How can I model this ruin?

cturbo

How can I model this ruin? I'm currently working on creating old ruins and would love to understand the process for making this using Maya and ZBrush, texturing in substance. I'm not sure how you create those jagged edges. Should I just roughly block in the shape and then add a tiled brick texture, or do you actually sculpt the details in ZBrush for the broken stone wall edges?

cturbo

How would you model this window too?

Eric Chadwick

https://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2796459/#Comment_2796459

Eric Chadwick

For broken brick edges, you can model a section of broken wall and make it modular, then add individual bricks to break up the silhouette.

For example, look at the roof tiles here
https://polycount.com/discussion/91066/pirate-castle-udk/p1

cturbo

Eric Chadwick said:

For broken brick edges, you can model a section of broken wall and make it modular, then add individual bricks to break up the silhouette.

For example, look at the roof tiles here
https://polycount.com/discussion/91066/pirate-castle-udk/p1

Ok thanks for the links Eric. 

I saw this  link https://gamesartist.co.uk/dest-build-kit-roman-ageev/

Did he make the broken wall in ZBrush, then retopologize it in Maya to create one big mesh and then applied his tile texture?

Eric Chadwick

Did you not actually read the whole article?

cturbo

I was unable to find any valuable information on the first link, and upon reviewing the second, it appears that he does not elaborate on his methodology. I believe I have a concept in mind, but I was hoping to observe the process from start to finish.

Eric Chadwick

Well then you're just not paying attention. I suspect you're looking for the shortest possible path, tl;dr, instant-access. Which is a shame, because that way you miss soo soo much.

Sage

Maybe this might show more steps... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYa8khHlbhY

You have to block out the large shapes first. Try to make it modular.

For the edges it depends. This I would do last once you have the main pieces that you are going to break up.

Once you have your modular parts bring into your sculpting program and do a damage pass.

If you have zbrush get the orb pack of brushes.

1. Turn your block out mesh into a "sculptable" mesh with Zremesher and Dynamesh
2. Damage edges.
3. Sculpt large details first
4. Subdivide enough that you can use alphas to add fine surface details.
   

You are probably going to have to make some seamless textures

If the concepts shown in the links that Eric provided don't provided enough steps, it's because what you are trying to do is too advanced at the moment.

Look up how to sculpt rocks and bricks, make seamless textures in zbrush then try to apply those lessons to an arch. Once you are happy with that, see if you can do the other elements in your reference.

I included a really bad model showing the steps you might take.

Eric Chadwick

Yeah, good advice ^^. Sorry for losing my patience a bit! Lots of ways to approach this; Sage nailed it, start small, build up from there. 

cturbo

Do you mean like this? I place bricks by hand for the top sections only? https://www.exp-points.com/modular-building-destroyed-inside-ue4

How do you make the jagged edges on the wall and do you bake all of this in substance painter? 

Sage said:

Maybe this might show more steps... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYa8khHlbhY

You have to block out the large shapes first. Try to make it modular.

For the edges it depends. This I would do last once you have the main pieces that you are going to break up.

Once you have your modular parts bring into your sculpting program and do a damage pass.

If you have zbrush get the orb pack of brushes.

1. Turn your block out mesh into a "sculptable" mesh with Zremesher and Dynamesh
2. Damage edges.
3. Sculpt large details first
4. Subdivide enough that you can use alphas to add fine surface details.
   

You are probably going to have to make some seamless textures

If the concepts shown in the links that Eric provided don't provided enough steps, it's because what you are trying to do is too advanced at the moment.

Look up how to sculpt rocks and bricks, make seamless textures in zbrush then try to apply those lessons to an arch. Once you are happy with that, see if you can do the other elements in your reference.

I included a really bad model showing the steps you might take.

Great, that has truly clarified what I need to do next. Thank you so much. 

Sage

The best thing you can do is experiment. If the wall is plaster and exposed bricks you want to have a texture dedicated to plaster, one one for the bricks provided the bricks and wall are not the same material. If that is the case you might be able to just have seamless texture for the wall that gets reused on the bricks. Check this video out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZBYFRlo9bk At the end of the day you need these two elements blend together.

cturbo

Eric Chadwick said:

Well then you're just not paying attention. I suspect you're looking for the shortest possible path, tl;dr, instant-access. Which is a shame, because that way you miss soo soo much.

