Stunning work, I was really impressed with the color control, the richness of material mixes and the composition of levels of detail in UC3. Shame it's not gotten the sales it deserved, I loved my time with it
Thanks guys, you guys have done some awesome work yourselves Awesome portfolios!
By the way, I recently updated my blog with the work I did on Yemen and the well room http://jeremyhuxley.blogspot.com/2011/12/uncharted-3-yemen.html As for the people that were asking about texture sheets and techniques etc. A few guys and I just finished a document that will be out soonish here that covers that -Jeremy
Hey, Jeremy, thanks for the update! Looks very neat. In UC 2 in Nepal tiling bricks on buildings were pretty obvious and it kinda bothered me a bit, but here you guys made it almost flawless in that regard. Great job. Now onto the "not zombies", huh?:)
Also the shot where the palm is up close is really awesome, 'cause of all the diffused green.
Do you guys fake translucency in some way?(though I doubt that) or maybe you just add a little emissive to the leaves to create some back lighting. Or is it just strong bounce light from the ground bouncing back from the leaves?
oh, and the well room could really use some dust particles in the air.)
I hope Jeremy doesn't mind, but I want to post more stuff he worked on since he's too modest for his own good Jeremy and I worked as a team for the first year of production on Yemen in UC3 and it was one of the best years of my professional career to say the least. As we ramped up production they moved him to another level and had Adelle Bueno come in and finish up Yemen, of which she did an awesome job. Here's a few choice picks of Yemen:
Also, to answer some questions about the modeler/texture roles at Naughty Dog, the modeler is in charge of all the back end stuff in the engine required to set up the levels, manages assets both modeled internally and outsourced, and constantly balances performance of polys and memory. We also work quite closely with the designers to communicate their level and gameplay designs. The texture artists are the uber talented ones that come in and create and manage the textures and color schemes of the levels as well as help to define the look of every asset. While both sides often wish they could do the others jobs from time to time, dividing the roles this way allows each artist to create in larger volume and to be more skilled within their specialty leading to faster development times.
Do the Modellers ever find themselves blocking in basic textures on their geometry to better define shape and purpose when they, themselves are creating assets?
As I can imagine that certain models which take most, if not all of their detail from texture work would be hard to visualise during creation.
Likewise, would a Texture Artist ever find it difficult to visualise what a modeller had in mind for a shape when working with its silhouette?
Obviously these issues were sidestepped during production, as Uncharted 3 looks stunning - I'm just wondering about your methods to better them
The modelers do apply basic textures (we have a generic material library to use) to get the point across while modeling, but the texture artists replace those.
Also, the modeler and texture artists work very closely together and we use a lot of reference image from the real world to guide us in creating authentic assets that would be found in the respective locations. Because so much research is put in before modeling or texturing, it's easier for both roles to visualize the assets.
Yes, the modelers have a basic surfaces library they use to get the idea across, but due to the PS3 architecture and Naughty Dog engine, more polys can be afforded so we don't have to rely on textures to define an objects shape.
The texture artists and modelers work very close together which takes out a lot of the visualization problems you're mentioning. Also a LOT of research happens long before anything gets modeled or textured so it's easy to point to a reference or concept and say "this model is this object".
very nice work , congratulations!
were you responsible for the rock shaders in these images?
... I've been doing a lot of rock work recently, and have a couple of questions about your workflow. Rock walls are on of those things I just can't seem to get quite right.
Could it be possible to actually look at the textures instead off some screenshots from the game, this is afterall a game artwork forum. Maybe share some tips and ideas arround said textures, that would be more appreciated by the community.
There might be some issues posting copyrighted art assets from a published title onto the internet, as @RoachMXF alluded to in one of his earlier posts.
Yes, the document Jeremy mentioned is 1 of 4 Naughty Dog articles in the upcoming Polycount "Bible" book. And there is an issue with posting texture assets online, We'd have to watermark it up
I'm fine with seeing watermarks, you can still glean a lot of info from looking at what information was separated into each map.
