BLIZZARD Styled Environment Art WIP

[Oliver_Farrell]

[PHP]
Hi Everyone! My name is Oliver Farrell and i am a game design masters student studying at Uclan. My main focus is environment art and I am aiming to create Blizzard styled props and environments.

I created this thread to basicly get some feedback and show my progress, i hope you guys like it!

So firstly to familiarise myself with the Blizzard style I followed a tutorial on 3Dmotive created by Tyson Murphy. The tutorial is great and goes into detail on his techniques and processes on creating a lowpoly hand painted sword and sheild.

I have followed this tutorial the best i could and bellow is my progress:

[Callesw]

Cant see any images :(

[Oliver_Farrell]

Cant see any images :(

Im sorry I am a complete Noob at this, do you know how to post Images from PC?

[Computron]

Imgur.com

Upload them, click the picture and copy the URL to the mesasge box and press the image button with it highlighted.

[MadnessImport]

Imgur degrades image quality
Sometimes massively

/Just sayin

[Joshflighter]

1) Upload to www.photobucket.com
2) Copy the link they provide with the tags.
3) Past it here. :)

[Computron]

Doesn't PhotoBucket have quotas? I hate looking at old threads where all the images are 404'ed

[chiniara]

+1 for imgur. Its simple and does its job :]

[Oliver_Farrell]

Display of UVs on models

http://i.imgur.com/beaT0.jpg

[Jessica Dinh]

Imgur degrades image quality
Sometimes massively

/Just sayin

Does anyone else agree with this? I might believe you MadnessImport, but sometimes you 'just sayin' some crazy things xD

[PhattyEwok]

Don't want to thread jack but personally I like Dropbox.

I can see the sword and shield. Looking good so far...

I would recommend for wireframe shots to just screen grab them as gray object with white lines. Or some combo that's easier to see.

[Gannon]

I see a sword and shield D:

[Oliver_Farrell]

Im doing everything I can to upload these, Im pulling my hair out!!! doing everything right its just not working, i will get the pics up ASAP!

[Jessica Dinh]

Hey, maybe a pic will help. Go to photobucket, upload something, click on it once it's uploaded and copy paste the highlighted code here:

http://i.imgur.com/IIA1M.jpg

[Micah]

imageshack how to :P
How to use ImageShack for posting pictures on Forums. - YouTube
I see the uvwed sword and shield, looks good so far.

[Oliver_Farrell]

I wont give up!!!!

[MadnessImport]

Does anyone else agree with this? I might believe you MadnessImport, but sometimes you 'just sayin' some crazy things xD

I guess i must watch what i say from now on thus i become another buy who cried wolf then huh :)

I wont give up!!!!

Never copy the link directly from the address bar.
Unless it ends with an image file extension
Thats usually how i find someone adding images incorrectly
http://a.deviantart.net/avatars/f/e/feelingfreeplz.gif?1

[Baddcog]

Don't want to thread jack but personally I like Dropbox.

I can see the sword and shield. Looking good so far...

I would recommend for wireframe shots to just screen grab them as gray object with white lines. Or some combo that's easier to see.

Agreed. All that shot really shows is the wireframe anyway.

Do what fatty says to show of wireframe of model. To show of uv mapping better to just put a checker board on there, that's shows you the amount of stretching you'll have so a much better indicator of how well done the unwrap is.

[Callesw]

The sword and shield looks cool so far Oliver!
Seeing forward to textures :) Keep it coming!

[Oliver_Farrell]

Here is the progress of my work!

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage2.jpg

The initial shading on the sword.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage3.jpg

Working in the form.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage4.jpg

Applying rust and completing tonal value on blade.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage5.jpg

Adding in Scratches.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage6.jpg

More kinks and fine details.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage7.jpg

More shine added to the blade, sharpening of details.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage8.jpg

Top part of Blade painted.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage9.jpg

Gold studs painted onto sword.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage10.jpg

Top section of sword handle painted.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage11.jpg

Close up of top section handle, adding details.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage12.jpg

Finished sword.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage13.jpg

Initial work on shield.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage14.jpg

Working in the wood texture.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage15.jpg

Nearly done, Shield needs lighting information to be fixed.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage16.jpg

Finished! Happy with the exercise I can't wait to make my own props now!

