Maestros Environment Art Critique

WindchILL · Aug 2013

Hey everyone, I'm working on a fantasy-based RTS game called Maestros, and I'd like some critiques on what I've got so far. I was given the task to make a tileable wall mesh thats got a hand-painted look but still has normal map detail. It's supposed to look similar to the zhangjiajie mountains.

Heres what I have (still working on the highpoly sculpt):

and here's what it looks like tiled:

Also, is there a technique where if you have two tileable meshes side by side, if you modify one the other is modified too (like an instance copy) but in a 3d package? because it's still kinda obvious where the tiling seam is and I'm not sure how to correct the entire seam without manually moving a copy of the tile over to check each time I change something.

Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks!

luge · Aug 2013

Ok, I got a few comments about the sculpt. It doesn't look like that stone should be soft like its weathered by water... feels unnatural. And the formation of the rocks doesn't feel right to me, nor the cracks. But thats just my two cents. other people may think it looks natural or look right.

chrisradsby · Aug 2013

I've got some feedback regarding the overall tiling. It's quite obvious that this is a tiling texture. A tiling texture is at its' best when you can't spot the tiling. So the general rule in a tiling texture is not to have any dominant elements that will be easily spotted. In this case you've got two of them. So you probably need to back up a few stepes and check often how the tiling will look because it's really easy to go too far with something and then realize that it won't work as well as you'd hope.

As for replicating the look of the mountains, you're probably better off making sure that you have a poly model that really nails the shapes of these mountains. Then have relatively flat texture with cliff-type normal map on it without too much depth and detail.

Something like this:

WindchILL · Aug 2013

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okay I tried to sharpen the edges to make the rock look more "flaky", and i also took out the two big shapes that would give away the tile. working on putting the scratches and dents back

what it looks like tiled:

WindchILL · Aug 2013

update

WindchILL · Aug 2013

retopo is kinda difficult. how are you supposed to know which edges to create? it almost seems arbitrary...

its 700 tris, with the backside left open

Cube Republic · Aug 2013

if it's horizontal sedimentary rock try adding some more noise such as scrapes on the horizontal

WindchILL · Aug 2013

okay, thanks for the advice! i'll most likely tackle that in the diffuse painting.

WindchILL · Sep 2013

calling this done

Fnitrox · Sep 2013

It came out pretty strange in my opinion.

Basically you've got lights and shadows coming from all directions and edge highlighting in strange places.
If i can suggest you might be able to use an object space normal map's green channel to get some sort of directional lighting informations as a base to paint on.

I'd also lower the use of black in your texture, it gives a heavy feeling and kills in-game light most of the time.
And of course use reference, always more reference!

WindchILL · Sep 2013

I know the end result isn't what I declared in the beginning of this thread. It just so happened that another artist I'm working with finished a modular rock piece before me. Here is hers:

I basically switched my track to emulate her style to the best of my ability. Due to crunch and the fact that my art director was satisfied with my piece I unfortunately have to move on to my next project.

WindchILL · Sep 2013

I also forgot to mention this earlier: that is only the diffuse. Here is the

spec

gloss (added to the alpha channel of the spec map in a 32-bit TGA format)

normal

Maestros Environment Art Critique

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