Hirstarts, and what he can teach Environment Artists about modularity

Makkon

Take a look at the projects section really quick
http://hirstarts.com/projects.html

I've been up and down this website for the past week totally geeking out about how applicable it is to environment artists. I highly suggest you take a look through it and study how things are constructed, and what parts he uses. Looking through this, at the casts and the instructions, it opens my mind to what pieces I need to make for an environment, how to split them up for maximum usability, and how to construct a full scene using the pieces I make.

You may recall when I made a plaster environment a few years ago and how much I learned from doing that. I highly suggest this activity to anyone, as the insight you can gain from doing this you can't get anywhere else.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and if you have more resources like this then post them up!

Check out some pics:

Makkon

And a few more, these ones are scifi themed

Avanthera

That's really cool! That's really relevant in 3d and such, but it's actually pretty awesome as is, I'd love to create some real-world kits like he has.

.morph3us

wow, i'd rather 3d prnit these tiles than actually model them in real life...
at least this way you got undo at your hand :P

Kwramm

nice find for inspiration. really interesting

Eric Chadwick

Thanks Makkon! Added to the wiki.
http://wiki.polycount.net/CategoryEnvironmentModularity

Snader

Keep in mind, though, that these are very obviously based on a 2D checkerboard pattern, which is something you usually want to hide in a game.

Shudrum

So good !

Just when I try to create my first level on a tiled based visible grid

Thank you

J0NNYquid

Great find! Thanks a ton.

timspanjer

Great post Makkon! It'd be really cool if a crafty programmer could figure out a way to dynamically crate levels from parts like these... Just an idea.

ambershee

Programmers, crafty or otherwise, have been doing exactly that since the dawn of 3d games.

timspanjer

Maybe procedural is the word I should use. I've seen procedural levels but nothing to the detail level of the parts above.

Makkon

Thanks for adding it, Eric!

A programmer who is either also a good artist, or has a good artist helping them, could make some very fun levels with pieces like this.
They've been doing it for ages, but most of the time it's programmer art, or we don't appreciate what it is when it's done that way in a Triple A title.

Fun fact: I just found out that most of these pieces have been recreated in Google Sketchup for prototyping! Even some of the projects were constructed so you can see how they were put together. If you wanted to look more into these parts without buying the molds, that's your chance!


Come to think of it, a great exercise in modular building could be something like this: Make a structure-like chess set. It's familiar enough that it's feasible, and small enough that it can be done without too much time. I may do this myself, I could use the training.

theironpaw

great post, certainly got me thinking about some tile based levels I am about to create. thanks for sharing :icon60:.

EugeniusMaximus

Wow, many thanks for the link. Exactly what I was looking for.

Biomag

I am actually surprised that table top games and their stuff isn't more wide spread knowledge here. Their art is generally very similar to game art (think of Warhammer... - or even better Rackham's old Confrontation line ) and also there is a lot too learn about kitbashing and posing/presentation from them or environment art like hirstarts.