Comp #16)))---Environmental Pedestal---(((Comp #16

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Low Poly Contest #16
Subject – Environmental Pedestal
ALL WIPS AND CONCEPTS ARE TO BE KEPT IN THIS THREAD.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/fred_4.jpg
art by Fredrik Hultqvist (http://www.artbyfh.org/)

OK, lets have some real fun. This time around you will be creating an environment/pedestal. What’s that you may be asking. Well think of it this way; instead of creating an entire level for a game, create a section. But here is the twist; you need to create props that fit in your environment. But not just any props. Think game props, like ammunition clips, health pick-ups, guns, swords, and weapons of any kind. These props will be based on the type of environment you create. This means you will have to kick it up a few notches and be more than just creative; lighting/setting of mood will play a large role for this challenge. The good news is you can create your environment in any style you want, its up to you. Compared to the last comp we just had, these specs will be extremely high. I want everyone who voted to start this comp and finish, so start now.

Above all,
Have Fun!


Judging: 3 categories of judging will apply. 10 points possible for each:

Concept - How well your idea fits the topic
Model – How well the geometry is structured, how well it looks like the subject.
Texture – How well the texture space has been used, and how well the texture is painted/applied.

DUE DATE: September 23rd: a Sunday, 6 weeks and a few days from today! 12 (midnight) GMT - SUNDAY

Idea:

Create a section of a game level including any and all props you feel should be included. This means, guns, heath packs, ammunition, power-ups. All props count towards your tri count, so keep an eye on it. Also, you need to create a mood to make the feel of your environment, with your lighting setup.

Poly limit:

20,000 tris Total. That’s for everything you model. You can do whatever you want with these, just don’t get carried away and don’t exceed the 20,000 Tri Limit.

Textures:

(5) 2048 x 2048 diffuse texture and corresponding texture channels. So in other words, you get (5) 2048 diffuse, (5) 2048 bump, (5) 2048 normal, (5) 2048 spec, (5) 2048 opacity, (5) 2048 etc. Textures can be hand-painted or you can use photographic sources. Do what you do.

Final Pictures:

Required In The Final Post (1 post per entry):

- 1 x Winning shot. This image should consist of your environment from its best angle.

- 1 x Beauty shot of your environment. Feel free to put multiple angles of your environment or just one big image of your environment on this page. Even better, try to composite a nice art piece similar to the ones in the Winners' Gallery. Be careful how you do this though, simple is often better. It’s up to you.

- 1 x wire frame shot of your environment. Feel free to put multiple wire frame shots or just one big wire frame shot on this page. It is up to you. Must have polycount included.

- 1 x texture sheet that includes all your used sheets squeezed into "one" sheet.

- Concept Sheet (Only if you have a concept)

You must provide a screen grab of your wire frame with your poly count, with the actual model and all its parts selected. Please don’t Photoshop your Poly counter with a bogus count. Make sure you post all work in progress, including final poly counts and wire frames in the work in progress thread. If you don’t show your w.i.p’s, your final entry will not count.


A Final Entry Thread will be up and waiting around the end of the fifth week/beginning of sixth week. Don’t forget to submit your work by posting it in the final thread.

Good luck everyone!
BiG ToE.

[omnicypher]

i think ill go for a post appocolyptic war scene possibly including tanks or military robots or somthing and maybe in some industrial environment. for now ill start small with bullets,then ammo crates,then old-school health packs, oil barrells, pallets, maybe a forklift if i have time, some chain, random industrial machinery, garage door, giant elevator that moves diagnolly(maybe not, its a little bit cliche by now, lol), handrails, scalfolding, catwalks, stairs, pipe, compactor, particle accelorator, genorator, conveyor belt, assembly line, chain link fence, cinderblock wall, pillar, roof supports, corregated warehouse roof, bullet hole normal mapped alpha plane. wow i just realized when i started typing i said i would start small. i guess not, so if i wanna finish i better get started. peace!

[Tank[NL]]

man, i am psyched. not sure what i want to do. maybe something industrial, (post)apocalyptic or something shiny futuristic. hmm, gonna have to start drawing and see what i come up with.

anyway, im glad the enviroments won, and im realy looking forward to getting started and seeing what everyone cooks up :D

cheers all.

[Perversonality]

Wow, that's more texture space than I have ever used on a level. Criminy! Should start fleshing out some designs over the next couple of evenings with any luck.

Good luck everyone :)

One question/suggestion: Will the 20,000 include instanced geometry? Could you make your scene and one of each of your props in the 20,000 limit, but then show more copies of the props in your final render, or will the final render be 20,000 tris for all objects including multiples of one prop?

[funkdelic]

can I use a concept made by another artist?
I´m not good at concepting..

[BiG ToE-3DT]

One question/suggestion: Will the 20,000 include instanced geometry?

Yes, everything in the final image will be counted towards the final tri count.


can I use a concept made by another artist?
I´m not good at concepting..

I don't see why not. You need to make sure you tell who did the concept, and it would be nice if you got their permission first too.

[bb0x]

Sounds good. If i have the time i will deffinitly participate. Im struggling with the concept tho'.... When i think about it the only thing that sounds realistic is some FPS enviroment... I think i'll do a mansion of some sort that is kind of "post apocalaptic" like bullet hole all over the place.. walls being damaged by explosives etc...

Hope i can (start)finish it. I'll try to work on it at least 1-2 hours a day.

[Kalango]

can i split the textures into 16x512*512 or something?

[HollowReaper]

I think I know exactly what my scene will be. Im going for a Unreal Tournament style, but with a twist. Im going to try to make this futuristic looking world of death very dark moody. Sort of add a Silent Hill touch in there. I think this might come out nicely. In this land of darkness, anything will go, swords, polearms, rifles and rocket launchers, but everything with a futuristic look to it. :) I've got a lot of work to do, and this time, im going to try to be much more prepared using sketches of the environment im aiming for.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

for you Kalango, you can split the textures any way you want.

Everyone else, nope.

I'm kidding. The texture space can be adjusted to whatever you need it to be. Just keep them at multiples of 2 and you shouldn't go any lower than 64 x 64, unless you want a blurry texture.

[omnicypher]

16 512 maps would probably be helpfull for tileable textures. i might do the same for cinder block walls, wood, rusty metals, rough concrete, and a perferated metal texture.

[funkdelic]

sweet...

so I think Im going for a graveyard... or something like it...

[MiyamotoMusachi]

Can i model a airship landing area inside the environment. I will join this one i suck at organic stuff.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Can i model a airship landing area inside the environment. I will join this one i suck at organic stuff.

if you want to. You could even make the landing area, the environment.:dance:

[funkdelic]

what about you BigToe? are you in or out? =P

[Kalango]

well...if i join i will gor with the post apocalyptic idea...or maybe something like warhamemr 40k

[defaultalias]

i'll get on this as soon as i have time.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

what about you BigToe? are you in or out? =P

I don't know yet. I really wanted to make this anime character, maybe I'll do both. We will see.

[defaultalias]

i've got to speed through this, else i'll lose interest. i'm not planning on normal mapping this, just all hand painted textures.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/defaultalias/Threedy%20Competitions/Micro%20level/Micro-level-1.gif
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/defaultalias/Threedy%20Competitions/Micro%20level/Micro-level-2.gif
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/defaultalias/Threedy%20Competitions/Micro%20level/Micro-level-3.gif

[mcrazer]

Hello

I`m glad that the environmental pedestal won, so i can jon in aswel.

I`m going for the cartoonish look of a town center with a lovely fountain and a small park benches ect.. hope this count for a entry.:dance:

Greetz

[Perversonality]

I don't know yet. I really wanted to make this anime character, maybe I'll do both. We will see.

Create a manga/anime style base along the lines of the character you want to model, then do the character... Sounds like a plan :D

[MaggieQue]

Defaultalias: It's so cute >_<

[RobRussell]

hey everyone, thought I might try to actually finish a comp this time round :p
Anyways my wacom AND scanner have both packed up for unholy reason so I've made a quick concept model to give you a rough idea of what I'm aiming for.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Create a manga/anime style base along the lines of the character you want to model, then do the character... Sounds like a plan :D

You may be on to something, but the character I'm thinking about is one of the 13 captains in Bleach. So the environment would be a bunch of plane buildings with no textures. Or I could just bring him to earth and have Ichigo's city/village as the environment.

