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Trying to texture like Naughty Dog (Critique is Welcome Here])

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redhonour polycounter lvl 8
I've been trying to step up my texture game. Naughty Dog has put out some awesome hints on the subject, so I've been trying to follow along and emulate the processes shared by some of their artists.

Right now I'm working on doing simple bricks using a technique presented by Tate Mosesian over on Pixologic. This technique uses the insert multi mesh brush to draw out brick prefabs.

I ended up with 40 bricks in my IMM brush of various size and shape, then drew them out on a grid.

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If I can do some self-critique for a sec, I'm pretty ok with how it's coming out.

I probably could have spent more time sculpting the individual bricks themselves. Although they don't look bad for a 30% decimation.

Another thing was the scale of the individual bricks. I realized late that I did not plan them according to the grid and that flustered me in some places. However, many fit the grid well enough, and in places where full bricks didn't fit, I used my broken brick subtools. So I think in the end, it might have worked in my favor cos it looks a lot more organic that way.

The bricks with the diagonal fracture make it too easy to spot the tiling and look samey. I should go back and make at least one more brick to hide the tiling better.

The diffuse lacks contrast atm, but I figure I can fix that with some baked maps. I've barely touched Photoshop yet. I want to run this through Xnormal as well to get that good AO.

These are just things I've taken note of after a good night's sleep.

Feel free to contribute your thoughts and thanks for reading guys and gals

Replies

  • metric meditation
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    metric meditation polycounter lvl 5
    looking good so far. you have a good usage of variation with the brick shapes and silhouettes. there are enough variations to the stone color to make it believable, however, how about adjusting the color value of the various bricks just a little bit so the diffuse texture does not seem too bland?
  • SaboR1996
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    SaboR1996 polycounter lvl 8
    where do people find this beautiful tutorial!
  • passerby
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    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    i would play with the area in between the bricks more, they all look the same height, and the grout area looks too even, and uniform.
  • Count Vader
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    Count Vader polycounter lvl 12
    SaboR1996 wrote: »
    where do people find this beautiful tutorial!


    http://www.artbypapercut.com/ Vertex Vol. 1 I believe had something about naughty doge texturing
  • mark williams
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    tumblr_n1cs14XtvY1slauaco2_r1_1280.jpg

    tumblr_n1cs14XtvY1slauaco1_1280.jpg

    tumblr_n1cs14XtvY1slauaco5_r1_1280.jpg

    tumblr_n1cs14XtvY1slauaco4_r1_1280.jpg

    tumblr_n1cs14XtvY1slauaco3_r1_1280.jpg

    Thanks for the crits!

    I finally ran this through Photoshop applying different masks and overlays to get edges and AO to pop. I messed with the diffuse a bit to lessen the flattened look and boosted the red. Also got it in Marmoset and I was VERY HAPPY with the results of the normal. It looks pretty poppin atm



    Self crit time: I left the layout of the stones since I'm not sure I can go back that far in 2.5D mode. Ohhhhh well :/

    In the meantime, I made another texture out of a different arrangement. I wanted to put sand in the crevices so I spent time making a few masks in Photoshop to get the job done. Very little hand painting. Looking at it now, it looks like I lost a bit of depth when I added the sand. Better check on that.

    I like the bricks, but am having more trouble repurposing them in Zbrush than I would in Max. Probably cos I don't know the tools as well. Like how could I make the bricks BEND into a cylinder? Does Zbrush have an answer to Max's Bend modifier?

    Next up after feedback, I'd like to do a few more arrangements of bricks, then move on to some trim sheets



    As always, crits wanted and welcome
  • Joao Sapiro
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    Joao Sapiro sublime tool
    the thing is the bricks seem too perfectly positioned, i would break that with maybe a heavily broken tile and some nudged tiles as well , also playing around with moss and other types of minerals encrusted on those rocks .
  • AbKI
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    AbKI polycounter lvl 6
    Love the texturing on those!
  • mark williams
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    mark williams polycounter lvl 5
    I think it came out really well. Nice one.

