Dumpster prop art - Old project but crit is welcomed

WesleyArthur

Hi Polycount,

I thought I'd post another one of my projects from last year so I can get some feedback to consider for my current projects.

Like my Chocolate Factory post (http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=140988), this one is finished, so I won't be changing it; however, if there's anything I could improve on then fire away!

I built the prop as my first next-(now current, I guess)-gen asset, mainly to demonstrate skills and adopt a new workflow.

I'm quite a fan of recreating really mundane everyday objects, so that's why the subject matter isn't quite as exciting as the other 3D threads. A lot of people have dumpsters on their portfolios too, so I wanted to use it as a bit of a challenge.

Thanks in advance for your comments!

Here's a final beauty shots:

WesleyArthur

More views in a day/night scene:

NegevPro

It looks great! As for an area of improvement, I think the piece could benefit a bit from some modifications to the dirt/grime areas as some spots look clean when they should be dirty, whereas others look excessively filthy. The yellow graffiti on the left of the dumpster looks a bit off since it appears that part of the graffiti is elevated which makes it look a bit odd since I'd imagine the person who put it there would have made sure to make the art on a level surface.

Additionally, on the frontmost part if the dumpster there are those little rounded bumps that push inward into the dumpster, from here they look spotless but realistically, I'd imagine that a lot of dirt/grime/other gunk would build up in those cavities.

Also, the top cover of the dumpster should have some more wear on it. There is a huge amount of grime on the rest of the dumpster that tells a story of how the dumpster sat in the same place for a long time, but the top looks spotless from this angle. I'd imagine due to years of rain/snow/etc. the top of the dumpster along with the connector would build up some kind of rust.

Regardless, it looks great, good job!

WesleyArthur

NegevPro wrote: »

It looks great! As for an area of improvement, I think the piece could benefit a bit from some modifications to the dirt/grime areas as some spots look clean when they should be dirty, whereas others look excessively filthy. The yellow graffiti on the left of the dumpster looks a bit off since it appears that part of the graffiti is elevated which makes it look a bit odd since I'd imagine the person who put it there would have made sure to make the art on a level surface.

Additionally, on the frontmost part if the dumpster there are those little rounded bumps that push inward into the dumpster, from here they look spotless but realistically, I'd imagine that a lot of dirt/grime/other gunk would build up in those cavities.

Also, the top cover of the dumpster should have some more wear on it. There is a huge amount of grime on the rest of the dumpster that tells a story of how the dumpster sat in the same place for a long time, but the top looks spotless from this angle. I'd imagine due to years of rain/snow/etc. the top of the dumpster along with the connector would build up some kind of rust.

Regardless, it looks great, good job!

Thanks! I'm always happy to learn how I can improve.

Yeah that's a very valid point about the graffiti. I actually removed another bit of graffiti because its position wasn't logical - looks like I missed that one! Haha. I'll watch out for that in future.

I started to get the hang of how grime accumulates, but that's a valid point. I sort of assumed it avoided the flatter areas, but I guess as the indents are underneath where 'bin juice' would drip, it'd get pretty grimy in there.

Ah, again, that's something I overlooked. I'm getting better at considering usage of each object, but it could definitely do with more wear/fading from sunlight exposure etc. I tried to add a bit of rust but it didn't go too well... Hopefully as my skills improve I'll get better at adding those weathered details.

Thanks again! I really appreciate the feedback.

WesleyArthur

Here's a technical breakdown page, made primarily for the module's hand-in requirements:

BenjaminoFree

Hey man, I was looking for games courses and I saw this on the Sheffield Hallam Showreel. Not really anything to say except would you recommend it as a university?

BenjaminoFree

Oh! And great work by the way

WesleyArthur

Hey, ah that's nice that it's on display.

Yes, definitely! The course adapts each year to make sure that what you're learning is as relevant as possible (which means if you go there, you'll probably be much better than me when you leave!).

I've found that lately the year groups mingle more online, so it's really easy to get feedback/help from other students. We have Google Hangouts (I'm actually in one now haha) and Facebook groups so it's a really nice community.

*Also it's a really nice city. All the lecturers are really knowledgeable and approachable.

