Well, here's what I did so far. Hope it's not too terrible. I'm trying to resist the urge to get any online assets or textures at all for this, either making everything myself from scratch or working with my own photos.
Got moonlight rims on a simple cloud textures. now all I need to do is add variation and fix the alpha so the stars don't shine through the clouds
Hey, this is starting to look pretty good! I have no idea how to approach the clouds myself, so I might take some pointers off of your method.
I also think this month might be going slow due to the fact that a bunch of people decided to polish their work from last month instead of participating here too.
Always wanted to do one of these challenges but never know where to start, the whole moving from max to UDK and working from a direct perspective reference boggles my mind because it sets extremely finite rules.
Not to mention seeing how everybody here already seems to know what they are doing with this workflow, I'm sure there's some noobs among the few here but from my perspective it seems like you guys already know what to do. (which isn't very noobish)
Always wanted to do one of these challenges but never know where to start, the whole moving from max to UDK and working from a direct perspective reference boggles my mind because it sets extremely finite rules.
Not to mention seeing how everybody here already seems to know what they are doing with this workflow, I'm sure there's some noobs among the few here but from my perspective it seems like you guys already know what to do. (which isn't very noobish)
Just reading through the other Noob Challenge threads should give you an idea how people work. Usually start by blocking your scene using the concept, colorize what parts are built together and whatnot. Then start by blocking out the environment in 3D, and build from there. I've never actually built a scene from concept, but personally I'd divide a scene into props, modular assets and so on. You can use your colorized image to plan ahead (such as what props will use the same UV space etc).
It's tricky to really nail a concept, but I don't think anyone expects you to do that. So I'm not really sure what "extremely finite rules" you mean... could you elaborate? I get the feeling you're over-analyzing things.
Just reading through the other Noob Challenge threads should give you an idea how people work. Usually start by blocking your scene using the concept, colorize what parts are built together and whatnot. Then start by blocking out the environment in 3D, and build from there. I've never actually built a scene from concept, but personally I'd divide a scene into props, modular assets and so on. You can use your colorized image to plan ahead (such as what props will use the same UV space etc).
It's tricky to really nail a concept, but I don't think anyone expects you to do that. So I'm not really sure what "extremely finite rules" you mean... could you elaborate? I get the feeling you're over-analyzing things.
When I said "extremely finite rules" I meant it in the sense that others are nailing the concept to the T which makes you feel bound to doing the same.
The problem which mostly happens is you realize that others are doing a much better job than yourself which feels like your addition is less than that, rather a subtraction in comparison.
The problem which mostly happens is you realize that others are doing a much better job than yourself which feels like your addition is less than that, rather a subtraction in comparison.
That's a weird way of thinking. Then how are you ever going to learn? Gotta start somewhere.
@Samcole: I would make the grass blades curved in some way. Right now they look like a bunch of green spikes waiting to hurt someone. @akh: Those posts look awesome! I'm pretty sure that you could reduce the poly a bit. If that was to make into a game map, it would quickly slow down the engine unnecessarily. Looks awesome though.
Alright, here is my base sculpt in Mudbox for the cliff side of the smaller island on the left in the background. It turned out a little better then expected since its my first real sculpt in Mudbox. I plan on working more details on the sculpt before moving onto the next island cliff side. Give me a heads up if you guys see anything thats bothering you.
I know most of the guys here won't agree with this statement but I do ^^
There are some nifty artist in these noob challenges making great stuff that I would just rather go pick my own concept and do my own version of something that hasn't been done before, why make something that's already been done better??
I still read through the challenges though, it's nice to pick a few tips but not a great learning resource on it's own, I mean if I was to print all the pages and publish a book with it, it will offer very little.
I prefer to go through tutorials/videos and do small studies to improve my skills, but I can understand how the thread could motivate others it just has the reverse effect on me.:poly142:
But I would consider removing the word "noob" from title, "Environment Challenge" would be more appropriate would it not?
