Modeling the place I work. (Updated 6-30)

Maddness

I finished texturing my minotaur and started modeling the walmart neighborhood market I work for.

I still have a lot of accessories and stuff to go, as well as shingles for the roof. I also need to go in and delete my unneeded faces, and just clean up the geometry some, but I wanted to get some critiques on my progress so far.


Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

Pic 5

I hope you enjoy what I have done so far, and am really looking forward to hearing your responses and comments.

Pedro Amorim

looks pretty cool.
if you want to take it a notch further, add some cars to the parking lot.

Maddness

good idea actually. I hadn't really given that part much thought, just the store accesories like shopping carts and what have you. but that sounds like it'll add way more to it.

thank you bitmap.


also an update, added window details the front trash cans and the little cigar butt holder thing.

Pic 6

Ninjas

I think this is looking really good so far

Maddness

thanks for the comment Ninjas, I really appreciate it.

here's another quick update:

Pic 7

stimpack

where are the security cameras? mayb i just live in the ghetto (which i do) but our walmart has cameras all over the place on the roof edge. also add speed bumps to the parking lot and mayb those cart racks somewhere would be a idea =D overall very nice, textures will make or break this.

Maddness

hey stimpack thanks for the comments.

I still have a few things to add, like shopping carts, the shopping cart racks and the cameras and such to finish it up, but actually at this walmart (which i work at) there are no speed bumps. so I didn't even think to model any.

Snowfly

Looks good, makes me want to hold an odd job at a Walmart somwhere. I think you captured the architectural details pretty well, really helps a lot to make it look convincing.

praetus

haha, this reminds me of the Wal-Mart I used to work at. Ahh, Wal-Marts near UCF, how I do not miss thee.

All in all though it looks ace. I recognized it as a neighborhood market without even reading your text beforehand.

Maddness

thanks snowfly and praetus for the comments. I'm glad it's turning out well. I'll be posting a couple new screenshots here in the next day or so to show the additions that i've been adding.


oh and Praetus, I live in the Orlando area, and it's cool because this style of building is only here in the orlando area, the other neighborhood markets in the us don't look anything like this.

Maddness

update: I wanted to ask, I think i'm getting better at my modeling, and i'm confident in my textures being nice, so I'm not as worried there, but my main struggle is making really great UV's. I know there are a lot of shortcuts for uving environments. so I was wondering if anyone would have any to share that are environment modelers. I have my own ideas, but hearing from others would be greatly appreciated.

praetus

I didn't know they were different in just Orlando but I worked at the one on Alafaya Trail near the golf courses. I do not miss the Orlando heat though. ugh. Things I have heard regarding textures for environments are thirding . Umm, another one I've used somewhat is UV collaging items that need actual textures (mailboxes, cars, various props,) but using maps you can tile for walls, concrete, etc.

Maddness

I work at the one on red bug. I knew about thirding, it's extremely helpful and I learned about the tiling one after talking to skankerzero who also had some great info. I am just trying to get as much tips as possible. i like the environment so far, and want to make it shine.

Ghostscape

The big shortcut for quickly mapping buildings and the like with tiling textures is to use UV projectors instead of a hand unwrap and stitch. I don't know the specifics if your modeling package, but in Max you would us a Cube UV map, and then adjust the cube so it is using the proper scale for your pixel density (IE if you want a 512x512 per meter, then make the cube a 1x1x1 meter cube) and then you can slide it around until the textures line up.

Maddness

thanks all for the tips on the UVing. I think I have my plan all planned out (ha) about how i'm going to go about my UVing. Tiling will definatly be a big factor as far as the ground, walls and stuff are concerned.


here's a quick update of the pharmacy drive through. I've got some security cameras and shopping carts in the works and should be put in today.

I've been really busy with my job this week and so i haven't put in the time on this as i would've wanted to, but it's my day off today so I'm going to stay up as long as i can before I pass out (i work overnight) and then sleep and finish before I head back in tomorrow night.


I was curious about cars. I have a friend who's a car modeler, and has a few low poly cars. Would it be wise to add his cars into my parking lot (not saying they are mine, of course) or does that take away my environment by putting his cars in. I have never modeled a car before and wouldn't really know where to begin modeling one for games myself, though any tips on that would be appreciative

Anyway I'm tired and rambling. I'll post some updates later today. I thank everyone for checking out my progress and i look forward to more crits and comments.

Edit: oops forgot to add the updated pic


Pic 8

- Mike.

Maddness

just an update. I've started my texturing, and I wanted to see if I was heading in the right direction, so I'm posting a little wip of some of my base textures, and my curb area.


texture 1

I still have to add more detail to the light pole, as well as spec maps, lighten up the corners, and add more density to the trees.

The problem is most of these light poles are just smooth and black, they dont' have much texture to them in the many pictures I took of the store, so I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to make them look more textured.

That and I still think I could push my textures to be even more realistic, as that's what i'm shooting for. Though I don't know if I should still be maintaining a texture limit or not. I'm trying to adhere to both.


So any comments or crits would be most welcomed, I would enjoy to hear what I could do to better improve.


- Mike

JasonLavoie

This is really nice Mike, and the textures seem to be coming out great.

Sadly though, we are sworn enemies in the retail world, I work at Best Buy, you... Walmart, it'll never work out

great work non the less, keep it up.

pliang

Looks like it has great potential, funn thing is that I am working on something right on a place I went to as well.

One thing I'd say about the pic with your trees is that put more color variations on the leaves...I don't see many trees like that too often.

mikebart

This is looking really nice Maddness,
I think you need to adjust a few colours on the last shot, the bark on the ground looks a bit too saturated, you could try desaturating it and increasing the contrast a bit.
With the cars, if this is for your portfolio, I think as long as you note that you didnt model them its ok to put them in, (as if you dont have enough to do already )

Maddness

I haven't updated in a few days, it's been really hectic at work and I haven't had much time at home to do anything. But now I'm off and working again! yay!


So I started working on the texture for the building, but I am worried about the building itself. The actual texture on the building is subtle, you can see a faint bricking on the outside of part of the structure, but it also has that stuco look to it, but it can't be seen from far away in real life, so I was wondering a couple things.


Should I continue to make the store look as much as it's realistic counter-part? or since the textures are so subtle at a long distance, should I texture it in a way that seems more noticable?


This is a little something I've been working on for the last hour or so.

Texture 2

any advice or crits would be most welcomed, and I can't wait to hear your responces on what you would do in a similar situation.

- Mike.

Maddness

here's 2 more shots of the so far work done on the building...

Texture 3
Texture 4

Maddness

here's another shot with me laying out the basic colors plus the first texture for the building which is the plaster type wall. I've come to the realization that it's more difficult to do subtle textures than I thought, and still make it look like it's real life counter part.
Texture 4