Boyd and I are ready to show a WIP shot of our scene. There's some obvious untextured props in here but we think it shows our direction quite a bit and wanted to get it out there. The lighting isn't final, nor was any proper thought put it to it at this point. Everything is still being fleshed out.
Next up, besides finishing the textures for the assets that need is, is more human-scale items and background imagery.
Ah, definitely click the image, as it's a different shot for the shot I've been working to. The one in the image above I haven't been working on a lot yet.
The first shot, once we get more stuff, will be the main gameplay area on the platform. The second shot will be the distance render, which is what you'll see if you click the link.
man that thumb shot is such a mess...you should realy be careful about visual noise, the linked image (which is different) is more appealing, but you lose a lot of the sense of scale
Waaaaaay too much noise and shadow, you seriously need to work on your compositional
skills, and try lighting things in a way thats readable as its clear theres some cool
work under the hood here, but only a pro will recognize that.
vahl - second image was removed, as we both agreed with what you said. Thanks for the heads up. I'll mention lighting and such for kevin's response.
Kevin - Thanks for replying! We haven't really begun to light the scene at all. Just quick passes here and there and I think the noise & shadows lack of effectiveness comes from that. This WIP shot was to show the entire environment and where we're going. Now that our scene has hit the stage that its at, we'll be focusing on the lighting more so thanks for tossing your 2 pennies down - glad to hear it and it'll be put to good use.
Well I wouldn't make a negative comment to someone I didn't think worth the effort Adam, I think there is a ton of potential in your work in general but you need to take a huge step back in your approach to presentation.
You get caught up in the details, and overly moody dark 90's era lighting.
Tastes changed a few years ago, not everyone has caught on to this yet but stuff like TF2 , Mirrors Edge, Assassins Creed, Diablo3 etc, they are the future, people want to see more stuff that goes the Global Illumination route more.
Something to think about.
I used to fall into the same mistakes you are right now with your colour and light/shadow
information, I suspect you enjoy the rich moody opulence of it, but that stuff is a trap
that we fall into, the public wants clarity so they can appreciate the whole, they don't
want to get lost in the detail.
Before anyone else rags on Adam, that was my lighting I put in there as I was adding pieces so I could see what's going on . Still needs a lot of work, we know, we're still trying things out. Thanks for the input!
While I agree that Diablo 3, TF2, Mirror's Edge and so on have unique, almost toon shaded styles, I'd hate to see every game turn out like that .
I'm not suggesting all game art should, im suggesting as artists, its important to be aware of
why the public's tastes are changing based on the evolution of the medium.
You sound a little angered at my suggestions, if I was too hard, I apologize, I wasn't looking
to chide, rather I was hoping to focus what I consider to be excellent work that more people
would be able to appreciate if it were lit more clearly, with less rich coloured lights.
No, we're definitely taking suggestions on board, and that was a sincere thanks . Neither Adam or I are lighting artists, so we're experimenting as we go to see what we like.
I really like the sense of depth in that picture, I'd like to see a lighter and more dramatic light from the sun though, and a lighter foreground but the setup is awesome.
Thanks! Adam is doing some work highlighting the playable area which is the main platform. Once that is done we'll see what we can do about light from the sun. Thanks for the comments
I'm not suggesting all game art should, im suggesting as artists, its important to be aware of
why the public's tastes are changing based on the evolution of the medium.
You sound a little angered at my suggestions, if I was too hard, I apologize, I wasn't looking
to chide, rather I was hoping to focus what I consider to be excellent work that more people
would be able to appreciate if it were lit more clearly, with less rich coloured lights.
Kevin,
Although I agree some of the games you listed are a nice refresher. I would not call it tastes changing on the evolution of our media. Almost all those titles listed are not "mass" market to the game industry. Sure we may hear about them a lot because they are big to the hardcore gamer crowd. Take a look at Valve they went from tf2 back to a dark, gritty game (left 4 dead).
I can understand how you may be partial to these new colorful games as given your history is on darker grittier games (gears and ut). So something more light hearted and different from the normal grind you do every day may naturally be more appealing. However, Just as many people I am sure are turned on by this darker "90s style" art.
