Wizard's Study (3D/Environment) - My first personal project

xhi

Updated: 12/30/15

Hello everyone ~

Winter break is finally here so I can start working on things for myself.  I'm a game art student in my senior year, however it's been a rough and slow journey to get the hang of things.  I've seen a ton of success stories on this forum and everyone is generally friendly and helpful.  Maybe I can improve too!

For my project I'm working on a small room with a lot of trinkets.  It will be like a Wizard's study, including a table, bookshelf, and things like potions and spell books.

Similar to this (Artist unknown - not made by me):

My Project Pinterest

So far this is what I have - simple models.  I'm thinking it's a good idea to make all the untextured/sculpted models first and block out a room, then build from there.  Let me know if there's a better work flow!



Assets decided on:

• Potions
• Hourglass
• Candels
• Wooden Table
  
• Spellbook
• Bookshelf
• Quill & ink
• Stained glass window
• Magnifying Glass
• Maps
• Things in liquid in Jars

Working on:

• Room layout
• Better ways to present my progress photos
• Teaching myself Substance xD

I'll continue to post here and also stream progress on my Twitch channel since it gives me motivation n_n Tips and comments are welcome as I want to push this to be the best it/I can be!

Thank you for stopping by.

wirrexx

try to block out the space of the environment with primitives and put in a some light to get a feel for the scene! Work yourself slowly from there with the smaller parts ( i like to go with Primary meshes, secondary and down). Otherwise not so much to critique, But i'll be following these, like the concept a lot!=)

xhi

wirrexx said:

try to block out the space of the environment with primitives and put in a some light to get a feel for the scene! Work yourself slowly from there with the smaller parts ( i like to go with Primary meshes, secondary and down). Otherwise not so much to critique, But i'll be following these, like the concept a lot!=)

Thanks for the tip n_n  Yeah I see a lot of people doing this.  I just got excited about some of the items.  I'll make the room a priority now.  Not sure if I want to do it in Maya or in engine.  Hmm.

xhi

Some progress!  Working on a table like this one

mrgesy

Looking good. Like WIRREXX said, it would be nice to block out the room walls and add basic lighting to it. Add a human figure to it to get a good judgement of scale in the scene.

From there you can block out props and see their arrangement. This may save headache later on because you'll have the design down, then you can model the good art!

**Edit** Are you going only diffuse or you'll normal map/spec/gloss?

xhi

@mrgesy Yeah the room is my next step but I'm having too much fun with the other assets lol.  The human figure idea is good.  And yeah I planned going all out with awesome materials.just making shapes now xD

xhi

Oops still didn't work on the room.  Just really enjoying making the objects inside.  Spent forever trying to figure out how to do the cutouts in the wood.  Went through different processes and settled for something like this.  Going to do some alpha mapped planes for the inside of the circle and the panels instead.  Still looks like a mess.  Any help is appreciated :cc 

wirrexx

is that table going to be a HP Table? if not, than you could always triangulate it (and save yourself a lot of pollies)!

ohmai

I'm excited to see the scene come together! Working on the smaller pieces and props vs the room as a start is definitely a good way to go - keeps you motivated too!
I'm not sure if this link would help you out in any way, but I was watching Arrimus 3D sculpting some ornamental pieces. It gave me a better idea of how to approach such things moving forward. I hope it'll maybe give you some insights too. 
So far its looking great! Keep going

xhi

@wirrexx I'd like for it to be low poly with maps but I'm not the best at reducing polygons.  I need to figure out how to make really good maps.  I did normal maps before but they all turn out like shit

Thank's @ohmai for the compliments and link.  He has some interesting techniques o:

xhi

Today I worked on an antique clock and re-topologizing a candelabra which was already being sculpted in zbrush.  

I was going to make a book shelf but this clock caught my eye 8D.  


Reference photos and source here http://www.beauchampantiques.com/inventory/period-louis-xvi-amsterdam-tall-case-by-walker/
Not sure how to get the light to hit the whole model unless zoomed in. Help?


Candelabra


I started to remake the candle holder because I worked on it in zbrush and it looked like mud

Before:

Old base mesh before moving to zbrush (left), new one (right)


These aren't terrible to look at but the symmetry was completely ruined and the hard edges were just a mess.  Some of the detail was too extreme with depth and it was just easier to start over and separate the parts.

After:


Really proud of the topology so far (:  I still need to redo the base a bit.  Now that I have a semi decent base mesh I can sculpt easier.

Any comments and critique are welcome~ Thanks for looking at my progress.

mrgesy

You need to add more edge loops to that candelabra to make the polies more squarish. Zbrush didn't like sculpting polies that are not even on a surface, it will result in terrible details. Also I think you should make one prop and stick with it through all stages of creation. Jumping around props like that is kind of like multi-tasking and will result in nothing getting done (In my experience )