that covers all of the complex shape intersections at once, break the model down into smaller, simpler parts and look for examples similar to the individual shapes. Work through understanding how to solve each individual issue on it's own then use that knowledge to work through combining all of the shapes and try to resolve most of the major topology flow problems during the block out.
Using a more iterative and systematic approach to solving topology issues usually makes it easier to manage loop flow paths while merging shapes and add support loops without generating smoothing artifacts.
FrankPolygon
5 ·
Re: Building modular buildings and houses questions
In this context I'd absolutely encourage investigating ways to reduce tiling with small textures as Eric suggests. learning these techniques pays off in all sorts of ways (i recommend mocking it up in photoshop/designer, then figuring out the maths later btw).
but
That particular example.. not sure I'd recommend it today...
Using a rotator like that is computationally expensive (for a 90 degree rotation you can just swap axes instead and that's basically free but arbitrary rotation is not).
- It should be a good trade-off if you're memory bound
At the time UDK was current machines had relatively little vram (<1gb), games were running at relatively low resolutions (<=720p) and we were using much less complex shading models (static lighting, blinnphong etc.) - generally speaking, you ran out of memory long before you ran out of processing power and it made sense to trade off in that direction.
In a more modern scenario we have a lot more base memory combined with sophisticated streaming tech and much more complex shading models at much, much higher resolution. With this in mind, it makes sense to lean more towards solving your problem with vram than it does to solve it by adding per-pixel complexity.
Obviously you don't know unless you profile and in this context it probably makes absolutely no measurable difference (rendering the last 3 paragraphs redundant) but this is the internet and tradition dictates that hairs must be split.
but
That particular example.. not sure I'd recommend it today...
Using a rotator like that is computationally expensive (for a 90 degree rotation you can just swap axes instead and that's basically free but arbitrary rotation is not).
- It should be a good trade-off if you're memory bound
At the time UDK was current machines had relatively little vram (<1gb), games were running at relatively low resolutions (<=720p) and we were using much less complex shading models (static lighting, blinnphong etc.) - generally speaking, you ran out of memory long before you ran out of processing power and it made sense to trade off in that direction.
In a more modern scenario we have a lot more base memory combined with sophisticated streaming tech and much more complex shading models at much, much higher resolution. With this in mind, it makes sense to lean more towards solving your problem with vram than it does to solve it by adding per-pixel complexity.
Obviously you don't know unless you profile and in this context it probably makes absolutely no measurable difference (rendering the last 3 paragraphs redundant) but this is the internet and tradition dictates that hairs must be split.
poopipe
3 ·
Re: [WIP] Cyberpunk 2077 inspired Game Environment, Third-Year Uni Project
The past week has been pretty slow, mostly watching tutorials and planning / discussing ideas. I was really inspired by this concept by Chris Doretz of what looks like a plastic quarantine tunnel running through a damaged hospital area. It looked like it would introduce some really cool opportunities for lighting and also breaking up the harsh brutalist shapes that our lab environment seems to be going down. The idea at the moment is that the tube can run through a biohazardous room where a cloning accident has taken place, so client demand is so high that they can't deal with the fallout at the moment so the area gets vacuum-sealed and production continues like normal. This will give the player the opportunity to walk through and be able to see (maybe partially see because of semi-transparency? will help decrease my workload) and get some environmental storytelling.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dyoELK
So I started researching examples of this kind of quarantine tunnel. I couldn't find many real world examples but i did find a couple in films like ET (1982) and 12 Monkeys (1995). There were a couple references of air purifying tubes and machines connected to the tunnels which would be cool to make too afterwards. All of the film screenshots I got from the website shotdeck.com, it's one of my favourites other than pinterest for collecting references!
So I started by blocking out a segment in UE and importing it into Maya. Then I used a lattice on a cylinder and torus to deform it into this shape. Originally the "plastic" wasn't a plane and had some thickness, but this caused me problems down the line when doing the transparent material. The polycount is quite high because i knew that i wanted to turn this into a spline tool and didn't want any visible polygons.