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Stage17.jpg

A quick comparison of the textures at 1024 and 256.

[Oliver_Farrell]

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/finishedtexture.jpg

Texture map.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Finalrender-2.jpg

Finished render 1.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Finalrender-1.jpg

Finished render 2.

This exercise helped make me more confident in my hand painted texturing ability, I would suggest anyone who wants to improve to take a look at the tutorial.

I am now going to design and model a weapon and shield of my own, after this I will move onto more environment based props, I will keep posting daily!

[MadnessImport]

It came out beautiful And still looks magnificent at a lower resolution!

[jimmypopali]

Wow, love the process you did and it came out really well!

Have you have experience doing hand painted stuff before?

[Mcejn]

Definitely good execution. Almost would have liked to see some personal touches rather than a straight replication, but good stuff none the less. :)

[Oliver_Farrell]

Definitely good execution. Almost would have liked to see some personal touches rather than a straight replication, but good stuff none the less. :)

Thanks, ye i know i was itching to do that, Im working on my own Weapon and Shield now so hopefully you will get to see my personal touches! Stay tuned!

[Oliver_Farrell]

Wow, love the process you did and it came out really well!Have you have experience doing hand painted stuff before?

Thank you Jimmy! I came from a fine art background and haven't really used it in my texture work, I mainly used Photo Manipulation, but now I am going to continue with this style of work, i will post more stuff as soon as I have it.

[Oliver_Farrell]

It came out beautiful And still looks magnificent at a lower resolution!


Thank you so much MadnessImport, I will have more stuff up soon!

[Oliver_Farrell]

I have finished the concept for the weapon and sheild I am going to model and texture. Here it is:

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Battle_Axe_Sheild_Concept.jpg

[Computron]

I don't really see the point of posting what you have made if it is directly from a tutorial unless you have some problems or critique needed, although that last post looks interesting, i'll be watching that one. And, none of this is really environment art.

[Robbyh]

sadly i agree with above post.

you shouldnt follow directly any tutorial imo.

nobody ever does exactly from point a to point b anything. we all have different styles.. u cant copy one without making it it ur own ?

[Visceral]

I was just about to say "this looks 100% like the 3dmotive tutorial"

Until i saw his last post that made me glad. Doing a tutorial 100% and then mooving on to create something of his own using the techniques tought in the lessons, way to go! Looking foreward to it.

[Sharvo]

Hey looks really good, well done for learning the hand painting style from the tutorial, might have to pick it up to understand it a bit more. Nicely followed, i disagree with what some of the others have said above about following a tutorial. You have learnt a technique and wanted to show others from this tutorial you now have the skills to work on your own ideas and style.

Look forward to seeing your own weaponary done like your concept above, you could make a little black/weaponsmith environment.

[Oliver_Farrell]

I don't really see the point of posting what you have made if it is directly from a tutorial unless you have some problems or critique needed, although that last post looks interesting, i'll be watching that one. And, none of this is really environment art.


Hay thanks for the reply, well im new on here, it was my first post. I guess I wanted to show this becuase I wanted to gather some interest before I start posting my own work.

The position I am applying for classes weapons, props and environments under the role of environment artist so I need to show I can do this as well as the rest. Dont worry I will post Environment stuff over the next few weeks.

[toxic_h2o]

good job dude looking forward to seeing your weapons. I'm currently working on hand-painted stuff as well so Ill be watching this. :)

[Oliver_Farrell]

sadly i agree with above post.

you shouldnt follow directly any tutorial imo.

nobody ever does exactly from point a to point b anything. we all have different styles.. u cant copy one without making it it ur own ?


Thanks for the comment Robby, the reason I chose to follow it exactly was becuase I learn best that way, I guess it comes down too personal opinion. The style I am trying to replicate and explore is that of Blizzard. The style I copied is that of the Blizzard games and Is necessary for me to adapt too. Of course I will develop my own techniques but aesthetically It has to replicate there unique stlyle.

