[WIP] Subway
ok so this is a subway station i am working on for practice because i just got 3DS Max about 2 months ago, i know it isn't very good at all, thats why i want C&C hehe
if you guys like it, i will start adding water pipes and stuff, you will notice the one wall is really plain, i was thinking of adding some small details like a grill to a vent or sumthing and then the rest of the wayy a big grafitti tag
hope you like this update and my plans for the next,
-Andy
if you guys like it, i will start adding water pipes and stuff, you will notice the one wall is really plain, i was thinking of adding some small details like a grill to a vent or sumthing and then the rest of the wayy a big grafitti tag
hope you like this update and my plans for the next,
-Andy
Replies
So far, the one thing I can see is that the garbage can has an odd shape. Maybe look-up some ref images of subway stations, google image search is your friend. Definitely not a bad start, keep it up!
very small update, i added in two cameras into the two top corners, i will be adding alot more things but as for 2nihgt, im going to sleep, cheers
-Andy
i fixed the stairs and added two vents, i hope you like this update and are supporting me in my updates to come
i will be adding some garbage around the can from the lazy people who cant move there are over like 2 feet, i was thinking of adding a fire extinguisher, it cane down to fire extinguisher or pay-phone and i thought fire extinguisher was a bit more important
Thanks again for all your crits/support
-Andy
Right now, the tracks are the only thing to suggest a train of any type. I think that you should take more study to a subway station in new york or what not and see the actual design to help build something that looks more reconizable.
Where's the wires? It would help to see how much you're really modeling with.
okay so, i usually hate tiny updates, but this update is extremely small, in this update i added a pipe along the bottom of the subway on the otherside, and i added an emergency power shut off box, what shut off box you may ask? the box that i circled in red, you cant see it because of the lighting and there are no textures yet and that stuff.
For the next update i will be adding a fire extinguisher, some crumpled paper beside the garbage, mabye a drink cup from a fast food place or something, hopefully lights along both walls of the subway, but i cant seem to find lights that look good on my walls, we will see
thanks alot for taking the time to support me in my WIP of this subway
-Andy
I'd suggest you show some wireframes or get closeups of the details you're currently working on.
take for instance Washington DC's subway system, which is like a strange series of concrete-vaulted fallout shelter/cathedrals. they're really spooky and would make for great videogame environments.
for reference:
http://flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=dc+subway&m=text
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&tab=wi&hl=en&q=washington%20dc%20subway
but there are other great cities in the world with their own interesting looking subway systems that no one (or very few) have ever modeled in 3D. Paris' historical and horribly gnarled metro, London's famous tube, Hong Kong's subways... look around!
don't want to discourage the amount of work you've already done, which is looking good, but everyone that you might possibly be showing this to when its finished has already seen this type of scene done by someone else. and, frankly, probably done better, a la the Matrix subway fight. so do yourself a big favor
Or if you're doing a subway will it be better than this? Ask yourself that.
Did you ask it?
What was the answer?
Find an environment concept and get it done. Something creative.
Here's a good start: http://vincentproce.com/index.htm
Sorry to be discouraging, but I hardly look at portfolios when people apply here any more when the first thing I see is a god damn dumpster up against a red brick wall. Or a subway. Or a mailbox. No thanks.
EDIT: One thing I learned early on is to sit on your projects and refrain from posting until you've got some actual content. Or at least show us wire shots so we can critique your mesh layout. A long shot of a platform, a dumpster, bench and stairs isn't much to give constructive feedback on the piece at hand, but at least theres enough to comment on your educational process.
Nope, fuck subway scenes. Every newbie does them and its tired.
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1) i am a newbie, started using max 1 month ago
2) you don't need to be so fucking rude, i didn't know everyone does subways
3) sorry if im not the best but atleast im trying, and if your looking for amazing work from someone who JUST started, then good luck
-Andy
Remember, that your textures are what will really make a piece shine. Modeling unique and creative geometry is only half the battle.
Adam's an asshole, anyway. Right, Adam?