[Perversonality]

You may be on to something, but the character I'm thinking about is one of the 13 captains in Bleach. So the environment would be a bunch of plane buildings with no textures. Or I could just bring him to earth and have Ichigo's city/village as the environment.

Sticking him in an unexpected place could have as much impact, if not more than putting him in the expected place. You could also have him chained to something in an environment as a part of the scenery instead

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
Just what I need- a project to break out of the usual rigmarole! I'm in!

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

P.S.
Brief concept...

[Bogimps]

Been lurking for ages, this looks fun and ive been wanting to learn lowpoly environments! I'm in to, although as a first proper try i hope i can get it done =/ 6 weeks should be long enough for a lazy git like me ^^ good luck all

[omnicypher]

work in progress so far. im textureing at the same time as i model so that by the end of this comp i dont get overwelmed with unwrapping like i usually do. im going to make some kind of industrial environment, but if i have time ill also make a low poly soldier under collapsed wreckage caused by a huge monster. he will be fighting for the last few moments of his short life in an impossible battle. then with his last bullet he has to decide wether to keep fighting or to put his gun in his mouth. suddenly the monster knocks over an oil barrel and the soldier sees his last chance for victory. he uses his last bullet to shoot the floresent lights above the monster causing sparks to fall on the oil and the monster bursts into flames and slowly cooks. with his last breath he breathes a sigh of relief as the building collapses around him and it is finally over.

but for now i just made a couple of pallets, some chain, some barrels and a roof.

[omnicypher]

i might even make a short movie if it comes out good. but it might have to wait till im in school because animation is not my forte... yet.

[HollowReaper]

Sounds like one solid plan Omni :D Hope it works out for you

[ChaosDragonDZ]

oh sweet i got the environment challenge i was begging for...kinda.... well, i'm going with a post apocalyptic environment, probably a crumbling Gothic cathedral, with a few buildings surrounding it. and some armor/weapon pickups maybe. time to start sketching.
I have a question about textures, do you have to do them all yourself or can you use free texture sites, such as cgtextures.com ?

[D-Chap]

If you ever do that animation Omni, I'd like to check it out!

For my first 3D total contest I want to do something crazy- fantasy oriented. I got this idea from a cool piece of Ar Tonelico art of this pillar ascending down from the clouds, so I tried to do my own version of a cool sky pillar.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/Spire_concept_1.jpg

My 2D skills aren't the best, but my 3D skills will make up for it hopefully. I'm looking at a lot of gothic cathedrals for reference, so hopefully it'll look more familiar when I'm done.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/Spire_concept_2.jpg

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
I like the idea D-Chap! Slick!!

[Tank[NL]]

ok, i finally have an idea. im gonna try and make a cyberpunk border patrol. one side is pure paradise, the other side is a desert/wasteland. its gonna feature a really slick white mech(ipod white, so really REALLY slick) and some kind of forcefield barrier and some rebel corpses and what not. hope i can pull it all off.

[omnicypher]

work in progress:

[funkdelic]

damn, love ur idea D-chap... try to finish it

[Tank[NL]]

nice work, omni. bit cluttered but very nice

[HollowReaper]

Hey, i've noticed that a lot of people have this pretty nice looking poly/tri counting meter in their ui, how exactly do you get that? Usually all I do is press the "7" key and it shows up in small at the top left of my viewport, which is definitly all I really need, but I'd like to know how to get that since it's nice when showing your work.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

DefaultAlias is right
Gotta blast through this or I'll lose interest. :haha:
BSP Layer complete! Next up is some static props.

[defaultalias]

yeah i know man. whats the BSP layer for? you really going to get all technical on us?

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/defaultalias/Threedy%20Competitions/Micro%20level/Micro-level-4.gif
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/defaultalias/Threedy%20Competitions/Micro%20level/micro-level-5.gif

[HollowReaper]

BSP short for? 1st time i hear that one.

[defaultalias]

Binary Space Partitioning, it's a rendering and map file storage method that is used a lot for indoor levels. BSP geometry iicr needs to be built without concave surfaces and other such limits in order to work. quake is a example of a good BSP engine.

[Perversonality]

Hey, i've noticed that a lot of people have this pretty nice looking poly/tri counting meter in their ui, how exactly do you get that? Usually all I do is press the "7" key and it shows up in small at the top left of my viewport, which is definitly all I really need, but I'd like to know how to get that since it's nice when showing your work.

In older versions of Max you could go to Utilities, More and select Poly counter. It was removed in Max 9 though

[HollowReaper]

ahh that would explain why I don't have it, oh well.
And thanks for the explanation Default :)

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
Yah; BSP stands for Binary Space Partitioning. It's a method of compiling and handling a map that allows you to remove massive chunks of the map and avoid rendering it. In brief, it allows the engine to say "If the camera cannot see section "A" and section "C", then we may safely ignore drawing section "B" and all it's children."

It's the beautiful method that makes modern video games possible! However, for it to work, BSPs have to be very simple (boxes, 99% of the time), and be constructed in a particular way. Read more at Wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_space_partitioning).

[HollowReaper]

Cool, i'll definitly read up about it on how exactly to do that. For now though, I do have an update of what i've been working on. Hope you guys like it :)

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick update
I'm all modeled out for today. Here's a shot of the crane arm.
[1,700 Triangles] I need to be more careful. :xx:

P.S. I've split up my texmaps based on needs rather than objects:
--1 for Decals and dirtmaps
--1 for the room
--2 for props, and
--1 for pickups

[Sebiomegas]

Hello
Concerning Bsp, I understand it has something to do with the way you build your geometry, but is it a specific export format and can it convert a geometry to Bsp for you whatever the number of subdivisions you have.
Thanx

[Bogimps]

bsp levels are basically made up of blocks, the less complicated the structure the quicker it can be compiled. if you wish to have a concave element in your building process it must be made of two blocks facing each other instead of a single block. alot of engines use octree now which is capable of concave elements, so it isnt as necessary as before.

the majority of bsp engines use the .map format, such as 3d gamestudio and hammer (halflife 2 editor, halflife 2 is mostly bsp!) =]

[ChaosDragonDZ]

well here's what I have so far. It's a crumbling church surrounded by buildings. a small and cluttered level, good for deathmatches maybe.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/Chaosdragondz/PAL_challenge.jpg
I've got to start reducing the polycount.... also texturing this is gonna be annoying for me. I also need to start thinking about the pick ups. i'll probably have a sniper, and some body armor.

[Tank[NL]]

cool looking work so far guys. some really inspiring stuff already. i got a lot of work done today. made 2 scenes. the first was way too big and more fit for an rts and i wanted something for a shooter. the scale of it was also more of a battlefield than a small pedestal...

made a new scene later today and it turned out way better. still cyberpunk theme, or trying to get it there. its a chinese market in an alley of some mega-city in the future. got a small mech in plce as a security-bot. need too add something like a news display and camera's. more clutter and junk and stuff.

but so far its going pretty good.

have a look:

http://www.firstcelestialwar.com/pics/EnvironRe3.jpg

later all, and good luck :)

[D-Chap]

Wow, you guys have been making some good progress already- yours is already looking pretty solid ChaosDragon!

[defaultalias]

wasn't the brief "environment pedestal"? as in a base for a character or prop showcase?

[HollowReaper]

Defaultalias - I think the brief meant environment/pedestal as in for saying that your environment doesn't need to be a huge scene, it can be also something small, because not everyone as time to put into making something huge.
"instead of creating an entire level for a game, create a section"
quoted from what BiG ToE said

Omni - I really like your idea, keep it up man, looks really good!

[Bogimps]

well ive decided on my piece, its going to be a dragons den, ive got it sketched out on paper, the idea looks pretty good. im just hoping im gonna have enough polys to model the mounds of loot hes collected!!

[funkdelic]

ok, as I am modeling a sk8er for another contest, this is my chance to model a complete sk8 park :D

heres some ideas..
http://www.orange.nsw.gov.au/images/skate4.jpg
http://www.rockvillemd.gov/skatepark/skateparkmap03.jpg
http://www.skateproducts.net/images/bg_skatepark.jpg

next post, some model updates...

