Super-volcanic 50s Diner
Hi all, I'm new to Polycount and was hoping I could get some crit on the early going of my final year university project. The idea is essentially 'What if the Yellowstone super volcano went off in 1957'? This diner is one of the isolated buildings left to fall into disrepair for years after the disaster. Any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
This is a basic render of what the scene might look like:
It's currently 16190 tris.
As far as individual assets go, here are the wireframes, and the diffuse+spec textured renders, of:
The chairs:
The couches:
The clock:
I want to make this environment as good as I possibly can, so any observations are welcome.
This is a basic render of what the scene might look like:
It's currently 16190 tris.
As far as individual assets go, here are the wireframes, and the diffuse+spec textured renders, of:
The chairs:
The couches:
The clock:
I want to make this environment as good as I possibly can, so any observations are welcome.
Replies
I think you should look a bit into your topology. The couch really got some strange topology you don't really need, try to focus on the basic shapes of the object. Also the clock looks a bit odd, why is there sticking a square plane through the mesh?
Anyway keep going!
oh and welcome to Polycount
Could you post a few images from other angles, it's hard to get an idea of the area as a whole from one view point.
What sort of lighting were you thinking of? I assume natural as there would be little to no electricity in a volcano hit area.
As it is at such an early stage it is difficult to make suggestions or crit at this stage, however the couch does have an odd topology still. The sides of the back cushion and where it joins to the back are the most noticable, again different angled images would help.
I'll post more rendered angles of the overall environment in the next couple of days.
The lighting will be natural, likely early afternoon light, since as you say there'd be no electricity. I'll also be taking into account the likelihood of lingering ash clouding out some of the sunlight. I'm considering having a segment of the ceiling collapsed (as this can happen under the weight of damp volcanic ash) in order to shine a secondary light onto the circular area of the diner.
I'd appreciate more specifics on the odd topology. If you can mark points on the image that need investigation then I can render it from the necessary angles to give you a better look.
Do you have any thoughts on the textures?
Any thoughts on topology?
EDIT: Also, the clock. I'm not sure if this a smart way to save polys or a silly way to waste texture space. You could probably get away with only one surface to the clock and fake the transparent glass. Also you have a separate poly for the clock hands? Unless this clock is still ticking there's not much point. Again, you could just fake that depth via a texture?
It depends on how you're using it.
Welcome to Polycount!
Red parts are the bits where I think your topology has ran away from you. Blue parts is the base that I was discussing.
I'll look into the clock more once the oven is done, since rearranging the UVs would essentially mean re-texturing the clock.
(Numbered for convenience of replying).
1. That line's there to preserve texture space, as the front of the seat texture is mirrored.
2. I'm not sure what issue you're referencing here.
3. That corner needs some work, but if I remove any polys then the cushion edge becomes noticeably sharp.
4. This shaved a couple of polys off:
Were you suggesting removing more than this?
Any thoughts on the layout?
Textures look nice, there is work that can be done on them but my main concern is they are rather large.
There is a lot of bright red showing through on the clock sides as well, is it supposed to be corrosion or is that from a layer in Photoshop with the Max UV render on?
Also how long is the diner supposed to have been left as the corrosion on the metal suggests a very long time, they look more like they have been left under water or in very salty air. It reminds me of images from the Titanic wreck.
Do you have any other maps for the furniture, spec or norm for instance?
Keep the images coming man.
I'm not sure how the topology should be changed, but here are various other couch wireframe renders to give you a better idea of what I've done:
The reason I'm not rendering the back of the couch is because it doesn't have one. I should've clarified this earlier, but the couches will be backed by walls (I forgot to add them to the blocking above) forming a booth.
What work would you recommend for the textures? I'm already aware of a few areas that need editing, particularly on the chair. I chose to make 1024 textures for the chairs and couches, and in the future the ovens, tables and possibly the stools, since they're large and prominent objects. I'm unsure of how well the engine will handle it, but I thought it best to try and show that I can make high-detail textures, because the worst case scenario is that I simply scale them down.
