You could also use the quadify mesh modifier in 3ds Max.

yea definately quadify mesh is excellent, also try the turn to poly modifier with keep polygons convex and limit to 4 sides.

oo and the generate topology tools under the graphite modeling tools -> polygon modeling -> generate topology has an option to create cross hatch topology and keep a square outline

fyi

Cool way to make text, but i think now with Dynamesh you can just export the text itself and dynamesh will remesh for you! (saving you some time).

loving what you have on this scene so far man!

That's an awesome way to do text, wow I can't believe I didn't figure that out before, ahah. Thanks.

With all those techniques (except the purely Z Brush one) I still seem to get nasty artefacts on most fonts. I have to go in and manually edit the polys, which can take 1-5 minutes per letter, but gives you more control in the end anyway. But if you're only going to see the letters from quite far away then these methods can work.

Very nice detailed work scotthomer!

UPDATEZ!
Ive been pretty busy at work, as we've finally announced Crysis 3, so im upto my elbows in work which is great fun.

EA Crysis 3 | Official Announce Gameplay Trailer...

But yeah, I managed to steal some time to myself over the last couple of weekends to do some more work on the scene. Still kinda slow progress but Im really enjoying it (i just hope that none of you are holding your breath!).



Still super wippy. My current change list (art a length discussion with the art director at work) looks something like this.
- work on the leaves (they suck "massive balls")
- the UV's on the planters are squashed on the corners (i never noticed before) which is making them look really noisy.
- Rework the gurders, they look pants.
- move the camera so the composition is more evenly spaced onto thirds
- Move the hanging lights (when they're done) away from the center of the composition and possible have 2 lots (either side) to frame the shot better.

Bare in mind that the lights, the glass walkway above the door and the stairs at the bottoma re completely un touched as of yet, so its just greybox

The lit areas the left and right over the door are going to feature some bioshock style adverts that ive been concepting up recently. Framed with something like this:


and Im currently working up the highpoly for the hanging lights in this kidna style:


+ Any critique you fellas have.

Now, to reply to everyone that I rudely didnt reply to before.
@theonebutcher - Cheers James!
@ Fearian - Hacky is the best, im like morpheus up in this shit! Hope it helps.
@Kenny Ties - You're welcome man! Always happy to help.
@ Computron - This is going to be war like the end of terminator 3. Well Dynamesh has only recently come into Zbrush (am-i-rite?) so this method would work with anyone that has 3dsmax 8 onwards (id hope most of the planet at this stage). But yeah, valid point man.
@ WarrenMarshall - Im hoping that ive started a trend and everyone is going to just use this method for everything.. some people just want to see the world burn.
@ Danielmn - You're welcome man!
@Chris - Keep checking back every full moon and you may see some updates
@ SanderDL - Checkmate my friend.. ahah thanks man, i actually used this method for something else today, I had no idea that the modifier existed.
@Silix - Thanks man!
@Alberto - Yeah, Ive not actually used Dynamesh yet, im still on 3.5 but ive heard its the best thing since sliced bread for this kinda thing. Loved the stuff you did in your 1984 style scene man, great work.
@ HP - <3 you're welcome homeboy!
@Fomori - :S ahh man, It seems like its pretty much foolproof for me but i think you have to be kinda selective/cautious of what fonts you use otherwise it does cause issues with letters dissapearing or getting wierd artifacts. I find that lowering the interpolations does help.

Thanks for checking this stuff out fellas, hit me up with some critique, im dying to hear what you guys think.

Looking good!

I'm not so sure the girders suck total massive balls. (I just saw you're blue edit so take this with a grain of salt) I think that they're just let down by a lack of surrounding geometry and support.

Obviously you need a mesh for the glass canopy, but also some more support brackets and beams would add a bit of visual interest and compliment the girders which at the moment is the only non-decorative metal in the scene.

eg: these iron cross bars

Originally Posted by fearian

Looking good!

I'm not so sure the girders suck total massive balls. (I just saw you're blue edit so take this with a grain of salt) I think that they're just let down by a lack of surrounding geometry and support.

Obviously you need a mesh for the glass canopy, but also some more support brackets and beams would add a bit of visual interest and compliment the girders which at the moment is the only non-decorative metal in the scene.

eg: these iron cross bars

I think you're right, It does feel like it needs anchor points into the columns too. Im going to explore doing something like this over the weekend, hopefulyl I can find a way that is going to frame rapture as well as possible too. The scissoring of the gurders atm is really distracting (which isnt great). I might try and do something alittle less simplistic and alittle more ornate whilst still being functional. Thanks for the help man!

Loving it, keep up the great work!

Nice job!
I can't come up with anything that has not been touched on yet, just want to give my support

Know this is still a super wip, but one thing that caught me eye at the last second before posting this, is the lack of ao/shadows on this object that seems to touch the back.

Great work! I love Bioshock art. You hidey hole is really cool. And the boolean text trick is really a cool technique for an issue most of us have probably run into.

Looking good Scott! I'm glad somebody mentioned repositioning the central hanging lights to the side as that's what jumped out for me.

Since the room is so tall and grand have you thought about framing the scene portrait rather than landscape so you get that over bearing sense of scale across?