I completely agree with this whole post.
I like to learn from people in these challenges, but I see people making such well-made stuff here and feel incredibly discouraged from starting, but I can see the other side of the argument.
I agree with just calling this an "environment challenge," because I only think this could be called a noob challenge if it were limited to noobs in every aspect of this challenge. Although, I don't think it'd be fair to only allow a certain demographic to participate in something.
I would much rather just pick an environment i see that no one else is doing and make my own, so I don't end up comparing myself to others (as I really am a complete noob to this stuff in most every way), which is actually am doing, and not just complaining and thinking about doing.
I like to learn from people in these challenges, but I see people making such well-made stuff here and feel incredibly discouraged from starting, but I can see the other side of the argument.
I agree with just calling this an "environment challenge," because I only think this could be called a noob challenge if it were limited to noobs in every aspect of this challenge. Although, I don't think it'd be fair to only allow a certain demographic to participate in something.
I would much rather just pick an environment i see that no one else is doing and make my own, so I don't end up comparing myself to others (as I really am a complete noob to this stuff in most every way), which is actually am doing, and not just complaining and thinking about doing.
This.
Brygelsmack, I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Like I said before when competing in these challenges it's nice to see other artists work but almost a deterrent to the noobs.
Learning is a subjective thing, I personally scour the web for information to learn and do these challenges in order to challenge myself I never said I didn't, but seeing almost perfection being achieved within a 'noob' challenge just maybe sets the bar a bit to high. (can make the person not want to show their progress)
Brygelsmack, I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Like I said before when competing in these challenges it's nice to see other artists work but almost a deterrent to the noobs.
Learning is a subjective thing, I personally scour the web for information to learn and do these challenges in order to challenge myself I never said I didn't, but seeing almost perfection being achieved within a 'noob' challenge just maybe sets the bar a bit to high. (can make the person not want to show their progress)
You don't better yourself by either working with people at the same level or below you. So what if people are better? That should just motivate yourself to be a better artist! Besides, this isn't a bigger dick contest so don't measure yourself against other artists. It's also not like the better artists in these challenges have the attitude of, "Fuck you, that's my secret sauce and I'm not telling you how I did it." At the same time, we're not your parents here. We're not here to see a shitty drawing and say, "Oh wow! You should hang that on the refrigerator! You're going to be a famous artist some day!"
The fastest way to get better is to force yourself to be around those that are better than you at a given craft. Get over it and get used to showing your work. You'll never get any better if you feel afraid to post your work. What are you going to do when your first director shreds your work during a progress check? Complain? When you play sports or games, do you play against preschoolers to make yourself feel better?
The amount of time bitching about what constitutes a "noob" and about how good other people are in these threads could have been used to ask pertinent questions to gain some knowledge. Think about this, these folks that are in here posting better work are the same people you may be competing against for the same job. So you'd better get cracking on learning or forever work the fry station at McDonald's.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me, the right most post near the bridge. Is the rope on there hanging down or is it connected to something on the main Island? thanks
Minor update, I -think- I fixed the cloud sprites having the glowing outline around them. And I really need a faster workflow to make those tree branches, it took all day to make the stick, leaf, and place them all in zbrush. I think I could have spent less time on the details, because in this lighting you don't even see it.
Minor update, I -think- I fixed the cloud sprites having the glowing outline around them. And I really need a faster workflow to make those tree branches, it took all day to make the stick, leaf, and place them all in zbrush. I think I could have spent less time on the details, because in this lighting you don't even see it.
I think it should be a darker tone, currently it seems too lit but the tree isnt light or the house isnt lit. I dont think the moon is correctly shown either, as in looks odd, and also make the bridge has gaps in them visible from this distance to really get it to stand out, just looks like a piece of wood from this view.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me, the right most post near the bridge. Is the rope on there hanging down or is it connected to something on the main Island? thanks
Added a few trees and did a lot of color correction. Until now I wasn't even bothering to get the colors right and just throwing the models together, but now that the majority of the modeling is finished, I attempted to get it a little closer. Completely unintentional that the cloud color changed so dramatically, but I like it :P
I tried to place a few grass instances as brushes manually, but they wouldn't show properly at all, curving for no apparent reason. Anyone use the Cryengine that might know what I did wrong? I thought it was the material aligning to the terrain, but I disabled that and it didn't matter.