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Hello
Concerning Bsp, I understand it has something to do with the way you build your geometry, but is it a specific export format and can it convert a geometry to Bsp for you whatever the number of subdivisions you have.
Thanx

Close; a BSP is a compiled format- kind of like a program! You usually start off with a specialized editor like Hammer (for Valve:Source) or UnrealEd (for Epic:Unreal). From there, you use the program to build geometry- kind of like working with primitives in 3dsMax or Maya! Once the BSPs are laid down, you add in geometry, particles, etc. You then "compile" the map using that software, and it will create a map file (BSP is the compiled format) that the engine can handle (like .ut2 for the Unreal2 engine). The engine takes this in, and executes the video-game while considering the map in real time.

Why is this such a big distinction? Because for really processor/GPU intensive tasks like shadows, lighting, and special effects, you don't want to be rendering junk behind the player, right? Well this is a great way of separating what's important and what's not! Make the author use BSPs to indicate where the engine should use real-time shadows or pre-compiled radiosity. Then the engine knows "Ah, I need to use advanced culling to make sure I don't draw any more of this 'special stuff' than is absolutely necessary!".

I promise; it's such a beautiful thing when it comes together!

P.S. Hah; I sound like a dork! :crazy: This is something that gets me really excited!

[defaultalias]

techno stuff is fun isn't it. while we're off topic, i know BSP sections off the level for rendering, but is it the same way or at least related to octree culling? just curious...

Back on topic, i'm going to let the level itself sit for a while and work on the props. i really can't stay focused on one thing. i seriously think i have ADD guys
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/defaultalias/Threedy%20Competitions/Micro%20level/Micro-level-6.png

[omnicypher]

my scene is a bit cluttered for now, but i havent even made a solid plan for a layout. right now im just making stuff little by little until it fills the scene. eventually ill decide what stays and goes in the final edit.

if we use 3dsmax textures like noise and cloud instead of bitmaps, do they count towards the texture space? basically the only things in my scene with bitmapped textures are the floor and the pallets so far.

[Perversonality]

wasn't the brief "environment pedestal"? as in a base for a character or prop showcase?

The name is perhaps misleading but as always, the "rules" are only guidelines and you can often work around what's there. The brief is actually for a part of a level rather than a whole level, but should include power-up assets which fit in with the environment.

instead of creating an entire level for a game, create a section

This would make your pedestal valid if it is part of a larger level, perhaps just the part where the end of level boss resides

But here is the twist; you need to create props that fit in your environment

Well, I suppose you have a ****** big prop(eller) in there ;) If your area was an end of level boss section then you might want to scatter around some health packs and ammo or weapon pods. I would add a 2d character stand-in for scale too

The good news is you can create your environment in any style you want

If you expand your area out a little then what you are working on will more than meet the criteria

[BiG ToE-3DT]

if we use 3dsmax textures like noise and cloud instead of bitmaps, do they count towards the texture space? basically the only things in my scene with bitmapped textures are the floor and the pallets so far.


Don't use 3dMax textures, make your own.:wall:

[YdoUwant2know]

of course ToE has the last word but,

I would thing that it would be alright to use max textures, as long as you rendered the textures out into actual .jpg or something.

Procedural textures can be very useful for adding detail. and by rendering out the textures in max, they still would use up texture space just like anything else.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

YdoUwant2know makes a good point, you can use the max textures as long as you add them into your texture space.

The thing about Max's textures is that everyone knows them when they see them. If you want to use this as a portfolio piece, you will want to use your own textures, it shows that you will take that extra step to get the best results. Instead of taking the easy way out.

[tyjotr]

Heres mine so far, got the bipeds in there to show the scale, its coming along. :D
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/967/lpc16al2.png

Can anyone tell me why i get this weird mottling effect when i use Light Tracer in Max7.5?
Thanks.

[HollowReaper]

Tyjotr A bit hard to see what it is in the back, but from what I see it looks good.

[D-Chap]

tyjotr- I'm not positive, but I think you can eliminate that by activating final gather in one of the render tabs. There's also plenty other options to play with, most of which can't be deciphered without a tutorial :P

btw- final gather ups the render time a lot.

[ChaosDragonDZ]

been workin' on mine. I toned it down a bit, i want to focus on the cathedral. it's still surrounded by buildings though. haven't started the powerups yet. I started thinking about the lighting though. I'm using Blender3d and Yafray :)
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/Chaosdragondz/PAL_challenge2.jpg

[omnicypher]

that sounds like a good point big toe. for now ill leave them as max textures, but at the end ill make actual textures for them. i dont think a propane tank could rust that badly anyway, plus it looks like somone took off every last piece of paint. and as for the noise mapped concrete, it doesnt look bad, but it does just look like a noise map. i might just use photo reference from google for the cement.

[omnicypher]

Question: how do you make florencent lights?
should i just crank up the self illumination of the bulbs,
or do i actually put a light/lights in or behind it?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

omnicypher: both. You will want the self illumination because you can, that and because you will have to set your florencent lights to ignore your mesh, then you will need to play with the lights volume fog option, if done right, it can look pretty darn good.

[Bogimps]

"Can anyone tell me why i get this weird mottling effect when i use Light Tracer in Max7.5?
Thanks."

theres something in the maya docs (i know your using max) but you get the same effect with GI if you dont use enough photons or something along those lines

[Tank[NL]]

crap, for some reason my latest version wont open anymore. this really sucks. lot of work went into it. i tried all the usual, merging it or opening it in a new scene. nothing works. ooh well.

[Perversonality]

"Can anyone tell me why i get this weird mottling effect when i use Light Tracer in Max7.5?
Thanks."

theres something in the maya docs (i know your using max) but you get the same effect with GI if you dont use enough photons or something along those lines

I would avoid using GI whilst modeling low poly work anyway as you cannot accurately view the state of the smoothing groups and GI renders will hide artifacts that will be very apparent in a game engine...

[tyjotr]

OK, ive just put together this... Ive sorted out the texture sheets, and prepared them for texturing. Ive used some pre-made tile-able textures, and the stretching isn't in the UV map, but the texture itself. So, dont comment on the textures at the moment, they are only placeholders :D

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3732/lpc162tp5.png

One thing i am having trouble with is the portal like lights in the scene, i can figure this out...
I have my 'diffuse', 'opt', and 'self illum' texture maps, but for some reason the opticity map doesn't go transparent the way i wanted it, i was looking for a "100% to 0%" fade from bottom to top, instead it just stops where the texture stops and doesn't fade out.

[Tank[NL]]

tyjotr: good start, but you can add a whole lot more stuff in there. atm its just barren. add some more props, weapons and what not and alter the "flame"thing on the side of the wall. way too obvious that you copy-pasted em...

hope this helps a bit :P gl dude.

[tyjotr]

Thanks for the tips :D

Not sure what ill add, but ill think of something :D

[BiG ToE-3DT]

tyjotr: what does your oppacity map look like?

[tyjotr]

white where i want things to show and black where i dont :D

[BiG ToE-3DT]

you have it placed in the oppacity map slot? If you have any spec map stuff on, turn it off. They screw with your oppacity.

[tyjotr]

ive got no spec maps. Would it work if i set a gradient from black to white? or does only white + black work?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

gradients work.

if your oppacity has a hard line where white and black meet, then that would be why your getting the result you have. As long as your oppacity map is a grey scale, it will work, so the gradient is good to go.

[tyjotr]

great, ill sort that out now then :D
Thanks BiG ToE

[tyjotr]

Just been working on the lighting a bit, and ive finished the portal/light things.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/9518/lpc164ms8.png

Now onto more the props! :D :D

[Agent-X]

I will be joining this one and will be going with an apocolyptic destroyed ruins environment. It will be fantasy/sci fi.

[omnicypher]

on my florecent lights i turned up the self illumination but i cant get it to cast light on other objects in the scene. plus i messed around with fog, but it just looked like there was a fire in the room. i want to get a lightsaber like glow to it and have it effect its environment, but im not sure how.

[HollowReaper]

I've got a question about texturing the environment. Right now the approach im taking is to model everything and then to unwrap my whole model and texture it all in photoshop, is that the best approach? A friend told me that I don't have to go through this approach and that I can make procedural maps instead, which one would be the best approach to take for the game industry? Im actually not even quite sure what procedural maps are to be honest.

[Tank[NL]]

well, despite the problem i had with a scene refusing to open, i remade some of the stuff i made and also added some more details and even a new vehicle.

hope you all like and c&c welcome

http://www.firstcelestialwar.com/pics/EnvironNew2.jpg

[tyjotr]

Another update... Messing with the textures some more, they are still really blurred so I'm sizing up the textures a slight bit (still way under the budget though)
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/9530/lpc165cl0.png

[BiG ToE-3DT]

on my florecent lights i turned up the self illumination but i cant get it to cast light on other objects in the scene. plus i messed around with fog, but it just looked like there was a fire in the room. i want to get a lightsaber like glow to it and have it effect its environment, but im not sure how.

Self illumination will not cast a shadow, you will need to place lights in/around the object, then when using the fog option, you will need to play with it so that it doesn't fill the room, but just the area you want the mesh to effect. In the lights menu/options there is a thing called attenuation, that will control the size of the light and the fog. Turn it down alot, then do a few test renders to see where it's at, then just turn it up till you get what you want. Also, look into differnt lights, MR point lights work kinda good for making the light saber effect. I used them to make this: http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/Image006.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/Image001.jpg
If got the mesh set to 100% self illumination, and then the lights placed inside ofthe mesh. I then set the lights to ignore the mesh because if I don't, the light wont shine threw.

I've got a question about texturing the environment. Right now the approach im taking is to model everything and then to unwrap my whole model and texture it all in photoshop, is that the best approach? A friend told me that I don't have to go through this approach and that I can make procedural maps instead, which one would be the best approach to take for the game industry? Im actually not even quite sure what procedural maps are to be honest.

for this, because it is practice, you will want to unwrap everything. It gives you total control over the texture. So you can add dirt, rust, water stains, where they need to be instead of where ever they end up. That, and procedural texure maps don't always look to good when they are applied, you can mostly always see that they are tiled and you dont want that.

[HollowReaper]

Thanks, I wasn't exactly too sure really what a procedural map meant, but I found out shortly after I made the post. Ya unwrapping sounds like definitly the best way to model mostly everything from what I see, as much of a pain it's going to be when I have to start unwrapping this >.<.

[Tank[NL]]

hey all. i think im almost ready with modelling. i need to add some stuff like newspapers, bottles, plates and stuff to the shop and the bar and more props in the alley and across from it, but overall im prett much done. i also think i got a pretty good lighting setup. still needs a lot of self-illum and crap, but thats mostly texture work.

its prolly going to be a night/evening scene, prolly after it has rained. im really psyched about texturing it. want to try a lot of new stuff i learned.

so, anyway, here is my progress:

http://www.firstcelestialwar.com/pics/EnvironNew5Small.jpg

c&c welcome. gl to you all with modeling/texturing and what not.

[D-Chap]

looking good Tank. If you're thinking about lighting you may want to add a blueish tint to the main sky lights to make it look like it's night time, and add a hint of yellow to the light coming from the buildings to give them a warm glow.

Just some ideas I had while looking at it you may want to play around with.

[Tank[NL]]

thnx D-Chap. i actually did. added some other details as well, but the lighting really looks great now. atleast loads better then it did. the light colors i had were place-holders basically, but thnx non the less.

good night all.

[D-Chap]

Finally got enough distraction-free time to get a small portion of my level modeled. I found that even though my concept was solid, I was still unsure of what kind of layout I wanted for the walkways. I ended up having to go back to the drawing board and make a top down layout on graph paper- which took a few tries before I came up with a good one.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/early_city.jpg

So far this is what I've got. Most of the detail so far is on the structure on the left here:

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/early_church.jpg

I have a little bit left before I move on to the other two structures, and then there's plenty more to model, like railings, possibly trees and fountains.

[YdoUwant2know]

What the heck... I'm board out of my mind and have no major deadlines for a bit. I think I will get in on this one.

Right now I'm looking at doing an oriental style garden. Large pond or stream with a bridge crossing it, a couple of small buildings, and lots of plants and such. I have a few rough drawings but nothing worth showing yet.

With all of the texture space we have, it should be fun to do some high detail plant life.

[Shiskebab]

Hi, first post here and also first time entering a modeling contest ever. I'm thinking about making something medieval like, but i'm not sure what exactly. I will try to post some progress in the next few days.

[Robbiek1000]

OK, so I guess I'm going to go ahead and give this ol' contest a swing. Heres a WIP of something I'm working on I'm not using my own concept I decided it would be cool to use some super bad ass concept...so thats was I did. lol

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k187/Robbiek800/WIP1.jpg

[Tank[NL]]

first thing that comes to mind is Assassin’s Creed. Medieval, middle eastern setting. tell me if im on target(or not...) all the same, good start.

[Sebiomegas]

Hi guys!
Here's what i got so far.I'm planning to do a throne room to fit some characters I've done in the past few months.Somehow I feel I'm way behind of schedule for this. Gotta work more!
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/1581/sebtremblayconceptaj9.jpg

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Here's a screengrab of my lvl from unreal2. There's no texturing/UVWs yet, so none of the materials are final. :wall:

**Umm...Where's the image upload buttons? o.O?! Gotta do it the hard way...**
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/agrigera/Render.jpg

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Yeah, the image attach has been removed for awhile, until they get this whole virus thing sorted out.

[Agent-X]

Nice! A fellow moder hay?.... Hehe. I am an Unreal moder also. I use UT2004.

[D-Chap]

Darn I didn't know we could use Unreal for this, I already had a project started in Unreal. Oh well, I've sort of grown attached to this idea!

In any case- here's a quick update- I've hit a lot of snags along the way of setting this environment up, but I'm finally getting these cathedral like structures modeled, and it won't be long before I start adding the fine details.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/early_central.jpg

Oh yeah, I gotta light this eventually too... (I stink at lighting)

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
I'm a fan of Unreal, but these new engines will certainly test my loyalty (cryEngine anyone?). The use of a mod engine in this project feels more like an additional hurdle than any sort of relief. It means more worrying about the nitty-gritty "will this really work" kind of stuff.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

D-Chap: if you or anyone wanted to use the UT2004 engine or whatever, you can. Just understand that the models need to created for this comp. So the project you started in unreal, wouldn't count.

Guy BlueSummers: your right about the engine thing. It does seem like extra work, for me anyways. Although, it kinda seems easier to light your environment in the unreal engine, than in max. Unless there was some kind of lighting program for max that made lighting easy.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
Too good...of...a setup- must resist self promotion!
If you're looking for an easy way to light your scenes, visit 3dTotal.com's shop where you can find the BlueCherry 3dsMax plug-in. It's a great way to light and render your scenes in just a few clicks!

Gah! :haha:

But yah, it does add an element of compatibility to make sure I'm not cutting any corners or making unreasonable assumptions. BRB.

[Tank[NL]]

yeah, that was kind of a nice setup. gonna need to take a closer look at that store of you guys :)

but to get back on topic, whats with the lack of updates? c'mon folks, lets see some textures already.

[defaultalias]

bah, i got busy, so who knows if i'll finish... my AO maps are coming out all jumbled and ****, so i had to fake one on the tree. it looks really bad i know.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/defaultalias/Threedy%20Competitions/Micro%20level/Micro-level-7.png

[omnicypher]

right now im collecting random industrial saftey signs. ive compiled all of them into one 1024^2 texture map. when this site reinstates its upload function ill post it. it might come in handy to someone and maybe save on some research. I included everything i could find from radiation hazards to spontaniously combustible substances. mixed with a dirt alpha it might work.

