VG Remix - The Last of Us
greentooth
Minor mid-game spoilers for The Last of Us ahead...
Hey everyone! I want to focus on telling a story, hopefully setting up a triptych of different gameplay scenarios, time permitting.
My main focus will be on completing the top-most scene in the blockout COLOR="Plum"]purple[/COLOR, getting that to the point of polish that will hopefully dictate the fidelity and finish of the lower levels COLOR="Wheat"]yellow[/COLOR] and [COLOR="YellowGreen"]green[/COLOR. Elements from each scene will leak into the other, both structural [supports] and natural [foliage]. I want it to look as minimally chunky as possible while maintaining the feel of each environment.
I also think it's important that there is something of interest from every angle in which the scene is viewed. As the viewer rotates the model, their eye should be drawn towards the other levels. The overall composition will likely change [especially how the levels line up], but ideally the following will be depicted:
Scene 1 -- Joel and Ellie hide from a clicker on the other side of a doorway in an abandoned apartment.
Scene 2 -- Joel hurls a molotov cocktail towards oncoming runners/bandits in a ruined and overgrown building/shop.
Scene 3 -- Joel ferries Ellie across a flooded subway.
A lot of the set dressing still needs to be established, but those main ideas will drive each level. I really want to nail the mood, so I foresee the main challenge being how to lead the eye around without any direct lighting. So much handpainting in my near-future. :poly142:
My plan is to finish Joel first, then Ellie. More to come.
Replies
Week One may be over, but there's so much work to do! I'm realizing I could have used those first couple days of the contest before deciding on a game. :poly122:
I'm refocusing efforts on completing the primary vignette before going crazy with multiple scenes. I really want the final piece to feel complete, so polishing the main scene is the current goal.
Here's Joel. I got his gear UVed and I'll be tackling that and Ellie this week. Hoping to get to the Clicker and start some final environment geo for early next week, then texture polish to the finish line. Time permitted, I will expand the scene to the original design!
I've included the 128x128 and "native" 256x256 textures. I have been experimenting with various methods of resampling and have yet to land on a final method. I usually have to get in there with the pencil tool and clean up a few things after dropping down.
444 tris, 128x128 [Contest spec]
[SKETCHFAB]142ea329250e4f98a35d497c517b6dca[/SKETCHFAB]
256x256 [Because we love the deets.]
[SKETCHFAB]ecc230974e7c408183b5d1658ad60bfb[/SKETCHFAB]
The model seems really well done...is there any chance you could post the wireframe for him? I'm struggling with the best way to get my character mesh done!
@ALMO5T Joycie -- Thanks! I agree about the contrast and was wondering myself how far to take it without the main scene established. I plan to do a texture pass at the end after all the pieces are together to unify everything, as I imagine the environment won't make too much use of top-down lighting or ambient occlusion.
Here are my wires for Joel and his pack.
[SKETCHFAB]43015d0b97d74c0e93c1bd5da6f59b3f[/SKETCHFAB]
I updated both models in the Sketchfab links above.
Thanks for the wires by the way, they were a massive help!
@ALMO5T Joycie -- Thank you, and no problem!
506 tris, 128x128 [Contest spec]
[SKETCHFAB]4ddf4b5702d146a290dc54c1c2e938a9[/SKETCHFAB]
256x256 [DEETS]
[SKETCHFAB]bf31f1cd022048368c45db0355c8acc4[/SKETCHFAB]
Still some stuff I want to clean up for the 128 res, but it will do for now as we push to the deadline. Just a clicker and environment nub to go!
The BIG ISSUE I'm having is getting alpha working in Sketchfab.
I was able to get it sorta working when a large portion of the texture was alpha'ed, but for the life of me can't get the negative hair strands to cut out without some major sorting issues [model transparent and wonky normals at different points]. Anyone else having luck on that front who wants to share their alpha map/methods?
Also, my UVs are different in Sketchfab than Maya, which is a whole other world of hair-pulling.
5 more days! :poly122:
Are you painting these in 256x256 originally?
@stevston89 -- Are you applying the texture with the opacity to only the faces that are using alpha? If that's the case, I'll use the Sketchfab Maya exporter for the next update.
The scene and poses are really rough, with a lot of the optimization waiting to see how the tiled textures will plop out. I'd also like to add a bit of foliage lining if there's time.
To Do:
Finish Clicker
Environment textures
Set dressing [bricks, planks, foliage, wall art?]
[SKETCHFAB]21e02da3ee1841f9aee40863a41b4f68[/SKETCHFAB]
Just to give a rundown of my situation and specs, I'm exporting from Maya using FBX instead of OBJ, and using the erased-from-white PNG method rather than black and white JPG. I believe Maya's OBJ exporter is broken, since no alpha map information is contained in the mtl file after exporting.
Any faces on your model that have alpha -- extract them and combine back to the original model. Apply a duplicate material to only these faces with the alpha map in the transparency box. Not sure if it matters, but 'm using ASCII FBX in the export settings.
After zipping these files and importing into Sketchfab, I just had to make sure the proper files were plugged into the right channels.
Back to work!
If there's time [haha, I keep saying that] I'll be sure to revisit him with some tweaks.
495 tris, 128x128
[SKETCHFAB]6196727026804237905eacc9a1ac3cdb[/SKETCHFAB]
256x256
[SKETCHFAB]d99fcbe41a0c43678e0a8b2cb36d7cec[/SKETCHFAB]
[SKETCHFAB]6677a31114404f54b0f04d05d845edcd[/SKETCHFAB]
congrats.:thumbup: