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Art test fail / Tree Chest prop

Hey all
I recently got to do an art test for NetDevil (a local game company I have been trying to get a job at for years) and unfortunatly I failed the test. So in an effort to improve the model and possibly resubmit it, for the hell of it, I would like to get as much feedback on it as possible.

The requirements for the test
Make a game efficient prop that;
Matches the style guide and concept
512x512 map(s)
No poly limit
Modeled, UV'd, lit,rendered
5 days to do it, submit a jpg and max file.

It was all done in max9, 4100 polys total. The tree and chest have a bump, spec and diffuse map, while the lock has a spec and diffuse.
I submitted a max file, 3 .psd files, a .tga file and the jpg of the render (which is the front view below)

I would have liked to do a normal map but didnt think I would have time for it so I tried to keep it lower poly. I did do an AO pass and baked that in to the diffuse. All the textures are hand painted in PS with my tablet.


That being said I would like to get as much feedback on the model as I can please.


Clay and Mesh
4100 polys total
Tree_clay_wires01.jpg

The front and back of final prop
Tree_frontback01.jpg
Th concept and style guide

twistedtree01.jpg
GlowingFungusSGuide.jpg

Any and all C&C would be helpful, thanks

Replies

  • Dante1217
    in the drawing the chest seems more secure than in the model, maybe wanna "imbedd" the chest a bit more? maybe its just the angle...
  • Reverenddevil
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    Reverenddevil polycounter lvl 9
    A couple of things i see right off. The wood does not register as wood in your texture. It looks as though you just used a procedural material or flat color for the red. Considering it is wood, there is no real bright red wood colors.

    Second thing is there are no highlights or shadows etc on your lock and chest. They look very flat to me.

    Third the tree texture looks a bit blobby and doesnt read as bark to me.

    I would go back and try define some of the materials a bit more.
  • AnimeAngel
    Well its a lego game and the red is a lego red.

    I will try the textures again then. Painting textures is certainly not my strongest suit but it certainly worth it to improve. Anyone know any tricks to paint bark better?
  • konstruct
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    konstruct polycounter lvl 18
    If they didn't give you a poly limit, it either means that they want to see what your judgment is or they want you to go nuts with it. I can tell you right now they probably don't care too much about high tech normal maps or a crazy high end sculpt, so dont waste your time going nuts with it. I`d try and shoot for half your poly count, and for the texture try and emulate the style of paint job that's used on the mushrooms in the concept. lego games have crazy high counts on the actual legos so the resulting "support" meshes have to be fairly low to compensate.

    also purely form an asehetic point, the concep clearly shows twists and gnarls in the wood, and your model, and concept push more of a lump of wood rather that twists.

    Good luck on the art test- ND might not have the best projects to work on, but its a cool environment with cool people-
  • danr
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    danr interpolator
    there's a reason they've given you two sets of concept art - they want to see that you can translate the specific design of the tree sketch through to the colourful lego style shown in the fungus sketches

    and i don't think you have. First off you've lost some of the specific details in the tree - the curls on the hanging bits, the fat twists of the "wood". And then you've headed down a more realistic approach than the style guide suggests, probably trying too hard to suggest detailed bark ... cos bark is what trees have, right? In the same way dancing mushrooms don't have horns?

    If you were to redo it i'd suggest spending more of the unlimited polys in really pushing the fat shape of the sketch, modelling in lots of those twists and gnarls with harder more defined edges. It's a lego concept, think of it like hard moulded plastic rather than clay.

    And then you might want to consider going a lot simpler texture with bolder cartoonish and probably outlandish colour ...hey, but trees are brown, right? And mushrooms don't look like blancmange. Bah. Thinking back over lego concepts, the muddier end of red/purple sticks in my mind for old wood

    Also, a touch more hard spec across your modelled shapes would help push the plasticcy feel, but vary it between the tree and the chest, where you'd be wanting to push the more metallic elements and give it a sharp contrast . I'm guessing if they want a lit render they want to see that you can grasp different surfaces under lighting while still keeping it true to style
  • danr
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    danr interpolator
    very quick paintover of the bottom left, of where i'm going with that

    2951415640_7d53a31aec_o.jpg

    oh but less fleshy obviously. Hey i said it was quick ..,
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 19
    agreed with danr, really push that curly, whimsical look the concept has.
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    the whole thing about giving the chest "lego" colours is only really true if the chest is an actual lego peice, which i suggest it is not, if it isnt you should have deffinatly gone for a more painterly style on it as it is good to show the contrast between what is lego and what is not, thats atleast true of the Lego games we make at travellers tales.
  • JohnnyRaptor
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    JohnnyRaptor polycounter lvl 15
    4100 polys or tris? if its 4100 polys that could mean 8200 triangles!, for a small prop. thats probably what dropped you out mate.
  • bounchfx
    yeah the first thing that stood out to me was "game efficient prop", then seeing something like that being 4100 polys!? even if it's tris, it's not very efficient for the shape. try looking at what you can cut down, ideally I would probably get this thing within 1k-1.5k triangles max. looks like they want a more colorful texture as well.
  • AnimeAngel
    Thanks Danr for the paint over. That helps alot I was trying to go for the twisted wood but wasnt sure how to translate it on the unwrapped surface. I think the black outlining threw me off the most. Wasn't sure if I should just paint the black outlines or what

    As far as poly count goes, agree that even though there was no limit that they certainly were not looking for me to go crazy with it. I honestly havent done very many props, so I wasn't sure how many polys would make it a "game efficient model". That more then anything is what stood out to me in the requirements. I will try and work in a lower poly count and try to cut it in half.

    For the chest and tree colors, I tried to base that off of some press release concepts for the game that I found. Thus why I tried to go with a more real looking wood and to contrast it with the lego'ish chest.
    Ninja_Tree_Entrance_Lego_Universe.jpg
    Gnarled_hollowtree_Town_davek_540x269.jpg

    They were the only two concepts I could find that had trees in it.
  • shalinor
    AnimeAngel wrote: »
    For the chest and tree colors, I tried to base that off of some press release concepts for the game that I found.

    I agree with everyone else that your tree does seem off, a little too lump-of-clay looking such that it doesn't read like twisty bark, but the chest itself is a problem too. If you're modeling an element from real life, you should probably investigate that real life element, and... well, happens that lego chests are always gold-colored ;) If you go check any set with a chest, you'll find it's always the same simplistic gold-colored chest piece.
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