[HollowReaper]

Nice :) That could definitly come in usefull. I haven't posted update on what i've been actually doing on my environment, but I definitly have a good amount made. I've got most of my actual environment modelled, missing a couple details like lights/crates and such, but im unwrapping it right now quite slowly, i've had some pretty busy days these past 3-4 days so progress hasn't been much. Anyway, im fairly sure i'll have this complete :) Will definitly post update as soon as I can.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

omnicypher: www.photobucket.com

[Tank[NL]]

Hey guys, got an update. im almost done texturing the alley itself, thought i'd show you all.
some more details and some more parts textured and then its on to the props and the transport and npc's.

this is pretty much the look and feel i was after. dark, moody, kinda depressing.

its been fun up till now, but the props and stuff are gonna kill me :)

c&c welcome and i hope you like it so far.

http://www.firstcelestialwar.com/pics/EnvironNew10.jpg

[ChaosDragonDZ]

nice omnicypher, I like it, but maybe the orange lamps should let off a bit more light? and defaultalias, i'm jealous of your texturing skills

[D-Chap]

I'm liking it so far Tank, the lighting is starting to get better and I like the vehicles- i hope you give them some nice specularity! I think it'd be cool to really trash the alley up with more debris and stuff, to give it even more character.

Now, I dropped a skylight in to make this WIP render a bit less ugly. Basically I've got the 3 main structures almost fully modeled, and now I have to do the walkway, and the various props and detailing. Right now I'm at 5871 tris, so I got plenty polys left to use.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/early_skylight.jpg

[omnicypher]

collection of signs. do what ever you want with em. peace

[Tank[NL]]

D-Chap: Thnx man. glad you like it. your scene is really coming together nicely aswell.

omnicypher: cheers mate. downloaded, ready for use .

[HollowReaper]

Omni Nice collection there, definitly will make use of them.

Tank Looking nice what your working on, can't wait to see it done.

Im almost completly done unwrapping all objects in my environment, after that i'll have to unwrap the walls and the building and that should be it until i start modelling the guns for my props.

[Kanae]

Hey all, too late to join in?:dunno:

[HollowReaper]

never too late to join in, as long as you can meet the deadline, which is on the 1st page, 2nd week of september i beleive.

[yoyomon]

Yeah, the image attach has been removed for awhile, until they get this whole virus thing sorted out.

Ah, so I guess that's the reason why when ever I come to this forum, a window always pops up to ask if I want to install ActiveX.

Seeing some pretty good stuff by the way. Since I voted for this theme, if I get a chance, I might join.

[Tank[NL]]

activeX is stuff like flash. tip: use firefox instead of explorer. less vulnerable to virssus and such

abd please, join in. i think we have like 10 people atm. maybe not even that many. the more, the merrier :)

[Javik]

Guys, I want join this but, What's up with the texture limit thing? So we can only have five textures in our scene? and do they have to be 2048 by 2048 because that's huge! Can someone clarify this for me?

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

I'm using a foreign machine; hard to type. Must be brief.
You can use 1 2048x2048 map, or 4 1024 x 1024 maps. You can cut it up however you want, right Big Toe?

[D-Chap]

As far as textures I think you can have the equivalent of 5 2048x2048 textures- which means you can split them up and have 20 1024 textures, or 80 512 textures, I think. I may be wrong, but if I'm right that's plenty of space.

[Shiskebab]

This is what i have so far, around 4500 poly's, i will do some clean up tomorrow to reduce the poly's amount.

[Javik]

Thanks a lot guys!Great scene Shiskebab, I love the magic house kind of look to it.

[HollowReaper]

Figured I'd post something on what i've been working on, it's sort of dark, because theirs only a skylight at the moment. My environment is sitting at 17k tris right now, theirs also much more stuff not seen in this pic, but im in a hurry right now to go to work, just wanted to upload this to show im still in it :). Enjoy

[BiG ToE-3DT]

I'm using a foreign machine; hard to type. Must be brief.
You can use 1 2048x2048 map, or 4 1024 x 1024 maps. You can cut it up however you want, right Big Toe?

As far as textures I think you can have the equivalent of 5 2048x2048 textures- which means you can split them up and have 20 1024 textures, or 80 512 textures, I think. I may be wrong, but if I'm right that's plenty of space.



Yep.

[Javik]

How do you count tri's in 3ds max? 9 that is

[omnicypher]

a bit off topic but i heard 3ds max 8 works with vista, 7 might work, and that 9 doesnt work at all. is this correct? and has anyone used max 7 on vista? im thinking about getting vista with a new computer, but im not sure if i should wait until they get new drivers or 3ds makes somthing around vista and directx10.

[omnicypher]

JAVIK:
this is max 8... in chinese... but it should look somthing like this in max 9. look for "polygon counter" under "utilities" and check the box by "count tris". i hope this answers more questions than it creates but probably not. peace!

[Javik]

Max 9 doesn't have that feature for some weird reason...

[copy]

hey,
this is my first post here..
thought i might give this challenge a try.. although i hope i get the time to finish it, since i got pretty much else to do and just found this thread a few hours ago..
well, this is what i got so far.. 808 polys.. guess i got some left =)
cheers

[HollowReaper]

Javik - All you have to do is 1st press "7" to have statistics show up on your top left viewport, then go to "Customize" and go down to "Viewport Configuration", in there you need to go to the "statistic" tab and then you can turn on whichever one you want, including triangles.
And ya, their isn't actually that Poly counter in Max 9, it's removed.

[7Losses]

Hey all
My first contest and me+environments != good!
Anyway, i've been working on the environment and will post it later on but here are some of the weapons im working on.

my scene is kind of like a Romanesque/Atlantian style temple with courtyard.
Not sure if I will get the time to finish though.

Mermaid Trident, Fish bow and Seahorse sword.

[defaultalias]

copy- kickass design, just make sure you're counting triangles and not faces.

[Perversonality]

How do you count tri's in 3ds max? 9 that is

Press 7 in any viewport to show the count.

I'm still planning on entering but I'm ill, so don't expect anything in the short term.

[copy]

default: thanx, and thanx for the reminder, yeah, i am counting tris =)

[Sebiomegas]

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/1616/post2fp7.jpg
I got this idea for a magic throne room draining life from blood.
Not much item exept for the sword, the shadow ball in the pool and the life energy next to the throne.The statues are eating up all the triangles.
Now on to texturing!

[Javik]

I guess I'll show you guys me scene, It's a D-Dayish kind of beach attack scene.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/Javik117/D-Day2.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/Javik117/D-Day.jpg

This is my first real competition so please leave some helpful criticism

btw, I know the lighting on my first pic needs some work

[HollowReaper]

Javik A bit hard to understand your 2nd picture, you've got a texture going on on top of your blue sky. How are you doing your textures right now?

[MattyG]

The texture on top of the sky is actually just a concrete ceiling from what I can tell from my knowledge of WWII games. The picture is taken from inside a concrete bunker, and there is a horizontally long and narrow window for gunners/snipers to defend the beach.

[HollowReaper]

The texture on top of the sky is actually just a concrete ceiling from what I can tell from my knowledge of WWII games. The picture is taken from inside a concrete bunker, and there is a horizontally long and narrow window for gunners/snipers to defend the beach.

Ahh now i see it, i couldn't see that it was viewed from inside a bunker.

[Javik]

Sorry Reaper I should have said where the view was from.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Still away
Noticed something interesting today; 5 x (2048 x 2048) maps means 20 x (1024 x 1024) maps, 10 x (1024 x 1024) + 40 (512 x 512) maps, or even 80 x (512 x 512) maps. An artist that abhors UVW mapping might be able to avoid it altogether by cleverly using a lot of tillable textures.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

it's hard to make tileable textures look good.

The way I plan on doing it, is to group everything into 5 groups. Place everything with like textures on the same map. That way, in the end, I only need to deal with 5 maps, instead of 10/20/30/40 maps.

But before I get ahead of myself, I will need to model something.

[D-Chap]

Big Toe - Not a bad strategy for using texture space, although Blue Summers makes a good point too. I'll probably end up using a mix of tilable textures and UV unwrapped models.

I finally got something textured! I ran into a lot of problems when I had to figure out what I wanted to support my structures. At first I started doing this thing:

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/bad_supports_web.jpg

After a while I realized it didn't look right. It may have worked if I was doing something more futuristic, but I decided to delete it all and go with something more gothic, and have buttress like structures underneath- holding up the city platforms.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/buttress_web.jpg

UV unwrapped! And it fits what my color scheme is going to be.

[Shiskebab]

This is what i have so far, 16000 tris already but i think i can reduce it massively by using bump and normal map. Just a question, what actually is the difference between bump and normals maps? I always use bump but i see that a lot of games these days use normals maps. Does it generate more detail or something? Also, a lot of tutorials about normals mapping simply convert a bumpmap into an normal map in Photoshop. Is this the correct way to make normal maps or is there another , better way.