[Oliver_Farrell]

Thank you to Visceral, Sharvo and toxic_h2o for the positive feedback. I will be working on this weapon so i should have some more up by the end of today.

[Oliver_Farrell]

I have now finished modeling and UVmapping the Axe and Sheild. Will made a start on texturing it now.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_1.jpg

[Jhburton]

Its all looking very sexy OJ... Keep it up!! can´t wait to see your axe finished!! :D

[Jessica Dinh]

I agree, you did a great job following the tut, and your concept shows nice technique to! Hyped for texturess

[Oliver_Farrell]

I have now finished my Axe:

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_2.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_3.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_4.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_5.jpg

Will start on the Sheild soon.

[letronrael]

I love that

[Limewax]

I have finished the concept for the weapon and sheild I am going to model and texture. Here it is:

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Battle_Axe_Sheild_Concept.jpg

I am not sure what the material is on the part of the axe that adjoins the blades and the hilt. I think its metal? Could also be mistaken as wood... at any rate, I feel like it competes too much with the leather wrappings on the handle. One of these colors should change, and personally I think it should be the handle... the handle could be something completely different (purple?) and the adjoining part for the blades could be more of a rusty metal.

I watched this tutorial myself during an afternoon, great to see you take it to the next level :) Keep going

[jeremiah_bigley]

Nice stuff man. I really have a respect for hand painted textures as I understand they are difficult and not everyone can do them... if you said you would recommend it to ppl wanting to learn then I might have to buy it! I really want to get better at it.

[Oliver_Farrell]

I am not sure what the material is on the part of the axe that adjoins the blades and the hilt. I think its metal? Could also be mistaken as wood... at any rate, I feel like it competes too much with the leather wrappings on the handle. One of these colors should change, and personally I think it should be the handle... the handle could be something completely different (purple?) and the adjoining part for the blades could be more of a rusty metal.

I watched this tutorial myself during an afternoon, great to see you take it to the next level :) Keep going


Hay Limewax, thanks for the advice, I completely agree with you about all you said and am greatful full your advice. Here is a comparison of the two concepts, let me know what you think.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/new_axe_concept.jpg

[Oliver_Farrell]

Nice stuff man. I really have a respect for hand painted textures as I understand they are difficult and not everyone can do them... if you said you would recommend it to ppl wanting to learn then I might have to buy it! I really want to get better at it.


Thanks man! I would heighly remcomend watching the tutorial, it definetly helped me out!

[Oliver_Farrell]

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/new_axe_concept_2.jpg

New version Stands out, better relationship betweek axe and handle. More visually interesting.

[Oliver_Farrell]

I have now finished my Sheild design:

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_6.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_7.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_8.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_9.jpg

[Oliver_Farrell]

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Axe_Sheild_Stage_10.jpg

I am pritty happy with the outcome, i structured my work flow symilarly to that of the tutorial when it came to texturing:

1- Work in Tonal Value ( Direction of light. )
2- Dark Detail ( Scratches, kinks and textural definition. )
3- Light Detail ( Highliting the scratches, kinks and textural definition. )
4- Bounce light.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Texture_size_comparison.jpg

Textures still read well at 256.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Uvset_Axe_Sheild_Finished.jpg

Texture map at 1024x1024.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/final_render_1.jpg

Finished render.

[Jhburton]

Again... super cool man :D

[Oliver_Farrell]

Now I have finished with my weapon designs for now, I am going to concentrate on the Blizzard environment art competiton. Will post some look and feel and concepts soon!

[Jeff Parrott]

Your highlights are all over the place. Try to localize them so the rendering makes sense on the texture. (Not on the top and bottom of scratches, edges, etc).

The texture also lacks contrast. It feels very soft and flat. I would make the highlights brighter and the shadows darker.

The gold needs brighter highlights.

Additional color (and saturation) variation in the blue metal would help it read better too.

