LOW-POLY ART

hawken

This is the sweet spot for your low-poly models. Post 'em if you've got 'em!

Low-poly hasn't really been a requirement in the games industry for a long while now. This thread is for low-poly art style appreciation, so please take note of these rough guidelines:

• Keep models under 1,000 triangles.
• Scenes are fine, if all models are low poly.
  

Some dedicated low-poly modelling tools now exist that make this art style a lot easier to produce; Crocotile3D & Blockbench

Here's a handy list of ways to make your art look right in mainstream 3D software: Low-Poly Art Style Guide

iLKke

A_GAME, love the model, but what's the deal with the the dithering overkill?

A_GAME

Yes it looks pretty bad. Lesson learned: uncheck use dithering box next time I make a gif!

rumblesushi

culpin wrote: »

iLKke - Thanks

rumblesushi - The company was called Vector Entertainment. we were owned/funded by a venture company and they decided to pull out. Running costs weren't terrible, but it just wasn't making money as fast as they would have hoped. "10-12yrs" is a tough market to try and tackle for an online browser game. Our engine was built in house. UI for the game was all flash. (i think thats what you were asking?)

you can take a look at the game blog if you want... http://community.vectorcityracers.com/ . not sure how long it will remain live though.

Ah I see, ok. Actually what I wanted to know is how you handled the multiplayer. Whether you developed a P2P system in house, or used an out of the box package.

I'd quite like my first game to be multiplayer, but I'm not sure if I should wait for the sequel, where I'll be in more of a position to hire people to develop some solid, lag free netcode. I'm not sure how good something like smartfox is compared to a well crafted, bespoke multiplayer package.

culpin

oh ok. The multiplayer was actually all built in house. like you mentioned the biggest obstacle we faced was lag and we never were really able to completely kill it. It was a balance of client side versus server side data that ultimately brought the lag down considerably.

rumblesushi

Yep, some lag is to be expected, with differing net connections and cross continent connections etc. I guess the trick is to just minimalise it, or in the case of GGPO, sort of hide it.

Even major games like SSF4 have basically unplayable lag in most UK to US connections for example.

If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you use to develop the netcode? Did you use RTMFP for direct P2P or a base server?

Phones

Maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you keep a small texture sharp on a larger object? My texture is mostly cubes, and I'd like it to remain crisp, but it gets blurred when on a larger object. I'm using 3ds max.

culpin

Unfortunatley I'm not sure actually how it all worked. I was not really on engineering at all just art.

iLKke

@Phones: Read the start of the thread for the tips

btw: does anyone else have the problem of his avatar not showing?

Mr_Drayton

Phones wrote: »

Maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you keep a small texture sharp on a larger object? My texture is mostly cubes, and I'd like it to remain crisp, but it gets blurred when on a larger object. I'm using 3ds max.

That's easy.
Go to Customize --> Preferences... --> Viewports --> Configure Driver, then check the "Nearest" option inside the Texel Lookup group, and also check "None" in the MipMap Lookup group. Done!

krisCrash

And if you want to render without shadows for self shading low poly textures, enable self illumination on your bitmap material, set the diffuse as the output map (and the colour to white I think?). Next place any light in the scene and turn it off (this disables the default light).
I don't know if this is the easiest method, and it might cause glowing to nearby objects ;D

Would it be beneficial to generate a .dds with mipmaps for a small pixel-style texture? I don't know if I've tried disabling mipmap lookup, I will next time

krisCrash

thread needs more 3D ;D
quickish Vivian, someone I always wanted to model
So I don't really know how her hair should translate from Paper Mario to 3D and I realized I have to tuck her head way more into her hat to hide her eyes
blahblah 550 tris but not optimized

Mr_Drayton

krisCrash wrote: »

And if you want to render without shadows for self shading low poly textures, enable self illumination on your bitmap material, set the diffuse as the output map (and the colour to white I think?). Next place any light in the scene and turn it off (this disables the default light).
I don't know if this is the easiest method, and it might cause glowing to nearby objects ;D

You only need to enable 100% self lighting for every object, and there won't be glowing problems. No lights required in the scene!

krisCrash wrote: »

Would it be beneficial to generate a .dds with mipmaps for a small pixel-style texture? I don't know if I've tried disabling mipmap lookup, I will next time

Depends a lot on the situation. If you are going to handpaint all the mipmaps (and not generating automatically like in Unity3D), then yes, because you can preserve all the sharp edges.