Hope that helps.

WesleyArthur

Thanks!

BenjaminoFree

Thanks for the reply, here is the current showreel if you haven't seen it.
http://vimeo.com/107869462
I guess that makes it my fist choice then, thanks for the advice

BARDLER

Are you baking AO into your albedo? It looks like some of them have it, but I am not sure.

As for the work, some of your textures are getting a bit noisy, especially the brick wall and telephone pole. The brick wall is tiling really bad and would benefit from being a bit less grungy so its not so obvious. The down side to marmoset is you cant blend multiple materials together with vertex painting or other shader tricks, so you have to keep those restrictions in mind when authoring your textures. The other thing that jumps out to me are those pipes, vent, and electrical box do not look finished at all in comparison to everything else.

Hope that helps.

WesleyArthur

BenjaminoFree wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, here is the current showreel if you haven't seen it.
http://vimeo.com/107869462
I guess that makes it my fist choice then, thanks for the advice

No problem! Ah nope, I'd not seen that version! Ahh nice, I'm sure you'll love it. Good luck!

WesleyArthur

BARDLER wrote: »

Are you baking AO into your albedo? It looks like some of them have it, but I am not sure.

As for the work, some of your textures are getting a bit noisy, especially the brick wall and telephone pole. The brick wall is tiling really bad and would benefit from being a bit less grungy so its not so obvious. The down side to marmoset is you cant blend multiple materials together with vertex painting or other shader tricks, so you have to keep those restrictions in mind when authoring your textures. The other thing that jumps out to me are those pipes, vent, and electrical box do not look finished at all in comparison to everything else.

Hope that helps.

My AO bakes weren't very good with some parts of it, that's probably why it looks a little inconsistent. I'm getting better at it though.

Ah okay. Yeah, I realised some of my textures were a little noisy. I think I overlooked the 'background' textures though, so I'll watch out for that. Yeah that's very true, I reckon I'll keep the textures simpler in future, but decorate them to break up the tiling.

Now that you mention it, those parts do look very plain - particularly the pipes. I probably rushed through them a bit; that's something I sometimes slide into but again, I'm improving as I go.

Thanks for the detailed crit, it's really useful and very much appreciated!

BARDLER

Well for Marmoset 2, and physically based rendering shaders, you want zero lighting or AO information in you albedo textures, so its not a good thing to have them in there. AO should be loaded as a separate map to work as a mask, not to do fake lighting like in old generation shader models.

Dan Powell

Nice work Wez!

What module was this from? 3D Game Art? 28,000 tri's for the game-ready dumpster? O_o

Dan Powell

BenjaminoFree wrote: »

Hey man, I was looking for games courses and I saw this on the Sheffield Hallam Showreel. Not really anything to say except would you recommend it as a university?

I'll second this as a Hallam student too. I'm a current third-year and the course has massively improved - personally I wish I was a first year now because the reshuffle has resulted in the first years getting taught the good stuff a lot earlier than they used to - which is definitely a good thing.

Just be prepared for a lot of work, people often shrug off the Games courses as a joke but we all bust our nuts trying to get stuff looking sexy.

WesleyArthur

BARDLER wrote: »

Well for Marmoset 2, and physically based rendering shaders, you want zero lighting or AO information in you albedo textures, so its not a good thing to have them in there. AO should be loaded as a separate map to work as a mask, not to do fake lighting like in old generation shader models.

Yeah this is something that I slowly got used to as the project went on. I think I was slightly stuck in previous-gen mode, and excluding lighting information in albedo maps took a bit of getting used to. I've gotten better at it lately, and I've got separate AO maps, like you mention.

WesleyArthur

Dan Powell wrote: »

Nice work Wez!

What module was this from? 3D Game Art? 28,000 tri's for the game-ready dumpster? O_o

Thanks man!

Yeah it's a hefty amount for a bin, but it was supposed to serve as a skill demo, rather than a prop that people would actually want to put in their games. I chose a bin because it's a common thing, yet people often rush through it.

It was for Game Dev last year (3rd year, second semester), which was pretty much a do-what-you-want module. It was a really good module.