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LOW-POLY ART

polycounter lvl 19
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hawken polycounter lvl 19
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

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  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    @green Waiting for updates on that pumpkin :)

    ________________________________

    Ok I can't seem to help myself. I just couldn't let it be so I had to work on that texture a bit more...

    ch_turntable_3.gif
    ( still 1 | still 2 )

    And the texture:
    tekstuuri.png

    Added some foliage around the base and two birds to fly around the trees. Whole mesh is now 1136 tris.

    Still trying to figure out what to add to the top of the house, looks too empty to my eyes. Or maybe it would get too busy... I dunno. Gotta figure it out tomorrow.

    Anyhow, I'd say it's 99% complete now.
  • B8MaN
    Lol 9skulls I think I hate you slightly more with each post :P

    Awesome work :) I really do love your style. I accidentally opened your website at work the other day with the volume on :P

    The ship/clubhouse is really nice... do you work from your own concepts? and if you do can we see them? Also do you really expect us to believe that such a badass biker dude who lives in such a badass boat house would keep such a nice garden :p

    I have a pretty cool idea for a bike/biker of my own, not sure when I'm going to get round to it though, want to take my time with it :p There are some parts I'm struggling with (engine block?). Also I kind of want it to be in a very similar style to your biker dude but don't want it to be too derivative :p

    (I know pretty much sweet FA about bikes)
  • Tigerfeet
    9skulls, I think he needs a lawn chair :) Also, what material is the base of his house (under the boat hull) made of? Being in block form it looks like it should be stone, but it's the same color as the wood so it confuses me.

    Do you have any general advice for UV layout? The textures of the most impressive low-poly things always seem to be very orderly, lots of square alignments. Even making judicious use of snap to pixel mine just feels like a mess with things strewn hither and yon.
  • Baddcog
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    Baddcog polycounter lvl 9
    cool robot tennis
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    B8MaN wrote: »
    The ship/clubhouse is really nice... do you work from your own concepts? and if you do can we see them?
    Well I have A concept... Scribbled on the backside of my Internet bill, lol :poly142:
    B8MaN wrote: »
    Also do you really expect us to believe that such a badass biker dude who lives in such a badass boat house would keep such a nice garden :p
    Four cannons, one gigantic monster skull from god knows what kind of creature and the fact that it is a freakin pirate ship which has witnessed probably some pretty nasty stuff in its past, so yeah, I think it'll make up for 2 trees growing on top of it :D

    B8MaN wrote: »
    I have a pretty cool idea for a bike/biker of my own, not sure when I'm going to get round to it though, want to take my time with it :p There are some parts I'm struggling with (engine block?). Also I kind of want it to be in a very similar style to your biker dude but don't want it to be too derivative :p

    (I know pretty much sweet FA about bikes)
    Hey start sketching and blocking it out and post your wips here! Maybe ppl here can help you out and push you to the right direction... or at least guide away from the ditch :D
    Tigerfeet wrote: »
    9skulls, I think he needs a lawn chair :)
    HEY that is a great idea :D

    Tigerfeet wrote: »
    Also, what material is the base of his house (under the boat hull) made of? Being in block form it looks like it should be stone, but it's the same color as the wood so it confuses me.
    Well that is a good question. My original idea was to make the ship out of wood (obviously) and the bottom part from a bit different kind of wood. Afterwards it occured to me that it might look a bit stupid to have two different colors/looks for wood, so I did what I thought was a great idea and left them both the same color...

    .. So now the bottom part is a bit messy yeah. It was supposed to be wood, but coming to think about it, it might be a better idea to remake the bottom part to look more like stone and color it the same dark grey as is the horns of the skull. Maybe that would help to read the forms better.
    Tigerfeet wrote: »
    Do you have any general advice for UV layout? The textures of the most impressive low-poly things always seem to be very orderly, lots of square alignments. Even making judicious use of snap to pixel mine just feels like a mess with things strewn hither and yon.
    If you look closely for example the models I've been making recently, you will see that there are "some" stretching going on there.

