Squaresoft Town
polycounter lvl 15
Okay, it's been a while. Here's a new project of mine.
I'm using a Squaresoft concept painting as a springboard to experiment with simple, clean textures and parallax mapping! (but not overboard :poly142:).
Pretty cool. Now, I just started learning Sandbox 2 this last weekend, since UT3 just wasn't cutting it. So, here's a couple test props in Sandbox:
Lamp ~ 1600 tri -- 256X512
Barrel ~ 320 tri -- 256X256
Statue ~ 1600 tri -- 256X512
Sign ~ 900 tri -- 256X256
Enviro Sheets -- 512X512
Tell me what you think needs improving. Otherwise I'm just going to use this as a WIP thread as things come along. Also, I have two monitors now, and for the first time color/contrast accuracy is hazy. Anyone use a colorimeter ? (the difference between my two monitors is pretty crazy)
I'm using a Squaresoft concept painting as a springboard to experiment with simple, clean textures and parallax mapping! (but not overboard :poly142:).
Pretty cool. Now, I just started learning Sandbox 2 this last weekend, since UT3 just wasn't cutting it. So, here's a couple test props in Sandbox:
Lamp ~ 1600 tri -- 256X512
Barrel ~ 320 tri -- 256X256
Statue ~ 1600 tri -- 256X512
Sign ~ 900 tri -- 256X256
Enviro Sheets -- 512X512
Tell me what you think needs improving. Otherwise I'm just going to use this as a WIP thread as things come along. Also, I have two monitors now, and for the first time color/contrast accuracy is hazy. Anyone use a colorimeter ? (the difference between my two monitors is pretty crazy)
Replies
Thanks for the advice, the multiple lamp instances is a great idea.
I'm using a mix between high poly modeling and sculpting on top of some hand-painting. It'll be tricky to get clean. There are still some crisp seams I wish I could remove, but such is the state of current normal mapping technology.
This piece should be awesome, given you pull it off
Edit: Looks like from the name of the file it was a chocobo's dungeon game.
i would keep the diffuse clean and as simple as poss for now, get the environment worked up with shaders then see how much you need to add
Why exactly do you habe those seams, got any closeups for us? maybe it can be solved
The terrain editor in Crysis is giving me problems, so that isn't showing up for now. The final cropping will be different, as I haven't figured out how to adjust a camera while looking through it. The red lines indicate some composition changes.
This is a big ass scene, so I've got my work cut out for me! I'll probably post up some props, as soon as I get a few more done.
Edit: I need to figure out something in terms of getting a higher res shot. Perhaps adjusting my monitor to portrait instead of landscape for the screen-cap. The perspective in the concept art is crazy, and I'm going to try to get some of that nice curvature in the models.
-Buddikaman
I love the sort of pastel colour palette going on in the concept art. If you can manage to get this vibe going in your editor it'd be nice!
Can't wait to see some more textures.
I'm feeling nostalgic, lol
And 2nd.....
not to thread jack, but what are the pros and cons of having floaters in the game engine vs a continuous mesh?
Quite a bit of the geo is floating atm. Some of the struts running up the buildings aren't. There aren't many downsides to using floating geo, it just saves time modeling. Your UV's will be cleaner if you keep it manifold, but for tileable stuff like this it isn't a problem.
Funny that you should ask this though. These particular props, if given a deformer to get some of that nice curvature going, might not deform correctly with the floating geo I have. It will have to be done carefully.
Too much empty space? It'll be a good day when I can stop blobbing paint on my update images!
Things are going to be a lot smoother now though.
Edit: Oh, and have a good laugh at the tri-count. Incidentally, my scene is only about 60k right now. That's sandbox for you.
I would try and nail your composition early before you dress the scene. Right now you're running with a pretty standard (read: safe) composition. This scene could get a lot of attitude from something a bit more dynamic (tilted camera, higher FOV, closer to the ground, etc. etc. All things you could try.) I wouldn't mimic the concepts view of this town, but instead use it as a basis for your building designs (which you have) then give us a whole new perspective on this area of town.