My 2 cents: I agree with the people calling for you to take out "Noob" from the title if you aren't going to just let noobs enter, or have any talent limits. If anything, you are scaring the noobs away by letting more advanced competition because psychologically they feel they aren't contributing to the challenge as a whole. If they feel that their submission is not a contribution to the greater good, or if they feel it actually somehow takes away from the collective contribution, they will naturally withdraw. I think that most people take the word "challenge" to mean something other than what this post was meant for- and rightfully so. I can tell that this whole purpose was meant to be a challenge of ones self, and their own ability...but it is just human nature to interpret the word challenge to be directed against the others. What it boils down to is a great amount of discouragement. Nobody wants to enter something they know they will lose, no matter how much they can learn from it.
I think the attitude of this entire thread needs to be shifted away from a traditional "challenge" and more towards... how much can you learn from a project in a month? Last month I participated in the thread and even though I did not finish (nor consider myself a noob) I can't even tell you how much I learned, as is the case with most projects I put time into. That needs to be the goal, and everyone needs to know it. This is to challenge yourself- this is a challenge to learn as much as you can in one month.
Lastly, if you're going to keep doing these, the concept has to be better. And by "better" I mean more accessible to beginners, and more in-line with the amount of time all of us have in a month. This way, beginners can actually finish the project, and more experienced artists like me can flex their muscles with tons of polish. After the great concept last month, this was just a very poor choice.
Oh and yes, everyone and their monther is now doing "The Escape", which certainly contributes to the decline in participants. I withdrew myself because I am doing "The escape" (and because I hated the concept, sorry)
I'd love to see this thread boom into something huge and a be great resource for learning. But it's at a crossroads and something needs to happen in order for it to succeed. I wish you, and the thread, the best and hope to participate in the future! (after Escape)
Looking good, loving the high poly stuff akh; and Azzamat, nice clouds
I'm been slow to get started on this but picking up the pace now. I've got a base down on most of my textures and basic modelling, I'm gonna be iteratively refining textures and building on the modelling from here - and getting it into UDK ASAP for lighting and materials
Shots from 3dsmax - it's all super WIP but if you guys see any problems I'll be glad to hear it
You don't better yourself by either working with people at the same level or below you. So what if people are better? That should just motivate yourself to be a better artist! Besides, this isn't a bigger dick contest so don't measure yourself against other artists. It's also not like the better artists in these challenges have the attitude of, "Fuck you, that's my secret sauce and I'm not telling you how I did it." At the same time, we're not your parents here. We're not here to see a shitty drawing and say, "Oh wow! You should hang that on the refrigerator! You're going to be a famous artist some day!"
The fastest way to get better is to force yourself to be around those that are better than you at a given craft. Get over it and get used to showing your work. You'll never get any better if you feel afraid to post your work. What are you going to do when your first director shreds your work during a progress check? Complain? When you play sports or games, do you play against preschoolers to make yourself feel better?
The amount of time bitching about what constitutes a "noob" and about how good other people are in these threads could have been used to ask pertinent questions to gain some knowledge. Think about this, these folks that are in here posting better work are the same people you may be competing against for the same job. So you'd better get cracking on learning or forever work the fry station at McDonald's.
I never said at any point that I couldn't do it, but sure assumptions are what dreams are made of.
Now that you are done abusing me for pointing out something completely valid that I think you misunderstood I will re-iterate just for you.
I don't think this thread should be called Monthy 'Noob' Challenge, that's the extent of my whole argument, not that I can't do nor won't do.
Hello! just here annoying the crap out of all of you artists with some feedback.
benji : I know you said that your work is very in wip, but the way the clouds looks could make a very interesting scene.
akh : Hop , no seriously I have nothing, looks awesome.
Calluhain : I was confused if this was a blockout or the actual mesh , but I guess they are the models for ready unwrap , looks good, is too early to comment anything but the shapes looks nice.
ZeroNight : Awesome scene man , my only two concerns is that the clouds looks to realistic compared to the rest of the look of the scene and that the tree could benefit for more leaves , other than great stuff.
AzzaMat : mmm it will help if you post the sky along with the scene, so far it looks good, maybe the clouds a bit to blurry if that makes any sense.
@Mossbros: In general, some work faster than others. I know from experience. Noob Challenge #4 was my first time competing in something like this. I figured I wasn't going to finish because I know my skill level, so I tested myself on what I believed I could get done in the provided time limit. FYI, I stuck to getting all the high poly assets sculpted and textured, verdict? I didn't even get that far, lol. I'm currently working on it now and its half past March, yikes!
I even posted how amazed I was when people nailed their 3d blockout so well to the reference, the answer...practice makes perfect. Some of these people have been doing this over and over again until they get it right; same thing will happen to us, but we must first attempt it. I'm still daunted by the whole import into UDK situation--as I've yet to do that--but there are other aspects you can choose to work on. By reading others' post I figured out how to breakdown the reference image into modular/unique sections, create a design board for the style and feel of the environment, and properly blocking out the scene (still having trouble with this part).
There are different ways to go about doing any scene. Some ppl work on one object from start-to-finish: high poly; low poly; bake normal, ao, etc.; create diffuse; import to UDK; create UDK material. Others may prefer to create all high poly assets first, apply bake to low poly, create textures for all objects, then finally bring into UDK for material creation. It will take time to perfect and find the right workflow for you, but along the way you'll learn many tips & tricks to expedite your process, increase productivity, and level up your skills...
@blazed: Agreed, its not a great resource if all you're doing is reading others' post. It becomes a great resource when you're actually doing the work alongside them posting updates, info, and tips about ones workflow. People feel more open and inclined to help when you do the same.
I don't understand being afraid to post/attempt work because other nifty artist are making great stuff. If only noobs entered the challenge someone from the crowd would still stand above the rest in terms of quality. Would you then, feel worse knowing they're a noob or better, that a senior with experience created nifty artwork that's on par with his level?
@cheezdude, RogelioD: I see nothing wrong with calling them "noob challenges." 'Noob' informs us it's a place to start learning how to create these environments, without it, I bet most, if not, all newcomers wouldn't enter. No one wins, the 'challenge' aspect is to challenge yourself and/or your work against others. Their progress educates you about how you stack up, can improve or how much further you've come--like doing a project alongside a friend, just because his skills are better doesn't mean you stop (if so, you should first work on/gain your motivation, find your inspiration, and increase your confidence level). If only noobs partook in these challenges each and every post would be a question about how to do this or how to do that, nothing would ever get done. We need those seasoned individuals, to follow their lead by seeing what they do, then try and respond in kind.
The problem is, you have to meet in the middle and attempt to figure out some of these obstacle on your own, they won't hold your hand until your skill/workflow is eye-to-eye. Not to be rude but this separates the onlookers from the posters, and I looked for a looong time.
If you're psychologically scared, then man the FUCK up...
I agree on one point: I would like to see some sort of rule put into place that if you post an update on your scene it is mandatory to give feedback to the person above you in your post. And that every person who participated should post an in-depth critique at the end of the month for a peer.
In last month's challenge plenty of the higher experienced artists shared their workflows. I learned heaps from that challenge, and I'm still working on my scene well into March! I have no idea why you feel like people aren't sharing tips and info in these; multiple shader networks have been posted already, people posting their breakdowns and blockouts and how they are planning their scene, posting their textures and tutorials.. I dunno. I'm not seeing this "showcase" phenomenon you're talking about.
