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ESCAPE – The Park– Shabba

polycounter lvl 15
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shabba polycounter lvl 15
Hi Everyone,

I would like to participate in this challenge as well. Really excited to see what everyone will produce! I live in Toronto, Canada and when I thought of the word "Escape" the first thing that came to mind was how to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and just slow things down. So here it goes!

Idea:
A secluded park, in the heart of a great metropolis. Centered around a park bench that is frequented by people who just need to get away from their busy, attention demanding city lifestyles and just let it all slip away. A beautiful pond, with relaxing Koi, a gorgeous foot bridge and a sweeping natural staircase that leads back to reality. All this is surrounded by beautiful, old trees, bushes, colourful flowers, unmanicured grasses and lillies in the water. However, towering over all of it off in the distance, and over the trees, is a massive city skyline. Skyscrapers, buildings, advertising, etc. A constant subtle reminder that reality awaits you.

Final Submission:
PRPonEC.jpg

uBJKjew.jpg


Continuation of First Post:

Here are some references to start. I will be doing a very quick sketch, but most of my layout will be done in 3d.

LoyTxoi.jpg

Quick Layout Sketch:
KnHhTyp.jpg

Replies

  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    Here is my 3d concept/blockout. Crits appreciated!

    eX7gTWZ.jpg
  • Polygoblin
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    Polygoblin polycounter
    Lovely color blockout, and I can see a very nice composition here. Those studies you did really have paid off! Some painted-over graffiti in the tunnel could help sell the urban nature of the city, thereby expanding the "escape" feel to it. Besides that, I don't have much yet. Keep going!
  • Gannon
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    Gannon interpolator
    I agree with polygoblin, I can't wait to see this finished :D
  • imb3nt
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    imb3nt polycounter lvl 14
    Composition is really strong. Kinda reminded me of Georges Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon" painting. Do you think you'll be going for a painterly style or just go for realism?

    Either way I'm looking forward to seeing more of this. :thumbup:
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    Thanks guys for the positive remarks! I'm really happy you are finding the direction appealing.

    @imb3nt - I really enjoyed looking at that painting, thank you! I am however planning on doing this for realism.

    More updates to come over the weekend
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    Ok, I've been working on the bridge, got a good chunk of it done.

    The straight strip is a tileable piece which I will reuse to get the most amount of detail along the entire length of the bridge.

    Here are a couple renders of some high res bridge pieces. Note: this isn't actually how the pieces fit together.

    f0mO0dL.jpg

    UX0pti5.jpg
  • 3DVlad
    beautiful bridge man. Is that all Zbrush?
  • RogerP
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    RogerP polycounter
    Bridge is looking Ace dude
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Loving the details so far man! Looking great!
  • throttlekitty
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    throttlekitty ngon master
    Great looking scene, but I think it needs some more 'opression' (or something) from the skyline to give that escape feel. I probably wouldn't have even looked at that area without your opening blurb. Great composition otherwise.
  • Safemilk(Daniel)
    That is one gorgeous looking bridge piece...
  • akacg
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    akacg polycounter lvl 12
    very cool start
  • Polygoblin
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    Polygoblin polycounter
    Hot damn, looking good. Bottom of the pillar looks unfinished in comparison to the rest. Still working on that part? Keep it up!
  • 3shold
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    3shold polycounter lvl 7
    Holy bajerbus! That is some awesome detail! Keep it up man.
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    3DVlad wrote: »
    beautiful bridge man. Is that all Zbrush?
    Thanks alot! Its all modelled in 3DS Max, no Zbrush at all. :)
    Polygoblin wrote: »
    Hot damn, looking good. Bottom of the pillar looks unfinished in comparison to the rest. Still working on that part? Keep it up!
    Thanks! I definitely agree, i'll address that very soon.
    I think it needs some more 'opression' (or something) from the skyline to give that escape feel.
    Interesting idea, I think I understand what you're getting at. I'll look at addressing this maybe later on when I start moving onto that part of the scene! Thanks

    Ok I need some help from people, as I am getting some conflicting opinions from some peers. In the image below (lots of problems with it lol, and the scale of the stairs is HUGE!) But what I would love are some opinions on whether you like the round staircase corners better, or the straight 90deg corners?