Yeh, the clock's supposed to be heavily corroded. The rust may well be overdone, I'm currently operating under the assumption that the diner's been exposed to the elements for at least a decade.
I think that covers everything you asked. As long as there's criticism, the images will keep coming.
Looks like I may've been wrong on the metal, it does corrode very quickly (depending on the metal) however it does seem to be more red/brown than orange on most metal left to the elements. Orange seems to be a later stage of...oxidization? Is that correct? Anyway, yeah perhaps more brown than vibrant orange.
I was going for more of a brown tone to the rust, though the clock did turn out a bit bright. I was planning to post my main rust reference image here, but I can't find it on Google and the file is on my other PC.
Stop using Isometric mode!!! looking at the models that way is killing me, perspective is much friendlier on the brain.
To me the first shot looks very cartoony. And yet the textures look like they should fit a photorealistic scene.
I think the stuff is way too corroded and i'm a bit confused by the timeline.
So it's after the eruption. And it might have a cloud hanging still? Tyhen why do the textures look post apocolyptic?
And if the roof is caved in by ash you will have grey ash everywhere, but not rust. If it's years after an eruption there still isn't much reason for a lot of rust. Dust yes, but rust would be more likely after a hurricane.
What I don't like about pont#3 in the coach, is that the bench seems to be a metal base with cushions on it, but the top cushion wraps around/through the metal base.
Now if that piece looks more like a bolt on deco cap it would fit better.
You have a lot of polys to shape the cushion, but the metal seems to be an afterthough. No shape, no trims, no screws...
I was going for a photorealistic scene, what would you say makes the first shot look cartoony? Whatever it is I'll need to correct it. (Note: The standing character is meant to look cartoony, as he's a kind of "diner mascot" statue. I wanted his cartoony design to contrast with the realism of the destruction, a bit like the Vault Boys in Fallout).
The cloud would have caused a significant drop in temperature during the daytime, and the cloud would likely still be hanging. However I acknowledge that my current textures are probably too corroded. Ideally I wanted the eruption of the volcano to have triggered a level of crisis akin to an apocalypse, given that numerous states would have to be evacuated (with great difficulty) to evade the ash, and the ash in the atmosphere would have adverse effects on the global climate.
I'll be caving in the roof and coating some of the diner in dust.
I agree that the couch perhaps needs some screws or other details on the metal. I'm not clear on what you meant about the "bolt on deco cap", could you clarify? I'll do a bit more to give some character to the metal shape.
Thanks for all your advice and criticism, it's greatly appreciated - I'm sure it'll lead to useful progress.
Anyway, what an interesting concept! Though it was my understanding that if that thing goes off we're all be pretty dead (especially me, I live in Montana). I remember seeing a documentary series about what would happen if the sun were blotted out by ash, and I think that plant life that doesn't require sunlight would grow all over the place. Mushrooms and stuff. But only for a short while, I think... Gee, what a useful post I am typing here. PUT MUSHROOMS EVERYWHERE. THAT'LL BE AWESOME.
Great texture work, by the way!
Putting some mushrooms around may not be a bad idea. Even if the plant life withered and died it'd probably still be around, so if there's a decent chance of a mushroom invasion then I should probably have them in there. Thanks for the tip! I'll look into it.
For the metal deco cap, the teardrop (or half teardrop shape) behind the top cushion would probably just have an art-deco metal plate bolted on there (to hide whatever the cushion is attached to). And that would make it look put on after the cushion wraps around, where as currently the cushion appears to 'cut through' and l shaped piece of metal on the side of the bench.
By saarlemsanders at 2011-09-14
And the wireframe:
By saarlemsanders at 2011-09-14
The diffuse still needs a bit more work, and the spec needs a lot more, but I'm throwing that on the pile of second-pass edits that I need to make and moving onto some new assets. Any comments and criticism are welcomed.