Monthly Community Noob Challenge October 2015 (34)
polycounter lvl 7
Hello everyone and welcome to the Monthly Noob Challenge for the month of October.
Hello everyone. I've found time this month to reinstate the Monthly Noob Challenge with the addition of the Prop Challenge as well. Quick Update: There is a good chance that the final MNC will occur during the month of December. Although it is still undecided, be ready in case the challenges end this year.
Join our Skype group if you want! Add me on Skype and I will add you to the group.
Me: noble.wulf
You don't have to join the Skype if you don't want to, and you don't need to ask to participate in the challenge, just start working and post your progress in this thread!
October Special: With the help of eXecutex, I (we) have decided to include two environment concepts (Interior/Exterior) for you all to choose from depending on your preference.
Artist - Valdis Matas
http://valdism.blogspot.com/
Artist - Dawn Pu
https://www.artstation.com/artist/dawnpu
Reference - Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Feel free to approach either of the concepts however you like but I'd recommend making it as modular as possible to save time and keep things optimized. It's really up to you, and as long as you are learning, it doesn't matter right?
Also if you want to change up either concept a bit, as some people wanted, then feel free. Interpret these concepts to your liking.
There are some things that I would like to point out to for newcomers.
If you only want to do a few props as best you can, then feel free to go ahead and do it. This way you can gradually work on building up to a full scene before diving head-first into the whole ordeal.
Please read all the rules before starting.
When you are just starting out making a scene, it can seem complicated or imposing, so take the time to break it down.
Think about how you can re-use assets, re-use textures, break it down as simple as possible and plan it out. A lot of people will break it down in their own way when they start out their challenge. Gather some reference images as well for different parts of the scene, maybe gather some refs and make it your own.
Take your time planning and blocking out, it will set you up for success later on.
Here are some specifics.
- Try to post one critique for every post that you make. This will make for a better learning environment and help us all grow as artists.
- You must make your own textures, no stealing. We can't keep you from doing it, but the goal is to learn. You can use other textures and images to create your final texture, but please, no blatant copying of another artist's work.
- You must use a game engine to present your work. Unreal Engine and CryEngine are very common engines that can be used, but feel free to use any alternatives that you want.
- You must try your best and finish as much as you can in the time frame provided.
- Post what you are working on in this thread so that way it's a more centralized place for advice and critique. We don't need to have 1000 disjointed threads littering the forums.
- I would strongly encourage you to go and look at other games and see how they make their assets as well as get concept art to give it your own feel, but it must stay very close to the concept, if not super close.
- Please stay away from using Ddo. It's great if you know what you're doing, and for a production pipeline supplement, but other than that, please don't use it. Ndo2 is allowed. This was talked about in the other thread, so please don't complain.
- Well that's about it. If you think that any rules should be changed, or there should be new additions to the rules, please let us know.
Replies
By the way, the concepts look really interesting.
Thanks Wulf for reinstating this challenge. I'll try to participate this time!
Nice choice of concepts, though I was wondering, wouldn't it be more interesting to have a more "environmental" prop, since there already is the guns and firearms challenge ? (though it seems it doesn't get much attention this year)
About me: I just finished studying Game Art at Games Academy in Frankfurt. Because we had to learn EVERYTHING that could possibly be needed for game development, I couln't focus on Environment creation as much as I wanted to - so I consider myself an intermediate beginner -> I still have sooooo much to learn, so please don't expect any miracles from me xD
Also I tend to make assets too low poly. Definitely need to work on that... practice, practice, practice!
I'm really looking forward to this and hope we'll all have a great time with these awesome concepts!
Yeah, I wondered about changing up the focus of the challenge to be more environment prop oriented, but after consideration, I decided to make challenge opposite from the main challenge because I want people to make a decision between the two. If people wanted to focus more on other aspects of 3D, I would advise them to look towards other challenges or make one for themselves. :poly009:
Or pick the prop concept for something else!
I'm hopping in as well, looking forward to the exterior one. I've never done an environment before, but I think I know where I am heading towards
And guys, no worries if something's bad or wrong, we'll fix it, that's why we are here right ? To help each other and share our skills
Anyway, starting off from a breakdown of the scene, seems like we've got a bunch of modular stuff here and there, of course Chinese architecture is that simple, nor it's hard to make.
Idk if I should mention what I'm going to use but here we go:
3DS Max - modeling + retopo + uv unwraping (especially blockout for most of the modular part)
ZBrush - sculpting + uv unwrapping?? (definitelly most of the details going to be done in zbrush)
Photoshop - textures + editing ? (yea every now and then we use photoshop right ?
Substance Designer & Painter - texturing, obviously (Haven't really used it that much, But looking forward to learn it during making this enviro)
Unreal Engine 4 - For the entire scene, lighting, vertex painting and so on (best choice for the entire environment.)
Hope it goes all well ^^
PS. Let me know if I missed anything on the breakdown...
You can use it if you want
Update 1: First Progress, Noticed that the Concept art Is not Perfect in perspective.
Might not necessarily be the case. Try tweaking the FOV of the camera you're viewing from to get a better fit
Oh thank you darling!
Probably a silly question, but it's okay to use free textures from CG Textures right?
*realizes it's a silly question*
I think the whole idea is that it helps you to plan out exactly what needs doing, so it can serve as kind of a checklist.
If you look at the scene as a whole first, you get a better idea of what can be modular, what needs to be its own model etc. Just helps to plan your modelling better.
Awesome! thank you for the help
While trying to set up the image plane and block out my scene, I just cant get it to line up well at all. I noticed earlier you mentioned something about adjusting the FOV to get a better line up... how do I do this? I went through all the camera settings and played with them all but nothing really helped?