[copy]

hey shiskebab.
if you wanna know how nomal maps work and what the difference between them and bump mapping is, i recommend you read the respective wikipedia entries. also check the links at the bottom of the entries to get more information and a tutorial on how to create a normal map from a high-res model (which is normally how you do it, rather than converting bump-maps in photoshop).
also check the help file of whatever 3d-package you're using. it is usually pretty well explained how they work and how you create them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mapping
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_mapping

cheers and good luck finishing your scene..
copy

[Javik]

Great Scene Shiskebab! I like how those lights in the back glow, did you use Vray for that?

[Shiskebab]

Yes, i used a vraylightmtl for that, very easy to use.

[Tetsuya]

I'm not entirely sure if this concept matches the contest, care to verify?

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b132/windreaver6/concepts/froggercopy.jpg

part of a frogger level >.>

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
Looks solid! :crazy:

[Bloodshed]

nice pink hummer ^^

[7Losses]

Small update. Heaps to do.
Also wondering if anybody know why there are those odd black lines at the corner of the tempe?

[Relderson]

so far

[rawk777]

Here is Falling Water, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm not sure I will enter the contest, but it could be cool :).

I started modeling today, I still have to make the stairs and the interior + the environnement (plants and rocks). If you google "Falling Water", you should get some real pictures of it.

The challenge will be to make the vegetation, waterfall and rocks.

I know someone already made it in Unreal 2 engine, but I want to make it anyway.

[Perversonality]

Finally vaguely healthy again, which means I've found some time to work on my entry. It's going to be a psuedo fantasy/historic end of level area. This part is the end of level exit portal. The base will be stone build on a fairly arid dirty ground. The particle system uses 60 lots of a 16 triangle object with a basic alpha and diffuse map on it.

Question: Unfortunately 3DSMax doesn't let you convert particle systems into a mesh, so I will have to show the base poly count for the scene + a couple of separate images that show proof of the poly count for the particle systems, with the total for the scene and the particle system being within the 20k budget. Is this ok? It's the same triangle count as modeling, scaling and positioning each particle independently, but will save a lot of mucking about!

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/images/threedy/level_002.jpg

[BiG ToE-3DT]

that's fine. Just do me one favor, finish, please.

[Perversonality]

that's fine. Just do me one favor, finish, please.

Me, finish something?! NEVER! ;) I'll give it my best shot :D

[Relderson]

I am working an a new design. my last design had to much poly,

This design isinspired by starwars, it al fly ing station for aircrafts.
its for a game like battlefield. so you have to go to a point and capture it.

here you see one capter point


(sorry for my English)

[D-Chap]

I like the idea Relderson- gives me a definite Star Wars Battlefront vibe.

[omnicypher]

after making the sign textures and the site was experiencing viruses, i started loosing interest in my idea. i might finish it up, or i might start somthing new. i realized my idea was a very cliche environment without thinking much about architectural style. if i start making somthing new for this comp, it will probably be some type of rundown classical architecture, like in gears of war. probably somthing european. or i might just stick with what i got for this comp.

[Tetsuya]

may god help you frogger <.<

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b132/windreaver6/ThreedyChallenges/froggerview.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b132/windreaver6/ThreedyChallenges/sceneview.jpg

wanted to stay away from a fps theme, what better place than a childhood frogger level! i don't know why there are boxes or gears there so erm.. don't ask <.<

[bb0x]

I think I will enter this one also... I'm going to do an open scene aztec-y "stand", something like an ancient building-ish thing in the middle of green plains, with rocks/builders here and there. I dont know sure about the theme like fps or adventure type of game. meh... well' see :)

I have already "finished" the ground/earth, made a simple builder. The builder is around 300 tris and has a (tileble)map of 1024. and i made some plane that has around 1250 tris and a tileble grass map of 2048(wich might be too big, and might cause problems later on...)

I won't be able to post a screenshot... since im at work right now.

[D-Chap]

I hope everyone finishes this time- I know I'm going to have to step it up to get everything done. Most of my time recently has been spent making this angel sculpture which will be a main showpiece of my environment.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/midway--angel_web.jpg

As of now I have around 17,000 triangles in my environment, and I plan on texturing everything now and then add foliage and pickups until I hit 20,000. here's the environment- 95% modeled, 5% textured.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/midway-lighting_web.jpg

[Tank[NL]]

nice work dchap. but i see some major health threats. folks are gonna fall down and die.... maybe some fences or something :D

anyway, the statue is looking cool dude.

[defaultalias]

if i'm not mistaken, the light blue stuff is a fence? looks good so far(you've gone a lot farther with the model than most people here...), but the textures are kinda blurry, and the way you placed your seam lines on the statues legs will come back to bite you later. seams are nasty things, so it's always best to hide them when possible.

also, do you have a color scheme/swatch picked out yet? i can't stress enough the importance of color theory in textures, especially when it comes to level textures. so make sure that when you texture this up, you keep the colors consistent and harmonizing (unless you intentionally want a crazy, mismatched look)

[D-Chap]

Thanks for the feedback guys- and yes the light blue part is a low stone wall- its tough to tell from these shots. My color scheme is going to include mostly light blues, purples, teals and grays as opposed to my current clown color scheme.

[Elf]

This is such a good topic! wish i had a spare 5 mins to enter! Oh and hi! Used to post everyday but been away for a few months (busy!! :( ) Loving everyones work! Especially defaults! at 1st it kinda reminded me of something from castle in the sky. Probally the big cogs and propeller.

[bb0x]

heres my start

http://bbox.sylorn.com/random/ped/ped1.jpg
http://bbox.sylorn.com/random/ped/ped2.jpg

with my insane textures of 2048 for the grass and 1024 for the rocks.

[Tank[NL]]

hey bbox. looks really clean. just one thing. the grass is really tiled. it looks bad. you could try and cover it up by adding more stuff, or doing more work in PS. gl dude.

[omnicypher]

i started making a more greek looking temple environment. im still not sure if ill go back to my industrial environment. eitherway, i got a new computer and with the increase in speed i could probably do both! i used to open 3ds max 7 and go get somthing to eat, and when i was finished eating it would start up. now i can open photoshop and 3ds max at the same time, and photoshop opens immediatly and 3ds max takes about 10 seconds! plus i cranked up one of my models to over a million and a half polies on max and it didnt even stutter!

[bb0x]

tank[nl] yeah i know the grass texture is bull****... it a way to big textue on a 2048 map.. i could have added allot more to it and make it tile less.... right now its being tile 25x u and v i should have that and decrease the picture...


but meh.. i havent got a solid idea anyways to actually continue



omnicypher...lol XD you should have upgraded ages ago man XD

[omnicypher]

my old pc was from 1999! it couldnt even play dvds, never mind games. last pc game i played was diablo II.

[omnicypher]

now i have a quad core with an nvidia 8800 graphics card and 2 gigs of ram(would have 4 but i dont think my windows 32bit was running right with it in) ill upgrade to vista once it becomes acctually usefull.

[Tank[NL]]

no need for vista. just use win xp SP 2. should do fine for now. only reason to go to vista is dx10. and even so, in like 2 years, there is gonna be a new windows, with winfs. so jst stick with xp for now, is my advice :D

btw: cool rig :) be sure to "test" it by playing lots of cool games :)

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

I'm not out yet!
Modeling is almost complete. I have about 4k triangles left that I want to use on the turbine. Here goes!

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Yah; like that!
Something more dramatic than that placeholder.

[Tank[NL]]

looks great, Guy. the engine is starting to look cool. i also really like the way the scene looks to be torn from a larger level. looking farward to seeing more :)

btw, im almost 90% done with unwrapping and about 20% done with texturing. damn, i hate unwrapping :S :(

[ChaosDragonDZ]

hm.. i hope i'll be able to finish, but can someone explain what texture space you get? is it 5 x 2048? er...

[Tank[NL]]

as far as i understand, you can devide your textures over 5 2048x2048 maps. each map hold spec, bump, lumin, etc. but thats as far as i understand...

[D-Chap]

Yeah it looks really good BlueSummers. I'm also glad to see I'm not the only one who hasn't textured yet.

And Tank- you got any screens for us? You're doing the alley right?

