@steppan
Yup this one is only for max as it's an mcr. I think for maya user they can check about a mel script "froTools" and as I remember there is something like an exporter or at least something more advanced than export directly with the basic exporter of maya.
Seeing the other breakdowns for this project and the one from last month, I really wanted to give this method a shot, so I've tried it earlier today. It feels like I now have a better idea of what I'm gonna have to do. Not a waste of time at all.
Things have been pretty rough lately and hopefully I can achieve something I can be proud of with this project. That would put me in a good mood to continue my folio.
So figured I'd upload my blockout. I've basically broken my scene down into a bunch of modular assets and exported them into UDK. Now it's just a case of working on the individual bits and it should all be linked up to UDK.
my only concern at moment is whether I want to do the wall sections as meshes or BSP. As I see if BSP's are the logical step, but meshes allow for more freedom and variety in terms of vertex painting detail.
@Grindy - That's a really nice breakdown you have there. I've already done mine but no doubt yours may help down the line
I saw this concept in the concept thread a couple of weeks ago, and I've been working on it on and off for my own amusement, so it's lucky that this was the image chosen for the challenge. Here's what I have so far:
Obviously there are a couple of props I have yet to place, but I think it's getting there. Any crits?
Hey guys!
I'm curious of how you do those block-outs. You use your modeling software and import in engine or make them strait in engine from primitives?
Have been following monthly challenges since 1st one and finally have decided to participate
Some meshes in engine. Doesn't looks good for me. I need to tweak tones of settings to make this scene look better. There is only one good thing here - I just fixed almost all shadow seams on floor and railway tiles.
I have a question on exporting modular from max to udk. When you go through and model the scene out in 3dsmaxc at least the block out do you then save each asset as its own file so you can model and bake HP and also export to 0,0,0,0 ?
Not sure as to your saving as an individual file question but as for setting it to 0000, in max i have just been selecting my chosen mesh. set that mesh to 0 in all world settings, then go to your hierarchy and set the pivot point correctly, reset xform and all that jazz.
Then when you export the mesh it will have a nice central pivot in UDK and wont be all offset from the move point.
That's what i do in max anyways. Didnt explain very well, but im literally walking along typing this
no i get it thats what I do as well,what i mean is lets take a single asset like the pillar/column. Once you do a basic blockout of the overall scene and actually want to start doing details on it on a HP mesh do you first save the LP pillar column to its own file and work on it there, or do you just hide everything and work on layers.
Do you bake HP to LP in 1 scene and just hide objects or start separating things out ?
nick2730: I think it would be simpler to start separating things out when you start working on the HP parts and keep your scene with the blockout as your scene where you will then insert your final LP meshes to replace the blocked out ones. That's how I'd do it.
Wow, some of those blockouts already look like finished pieces :thumbup:
I only had time to do a part of the blockout in Maya today, and no fancy lighting so far But it's a start at least. With all the modularity this is gonna take a week to put together in UDK
Small update for my scene. I'm going to start bringing these pieces into UDK, I'll lay them out and see if I have any issues, then I'll begin with my high-poly of these objects.
Everyone else's scenes look so great! It's so intimidating posting my progress, but I'm finding it all super helpful!
got the ball rolling,
3ds screengrab. massing out scale and whatnot.
next step is to test the blockout in-engine, then start building the modular pieces.
ug im beat i have no idea where to go next. how do people make such great textures? do they take real life pics and edit them or do they draw them from scratch? my drawing sucks so much.
i don't mean to pick or be mean but your lights are wrong. they are fluros but they don't stick out like that.
Sure. Just blocking out stuff. The idea behind lights on roof is simple: I want this lamps could be replaced as quickly as possible if it's necessary.
That's what I mean:
ug im beat i have no idea where to go next. how do people make such great textures? do they take real life pics and edit them or do they draw them from scratch? my drawing sucks so much.
There are so many ways to create textures... I personally used photo textures back when I started to learn the 3D stuff, but now I prefer a combination of hand drawing and sculpting. This challenges should be the perfect opportunity for you to just try out different approaches and see which one you prefer - although the "best" method doesn't have to be the same for every project. Don't let your drawing skills stop you from handpainting textures. Just do it and learn from your mistakes (plus, drawing textures is entirely different from traditional drawing imo)
Sure. Just blocking out stuff. The idea behind lights on roof is simple: I want this lamps could be replaced as quickly as possible if it's necessary.
That's what I mean:
while that great and all i thought the idea was to replicate the scene as best we can.
