Hand-Painted Floating Air Garage.
polycounter lvl 12
Hi everyone. Here's something I just started working on. It's not hand painted yet, but that's the style I'm going to go for. Here's my concept:
Here's a link the artists Devianart page: http://mirchaz.deviantart.com/
Here's where I'm at with the low poly:
The ground is still placeholder. Not sure if I should use Zbrush to shape it or not yet.
I also removed the stairs. I'm going to add a generator and some stuff back there. Also going to add a quirky sorta sign on the roof saying who's garage it is. Going to do some engine parts instead of the barrel, and gonna throw a mailbox in there somewhere too. As much as I like the concept, it doesn't really scream Air Garage to me.
It's still early yet, but yeah, any crits on the scale or anything? I'm trying to match the concept fairly closely.
Quick question: do people ever use normals on hand painted stuff? Like maybe even to just bake in edges or something?
Here's a link the artists Devianart page: http://mirchaz.deviantart.com/
Here's where I'm at with the low poly:
The ground is still placeholder. Not sure if I should use Zbrush to shape it or not yet.
I also removed the stairs. I'm going to add a generator and some stuff back there. Also going to add a quirky sorta sign on the roof saying who's garage it is. Going to do some engine parts instead of the barrel, and gonna throw a mailbox in there somewhere too. As much as I like the concept, it doesn't really scream Air Garage to me.
It's still early yet, but yeah, any crits on the scale or anything? I'm trying to match the concept fairly closely.
Quick question: do people ever use normals on hand painted stuff? Like maybe even to just bake in edges or something?
Replies
I like your decision to add generators and stuff, although the stairs were cool to me because it made the space a little more playable, like you could climb to that little top house from outside or something. Still, I see how it would be hard to fit in with the other stuff you want to add, it is a very intimate space.
Continue to update, I want to watch this :]
Jessica - Thanks as well. I'll fix the roof. Good call on the little building being off. I didn't notice that mine wasn't taking up half the space. I'll fix that.
Yeah, I think generators and what not will add a bit more character to the scene. I need to make it actually look like an airplane garage, which the concept doesn't illustrate that enough I think.
Oh, and your progress thread on here is a great reference too.
As for normals, would you do a high poly and bake it down? Or just run the Diffuse through Crazy bump or something?
I can definitely recommend doing at least a rough Zbrush pass on the ground and rocks, even if you decide to go diffuse only. I found that it results in a more organic, convincing looking lowpoly. It also gives you a good base for your diffuse texture, with convincing 3D shapes that really bring out your lowpoly.
Anyways, looking forward to seeing where this will go!
I like how they lead up to that watch tower
So, I've fixed up the mesh a little bit, as was advised on here, and added some more detail. I started painting the roof and front door as well. I did a little of the blue beams but I need to re-do them. I want to match the style set out in the concept, but am finding it difficult. They hardly read as wood in the concept to me.
I also got it into UDK quickly because I know if I don't soon I'll be too tempted to just go off, make this thing high poly and render it in Mental Ray.
Will get stuck into it some more soon and get some real progress happening.
Mad props for the artist of the concept ^^ The grass makes it look so inviting.
Here's how it is at the moment.
Here's a closer shot of the generator thing:
I had a question I was hoping someone could answer too. I'm making the windows as a separate mesh. I originally tried to re-use the roof texture for them, but I figured this is for my folio and I'd make it a unique mesh.
Anyway, my problem is about UV maps. I work in Maya. Here's the UVs for my window:
It fits in half of my UV space. I'm guessing here I should do a 512x 256 map or something rather than the normal square. How the hell do I actually do that? I export in Maya as 512 x 256 or whatever, but then in PS do I change it back to 512x512, do my texture, and then change it back again to 512x256 and save the final?
Thanks for the explanations guys. They cleared things up perfectly.
I'm a little stuck on how to approach them. For the side wall, I plan to make a tileable texture. For the front its not going to be a tileable one. Should I put the UVs for the front and sides on the same UV map? Or should I use more material IDs and make it so they have their own UV maps?
I'm used to working in cinematic lighting and modeling, so I'm a little confused when it comes to all the challenging limitations game art presents.
thanks.
This is why I love this forum; I didn't know how to do that either, and now, from browsing through other people's work, I do! I'm literally learning something new every day on here
Hayden; any plans to do the interior of the garage or make a crazy flying car thingy to go in it? Saw some really cool Russian Cold-War kids' rides in a news article recently, I can definitely see something similar flying up and parking in your garage (9th image down I think); http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073113/Turnip-Strength-Tester-Cold-War-arcade-games-discovered-Moscow-basement.html
Yeah, I'm going to start addressing that with lighting soon. Thanks.
The way I've built the scene so far, I think the interior will be hard to pull off. Not sure yet. I wouldn't mind doing some sort of vehicle to go with it. Got my hands full with the concept as it is at the moment. Thanks for the comments.
If I had to offer a crit, I would have to say, break up some of the straight lines don't be afraid to add a few more polys to give it some character or soften some of the edges.
Mark Dygert - Thanks. As for breaking up the lines, I know what you mean. I plan on refraining from that for the moment as the concept is mostly straight lines. I'm going to go in at the end and do what you suggest to see how it looks. The concept still looks cartoony, but yeah, the building design doesn't have much of a toony shape design.
