JordanN's PS1 Art Thread: When 500 triangles was high res.
interpolator
Recently inspired by a texturing in the 2000s thread. I had actually made a thread like this before, but all the links are dead. Luckily, I still saved all the screenshots on my computer so I can rehost them, as well show new ones as well.
I'll start off with the classic Playstation 1 I made in 2015 (it still holds up! Or down!).
I'll start off with the classic Playstation 1 I made in 2015 (it still holds up! Or down!).
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I'll probably return to this idea some day....
In today's fun experiment, I recreated the PS1's polygon jitter effect and texture distortion.
at around 3:30
Edit: Made more scene corrections
Overall, I think it looks good. Some polycount choices seem a little arbitrary (like the divisions around the wheel of the bike, which stand out quite a lot)
I think I might be more inclined to use cutout for the wheels or something. Not sure. I guess in a game, you won't see it as close as you do in that shot anyway.
And i'm not a fan of some of the white along the borders of the truck. To me, instead of wear or highlights or whatever, they feel like texture bleeding, and it takes a lot away from it.
And the scene feels a little sparse, since it's just on a square of land. I'd like to see it expanded more into the distance.
I'm also not a fan of the ground grass texture. I feel like adding some interest there would add a lot to the scene.
Ocarina of Time does a good job with their grass color variation, in my opinion.
I look forward to seeing more! It's making me want to do some low-spec art.
Ok, so where do I begin? Ohhhhhhhhhhh right. So my first stylized work, is going to be recreating Mighty Switch Force in 3D!!!
It's very rare for me to do fanart, especially with other people's cartoons. Buuuuuuuuuuuut, I've been meaning to make 3D artwork of this game since 2011. I now have that ability to do so!!!!
For my first scene, I recreated Patty's Car!!!!
Here is the reference image I used. Sadly, no girls washing the car are in this scene.
I wonder if anyone is paying attention to the frame rates in these Gifs. I'm actually leaving behind subtle clues in them.
Because I'm remaking every asset in 3D, I have to use my imagination and fill in the blanks for where all the 2D images stop. But I also want to stay true to the gameplay, and make the world feel just as believable in 3D as it is in 2D. So as I'm modeling, I'm also playing the game to decipher what fits.
When I said 3D remake, I completely mean it!
I can't speak for everyone, but it's offputting to me. Like, huge game companies can release teasers, sure, because there are thousands of fans waiting for any update. But when a single artist does it, it just feels weird.
Besides all that, the recent scene is turning out well.
I've seen comments that prove that there are people who are more quick to judge an idea rather than the triangles it's made of. I've been fighting everyday to make sure art like this still exists. I don't want art to lose its meaning. I don't want to see unique ideas like PS1 art be reduced to "it was just a couple of clicks". I want to prove that everything behind these projects still amounts to fun and a creative force.
I'm going to cut this dialogue short because it's the kind of thing I wanted to avoid.
It's good you're passionate about what you do. It's probably worth reading what we said again because it wasn't to say the work you're producing is "just a couple of clicks".
After I post my finished Mighty Switch Force stuff, I think I'm going to take a small break from this. I love making low poly art like this and it's been my favourite of all the real time art I've ever done. But, it's also been taking a huge amount of time to do and I really want to go back to putting all my effort in my VFX props.
I'll still have this thread on tab and update it whenever I get a new PS1 idea. To me, I think this is the kind of game technology I like working best with so I'll no doubt work with it again going forward.
here's an important thing : why do you think this takes you so long? Looking at your rusted truck scene, a reasonably competent 3d artist would be able to complete that in an afternoon, and thats without any of the obvious errors that are strewn across your scene.
I think it'll help you to answer that as simply as possible, without waffling on about intentions and some grand scheme or other. I'm talking about actual working process. I expect there's something fundamental missing/broken/requiring much attention in your process, and you need to address that because it's going to inform *everything that you do, and its going to stop you building up a portfolio, landing a position, or working more than a month or two before losing one.
....
While you're thinking about that, here's some other advice. It's good advice. It comes from someone with tons of game industry experience who now runs his own company where every day we need to work within our means and make smart decisions, even when those decisions may sting and we end up throwing stuff away.
And that advice is : for next step, concentrate on contemporary mobile.
Mobile's cool. For 3D, the emphasis is on efficiency, cleanliness, clarity and style. Check out the sub-1000 triangle thread, the good stuff in there is genuinely inspiring, hitting all of those points and looking ace, people really seem to have fun with it. As far as i can tell, this seems to be what you're after. For someone in your position, it's by far the most useful thing you can work up in your portfolio with the aim of landing a job. By far. (And no, our company doesn't do mobile. But i have done it in the past and really enjoyed it).