Ok, I've nothing better to show than this, but it will do. It's a standard human model done for a game idea I had some time ago, an S4League-like game without textures. But I never had much interest in it...

Harry

working on a new basemesh and rig for dicta pilots
128x128 texture, ~450 tris

Don Karnage

Harry wrote: »

working on a new basemesh and rig for dicta pilots
128x128 texture, ~450 tris

Loving that texture.

Joopson

Don Karnage wrote: »

Loving that texture.

Me too. So much. Very inspiring!

hawken

clandestine wrote: »

the whole process took me a couple of days, working for about an hour a day.

not bad for 2 hours work

laperen

my 1st post in this thread and forum!

well heres something im still working on, still a WIP, which i assume means "work-in-progress"




introducing hooodie! its for a semi free-running/parkour game me and a friend are prototyping. loving the forum so far

laperen

I had previously posted a reply but not sure if it got through, sorry if this becomes an unintended 2nd post, and if this is a 2nd post, then apologies for a little deja-vu

My 1st post in this thread and forum! (maybe not)

Well this is something im working on, a WIP, which i assume means "work-in-progress"



Introducing, Hoodie! Name aptly beacuse he wears a hoodie..jolly! Hes for a semi free-running/parkour game, unfortunately the moves are not very realistic, infact very much simplified. me and a friend are working on this. loving the forum so far

laperen

testing if reply works

Hawt Koffee

Been playing "Miner Dig Deep" a lot lately some I've been working on these guys

Snader

Was browsing through the old posts here, saw some a couple of posts about dynamite and thought I'd give it a whirl. 293 triangles and a 128². Could have saved more if I deleted the backfaces of the wrapper but meh.

Heartless

Snader wrote: »

Was browsing through the old posts here, saw some a couple of posts about dynamite and thought I'd give it a whirl. 293 triangles and a 128². Could have saved more if I deleted the backfaces of the wrapper but meh.

Looks good, but shouldn't it say "highLY explosive"?

MattQ86

Maybe the trinitrotoluene smokes a lot of weed?

Heartless

Harry

high-explosive is a term for.... high-explosive. or are you trollin

Snader

Heartless wrote: »

Looks good, but shouldn't it say "highLY explosive"?

"High explosives are explosive materials that detonate, meaning that the explosive shock front passes through the material at a supersonic speed. High explosives detonate with explosive velocity rates ranging from 3,000 to 9,000 meters per second. They are normally employed in mining, demolition, and military applications. They can be divided into two explosives classes differentiated by sensitivity: Primary explosive and secondary explosive. The term high explosive is in contrast to the term low explosive, which explodes (deflagrates) at a slower rate."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_explosive#High_explosives

Lexou

Also, the color scheme is too bright on the TNT, imo.

Heartless

Snader wrote: »

"High explosives are explosive materials that detonate, meaning that the explosive shock front passes through the material at a supersonic speed. High explosives detonate with explosive velocity rates ranging from 3,000 to 9,000 meters per second. They are normally employed in mining, demolition, and military applications. They can be divided into two explosives classes differentiated by sensitivity: Primary explosive and secondary explosive. The term high explosive is in contrast to the term low explosive, which explodes (deflagrates) at a slower rate."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_explosive#High_explosives

Well that's certainly not as fun.

gilesruscoe

decided to start another low poly scene: Futuristic Swat Squad
I know your jealous of my drawing skills...

Models with their various weapons - Right, Sledge Hammer ( for door breaches, naturally) and some kind of cattleprod/shield combo

texturing time!