@sniper - Thanks dude! Glad you're liking it.
@Stromberg90 - Well usually I try and wait until the end of an interior before I start baking and AO into the v-colors. This is mainly because it doesn't give an accurate representation of your textures. I promise that once the architecture is finished ill bake the AO in.
@Quickel - Thanks man! Im glad you're digging it, i just hope I can live up to the original, I know bioshock is damn near perfect.
@Ex-Ray - Heya man! (I remember you from way back when on Games-artist!) It seems so obvious, im kinda kicking myself that i didnt notice the lights thing from the off. + the portfait format.. that's a great idea, im going to give it a try and see how it looks, Im imagining that the portrait format will look pretty epic! Ill get some screenshots up tomorrow night

Thanks for the help everyone.

All the surfaces look pretty diffuse. Are you going to keep it in the pre-flood stage? I think you could make a much more interesting scene if you add some puddles and dripping water and raise the glossiness on your surfaces, get some SSR going, use some more of the awesome shader goodness that only Cryengine offers. Do you have an environment probe set up in the scene?

WOW. This looks pretty killer. I would like to see a bit more blue/green colour throughout though. Perhaps in the foreground and stairs. I think that would really help bring in the focus on the middle ground.

AWESOME work

Dude wicket stuff going on definitely following this cant wait for the next update XD

Great stuff. Don't change the composition too much - I love it!

I love the scene already, even if it is in its wippy state. I have read everyone elses critique and that has covered most things I can see that need working on. I have seen your other works though, so I know this will turn out to be awesome too.

@Computron - Thanks for the critique man. I dont know If id agree with you there entirely, I think its more important to define the materials realistically then trying to use the features of the engine (and shoehorning them in) I think what makes believable art is economy of detail and part of that is subtle use of things like reflection. If everything is reflective, the puddles of water etc arent going to pop the way I want them to, if you see what Im saying.

I definately considered the idea of making the scene flooded, but it doesn't really work with the end goal of the environment (im hoping to make a short "story" out of the environment about 30 seconds long. Thanks for the input dude, im not saying you're wrong, (I actually tried it, and didnt like the idea of having lots of super reflective surfaces in the scene!)

@duncan - Yeah dude, definately, ive tried to push that alittle with this update, but I think i may need to get even more blue light in further down the line. Thanks for the critique dude!

@michaelmilette - Thanks man

@Fomori - Cheers dude!

@JamieRIOT - Glad you're liking the progress man.

UPDATEZ - Got a quick update for tonight, worked on the lights, floor and started on the railings this weekend. The railings are still greybox (just to test that I dont hate them) I feel like they push the composition towards the doorway and hopefully will exaggerate the focal point (when I make it! We're talking BIG things (hint hint)

Any critique is as always welcomed and I usually atleast try everything. Im about half way though my list of critique, so if something has already been mentioned and not fixed its likely that i havent gotten around to it yet.

Anyway, Pictures!

And some WIP on the floor, still needs work to get it believable, and all of the wall-floor joins need work to make them look convincing. (ive got some ideas tucked away..)


Anyway, work in the morning, must get some beauty sleep!

That floor is super sexy!

Even the bots have to stop and compliment this piece!

Great piece you have here, Scott. The doodles are a nice touch.

I realise a lot of the elements are placeholder though the blue feels more like clouds and I find the slate grey walls doesn't match the opulance of the Bioshock universe - it's rather Gothic atm which could be your intention. It's somewhat like walking into the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern

Looking forward to more updates.

Oh man I just want to eat this up. Great work man <3
The tiled floor material looks great, but the AO on the little chips are way too strong, and having them the same colour as the tile underneath makes them blend in a little too much.
I'd also say the concrete cracks need a little more depth/ angle information around them - but that's only really obvious around the areas close to the camera.

ChrisPerr - Thanks dude, its kinda getting there. Its the 3rd or 4th version of the same floor ive done now. Originally i made the tiles really deep and as such the floor kinda looked out of scale, and ive tried to add too much detail in a couple of the versions that ive made aswell. Finally I decided to go super low detail and try and match some reference perfectly) I was struggling to find the kinda thing that I wanted to try and achieve and then finally I managed to find this:


As you can see the tiles are pretty much flush with each other, so I tried to achieve this effect instead!

fearian - Thanks man! I noticed that, I was like "hmm, wise words...". Skynet are taking over.

whw - I do see what you mean, I dont know if I would say it doesnt fit within the bioshock universe (simply because it is so richly diverse, it pretty much encompasses everything!) I was trying to go for the same kind of feel as this area,
But yeah, i do see what you mean. I think when I address the front area (the greybox part above the door) It would be good to focus on making something that pulls away from the gothic feel, just to try and balance the area out. Really good input dude, thanks man. (I honestly hadnt noticed before. Doh!)

myles - Yeah, you're right! Im not done with the floor, so ill go back and take a look at that (now you've mentioned it, I cant "not" notice it! Id ideally like to add alittle more noise into the cracks in the concrete, as they almost look alittle bit *too* zbrushy. Ill try and get that fixed for the next update.

Thanks for the critique fellas, lots of food for thought here.

Looking very nice! Good luck with Crysis 3 ^^