Need info about work order and software

Rumors

Hello

I have questions about workflow and what software to use certain parts of my project. Its a personal project that I want to make in my free time. I have some expirience in 3d modeling (max, maya, zbrush) and i can make handpainted textures well.

I want to make a 3d scene of a small village.

Model: houses, items/props, trees, grass..etc - CHECK (max,maya,zbrush anything goes)
Make UV and being texturing - CHECK (I use photoshop for painting)
Here is where I dont know what to do next
- I want to put the entire scene into a program that can make really high quality render shots of the scene in jpg/png whatever..
- I am not sure in what way to make the terrain, its gona be just a portion of land ( imagine a floating island with a few trees n houses on it)
- I want to make a video of the scene, which means some models are gona be animated.
- I'd like to make a video where day and night switch over a period of few seconds, to capture the different lightnings and shadows over time textures and models
- Id like to make fire (torch), and water (a pond or a small stream through the village) animated.
- Id like to make grass and tree foliage move, make the effect of wind. 
Capture all these into a video

I would like to know the process order I have to go to achieve the final video What software to use for fire win water generation, what to use for for rendering for capturing animated scene. I hope this was clear and not conffusing, ask me anything if you need more explanation.

Eric Chadwick

Do you want it to look like a game scene? Or like a film scene? 

Film = do it all in 3ds Max or Maya... animations, renders, etc.

Game = use a game engine like Unreal or Unity.

Using a game engine is more difficult, since there are limits built into these tools which help artists make game scenes that render properly in an actual game. Using 3ds Max or Maya alone has less limits.

If you are intending to use the scene as a portfolio piece, to eventually get work making games, then it should be made in a game engine. But if you don't care about that at all, then don't worry about it.

I shared some animated painterly-style water & fire shaders here, made in Unity: http://polycount.com/discussion/160691/sketchbook-eric-chadwick

Rumors

Well, I am not doing it for a job or portofolio, even tho it could be used one day.
I just want to make a project from begining to end, modeling, texturing, animation, rendering etc.. I work as teacher in school and some other boring jobs too, so this is like a personal project in free time. It will take me months to complete, but I am fine with that

I guess you can call it a scene, cuz its gona be a piece of land just floating in the 3d realm like this:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fd/fc/b2/fdfcb29a8fad10633762c9f2113854b4.jpg

And on top of it, it will look something like this: 

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/b8/82/89/b88289e51f5335fd71c8b968642ab3c6.jpg

Im gona go with a similar style like this, toonish models and hand paint textures myself.

Its gona be a similar scene, a few houses, trees, a river flowing in middle of village, a few laterns, bushes.. I would like for example like to redner water with great quality as well as the flow/animation, same goes for fire and lightning. I would like to make the tree branches sway, and some grass also. It should be like a loop of animation so i can take short videos from different angles around the scene. 


I will make the low poly in max or maya, and then I wana to do this in zbrush: 

http://www.tobiaskoepp.com/uploads/2/6/9/1/26914830/4539224_orig.jpg


The artist who was doing these pillars exportet all the models n textures into marmoset and rendered some snaps, aside from having them in picture format, as i said i would like to shoot short videos of the whole scene animated in a loop: swaying gras and trees, flowing rivers, lightning changes where fire is, as well as try to make a day night cicle animation. 
To be honest i only know to model and texture, animation maybe a little, generation of fire and water is new to me as well as figuring out how to make these videos in the end, but im pretty savy and learn software fast.

I just wanted to see in advance how the process would look like and what software do I need.

So I guess by your first comment I should worki n either maya or max and render in them the final product / videos? 
I will check your post on shaders, even tho im far from that part, I'm gona start modeling over the next few days the trees and houses. The only things thats buggin me is the terrain piece, i've never done any terrain modeling, any suggestions on which methods to use? I hope its not complicated to texture the terrain..

Eric Chadwick

Sounds like a great project!

Some good ways to texture terrain in here, will work well with painted style.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/MultiTexture

Terrain modeling can be done the same as any other assets really. Model a few pieces and cram them together into a nice composition. Some good resources here
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Landscape

throttlekitty

I argue (but only a little) that rendering in a game engine like Unreal or Unity may be easier. As Eric mentions, there are limitations, but more things are set up and ready to go. Sometimes not having a bazillion variables and options is nice, until you hit a wall and really need that one little thing of course. In comparison, 3d suites tend to give you building blocks rather than buildings, and with some effort you can build everything how you want.

In Max/Maya, Vray is a popular choice in renderers right now, there's also Mental Ray or Arnold. I'd just pick one and dig in for a while, learn how to get a nice setup for lighting on some basic props and see how it feels. Also look into splitting the renders into passes, this makes it really easy to control the final compositions.

@Eric Chadwick your shaders look dope!

RN

Use a game engine and when you finish put a camera and walk around your village in FPS mode. That should be cool.

kanga

I dont know how easy game engines are to use for someone who hasnt started off using 3D applications for animation first. In any case the downside is that game engines require an extra step. The upside is that there are tools which make modelling, texturing and animation in a 3d package unnecessary.  Things like terrain, vegetation, certain environment assets and atmospheres are standard in game engines and they can be endlessly manipulated to get the look you are after. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXI0l3yqBrA

The above example is made with extra tools and plugins developed by users and are for sale in the unity shop.

People who make animations using a game engine (plus a 3D package) usually do so because they wish to , or are working in games, not because it is easier.  

I reckon the best approach would be to model and animate using Zbrush and a 3D application to start off with. I would model, texture and use displacement mapping (and normal mapping depending on your level of detail) in Zbrush and a 3D application. Then setup the scene, animate it and render it in the 3D app.

Start off by making hand painted assets:
http://polycount.com/discussion/155071/best-place-to-learn-how-to-hand-paint-assets
http://polycount.com/discussion/150995/questions-about-how-to-create-hand-painted-game-assets

Cheers