One thing that may help you is that as I'm sure you're aware, it's based off of the Tarzan treehouse from the movie. And there's a lifesize replica (to an extent, definitely not a perfect one to one replica) in Disneyland. Looking at that could help when you move into fine detail and/or start thinking up props depending on the scale/camera angle you're anticipating.
Also again, depending on the camera angle, although I think it probably applies all around considering the current scale, but you may want to thicken up the netting on the lower deck so it reads better from a distance.
@ColeBot: yeah man, there is water below. Btw, i can't really take credit for the design cos i saw the concept art for the game n thought oh i should really model this. @sipher3325: thanks bro. @Xelan101: i will look into the net part for sure, thanks. and i did check out the tarzan tree house, helped a lot.
Yes! This looks great, nice work, very close to the concept in a lot of ways.
The only points of concern I see are:
The tree branches don't look as full and fluffy as they do in the concept, instead they look a lot more depressing and weighed down. They also seem pretty sparse and don't fill up the scene as much as the concept. What few branches you do have look to be using a lot of geometry, I think you could model some solid forms and get more out of the same amount of triangles. Also keep in mind that transparencies with accurate shadows bring render farms (and game engines) to their knees , especially if you stack a lot of them.
The roof, looks a lot like a jr high kid trying to grow a beard. I think you would be better off modeling the bundles of thatch rather than using a lot of geometry that is barely covering it. The same approach could be used for the tree branches.
It really is looking great, don't let these minor crits slow you down, finish this.
^^^ hahahaha rofling at the jr high kid beard part.. the roof was really tricky dude, i still dunno how to approach it, tried out a few methods, n landed on this in the end although i do agree im not completely satisfied with it.. any tips on how i could get it done? i will give the tree foliage another go..
I think the biggest thing that stood out to me is the scale relationship between the house and the tree. The house looks larger in the concept. I know the concept is more zoomed in and all, but even still it just doesn't seem as hefty as the concept. I'm not sure if it's because of the fullness of the foliage around the tree like someone mentioned before. I also feel like the branch supporting it is definitely beefier in the concept, and looks a little precarious as it is now, like the whole house can go teetering to its doom at a moment's notice.
These are all nitpicks of course. I loved Kingdom Hearts, and I'm excited to see someone doing a piece from it. Can't wait to see it finished!
^^^ hahahaha rofling at the jr high kid beard part.. the roof was really tricky dude, i still dunno how to approach it, tried out a few methods, n landed on this in the end although i do agree im not completely satisfied with it.. any tips on how i could get it done? i will give the tree foliage another go..
For the leaves I would start off with a quad sphere (a turbo smoothed box with Sphereify applied to it).
Then use the graphite modeling tools Push/Pull, Relax to inflate parts of the mesh and make it droopy.
Then delete the bottom and extrude some of the hanging parts. You can do the same thing in zbursh or mudbox but I the tools in max are more than enough to get this job done. You might want to take them into zbrush and do some leaf stamping or branch sculpting. If tri-count gets too high these are easy to optimize, they look a little dense to me.
For the Thatched roof I would model in some rough bumps to give it some character and then probably take that into a scupting app and sculpt the hay strands and ties. I would probably create a few clumps that I could place around the roof so I wasn't stuck having to create the whole thing as one unique piece.
thanks a lot for the tips MD, but i think i'll pass on the texturing of this piece for now. dont think my texturin skill is up to mark right now, certainly a project i'll take up a few weeks or a few months later.
thanks to everyone for ur support.
Replies
Also again, depending on the camera angle, although I think it probably applies all around considering the current scale, but you may want to thicken up the netting on the lower deck so it reads better from a distance.
@sipher3325: thanks bro.
@Xelan101: i will look into the net part for sure, thanks. and i did check out the tarzan tree house, helped a lot.
The only points of concern I see are:
The tree branches don't look as full and fluffy as they do in the concept, instead they look a lot more depressing and weighed down. They also seem pretty sparse and don't fill up the scene as much as the concept. What few branches you do have look to be using a lot of geometry, I think you could model some solid forms and get more out of the same amount of triangles. Also keep in mind that transparencies with accurate shadows bring render farms (and game engines) to their knees , especially if you stack a lot of them.
The roof, looks a lot like a jr high kid trying to grow a beard. I think you would be better off modeling the bundles of thatch rather than using a lot of geometry that is barely covering it. The same approach could be used for the tree branches.
It really is looking great, don't let these minor crits slow you down, finish this.
These are all nitpicks of course. I loved Kingdom Hearts, and I'm excited to see someone doing a piece from it. Can't wait to see it finished!
Then use the graphite modeling tools Push/Pull, Relax to inflate parts of the mesh and make it droopy.
Then delete the bottom and extrude some of the hanging parts. You can do the same thing in zbursh or mudbox but I the tools in max are more than enough to get this job done. You might want to take them into zbrush and do some leaf stamping or branch sculpting. If tri-count gets too high these are easy to optimize, they look a little dense to me.
For the Thatched roof I would model in some rough bumps to give it some character and then probably take that into a scupting app and sculpt the hay strands and ties. I would probably create a few clumps that I could place around the roof so I wasn't stuck having to create the whole thing as one unique piece.
thanks to everyone for ur support.