As for multiple streetlamps/variance in props: You could easily make 1 lamp that has a bend in it, and rotate it with each new instance that is placed. This way you'll end up with some straight, some bent, and all looking different - all while using one asset.
Are you going to fill out the left side (our left) of the building farthest to the left or keep it opened like that? If you rotate the camera to our right a bit, you could skip making new art for that and have that building (or tree) be what blocks the view past the little town here.
really interested in individual asset shots
I randomly got a job 1 month ago (shortly after my last post), so I've just been picking away at it.
Adam: Thank you so much for your input on this... I have tried to take everything you said into consideration. The shot could still be more extreme, but I do want it to be somewhat of an 'establishing' shot.
If you really nitpick, there are some lighting problems, but mostly because Sandbox2 has no light baking. I learned at work about the value of AO vertex bakes, and have included it here (perhaps it's too strong? - but looks pretty good IMO).
Can't figure out how to get rid of the Info (top right)!
Sorry about not posting more wires/props, but I'm tired
I've learned a lot from this project, and will next time refrain from doing fan art. It's so fun though!
if i recall, "cl_displayinfo 0" should get rid of that garble in the top right for ya
And how do you just 'randomly' get a job?
I also second what Hazardous is saying about the lighting on the ground. Maybe just lower the radius of the lights a bit to better define some pools of light and darkness.
(something else. (might also be way to late as you might found this already) anyway. you mentioned that there is little documentation about ce2. Might check this out. Nearly covers every aspect of the engine, asset creation and the editor)
http://doc.crymod.com/
Could you show a breakdown of your tree? you've managed some nice deep shadows in there.
Just in case you didn't know; try out those commands when you take your final beauty-shot.
e_screenshot_width = (put whatever you want)
e_screenshot_height =
e_screenshot_quality = 100
e_screenshot = 1
They produce the same results as tiledshot in UDK.
EDIT: Let me know when you're finished with this piece and we'll get it up in the banner rotation. (I'll need something 1024px or wider.)
It's so beautiful I'll save that Pictures.
Awesome work.
You want to make a Mod of it?
A.Kincade, ikken, bounchfx, skayne: Thanks for the praise guys.
tda: displayinfo is exactly what I wanted!
throttlekitty: the 'random' job I guess is a little exaggerated. It had just been a couple months since I had applied anywhere and had somewhat given up hope... it SEEMED random.
Ged: here's just a breakdown of the building pieces:
next time I'd probably go with less floaters, as my overdraw goes a little crazy on that house in particular.
Hazardous, Ben Apuna, HAL: Thanks for the lighting advice, this has helped a TON. I'm not sure what I was thinking before!
kaburan: to get the tree to shade well at night, I had to model the leaves almost as if they were manifold. There are probably other ways to approach this, and I'd love to hear them!
teaandcigarettes: I really wish I had known these commands earlier, but it will help a ton for future projects!
adam: would be so awesome to have a spot on the banners.
dippingsauce: Squaresoft definitely has gone a little more Disney-esque since they worked on the Kingdom Hearts games. It's a cool mix if you ask me.
Famouz: Really appreciate your praise, but I'm afraid my mod days are over. Sorry!
NEW UPDATE with AA:
I could keep fiddling with this, but I think it's better to call it done (changes certainly aren't out of the question if suggested). I was going for very simple and clean with this (as my past work has been too noisy overall).
I'll definitely return to these techniques at some point for something of my own design!
Neat breakdown of the building and tree. Your tree looks great, the construction method seems to work well for this visual style.
Congrats on the getting hired, and the banner spot
Great job!
sorry to ask but are those pieces all on seperate textures?
I just wonder what best practice is when doing enviro works.
But maybe you can give some advice, what you did to get this mood?
I'll try to copy this style.
Please give some advice.