Monthly Noob Challenge 8
interpolator
Welcome to the Monthly Noob Challenge 8!
RULES:
Please read all the rules.
This may seem like it's pretty complicated, and if you are starting out it can be overwhelming, so take it piece by piece. This can be broken down into a segments. Think about what will be unique, what will be tiled, what kinda textures you'll need to make, just plan before you go. Set your standards high for your work, do your best.
PLEASE look at the ref, and work hard to get the blockout right. Take your time before you dive into it and plan, this will make your life easier.
All that matters is that you learn and give and get advice and are willing to be critiqued.
So here are the specific rules:
Must make your own textures, no stealing, we can't keep you from it, but the goal is to learn, even tileables, I mean you can take someone else's image and make it tileable, that's fine.
You must use a game engine OBVIOUSLY. UDK or Cryengine will probably be the most used.
You must try your best and finish as much as you can in this month.
Post what you are working on in this thread so that way it's a more centralized place for advice and critique and we don't have 1000 disjointed threads littering the forums.
Well that's about it, if you think the rules should be changed let us know.
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.
Please stay away from Ddo, yeah, it's great if you know what you're doing, and for a production pipeline supplement, but other than that, please don't use it. Ndo2 is allowed. This was talked about in the other thread, please don't complain.
Have fun!
PS: I am extremely familiar with Cryengine and can answer probably any question you happen to have when using it. Furthermore ask anything to anyone here, combined there is a wealth of knowledge. Cryedev is a massive source of knowledge as well.
PSSSS:
OPEN TO EVERYONE!
GOOD LUCK
RULES:
Please read all the rules.
This may seem like it's pretty complicated, and if you are starting out it can be overwhelming, so take it piece by piece. This can be broken down into a segments. Think about what will be unique, what will be tiled, what kinda textures you'll need to make, just plan before you go. Set your standards high for your work, do your best.
PLEASE look at the ref, and work hard to get the blockout right. Take your time before you dive into it and plan, this will make your life easier.
All that matters is that you learn and give and get advice and are willing to be critiqued.
So here are the specific rules:
Must make your own textures, no stealing, we can't keep you from it, but the goal is to learn, even tileables, I mean you can take someone else's image and make it tileable, that's fine.
You must use a game engine OBVIOUSLY. UDK or Cryengine will probably be the most used.
You must try your best and finish as much as you can in this month.
Post what you are working on in this thread so that way it's a more centralized place for advice and critique and we don't have 1000 disjointed threads littering the forums.
Well that's about it, if you think the rules should be changed let us know.
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.
Please stay away from Ddo, yeah, it's great if you know what you're doing, and for a production pipeline supplement, but other than that, please don't use it. Ndo2 is allowed. This was talked about in the other thread, please don't complain.
Have fun!
PS: I am extremely familiar with Cryengine and can answer probably any question you happen to have when using it. Furthermore ask anything to anyone here, combined there is a wealth of knowledge. Cryedev is a massive source of knowledge as well.
PSSSS:
OPEN TO EVERYONE!
GOOD LUCK
Replies
I aim to use this month to get to grips with it
Thanks and good fun everybody
Btw, i'm in
Sorry, I could make one for max.I use maya and max but I prefer the max exporter.
Yes you can use Cgtextures, in fact a lot of companies use cgtextures. Just take the images and change them to suite your needs.
I'll see if I have time tonight. I remember the first time I tried to get that thing going, it was not fun.
Yeah, been a bit confusing but now that I've got the Max exporter tool on the go it seems really efficient. Just gonna go find myself a basic Max - CE3 pipeline tutorial.
I've been hoping and requesting for months that 3DMotive would provide something on CE3 basics.
Good luck everyone.
Tis a shame to hear that sir. I really enjoyed following your Escape entry
All the best to you with your next project..
I like the concept for this month a lot.
Quickly started in Maya and now thinking I've got the proportions a little off.
I think it works well, maybe reduce the height of the walkway and gate a bit?
And here is my texture plan.
Good luck to everyone!
Nice paint-over. Cool to see the scene without the characters. The signage works well.
Nice, but you forgot the tons of decals and the huge signs that "tell the story"
Have fun doing this!
Don't worry it will be there, I was just focusing on the important things for the breakdown, I know what details I want to add that will help tell the story just did't want to spend too much time on concepting it out as I want to start modeling already, anyways here was some things I added... it also won't say zombies in the end, I was just lazy and there will be definitely more in the end.
Quick sketch to figure out some idea's i had on extending the scene further, using the modular set. Victim/notice boards and some contaminant mask bins in an assembly-like area. The standard body bag lines and hopefully a few low-poly rats...
We'll all have decal-fever by the end of this month :poly142:
Breakdown and Block-In tomorrow.
...Cannot wait for this game. Got my Joel edition pre-ordered :poly124:
This looks awesome, great job!
After i went to London and played the demo in a creepy cinema, i fell in love with the game.