The metal material was nothing special, but for the clear plastic, I followed a transparent glass material on yt. For some reason in the tutorial, his material seems to cast its own shadow while mine doesn't, so that's on my list of things to investigate. Tutorial:
https://youtu.be/PkLR8OqPzCA
I wanted to experiment with displacement but for now using normal maps was easier. The segments aren't UVed so i wanted to try using tri-planar projection for the first time. I took the normal and roughness map from a tarp fabric material from Quixel Megascans (https://www.fab.com/listings/ca2bcb13-13c3-4fcc-8bfc-4ba863fd2de6) projected those onto the plastic material following this tutorial. Tutorial:
https://youtu.be/r5CxcpxGe-Y
I was really happy with the results! I think I might try to do a lot more triplanar projections in our game environments especially for the spacious and clean client areas. This is what the tube segments looked like now, pus the material setup.
So next job was to make it into a spline tool which wasn't as easy as i thought it would be. I went through 3 tutorials before i found one which worked for me, but it still isn't perfect. Sometimes some weird artifacts or collapsing in on itself happens if the spline is an odd length. The tutorial that worked for me was this one. Tutorial:
https://youtu.be/l5W8KdQYI7k
and the final result was pretty good! i still have some issues i need to iron out like why the plastic doesnt cast a shadow and how come when playing as a third-person character the camera has no collision with the tube when the character walking through does. There's also other things like how to put an end piece at the back of the spline regardless of its length, and also I was advised by my lecturer that it should have some kind of connecting mechanism at both or one end where in the real world it would connect to a doorway or wall so it could create an airtight vacuum-seal. For now, here are some more screenshots and lighting experiments.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dyoELK
So I started researching examples of this kind of quarantine tunnel. I couldn't find many real world examples but i did find a couple in films like ET (1982) and 12 Monkeys (1995). There were a couple references of air purifying tubes and machines connected to the tunnels which would be cool to make too afterwards. All of the film screenshots I got from the website shotdeck.com, it's one of my favourites other than pinterest for collecting references!
So I started by blocking out a segment in UE and importing it into Maya. Then I used a lattice on a cylinder and torus to deform it into this shape. Originally the "plastic" wasn't a plane and had some thickness, but this caused me problems down the line when doing the transparent material. The polycount is quite high because i knew that i wanted to turn this into a spline tool and didn't want any visible polygons.
The metal material was nothing special, but for the clear plastic, I followed a transparent glass material on yt. For some reason in the tutorial, his material seems to cast its own shadow while mine doesn't, so that's on my list of things to investigate. Tutorial:
https://youtu.be/PkLR8OqPzCAI wanted to experiment with displacement but for now using normal maps was easier. The segments aren't UVed so i wanted to try using tri-planar projection for the first time. I took the normal and roughness map from a tarp fabric material from Quixel Megascans (https://www.fab.com/listings/ca2bcb13-13c3-4fcc-8bfc-4ba863fd2de6) projected those onto the plastic material following this tutorial. Tutorial:
https://youtu.be/r5CxcpxGe-YI was really happy with the results! I think I might try to do a lot more triplanar projections in our game environments especially for the spacious and clean client areas. This is what the tube segments looked like now, pus the material setup.
So next job was to make it into a spline tool which wasn't as easy as i thought it would be. I went through 3 tutorials before i found one which worked for me, but it still isn't perfect. Sometimes some weird artifacts or collapsing in on itself happens if the spline is an odd length. The tutorial that worked for me was this one. Tutorial:
https://youtu.be/l5W8KdQYI7kand the final result was pretty good! i still have some issues i need to iron out like why the plastic doesnt cast a shadow and how come when playing as a third-person character the camera has no collision with the tube when the character walking through does. There's also other things like how to put an end piece at the back of the spline regardless of its length, and also I was advised by my lecturer that it should have some kind of connecting mechanism at both or one end where in the real world it would connect to a doorway or wall so it could create an airtight vacuum-seal. For now, here are some more screenshots and lighting experiments.
MaraRA
3 ·