Hangman's Hill Saloon
polycounter lvl 9
Hey everyone!
I'll be making an old timey saloon scene to be viewed in Sketchfab. If you have any ideas or just helpful thoughts, that could improve the project, please share them with me. Here's the scene that I'll be continuously updating, so you could check the current state at any moment.
model
I'll be making an old timey saloon scene to be viewed in Sketchfab. If you have any ideas or just helpful thoughts, that could improve the project, please share them with me. Here's the scene that I'll be continuously updating, so you could check the current state at any moment.
model
Replies
So I was thinking about making a western saloon scene but not the one you would usually see in a movie or a videogame. I was trying to find something that hasn't been done over and over again and I found this
It's not a saloon of course but one could easily imagine it being one. I like how it stands on an uneven ground, old, slanted and crooked. I imagine how it creaks when you go upstairs. So that's the general feel I want to achieve. And also - corner entrance. I believe every saloon should be entered from a corner. I also gathered a bunch of references for architectural elements, plus brewery and storage facility.
It would also be great to do not only the exterior but the interior as well, if I could find a convenient way for a viewer to look inside the buildings.
After that I went to Maya and started blocking the scene and figuring out the basic layout. This is the most important part because if I can view a scene from any direction I need to make sure that it looks compositionally interesting from at least four basic view angles, the ones from which the scene would be most certainly viewed at. Compositionally speaking I arranged a lot of elements in a way that would drive the eye of a viewer up and around the scene. It doesn't work out every time but at least most of the time.
At this point I move stuff around a lot, making sure that everything fits the composition and important objects don't overlap each other and provide enough points of interest.
I also look for interesting shapes and silhouettes from side views
I always imagine it as part of a larger scene, so it has multiple pathways and exits. I will begin detailing and figuring things out further and also post some random tips and thoughts.
Some other prop details will be added later, after texturing. Objects like chairs or benches, kerosene lamps, bottles, barrels and crates.
When it comes to old and weathered structures I tend to avoid having long straight lines as much as possible (because that's, in part, where the beauty comes from) and break anything that catches my eye. For that I add one or two divisions to the edges and then use Transform component tool in Maya to slightly distort the mesh. It is similar to Noise modifier in Max except it adapts to the type of the component that is currently selected.
This is the quickest way to achieve the old and saggy look that I need.
PS. Really looking forward to see a thread for your mexican scene too!
I'm working on the environment portfolio every day and need to move as fast as I can. The mexican scene is a thing of the past and going back to it again would be a waste of time for me.
The technique of creating and rendering textures primarily in zbrush has always been inconvenient and awkward for me. Especially when it comes to manipulating separate pieces. So what I do instead is I create and paint all the necessary elements in zbrush then decimate and export hi and low poly pieces separately and then assemble everything in Maya.
Then I use whole range of techniques to achieve the desired result, some maps are baked inside Maya, some are in xNormal and then combined with those generated from photos. Then I assemble maps in Photoshop while adding some additional color, noise or cracks maps from photo textures or generated with substance. My main goal here is to create the collection of materials that would work together when combined in the scene while providing a pleasant color variation.