"Mod Facade" Challenge - MikeF

MikeF

Going to have a shot at an art deco style hotel.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/MiamiBeachDecoHotelMch06.jpg/800px-MiamiBeachDecoHotelMch06.jpg

http://z.about.com/d/miami/1/0/i/3/breakwaterhotel.jpg

some more ref and a wip when i get home tonight

man_o_mule

That first ref is awesome. The second one is much closer to what i was thinking when you said art deco, but not as unique of a design.

MikeF

i'm not quite sure where i'm headed with the design at the moment, the first ref is very 80's miami style art deco, the second is more traditional 20-30's. I might do a mix and match of both.
anyways, heres the first wip. my thinking process is still to come, i just wanted to see if i was actually digging the style in 3d.

MikeF

alright, already got a little question, what would be the best aproach for windows, should i have seperate pieces which surround the window (to make up the facade) or would it just be easier to have modular panels that already include the window. The down side of the later option would be the need for several almost identical panels for varying window sizes.

did that make sense?

Mark Dygert

Thats a tough call.

I think you might be breaking things down a little too much. I'm not sure why the windows are only frames, maybe you have plans to include the glass? I'm not sure I understand why the windows have frames to begin with, so much of that can be handled with a texture. Is that the start of the high poly work?

I think the separate window idea could work out, if you plan to use the same windows in other parts. I'm not really sure you should repeat the wall behind the windows that could get messy since the windows will need to sit on top of the wall, but look like they are set in the wall, and then there's the issue of Z fighting. You might want to just side step those headaches and do simple blocky modules instead of dozens of tiny pieces?

Hard to say which way to go, but I lean more toward simple modules, over pieces.

MikeF

the frames are more of a placeholder atm for unit size and spacing on the window bays.

I'm trying to keep this in as large of pieces as i can, this is my first go at modular design so it'll be a learning process.

Its fun so far though, i like the ability to have 10 or so pieces that snap together like a Lego set.


heres the latest, i've taken some liberties with the placement of a few of the windows and their awnings to try and break up the design a little.



I should have the entire structure roughed out by the end of the day, then its on to high details and props.

MikeF

About done the design, i couldn't make up my mind on the layout so i just pieced something together.

Need some feedback as far as design goes, I'm getting bored of looking at it so I'm not sure if it completely blows or not.



also, is there a better way of doing letters like i have on the sign? as it is now its not too polycount friendly

Tumerboy

looks cool to me, though I wouldn't guess it was a hotel. I'd guess it was a mall or movie theatre or something. But still looking great man, keep it up.

urgaffel

A pretty cheap way of doing it which might not look great but saves you a lot of polys is to map the letters to a flat plane with alpha and then have a very basic shape underneath it for the depth. Look at how they did the muzzles oin Mass Effect (and other games) for an example of that technique; round hole and barrel mapped to flat plane with alpha at the end, actual barrel is 6-7 sided cylinder.