So I figured I'd give the ArenaNet art test a whirl. At this point I'm just about done blocking things out (sitting at about 2250 tris) and will start sculpting in the details tonight.
Really nice man, I love what you're doing here. I've been noodling around with this art test myself and sculpting the stylized pieces is a great way to go.
Can't wait to see this finished; Better hurry though, not long until the dealine.
Thanks guys! It's going to be a close call to finish this on time, but I feel like I've been making decent progress. I really just wish I started a week earlier.
Here's a small update to prove that I'm still working. I'm almost done sculpting and I hope to get everything baked and base diffuse textures painted by tomorrow.
At this point I don't think I'll be able to finish in time... my textures still need a lot of lovin'. It has been a great experience, however and I do intend to finish.
I LOVE what you did with those spiral thingies. But one thing I'm noticing is that the ends of the wooden beams look funny. Looks like an inverted green channel or a baking error?
Hey. Very nice. But:
Bell is to big imo. Even for cartoonish style, it just doesn't fit. And you stone base texture is distorted on top. It's overall distorted and it's clearly visible, you should ix UV mapping for it.
I really like where you're going with this, a nice unique and well executed touch of the original concept. My only gripe except obvious UV-fixes are the alpha-planes on the roof, they need to be double sided so don't forget to fix that later, it'll help sell the silhouette. Good work!
Yep. Spiral accent thingy looks pretty cool. The roof tiles seam to be too thin IMO. I would try to thicken those. Also, with the bell, I see where you were going with it, but not sure it works. I would place it lower, maybe on a different wall, or put it to the side on its own. It's quite possible this piece might look better without the bell entirely. Your call.
Are you using the high poly sculpts for baking normal maps? My biggest issue currently i your high poly models are really nice but the game res model looks almost looks like its using flat diffuse textures with no normals and spec.
Thanks for the feedback guys! I should have another update soon. Major things to do: Clean up normal maps, finish diffuse, add spec maps, revisit bell, and revisit the trim around the top of the foundation.
@Aigik - Yeah, I have to do some cleaning up on the normals.
@chrisradsby - Absolutely! I totally forgot to turn that on when I was rendering out of Marmoset.
@iniside, Illusive & GOBEE - You guys are right I'm going to be revisiting the bell for sure.
@Grimmstrom & Alberto Rdrgz - I did bake my normals from a high poly. I haven't started spec maps yet, but I am planning on it! I need to clean up a few things in my Normals and finish painting my diffuse as well. Right now I'd say textures are at about 40% (ish).
Do you have a spot of alpha texture left? You could use it for the top row of bricks, and the spines of the roof tiles. One other thing I think the textures need improvement on: color variety.
I also agree with the non-fittyness of the bell. Aside from that, the text is very hard to read. And personally, I don't think there's a lot of room for guests in this 'broken bell lodge'. There seem to be 2, maybe 3 rooms in the entire building. If it were my prop, I'd swap out the bell for a more generic (red painted, like the door?) wooden sign. This would (ingame) be more versatile as well: just swap the texture/decal to change shop names for every village.
Loving the curly ends, very cheap yet adding a lot of detail and flair. I'm probably gonna steal this at some point.
I've still got to finish painting my all my diffuse maps and I haven't even started spec maps yet (I know, I know...) I should be nailing those out shortly.
I ended up removing the bell because I felt like it was overkill and detracting from the rest of the building. I am at somewhat of a loss as to what to do with the texture space I had designated for the bell, any suggestions would be great. I may add some sort of sign back in, but I'm not sure yet.
I'd spruce up the entry more with that extra texture space. Things like a mailbox, maybe an eviction notice, hanging moss is always a popular touch, milk bottles, maybe something guild wars related, yada yada.
On the topic of sprucing up, the entry way is a big focal and the neatness of the stones is an issue for me. Maybe scaling the shape or rotating them might give them a more natural, settled in feeling?
Other than anything major, some extra textures might be good to use on add dirt and grunge to areas of the house, as well as some green (like algae or moss in a way) to the stone base. The setting is most likely in a grassland (pre-searing was set in a rural farmland style, which would entail dirt and grass rubbing against most of the house, especially the base).
It's an interesting style you've got going, I like the variation you have from the base stone and the house's stone. Cracks look too clean for my taste, if it's a plaster or similar material, it may be more partial to crumbling around the cracks a little. A touch of dirt in corners might help merge it to the wood as well as pop the wood more as it reaches it. The roof like has a nice richness in color, very different from many others I've see; I enjoy the roof. Those twists in the wood, too, are a nice accent and pop the shape.
There is a lot of interesting intersecting shapes that are going on; they hold well, structurally, to real tudor houses.
looks good but materials dont seem very well defined yet, no visible specular changes at all yet but when u get to this it will make an awesome difference
Replies
Can't wait to see this finished; Better hurry though, not long until the dealine.
Another update before I go to bed:
Here's a small update to prove that I'm still working. I'm almost done sculpting and I hope to get everything baked and base diffuse textures painted by tomorrow.
Here's where it's currently sitting:
Bell is to big imo. Even for cartoonish style, it just doesn't fit. And you stone base texture is distorted on top. It's overall distorted and it's clearly visible, you should ix UV mapping for it.
@Aigik - Yeah, I have to do some cleaning up on the normals.
@chrisradsby - Absolutely! I totally forgot to turn that on when I was rendering out of Marmoset.
@iniside, Illusive & GOBEE - You guys are right I'm going to be revisiting the bell for sure.
@Jernej - I'll see what I can do!
@Grimmstrom & Alberto Rdrgz - I did bake my normals from a high poly. I haven't started spec maps yet, but I am planning on it! I need to clean up a few things in my Normals and finish painting my diffuse as well. Right now I'd say textures are at about 40% (ish).
I also agree with the non-fittyness of the bell. Aside from that, the text is very hard to read. And personally, I don't think there's a lot of room for guests in this 'broken bell lodge'. There seem to be 2, maybe 3 rooms in the entire building. If it were my prop, I'd swap out the bell for a more generic (red painted, like the door?) wooden sign. This would (ingame) be more versatile as well: just swap the texture/decal to change shop names for every village.
Loving the curly ends, very cheap yet adding a lot of detail and flair. I'm probably gonna steal this at some point.
I've still got to finish painting my all my diffuse maps and I haven't even started spec maps yet (I know, I know...) I should be nailing those out shortly.
I ended up removing the bell because I felt like it was overkill and detracting from the rest of the building. I am at somewhat of a loss as to what to do with the texture space I had designated for the bell, any suggestions would be great. I may add some sort of sign back in, but I'm not sure yet.
On the topic of sprucing up, the entry way is a big focal and the neatness of the stones is an issue for me. Maybe scaling the shape or rotating them might give them a more natural, settled in feeling?
Other than anything major, some extra textures might be good to use on add dirt and grunge to areas of the house, as well as some green (like algae or moss in a way) to the stone base. The setting is most likely in a grassland (pre-searing was set in a rural farmland style, which would entail dirt and grass rubbing against most of the house, especially the base).
It's an interesting style you've got going, I like the variation you have from the base stone and the house's stone. Cracks look too clean for my taste, if it's a plaster or similar material, it may be more partial to crumbling around the cracks a little. A touch of dirt in corners might help merge it to the wood as well as pop the wood more as it reaches it. The roof like has a nice richness in color, very different from many others I've see; I enjoy the roof. Those twists in the wood, too, are a nice accent and pop the shape.
There is a lot of interesting intersecting shapes that are going on; they hold well, structurally, to real tudor houses.