Hopefully enough people finish that there's some good work to choose from.

[Tank[NL]]

hey, d-chap.yeah, the alley is mine. no new screens atm. i want to have the lampoons and the (neon)signs and the notice-board and display ready. but i've been putting of the unwrapping. 1: i hate doing it. i much rather *insert activity* then unwrap. 2: i've been stressin somewhat. new school tomorrow, not too sure what to expect....

maybe something new over the weekend, hopefully sooner.

how about you? any new progress on your end?

[D-Chap]

Yeah, I've got almost everything unwrapped that I plan on unwrapping so the texturing process should go smoothly. Unfortunately though I've been growing sick these last weeks and it's been slowing my progress down, among other things...

Even if I don't accomplish all I wanted to I should have enough done by the 16th to present.

[ChaosDragonDZ]

damn... i wont be able to finish for the deadline, tomorrow's my first day of school >_<. i'll probably finish in my spare time sometime soon though

[Agent-X]

Work in progress.http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/27404/2000552392756959590_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000552392756959590)

[Agent-X]

http://aycu27.webshots.com/image/27626/2003222120376160545_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003222120376160545)

[Tank[NL]]

nice work, agent-x. what's your tri/poly count?

[Agent-X]

17,766 Triangles. I will be adding as much as possible as I usually do and then tweaking and modifying.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
Probably it for modeling. I'm starting to decide how many textures I'll need...

Those dark things are wall-mounted fans.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Texturing update
The Toolbox in the back.

[Agent-X]

http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/25639/2004312119137246443_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004312119137246443)

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Update
Got some of the room's textures ready too. All ambient lighting; no shadows yet.

[Agent-X]

Thanks Threedy for the Happy Birthday! You guys made my day.

[Tank[NL]]

Thanks Threedy for the Happy Birthday! You guys made my day.
happy birthday dude.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
That's because we <3 you! :)

[Robbiek1000]

Is the due date still the 16th? Cause if it is shouldn't we start thinking up some ideas for next months comp.?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

good call Robbie.

how is everyone looking, do you need more time to finish, or is the due date do-able.

[Tank[NL]]

if we can get more time, that be great. still got a lot to and i just started on a new school, so time is short :S

[Agent-X]

Yeah, if we could get more time that would be wonderful. Possibly a week longer. What ya think guys?

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
I have to agree, and I feel terrible about it. :cry:
1 more week should be comfortable.

[D-Chap]

I'd be up for an extension. I've been incredibly sick the last month or so and I've lost precious time to work on this thing.

I've just barely started texturing the main buildings which I was hoping would be done by now, along with things like the fountain.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa314/D_Chap/midway-Pillar_normal.jpg

[BiG ToE-3DT]

This Just in, This just In,

the due date has been pushed back to the 23rd. If more time is needed, an updated due date will be posted.

[HollowReaper]

Cool, i still intend to finish this project, i just had to put it on hold since I had an animation due next week, which is almost finish at this point. The environment right now is sitting at being about 90% unwrapped, so all that would be left would be to texture it and i'd be done.

[defaultalias]

D-chap, i know you're just starting out with the texture, but check the scale of your texture as compared to the buildings. kinda sorta very huge.

[Tank[NL]]

great news. more time is good. cheers mods :D

ooh, and d-chap, i have to agree with default. the stones on the ground look like huge bolders. i dont even want to take a quess as to how large the stones are in the back collum.

gl dudes, hope you all finish.

[Agent-X]

http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/26882/2000825091818338547_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000825091818338547)

[Agent-X]

http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/28731/2005331465113260470_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005331465113260470)

[Tank[NL]]

nice progress, agent-x. the scale of the helathpacks and the boosters seems a bit large, if not huge, compared to the stairs. maybe scale them down to 75% or something.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Agent: it's looking good, but, why is there so many health packs in the same area. What kind of battle is happening there. It's up to you, but I'm thinking, drop a few of the heath packs, if you do that, the size might not look as big as they do now.

[Agent-X]

Here is my latest update
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/26794/2004316861655355724_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004316861655355724)

[Spectre_X]

Agent-x - Some really nice work, gives me the same feeling as Unreal Tournament :D

[L3XICON]

hey guys and gals!

ok, first time on the low poly challenge, and joining late too :crazy: and whats more, some superb looking wip's going on here! but I just couldnt help giving this one a stab =)

so here's a few pics of where i'm at so far (not very far)

the concept; aim is to create a section from a fantasy based game, a MMO such as wow, or an rpg such as baldur's gate. The setting; a hermit's hovel, that has been carved into a knarly old tree. gonna be tricky to keep the poly's down and still create good looking foliage and plants, but then thats the challenge right? :D

btw a quick question, but quite important and slightly 'noobish' but could anyone tell me how i can get a poly-count window in 3ds max? :D

concept + a couple of quick renders and screengrabs

[Spectre_X]

L3xicon - lovely concept art.

About the count : Utilities ( the little hamer on the right) => more => Polygon Counter

[freedie]

if u got 3ds max 9 so then pres just "7" or in the viewport preferences u can setup it too

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
Alrighty, but I hope you're a fast modeler (and a faster Texturer)!
Almost done. Just 1 more part of the engine, and the fridge.

[L3XICON]

i hope i am fast enough modeller and texturer too ;p

thanks for the info on the poly count guys

Agent-X looking real good so far, loving the lighting you have there

so here's a quick update, the main tree is getting there modelling wise, and will start on smoothing groups soon. also have started on how i plan to do the foliage.

[L3XICON]

and another update

have worked on the main mesh for the trees and the ground, and the staircase leading to the hovel.

I have a few artifacts in the rendering caused by shadows, that i hope to iron out.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

L3XICON: looking real good. But, make sure your polycounter is counting tris. There should be a setting in Max 9 somewhere thatwill change the count from poly to tri, I just don't know where it is.

[Mosmuis]

wow L3XICON very nice ! your working fast :)

and for the tri's counter go to --> customize--> viewport configuration -->statistics ;)

[L3XICON]

thanks guys =)

and Mosmuis thank you very much for the tri's pointer, was trying to figure that one out =)

[L3XICON]

ok, another update (probably last for me for today)

have started adding some of the ground textures, and the ground foliage, want to add more variety of foliage if time permits, but each different type of plant takes a while to get right ;p

still no were near the limit of 20k.... might have to add some more stuff *grin*

[D-Chap]

Awesome Lexicon- I have a lot of trouble with foliage but you seem to be able to make everything really fast! It looks great keep it up.

[Agent-X]

Very Nice work everyone.
Nice work L3xicon. I like your alpha channel foliage. Nice work. I might add a lil bit of foliage myself. For those that wonder how to do the foliage, the way I do it is I grab a photograph of the folliage and then in photoshop I will create a new layer and paint black around the plant leaves or whatever it is. Then I will create a new layer and fill it with white. I will put the black layer on top and then merge the layer that has black and the layer that has white. Then I will copy and paste that layer into an alpha channel in the channels tab and I will save out a targa file that has alpha channel checked.

I used this same technique for my pick ups.

[L3XICON]

thanks for the comments guys =) i plan to work a bit more on this today

as for the foliage, just as Agent-X says, for low poly work at least using alpha maps is the way to go. Some photographic images are quite nice with a darkish background behind the leaves / plant, and a quick way to achieve an alpha map is to duplicate the layer of the photograph in photoshop, you can then adjust the levels or the brightness contrast to lighten the leaves and darken the background. you can then go to select > color range > select shadows to select all the dark area. clear this selection and you will be left with just the light areas (and maybe a few artifacts you can delete manually). you can then ctrl click this layer in the layer panel and select all the highlight areas. or alternatively you can just inverse the selection, create a new layer and fill it with white, and a layer below and fill it with black, and bingo, you have your alpha map.

unlike agent-x I normally create a completely seperate map for opacity, rather than a tga with an alpha map embedded, but both work absalutly fine )

One other thing I have found with using photo referance for texturing foliage is that lighting on the plant is often too bright, and can sometimes confuse the eye when in a scene with lighting that dosn't match. often I will change the photo layer to overlay or screen. then on a layer beneath will paint color 'under' the plant, this way I have found that you can reduce the effect of the lighting that was in the photo, and can make the foliage more variable also as you can simply duplicate the maps and adjust this colouring slightly.

i've thrown in a few of the maps i am using in this scene.
(i) photo referance
(ii) the alpha maps
(iii) the diffuse maps

[Agent-X]

L3EXICON: Very nice indeed. Good work bro. Keep it up. I cant wait to see your finished piece. Its deffinately looking real nice so far. And thumbs up with the tutorial. The new 3d artists will appreciate the knowledge we give them for sure.