Do you have an android phone? You can get Unity, a simple model viewer with touch controls off the store, and within minutes get your assets up on screen all in shiny 1440p. I think you'd really get a kick out of that.
(btw, while i'm here ... don't let it distract you from important stuff ... but 'VFX prop' isn't a thing, I've no idea what you think it means. I notice you also have 'vfxartist' in your email address, even though you don't seem to do any VFX ... thats not a good idea if you intend contacting people with that email)
In regards to mobile, I thought about it but ultimately, if I had to do a low poly project (that I thought was fun) it was PS1. It's also the one that doesn't receive a lot of attention.
"(btw, while i'm here ... don't let it distract you from important stuff ... but 'VFX prop' isn't a thing, I've no idea what you think it means. I notice you also have 'vfxartist' in your email address, even though you don't seem to do any VFX ... thats not a good idea if you intend contacting people with that email)"
It's a reference to VFX Industry. At the time I made the email, I couldn't find another name for a person who works in film or does high end render shots.
and ...
... you're aiming your current portfolio towards the film industry? Seriously?
What danr was saying, I think, is that if you like low-poly art, you should look into working for a company that makes mobile stuff, since it has the most overlap with what you seem to enjoy.
You seem to misread a lot of what people say, by the way.
I will say this though, I do make exceptions. The screenshots I posted are 1080p or some textures use high color depth. Stuff the PS1 obviously couldn't do, but it would look too dated if I kept everything 100%.
Move along..
So, where did I leave off?
.....
Oh yeah, that's right! I was making Mighty Switch Force into 3D. I have good news. I finished the first part.
I made the title screen in 3D. Enjoy this everyone!
Animated version:
Edit: Retweeked some letters because it looked like something else (and no way am I insulting this game!!!)
Every time you post a thread it seems like 85% of it is yucking your yam.
To the art you have posted, I get what you are doing. But to be honest its not really interesting or cool, But i do get it.
The truck scene you posted is quite frankly terrible. Even PS1 games had cohesion in there art style that made them look good.
I think you need to step back real fast and tell me if your doing art just for fun, or for fun and good art, or looking to be working in it.
So i can critique you, and everyone else can in a better fitting way other then just fucking throwing a barrel at you.
If you don't believe me, compare my thread to this one that was made yesterday:
http://polycount.com/discussion/184440/xenomorph-armour
I'm not going to kick a guy when he's down but look at the difference in how one person took criticism. Now look at what I've done. I've kept my composure and never ever went off on a tangent before. I've even kept posting art just to bring fresh blood back in the topic.
It's not a black and white issue. I'm actually hoping people understand that certain differences will always exist rather than run into technicalities.
Again, look at my composure. I never wanted to debate whether what I'm doing is right, or why isn't this mobile and not PS1 or why the teasers.
Before those questions sprung up, I was trying to illustrate a goal. "I never saw Playstation 1 art be used as a popular artstyle in todays world. I know that I grew up on Playstation 1 so there's plenty of influential material to work with. Since the lack of PS1 art today troubles me, I wanted to make a thread showing I can be that person to do it again".
When someone repeatedly tells you "just do mobile, give up PS1 stuff forever" how am I suppose to react? If I say yes, wont I look like a hypocrite? Why would I stop when the thread title says "PS1 Art"? When you read this paragraph, even you have to be a witness that there's a conflict of interest going on, regardless of who is right.
For me, I believe these threads happen because of what I saw in life. I feel, I've been made to live like a textbook for too long. Always do what was safe, never given any room to innovate or try new things. When I discovered 3D modeling, it felt like I was finally made free.
I became less of the person who always cited textbook examples but instead, the person who could actually try something new. There was no time to wait, I could actually get started modeling anything.
if you post work like this:
based on a ref like this:
then what you need to be doing is diligently studying the critique you get and spending every waking hour of your life practicing until the critiques start to turn into "hey, looks nice man."
i know you think you're the sole flame keeping this art style alive but you just aren't. here on PC we have an entire thread full of this exact spec and people who have mastered it. show some respect to them, study their output, stop talking yourself up, and spend more of your time working.
the only reason i'm posting this is the faint hope that maybe you really do want to succeed at this stuff but can't see the pattern you're stuck in. sorry to be patronizing.
