Achieving correct proportions during block out

gameofscones

Does anyone have a tried and true method for modeling an environment based on one piece of concept art? For me, the most difficult part of the process is blocking it out which doesn't bode well for the rest of the project as you can imagine. Take the following concept imagine from Ratchet and Clank for example.

Since I'm using UE4, I'd bring the basic third person character into 3ds max, and just pick a size that looks good relative to the model for my first piece. Then i'd base all of the following models relative to that size. This works fine for like one model, but when it comes to creating a 1:1 match of the reference image, things like spacing between buildings, and other structures become an issue.

My question is this- not going beyond block out phase, what would be your workflow for tackling an image like this to get it as close to the concept as possible. Any insight or learning resource related specifically to this process is greatly appreciated.

ActionDawg

I wouldn't typically try to match concept 1:1 for something like that, but since you're using Max you can use the perspective match tools under the utilities tab. The center bridge would be ideal for matching off.

JordanN

I've never worked with concept art oddly enough, but when I'm looking for correct proportions in a photograph, I pick one object in a scene, surround it in a box and then I compare its size to other objects as it gets closer to the vanishing point. 

Tedious as hell and sometimes requires breaking out the old algebra and math, but it hasn't failed me yet!

gameofscones

I'm still having some trouble understanding how I can use that box to measure something relative to the box. Like lets say I define the width and height of the ship in green as 2x4. How can I use these to measure the size of the bridge while accounting for the bridges distance away? 

 

JordanN

Admittedly, when you have an object that's being foreshortened/perpendicular, it's a bit harder to measure using the same box technique without making adjustments. Two methods I would use. 

1. Brute force math: You know the bridge is a rectangle. To find the missing side you need to use A = L x W. You can do this two ways by splitting the top of the bridge into two rectangles and calculate the shortest length, or you can find the hypotenuse, times it by the length/width and it will give you the area.  
2. Tessellate and measure:  Very similar to the above, but instead you can set up measurements that work with multiple perspectives. Break the object into a rectangle (in this case, the bridge), and subdivide it so it has multiple square faces. Connect the top faces so that they line up perfectly with any vanishing points in the scene. You can continue to use math, or count tessellated faces because technically, all the squares are equal and travel back to the vanishing point.


*I should also note I scale my answers. Pretend the bridge is 10 ships tall. The bridge should not have a measurement much smaller or bigger than that.

Again, this may just be the tedious way of extracting proportions because I'm kind of a hyper nerd for spending this much detail on art. 

gameofscones

I appreciate you taking the time to answer. This method would work if I was actually trying to define the length of the bridge with my own decision of how large to make each square. I was more asking how I would determine the size of those 1 meter squares relative to the size of the ship if that makes sense.  For instance, the ship is close to the camera and on the closest side I've decided that it's 4 meters tall. Now I want everything scaled proportionally to these dimensions. So how would I use these perspective lines to measure the size of the ship where it intersects with the bridges vanishing points in order to determine an accurate scale for the bridge? I've attached an image that hopefully better illustrates what I'm after. Thanks again for all of your help! 

Bletzkarn

perspective match is a pretty good tool to get the basics going. Otherwise you need to create a 2D plan view using the draw through method as shown above, which is far more time consuming.