Make it futuristic something new even though there isn't any reference to that stuff be imaginative you can't be wrong cause it's your design.
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no offense $!nz, but that's probably not the best advice for someone just starting out. i recommended the DC or otherwise unusual subway scene as an alternative while still being the same scene because working with little or no reference is a recipe for disaster. even for professionals sometimes, but absolutely for beginners.
especially when creating an environment, the key isn't realism, but believability: crafting the little details and nuances that make a place real. any given room or setting you can think of, you can probably recreate nominally, but you're going to miss out on the little details that really bring the scene together through the use of reference.
so either you've got some kick-ass concept art, or you get yourself a helluva lot of good reference. in this situation, i recommend the latter.
I'd really like to see the mold get broken with people starting out in 3D and see more than a boring environment with no real sense of purpose.
Sure, you need to learn the tools and get a familiar work flow down - thats a give.
At the same time practice a little creativity in your tests.
Don't just present a subway scene that says you can replicate a photograph or 2, or use a picture of concrete to demonstrate an understanding in surface properties, or light the scene with a single light.
The beauty about environments is that you're creating objects that are lived in. Objects that are apart of an entire universe that is player should feel they've truly experienced.
It's not JUST a fire hydrant.
It's not JUST a street corner.
It's not JUST a subway platform.
There's story. There's mood. There's experience. Practice showing a bit of those.
Good luck.
Adam, sorry about freaking out, i thought you were more making fun of me than anything, thanks for the points, i am really new like ive said before, so i don't even think i am going to texture this, atleast not for now because i still dont know how to unwrap or anything. when i am told by people that they believe the modeling is dome, then i will lay this piece to rest. As for now id prefer not to quit because i dont do that or else i will make it a habit.
-Andy
The piece is not dumb, it's just uninspiring at this point. You're using it to learn, which is fine, I'd just think you could do more with the points I mentioned before.
I think a healthy dose of the old saying (updated for current purposes) "if you don't have anything constructive to say, shut the fuck up." would really serve you well.
I agree that a subway scene is not jaw droppingly inspiring creative material, but you went in a completely needless direction.
Andy, I think for a beginning 3d artist this is a great subject to start with BECAUSE it has been done a great deal of times. You can look at a wealth of reference material and see how other artists have done it and learn from it. No one needs to break new ground when they just want to learn the tools.
I think your subway scene currently shows promise and has laid good groundwork for more in-depth attempts at 3d environment modeling. Posting shots with wireframes would be very helpful in determining if your poly distribution and usage is clean and appropriate though.
Do you paint/draw concepts?
I think that working from a piece of concept art as others have suggested would be an excellent step for your next project. If you are capable, I think it would be best to work from your own material though.
As someone taught as an illustrator I think I find myself a little overly concerned on the issues of using other people's concepts for direct reference without personal permission, but that is entirely up to the artist in question.
Behind the straight-forwardness of my post theres some real criticism in there. I'll not candy-coat something if thats not what i really want to say.
Lets move on, yah?
Andy, how's this coming?
Adam, just because you're a long time polycount poster doesn't give you license to be a rude jerk. Flying off the handle on some poor kid starting out in 3d is a great way of showing that you're nothing more than an immature prick who just gets his jollies from being a total bastard for no real reason.
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Maybe, but it's also a good way to give some poor kid starting out in 3d a good idea of the expectations this field has. If nobody was ever an elitist jerk to me about art I definitely wouldn't be trying/have tried so hard to learn. This is a hard field to get into -- I've never heard a 'looks like a good start, keep working
At the same time, andy, looks like a good start. Keep working.
Dig around for some of the environment posts more experienced artists here have posted. Keep track of the contests subforum, too, there's an enviroment comp starting right now.
