Zeppelin
polycounter lvl 18
Mid way through this and we're looking for input:
I originally wanted to finish the zeppelin as a game asset serving the same purpose as the zeppelins of WoW. Unfortunately I did the majority of the high poly before I learnt about modular assets, or developed a little common sense in designing the high poly (radial engines were a mistake, they soak up polys and still looked mediocre). I took the 'low' poly to 20k and mapped it as a skin. If I had done the high more intelligently I would have had a more reasonable mapping experience, and probably saved a fair few polys.
I still might take an afternoon to get the deck adequately dressed to walk around on, but it is one of those pieces that I've learnt enough during it that by the time I'm finished it's hard to work on the old parts.
For the matte, the zeppelins will be a bit player. There will be one overhead, one coming in to a dock in the midground, and a few stationary in the mid / background. It looks like we're in reasonably good shape for that purpose (as they are distant), but any corrections are appreciated.
Matt will be painting the diffuse and spec over the next few weeks. If he gets very busy I'll take a crack at them and get him to edit. I'll do the geometry for the cargo some time this week -- and use it as opportunity to take some baby steps with Silo and make some crates :shifty:.
I originally wanted to finish the zeppelin as a game asset serving the same purpose as the zeppelins of WoW. Unfortunately I did the majority of the high poly before I learnt about modular assets, or developed a little common sense in designing the high poly (radial engines were a mistake, they soak up polys and still looked mediocre). I took the 'low' poly to 20k and mapped it as a skin. If I had done the high more intelligently I would have had a more reasonable mapping experience, and probably saved a fair few polys.
I still might take an afternoon to get the deck adequately dressed to walk around on, but it is one of those pieces that I've learnt enough during it that by the time I'm finished it's hard to work on the old parts.
For the matte, the zeppelins will be a bit player. There will be one overhead, one coming in to a dock in the midground, and a few stationary in the mid / background. It looks like we're in reasonably good shape for that purpose (as they are distant), but any corrections are appreciated.
Matt will be painting the diffuse and spec over the next few weeks. If he gets very busy I'll take a crack at them and get him to edit. I'll do the geometry for the cargo some time this week -- and use it as opportunity to take some baby steps with Silo and make some crates :shifty:.
Replies
It's not a zeppelin.
It is, however, really cool. It'd be pretty neat to see some of those sails on the sides kind of like tail fins on a plane. I'd like to see where this goes.
Swizzle, he's probably calling it a zeppelin because it has two big airbags under it
Hah, you're right. I'm pretty sure that the warcraft 'zep' infected me to the point I refer to everything that flys with big airbags as Zeppelins (thanks SuPa- I'll reuse that).
Good point on side sails -- it's weird that we didn't clue into the lack of pitch control...
Appreciate the kind words guys, it's good to know that it's reading reasonably well for other people.
I was actually reminded of the Warcraft III Goblin Zeppelin :P It has those spiked things on the top and bottom, but they're not sails
I'm eager to see this thing textured. Gogogo!
Swizzle, my recognition of internet sarcasm/jokes fail me
Matt has been busy, and is now moving, so I decided to take a stab at the textures myself since he's tied up for awhile. I wanted to see what this would look like mapped
I'm still a bit new to this (and this felt like a lot to texture), but I did enjoy it. There are a few things that I will do differently in the future. On the UVs; I didn't give the balloons enough space, got a bit too aggressive in mirroring, should have had a few more things straight instead of relaxed. On the textures; I know the underside is really weak, there is probably a bit to much light info in the sails and there isn't enough material separation (I wanted everything weathered, but some well maintained metal in key spots would have been clever). At least it's nice to come away feeling I've learned a fair bit.
reminds me of myst
- BoBo
maybe take a look at some 16-18's galleons?
otherwise its cool. i like the whole feel of the environment aswell