    This tutorial may also be helpful
    http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/materials/tilesold/tilesold.html
    it's more a combination of the naughty dog one with finishing it in max. You were asking about easier ways to bend the bricks into curves, this tutorial touches on that.
    I took bits from both tutorials and ended up with this:
    Brick_Wall_in_UDK.jpg
    like yourself I got caught up in trying to make certain bricks interesting, and then having to get rid of it because it was obvious when tiled. :)
  • warby
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    warby polycounter lvl 18
    tumblr_n1cs14XtvY1slauaco2_r1_1280.jpg the green bits are very noticeably more low res than the rest also the two mossy bricks in the middle (slightly left) are very obviously the same ones just rotated ... other than that good stuff =)
  • sltrOlsson
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    sltrOlsson polycounter lvl 14
    Great start! Where will this texture end up? PBR rendered in Marmoset 2, UDK or viewport? Either way you need to take away all of your shadows. I know that Brad actually renders out shadows in his diffuses but that's something the shader should take care of. Something else that caught my eye is your lowres moss details. You should tone down the cavity way down to. Try to find some reference pictures! There's never that much wear on the stones of a wall..

    Watch your normalmap, you got shadows in there. BIG no no. Use the normal material found on pixologics site. The one that ships with ZB is broken. It highlights stuff very weird. Have a look in the different channels if you want confirmation :)
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    tumblr_n1f0f0lz011slauaco4_r1_1280.jpg

    Thanks again for the feedback

    I focused on getting the bad moss out, getting better moss in. Painted a new moss texture in Zbrush then blended it all in via masking in PS. This version also has cavity reduced substantially.

    The second arrangement of bricks has to have the sand part completely redone. I worked on the file outside of home and did not remember to reupload it, darnit.






    tumblr_n1f0f0lz011slauaco1_1280.jpg

    @sltrOlsson: I didn't have a target engine atm, but I've prepared a shadowless and AO-less version and a question about Marmoset 2 if anyone knows it.


    Problem: I have a material. I have only albedo and normal maps hooked up. Gloss and Spec sliders are set to zero. There are no lights in my scene but the skylight and both mats use a copy of the same mesh with the same tangent space set to Marmoset

    Why the heck is my diffuse coming in so much brighter?

    I loaded a default mat included with Marmoset 2 and got rid of the spec, gloss, etc too. That albedo shows up in the engine exactly as I'd expect: looking very close to the diffuse.

    Why doesn't my texture do that?

    Critique and feedback appreciated and welcome
  • stevston89
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    stevston89 interpolator
    The one vertical brick at the edge is going to make the tiling very obvious. Also if you are bring this up to date with PBR engines. You don't want any lighting in the Albedo.
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    tumblr_n1gyekLkX11slauaco5_r1_1280.jpg
    tumblr_n1gyekLkX11slauaco6_r1_1280.jpg



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    Thanks steveson. I screwed up when I laid out the bricks so layout changes prolly won't be happening :/

    Although I used IMM brushes to draw most of the bricks, I used 2.5D mode to perfect the tiling since you get a small seam using Tate Mosesian's method. I don't know how to go back and edit the 2.5D parts unfortunately :[

    Fortunately, I will be making new textures where I can put your awesome feedback to work :]



    New texture here is the basket weave brick pattern. Yeah! And a big thanks to ZacD for helping me solve that Marmoset issue


    So I did pretty much everything I could to get these back down to nearly flat diffuse textures. I'm feeling the mats atm but got a little lazy with the moss for the last texture. Fixing next update

    Something that was really bothering me about the materials in Marmoset was actually the normal map. Zbrush gave me some great, sharp normals but I think they looked too sharp, and cartoon-ish. I softened them in Photoshop

    Though I worked more on it, I'm not really feeling the texture with the vertical bricks so I might drop it. I can do better

    This week I'd like to get into some cool trim sheets and repurpose some of these assets to start a small scene

    I also plan to do study and render other materials to add to my stone work



    Please please please critique these things :)
  • sltrOlsson
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    sltrOlsson polycounter lvl 14
    I haven't played enough with MT2 to know, sorry..

