Asset Development for end of semester scene!
polycounter lvl 4
Greetings one and all, I thought I would start posting the assets I am working on for a largish mountain scene I am working on.
Still not 100% sure in the direction so I decided to develop an asset library until I finalize my concept (which wont be pretty but it will do the job
)
Here is a well I have been working on for the past day or two, only really get an hour or two at most a day to do something constructive so it has been slow going.
Please note that I still need to cover the hole with wooden planks as the well is no longer in "use" and I need to build the roof with the roof tiles.
But most of the stone work is done though I'm not 100% happy with the stone wall around the well itself, I am hoping it looks better when I throw some textures onto it!.
Please feel free to critique this as all feed back is always welcome!
Thanks for reading and remember to.
Relax man I'm Twotents
Still not 100% sure in the direction so I decided to develop an asset library until I finalize my concept (which wont be pretty but it will do the job
)Here is a well I have been working on for the past day or two, only really get an hour or two at most a day to do something constructive so it has been slow going.
Please note that I still need to cover the hole with wooden planks as the well is no longer in "use" and I need to build the roof with the roof tiles.
But most of the stone work is done though I'm not 100% happy with the stone wall around the well itself, I am hoping it looks better when I throw some textures onto it!.
Please feel free to critique this as all feed back is always welcome!
Thanks for reading and remember to.
Relax man I'm Twotents
Replies
The well looks pretty good, but I would be mindful of the deep recesses between the grout and the bricks on the sides. If you're going to use tessellation you might get away with that, but it can look weird on the lowpoly (assuming it's more or less a cylinder on that part).
Okay... So, to start I feel that your base stones are merely stuck into the side of the well and not being used to "build" it. Most generic stone wells as such as this, are built with the stones and/or bricks, yours are way to spaced, with no grout in between the stones. I think merely just scaling up each brick to close the gap between them, would greatly increase the 'believablity' of the piece. "Its not about achieving 'realism' with your work, its the 'believable realism'" - the wise words from a professor and fellow polycounter Darkrusader (Blizzard environment artist), who also has some great write ups on stone work, and similar studies as this.
Your wood, your grain density is super sparse and dense in different places. Its extremely sporadic. On your cross beam in the center of the well, the grain is spaced correctly for the style, and then in your support beams on the sides and your wood? (I think? The material read is all over the place) tiles for the roof, are super dense, creating a ton of noise and in my opinion does more harm then good.
Shapes. For a fantasy piece like so, not sure about the style you are trying to go for, you should definitely push the shapes more. Examples would be; bow the wood on the support beams, bend the roof in a little bit here and there to create more than just a straight slant, create a stylized bucket, etc etc. Once again, I have no clue what style you are going for, but you should definitely attempt to really make the piece unique, not only will it impress your professor, but it will also create a starting portfolio piece if your bake turns out well (heh. See what I did there?)as well as create a unique aspect. As for right now, its just a well, and nothing really more. Put your soul into man! Make it interesting! Employers will just glance over it, you get all the story in a matter of seconds! Make it mean something, as all pieces should intrigue a future employer, and really make them remember you.
I tried to follow the model closely but it gave me more issues than I realized, this model is the first real model like this that I am putting a ton of effort into as modelling for games is still a bit of a mystery to me
Most of everything I know I have learned from watching various artists and from reading Polycount threads. So there are a few things that I am winging it at lol.
Adder: Thanks for the feedback it is much appreciated! I do see what you mean with the inconsistency of the wood grain between the meshes. Wood has been a bit of a weird sculpt for me >< but thanks for the kind words
This feedback has been awesome as I don't want to go and create a low poly and have endless problems that I need to try and solve.
With the stones that form the wall of the well it has been a bit of a struggle to get my tile-able texture I used as reference to wrap around the mesh after I have sculpted the rocks. I have looked at the Gears of War modular tutorial on the tutorial section and will try use that on a better base for the well itself
So yeah, like Add3r said you should have some consistency between the wood grains for the believability factor. The other thing I would point out is that the shingles have pretty clean craftsmanship compared to the handiwork of the stones and wood.
Regarding the stones again:
If you tried to model your reference pic exactly, it would be best to model some of the stones individually on the lowpoly since they are pretty chunky, have large gaps, and are uneven.
With your model, you still have the deep recesses for the grout, but the stones are smaller and flush, so it wouldn't be economical to model the individual stones. In this case, I would make the grout more flush with the stones.
Anyway, keep going dude.
My mental workflow: think about the construction, block out the main pieces, arrange pieces, push shapes to match style and to also make it unique, add your own flare. I then do another 'believability pass'. I go over my work, and make sure that is actually believable, while still being true to the style and keeping my own touch, as well as pushing shapes to make it read.
Hope that helps