Next contest idea

EarthQuake

Alright so i posted something about this in the unearthly thread, but didnt seem to get much of any response

I'de like to do an enviro contest, with a focus on modularity. Think of it as sort of a warm-up to the big contest later this summer. I dont really have a totally nailed down idea as far as theme goes, but i would think something like a simple building facade would work well for this sort of thing.

Maybe 10-20k and 2048 + 512 for lightmap

Here's an example of something i was thinking(DONT STEAL IT ITS MINEEEEE) from www.cgtextures.com



And heres an example that bitmap has been working on:

Snowfly

Modular environments are all good but I propose Zero Gear karts! (as if we haven't had enough of those recently)

Pedro Amorim

I agree with EQ on the next comp.

IronHawk

I like it.

Murdoc

So the whole facade is modular or every peice on it is modular or both?

Either way sounds fun.

EarthQuake

Murdoc wrote: »

So the whole facade is modular or every peice on it is modular or both?

Either way sounds fun.

Idealy you would create a bunch of modular pieces, say that first image i posted, you would have a couple types on windows + balcony, a door, a base tiling piece, roof tiling peice, foundation tiling peices, gutter peice, etc etc.

Nobody should be forced to work in any sort of way, but i think it will be a good learning experience for people to experiment and get some feedback from the vets here on polycount as far as workflow goes, and good ways to split things up.

Anyway i think this would be really good practice for a lot of people, i've seen people asking for others to team up with and practice for the big compo, so why not just have a small PC compo to do that? For everyone that wants to do this, what sort of time frame sounds realistic? A month? Month and a half?

Racer445

yes a month so i can learn how to do this :P

Tumerboy

ya, sounds great EQ. We're just talking about a facade? not a whole building?

Are decals allowed after the modular pieces have been placed? or would we need to make multiple texture variations for each modular chunk?

Pedro Amorim

if you make modular pieces, you can make more than just a simple facade.

EarthQuake

I think a facade would be all thats required, i dont think building a large scene or a complete building should really be the goal, as thats a bit too much work. Sure you could take your modular bits and fill out an entire building, but thats going to use much more polies etc. As far as decals, you can do anything you want as long as its kept within the poly and texture constraints i would say. So decals, emmisive, etc.

Tumerboy

cool beans

Funky Bunnies

Snowfly wrote: »

Modular environments are all good but I propose Zero Gear karts! (as if we haven't had enough of those recently)

My god, I would cream my pants indefinitely.


This competition idea is great, though. Not enough enviro challenges.

Pedro Amorim

As EQ said, i think this is a great oppurtunity to start practicing for the next big comp of the summer which is Unearthly challenge.
I support his idea 100%

Vitor

Yeah sounds like a good idea for starters

EarthQuake

Heres some more refs courtesy of Vahl and Strangefate

Murdoc

This contest could be applied to interior facades too, which would majke it that much more diverse

Tumerboy

I bet EQ is posting all of these "references" just to make sure the responsible people don't cheat and try to submit them!

vahl

lol, like Mario is gonna enter any comp.
or me make cratez, lolz

Tumerboy

HA HA! Fair enough vahl

TelekineticFrog

I'd be up for this "facade" challenge. I think it'd be great fun and seeing as the unearthly comp is coming up in a month or so. Make it so number EQ.

man_o_mule

sounds like a great idea earthquake. I want in.

EarthQuake

Murdoc wrote: »

This contest could be applied to interior facades too, which would majke it that much more diverse

Too much diversity tends to turn these contests into huge things that nobody finishes The more freedom the worst off it is, at a certain point atleast. So i think we should just focus on keeping it to an exterior structure. If theres enough interest in it maybe, but i would like to keep it simple.

Docm30

Not that my word holds much sway, but I think it's a good idea for a contest---I do need to work on my environments.

Murdoc

Is there that much difference in making a facade for interior and exterior that would turn it into a huge comp as long as the poly counts and texture sizes are met?

Unless you were thinking the comp was make X specific facade, in which case I'm going to have to beg for more freedom then that, hehe.

edit: To be fair though I dont think I plan on doing an interior, so it really should make no difference to me, lol.

EarthQuake

No, just trying to get the idea focused a little more than that, i'm pretty sure we had a modular building contest before that was pretty open, and i dont think a single person finished their entry. It tends to happen when you give too much freedom If enough people want to do ints i think it would be fine tho. Just let it be known here if you do!

IronHawk

vahl wrote: »

lol, like Mario is gonna enter any comp.
or me make cratez, lolz

lol.. true.

however i would love to see some sci fi madness you two could bust out.

boomz

I would love to do a modular enviro-art contest. It is definitely a widely used, marketable skill and therefore its a good subject for a challenge. Sign me up!

Jesse Moody

Awesome idea and a huge bonus to students and vets as well to push our modular skills and help each other learn how other teams attack these challenges we all face as environment guys.

This is a very fun topic and I hope we can get a lot of you guys to join up and enter something.

Reich

As one who is still fine tuning learning modularity I'd love to give this a shot. And since I'm on my summer break for another 3 weeks there isn't a better time for it then now!

LoTekK

This sounds like fun. I've been putting a lot of thought recently into getting my hands dirty with enviroment art, and saw a really cool apartment building today that I was gonna maybe take a crack at. This would be a good way for me to nail both birds.

Peris

I like the idea. The texture size is huge though, I'd go for a 1024*1024 (should be enough if you go with 256 or 128 pixels per meter res), and maybe a lower tricount aswel (10-20k is kinda ridiculous for a building corner).

Emil Mujanovic

This is an ace idea, EQ! It would be a great learning experience to those new to modular modelling.

-caseyjones

adam

2048x2048 texture space for something of that scale isn't out of the ordinary. If you consider the unwrap for the facade + any tiling textures or secondary unique unwraps that may be done its on par. Perhaps 2048x1024 but I don't think that resolution is too large.

-2cents

Murdoc

That and having a little extra room with 2048x2048 makes it a bit more fun rather then the annoying headache work usually is with smaller limits.

Jesse Moody

Yeah I would agree to keep it to 2048x2048. I know we have a ton of modular pieces here and our map sizes are pretty generous but we combine a ton of things on to one page as well.

2048x2048 is a good size so we should stick with that.

Guys think more like Hollywood studio back lots. You have a street that is made pretty much to look the same and with simple changes of lights, signage, mail boxes, and a few other details it can look like a street from New York or a street from Paris.

EarthQuake

I think 2048 is fine, if you consider you need to make a building, possibly a street, and then decals and small props, you'd be very limited with 1024, or have pretty blurry textures.