    You need to tweak it and see how it behaves in different light situations, but it looks like your albedo is way to bright. What does your gloss and metaliness look like?
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    tumblr_n1l73jlNtV1slauaco1_r1_1280.jpg

    That's ok dude! I got some help on the technical forum that same day. :)

    So for testing I took a few shots of the bricks in different lighting presets of varying brightness

    I guess the bottom bricks have some over-exposed looking areas with the skylight brightness set pretty high. Any feedback here would be awesome since I'm not used to doing this haha

    I'm actually using a constant for metalness set to absolute zero at the moment. I'll update this with my spec when I get home

    Thanks again
  • jaaamesss
    Hi redhonour,

    first, nice work. Good progress.
    I like the sculpting and brick placement. What i notice that there are 2 bricks on first texture, that are too bright. It can be noticed when you tile the texture.

    Jakub
  • Joopson
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    Joopson quad damage
    The moss is too pale of a green. Usually moss is a much darker, richer green than that.
    Otherwise, I think it looks quite good.
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    tumblr_n1u17gZrtQ1slauaco7_r1_1280.jpg

    tumblr_n1u17gZrtQ1slauaco1_1280.jpg

    tumblr_n1u17gZrtQ1slauaco2_1280.jpg

    Finally put a little work into a trim sheet

    I referenced some cool architecture from temples in India and southeast Asia

    They have such awesome things

    This piece was made with a height map in mind... but I'm having trouble with it. The very top doesn't parallax well currently... Need to find a way to fix or hide. Suggestions welcome!

    I've got a few pieces together for a small scene, but it's not worth posting currently... However I fell for these temples in India pretty hard so that's the style I'm aping
  • Nate Broach
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    Nate Broach polycounter lvl 17
    hey red, this stuffs looking good, but somethings going on with your latest real time preview. looks like normals are flipped? I might try flipping the Y channel in marmoset (if thats what you're using) The highlights are all on the bottom, and its reading real strange.

    Look at where the highlights are on your highpoly model and then look where they are on your game ready model.
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    Yeah, I see it, thanks

    I thought I had a workflow set up to make sure that didn't happen but oh well

    Argh, says the pirate
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    tumblr_n26o3b1nCK1rghl70o1_1280.jpg

    Lot of silence, but I've been working on trying to combine what I've learned into a scene (and prepping for GDC too)

    I've been basing my architectural style off of Muktesvara deula, a Hindu temple located in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, India. Things be blocked out at the moment and I've exported parts into Zbrush for intense sculpting

    I'd like to get somewhere near complete in time for GDC (by Sunday) if possible

    Crits comments come on
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    tumblr_n2d5sj9hHq1rghl70o1_1280.jpg

    Update!

    Doing plenty of sculpting in Zbrush. I haven't had much luck finding pre-made brushes and assets with Hindu inspired design, so I've had to make a lot of my own custom brushes for this one.

    I'm thinking I need to revise my idea of "complete" to be just a high poly scene with polypaint. No way I'm getting quality low polys out in time for GDC at this pace

    The reliefs are giving me a bit of trouble. They just don't look as good as they could to me. I've watched a few tutorials to see some techniques, but haven't found much that's helpful to me so far

    I'll take suggestions on this if you got em!
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    tumblr_n2f0mcLZsb1rghl70o1_1280.jpg

    tumblr_n2f0mcLZsb1rghl70o2_1280.jpg

    Another quick update today

    Another day, another pillar
  • dpadam450
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    dpadam450 polycounter lvl 9
    Shaping up nicely.
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    Thanks man!

    Updated more for today

    tumblr_n2i7vfwGvd1rghl70o1_1280.jpg

    tumblr_n2i7vfwGvd1rghl70o2_1280.jpg
  • Mr Significant
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    Mr Significant polycounter lvl 11
    Those sculpt's are amazing. What do you using to render this?
  • NegevPro
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    NegevPro polycounter lvl 4
    That pillar is beautiful!
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    tumblr_n2juahlvGU1slauaco2_1280.jpg
    tumblr_n2juahlvGU1slauaco1_1280.jpg

    Thanks! I'm only using 3DS Max's daylight system to render atm. Nothing more than that

    More progress. I have a few adjustments to make on this that I'm just now seeing. Also forgot to put the tree in the shot ha

    Anyway I'm off to San Fran!
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