WIP: WWI trench
polycounter lvl 10
Hey all I'm looking for crits on the modeling in general, the textures aren't final. The wood and metal textures are just basic place holders from cgtextures.com. However I did make the dirt/mud although it still does need some work. The boardwalk and walls aren't. I'm trying to make this one of many sections to make a modular trench system. I've never really experimented with modular designs before and thought this would be a creative way to begin.
If anyone can shed any light on the structure of WWI trenches that would also help. Preferably the trenches occupied by the American Marines of the time.
If anyone can shed any light on the structure of WWI trenches that would also help. Preferably the trenches occupied by the American Marines of the time.
Replies
notice that the path is very zigzag-y, rather than having defined straight lines, try to break up the even-ness that you have so it looks a bit more natural. Also, to me, the path seems too thin, or maybe it's the walls wich are too high. Remember that trenches served also as living quarters most of the time, so the soldiers needed space to maneuver.
As for the ground, I think modelling all the planks individually is a bit of a waste, you could easely get away with only modelling a few planes. My advice would be that you model small imperfections(lumps etc) on the ground, to give the idea of dirt, and then use a plane here and there in the lower areas so it's aparent there are planks beneath the dirt layers.
Consider having to build this yourself. What problems could occur? Maby theres a large "unmovable" rock you have to workaround, planks break and need to be reinforced, shortage of supplys could meen comming up with alternative solutions etc..
Ofcause refs will help alot.
The zig zag was usually on purpose to break up line of sight if the trenches where breached. But they didn't always zig zag some trenches where built with time care and planning and they used 90 degree angles but still kept line of sight limited.
There really is no one way to build a trench, but you do need to keep to the laws of physics. Dirt would push back in on the slats or they would back fill.
Crits:
- There are a lot of edges in the terrain that aren't being used, either use them, or lose them.
- The sides of the metal siding are covered, which mean the only benefit of having each hill/valley modeled in is lost, something like that is the perfect candidate for a normal map or just flat textures.
- The boards on the ground are laid out like decking, but they often ran with the trench lengthwise not widthwise. You could save a bunch of polys by doing that.
- The boards on the sides since they are so uniform and close together you could use bigger boxes to represent a few boards at a time.
- This trench was dug, where did the dirt go? Did they haul it off? Normally they piled it on each side so they didn't have to dig as deep, or the dirt was used to fill sand bags. Either way I don't see any dirt piles, or sand bags so its a mystery where it went.
- Last and most importantly, think modular. Build your trenches so you can build an endless maze of them with only a few pieces. Don't worry so much about the surrounding terrain, just work on the trench walls and floor. Use dirt piles, sand bags, auto parts, tires to disguise the edge where it would blend in. That way you and the level artist don't even need to think about blending, he/she just needs to cut a trench to fit your modular piece and the blending objects sit on top of the terrain.
edit: oh and about that "extra dirt" I do plan on adding sand bag layers and also including a machine gun nest and other things as well so I didn't forget I just didn't add those.