Great job of following the Tyler's 3dmotive tutorial to a T. I would try to push your work with your environment piece in your own style though.

[Nitewalkr]

Nicely done sir.

[Oliver_Farrell]

Your highlights are all over the place. Try to localize them so the rendering makes sense on the texture. (Not on the top and bottom of scratches, edges, etc).

The texture also lacks contrast. It feels very soft and flat. I would make the highlights brighter and the shadows darker.

The gold needs brighter highlights.

Additional color (and saturation) variation in the blue metal would help it read better too.

Great job of following the Tyler's 3dmotive tutorial to a T. I would try to push your work with your environment piece in your own style though.



Hay Jeffro thank you for the crit! I have take on board what you have said and it has really helped me fix the texture! I tried to add saturation to the colours and remove the flatness you spoke about. I also darkened the shaded areas and lightened the highlights. I hope you can read this better.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Old_New.jpg

I see what you mean about the origonal texture being flat.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_1.jpg

Although this is not perfect, I think it does read a lot better now.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/final_render_4.jpg

Thanks again for the advice! let me know what you think.

[OddEyes]

at first, i was like.. 'did you increase the texture resolution?' cuz now we can see you fine details way better. Good job

[Jeff Parrott]

Well now your bronze and wood has the same value.

Desaturate your screengrab in Phoshop and notice how the wood and the bronze are the same shade of grey. That should not happen for the most part. It's something usually to avoid.

I think you just did a contrast adjustment in Phoshop and that's making your darks too dark now. You'll need to paint in a greater spectrum of value to get more contrast.

The golds still need the brighter highlights.

I'd work on rendering the wraps a bit more convincingly as well. They need some more love.

[Oliver_Farrell]

Well now your bronze and wood has the same value.

Desaturate your screengrab in Phoshop and notice how the wood and the bronze are the same shade of grey. That should not happen for the most part. It's something usually to avoid.

I think you just did a contrast adjustment in Phoshop and that's making your darks too dark now. You'll need to paint in a greater spectrum of value to get more contrast.

The golds still need the brighter highlights.

I'd work on rendering the wraps a bit more convincingly as well. They need some more love.

Ok so now i have brightened the gold highlights, gave the wraps some love, brigthened the darks. Brightened up the bronze so not symilar too wood. Im happy with the result. I wanted the weapon to be quite viberant and I hope you like the changes.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_2.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_4.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_3.jpg

[Jeff Parrott]

Looking better. The golds still need some work on the highlights.

Your leather wrap isn't reading like leather. It needs to have a bit smoother shadows and highlights.

Your rendering of highlights across the board needs to be reworked. If light is coming from above (which would hold true if a Orc dude was holding a shield or sword and there was a sun above) then on a scratch, ding, nick, whatever it should be shadow on the top and highlight on the bottom.

Ughh... just read my description. OK that probably doesn't make sense. I'll try to find time to do a paint over of this sometime this week. I'd recommend that you read though http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm and specifically http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm#light_stuff. It will help your texturing a ton.

[Oliver_Farrell]

Looking better. The golds still need some work on the highlights.

Your leather wrap isn't reading like leather. It needs to have a bit smoother shadows and highlights.

Your rendering of highlights across the board needs to be reworked. If light is coming from above (which would hold true if a Orc dude was holding a shield or sword and there was a sun above) then on a scratch, ding, nick, whatever it should be shadow on the top and highlight on the bottom.

Ughh... just read my description. OK that probably doesn't make sense. I'll try to find time to do a paint over of this sometime this week. I'd recommend that you read though http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm and specifically http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm#light_stuff. It will help your texturing a ton.

I would really appreciate a paint over man. Give me more of an idea of what needs improving.

[Jeff Parrott]

Here's a fast paint over. Basically just be consistent with your painting. Highlights/shadows need to be consistent across the piece.

Hope it makes sense.

http://environmentartist.com/boards_images/Oliver_Farrell_PO.jpg

[Alberto Rdrgz]

I usually avoid these threads, but this is better way better than i expected! :)

[Oliver_Farrell]

[QUOTE=jeffro;1491537]Here's a fast paint over. Basically just be consistent with your painting. Highlights/shadows need to be consistent across the piece.

Hope it makes sense. [QUOTE]

Man made a lot of sence, I took your advice about the golds and realsied that they where too yellow. The colour scheme over all was way off. I decided to change some of the colours and entre more of a realistic colour scheme.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_12.jpg

I added blues into the shadowed areas and re painted the golds.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_9.jpg

I also replaced the blue rim of the sheild with bronze.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_11.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_10.jpg



Thank you for the advice man. I will take it on board with my had painted style, I know its going to take some work, but i think im on my way.

[sybrix]

You've shown great improvement throughout this process; I can't wait to see your environment!

My only crit is the mirrored UVs pop out obviously on the shield to me. Can't help but wonder if there's a better way to pack/stack those repeating elements to fit the whole shield on there, or maybe even give the shield it's own unique map. I'm well aware it's way too late to worry about that and you're probably set to move on from this piece, but something to think about in the future. :)

[Baddcog]

Like sybrix said the tiling is a bit obvious. You could cut down on that a bit by just not mirroring the center steel band on the shield. The wood would still mirror, but you'd lose the obvious line straight down the middle.


Still, from start to end that set shows great improvement. On the the next piece..

[Limewax]

I am kind of glad I waited to reply to this thread, solely because I feel like I may have ended up misdirecting you... but your latest revisions look miles better compared to when I gave you crit... so great work there :)

I dont usually do this often, but I cant actually give you a crit on where its at now because I feel like they're at a state where you can call them complete and move on to something new

[mnphear]

i think you're occlusion shadow of the bolt is too strong.

[Andy H]

Love this thread, been watching it just haven't posted anything yet. You've improved so much through working on this piece! Your newest revision is gorgeous, I think you've really nailed it and I'm glad you changed the color scheme a bit. Honestly my eyes go directly to the shield when I look at the two models together, just because I like it the most :). I think your occlusion might just be slightly too much, but other than that I'm going to second Limewax and say call this finished and move on. I can't wait to see what else you do!

[Oliver_Farrell]

Hay! Thank you all for your feedback.

Sybrix & Baddcog : I see what you mean about the obvious mirroring, I think if i just remove some of the fine details from the central stip of metal and bronze it wont look as bad. I will take that into acount for my next piece of work. as you say 'on to the next one'.

Limewax: I have been waiting for your reply and thank you! Your advice really helped me out and I too am happy with what i have learnt from this. I can't wait to get one with my next project.

mnphear: I cant believe i didnt realise it was too strong haha. You are so right its way to dark. will have to tweak that before i put the piece into my portfolio. Thanks for letting me know!

Andy H: Thank you for the comment man! really apreciate it. The sheild was a pain! but i love this handpainted style now! Think I found my calling haha. Time to move on!

So now i am going to start work on my environment. Right now I want to create a small village with farm land, which leads up towards the ruins of a castle or structure. In the world of warcraft style. So from that now I am going to do some concept work and start modeling some props and creating the environment textures.

Here we go!...

[Jeff Parrott]

Definitely getting there. I'm not sold on the bronze. I would rather see that steel or something else. The gold, bronze, and wood are a lot of yellow/browns. Be nice to work in cooler colors.

[Oliver_Farrell]

Definitely getting there. I'm not sold on the bronze. I would rather see that steel or something else. The gold, bronze, and wood are a lot of yellow/browns. Be nice to work in cooler colors.

Hay jeffro, I see what you mean about the colours very dim. I quickly tweaked it:

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_9-1.jpg

Think it looks a lot cooler now, not so dull.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_11-1.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/New_10-1.jpg

I think its actually done now haha. I can put it to bed. Let me know what you think.

[Snader]

I think your shadows are too strong, wide, and not very well defined. You could definitely do with toning the AO down, and then painting in some drop shadows.