There are so many ways to create textures... I personally used photo textures back when I started to learn the 3D stuff, but now I prefer a combination of hand drawing and sculpting. This challenges should be the perfect opportunity for you to just try out different approaches and see which one you prefer - although the "best" method doesn't have to be the same for every project. Don't let your drawing skills stop you from handpainting textures. Just do it and learn from your mistakes (plus, drawing textures is entirely different from traditional drawing imo)
alright but where should i start? my town will have none of the images i need so i can't take my own photos and i don't even know what to look for in an image. and the sculpting? i have assess to zbrush 4r but im a noob and even after watching a few videos all i really know how to do is navigate the scene and not very effectively. i even grabbed a drawing tablet because i heard they made using zbrush a world easier because of the sensitivity sensor.
I won't be participating in this months challenge due to traveling, so id like to know your guys input on how I approach these challenges.
When I look at a concept picture like this, I see it as a base concept in which I can assign a theme to. For example, imagine the Halo Flood had gone through this tunnel, or this tunnel had be abandoned, or even this tunnel was turned into a refugee camp. The possibilities are endless.
When we were young, we would trace images. I feel like copying a concept picture, in a way is like tracing an image. The color, design, size, and mood is all presented in the concept. When all this is present, there is not much creativity being used when building our scene. The second we think outside the concepts bounds is when we really start to think and become creative.
What do you guys think about this mindset/idea? Assigning a theme of your own to the scene to make it different and more interesting, as well as challenging. Sort of like giving your scene a story, except visually. Because when I look at this tunnel, I don't see a story, I don't see anything interesting, all I see is just a plain tunnel.
For me it's not just about replicate the scene, it's more about learning to take a look at little things and small details. I'm trying to make this trainstation look like more realistic, because the original concept (game screenshot, please correct me if I'm wrong) feels for me too much like game level. It's not bad because the concept itself looks greate (and of course I love games), I just want to add more deatils to scene and still hold closer to original design.
Last update for now. After I finish working on props I'll change all illumination in scene.
alright but where should i start? my town will have none of the images i need so i can't take my own photos and i don't even know what to look for in an image. and the sculpting? i have assess to zbrush 4r but im a noob and even after watching a few videos all i really know how to do is navigate the scene and not very effectively. i even grabbed a drawing tablet because i heard they made using zbrush a world easier because of the sensitivity sensor.
Well, one possibility would be taking textures from a site like http://cgtextures.com/ (also take a look at their texturing tutorials!). If you want to take your own photos, you don't have to find EXACTLY what you want your result to look like. The best start would be a simple concrete texture, and a metal texture, i guess you will find those in your town? You can then add all the detail by hand.
b) Create a highpoly model in your modeling software. You can use the ambient occlusion as a guideline for your diffuse, and bake a normal map from the highpoly.
c) If you want to use zBrush, just keep it simple. You really don't need anything but the standard brush for a tileable texture, and you can add a lot of detail by simply using some of the standard alphas. For a concrete texture you could use Alpha 07 with the mode set to "spray" for example. If you go to Brush --> Curve and set the WrapMode to 1, you can even do a tileable texture. Just don't forget that you have to change the WrapMode for every Brush you use.
I posted this tutorial before, because it explains how to add some detail very fast: http://eat3d.com/free/zbrush_stone. You can also learn how to use alphas and some other basics from that video. If you want to create a tileable texture, just use a square plane instead of importing a mesh.
I know this is a lot of information. I don't know what you already know and just wanted to give you a short overview of some basic methods you could use. If you need further help, just feel free to ask.
Oh, and one last thing: If you analyze the "concept", you can see that they were using maybe 5 textures. You might want to concentrate on doing 1-2 tileable versions of the concrete texture, one tileable metal texture, one tileable wood texture, and the one with the stripes. The rest would be the alpha maps for the grates, the fences/barbed wires and for the "76" decals. You don't have to create seperate diffuse maps for these. So if you concentrate on these few textures, you'll have a lot of time to figure out how to do them
@Raindance ok well the problem in making this realistic is the definition of realistic.
a world can look and feel real as long as everything works together and flows with our understanding of the current forces around us like gravity and wind resistance. it's how a space ship can look amazing and realistic the only thing stopping us from believing it's real is because we dismiss it as fake because we believe we don't have the tech to make it (or it's in a movie) also their are hundreds of different ways to build a tunnel and the lights they use in the current level are actually current lights used in certain places. they just looks like that because it has a plastic cover with some blur on them.
sometimes too much detail can ruin the bigger picture. but i won't force your hand and i look forward to seeing the final image to see if you can get everything to fit together. just make sure to do a bit of research.
I have some questions about UDK. I have really blurry shadows on meshes. Of course all meshes are lightmapped, but shadows looks like really low resolution. Is it ok to simply increase lightmap channel resolution and make it 128 pixels instead of 32/64? Should I make stretched UVs on lightmap channel just to give more space for shadows or is it wrong? Sometimes it looks for me like I'm just wasting UV space.