"JordanN just disrespected the Low Poly Thread*
*But I didn't say that. See "quotes own post*
*Now you're not even posting art anymore and being arrogant"
It's not black and white that I can't both see people's criticism and not also react within reason because something is off (in this case, I talked about the popularity of PS1 art. I never said no one has ever made this) .
When you get feedback, do the following things:
1. Write it down and come back to it later
2. Take some time to try to understand it and how it applies to your work
3. If you're still unsure how the feedback applies, respond to the poster and ask them to clarify
4. Attempt to implement said advice
Not all advice or feedback is good or relevant to what you're trying to do, but your default state seems to be to reject literally everything critical. The absolute number 1 A+ best way to figure out if feedback has value, if it applies to your work, is to try to implement it. Trying to implement feedback that you disagree with can be an exceptionally fruitful learning experience, you'll either see that it does in fact improve your work, and learn something in the process, or you'll see that it does not, and be able to keep that in mind in the future.
Writing feedback down and coming back to it later is a great way to emotionally detach from it, to avoid having that gut reaction of "YOU'RE WRONG!" when you read something that makes you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes feedback needs a bit of translation too - if something is very vague you'll have to do some additional research to figure out how it applies to your work. This is always a good opportunity for introspection and personal growth.
Do not do any of the follow:
1. Make excuses or write long explanations for why the feedback doesn't apply to you
2. Argue why the feedback is wrong
3. Get in drawn out arguments about how people don't understand what you're trying to do, you're not a unique snowflake and your stylistic choices are not beyond reproach or valid reasons to ignore feedback
4. Take the feedback personally and respond to the person or the tone of the feedback rather than the feedback itself
If you can follow these simple rules, people will no longer think you're an arrogant, delusional troll, and you will likely see a rapid improvement in the quality of work that you're capable of producing. You can try to argue that you are not an an arrogant, delusional troll, but make no mistake, this is the perception that people have of you on Polycount. If you continue to do the exact opposite of advice I've outlined, people will show you no respect. You may find this hard to believe, but I'm genuinely telling you this to try to help you, not to insult you. This advice doesn't apply to you and you alone either, most people would do well to follow it.
Now for the ultimate test, try to follow these basic concepts when you respond to me - or better yet, simply take the advice, back away from the computer, and think on it for a while.
I wont write explanations anymore. And when someone writes "stop doing an artstyle", I'm within my approach to keep posting art the thread title asked for without it being called "disrespecting a community"?
Once you realize that these comments stem from your own actions, not malicious outside forces, the way forward will be clear.
PS1 is where it's at!
I even did a fan art of your fan art.
I think you're onto something here. We should get together and make a game. We can probably crank out the art in a day or 2.
What do you think?
The PS1 jiggle shader looks nice. But your missing some of the techniques low poly artists used to really get the most out of their hardware. Here's what I think people are missing from your work!
1. Fog. Check out any n64/PS1 game. Harsh fog meant you only have to draw what's visible.
2. Vertex colors. This is a big one. Low res textures repeat all the time. You dont have good lights, you dont have AO. What do you do? Vertex colors! You tint the texture color per vertex to paint shadows and stop variation.
3. Lighting. Speaking off, this doesn't just apply to your PS1 spec work but there is no composition in terms of lighting. Light the focal points of your scene and let the rest be background. This is big topic but yeah, look into improving your lighting.
Okay now some general crits you can put into practice RIGHT NOW!
Consistent level of detail. You you have really low poly shit ass bike wheels that look bad, next to an alpha plane of a tyre. But the tyre is more simple shape? and its less important in the scene? You can get away with making the tire look low poly but you cant get away with that bike wheel.
You use planes for the giant ass trees but the tiny crass gets individual polys?
If this where a ps1 game where would the camera be? 3rd person? top down? first person?
Show me a ps1 game where a camera this far out shows this level of inconsistency:
Don't start a new scene until you take a crack at fixing at least one of these issues in your truck scene. It's easy to think "I'll apply this to my next project" but it's much more effective if you apply it NOW.
Vertex coloring and lighting are most important for the PS1 look IMO.
The disclaimer came too late, but the idea for this thread was PS1 art that kept pushing the system after 2000. I didn't want to copy 100% old games because it sounded boring.
The truck scene was definitely an inconsistent starting point though. And I'll start looking into the fog/vertex color thing.
I also think I'll benefit with more time. I stopped work on Mighty Switch Force to do this "War Cartoon" I had in mind and it's going to be huge.
An idea of what this new project will look like:
Less text, more art!