[frell]

that wood is very interesting, how did you do it and how long did it take?

really cool man

[Oliver_Farrell]

that wood is very interesting, how did you do it and how long did it take?

really cool man

Hay man, thanks, Wood took about 10 minutes, i started with a dark brown and then painted in the planks with a lighter shade. I then added the details and pronounced them with high lights. I finished off by adding blue into the shadowed areas, Jeffro showed me how and it adds a lot the texture.

[Jeff Parrott]

Sorry just saw this. Yes I like the new color scheme a lot better.

[praetus]

Huge improvement on the color scheme.

[Oliver_Farrell]

Hi guys! Started work on my Blizzard styled environment project. firstly I researched a lot! Through reading some of the threads on here too I realsied the best way to tackle the building of my village Is to create modular peices which can be combined to make multiple buildings.

I have not yet UVmapped or textured the peices at this point. I will be working on that over the next few days. My buildings are inspired by that of the Worgen zone of Gilneas. I was attracted to the shapes and angles created by the buildings in this zone and wanted to reproduce this in my environment.

Here are the meshes, so far...

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_1.jpg
Big Building peices. ( More will be added. )

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_2.jpg
Building Assets. ( Still need to break up big shapes on windows. )

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_4.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_3.jpg
Possible Building from Assets 1.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_6.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_5.jpg
Possible Building from Assets 2.

These just quickly demonstrate possible buildings I can throw together once I have tweaked and textured the Assets.

If you guys have any suggestions let me know!!!

Time to texture like crazy! :poly142:

[Jessica Dinh]

The new color scheme for the sword and shield is oooodles better!!! I agree with Snader about your shadows though.

Your modular building stuff looks extremely promising, great work! I'm really excited for updates haha

[Oliver_Farrell]

The new color scheme for the sword and shield is oooodles better!!! I agree with Snader about your shadows though.

Your modular building stuff looks extremely promising, great work! I'm really excited for updates haha

Thanks Jessica! I learnt a lot from the Axe and Sheild, I have fixed some of the shadows. Just havent posted it. were you talking about the shadows behind the gold studs or others?

[Jessica Dinh]

Basically it looks like you have a ton of AO and no cast shadows. Your AO (basically everywhere the different parts of your prop intersect) is very strong, dark, and diffuse. So I would tone that down a bit and reel in the spread.

Also adding some very crisp cast shadows in certain areas (like coming from parts of the prop that stick out a lot) will be good, and try to give those shadows some volume (don't make them black-hole kindof shadows, but let the texture beneath show through and suggest a little bounce light :)

[Andy H]

Buildings are looking good! Can't wait to see those textures.

[sybrix]

Looking good so far. Interesting approach to the buildings by going modular. I can't wait to see this develop further. Time to texture like crazy! We only got like a week left to finish! :O

[Oliver_Farrell]

Looking good so far. Interesting approach to the buildings by going modular. I can't wait to see this develop further. Time to texture like crazy! We only got like a week left to finish! :O

Hay man, this is for my masters project. I cant even apply for the blizzard comp becuase i don't study in the US or Canada :poly127:

[Arthur Ramazanov]

Hey good job on the axe - the 3D total tutorial helped me as well...I should go through it again for my next project...too many things to practice...

[Oliver_Farrell]

Hay guys, just got finished texturing some of my modular building assets:

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_7.jpg
Mesh without texture.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_8.jpg
Applied basic colours to get a feel for how it reads.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_9.jpg
Worked out basic wood colour and where shapes would be.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_10.jpg
Added wood grain and created sections of rock on window ldge and door frames, also painted handle gold.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_11.jpg
Gave wood highlights, worked in detail on the rocks.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_12.jpg
Brightened up wood and created windows with bounce light hitting rocks and wood. gave rock archway more geomarty. Happy with it so far, Im sure I need to tweak aspects but im going to move onto texturing the next load.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Windows_Door_Texture.jpg
The texture map.

on to the next one...

[marq4porsche]

Your textures look good! I think you still need a highlight for the edges of the stone though, it would look much better.

