cliff modeling/texturing suggestions

Sigfreud

Hey everyone!

I am trying to make some cliffs for a personal project and I would appreciate some feedback on what I did so far.
I did those two models:

-first model (1024x1024, 938 tris, diffuse+normal)




-second model: (2048x2048, 1120 tris, diffuse+normal)



The main problem is that it takes me a whole day to make one prop. And the most tedious part of it is to make the low-poly version.
Am i overkilling the poly-count? Is it suppose to take this long? what do you guys think?
It's suppose to be about 5x the height of the player.

chrisradsby

Show wires as well so we can determine if you have unnecessary polies in there. It the models have proper LODs and stuff I guess it would be a big problem. 1024x1024 or a 2048x2048 for 1 stone prop is way too much for game standards though. Especially if it uses unique textures that can't be used anywhere else and only for 1 type of rock.

Learning how to deal with these situations and using tiling textures would probably better. You could have 1 tiling rock texture at 512x512 for all the rocks in one area. Then use polies to make them look different and even use a blendshader with another texture to make em have moss and stuff growing on them.

Soo

Post wires and texturesheets and I'll try to give some more feedback

Chimp

In terms of texture sheet here I would have done a 512 for all the detailing (the whiter rims around hard edges, the splats etc) and then a tiny 256 that tiled for the actual "material" of the texture.

And in terms of the actual cliff, I'd model the larger geometry (actual cliff face) in zbrush lowpoly, then detail it for normalmapping then texture it. then i'd do a load of small rocks like these but with much smaller textures and scatter them across the surface of the rock face. or have them actually BE the surface aligned with the base mesh.

Sigfreud

Here is the wire-frame of the first model:



And the diffuse + normal:



Thank you for the feedback.
I shouldn't use a unique set of diffuse + normal for each props? Wouldn't it make less detailed? Also I don't know anything about blendshaders. I was going to use a decal for the moss and stuff.

Chimp

look into the shaders id say the biggest waste is the texture map, there is so much black space. i say go with the tiled and blended detailing. but art wise its very nice. just need to reel in the tech waste

EMC3D

Over here in the past we used a tiling texture with a strong normal map for the base of all our cliffs, then use a vertex blend via an alpha channel in the diffuse to switch between different types of rock and moss to help avoid tiling.

Sigfreud

thank you for the replies.

I was looking into some game environment to show you what I am aiming for. And I found this thread from this guy that worked on Rage here: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90081

The fourth image down is the kind of cliff I am looking to do. Did he used a tiled texture too? Then how did he got the highlights on the edges?
I am afraid by using a tiled textures it would make it loose the sharpness of the rocks. Anybody got a good example of this technique?

Illusive

a tileable texture with vertex painted ao, maybe that would work?
i'm not sure but i'm keen to know what the best way to go about this is too.

G3L

Currently in the process of making some cliffs myself. Suggestion would be make a nice tileable cliff rock texture, place it on a flat plane and start sculpting out some of the details, either through modularity or just out of a single mesh. Basically you use your texture as your guideline to make cuts into the mesh and once that happens you can place some vertex painted ao if you want to go that route.

As far as breaking up the tiling if need be, vertex paint in UDK would be the ideal solution. Mix it in with different rock layers or moss and should look good!

I know you referenced the Rage art thread but are you trying to make a huge rock piece or a wall specifically or? Didn't quite get that bit.

Sigfreud

I am trying to make this artwork:



I was thinking about making the rocks by breaking it in different parts, with their own textures for each. Would you guys approach it differently?