    Here is a preview:
    L4Iupq8.jpg
    NiuHS7s.jpg
  • duncan
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    duncan polycounter lvl 11
    THIS IS LOOKING FANTASTIC!
    I really dig the idea and you are busting it out pretty quick too.
    I really like the round end pieces to the stairs, but not so much on the main bridge.

    Keen to see some more please.
  • Gannon
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    Gannon interpolator
    I like the 90Degree angle ones better than the round. They're nice(the round) but they're too create some angles in the composition that may be distracting/disorienting.
  • Squals
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    Squals polycounter lvl 5
    How's your computer not exploding with 15 million polys in 3ds max haha
  • throttlekitty
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    throttlekitty ngon master
    I like the straight better too, the rounded looks nice, but confuses the eye in this case. Try moving the pillars close to the top of the stairs instead of the small gap?
  • AuntieJamima
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    AuntieJamima polycounter lvl 5
    I agree with throttlekitty on both accounts, in order to really sell the "escape" there needs to be a sort of oppression or unpleasantry outside of the "get away" area, right now I don't feel like it's an escape, just a nice little park. Also I think the rounded is a bit confusing. Really great stuff nonetheless.

    How are you going to lower the polycount on high detail swirlies under the bridge? Decimate? Or a plane with transparencies even though that may look funky?
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    Thanks everyone for the help in making that decision. I went with straight like pretty much everyone suggested.
    @Squals - lol not sure man, my pc is pretty regular.

    @Throttlekitty - I'll try out your suggestion soon about moving the pillars.

    @AuntieJamima - Yea I'll start brainstorming some ways to make that feel unpleasant, the only thing I can think of at the moment is with weather and sky.. any suggestions?


    Its been a really long time since I posted, work and personal life getting in the way! And there is now officially less than 40 days left. So I have to kick it in high gear. Just posting a quick layout of my landscape, and base materials. Think I'm gonna make some tilables in zbrush for more interest.

    Also baked the details down to low polys, the last image is the actual distance the ornate support is going to be viewed from, so I'll be using planes as you wont be able to tell.

    Updates:
    gkD22j1.jpg

    Bt2yl5D.jpg

    H8QvCB4.jpg
  • shabba
  • BJA
    I like that a lot :)
  • throttlekitty
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    throttlekitty ngon master
    Yea I'll start brainstorming some ways to make that feel unpleasant, the only thing I can think of at the moment is with weather and sky.. any suggestions?

    With your original shot, you could drop the city area/horizon down so it invades the park space more. Darker and more washed out colors would help out a lot here. Or add relics from the city into the park (litter, grafitti, make streetlamps a little uglier), but that might ruin the feel of the park too much.
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    @Throttlekitty: Yea I'm gonna try your suggestions on the background stuff. Sounds like it could work!

    I'm moving slower than molasses on this! 30 days left!! Still need a tileable large brick sculpted for the empty wall spaces then i'll move on to something else for a bit.

    Low's with ao/norm -
    13PdwvM.jpg

    gXiIFbB.jpg
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    EDIT:
    Just decided I'm going to redo the terrain and replace the assets so my viewpoint is much closer to my original blockout. It has a certain something that this latest update is missing.

    rOekG8V.jpg

    NJBS73P.jpg
  • uncle
    This is gonna be beautiful!
  • DiegoMinguez
    Really good stuff, keeping an eye on this!
  • Xeroll
    Great bridge detail! It's made of many interesting and diverse shapes, look forward to seeing more development!
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    Thanks guys! Closeup on the diffuse
    m026XdJ.jpg
  • throttlekitty
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    I haven't touched this in such a long time. So last night I decided to do a big push till the deadline. I would like to finish absolutely as much as possible. The reason for this push was adams Tweet about the metal greentooth! Even though there are so many amazing top quality scenes, I'd still like to actually finish.