    If you go for the squared-out uv-layout, then you are sure to get some stretching if the model you are unwrapping is not perfectly square – or flat. So the key here is to model stuff as close to square as possible. That way your uv's work out better. Obviously it is not always the best solution use the square uv-design, for example I've left all my trees and lamps at their own unique shapes. That is because the edges of those models are not as important as the actual inside of the shape.
  • breakneck
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    breakneck polycounter lvl 13
    3dmotive tut - woot
    mostly rushed trying to keep up with the video - love the result though.
    a must watch for anyone.
    thx3dmotive.jpg
  • [SF]Three9
    damn it breakneck yours looks better than mine :(

    also @Gorman The way he did his modeling method was by having it mirrored down the middle for better texturing. I almost changed those areas and especially on the handle protector I almost pulled it out to change the shape, but ultimately just left it there. I realize it could still be optimized, but this was more of a texturing challenge than modeling for me :D
  • gilesruscoe
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    gilesruscoe polycounter lvl 10
    doors are over-rated
    bustt.gif
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    That is hardcore, srsly :D
  • achillesian
    WHOA, gonna need some wires gilesruscoe, amazing work
  • Tom Pritchard
    Whelp. First time post in a WAYWO thread. Got bored today, came up with this. Back faces aren't as detailed, but are still there.

    garage_lpwaywo.png
  • hobodactyl
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    hobodactyl polycounter lvl 18
    Tons of cool work going on in here, I love having my inspiration-meter recharged by Low Poly :D
  • Graphicalgeek
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    Graphicalgeek polycounter lvl 10
    Evil mad scientist from my latest game.

    modelsheet.jpg
  • RAWTalent
    Looks cool, but not nearly angry or mad enough for my liking :P
  • Maph
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    Maph polycounter lvl 8
    I needed a short break from the clusterfuck that is my own code, so I started working on this guy. I know this is pixel art, but it's related to low poly art, so you know. :)
    Very much WIP mind you.
    Wulf001.jpg

    Graphicalgeek: His facial expression reads more like constipated rather then mad and/or evil. I would say to tackle the brow area to fix this. Use his eyebrows to show he's mad. That reads a lot better then trying to convey said emotion through his mouth.

    9Skulls: Really cool, but it's in dire need of some sort of shading. It's a tad too flat right now imho.

    breakneck: Awesome work man! I would bring out the lighting here and there a bit, and maybe sharpen up a few areas, but pretty darn sweet none the less!
  • DietCoke
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    DietCoke polycounter lvl 7
    Don't mind me, just subbing.
  • gibson543
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    gibson543 polycounter lvl 13
    nice breakneck :) yeah way better than this thing which is what I'm using to practice the techniques I learned, it's that damn hand blending without the smudge tool thats gettin me editL should've mentioned concept art by Nick Carver

    screenshot2td.jpg

    Uploaded with ImageShack.us

    456 tris
  • Tigerfeet
    Here's an update on my bike :)

    Bike_BaseColors.png

    Finally got it unwraped. That took longer than expected. I've just blocked out the major color groups here and done a little detailing on the head and wheel. I expect these areas and the back fins to be the most difficult. For paint I'm thinking of a nice teal and dark brown (to match my rider's scarf and pants)
    Here's another picture of her with updated colors:
    GrayShirt%26Sash.png

    Edit: Crits are ALWAYS welcome! :D One note though, the black part in the wheel spokes will be transparent in the final version, I'm just waiting until I've got the alpha map done before wiring it up.

    And yes, those ARE sparkles in the rockets.
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    Don't recall ever posting this here (and googling it didn't any hits either) so have some more cubism:

    PROP_TNT_005.png
  • Zoid
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    Zoid polycounter lvl 14
    Snader wrote: »
    cubism
    Picassocraft ?
  • hevonen
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    hevonen polycounter lvl 9
    9skulls wrote: »
    Then, with that material selected, I go to the texture tab and make sure the texture is set to "Premultiply". I'm not exactly sure what it does, it probably only affects how the image alpha is handled, but I've noticed that it makes the texture look better so I tend to have this on all the time.

