Hand-painted Wells

[guhhh]

It's simply amazing how much work you have to finish this project!! Congratulations, i loved the hand painted textures and the design of your project!

[funkdelic]

I went to save your finals for inspiration, and well, would you look at that. My computer mysteriously saved them to polycount banner resolution. weird....

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14662692/Inspiration/JessicaDinh-Banner1.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14662692/Inspiration/JessicaDinh-Banner2.jpg


Thats funny, can you believe the same happened to me? :)

[JR]

I've already said this... but it's worth to repeat. This thread should be on PC showcase. So much useful information, and such beautiful artwork shouldn't fall in oblivion. This thread deserves the highlight.

[JasonLavoie]

+1 mill to that post :P

[ParoXum]

So much threads deserve to be there lately, still they never seem to get attention from the right persons.

[slipsius]

I sent in a formal request to the admins to get this on the banner :)

[adam]

I can get this one up in the banners for sure. We need to get some more character work up there also!

[Snader]

The image is correct, the interpretation is wrong, that image is about vertex counts not draw calls.

But isn't it so that each draw call only renders a bunch of connected/stripped triangles? And that thus each triangle island, including those from smoothing group/mesh splits, is a new draw call?

[SHEPEIRO]

cant believe i missed this... really nice work

would love to see some more detail in the chateau's steps and i think its missing a touch of bedded in-ness... possibly some alpha decals around the arches and windows to make them sit better would help it to look a touch more solid

[Jessica Dinh]

Ahh, oh my goodness, I can't express enough how honored I am to be added to the banners . . . thank you so much to everybody for supporting my work and helping me to make it better!! :D:D:D

[KyleJensen]

Fantastic work. Congrats on making it to banner status! :D

[hathol]

Congrats on the banner! This is probably one of my favorite threads on pc! Too many goodies lurking inside. Hurry and post in your new thread so I can pick everyone's brains some more.

[JR]

Congrats Jessica, you made it! I hope that now although you are a PC elite member, you stay talking with us, poor average joes.

[pseudoBug]

Amazing thread, full of amazing talent, and amazing people with amazing critiques and amazingly helpful information.

This is my favorite thread on polycount for this month or so.

[SirCalalot]

Jessica, you are an inspiration and true talent!

I was following this thread from day one, but only now finished reading the last few pages. Everyone on Polycount has been wonderful and the information in this thread is invaluable.
This is why the forum is so great.

Congrats on making the banner too, Jess :)

[Visceral]

Congrats to the feature :D looks awesome!

[Alberto Rdrgz]

grats, jessica.

[dissonance]

congrats on your banner, you certainly earned it!

[Computron]

500 posts in this thread, wow. Congrtas Jessica on the banner.

[z0ltan]

So much awesome all in one place. Much deserved banner!

[Pangahas]

Congrats and thanks for the inspiration

[Xoliul]

Yes, a bit.

http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/provost/byf2_figure2.jpg
In the top image, you can see there are 12 chunks of polygons, so 12 draw calls.

Every 'split' in the model is a draw call. Every UV island is an extra draw call, every smoothing group, every instance of a prop in the scene. Everything gets divvied up in to small bite sized pieces. Having two smaller pieces instead of a large one doesn't cost any more effort to render, but it does take every so slightly more time because instead of the CPU telling the GPU "now render this", it has to say "now render this, and that".

That's not correct. Drawcalls are very simply put, when the Draw() command is called for a specific mesh AND material/shader. DirectX (or any other graphics API) can render any model/object in a single call, but it can only use one material for this call. So if you have two models, that's two drawcalls. If those models have two different materials, that's 2 times 2, so 4 drawcalls, since for every model you'll have to call the draw function for the part with material A, and then for the part with material B.
Smoothing group splits and UV splits do not affect drawcalls. They do increase the FINAL vertexcount, which is more important to judge the performance impact than tri/polycount.

Sorry to detract from the work, but I'd prefer the information in a featured topic to be correct ;)

[pseudoBug]

@xoliul

This thread seems to be all about people chiming in with helpful info, so I don't think anyone really minds a bit.

I believe someone else said something to this affect in response already. . . I'm personally glad that people take time to post when they see info they feel to be not totally accurate.

[Oniram]

awesome that this is up on the banner now! and well deserved. great job jessica.

[switz]

Stunning work, I am unbelievably inspired by your patient work ethic. :]

[Mr_Drayton]

All of this work is incredible... I admit that even if I know this is a 3D scene, it still looks much more like a 2D painting! Fantastic, I saved every screenshot for inspiration! :D

[ivanzu]

Really good work and very inspirational too.

[Funky Bunnies]

nice!
banner well deserved, this is some super inspirational work :)

[Paunescu.Daniel]

congrats, awesome work!

[camorsildecarper]

nice work

[Jason Young]

I was following this along the way, and love the end result and amount of work you put in. Great job, and it looks like all that hard work is really benefitting your most recent stuff!

[aminos]

This is absolutely amazing. I loved the render especially when you compared it to your concept. Great job. The cow is adorable.