I have some questions about UDK. I have really blurry shadows on meshes. Of course all meshes are lightmapped, but shadows looks like really low resolution. Is it ok to simply increase lightmap channel resolution and make it 128 pixels instead of 32/64? Should I make stretched UVs on lightmap channel just to give more space for shadows or is it wrong? Sometimes it looks for me like I'm just wasting UV space.
I have read this lesson before but thanks anyway. I have taken a look at udk default meshes and those meshes are uses stretched UVs on lightmap channel. Looks a little bit weird but works pretty good.
As for blurry shadows, increased lightmap resolution works well enough but greatly increases time to calculate lighting. I think I should try to switch render to DX11 and make some experiments with fully dinamic light.
edit: Current wip
How do you guys make sure you blockouts are correct ?
I've been trying to get a camera set up like the original concept so that just have to trace the concept from perspective view but I can't seem to get it right. I am using a FoV of 90 and a 1680*1050 aspect ratio.
How do you guys make sure you blockouts are correct ?
I've been trying to get a camera set up like the original concept so that just have to trace the concept from perspective view but I can't seem to get it right. I am using a FoV of 90 and a 1680*1050 aspect ratio.
It's always important to look for points of reference within the scene you can compare scale with. Pay close attention to how far objects are from one another, and how objects are laid out. It will be difficult to set up an accurate camera in your scene to match the reference if the objects aren't to scale.
Hello everyone,
so now, after many problems with softimage and bakening i did it already.
My first baked normal map. What do you think? I am not satisfied with the holes, they look not deep enough. Can i change this in bake-mode or must i make the holes deeper in Zbrush?
It's always important to look for points of reference within the scene you can compare scale with. Pay close attention to how far objects are from one another, and how objects are laid out. It will be difficult to set up an accurate camera in your scene to match the reference if the objects aren't to scale.
Hmmm, looks like I'll have to make do then.
So far my measurements have been more or less correct.
Going to try to avoid baking for once and try to paint heightmaps of my textures.
I made some solid progress on my textures today! I got a little carried away in Marmoset with some lighting on my track piece. Started on the first pass of the floor textures, and some grating. After working on it, I don't like the sizing. The holes are too large, and they should be narrower. I'll fix it up soon. Time to make dinner!
Replies
Yup this one is only for max as it's an mcr. I think for maya user they can check about a mel script "froTools" and as I remember there is something like an exporter or at least something more advanced than export directly with the basic exporter of maya.
Hope that helps...
Awesome work people
Seeing the other breakdowns for this project and the one from last month, I really wanted to give this method a shot, so I've tried it earlier today. It feels like I now have a better idea of what I'm gonna have to do. Not a waste of time at all.
Things have been pretty rough lately and hopefully I can achieve something I can be proud of with this project. That would put me in a good mood to continue my folio.
my only concern at moment is whether I want to do the wall sections as meshes or BSP. As I see if BSP's are the logical step, but meshes allow for more freedom and variety in terms of vertex painting detail.
@Grindy - That's a really nice breakdown you have there. I've already done mine but no doubt yours may help down the line
Some of you guys are way too fast. Slow down, be lazy and let me catch up. xD
Nyhoo
Obviously there are a couple of props I have yet to place, but I think it's getting there. Any crits?
I'm curious of how you do those block-outs. You use your modeling software and import in engine or make them strait in engine from primitives?
Have been following monthly challenges since 1st one and finally have decided to participate
Then when you export the mesh it will have a nice central pivot in UDK and wont be all offset from the move point.
That's what i do in max anyways. Didnt explain very well, but im literally walking along typing this
Do you bake HP to LP in 1 scene and just hide objects or start separating things out ?
There you go nick, hopefully that covers both questions..
would be nice if it went faster and looked better.
I only had time to do a part of the blockout in Maya today, and no fancy lighting so far
Everyone else's scenes look so great! It's so intimidating posting my progress, but I'm finding it all super helpful!
3ds screengrab. massing out scale and whatnot.
next step is to test the blockout in-engine, then start building the modular pieces.
i don't mean to pick or be mean but your lights are wrong. they are fluros but they don't stick out like that.
That's what I mean:
There are so many ways to create textures... I personally used photo textures back when I started to learn the 3D stuff, but now I prefer a combination of hand drawing and sculpting. This challenges should be the perfect opportunity for you to just try out different approaches and see which one you prefer - although the "best" method doesn't have to be the same for every project. Don't let your drawing skills stop you from handpainting textures. Just do it and learn from your mistakes
alright but where should i start? my town will have none of the images i need so i can't take my own photos and i don't even know what to look for in an image. and the sculpting? i have assess to zbrush 4r but im a noob and even after watching a few videos all i really know how to do is navigate the scene and not very effectively. i even grabbed a drawing tablet because i heard they made using zbrush a world easier because of the sensitivity sensor.