    In Blender texture settings "premultiply" means what it means in compositing: color channels are multiplied by alpha channel so that result is black pixel when there is full transparency and original color when there is none. Some software (and some alpha blending shaders, at least in Unity) like their texture data unpremultiplied and some like it premultiplied. Blender itself can render both premultiplied and unpremultiplied images (latter is called "straight alpha"). When color correcting edges in compositing the image is usually unpremultiplied so that edge color data has full luminance values so it doesn't get unwanted tints.

    Usually these things don't matter (unless compositing) but from time to time they might. Unwanted black/grey fringes around transparent edges usually result from premultiplied texture when such was not expected.
  • paradise.engineering
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    paradise.engineering polycounter lvl 11
    medieval building and environment 2300 tris; 1024x1024px texture
    made for this contest

    beautyshot0.png
    beautyshot1.png
    beautyshot2.png
    beautyshot3.png
    beautyshot4.png
    beautyshot9.png
    beautyshot10.png
    pinewip.png
    wires.png
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    Whoow! Great to see some activity here :)

    @Tom Pritchard Wow man that is looking brilliant. Decals and all sorts of trash around the place would make this look so cool!

    @Graphicalgeek As RAWTalent said: you should try to work on his expression a bit more since it doesn't quite send those mad scientist vibes yet :poly122:

    @Maph
    Pixelart, hooray! Looks great! Some parts of his body seem to "disappear" to the bg so I'd maybe work on the outline some more.

    @gibson543 What's it going to be, some sort of toy tank? What is your texture resolution there? It does look a bit too high res for such simple model.

    @Tigerfeet It's nice to hear from you again! Your texture is coming along nicely. That pure black I'm seeing on the tire looks a bit rough to my eyes. Maybe a less darker color, say, 85–90% black would work just a bit better? Also it'd look wicked to see that thruster flame wobble in the wind, you know, like a powerfull burst of flame from flamethrower etc! That is ofcourse only if you were to animate the thing.

    @Snader Now make it 'splode in pixelated fashion! :poly127:

    @hevonen Kiittos! I think I got a better grasp of how to use it properly now.

    @paradise.engineering That's really nice! The house model looks great and I really like the fluffyness of the trees lol. Somehow the house texture feels a bit flat, maybe add more contrast to the colors? Also I'd make the ground like a big round table and not a square plane like it is now. For me that sharp edge between the edge of the ground and sky is a big turnoff :F Great job anyways!
  • johnas
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    johnas polycounter lvl 11
    So much inspiring stuff here, I wish I'd have more time to do 3d :shifty:

    Especially got excited of those schweet bikes but I'm more into old muscle cars so I started to do really low polied muscle beast. I'd like to make pixel styled texture but haven't got pleasing result sofar. Tips are appreciated, in the meanwhile here's the mesh. No fancy turntables, so I just copied the car, tricount is 546 with the wheels included.

    mustang67-001.jpg
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    @johnas Is it by any chance a certain '69 FORD MUSTANG? 8-) Those wheels could easily be optimized! I'd imagine that unwrapping that vehicle for pixelart texture was not that big of a problem, since it already is fairly cube shaped. So I think square uv-islands would not necessarily cause that much distortion in this model.

    Also, cool to see other finns here aswell :poly142:
  • johnas
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    johnas polycounter lvl 11
    ah yea land of the polar bears, those freaking things always messing around the city!

    Anyhoos, uvw mapping is not the problem indeed. Mostly it's the final result of the texture that doesn't please me. :)

    Will try to make new texture and will also reduce wheels polycount.

    Edit
    forgot to say, this is 1968 Mustang. 69 is looking more aggressive and wider ;)
  • Tigerfeet
    Hey folks I've got a problem, hoping someone can tell me what's going on.