I agree with with what Kevin said, but I also believe this is definately one of the front runner enviros in this competition. You've got alot of amazing pieces but they're just not meshing well together at the moment. This is usually the result of working with a team of people with different core styles.
Try rearranging some of your pieces for a better composition. Right now you've got the foreground cluttered up with all of your pieces. I usually think foreground, middle ground, then background. Color plays an important role in this illusion as well. Warm colors usually pull toward you and cold ones pull away. There are exceptions to this rule though.
Anywayyy.....you guys are doing great, you just need to do some dialing.
Hope I didn't come off as a know it all. I'm learning myself.:poly122:
I should note that the shot we had shown above was our secondary shot. The scene as a whole if you will. The first one will be the story elements and properly portray what is happening to the Aeons.
We likely won't do a proper high-res image update again until all of our props are finished and everything is textured and lit to near final, but here's smaller images showing the 2 shots.
Without getting in to our entire 'to do' list for props, I will say that the props that will be on the platform aren't finished, so that is why its open and bare at the moment.
Also note the update to the lighting since the last image. What Boyd had was for our purposes, but its time we focused on the lighting itself so I wanted to do it properly; I scrapped what was in the scene earlier and reworked it all 'ground up', taking in to consideration the opinions we've read & heard along the way.
I think that perspective 2 rocks, but Im not keen on those big rails leading to the left and right side of the main attraction they break the image into too many parts in my opinion, maybe its just cause they are still untextured?
They're textured now, and they definitely fit in a lot better. Good call . Adam had a good idea for something to help with the flow which should work out well.
It's likely because they're untextured. They stuck out to me to the point that I didn't even want them in our WIP shots until they were textured but we opted to show the entire scene.
It's pretty funny to look at these shots we have now, because what we have on our end is a lot different (and waaay better IMO) than what's here. We're just waiting on finishing up a few things before showing another update.
well, it's not a bright sunny day filled with rainbows and fun...so it could be evil. The backstory by Dakkon is pretty cool and worth a read. I'm tired of evil being defined by dead bodies and skulls.
Lookin pretty cool so far guys, keep it up.
You don't think it's 'sinister'? Something has gone on there that's not exactly 'weird science' resulting in Kelly Brooke. 'Red' is so last seasons evil fashion accessory.
You don't think it's 'sinister'? Something has gone on there that's not exactly 'weird science' resulting in Kelly Brooke. 'Red' is so last seasons evil fashion accessory.
Hmm, did you get that from America's Next Top Model? Now holy shit, there's evil
I don't see anything sinister in the design. I see a lot of futuristic alien equipment. I didn't read the backstory, but from what I can tell the machinery could be some sort of... uh... no idea what it's purpose is. Mysterious? okay. Grim looking? no.
I don't see anything sinister in the design. I see a lot of futuristic alien equipment. I didn't read the backstory, but from what I can tell the machinery could be some sort of... uh... no idea what it's purpose is. Mysterious? okay. Grim looking? no.
I love trolls on this forum....
Hope your music myspace career works out for you *shrug*
Hope your music myspace career works out for you *shrug*
Huh, hey if Adam hassled someone else about their piece not being evil enough I can hassle him.
It's a hobby. I have a full time job working as an artist already, bud.
Edit: Before I accidently derail another thread, I wanna say Dakkon, I admire your enthusiasm and can't wait to see the finished piece. Looks great so far... just missing some skulls laying on the floor and clowns.
Zephir62, its evil. You're looking at old pictures so for now you'll have to trust my opinion and deal I wasn't hassling anyone, simply posing a question in case the goal of fighting for Polycount was lost upon then. Nothing more.
again troll maybe you should listen to your own crits with your own art....
"Looks like the crap my dog took on the lawn yesterday."
" Invest in a time machine back to the year 1996, they'd love you there"
Whoaa man, let's take this to GD or PMs. And for the record, those were comments I made on other peoples work(and don't act like I was the only one making jokes), not made on mine.