To wrap things up, and to share some experience I've gained about the industry - it's REALLY harsh. You really can't afford to get discouraged by rubbing elbows with people who are way better than you. Where is the line? Who determines who is "noob" enough to post in these? Yes, the challenge is to get better. Noobs, intermediates, pros, gods, I don't care what level you think you are. Just get better, that's all you should be focusing on. Not what everyone else is doing and how it discourages you.
So anyway...
@benji I looove the painterly feeling you've got going with the clouds, even if it is super WIP. A little too early to offer much but I hope the painterly feeling carries over to the rest of the assets.
@ZeroNight This is awesome, very vibrant saturated colors. It might be a tad too saturated though, I feel like the purple light is sort of overpowering everything in the scene. Maybe make the clouds more white/blue to tone the overall purple in the scene down a bit?
@Rabant This is really good for a first attempt at sculpting. Your rock forms in your cliff are reading a little soft though, try hardening up the edges. (I'm not familiar with Mudbox, so I can't really say how specifically) I know in Zbrush I usually go over rock forms with TrimDynamic and Polish to get sharp edges on them, so whatever the equivalent of that is. Also there's some unnatural looking curves that are reading very "man-made" and not organically formed cliffs. Here's a crappy "paintover" of the problem lines, since I only have MS Paint at work:
An example of how sharper and more organic-looking forms can make it feel more "rocky" (this is not my work!):
Cheers all, can't wait to see more from you guys, hope I can hop back in on these in April!!
I hate to be pedantic, but straight lines are pretty common in rocks, though they don't occur in the way you showed in the top picture; they're generally either faults or sediments, so they're /not/ a big no-no, but they're also not at all subtle.
I hate to be pedantic, but straight lines are pretty common in rocks, though they don't occur in the way you showed in the top picture; they're generally either faults or sediments, so they're /not/ a big no-no, but they're also not at all subtle.
Great point! I wasn't trying to imply straight cracks don't exist in rock, sorry if I sounded that way. I was talking about the continuous sort of curves that were sticking out to me in the sculpt. Even the cracks in your image have an organic/chaotic nature to them. Cracks branching out into other cracks caused by what I'm guessing is compaction and stress.
Also the example I posted isn't a super realistic example, I was short on time when I made the post and grabbed one of the first images that was similar to the sculpt that I pulled up.
I wasn't really talking about literal "straight", I was more referring to the... cleanness of them. They felt sort of man-made in that way. I'm not very good with words, lol.
I agree about the challenges ending too abrupt, I was in the last two and at the deadline it just stopped and moved to the next one, a better conclusion will be nice.
O and Calluhain : your details in the sculpt looks good and for the your first tree its pretty good, but the diffuse seems to wash out the normal, it also looks like it was burnt out.
@sybrix and @dissonance. Thanks for the feedback on my rocks. I'm going to redo them with this input in mind. I am still new to mudbox, so I'm still learning the tools, but your input sybrix gives me an area to start searching for the equivalents in mudbox.
Replies
Well, here's what I did so far. Hope it's not too terrible. I'm trying to resist the urge to get any online assets or textures at all for this, either making everything myself from scratch or working with my own photos.
Thx ! But in fact it's the low poly models in both screenshot ^^
ZeroNight => Nice work !!
Hop, foliage in progress:
LP=>
Ps: of course i can replace ropes by a cylinder...
Previous post updated (3.7k version)
Hey, this is starting to look pretty good! I have no idea how to approach the clouds myself, so I might take some pointers off of your method.
I also think this month might be going slow due to the fact that a bunch of people decided to polish their work from last month instead of participating here too.
Not to mention seeing how everybody here already seems to know what they are doing with this workflow, I'm sure there's some noobs among the few here but from my perspective it seems like you guys already know what to do. (which isn't very noobish)
It's tricky to really nail a concept, but I don't think anyone expects you to do that. So I'm not really sure what "extremely finite rules" you mean... could you elaborate? I get the feeling you're over-analyzing things.