[Jessica Dinh]

Looks nice! I agree with marq though - right now it is very hard to tell the where the edge is even if you have some value separation between the top and front planes. Defining the edge better with a highlight should be a quick fix! :)

[Oliver_Farrell]

Thank you marq4porsche and Jessica Dinh for the advice on the rock highlights. You guys were right, it really helped define the geomatry:

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_13.jpg

Also going back to my Axe and Sheild work I imported them into udk and also changed the Axe a little by breaking up the sections and enlarging the detailed areas, like the blue spicky bit and the blade.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/final_render_axe_sheild.jpg

[Arthur Ramazanov]

oh nice, it sucks though u cant enter it

[BlvdNights]

I think sharpening some of the textures will make them pop too.

[Oliver_Farrell]

I think sharpening some of the textures will make them pop too.

Thanks man, hay im going to be aplying for an internship at Telltale games soon, whats it like working there man?

Oh and I sharpened the texture, thanks for the advice!

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_14.jpg

[TheVortexKnight]

All of those look GREAT. How do you create those textures. Any help will be great for a project I a, working witch will be on the forums soon.

[Oliver_Farrell]

All of those look GREAT. How do you create those textures. Any help will be great for a project I a, working witch will be on the forums soon.

Hay man, thanks I too am new to hand painted textures. My best advice is to read through some of the threads posted on here, a lot of talented people are giving great advice. Also I followed a tutorial on www.3dmotive.com (http://www.3dmotive.com) which teaches you how to model and hand paint a weapon and sheild using brilliant techniques. It really helped me and im sure it will do the same for you.

Let me know how you get on! look forward in seeing your thread!

[Oliver_Farrell]

Here are some more of my modular building assets textured. The roof is left white as it will be using a tiled roof texture.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_15.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_16.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_17.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_18.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_19.jpg

The texture map.
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Chimney_Top_Window_Texture.jpg

I only have one more texture map to finish of the building assets then i can move onto creating the tilable textures for use on the main building and roof. I will post the final one tomorrow and hopefully get some of my tilable done!

[cdavidson]

looking realy nice .. watching :)

[Jessica Dinh]

Awesome!! Seems like you are using a round with opacity set to pressure - you may want to try going in at the end with a little 100% hard brush for sharpening up certain details here and there - in crevice areas, at edges, etc. It should give you a nice, clean finish :]

[Andy H]

I'm not sure if you're sharpening these at all, but I'd really suggest you do so. Right now everything kind of seems faded, but I bet if you ran a Sharpen filter over them once or twice, it'd make it all pop more. This would especially be true for your windows and your vase. The dark indentions on your vase don't have enough depth to them, if that's what you were trying to do. Add a darker hue in there and maybe a much lighter hue on the outside edges to make it pop more. Sharpen that too if it still looks sort of flat and see how it looks. This is all personal preference though, I like painting as much depth as I can!

Edit: Also wow, Jessica always says something related to my posts while I'm typing it up. :P

[Jessica Dinh]

hahaha xD

Yeah, in addition to using the little hard brush for cleanup, I love Smart Sharpen. But you may want to dupe your work onto a new layer for the Smart Sharpen so you can manually erase some artifacting that might happen with that.

[Andy H]

Oh I forgot about the whole duplicating layers thing to deal with the crazy rainbow pixels that appear when you sharpen too much, thanks Jessica!

Edit: Alllsoooo one last critique for now. I'd go back and paint some more depth into the stones around the doorway and stairs. It goes from the light hitting the stone to just BLACKNESS. If you make it look like the stones are actually bricks, such as painting a midtone between the crevices, then finally transitioning to the shadows deep in there, it would look way more dimensional. (Isn't that the whole point of hand painted textures? :))

[Oliver_Farrell]

Hay guys great crit! I have taken your advice on board and applied it to my textures. I love that smart sharpen and you guys were right about it making the texture stand out more.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_20.jpg

Andy - I tried to implement what you said about the rocks and make them look more like bricks. As well with the vase which is a chimney top, I darkened the cracks and added highlights.

Jessica- Thanks for the advice on the sharpening too, I also see what you mean about adding final detail with a hard brush at the end, I still need to do this a little. Well done on the project you have just finished! I have been following it for a while, it has really inspired me to go for it!