Going from the story Boyd had written in the original post, we wanted to create a scene that shows the Terrans (humans) capturing and dissecting their Gods (the Aeons) within a Terran science-class ship thats specifically built for this which they've dubbed the 'Yard'.
Boyd and I are nearly ready to call this piece 'finished'. Phew! My schedule for the remainder of the contest will be especially busy, so we tried to wrap as much up by tonight as we could. So, barring and small updates we may make from now and until the 10th, here's what our final 2 beauty shots will be.
They were only known as the Aeon. Giant vessels that had been around since the dawn of reality. The Aeon traveled through creation, stopping at countless worlds, and with them they brought peace. The vessels contained countless souls of a race long past, yet still trying to influence those who would listen. They would share their wisdom, seed new worlds, and enhance civilizations.
Many worshiped the Aeon as gods for their efforts, a title that was not undeserved. While the Aeon may have been avatars of peace, not all life was as enlightened. As worlds advanced, so did their hunger for power. Despite the efforts of the Aeon, efforts that had kept peace for millenia, war began from one side of creation to the other.
War can cause unspeakable acts that were unthinkable in the past. Many sins were committed during this time, but all pales in comparison to the moment mortals turned their eyes on the Aeon. Those who were once gods became prey. Timeless power was just too tempting to resist. It is amazing what can be justified in our darkest hour. We hunted the Aeon, trapped, and gutted them in scrap yards which became their grave. Thus ended the Aeon... fools.
Peace is just a concept, war is the true constant. Written by Dakkon
Replies
Next up, besides finishing the textures for the assets that need is, is more human-scale items and background imagery.
We hope you like it! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW!
The first shot, once we get more stuff, will be the main gameplay area on the platform. The second shot will be the distance render, which is what you'll see if you click the link.
skills, and try lighting things in a way thats readable as its clear theres some cool
work under the hood here, but only a pro will recognize that.
Kevin - Thanks for replying! We haven't really begun to light the scene at all. Just quick passes here and there and I think the noise & shadows lack of effectiveness comes from that. This WIP shot was to show the entire environment and where we're going. Now that our scene has hit the stage that its at, we'll be focusing on the lighting more so thanks for tossing your 2 pennies down - glad to hear it and it'll be put to good use.
You get caught up in the details, and overly moody dark 90's era lighting.
Tastes changed a few years ago, not everyone has caught on to this yet but stuff like TF2 , Mirrors Edge, Assassins Creed, Diablo3 etc, they are the future, people want to see more stuff that goes the Global Illumination route more.
Something to think about.
I used to fall into the same mistakes you are right now with your colour and light/shadow
information, I suspect you enjoy the rich moody opulence of it, but that stuff is a trap
that we fall into, the public wants clarity so they can appreciate the whole, they don't
want to get lost in the detail.
While I agree that Diablo 3, TF2, Mirror's Edge and so on have unique, almost toon shaded styles, I'd hate to see every game turn out like that
why the public's tastes are changing based on the evolution of the medium.
You sound a little angered at my suggestions, if I was too hard, I apologize, I wasn't looking
to chide, rather I was hoping to focus what I consider to be excellent work that more people
would be able to appreciate if it were lit more clearly, with less rich coloured lights.
Kevin,
Although I agree some of the games you listed are a nice refresher. I would not call it tastes changing on the evolution of our media. Almost all those titles listed are not "mass" market to the game industry. Sure we may hear about them a lot because they are big to the hardcore gamer crowd. Take a look at Valve they went from tf2 back to a dark, gritty game (left 4 dead).
I can understand how you may be partial to these new colorful games as given your history is on darker grittier games (gears and ut). So something more light hearted and different from the normal grind you do every day may naturally be more appealing. However, Just as many people I am sure are turned on by this darker "90s style" art.
Try rearranging some of your pieces for a better composition. Right now you've got the foreground cluttered up with all of your pieces. I usually think foreground, middle ground, then background. Color plays an important role in this illusion as well. Warm colors usually pull toward you and cold ones pull away. There are exceptions to this rule though.
