Dwarf Forge

n8lugo

Hey gang. So my portfolio is in need of an environment so im doing a dwarf forge. Here are some inspirations.



And here is my sculpt of the main forge with some notes moving to the anvil.



I kinda want the forge to look like a combination of built, and naturally occurring in the environment. Those metal shutter doors will open and reveal the glowing hot inside. Also, mustachiod Dwarf faces will be a reoccurring motif.

Let me know what you think. Im going to sculpt some of the bigger props before retopologizing and texturing. Then moving on to the smaller props and doing the same thing.

mazerius1st

there are no pictures. Check your links.

n8lugo

OOPS!! fixed links.

Tobbo

It's looking really cool. I would be careful in ensuring the hard surfaces don't seem too soft and lumpy. The stones in particular look rather organic and soft.

I'm looking forward to seeing this progress!

n8lugo

Sooo an update. Heres the anvil so far. I need to figure out how to effectively sculpt scratches and hammer marks from use, while still keeping it looking like its well maintained. Overall, not sure how i feel about it but ill come back to it. Might just add the details in nDo.



This is my current stage with the "hydraulic" hammer. Still need to add a lot of details.



Thoughts?? Let me know what you think.

n8lugo

Also, here is a block out of the scene in max. basically using these as base meshes for the most part.

n8lugo

And thanks Tobbo!! Im definitely aware that parts may look a little lumpy. Before the retopo im definitely touching up some things.

Elod.H

Great stuff here n8lugo,

Your idea looks really promising + the sculpts promise an awesome, stylized outcome.
Can't really comment on much yet, but give you a heads up regarding the sharpness of your meshes. Be careful not to make metal look too smooth and mushy, keep the sharpness in mind.

Looking forward to the updates!

robochrish

It's looking like a good start man!
I agree with Elod.H. You have to have the metal look hard and tough, instead of doughy and pliable.
I'm not saying that it looks that way now, just that it could look that way if your not careful.

n8lugo

Thanks a lot for the input guys!!



I couldve sworn i posted this last night but it was late and i was tired so i guess i forgot?? But this was where i ended off last night. Soooo im off all day today so gonna bang out some more sculpts. Having a lot of fun with this one.

minoribus

I like the design of the hydraulic hammer arm. Feels dwarfish in my eyes. And this is an interesting thread. Subscribed!

n8lugo

Dwarf sharpening stone.



The ring inside the sone and the blank corner faces will have runes but i will add those in nDo. So, i thiiiiink im going to start the retopo on the forge. Feel free to let me know what you guys think.

spectre1130

I really like the designs.

n8lugo

Hey gang. Kind of upset with myself for not giving this project more time over the past few days. Been caught up with work and was having a big technical issue with baking that ate up a lot of time. But this is the first test bake on to the low poly. A little frustrated with the results. Moving forward anyway though.

Valerien

Hey n8lugo. The design choices look interesting, and you have a nice start there. But your edges and surfaces still don't look quite tight. In general, you can get back to somewhat precise surfaces on your high poly using just the clipping curves and trim dynamic brushes. It's quite important because looking at your... cavity map? The lumpiness is clearly going to bleed into the rest of your work.

Good luck going forward!

n8lugo

Hey guys.Promise im still alive and working on this. Real life keeps happening and taking away from arts time. Here is my currents status.

baked a few different maps, overlayed them in photoshop and tweaked blending modes to get a solid black and white diffuse. Then painted some ambient lighting. Hopefully the stone reads like stone and metal like metal. Thanks for the input so far!!

Tobbo

I would do more than just bake out a cavity map and add a color overlay to it.

I think you should check out the free Vertex 2 book and look at Fanny Vergne's section, it starts on page 268. That might help give you some ideas about how to go about texturing this.

Also you generally want to try and stay away from pure white and pure black in your textures. I would look into adding some gradients as well, that should help make it feel more grounded.

I hope this helps!

n8lugo

Im still alive, i promise. Did some bakes and diffuse on the hammer.

Still more to do, obviously, but i feel like it baked pretty clean. Also, im going to revisit the Anvil sculpt altogether. I dont feel like its design matches the rest of the props in Dwarfiness. If you're still following, thanks for sticking with me. And Tobbo, thanks so much for the suggestion. I've had Vertex 2 for some time but for whatever reason never read in to that particular chapter. Its really going to help when i visit tiling textures like the wall and floor of the forge. Anyway. Comments and crits always appreciated.

n8lugo

Totally revisited the anvil. I like this one a bit better. Still working on the diffuse.

n8lugo

Sooo, as if this wasnt moving slow enough already. Ill be taking some time off of it to complete an art test for a possible employment opportunity Ill be back. But for now, big kid stuff.