When you say add a few more polies to soften edges, where would you use them? Lik on the wooden beams? I was under the impression the normal way was to try and bake the edges in.
Speaking of Zelda, I'm trying to texture in a somewhat similar style to how Skyward Sword was textured.
How in the blue hell am I supposed to make that work inside of UDK. In Maya, I could just paint 3 masks and use a layered texture. Is there any good way to do something similar inside of UDK?
I've seen how with terrain you can kind of paint rock paths and such, but is it possible to paint right on a mesh?
thanks.
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You could use vertex painting for painting textures on the mesh If I'm right. But I don' t know to much about UDK.
We are about to go into a new hardware cycle, places will be starting to hire artists that will work well with the new specs. Not DS specs from 5 years ago.
Personally I would take these minor imperfections into zbrush or mudbox and round out a few corners and carve in some indents then bake it to normal maps. It will help blend the 2D strokes into the actual shape of the model and sell the 2D-3D look.
I'm not trying to strong arm you into doing something you don't think is necessary, but just taking the time to actually layout what I see and what I think would help.
Don't think that I expect you to do this just because I bothered to post it =P
Do whatever you think is right
Also... the straps on the dock overlap on one of the boards...
UltraLrod - Not sure yet. I've got the generator there for now. I'm thinking I might add a ladder though.
SasoChicken - Thanks for the feedback.
No, they match the concept and need to be thick and exaggerated, keep them.
Thanks for the comment. I would add nails, but I want to keep true to the concept. What do you mean by go more wild with the wood?
Started sorting out the island's texture. I didn't use vertex painting to lay the grass over the top of the rock texture. I think I might get a better result if I do, I just need to wrap my head around vertex painting some more. The rock texture isn't done by the way.
It seems the more I do, the darker that shadow under the door becomes. Don't know what's causing it.
Also started a sign for the front to make it clear what this place is. I'm picturing that a young, energetic female mechanic named Luciola lives here.
Thanks for all the help and comments so far. Keep em coming.
Just my 2 (extremely novice) pence/cents
MrNinjutsu - I have to re-do the UVs there. I added a bit of separation between the planks after I'd done the texture.
KartoonHead - I thought they'd look good just green...jokes. Going to sort them out soon enough; once I learn a bit more on vertex painting or whatver it is.
l.croxton - This place is for planes. Like little bi-planes or something. Not hover cars lol. But you gave me an idea. I might do some wheel marks on the driveway to indicate where the plans are slamming on the breaks.
Tell me what ya think.
You are missing the bottom beam that the diagonal roof supports are resting on. The garage door bolts are sitting too low and I think they could be a little bigger too. You are also missing the rests for those bolts, as well as the garage door hinges. I think the driveway is a little long, making the house look little and short, I think you could lose a beam, or even 2.
You must make the props! xD The barrel, the shovel, the rope, the cable above the garage door. All these things bring the garage to life and make it look like it's being used. I also think the island needs little grass meshes so you can put them at the edges, around the house, and generally all about. Also right now your path is very straight, but in the concept it is fun and zig-zaggy so I would try to replicate that.
Adding fog in this scene will also be good and give more of a sense that this thing is floating in the sky. I might also add a subtle point light near the back of the house where the generator is; in the concept you see that there is a little lighting there and it is causing the roof supports to have some nice cast shadows. This point light will also help illuminate the nice wall texture you have, which I really like a lot
I think the island mesh could use some more work. Have some broken pieces, like rock that cracked and slid down a bit like I can see in the left side of the concept. Just more segments in general to make the thing look more rocky and less smooth and marshmallowy.
If the shadow at the bottom of the door is bothering you, perhaps try self-illuminating your textures a bit.
This is looking super cute though
I don't know what to do with the grooves in the roof. In my texture they're really dark, but in UDK the sunlight blows em out. I actually modeled a few of the grooves in. It helps the silhouette, but makes the grooves even less noticeable from afar.
I left out the hinges on the door because I decided I was going to make it a door that swings upwards. If I do that I'll probably need to get rid of the two locking beams...hang on: if those beams are locking beams, why the heck are the on the outside I wonder? I might just follow the concept lol.
Guess I better make those props. Although, I dunno about a shovel and barrel. I might try and make things that fit the scene a bit more.
I was going to try and paint a sky. I didn't even think of using fog. Going to use that instead. More for me to learn.
Gonna add some of those sliding rock segments too. I didn't even notice that. Gonna address everything else you mentioned while I'm at it. Thanks again. Looks like I still got a fair bit to do.
i didnt know this was 2 pages an made a big comment of where this was on page 1
after catching up. i really like the was this looks, only thing i do not like is the littpe prop sticking of the roof (not the one on the sign)
it just does not seem to fix
I've got a few more things to do:
- Fix the roof color.
- Make the blue wood textures of the garage door match the beams and stuff above it.
- Make some flowers. Was thinking maybe some poppies and daffodils might look neat.
-Paint in some more occlusion where my AO bakes didn't work.
- See if I can figure out how to make a sky texture of my own. I thouight it would be easy, but I got pretty scared when I looked it up.
However I still think you could show the wood some more geometry love. It just screams for some modeled in chips and chunks.