poppey, isnt something you can do in 5 mins in crazybump ? im no enviro artist, my question is , what are the advantages to use a sculpting program to sculpt a tiled texture in a model, i mean you barely alter the shape, just project the texture using alphas right ? to me it seems a tad time waster, at least in an asset like that , but again im no enviro artist, so i bet you have a good reason to that

I use zbrush for stuff like this cause if I want to change the look I can either sculpt right then or create the tiled map right then with zbrush. Its also supper easy to take this and add some damage along with painting the model. The other reason is I dont own crazybump. I am not sure if I am doing it right cause I have never worked for a studio it could be when I get a job that they will say that I am wasting my time doing it this way

hi guys

Originally Posted by Microneezia

If he is using that height map shown below in that way, just moving it around to fit over the pillar like a stencil, thats dissapointing.
.

as mentioned by Popeye9 I'm importing the height map that's made in photoshop as a mask.it's just like importing a regular texture map,it will follow whatever uv's the model already has.unlike a stencil which you have to manualy position.
the actual zbrush workflow takes only a few minutes.that column on the previous page took about a half day to make.
the benefit of doing this is speed,doing all those little details in max & then micro detailing in zbrush or mud can be very time consuming..the downside is you dont get that incredible richness of detail that you see when those kind of details are modeled (like in the gears,ut3 thread)when you actualy model all those fiddly shapes it really pays off in the final piece.if I had the time then I'd probably use that workflow.


alexk..there's a 'flip-v' button in zbrush,in both the alpha & texture rollouts,saves having to do it after you've exported

Thanks for your help Stefan, those pillars you made, posted below, are extremely inspiring to me. I thank you for this technique and the in-depth explanation.

arbaro - a free java based tree generator application.

http://arbaro.sourceforge.net/

nifty little app

Hey guys, this thread is the wealth of info I'm looking for. I ve been a visualiser for the last couple of years and gonna try out some low poly modelling for games environments, ( though it doesn't really seem as low poly as I thought it was gonna be). That said, I'm gonna model a church, interior and exterior, what poly count should I aim for, I figure up to 5000 maybe?

Is there any chance I can get a quick explanation on Poly's v Triangles. I read lots of talk about renderable polygons and triangle counts and I'm wondering about the triangle count and the shapes inside the polys, whether it's something I need to be conscious of when I'm modelling,
Do I need to control this, I mean is it bad practice to have these stretched triangles occuring in some of my polys, near where I'd boolean or shapemerge for instance, curved edges.. I can see they don't affect the poly count but there sure can be a lot of triangles.

you guys are the experts, so I'm hoping for a quick explanation. I've added a simple image so I hope it's linking to it properly.


Thanks for any advice.

Dekard posted this by Stephan and my noob ass was wondering how would you go about the modeling of the curved edge shown in here:


i'm guess you would model it flat then use a bend modifier or something?
if so, is there an equal process for maya?

nah, just make a cylinder with the right number of sides, delete 3/4 of it and start cutting.

Originally Posted by Tumerboy

nah, just make a cylinder with the right number of sides, delete 3/4 of it and start cutting.

so you would model the corner piece separate from the flat wall parts and model it based on the textures pre-applied to it?

yup
modularity is king on buildings like that.

Though I'm not sure what you mean by this:
"and model it based on the textures pre-applied to it?"

?

well stephan mentioned that he makes the texture first, applies it to a cube or plane, then extrudes the details out (windows, trim, etc.). so he builds it based off the texture.

Well, ya, you could still do that with a 1/4 cyl. Just apply your texture to tile from one corner to the other on a plain cyl, then start cutting in details. Pretty much what I was talking about above, just with the texture applied from the start.

what are the best sites for foliage/plants/trees high res references? CGtexture and mayang has some but not as much selection. thanks so much in advance =)

Rib, never found any great ones for straight up texture shots. If you do, let me know.

Here's some:
http://www.bencloward.com/textures_foliage.shtml
http://www.bencloward.com/textures_leaves.shtml
http://www.vterrain.org/Hawaii/Flora...res/index.html
http://www.mega-tex.nl/highqualityte...s.php?album=19
http://www.3dmd.net/gallery/index-22.html

though I don't think I've ever really used any of those. If I have time, I prefer to find plant/leaf illustrations like the ones below, and then use those as reference to build a high poly version of a section of plant that I can then render out as color/normal/ao from various angles.



I've got a bookmark for a great site full of those, but I can't find it. I think it's at work.

This is a good one for reference I've found http://images.botany.org/ .*Most* of the photography is pretty decent.

I have a question about normal mapping a modular building piece.
I suppose for an example of my question, I'll just use Stephan's building.

Would you normal map a building like that the same way you'd normal map a prop?
Where you go through the object and bevel the edges so that something like the window edges will have nice normals on those edges so that when it is lit in engine it will light better. So essentially creating a high poly that you'll then transfer over to the low poly.

Or would you just run a crazy bump or Nvidia normal map filter over the diffuse to pull out some bump detail.

The last one seems a bit lazy, but I'm just looking for some direction to go with this modular technique. I've never done it before, and I'm just a little lost with it. Mostly on the mapping aspect of it. Not really on the modeling aspect.

I'm worried mostly about normal map seams. If the solution is to model a high poly modular window section, for instance, if I want that same texture section to be used again right next to the one that already has it, I'd get an obvious seam.

So is the solution just to be creative where you put your seams? Or am I really stressing over nothing? :P

I think the only reason I even have these questions is that whenever I did any research on this method, (mostly through the Environment wiki here on polycount), all the modular examples just show the low poly done with a texture on it. There isn't an example of the normals or or if they made a high poly or anything.

So, that's where I'm coming from, and I really hope someone can help me out.

Thank you very much

Tumerboy, that pic you post is great! Perfect for foliage, all you need to do is paint it, and use it the original as alpha, for example! if you have more, please post it! ;)
Thanks for the links as well, you too Em.!

aerynSun, modular design is all about smart modeling and smart UVW's as well, and a lot of re-using. Although, I never really did much of it!
Also, never run crazybump or the nvidia filter on top of a difuse, create a heightmap instead.

HP no prob, don't have more, just do the searches like I said and you should find some.

Aeryn, you're kind of stressing over nothing. Normal Maps and Modular design are really unconnected here. You seem to be wanting to connect them, and make the creation of a normal map for a modular piece HARDER than making a normal map for anything else, and it isn't. Making Normal Maps for modular (tiling) geometry, is pretty much the same as making it for a tiling texture. As long as your edges match up you should be fine. You're worried about seams between adjoining segments, but again, as long as you make your map right, it won't be a problem.

As for the creation process? You can do whatever the fuck you want to. Can you Bake from high poly to NM? Sure! Can you draw up a tiling height map in PS and use Crazy Bump or Nvidia to convert it? Sure! Can you take your tiling diffuse and convert that? I guess. . . but you probably shouldn't.

The point is, the process is the same as anything else.

What an awesome thread, I am really gonna dig in to all this material.

Just found this: A nice collection of public sign symbols, available in eps format. It would help cut some corners if you're making an urban environment.

http://www.designofsignage.com/appli...bol/index.html

I was looking around for destoryed building references and found this huge archive of war images. They helped me a lot, so I thought I would share:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DN%26um%3D1

Thanks Dekard, this is great!

I posted these tutorials only in my portfolio thread but I figure they should probably be here =):

fast method to create hipoly stone structures:
http://www.brameulaers.com/tutorials..._tutorial.html

small tutorial about keeping hipoly stuff optimised and manageable:
http://www.brameulaers.com/tutorials..._tutorial.html

Great tuts Peris!

Awesome peris!