    Maya_UVs.jpg

    Everything in my Maya UV editor seems to be half a pixel off when rendered. You'll notice in the screenshot that to get the treads aligned up and down I had to drag the UVs into the middle of a pixel. If you look at where the tread wraps around onto the side of the tire too you'll see it's perfectly aligned in the UV editor but in the render the pixel is bent in half
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Tigerfeet:
    shading > hardware texturing > texture filter: unfiltered

    That'll give you a more accurate texture view in the viewport then what it looks like you're getting. Not sure on the UV problems though.
  • Zoid
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    Zoid polycounter lvl 14
    Tigerfeet wrote: »
    Hey folks I've got a problem, hoping someone can tell me what's going on.
    very certain that your the texture placement node assumes you want to repeat forever - "wrap" , so that it averages between the two.
    2011-10-26_1015.png

    turn that off, if you need a texture to repeat use repeat manually
    PolyHertz wrote: »
    Tigerfeet:
    shading > hardware texturing > texture filter: unfiltered
    2011-10-26_1004.png

    that wont fix the repeats on render
    however those features help with pixel placement and visualization, so here are the rest of the Maya features to turn off filtering

    2011-10-26_1006.png

    2011-10-26_1001.png
  • Tigerfeet
    Thank you both! I'll give those a try first thing when I get home tonight :D
  • Rapante
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    Rapante polygon
    damn you guys keep pumping out amazing stuff!

    finally got around to texture my biker :) I'll have to iron out a few skinning problems and do some tweaks, but basically it's done :D

    powerbike_rider_tex.png
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    You.. sonofabitch Rapante :D Now that looks ssoooo gooooooood! I love how the color theme matches perfectly to her bike. Especially the shading of the visor looks brilliant o_o You gonna animate it, for sure?

    @Tigerfeet The problem is definatelly with your filter settings. It seems like the filter system you are using is not calculating the pixel alignment proprely thus flipping dem around however it pleases :f
  • hobodactyl
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    hobodactyl polycounter lvl 18
  • Delko
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    Delko polycounter lvl 15
    Rapante, that is madness, colors and shading and everything is awesome
    treesagurcl.png
    tracklake.png
    Redoing the forest track, coming out MUCH better now that I (sort of) know what im doing.
  • Tigerfeet
    Rapante your biker chick is awesome, I love the body suit :D And Delko your mustang is hot. I really like the texture on the hills too. I wouldn't have thought that such large pixels would look nice, but they fit perfectly.

    But I'm sorry for my repeated derailings of the thread. PolyHertz The viewport texture filtering was something I was looking for, so thank you very much for that!
    Zoid, I'm afraid it didn't work. I DID have Wrap U and V selected, but unselecting them and taking another render had no effect. (I also reloaded the texture, restarted Maya, and clicked on and off all the options I could.)

    Here's another screenshot, this time with my UVs lined up 'properly' in the UV window and in the viewport. But in the render it doesn't look like I lined things up at all.
    UVIssues.jpg
    I'm thinking, if you don't have an insight I might just translate the frame enough that the weird offset issues aren't happening anymore.

    Also 9skulls, thanks for the tip on the treads. I wasn't sure about coming up off full black that I'd be able to have enough contrast, but I quite like how it's turning out.
  • [SF]Three9
    Tigerfeet, I know exactly why this is happening to you. Your UV's are laid out as a perfect square, so when you textured it, it looks just fine. However, the actual mesh is not a perfect square....since the tire is a circle,e faces actually get smaller as it gets closer to the center (or in your case inner edge) of the circle.Your UV's either need to be shaped as a trapezoid, with the left 2 edges being the same height, as tappering in height down as it gets closer to the white, or your texture needs to be painted to adjust for the stretching

    here's a paintover
    po.jpg
    Also, that circled turquoise area is happening becuase you painted RIGHT at the UV edge. When the texture gets resized or is just rendered on the mesh, sometimes the edges bleed over. Since your background is a neutral grey, that's what's picked up at the seam of your tire. Painting like 3-5 pixels outside the UV seam is called a bleed area to keep this from happening. Hope this helps dude
  • felipefrango
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    felipefrango polycounter lvl 9
    Rapante, that is bitchin'. It's a shame I don't have access to Dropbox at work so I can never see your stuff until I get home, but it's always worth the wait.
  • mdinizzz
    Hello, I finally went back and finished my first character low res. "Goblin Magic", I accept suggestions for improving performance ever, thank you red fox helped me a lot and criticisms are always welcome, then I'll do some animation cycles, "he casting fireball" lol thanks all