Sage said:

The best thing you can do is experiment. If the wall is plaster and exposed bricks you want to have a texture dedicated to plaster, one one for the bricks provided the bricks and wall are not the same material. If that is the case you might be able to just have seamless texture for the wall that gets reused on the bricks. Check this video out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZBYFRlo9bk At the end of the day you need these two elements blend together.

Thank you, Sage; that information is extremely helpful and greatly appreciated.

cturbo

Eric Chadwick said:

Yeah, good advice ^^. Sorry for losing my patience a bit! Lots of ways to approach this; Sage nailed it, start small, build up from there. 

It is important not to engage with students in that way simply because they did not find your resources valuable, and I am not trying to take any shortcuts; in fact, it is quite the opposite.

Joao Sapiro

Im sorry but you totally did come off like that. Its specially bad if you`re a student...

This is the time to cemment good "habits", and properly studying links that a seasoned vet told you has the answer ( it literally "solves" it to you in that thread ). You only found it valuable when someone did "all the work" and spilled out a gif\acted like an actual teacher.

You wont have that much hand holding in the industry, and its a very dangerous mindset to have in a HIGHLY competitive landscape as it is right now.

I would re-think the way you are approaching asking for advice, because this isnt it.

EDIT : formatting

cturbo

Joao Sapiro said:

Im sorry but you totally did come off like that. Its specially bad if you`re a student...

This is the time to cemment good "habits", and properly studying links that a seasoned vet told you has the answer ( it literally "solves" it to you in that thread ). You only found it valuable when someone did "all the work" and spilled out a gif\acted like an actual teacher.

You wont have that much hand holding in the industry, and its a very dangerous mindset to have in a HIGHLY competitive landscape as it is right now.

I would re-think the way you are approaching asking for advice, because this isnt it.

EDIT : formatting

I was unable to locate any useful information on the provided links; the others articulated it more effectively. Erik has previously shared some highly beneficial resources, for which I have consistently expressed my gratitude. However, I will not tolerate rudeness from anyone, irrespective of their years of experience.

Joao Sapiro

He was not rude.

Simply was surprised that you didnt find "any usefull" ( see who is rude now ? ) information on the link that he shared, wich, i can also atest that has the answer you seeked. Thus, his comment about you wanting a  tl;dr, instant-access , specially after you said that " others articulated it more effectively", is apparently what you were seeking.

Beeing gratefull is the bare minimum when interacting with people that try to help you. Calling someone rude because they called you out on what type of  feedback you seemed to be actually searching ( wich you confirmed btw ) is rude by itself and shows a huge lack of awareness on how to behave with colleagues. I just hope you try to work on that in the future as i can definately tell you, it will be a huge problem for you and your colleagues ( since they will be the ones having to deal with you ) if you ever make it to a professional setting.

Hope im also not too "rude"

cturbo

Joao Sapiro said:

He was not rude.

Simply was surprised that you didnt find "any usefull" ( see who is rude now ? ) information on the link that he shared, wich, i can also atest that has the answer you seeked. Thus, his comment about you wanting a  tl;dr, instant-access , specially after you said that " others articulated it more effectively", is apparently what you were seeking.

Beeing gratefull is the bare minimum when interacting with people that try to help you. Calling someone rude because they called you out on what type of  feedback you seemed to be actually searching ( wich you confirmed btw ) is rude by itself and shows a huge lack of awareness on how to behave with colleagues. I just hope you try to work on that in the future as i can definately tell you, it will be a huge problem for you and your colleagues ( since they will be the ones having to deal with you ) if you ever make it to a professional setting.

Hope im also not too "rude#

This post is 13 years old, and a lot of his workflow feels really outdated, and he doesn't talk about Substance Designer. Sorry if I seem rude! Anyway, I've got stuff to do, and this chat isn't very productive and is wasting my time.

artquest

@cturbo I understand there's a lot of pressure on everyone as the world seems to be restructuring itself in almost every way. I implore you; try to seek out the best in people when you are reaching out for help. I've had my share of feeling similar to you when I was first learning. It took awhile for me to see how my posts were pushing away the people who were trying to help. Dig a little deeper if you can. I'm sure you'll find many productive things here.

The fundamentals haven't changed in 13 years The techniques have, but understanding at the base level is something you'll really benefit from. Also, pro tip. you can paste that link into chat GPT and ask it to read the full thread and create a concise list of steps for you to follow. Adding a step further you can ask it to update the software + techniques and it will do a pretty good job. Then if you post that generated tutorial here there are many people who can validate or push back against it to help you further!

Good Luck on your journey cturbo.