I was gonna have a crack at this concept as a fan-piece at some point. Well happy it's been chosen for the challenge
Just because this was the one chosen for the Noob challenge doesn't mean you can't grab the concept you did like and have a go at it in your own thread! I'm sure no one would judge you :poly124:.
Good luck everyone! I may join later this month, but I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't move on from 7 until I was ready to call it finished.
*** Also, does anyone know how to get rid of the statistics block in the upper right corner of the viewport in Cryengine SDK?
Thanks!
I finished blocking in my scene. Now time to start roughing out the models.
Concept paintover
I'd like to do a scenery where a little greenery is showing... and some drawing with chalk on the ground, like done by a child that's walking around in this empty place, searching for other people...
Concept (texutre) breakdown
I'm planing hand painted textures... maybe just diffuse, not sure yet.
On to some blockout stuff~
http://howto.apu.re/videos/vizu-how-to-model-a-curtain-in-3ds-max-with-cloth-modifier/
@ Fenyce - Nice ideas there. I was also thinking of adding some contrast with a bit of overgrowth.
The chalk scribbles are a nice touch. You should check out Scott Homer's awesome Bioshock project. He created some chalk decals by sketching directly onto black card and then scanning them in. Had a really nice result.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97769
Yeah, awesome fanwork, I've seen that some time ago, but didn't remember the chalk scribbles! Great idea, maybe I'll try that, too!
Not sure what personal touch to add my self yet, so here's my plan and blockout.
Imageshack won't let me upload for some reason so I guess I'll use dropbox.
Please excuse my horrible writing, still getting used to the tablet...
It's funny how some simple bright colors can make anything look happy :P
Used the warm colors for anything I can modulate, and the blues for special models, also scribbled out some proportions relevant to the people.
And here's my blockout so far...
Not sure what to do with the area behind the gate, I noticed some sandbags back there, might try to go with some militarized area.
- Only thing i could recommend (with my limited knowledge), is maybe check the Unreal threads for console commands?
I've used fov controls and camera-view controls by typing values in the play-in editor window before...
@ Mischievous
- Really strong block-out.
I loved the safe rooms in L4D. Genuinely the only places you ever felt 'safe'. I used to annoy my team by doing that game artist thing and stare at all the models and textures, getting myself left behind
I also have a vehicle model built for an indy team a few years back that would fit pretty well into it....though I don't know if that would change the overall mood too much.
Also I have a Crayon brush for Photoshop that can mimic chalk texture for download...it's pretty popular.
New versions of UDK have a default empty layout. In this mode the character height is taller than the characters that are in the content browser. If you change your gametype and PIE Gametype to deathmatch it should lower your character height to the same as the character you have placed in your scene. These settings can be found in View/ World Properties at the top bar in the UDK editor. alternatively you can create a custom camera. But I will let you google that one =P
Does anyone know how to get rid of the statistic blocks on the upper right corner of the viewport in the Cryengine SDK?
Sorry for my noobness, did you unwrap and then import each mesh?
I've only ever used UDK and i know its pretty bad practice but in the past I've imported my whole scene as a mesh and then worked on individual props to add to the layout..
You've got the scale down really well
Yeah, in total there's about fifteen different "modular" pieces, and they're all placed in editor. I find it easier that way because in max or maya, you can't judge the FOV very well from the camera and the right camera position as well. And it's not really unwrapped per say just box mapped. :P
It is a bit of going back and forth to make sure everything's to scale, but if you stick with a grid system it's much easier. Cryengine uses meters so it's very easy to say, "I think the gates need to be a half meter shorter" or something like that.
Also, modular is the way to go, it makes these kinds of changes much easier and it's how I've worked in the industry since starting school. I think it's pretty rare an entire scene is built in max or maya anymore.
And it's important to get you're stuff in editor as soon as possible, at the block-out stage. It's going to be mandatory in any game development cycle.
I just had bad practice when it came to blocking in-engine before...
Thanks a lot for your answer. Really helpful advice
So I wasn't the only one trying to figure out where the texture pattern repeats while some life obstacles also known as my team mates were fighting zombies several rooms ahead... On the other hand having to often solo the game to catch on rendered me a pretty skilled survivor :P
Also about the modularity thing, I wonder how games like Rayman and other similar styles do it. Their maps look almost uniquely made for each purpose.
Thanks so much! That's been bothering me for the past six months!
Storm shelter centers are bound to be good reference for this.
Anyhow here's what I've got for today.
Forgot to add buildings, but I don't really want to worry about those for now. Anyhow, first area - waiting area with stretchers, and even a rice soup bar shack
But how do you enter these bridges? I don't see a ladder or something like that?
I look forward to seeing how you will develop the different areas and design them to suit their function...
The bar shack has intrigued me...
@Fenyce; You know I was thinking of adding a ladder, and then I completely forgot. But yeah ladder is definitely the choice, mindless zombies (and sometimes players alike) can't climb those.
@LANKUS MAXIMUS; Thanks! Kinda wish I could model some sort of military truck, but I hardly think I'll have time for that. So I might as well just add tire marks and rice pieces everywhere...