If I have to give some suggestion, then: I love your close up shots more. I think for your big shot, you could work more on your lighting, either make your light more intense, or more saturated. I think the values on your concept doesn't have that much contrast, with hand painted textures, it is very hard to achieve the exact effect. If you have tried out your textures on your models early, you might find it easier to compare and adjust.

[Ravenslayer]

can't believe i'm only seeing this now
beautifull work and strong/readable silhouettes/style
very nice balance between colors aswell.

[ivanzu]

What did you use to sketch this?


http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/5566/wellconceptss.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/wellconceptss.jpg/)

[Harriett456]

It's nice to see the variation in the designs, seems your bridging two cultures?

Pretty clean and efficient model with a good uv to boot. Cant wait to see your texture.

[Harriett456]

to piggyback on what Haiasi said-knowing the technique he suggests you could paint the textures of the materials you need first and then UV the obect to fit those tiling textures.

[Jessica Dinh]

:] Thanks for the congratulations everyone. Aminos - I appreciate the critique on my lighting, I have much more to learn about it! ivanzu - a pen and some gray Copic markers.

[ivanzu]

Thanks for the answer,really great and inspiring art!:thumbup:

[altasa]

wonderful

[Sayanora]

Jess, it was awesome seeing this all come together. Great work!

[floon]

Congratuelations, you realy earned your reputation :)

[Nina I.]

I read through the thread a while back, but didn't have an account here yet. Now that I do I'd like to also like to compliment the production you have put a lot of dedication to. Just going through the thread taught me many things, and I really enjoyed seeing the progress shots of your texture work, including the colour palettes and reference material behind them. :)

Here comes another thumbs up!

[Teessider]

This is a fantastic scene! Such style and quality :)

[frell]

Thanks jimmypopall!

I'm glad you're enjoying my thread bbob, and thank you lots for your advice on style vs. technicality; I will keep it in mind :)

As for progresss, I know it's been awhile since I've updated due to drama with curriculum at school . . . sometimes makes me want to drop out -__- But anyway! Here is a tree. Planning to create a color variant of it, either bluer or yellower, not sure, and also a cypress sapling:

500 tris. This tree is on a 1024 x 1024, but only half of the map is shown here since the other half is currently empty, as I am planning to fill it with other things.

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4361/cypshotpcount.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/43/cypshotpcount.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

The body of the tree here is split in 4 256 x 256 sections, of which the center two are tileable for extending the length of the mesh. The body is also tileable horizontally - thus the tree is mirrored in half with no seams. That little section of tree on the right side of the map is for the alpha cards sticking out of the tree.

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/7981/cypress01offsettestpcou.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/831/cypress01offsettestpcou.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Critique and comments welcome,
Thanks! Jessica
Hold long did it take to paint this?

[Jessica Dinh]

ivanzu, altasa, Sayanora, floon, Nina I., Teessider - Thank you all very much :]:]

frell - That one was fun! something like 12-14 hrs if I had to guess.

[Selaznog]

Sharing this with my class. What an awesome thread. You're an amazing artist Jessica, keep it up!

And thanks to everyone who's provided all these great tips :D

[Isaiah Sherman]

Dang, this thread made you famous!

[Hebs]

great style, makes me want to paint more :)

[SirCalalot]

Jessica Dinh, I knew her before she was famous [/hipster]

*Dons lensless glasses*

8)

[SimonT]

Really cool but i think this is a good example what computer gaphics lacks in: silhouetes. You tree looks awesome but compared with the diablo 2.5tree tech it's not close enough to a painting.

[Isaiah Sherman]

I was at the Art of Diablo 3 talk at GDC this year and it was definitely impressive. I love their technique and execution. If you haven't seen it, Jessica, you should look it up and watch it!

[Isaiah Sherman]

For some reason it won't let me edit my posts... so I have to double post.

Here is the link to that Diablo 3 talk at GDC

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1015306/The-Art-of-Diablo

[Jessica Dinh]

Selaznog - Aw, thank you, it is really awesome to hear my work is being shared x]

Hebs - Yes, I'd love to see what you can paint. Your sculpts are awesome *_*

SirCalalot - lmao! now I'm really embarrassed lol

SimonT - I will be sure to work more on my silhouettes when designing - that is something I often forget to do, so thank you very much for the reminder! :)

Haiasi - Aww, I super appreciate the link x] I'ma go watch that right now hehe

[KennyTies]

Haiasi, thanks for posting the awesome link and Jessica I still use this thread as reference and inspiration.

[wirrexx]

moose, Stromberg90, Jenn0_Bing, jeffro - Thank you!

felipefrango - omggggg, awesome tip xD no more deleting loops, then scooting the other ones up and down to try and find the shape again!!!

Tigerfeet - moved the doorknobs down (p.s. your avatar makes me lol for some reason, I like it xD)

katana - Thanks! I did try what you said about the roof supports, but it turns out they don't look very nice fat and sparsely distributed, so I think I'm ok with the way they are now.