When I said "extremely finite rules" I meant it in the sense that others are nailing the concept to the T which makes you feel bound to doing the same.
The problem which mostly happens is you realize that others are doing a much better job than yourself which feels like your addition is less than that, rather a subtraction in comparison.
@akh: Those posts look awesome! I'm pretty sure that you could reduce the poly a bit. If that was to make into a game map, it would quickly slow down the engine unnecessarily. Looks awesome though.
Alright, here is my base sculpt in Mudbox for the cliff side of the smaller island on the left in the background. It turned out a little better then expected since its my first real sculpt in Mudbox. I plan on working more details on the sculpt before moving onto the next island cliff side. Give me a heads up if you guys see anything thats bothering you.
I like to learn from people in these challenges, but I see people making such well-made stuff here and feel incredibly discouraged from starting, but I can see the other side of the argument.
I agree with just calling this an "environment challenge," because I only think this could be called a noob challenge if it were limited to noobs in every aspect of this challenge. Although, I don't think it'd be fair to only allow a certain demographic to participate in something.
I would much rather just pick an environment i see that no one else is doing and make my own, so I don't end up comparing myself to others (as I really am a complete noob to this stuff in most every way), which is actually am doing, and not just complaining and thinking about doing.
This.
Brygelsmack, I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Like I said before when competing in these challenges it's nice to see other artists work but almost a deterrent to the noobs.
Learning is a subjective thing, I personally scour the web for information to learn and do these challenges in order to challenge myself I never said I didn't, but seeing almost perfection being achieved within a 'noob' challenge just maybe sets the bar a bit to high. (can make the person not want to show their progress)
You don't better yourself by either working with people at the same level or below you. So what if people are better? That should just motivate yourself to be a better artist! Besides, this isn't a bigger dick contest so don't measure yourself against other artists. It's also not like the better artists in these challenges have the attitude of, "Fuck you, that's my secret sauce and I'm not telling you how I did it." At the same time, we're not your parents here. We're not here to see a shitty drawing and say, "Oh wow! You should hang that on the refrigerator! You're going to be a famous artist some day!"
The fastest way to get better is to force yourself to be around those that are better than you at a given craft. Get over it and get used to showing your work. You'll never get any better if you feel afraid to post your work. What are you going to do when your first director shreds your work during a progress check? Complain? When you play sports or games, do you play against preschoolers to make yourself feel better?
The amount of time bitching about what constitutes a "noob" and about how good other people are in these threads could have been used to ask pertinent questions to gain some knowledge. Think about this, these folks that are in here posting better work are the same people you may be competing against for the same job. So you'd better get cracking on learning or forever work the fry station at McDonald's.
Minor update, I -think- I fixed the cloud sprites having the glowing outline around them. And I really need a faster workflow to make those tree branches, it took all day to make the stick, leaf, and place them all in zbrush. I think I could have spent less time on the details, because in this lighting you don't even see it.
I think it should be a darker tone, currently it seems too lit but the tree isnt light or the house isnt lit. I dont think the moon is correctly shown either, as in looks odd, and also make the bridge has gaps in them visible from this distance to really get it to stand out, just looks like a piece of wood from this view.
Edit:
Also make some taller grass, or make it thicker.
I feel it is attached to the main Island
Hop,
PS. thanks for the reply akh
Added a few trees and did a lot of color correction. Until now I wasn't even bothering to get the colors right and just throwing the models together, but now that the majority of the modeling is finished, I attempted to get it a little closer. Completely unintentional that the cloud color changed so dramatically, but I like it :P
I tried to place a few grass instances as brushes manually, but they wouldn't show properly at all, curving for no apparent reason. Anyone use the Cryengine that might know what I did wrong? I thought it was the material aligning to the terrain, but I disabled that and it didn't matter.
Really enjoying this challenge alot!