I still have a some polygons to spare, so I am still debating on what to add myself. My inspiration are coming from Gears of War, Unreal Tournament 2004, Quake 3, and refference from places like London. I have been using a little bit of my own imagination as well with bringing it together. Just trying to do as much as I can with the polycount given.

[Tank[NL]]

cool work. im learning a lot just looking at it. some of the foliage, like the verns, could od with beeing darker, imho. but damn, you is fast :)

gl dude, hope you finish

[Agent-X]

Everyone is doing a great job so far. Just keep up the good work. Everyone who can please try to finish. The more that finish the better. It gives us more to choose from and its more exciting when casting the votes. So Hop to it, crank up the rock music, or whatever tickles your pickle and kick ass!

[L3XICON]

thanks for all the positive comments guys! still hoping to get this one complete..

Agent-X great ideas for the insperation behind your entry, looking forward to seeing an update for it. and for all you other guys, hope you get finished.

Tank[NL] think you maybe right! may have a look at them ol' ferns. they have been the worst so far to get to 'fit' into the style i am trying to achieve, and you may have hit the sore point there i had missed, will give it a go.

well I have been working on my textures and bump maps for the tree's and the surrounding rocks, I have added a cave into the back area also to add (i hope) a little mystery.

[cranks up the music] ;p

[Tank[NL]]

working hard mate. almost done unwrapping all the props and stuff. rest of the week is gonna be for texturing and finalizing. hope i make it :S

[L3XICON]

some more flora ;p

gonna have to stop with the plants now, render times are getting a tad long..

[Tank[NL]]

crap... i might aswell quitte right now. great artwork. im stunned. the textures still need more work, but damn. great scene. really cool work.

[RHedendahl]

Really nice L3XICON, But the stretching on the tree is ruining it for me.

[L3XICON]

Tank[NL] lol, don't quit! and thanks

kirgan yup, the texture on the tree is the weakest point at the moment, along with its UV. havnt done anything with it yet as I am trying to decide wether to ditch the whole UV and texture and restart, or tweak the UV to stop the stretching..

[L3XICON]

ok so started adding a few more details, and have worked a little on the UV of the tree. starting to see the finish line now ) a few bits of texturing and remodellling (on the balcony and the washing line) to clear up.

[Tank[NL]]

dude.... stop going this fast :)
great update. looking lots better. the clothingline is a nice touch.

got some ideas for you. i think it would add a lot to the scene if you added a well, on the left side of the scene. looks a bit empty atm.

the windows look really flat. normal map?

the leaves and ferns still looks too yellow imo. the leaves on the tree coud use some differences between them. and the stairway-to-the-frontdoor-texture doesnt look nearly as good as the stairway leading up from the door.

well, this was my bucket of cents, hope it helps.

gl dude.

[Agent-X]

Work in progress. Right now I am debating which of my textures to use on some of my stuff. Like the little fountain pool I have here. I will probably try to to texture the building stuff first and then texture everything else and try to compliment it. Its always tough to try to texture something out of your imagination as oppose to trying to recreate something that is based on something that is actually there. Oh well. I am sure I will do fine in the end. I might change that fountain thing up. We shall see.http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/27717/2003220177726123487_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003220177726123487)

[Robbiek1000]

L3XICON - hey great work. I was wondering how you did all the flora so well. Every attempt I ever do at trees always ends it frustration and eventually failure. I always get polygons, despite having texture on them, that are just completely black when I clip through other flora polygons, and no matter how well I try to light it its always black! I would love to know how you do it.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
Robbiek! You're in Pittsburgh too? Are you going to college anywhere?
I'm currently at Carnegie Mellon! =)

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Robbiek1000: a few things you can try is, make sure your 2 sided texture option is turned on, also, do a 100% self illumination, then, use an oppacity map instead of the basic alpha channel mess.

[L3XICON]

Agent-X that fountain is awesome! you are right in that i am not sure that the rest of the textures match it too much, but I would say keep the fountain and work other textures to that kind of detail. out of interest have you created the texture on the fountain, or is it a photo ref?

Tank[NL] the well idea is a stroke of genius, if time allows this week i will certainly give that a go!.

with regards to;

windows, aye i am planning on doing at least a bump map, and maybe some other effects to make them look less 'painted on'

stairs textures.. am suprised actually lol, the stairs leading to the front door are textured as i planned, and the ones leading up and around the tree have a dump texture i had planned on replacing on them ;p now i am not sure...

with the ferns and other plants, they are still coming out very yellow after a few tweaks in texturing, i am using some slightly coloured lights to illuminate the scene, and they certainly appear more yellow when in direct sunlight, will see about tweking this some more also. would quite like to have a second texture sheet for the foliage with some redder / greener foliage to scatter around. again, depends on time limitations ;p

Robbiek1000 I had serious headaches the first times i attempted any kind of trees or foliage, it would either look aweful and render, or would look good with insane render times ;p as BiG ToE-3DT has said, be sure to make sure the material has 2 sided clicked on.

the way i create the foliage is to create a single 1x1 plane with a diffuse map, and another seperate opacity map. I have found that it is easier to create, quicker to render, and much better shadowing than using inbedded alpha maps.

the other trick with foliage is to really pack out the area with planes to trick the eye into thinking there is actual leaves there rather than 2 or 3 planes with leaves painted on. there are still certain areas of my image here that I need to tweak were you can see the planes very obviously. also varying size and rotation of the planes a great deal :D

lastly, different renderers seem to cope better or worse with the foliage i have created, scanline with lighttracer enabled works fine, but is slow. and mental ray with final gather on works fine also.

i ll throw in here my diffuse and alpha maps for the tree foliage i am using if you want to give it a blast, plus a screengrab of the material window.

diffuse
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff276/l3xicon_pb/texture_diffuse.jpg

opacity
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff276/l3xicon_pb/texture_alpha.jpg

material window (2 sided clicked and diffuse and opacity maps in there.. simple as that :))
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff276/l3xicon_pb/matwin.jpg

good luck! and thanks everyone for the kind words!

[Agent-X]

Most of the textures I have used so far are photographs that have been manipulated in photoshop. Mixing and matching, manipulating color balance, levels, and hue and saturation.

[Agent-X]

http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/26936/2004309751095044412_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004309751095044412)

[Tank[NL]]

L3XICON: hope you get the time to put that well in and to work on the textures some more. btw, how do you get you photo-ref for the plants? pictures from a garden/park or something?

Agent-X: looking great so far man. i really love the rosset window in the small chapel-like structure, and the glass-in-lead. not sure what its called in english the texture on the wall in the sort of gallery on the right of your render looks like concrete. it feels out of place. most churches and such are build from sandstone, or something and you did nicely on the floor and the pillars of said gallery, but the back doesnt look like the same kind of material.

i hope you know what i mean, and i hope you can do something about it.

gl dudes. ill be posting some of my progress asap. i got something like 30% of my textures done by now. go to pick up the pase tho.

[L3XICON]

a lot of the textures i have used in this one are from a recent holiday to cornwall ;p first time i have been away and taken photo's specifically for textures hehe. a few others have come from stock photo's that I have got over the years.
Agent-X really coming along nicely! also like tank, love the windows in the chapel. maybe if you could get them lit from outside or within it would really spark that area off well.

[Agent-X]

Here is a print screen shot of my textures and scene with in the workspace. It is not rendered. http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/27751/2002793547895388858_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002793547895388858)

[Agent-X]

Here is an update on my stained glass window trusses or whatever you call em. I added an ambient color texture map to it to light it with in. Let me know what ya guys think on that change and wheter you think it should be a little darker or its cool the way it is. http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/29175/2003544276974615923_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003544276974615923)

[Agent-X]

Here is a little closer shot of the stained glass.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/26633/2005747693344627591_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005747693344627591)