Another update on the Turret. Almost done now. Any last thoughts? Got a few more things to do and then calling it done, unless someone has a good crit!
ALright, posted the final Presentation shots for the Turret on the first page. May end up tweaking it before submission, since I have some time left, but its pretty much all there. Now just gotta do the same for my den after I get the finishing touches done on it.
Hey, awesome work btw you're one of my favs in the competition.
I have a question tho, you and this guy http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143013
both made fully 3d towers but then made your creep dens on plane cards.
The two of you both seem really talented, and im still learning so im wondering is there a reason for making it that way? was it because you didn't have time to make it all 3d or is this an actual thing?
haha... really tho, I had a week off for vacation in late Nov. Besides that, I've been working on both of these pieces almost every single night after work, and lots of mornings before work... so...LOTS of hours. Really before this, I haven't done TONS of handpainting... I've been working on it in my spare time trying to learn a workflow and how to use my brushes properly and stuff... Mostly before this project I would just bang my brushes against the screen until something I was sort of happy with came out... So these pieces took longer than they probably should have. Now, after all this painting, I feel like I finally came up with a workflow and use of brushes that is working and makes sense...
As far as what that is, its nothing fancy... really it was just learning to paint in stages properly, when to use soft brushes with opacity and when to use hard brushes with none. I only used like three brushes for the most part... and they are all super basic brushes.
@ Spanna - To answer why I chose to do it 2.5d as opposed to 3d. Well, I looked a lot at Riot's new stuff in Summoner's Rift, and while I don't know to what extent they use 2.5d over 3d, if you look close, there seem to be a lot of instances where they use 2.5d alpha geometry in their construction. This is the exact same thing that the artists did for Diablo 3, and a large credit as to why both look SOO good, while remaining low cost geo wise. When you have a fixed camera you can get away with a lot and the backfaces of your geo really don't matter at all. (unless you have actual lighting in the game, where light leaking could be a problem or something...)
So the benefit of making geo out of 2.5d alpha cards is that you can use alphas to define your silhouette opposed to trying to define it with geo. That way you can have super detailed and hi res looking edges on your meshes. Also you can blend the meshes into the terrain really nicely so there is little or no seam. Its a great way to get that 2d look in a 3d environment. So that was why I chose to try it that way. It was a little bit of a learning curve, but it was a fun challenge to do.
The turret, I made full 3d, because it is placed on different parts of the map, where you will see more sides of it. The Den is only ever seen in its one location.
@ Neer - Thanks man! Appreciate the good feedback and help!
I updated my turret a little more. Balanced the colors that were too Saturated on the gold (Thanks to Jason Lavoie for that one!), adjusted the colors a tad, and a levels pass, as well as updated the presentation of it all.
Submitted to Riot and calling it ALL DONE! WOOHoo!
@StephenVyas - Thanks man! I appreciate it. I love your work as well. I'm always super pumped when I see your anims. So much life and character in them!!! Always super cool to see.
@Poseiden - Thanks for the kind words. It was a lot of work, but super fun. Glad to have done it for sure. Just this morning starting my gears for something new.
Replies
New updates on the first page. Been having a lot of fun with this, but getting excited to be near the finish line!
The only thing that comes off a bit distracting is the small red crystals. I'd say just keep the chunkier ones. Nice lense flare hehe
ALright, posted the final Presentation shots for the Turret on the first page. May end up tweaking it before submission, since I have some time left, but its pretty much all there. Now just gotta do the same for my den after I get the finishing touches done on it.
We're almost there!!!
@DwarvenGiant
@EatenByBats
@Bobo
Thanks guys!!! Really appreciate the kind words!
Alright, I think I'm all finished up with these bad boys. Check out the final shots on the updated Original Post! Now just have to wait and see!!!!
This was a great contest and a ton of fun. Lots of great practice as well! Thanks for the contest Polycount and RIOT!!!
Good Luck to everyone.
I have a question tho, you and this guy http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143013
both made fully 3d towers but then made your creep dens on plane cards.
The two of you both seem really talented, and im still learning so im wondering is there a reason for making it that way? was it because you didn't have time to make it all 3d or is this an actual thing?
Thanks
@SteVAI - As far as how many hours it took?? ...
Well most of them.
haha... really tho, I had a week off for vacation in late Nov. Besides that, I've been working on both of these pieces almost every single night after work, and lots of mornings before work... so...LOTS of hours. Really before this, I haven't done TONS of handpainting... I've been working on it in my spare time trying to learn a workflow and how to use my brushes properly and stuff... Mostly before this project I would just bang my brushes against the screen until something I was sort of happy with came out... So these pieces took longer than they probably should have. Now, after all this painting, I feel like I finally came up with a workflow and use of brushes that is working and makes sense...
As far as what that is, its nothing fancy... really it was just learning to paint in stages properly, when to use soft brushes with opacity and when to use hard brushes with none. I only used like three brushes for the most part... and they are all super basic brushes.
@ Spanna - To answer why I chose to do it 2.5d as opposed to 3d. Well, I looked a lot at Riot's new stuff in Summoner's Rift, and while I don't know to what extent they use 2.5d over 3d, if you look close, there seem to be a lot of instances where they use 2.5d alpha geometry in their construction. This is the exact same thing that the artists did for Diablo 3, and a large credit as to why both look SOO good, while remaining low cost geo wise. When you have a fixed camera you can get away with a lot and the backfaces of your geo really don't matter at all. (unless you have actual lighting in the game, where light leaking could be a problem or something...)
So the benefit of making geo out of 2.5d alpha cards is that you can use alphas to define your silhouette opposed to trying to define it with geo. That way you can have super detailed and hi res looking edges on your meshes. Also you can blend the meshes into the terrain really nicely so there is little or no seam. Its a great way to get that 2d look in a 3d environment. So that was why I chose to try it that way. It was a little bit of a learning curve, but it was a fun challenge to do.
The turret, I made full 3d, because it is placed on different parts of the map, where you will see more sides of it. The Den is only ever seen in its one location.
Hope that answers your question a bit!
@ Neer - Thanks man! Appreciate the good feedback and help!
I updated my turret a little more. Balanced the colors that were too Saturated on the gold (Thanks to Jason Lavoie for that one!), adjusted the colors a tad, and a levels pass, as well as updated the presentation of it all.
Submitted to Riot and calling it ALL DONE!
@Poseiden - Thanks for the kind words. It was a lot of work, but super fun. Glad to have done it for sure. Just this morning starting my gears for something new.