Free_Fall

I like how the left one on that sketch has a cameltow

gilesruscoe

By the smug look on his face though, he clearly doesnt care

CactusFantastico

haha nice dynamite.
makes me want to redo my old crappy one that made you want to do your awesome one haha

Buppy

Tiny part of a larger scene I started. Going to in an RPG, sort of like Dark Alliance. Spent about an hour on this. THe aim to to make a bunch of walls, floors and props and lego them together to make a level.

Harry

our prototype first person view

Matroskin

Heartless wrote: »

Well that's certainly not as fun.

agreed, I like more the explosive being high U forgot to add some distortion to that image btw

Mr_Drayton

@Harry: I like the overall looking of the scene, but the only things that break up the global quality are those blurred textures on the bars aside the cockpit. You should consider using a bigger texture.

@Matroskin: holy crap, it reminds me a lot of LSD Dream Emulator on PSX. Terrific...

Harry

Mr_Drayton wrote: »

@Harry: I like the overall looking of the scene, but the only things that break up the global quality are those blurred textures on the bars aside the cockpit. You should consider using a bigger texture.

Yep, after the test I decided it's time to place the inner struts on the cockpit's detail model

Snader

Part anatomy practice, part getting as much detail under 1000 triangles, part because I know you guys love cock. It's 998 triangles btw, so much is ok now, right?

Harry

is there any reason why people model cocks? i know it's anatomically correct even though it'll never be seen but if that's the game we're playing why not model hearts and livers and spleens too?

....That's actually an awesome idea

shaka

hey guys,

i'm trying hard to improve my lowpoly skills, and after some characters i went on modelling some props and weapons for a game i'm working on.

Although for the game i have a more "cartoon" style, i couldn't resist making in my spare time a more realistic version of this rifle o love. The FN SCAR.

200 triangles and a 256x128 texture.

LeafThief

Hey there,
recently finished my medic. 495 tris, 128x128 diffuse map.
Also: first post, hurray.
Let me know what you think .

arrangemonk

i object to the overall gayness of polycount
penis is only funny if its not related to art

Lexou

Snader, your modeling is mind-blowing, really. I just think he looks a little short. Also, you could reduce the polycount by simplifying the ears. They look way high on detail.

Harry

shaka wrote: »

this isn't bad at all.
My first suggestion to you is to make another layer and "clean up" the texture with pixel art techniques. At such low res, the slight noise you get in photos really ruins things (as you'll never see "chunks" of grain so large IRL) so the way you can clean this messy look up, as well as give a false impression of a sharper resolution, is by pushing colours out with pixel art. I've done this on all the planes for dicta if you've seen those, and it definitely gives you a high level of control over how edges and similar look.
Weapons made in this style can often turn out looking really amazing. Racer made a few a while back if you need some inspiration (though his are painted from scratch)

LeafThief

Double post

whaleyboy

iLKke wrote: »

Fresh from the oven, and first of hopefully many in the series:



Excuse the crummy CS5 resize with sharpen.

Still sort of WIP, I'm planning on adding a standalone driver. That's why I kept a bit of unused texture in the middle. Mesh omitted cause there's really nothing to see there.

Can't wait to see more in the series, I love this style!

gilesruscoe

that scar is shweet i could tell what it was straight away, so i guess that means it was successful

Anywayy, finished off this little scene, 256x256 texture for the characters, 64x64 for weps and 256x256 for the vehicle, yes i know, it has no drivers door, they will just have to climb in the back..

Edit: fixed the picture links

Maximus!

Snader wrote: »

Part anatomy practice, part getting as much detail under 1000 triangles, part because I know you guys love cock. It's 998 triangles btw, so much is ok now, right?

dude! nice human model! it will awesome if we can have it like a SDK model and try some modifications or texturing,like a challenge!

btw:did you look for some cock references?

hawken

actually I would say the cock starts up too high. The shaft is an inverted J shape that starts from behind the balls and hangs down, held to the pubic bone. In your model it looks like the cock is growing from his bladder.

Millenia

ITT: Cocks