Fantastic work, the lighting in this engine looks superb. I'm not sure if you'd be allowed to, but one way to really present your work well would be to show a rollover with textures turned off. So, same scene and angle, but lighting over vertex smoothed models only. That would show the difference your work pumps into the scene.
@poopinmymouth Thanks! I can post non textured models no problem, but I didn't want to take over Jeremy's (@RoachMXF) Texture post. I'll try to get him to post some of his texture maps. In the mean time, here's some non-textured examples.
Not exactly sure what you mean by modularity pieces. Depends on the level/area, but most stuff is modular, and few stuff is tfrag (or non-modular). Here's some shots of the level above with some draw overs. The multicolored image shows things that are repeated in the shot, though almost everything is modular. And the red draw over is tfrag. Tfrag is usually created by unique geometry requirements due to design.
I have to say, the Uncharted series has been such a massive inspiration to me in terms of Game-Art, Level Design and, hell, everything!
The first wireframe shot you posted is pretty impressive in terms of sheer geometric detail. Even on an old 60GB PS3, there isn't even a hint of slowdown in such an area.
Sorry if you have already mentioned this elsewhere, but what modelling program do you guys use?
Thank you very much for the breakdowns David - great stuff and always a pleasure to look a bit more beneath the hood
SirCalalot, they use maya as an inhouse tool and concerning the geometry complexity nd has an on the fly instancing generation of tweaked prototypes that I still can't believe no one else has picked up yet. Helps with density and variety.:)
I've always wondered how they get so much physical variation into a scene. The store-fronts in both Uncharted 2 & 3 are among my favourite scenery pieces in any game or film.
Replies
such a great work!
Also, "that's a big door"
By the way, I recently updated my blog with the work I did on Yemen and the well room http://jeremyhuxley.blogspot.com/2011/12/uncharted-3-yemen.html As for the people that were asking about texture sheets and techniques etc. A few guys and I just finished a document that will be out soonish here that covers that
Also the shot where the palm is up close is really awesome, 'cause of all the diffused green.
Do you guys fake translucency in some way?(though I doubt that) or maybe you just add a little emissive to the leaves to create some back lighting. Or is it just strong bounce light from the ground bouncing back from the leaves?
oh, and the well room could really use some dust particles in the air.)
As I can imagine that certain models which take most, if not all of their detail from texture work would be hard to visualise during creation.
Likewise, would a Texture Artist ever find it difficult to visualise what a modeller had in mind for a shape when working with its silhouette?
Obviously these issues were sidestepped during production, as Uncharted 3 looks stunning - I'm just wondering about your methods to better them
Also, the modeler and texture artists work very closely together and we use a lot of reference image from the real world to guide us in creating authentic assets that would be found in the respective locations. Because so much research is put in before modeling or texturing, it's easier for both roles to visualize the assets.
The texture artists and modelers work very close together which takes out a lot of the visualization problems you're mentioning. Also a LOT of research happens long before anything gets modeled or textured so it's easy to point to a reference or concept and say "this model is this object".
Thanks Serith.
very nice work , congratulations!
were you responsible for the rock shaders in these images?
... I've been doing a lot of rock work recently, and have a couple of questions about your workflow. Rock walls are on of those things I just can't seem to get quite right.
Best
-ProfessorWeeto
Fantastic work, the lighting in this engine looks superb. I'm not sure if you'd be allowed to, but one way to really present your work well would be to show a rollover with textures turned off. So, same scene and angle, but lighting over vertex smoothed models only. That would show the difference your work pumps into the scene.
I have to say, the Uncharted series has been such a massive inspiration to me in terms of Game-Art, Level Design and, hell, everything!
The first wireframe shot you posted is pretty impressive in terms of sheer geometric detail. Even on an old 60GB PS3, there isn't even a hint of slowdown in such an area.
Sorry if you have already mentioned this elsewhere, but what modelling program do you guys use?
SirCalalot, they use maya as an inhouse tool and concerning the geometry complexity nd has an on the fly instancing generation of tweaked prototypes that I still can't believe no one else has picked up yet. Helps with density and variety.:)
I've always wondered how they get so much physical variation into a scene. The store-fronts in both Uncharted 2 & 3 are among my favourite scenery pieces in any game or film.