I think the attitude of this entire thread needs to be shifted away from a traditional "challenge" and more towards... how much can you learn from a project in a month? Last month I participated in the thread and even though I did not finish (nor consider myself a noob) I can't even tell you how much I learned, as is the case with most projects I put time into. That needs to be the goal, and everyone needs to know it. This is to challenge yourself- this is a challenge to learn as much as you can in one month.
Lastly, if you're going to keep doing these, the concept has to be better. And by "better" I mean more accessible to beginners, and more in-line with the amount of time all of us have in a month. This way, beginners can actually finish the project, and more experienced artists like me can flex their muscles with tons of polish. After the great concept last month, this was just a very poor choice.
Oh and yes, everyone and their monther is now doing "The Escape", which certainly contributes to the decline in participants. I withdrew myself because I am doing "The escape" (and because I hated the concept, sorry)
I'd love to see this thread boom into something huge and a be great resource for learning. But it's at a crossroads and something needs to happen in order for it to succeed. I wish you, and the thread, the best and hope to participate in the future! (after Escape)
I'm been slow to get started on this but picking up the pace now. I've got a base down on most of my textures and basic modelling, I'm gonna be iteratively refining textures and building on the modelling from here - and getting it into UDK ASAP for lighting and materials
Shots from 3dsmax - it's all super WIP but if you guys see any problems I'll be glad to hear it
I never said at any point that I couldn't do it, but sure assumptions are what dreams are made of.
Now that you are done abusing me for pointing out something completely valid that I think you misunderstood I will re-iterate just for you.
I don't think this thread should be called Monthy 'Noob' Challenge, that's the extent of my whole argument, not that I can't do nor won't do.
And Hop,
benji : I know you said that your work is very in wip, but the way the clouds looks could make a very interesting scene.
akh : Hop , no seriously I have nothing, looks awesome.
Calluhain : I was confused if this was a blockout or the actual mesh , but I guess they are the models for ready unwrap , looks good, is too early to comment anything but the shapes looks nice.
ZeroNight : Awesome scene man , my only two concerns is that the clouds looks to realistic compared to the rest of the look of the scene and that the tree could benefit for more leaves , other than great stuff.
AzzaMat : mmm it will help if you post the sky along with the scene, so far it looks good, maybe the clouds a bit to blurry if that makes any sense.
Last Hop and go to sleeping a bit for me;) :
I even posted how amazed I was when people nailed their 3d blockout so well to the reference, the answer...practice makes perfect. Some of these people have been doing this over and over again until they get it right; same thing will happen to us, but we must first attempt it. I'm still daunted by the whole import into UDK situation--as I've yet to do that--but there are other aspects you can choose to work on. By reading others' post I figured out how to breakdown the reference image into modular/unique sections, create a design board for the style and feel of the environment, and properly blocking out the scene (still having trouble with this part).
There are different ways to go about doing any scene. Some ppl work on one object from start-to-finish: high poly; low poly; bake normal, ao, etc.; create diffuse; import to UDK; create UDK material. Others may prefer to create all high poly assets first, apply bake to low poly, create textures for all objects, then finally bring into UDK for material creation. It will take time to perfect and find the right workflow for you, but along the way you'll learn many tips & tricks to expedite your process, increase productivity, and level up your skills...
@blazed: Agreed, its not a great resource if all you're doing is reading others' post. It becomes a great resource when you're actually doing the work alongside them posting updates, info, and tips about ones workflow. People feel more open and inclined to help when you do the same.
I don't understand being afraid to post/attempt work because other nifty artist are making great stuff. If only noobs entered the challenge someone from the crowd would still stand above the rest in terms of quality. Would you then, feel worse knowing they're a noob or better, that a senior with experience created nifty artwork that's on par with his level?