    fotopolycountgoblin.png

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvQ81tqDx-Y"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvQ81tqDx-Y[/ame]
  • PatrickL
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    PatrickL polycounter lvl 9
    So much style it hurts, Delko.
  • Zoid
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    Zoid polycounter lvl 14
    Tigerfeet wrote: »
    Zoid, I'm afraid it didn't work.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW1q1Yxz0JA"]Maya U & V wrap - YouTube[/ame]
    <shrug> it works for me for some reason. you can see how the cap on the bottom even goes gray as its UV are out of the 0-1 range

    the only other option I can think of is to remind you to use x² textures as maya seems to filter them (badly) automatically if it is not.
  • Tigerfeet
    Well thank you very much for trying Zoid :) I'm sure I'll be able to work around it.
  • VPrime
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    VPrime polycounter lvl 9
    Currently working on changing up some of the graphics on our chirtmas game.. Want to go for a cartoony look.. But can't decide which one is right/better?
    I like the second one with the thinner lines on the roof and with the line going down the middle of the roof. My partner likes the first one.

    orthis.png
    updatedGraphics.png
  • Zoid
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    Zoid polycounter lvl 14
    Tigerfeet wrote: »
    Well thank you very much for trying Zoid :) I'm sure I'll be able to work around it.

    woah no wait, check this out

    2011-10-26_2021.png
    wow, never seen that happen actually. I'm going to investigate
  • Tigerfeet
    Oooooh yes Zoid, looks like the same thing! Cutting the pixel in half. I'm in Maya 2011 if that helps you at all. If you want any info on settings too just let me know.

    VPrime, if you want a cartoony look you can do it with either of those lining schemes. What I'd do is I'd mess with the models and make sure the walls are neither plum nor true. Selecting the verticies on the base and scaling them in a bit would add a lot of character to what is now pretty much just a box with a triangle on top. A cartoony style usually has brighter colors too. The texturing on them feels a little drab and maybe too realistic if cartoony is what you're shooting for.
  • Delko
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    Delko polycounter lvl 15
    This is obviously a case of Autodesk building intentional flaws into Maya so people switch over to 3DS.


    Or its not.
  • Zoid
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    Zoid polycounter lvl 14
    I see the issue, pretty sure it is the size of the texture.

    1) maya doesn't seem to "pixel"render textures that are really small (< 16 pixel) too perfectly for low poly looks
    2) Don't do something like X:Y proportions. Try to be 1:1 with your sheet. (at worst 2:1)
    3) always use x² don't use a 30X26

    128 x 32
    2011-10-26_2037.png

    32 x 32
    2011-10-26_2038.png

    the "wrap" feature will still cause issues, so you will need to turn it off

    Delko wrote: »
    Or its not.
    pretty sure I recall these issues before Autodesk acquired Maya, a friend of mine mentioned don't use anything under 16x16 for render
  • VPrime
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    VPrime polycounter lvl 9
    Thanks for the suggestions TigerFeet, here is some changes..
    Personally I am mor of a fan of the old textures, but my partner on the game really likes it.
    cartoony.png
  • Graphicalgeek
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    Graphicalgeek polycounter lvl 10
    Rapante wrote: »
    damn you guys keep pumping out amazing stuff!

    finally got around to texture my biker :) I'll have to iron out a few skinning problems and do some tweaks, but basically it's done :D

    powerbike_rider_tex.png

    Very slick! The rider might be too similar to the bike, as it's hard to define where one ends and the other begins, unless that is what you are going for?
  • TonyClifton
    I am working on this little schmock, for a game on the Android platform. There is still the bigger wip texture on the model.

    schmock.jpg

    d5gYI.gif
    f6f3d
  • Tigerfeet
    Hmm allright, so you're saying it's just something to do with the texture size being so small? My texture is 128x128. I'll go ahead and start working around it. Thank you for looking into it for me :)
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