    So here is the progress from last night, completely reworked the terrain, redid the instanced foliage, changed lighting, and some DOF. Did a couple trees and put in the placeholders I need to finish.

    To Do:
    - Large maple tree
    - (rework cedar if time b/c I hate it)
    - rocks
    - stone block wall
    - bridge wall texture
    - bridge lightmaps
    - (redo water b/c i hate it)
    - city background
    - cloud meshes (dark ominous clouds)
    - adjust skybox for dark sky over city
    - flowers
    - mesh paint on path and bridge

    I'm sacrificing some quality for speed. Hopefully in the final product, all the errors will fade away, b/c right now they are staring me in the face!

    THIS IS GO!
    2xdxMN8.jpg
  • riggingwrong
    Oh cool, so you're actually going to finish it eh? Awesome. Still is looking cool to me.
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    @Riggingwrong Thanks man, you rock my socks. The large maples i think really add to this alot. Came up with a really fast way of placing cards smartly for good tree crown. And it worked out good imo! Here are the maples. (took maybe 10 minutes to make after bark and leaf card texture was made)

    LGylvXR.jpg
  • DonCornholio
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    DonCornholio polycounter lvl 9
    Would you like to enlighten us about your smart way to place the cards for the tree crown ? Also i'd really like to know how you tackled the bridge in 3ds max, especially those ornaments that look so nice.
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    @Don - After I set up my large branches, I'll create sphere and deform it slightly so its irregular. I made my sphere about 1/6-1/4 of the entire crown. Then I made an intersecting card. From there I just object painted in Max, using random rotation, and min/max scales. The key is the depth setting property which lets me sink the cards inside the sphere. All you have to do now is just start painting on your sphere and the cards will show up inside. Then move the sphere to the next part of your branches, rinse, repeat. It fast, easy, orientation is random and natural. I made the large Maple tree that way, took maybe all of 10 minutes and it was in UDK ready to be placed.

    Bridge ornaments are all spline modelled in max and then supported for turbosmooth and baked. The entire bridge is made mostly of tileable strips that I modelled and baked into one large sheet.

    I'm falling asleep at my desk, I still have a big chunk of things to do. But heres the progress for the evening.

    LEFT TO DO:
    - (redo water b/c i hate it)
    - city background
    - cloud meshes (dark ominous clouds)
    - adjust skybox for dark sky over city
    - flowers
    - mesh paint on path and bridge

    Update:
    23FJUal.jpg
  • Wingednosering
    Coming along well! Interesting technique for setting up leaf cards. I can't wait for you to get some mesh painting on that path. Having such a clean pathway in an organic environment really throws everything off!
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    Your wish is my command! Small update but that damn shader took awhile to set up correctly.

    Noticing that the embankment on the left needs some defined rock face to it.. so IF i have time (unlikely) i'd like to sculpt a rockface, but its the last thing on my list.

    next up, bench, garbage can, lamp, then buildings, then flowers.

    N5vaO1k.jpg
  • Poly Knight
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    Poly Knight polycounter lvl 4
    Hey Shabba,

    It's looking great. Really glad you made a push for the finish line with this piece.

    The work on shader paid off, the pathway fits much better with the overall scene.

    I agree with the others that adding a "darker" feel/mood to the city area will really push the escape feeling of the scene.

    Great work! Keep going looking forward to the final renders.
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    Well I pushed hard the past couple days and did alot I'd say. There are tons of errors, and if you inspect somethings its downright shameful, I'm going to be revising alot of things in this. Glad I made the deadline.

    here was what I posted in the Final Submission thread.

    The Park:
    PRPonEC.jpg

    uBJKjew.jpg

    cB3oeuP.jpg

    F8DFDJQ.jpg

    zGrakUN.jpg

    1cgJVYO.jpg
  • shabba
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    shabba polycounter lvl 15
    Dammit I forgot the flowers!!!
  • iansmithartist
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    iansmithartist polycounter lvl 15
    flowers or no flowers its lovely work :)
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