[Andy H]

Oop! Chimney, sorry. :)

Also, there you go!! The stones are way more dimensional, looking really good! The chimney also has some nice dimension in those crevices. The only thing right now that's starting to stand out to me is the wood on the door. For some reason, maybe it's the way they're painted, they almost look like strips of old wallpaper that's peeling, if you can see what I'm saying. It just looks like strips of wood pattern placed on top of a dark wall. Try to do what you did with the stones, and maybe also make a smooth gradient from the edge of the planks to the center. That way you'll still have the edges but it won't look flat. I can sort of see when I look super close to the texture sheet where you painted a little bit of the edges that go towards the back of the planks, but it's too subtle, make it pop more just like you did with the stones. I think it's great that you're painting in your shadows so deep, just make sure you include the mid values too.

Keep at it dude, really enjoy this thread!

[Oliver_Farrell]

So finally finished the texturing of my last load of assets :poly142:!

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_21.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_22.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_23.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_24.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_25.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_26.jpg

Texture map:
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Windows_Wood_box_Texture.jpg

All modular assets :poly141: Tired....zzzzz

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_27.jpg

[mnphear]

try adding some larger highlights on the wood, take the original highlight colour and that brigten it and add contrast to it (slide it left)...when you are selecting colours play with your saturation a bit, dont let it be the same contrast troughout.

[Oliver_Farrell]

Hi Guys, I got Finished making a roof tile texture for my Buildings. Crits would be really appreciated, Im feeling its lacking.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Roof_Tiles_3.jpg

Also I have it on a house that I added the assets too. The rest of the house that has basic colours will be textured this weekend.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_28.jpg

The beam at the top of the roof is going to have a wood texture applied to it.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/Building_Asset_Image_31.jpg

[Alberto Rdrgz]

i think something like this shape will serve the silhouette of the house a bit better :) [just a suggestion]

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

[Finalstraw]

Any updates to this thread? Very interested to see how the environment is coming along.

[Fid]

Just caught this thread thanks to Finalstraw necroing. Was great to see your progression Oliver would also love to see what you ended up with for your masters project!

[darbeenbo]

Wow, those progress shots are really great to see. I'd love to see where this is heading.

[Oliver_Farrell]

i think something like this shape will serve the silhouette of the house a bit better :) [just a suggestion]

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


Hay Alberto Im so sorry I didnt get back to you about this paint over you created for me. I have been away from Polycount for a while and have only just checked the thread! I really appreciate the help man!

[RiotForQuiet]

well done man, I really enjoy watching hand painted stuff

[Oliver_Farrell]

Hay guys, sorry i been away from this thread for a while, I started working for an Indie Dev company White Paper Games making a game called Ether.

Here are a few shots of how the game is looking so far.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/04.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/16.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/01.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/12.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/ojfarrell/07.jpg

I would really love to see what you guys think. We will also be starting a thread for the soon.

We recently released a teaser trailer for the game too if you would like to Check it out. Just to warn you the frame rate is off a little.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UauSyJDAJT4

As alway guys any comments are welcome! If you would like to check out some more info about the game here is a link to our website. http://www.ether-game.com/

[AzzaMat]

Your problem for stylized textures is your contrast. Your wood uses the full level, yet some of your stone and roof texture definitely don't. My suggestion (If your still working on it) is to either reduce contrast on your wood or increase contrast on the stone elements and roof texture. Either way make sure your levels are all aligned together.

[Oliver_Farrell]

Your problem for stylized textures is your contrast. Your wood uses the full level, yet some of your stone and roof texture definitely don't. My suggestion (If your still working on it) is to either reduce contrast on your wood or increase contrast on the stone elements and roof texture. Either way make sure your levels are all aligned together.

Thanks AzzaMat good spot! Thanks for the advice. I'm going to be working on the textures soon so I will keep that on my to do list! Checked out your blog too, really like your work!

[AzzaMat]

NP look forward to seeing updates =D Good luck with the game