When I look at a concept picture like this, I see it as a base concept in which I can assign a theme to. For example, imagine the Halo Flood had gone through this tunnel, or this tunnel had be abandoned, or even this tunnel was turned into a refugee camp. The possibilities are endless.
When we were young, we would trace images. I feel like copying a concept picture, in a way is like tracing an image. The color, design, size, and mood is all presented in the concept. When all this is present, there is not much creativity being used when building our scene. The second we think outside the concepts bounds is when we really start to think and become creative.
What do you guys think about this mindset/idea? Assigning a theme of your own to the scene to make it different and more interesting, as well as challenging. Sort of like giving your scene a story, except visually. Because when I look at this tunnel, I don't see a story, I don't see anything interesting, all I see is just a plain tunnel.
Last update for now. After I finish working on props I'll change all illumination in scene.
Well, one possibility would be taking textures from a site like http://cgtextures.com/ (also take a look at their texturing tutorials!). If you want to take your own photos, you don't have to find EXACTLY what you want your result to look like. The best start would be a simple concrete texture, and a metal texture, i guess you will find those in your town? You can then add all the detail by hand.
a) Use Photoshop: You can create a height map by hand and blend it with your photo textures. I personally use the NVIDIA Plugin for Photoshop to create normal maps from these height maps: https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop
b) Create a highpoly model in your modeling software. You can use the ambient occlusion as a guideline for your diffuse, and bake a normal map from the highpoly.
c) If you want to use zBrush, just keep it simple. You really don't need anything but the standard brush for a tileable texture, and you can add a lot of detail by simply using some of the standard alphas. For a concrete texture you could use Alpha 07 with the mode set to "spray" for example. If you go to Brush --> Curve and set the WrapMode to 1, you can even do a tileable texture. Just don't forget that you have to change the WrapMode for every Brush you use.
I posted this tutorial before, because it explains how to add some detail very fast: http://eat3d.com/free/zbrush_stone. You can also learn how to use alphas and some other basics from that video. If you want to create a tileable texture, just use a square plane instead of importing a mesh.
You should also have a look at the Polycount Wiki: http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryTexturing.
I know this is a lot of information. I don't know what you already know and just wanted to give you a short overview of some basic methods you could use. If you need further help, just feel free to ask.
Oh, and one last thing: If you analyze the "concept", you can see that they were using maybe 5 textures. You might want to concentrate on doing 1-2 tileable versions of the concrete texture, one tileable metal texture, one tileable wood texture, and the one with the stripes. The rest would be the alpha maps for the grates, the fences/barbed wires and for the "76" decals. You don't have to create seperate diffuse maps for these. So if you concentrate on these few textures, you'll have a lot of time to figure out how to do them
a world can look and feel real as long as everything works together and flows with our understanding of the current forces around us like gravity and wind resistance. it's how a space ship can look amazing and realistic the only thing stopping us from believing it's real is because we dismiss it as fake because we believe we don't have the tech to make it (or it's in a movie) also their are hundreds of different ways to build a tunnel and the lights they use in the current level are actually current lights used in certain places. they just looks like that because it has a plastic cover with some blur on them.
sometimes too much detail can ruin the bigger picture. but i won't force your hand and i look forward to seeing the final image to see if you can get everything to fit together. just make sure to do a bit of research.
I suggest you read through this lightmap tutorial series, it explains everything you need to know extremely well:
http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/udk/udk-lightmaps-01-basics-and-important-principles-for-creating-using-lightmaps.php
I have read this lesson before but thanks anyway. I have taken a look at udk default meshes and those meshes are uses stretched UVs on lightmap channel. Looks a little bit weird but works pretty good.
As for blurry shadows, increased lightmap resolution works well enough but greatly increases time to calculate lighting. I think I should try to switch render to DX11 and make some experiments with fully dinamic light.
edit: Current wip
I've been trying to get a camera set up like the original concept so that just have to trace the concept from perspective view but I can't seem to get it right. I am using a FoV of 90 and a 1680*1050 aspect ratio.
It's always important to look for points of reference within the scene you can compare scale with. Pay close attention to how far objects are from one another, and how objects are laid out. It will be difficult to set up an accurate camera in your scene to match the reference if the objects aren't to scale.
so now, after many problems with softimage and bakening i did it already.
My first baked normal map. What do you think? I am not satisfied with the holes, they look not deep enough. Can i change this in bake-mode or must i make the holes deeper in Zbrush?
Hmmm, looks like I'll have to make do then.
So far my measurements have been more or less correct.
Going to try to avoid baking for once and try to paint heightmaps of my textures.
If you're looking to develop skills that might get you a job, hand painting heightmaps isn't one of them.
Hmmm, well, I can't say I'm sorry for that
So I guess I'll have to figure out mudbox then.