@VelvetElvis: Fuck yeah! :poly142:
@cheezdude, RogelioD: I see nothing wrong with calling them "noob challenges." 'Noob' informs us it's a place to start learning how to create these environments, without it, I bet most, if not, all newcomers wouldn't enter. No one wins, the 'challenge' aspect is to challenge yourself and/or your work against others. Their progress educates you about how you stack up, can improve or how much further you've come--like doing a project alongside a friend, just because his skills are better doesn't mean you stop (if so, you should first work on/gain your motivation, find your inspiration, and increase your confidence level). If only noobs partook in these challenges each and every post would be a question about how to do this or how to do that, nothing would ever get done. We need those seasoned individuals, to follow their lead by seeing what they do, then try and respond in kind.
The problem is, you have to meet in the middle and attempt to figure out some of these obstacle on your own, they won't hold your hand until your skill/workflow is eye-to-eye. Not to be rude but this separates the onlookers from the posters, and I looked for a looong time.
If you're psychologically scared, then man the FUCK up...
p.s. Sorry, too soon?
I agree on one point: I would like to see some sort of rule put into place that if you post an update on your scene it is mandatory to give feedback to the person above you in your post. And that every person who participated should post an in-depth critique at the end of the month for a peer.
In last month's challenge plenty of the higher experienced artists shared their workflows. I learned heaps from that challenge, and I'm still working on my scene well into March! I have no idea why you feel like people aren't sharing tips and info in these; multiple shader networks have been posted already, people posting their breakdowns and blockouts and how they are planning their scene, posting their textures and tutorials.. I dunno. I'm not seeing this "showcase" phenomenon you're talking about.
To wrap things up, and to share some experience I've gained about the industry - it's REALLY harsh. You really can't afford to get discouraged by rubbing elbows with people who are way better than you. Where is the line? Who determines who is "noob" enough to post in these? Yes, the challenge is to get better. Noobs, intermediates, pros, gods, I don't care what level you think you are. Just get better, that's all you should be focusing on. Not what everyone else is doing and how it discourages you.
So anyway...
@benji I looove the painterly feeling you've got going with the clouds, even if it is super WIP. A little too early to offer much but I hope the painterly feeling carries over to the rest of the assets.
@ZeroNight This is awesome, very vibrant saturated colors. It might be a tad too saturated though, I feel like the purple light is sort of overpowering everything in the scene. Maybe make the clouds more white/blue to tone the overall purple in the scene down a bit?
@Rabant This is really good for a first attempt at sculpting. Your rock forms in your cliff are reading a little soft though, try hardening up the edges. (I'm not familiar with Mudbox, so I can't really say how specifically) I know in Zbrush I usually go over rock forms with TrimDynamic and Polish to get sharp edges on them, so whatever the equivalent of that is. Also there's some unnatural looking curves that are reading very "man-made" and not organically formed cliffs. Here's a crappy "paintover" of the problem lines, since I only have MS Paint at work:
An example of how sharper and more organic-looking forms can make it feel more "rocky" (this is not my work!):
Cheers all, can't wait to see more from you guys, hope I can hop back in on these in April!!
I hate to be pedantic, but straight lines are pretty common in rocks, though they don't occur in the way you showed in the top picture; they're generally either faults or sediments, so they're /not/ a big no-no, but they're also not at all subtle.
Great point! I wasn't trying to imply straight cracks don't exist in rock, sorry if I sounded that way. I was talking about the continuous sort of curves that were sticking out to me in the sculpt. Even the cracks in your image have an organic/chaotic nature to them. Cracks branching out into other cracks caused by what I'm guessing is compaction and stress.
Also the example I posted isn't a super realistic example, I was short on time when I made the post and grabbed one of the first images that was similar to the sculpt that I pulled up.
I wasn't really talking about literal "straight", I was more referring to the... cleanness of them. They felt sort of man-made in that way. I'm not very good with words, lol.
O and Calluhain : your details in the sculpt looks good and for the your first tree its pretty good, but the diffuse seems to wash out the normal, it also looks like it was burnt out.
Also, i'm sorry but i can't finish this Challenge
I will be back the next month