Anywayyy.....you guys are doing great, you just need to do some dialing.
Hope I didn't come off as a know it all. I'm learning myself.:poly122:
We likely won't do a proper high-res image update again until all of our props are finished and everything is textured and lit to near final, but here's smaller images showing the 2 shots.
Without getting in to our entire 'to do' list for props, I will say that the props that will be on the platform aren't finished, so that is why its open and bare at the moment.
Also note the update to the lighting since the last image. What Boyd had was for our purposes, but its time we focused on the lighting itself so I wanted to do it properly; I scrapped what was in the scene earlier and reworked it all 'ground up', taking in to consideration the opinions we've read & heard along the way.
That is all.
maybe mess with the fov to pull off something more dynamic
It's pretty funny to look at these shots we have now, because what we have on our end is a lot different (and waaay better IMO) than what's here. We're just waiting on finishing up a few things before showing another update.
Thanks guys
(ps a right jab is called a straight, assuming you're right handed. If you're southpaw it's just called 'jab'.
We're not finished yet
well, it's not a bright sunny day filled with rainbows and fun...so it could be evil. The backstory by Dakkon is pretty cool and worth a read. I'm tired of evil being defined by dead bodies and skulls.
Lookin pretty cool so far guys, keep it up.
Hmm, did you get that from America's Next Top Model? Now holy shit, there's evil
I love trolls on this forum....
Hope your music myspace career works out for you *shrug*
Huh, hey if Adam hassled someone else about their piece not being evil enough I can hassle him.
It's a hobby. I have a full time job working as an artist already, bud.
Edit: Before I accidently derail another thread, I wanna say Dakkon, I admire your enthusiasm and can't wait to see the finished piece. Looks great so far... just missing some skulls laying on the floor and clowns.
No your art and music is amazing I am not surprised you have a job!
In fact when I was showing some of the guys around here they could not stop from laughing.. it is that good.
again troll maybe you should listen to your own crits with your own art....
"Looks like the crap my dog took on the lawn yesterday."
" Invest in a time machine back to the year 1996, they'd love you there"
Ryan, LOL. Lets hug this one out.
Whoaa man, let's take this to GD or PMs. And for the record, those were comments I made on other peoples work(and don't act like I was the only one making jokes), not made on mine.
Anyway, old pictures, we'll see how it looks in the end. Will it be evil enough? Who knows.
Going from the story Boyd had written in the original post, we wanted to create a scene that shows the Terrans (humans) capturing and dissecting their Gods (the Aeons) within a Terran science-class ship thats specifically built for this which they've dubbed the 'Yard'.
Boyd and I are nearly ready to call this piece 'finished'. Phew! My schedule for the remainder of the contest will be especially busy, so we tried to wrap as much up by tonight as we could. So, barring and small updates we may make from now and until the 10th, here's what our final 2 beauty shots will be.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
They were only known as the Aeon. Giant vessels that had been around since the dawn
of reality. The Aeon traveled through creation, stopping at countless worlds, and with
them they brought peace. The vessels contained countless souls of a race long past, yet
still trying to influence those who would listen. They would share their wisdom, seed
new worlds, and enhance civilizations.
Many worshiped the Aeon as gods for their efforts, a title that was not undeserved.
While the Aeon may have been avatars of peace, not all life was as enlightened. As
worlds advanced, so did their hunger for power. Despite the efforts of the Aeon, efforts
that had kept peace for millenia, war began from one side of creation to the other.
War can cause unspeakable acts that were unthinkable in the past. Many sins were
committed during this time, but all pales in comparison to the moment mortals turned
their eyes on the Aeon. Those who were once gods became prey. Timeless power was
just too tempting to resist. It is amazing what can be justified in our darkest hour. We
hunted the Aeon, trapped, and gutted them in scrap yards which became their grave.
Thus ended the Aeon... fools.
Peace is just a concept, war is the true constant.
Written by Dakkon
Click the image for a larger shot.
Click the image for a larger shot.