This is what I have so far... (have no idea how to add images either, I did something as attachment?)
Dude, there's something called Perspective Match in 3ds Max. It's implemented in version 2014 and up. That'll help you match the entire scene, make sure you line it up entirely ...
Hope this helps
and i also made a refboard and gathered refs for all the props and materials
if anyone asks i used "pureref" for the management of my ref pics
@stranger
that commodore looks good for now
im going for
- maya/zBrush modeling
- xNormal baking
i will try to create my textures from photos i should have sufficient textures at
hand around my desk to take pics of and the rest i will take from the internet
i think this will boost my gloss/spec knowledge and pbr knowledge a lot which is definitely
not a bad thing.
- so photoshop texturing
- 3dCoat for uving
- ue4 for build
maybe some marmoset for showcasing props
@wirexx i like your breakdown it kinda instantly got me also some ideas on how to approach stuff
cheers all!
@edit
and did some bsp
no perspective matching and light colors yet
just started to throw in some shapes and made them as big
as normed table measures, door measures and so on
The perspective gave me a hard time, too... Even with perspective match.
Anyway, here's my first progress: Just tried to make a rough block out of the scene.
I'm gonna attack the outdoor oriental environment. Or at least attempt to.
Well good luck everyone else, I'm gonna get some blocking out done in Maya.
I played a lot with the perspective match utility in Max, but it didn't really get better, no matter what I did.
So I tried to focus on the table in the foreground perspective-wise, while I just eyeballed the background stuff.
As you can see, it doesn't fit at all on the concept
But at one point I just decided to go with it, as long as I get the basic proportions of everything right
The perspective in the concept is just too wrong to rely too much on it.... or maybe I'm just too dumb to use the perspective tool properly
Nice blockout mate, you actually matched it quite close. Did you match this all entirely in UE4 ? :poly142:
PS. Nice start everyone, you are doing great so far !!
Decided to work on the pistol.
Progress so far:
1
2
3
going to get rid of the white spots for the major gaps and then break it down into individual pieces
I need to nail down the proportions of the items on the front desk. I've been having a hard time with the perspective too - how's this looking to everyone else? Does the ceiling seem too short?
I'll be using Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter/Designer, and UE4 for this project.
Edit: I meant to say, @Melli your blockout is looking really good.
i think you should lower the camera a bit
right now it looks a tad too high maybe?
then the ceiling will come in more too
I used a Perspective match tool in 3ds max and it seems, that my rough model matches the concept, but when I look at it in the perspective view it looks a little stretched. I mean, I thought, that the towers are more like square in shape. Did I messed something with the match tool, or are they really so?
about matching pretty simple algorithm: creaty camera, put image, creaty box, find DOF and perspective
@skodone: Looks allright so far to me. I see you used a character to get the proportions of the furniture right - that's a good approach. As long as everything makes sense size-wise related to the character, you should be fine. Don't rely too much on the concept here, because it just looks wrong smh ^^
@Carabiner: Thank you! I like your blockout, too!
@tystnad: I would go with the square towers. It's pretty hard to draw it right in perspective, so I guess it's just a bit inaccurate.
It's the perspective match utility.
You can read about the utility here
Never used it before this callenge, so I'm not sure if I even used it right.
But many people seem to have problems with the interior concept, so I think it's not entirely my fault xD
would you guys also say its rather a bad idea to do the rough blockout in ue4 and then export the bsps --> static meshes instead of going with a modeling program from beginning or is it more a thing of personal taste?
i think its more of a personal thing.
i generally load the source image in a modeling program (for me, Maya), put it on a plane and adjust the plane so that the image isnt stretched.
from there i kinda go block by block, starting with things like the walls and floors. i start with the bigger objects first as places of focus. like the desks for the scene, i would blockout the desk first and not the stuff on top of it and then position it to where i think it roughly belongs and then go from there, going from the larger pieces to the smaller ones.
i dont generally start in a game engine because i personally find it easier to block out small scenes like this in a modelling program.
larger levels though, i prefer to get the landscapes and overall shape of the level done in the engine before going into a modelling program. (usually a rough drawn map is the base for that process though)
Nice! I really like the wood texture!
Hey cafe looking good so far. I would be careful of how sharp your edges are. Soften them up a little
How are the concepts choosen?
If I were to model one of this 3 I would go for the second one cuz it seems interesting.
So I wonder how would one go to create that background - mountains + sky.
Would you draw it on a plane or would it have to be all modeled even thought you cant see it all?
Here is where I'm at so far. Got a few flourishes to deal with on the bridge, but my blockout of that is almost done. Designing it or trying it so I have to call as few textures as possible but we'll see. Interesting to see you all matching the perspective in max like that. I've only ever seen that done when trying to match for CG or video editing. Not sure if Maya has such a function, it may well. I've just been eyeballing it and making tweaks as I go. I've made a few adjustments but it should keep the number of unique assets down to a minimum. I'll try to get the block out finished today before I start to refine stuff and move to zbrush.
Byrd good start but roof looks unfinished
Everyone's work so far looks awesome! the outdoor ones look really good!
Here's my blockout in UE4, did my best with the perspective issues. I ended up using a human basemesh for scale rather than sticking to the concept 100%.
I'm gonna stick to the concept art style and keep the props simplistic so I can whack out HP's much faster.
Went with more correct proportions, by going back and forth in UE4, playing in a FPS mod to see that everything is ok!
also made some more progress but im slooowww
need more free days but will hopefully have time on the weekend
@everyone stuff is looking nice so far
love to see you guys speed along