Lodge Building + Environment [warhammer]

Seaseme · Apr 2009

Hey folks,

Could I get some critiques please?

based on these concepts -

It is 6,990 Tris right now, but I'm expecting it to be around 6,500 Tris after I do some optimizing.

The backside will be attached to a lake / pond, which is the reason for the extended support beams and pillars.

The biggest thing I can see right now is the castle tower, the windows don't really need to be geometry.

My main goals with this project are:

1) to show how important tiled textures can be to a building and environment.
2) to have a complete, unique scene probably lit along the lines of Fable 2, as opposed to anything too dark and grungy.
3) To have a kickass portfolio piece

Let me know what your opinions are, maybe you have some ideas for props and such.

Thanks in advance!

SHEPEIRO · Apr 2009

so far everything looks good, id just add a couple of loops to the roof as the sillohette looks a wee bit low, and consider revising the chimney, atm its too straight where as in the concept it is very irregular.

also thelower roof sections would look ace if they were straw atm they look a litle solid, infact i would add an alpha edge to the slate roof as well to add nice irreularity

Hurreman · Apr 2009

I don't think that I can't give any crits, but I can say it's an awesome start!

I like how you've given it a lot of 'imperfections' which gives it character. I don't think you need to worry about the tower windows, but the small circular window on the right side (top image) perhaps has a bit too much detail compared to everything else. Unless you're planning to change the camera angle to give it a bit more focus?

Can't wait to see it textured!

Seaseme · Apr 2009

Thanks

@Shepeiro

Thanks for the input. I'm trying to figure out the best workflow for that, the roof I have there could be temporary I suppose. I was just going to put some alpha mapped grids on top for the straw and still have the roof section under it.. But thinking now that might be a substantial waste of polygons. I'll think about it. I guess I'll delete that roof section and just put some alpha mapped planes there, maybe tweak them to give some mass.

@Hurreman

Thanks

. I've been doing tons of reading around here lately on which direction I should go with things and have learned so much from Kevin / AdamBrome / so many of the other great posters here. I wanted this to be sort of a culmination of all of the things I've been learning. As for the camera angle, I'm planning on rendering this in Steam Engine, I'll have to do some research and figure out my constraints with that engine first, but I think it should be ok. You're right about the circle piece, it's a bit too detailed, there's no need. I toned it back a lot and made the little iron cross inside of it read better.

Here's the first pass of my plan for textures. There's definetly some problems with it for now. I don't think I gave the stone tile enough space, and perhaps too much for the Plaster (convenient?)

Forgive the big black marks, i was a little frustrated with XSI and had to take it out on my sketchbook.

Seaseme · Apr 2009

The bridge / dock

I have some optimizing to do, obviously, but this baby is coming in at about 900 polygons. I tried to pay a lot of attention to the silhouette, I think it turned out pretty nice. Anyone have any ideas / suggestions?

*edit*

New front side of building, added some more beam supports, made the stairs less steep and some other miner fixes.

Autocon · Apr 2009

The biggest problem I see with this building right now is the stairs. The stairs are extremely high while extremely short. Most stairs are longer then higher. Right now if you were to walk up these you would have to jump up each step and balance on your toes for every step.

A quick google of stairs will show that stairs arnt very high compared to how long they are as it gives you a higher chance of tripping since you have to raise your feet that much higher to step up.

Edit: This is based off your redo of your stairs which still look to tall compared to how wide they are.

Other then taht its looking pretty good, keep it up.

Seaseme · Apr 2009

I see what you mean. Thanks. Changes will be made

penrod · Apr 2009

This is looking really cool so far. I like how you planned out the texture space before hand. I would push the wonkyness of the building a bit more. Make the support beams and other little things slightly off kilter. The crazy chimney is one of my favorite parts of the concept. I think that would be a cool addition to the model. Looking forward to updates.

JostVice · Apr 2009

looking great, I love how the model looks. Looking forward for it

Need to find good concepts for buildings, don't know where you guys find them!

renderhjs · Apr 2009

Need to find good concepts for buildings, don't know where you guys find them!

sadly to often from the warhammer universe - I wish people here would look more out for other directions.

Booth the house and the bridge have lots of intersections that could be spared. I also think that the balance for the house in terms of scale of each element is not yet found - some parts like the stairs to the front door have to tiny pieces whereas the roof has very huge surfaces. I think you need to get a little bit more together with the different sizes and work more towards a average size of things.

But in general the proportions already work

A.Kincade · Apr 2009

Nice work. I suppose most stuff has already been said. I like the bridge. After optimization and some sweet textures will make a cool piece. The silhouette turned out nicely.

Good stuff thus far. Keep up the good work.

Seaseme · Apr 2009

Bridge update..

The normal map will take out the hard edges on the supports - Also there are some color corrections to be done. The rope will be darker, have some more dirt and crap on it from the water / elements. Also, I think the supports should be partially redone. I don't like how they turned out on the first pass.

Seaseme · May 2009

Some of the window assets. I Decided to texture them separate so I could use them later as assets themselves. The left piece is the front door of the building, I want it to be relatively sharp so it maintains quality for the player as he gets closer to the building. I didn't worry about making anything super high res for baking purposes, just did some very simple things and baked so I could get a leg up on doing all of the details by hand. Obviously, the spec map will really sell these as windows. I'll post that a bit later.

More stuff coming later today

Thanks for looking!

whats_true · May 2009

Why not model out the door handle?

Seaseme · May 2009

I just wanted to try in textures first I suppose.

edoardo · May 2009

Good stuff Seaseme!

Seaseme · May 2009

Update:

ScoobyDoofus · May 2009

I think this looks really great. Now I wanna see it lit without wires.

Seaseme · May 2009

Thanks!

!

onionhead_o · May 2009

wut engine is this in?

Seaseme · May 2009

That is cryEngine2

whats_true · May 2009

It's kinda flat. Do you have a specular map on that thing?

Seaseme · May 2009

there isn't specular in these yet.

[Deleted User] · May 2009

It looks like the scale of the bricks might be a little off around the bottom of the (I don't know what it's called...) top part that sticks up on the right. The outside corner edges on that and the lowermost brick part look like they could use a slight chamfer to take some of the sharp edge off too. Other than that, no crits from me. Looking good so far. Keep it up!

shabba · May 2009

Nice work, I really like this. I cant offer any crits, but I do have a question to everyone including OP.

Is it typical in games to have the windows/doors/other things stuck on to the building without welding it to the base mesh? Or is it better to attach and weld it to the building mesh so its one solid piece?

I ask because I'm just finished a building myself, but I have attached/welded all the pieces, and if I didnt, I'm sure my tri count would have been significantly lower.

Thanks!

Seaseme · May 2009

Hey Shasta -

Is it typical in games to have the windows/doors/other things stuck on to the building without welding it to the base mesh?

It is typical for games to just stick on doors / windows / other things without welding it. The way I did it is pretty acceptable.

Thanks for the compliment!

@Fly-Soup

On it

.

Surface · May 2009

Hey,

Overall it looks really good however the texture needs a bit of work.
I cant remember the English word for it, but lets just call it the white walls. They look a bit boring, and they lack a color variation, add a bit of grime that will probably do the trick. Take a look at fable 2, that will probably give you a bunch of good ideas

and while typing this I read you didnt have any specular, so yeah, do a goodjob with that and it will turn out great

Goodluck

Lodge Building + Environment [warhammer]

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