Here's my villa with the tileables all set up! There are 5 material ID's, 4 of which are my tileables, and the 5th being the blue areas that still need to be unwrapped and uniquely textured. When this is all done I'm also gonna go in and pop out some cobblestones and roof tiles for added silhouette. I still plan to improve the tileables in general, and I just now noticed that the cobblestone is much darker than in the concept - but for now, here they are! Critique and comments welcome:

http://i.imgur.com/OmaeC.jpg

Thanks!
Jessica
Hy Jessica, this is awsome. Could i please see how you tiled those textures? i'm quite new in texturing and i'm really lost at the moment with my WIP!! =)

[wirrexx]

Nevermind, just saw everything and i had to pick up my jaw from the floor. Amazing Work. Amazing *Standing Ovations*

[Jessica Dinh]

Thank you wirexx :)

Hey guys! Thought I would update my thread with some recent news, and my appreciation. Yesterday I received an internship from Blizzard for this summer - it was the best day ever haha. I couldn't have done it without Polycount. All of your critiques and encouraging words has kept me motivated and learning, and helped me to reach my goal :]:] Happy pandaaaaaa !!!!

[Dysengaged]

Thats amazing to hear, with all your hard work. Congradulations
Loving all your stuff, learning alot from your hand painted textures
Keep it up :)

[Rafferty_Eggleston]

That is fantastic! Congratz on the internship! Your work definitely shows that you've earned it :)

[Damytria]

Thank you wirexx :)

Hey guys! Thought I would update my thread with some recent news, and my appreciation. Yesterday I received an internship from Blizzard for this summer - it was the best day ever haha. I couldn't have done it without Polycount. All of your critiques and encouraging words has kept me motivated and learning, and helped me to reach my goal :]:] Happy pandaaaaaa !!!!

Congratulations! You should make a post in general Jessica ;-)

[Tigerfeet]

Congratulations, You totally deserve it :)

[Pangahas]

Congrats on the internship,one question though whatever happened to the well?:)

[njc6425]

Congrats jess! You deserve it..hopefully see even more amazing stuff from you

[SirCalalot]

Congratulations, @Jessica Dinh!
If anyone deserves this, it's you! :D

[WarrenM]

Perfect fit, congrats Jessica!

[ladyknowles]

Well done Jessica! Even though you're half way across the world I'm still proud of you :D Doing it for the girls!

[KennyTies]

Congratulations on the internship at blizzard it is certainly well deserved. I have said this before but I continually learn from this thread and appreciate it. When does the internship start?

[Jessica Dinh]

ladyknowles - woot! x]

KennyTles - It starts on May 29th and goes for 3 months :]

[Torch]

Hey Jess, I remember talking to you a while back on FB and you saying how you still had a lot to learn and had only just started using ZBrush, etc. and look at you now doing an internship at BLIZZARD! :O Thats insane, congrats and well deserved :D

[chrisavigni]

Well done girl! Keep on ROCKING and good luck!

[Devin Busha]

Big congrats Jessica! It was only a matter of time ^^

[Daehi]

Congrats Jessica~! Even though it's bit a sad news just for me because I applied 3d environment intern position this year and now I just realized it's already filled. :)

[KennyTies]

Awesome! Well I bet its going to be an awesome three months!

[kelli]

Congrats Jessica :)

[Avanthera]

Grats!

[Selaznog]

Congrats Jessica, you are an inspiration!

[Sarankan]

Well done Jessica!! i ve been looking at your work for some time now, its nice to see how much you've progressed

[Darkleopard]

grats! you definitely earned it!

[Prodigga]

very nice. just read through 24 pages and it was well worth it.. :D

[legacyofpiracy]

I really enjoyed reading through this whole thread and seeing the evolution of your project. I personally learned tons (had that same dramatic realization about the wonders of tileable textures) and really appreciate such thorough documentation! Absolutely love the final product - this has definitely motivated me to tackle another environmental piece and use polycount as a resource :). Thanks again!

[tsabszy]

wow! how did i miss this thread! it's awsome!

[AdelScott]

Fantastic works!

[Kromus]

Loving this thread, some very hand tips. Really awesome progress by the way, keep it up! Loving the textures

[Fuzzyblott]

Awesome thread; I absolutely LOVE it. To see the progress and stuff; it gives me hope for the future! Congrats on the TOTALLY AWESOME Blizzard internship! Oh and if u ever have time please crit my stuff! Hopefully I can follow in your footsteps!!!!
cheers for LCAD girls!:)

[williamsrn]

that is awesome

[steppan]

very amazing thread for amounts of tips and tricks taught by the polycount community and also seeing Jessica start off asking about how to use tiled textures to creating a wonderful environment piece; a huge inspiration to never give up!

[ericbraddock]

Two words: Bad ass.

I really enjoyed reading through the thread and seeing all the process. Awesome stuff!

[87roach]

This is really a fantastic piece, well done. I would of also like to have seen some different facial expressions because of the quality of the character.