There's no need to take stuff slow just because you're new. Look at popular games' environments, and honestly compare your work to them. I know you're not used to the software yet, but your work has promise, and now's as good a time as any to start trying your best to live up to it.
well i do have references, it is the Toronto transit station
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well, it is critical to have good reference, but the other key factor is that it needs to be reference of something interesting. from what i recall of toronto's subway system (and what i can see the model), it has nothing to recommend itself in terms of interesting or distinguishing characteristics.. that's what my post and what adam's and others are talking about. everyone does subways. it might get worse if you work a generic space marine somewhere in the scene, but otherwise, you'll hedge your bets if you go with some more interesting source material. you could end up with a pretty faithful version of the scene you have in mind, but that still won't make much of an impression. don't get discouraged, though--there's always another scene, and if you're focused you'll be learning and improving with every scene you do.
and don't mind that brome isn't man enough to apologize without some really shitty dodge about "candy-coating," which is what jerks always bring up when they've been caught handing out jerkface crits.
Neener-neener-neener
i'm hungry now =[
-Andy
ya, maybe u should be as harsh on ur own work brome!
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hahaha man you guys never cease to amaze me....
Adam you dick. hahaha No but Adam is right, but don't feel bad he was harsh on some of my stuff as well when I was starting here on Polycount.
I'll be honest about it as well. I'm pretty harsh with crits and while in school got the asshole label BUT the guys that did listen to my crits and go off those got much better.
We aren't saying things to hurt feelings or make us feel superior. I have received comments on my work on here and through im that ranged from "nah, thats nothing like the concept." to "thats shitty. start over."
At first I got pissed and was like what the fuck do you know? BUT many times when I stepped back and swallowed my pride I realized they were right. This industry is incredibly competitive and it's always a learning process.
So now on to my crits.
It is still really early in this piece and that is easy to see. You have a lot of work ahead of you and the most important thing is that you learn something with everything you do.
If you feel something doesn't look right. Remodel it from scratch. This helps get you more aware of the tools and process and you get faster with it.
Don't pass up on texturing. In todays industry I feel that having good texture skills is a huge must. Even more now as an environment artist.
Get up closer to your props or just give us some renders of those so we can crit those as well. Having a large scene is a lot of work. TRUST ME. I still have things I am doing on one of my large environments and while it gets better and better there is always something to be added.
Don't get discouraged and give up. Push yourself and keep learning new tricks. There are a lot of guys on this board to learn from.
-Andy
okay, here are those wires i promised
1) in a real subway the rails are boxes anyways
2) it saved me 3000 polys
3) need i say more? it saved me 3000 POLYS!!!!
-Andy
I'm joking! (Had to).
Good start. Watch for your mesh densities when working on assets for a similar scene. What I mean is theres not nearly enough geometrical information in the camera when compared to the trash can.
Then compare the trash can to the box thingies on the.
Try and keep it consistent.
And don't just start adding edges/verts to get the density up, make sure every edge counts. If what you're adding to your mesh doesn't alter the silhouette or serve a texturing purpose, scrap it.
With that said, you may want to add some more subdivisions to the ground. When you go to texture that, if you're using tiling textures, will be a pain (re: impossible). And you'll want to sub-divide it up some anyway since a lot of game engines are still vertex lit.
DUr.. I wanna write more but I've a meeting.
GL.
...how exactly did it save you 3000 polys?
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the cylinders that were running along the track were extremely high poly, like 50 edges and like 50 edge loops, don't even ask me why i did that, stupid stupid mistake, all solved now though
-Andy
I think a good idea for something this large would be to work on each piece and then add it to the scene. Right now you are making a rookie mistake. I've done it many times as well. You are trying to do too much too soon.
Take your security camera and really make it look bad ass and then put it back into your scene where the one you have right now is.
Then move on to the bench. Make that look good and replace it and keep moving on.
Focus on each piece and keep it up and move on. Your scene will benefit from it greatly and you will learn more.
i mean i want to make the bench and cameras as bad ass as possible but wont it bite me back in the end?
-Andy
And you could use a 7 or 5 sided pipe as well and it will look round if you do it right.
Heres an idea. Take that camera you have. Get some good reference and start modeling the hell out of it.