SMC#5 - The Lost Jungle - Tree City - behemoth

[behemoth]

Ok it took like two weeks for me to have the time but I'm totally in. I'm going to be working on a tree house/city of sorts. Aiming for something with a little more of a toonish flare. I will likely be posting most of the work this weekend, so stay tuned lol. Good luck to everyone! :D

[behemoth]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S8oBzK3ljjI/AAAAAAAAAVU/E17lcGqeB3o/s1600/tree_paradise_sketch.jpg

Well here's my concept roughed out in a very loose sketch done in "Sketchbook Pro". I wanted to get a few things across in this image and not add so much detail so the modeling wouldn't get out of hand and I'd run into issues with time. Thus these are the major component break-downs of what you will be seeing.

1) Large detailed tree sanctuary to symbolize the fictional culture's living quarters. I wanted to put this in the foreground but on an interesting angle so its adds some visual eye candy to show the model's detail off.

2) Small basic house designs to add to the sanctuary that won't take too much time to model but all will be different versions of the same house. I will likely use deformers to vary each house to make them look kinda toonish and funky.

3) Some other little foreground and background details not totally captured in the image but they will be there. Some examples are vines, branches, rubble, and so on.

4) Other man made objects that show more acts of a civilized culture. Lights in the windows, ladders and side railings will be some extra modeling detail to show that this culture is good with improvising with what they have and are surviving quite well without help.

I will update model breakdowns as soon as they are complete. Comments and critique are greatly accepted. Keep up the good work everyone! :D

[EpiPlayer]

very cool. I like to see 2d concepts turn 3d. it's always a fun thing to see.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

That's pretty ambitious- better move quick on the big items in order to pack in all that detail!

[behemoth]

Well, I'm up to about 75 minutes. I'm not super happy with the time it took to get this done but the lower deck took some time when it came to merging up some geometry to get the correct flow. Needless to say this is done :). I will finesse this a bit more if I have time in the end. The buildings will be very easy to complete, as well as the other minor accessories. I'm happy with how its going so far, any comments on the mesh so far would be awesome. Thanks guys!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S8uQ1JA5Z_I/AAAAAAAAAVc/GVXZGoUB7QM/s1600/smc5_75mins.jpg

EpiPlayer - Yeh I enjoy watching 2D transfer to 3D myself. I was trained to always rough everything out on paper before jumping right into modelling. I think its a pretty important practise for everyone really. Thanks for the comment! :)

BlueSummers-3DT - Agreed, I hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew but thus far it seems things are going quite smoothly. I'm optimistic in my progress. Thanks muchly for the comment and links! :D

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Oh; heh; the links are my sig. They're automatic- but if they help, so much the better. ^_^

[behemoth]

So I'm now sitting at the two hour mark after working a little tonight. I realized in the quick 2d concept that the fundamental structuring of the houses sitting on branches just wouldn't work. So in conjunction to this I created a plateau fixture that creates support for the soon to be created buildings. The last mandatory items to be created are the buildings and since I have two hours left, I strongly believe I will have some extra time to make some extra details happen. Anywho, hope you all like thus far, I'm liking the updates in the other posts I've been seeing. I think we have some great models underway this month! :D

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S8z27G0NZpI/AAAAAAAAAVk/MHi6z0vQoCE/s1600/smc5_120mins.jpg

[adamos]

I have never in my live make 2d concept and still come out with good stuff (i think). But thats just the way i work, some people do other way. But still you have some good modeling. Waiting for more.

[chunkymunky]

Very unusual but interesting look to this one, be good to see more :)

[behemoth]

Well I didn't have a lot of time the past couple days but I managed to get this done tonight. I added the tree leaves mesh and managed to rearrange that in such a fashion that seemed to fit the image. I also added the railing and final cylinder support for the upper deck. I also changed the angle of the wooden beams coming from the upper deck to a lesser degree. Its not much, but almost done here so hope you like. All that's left is ladders and houses, and with 1 hour 30 mins remaining, this is quite achieveable.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S8-VVK0gDqI/AAAAAAAAAWE/j8q_sBtJPbM/s1600/smc5_150mins02.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S8-VVPtFKPI/AAAAAAAAAV8/YgQVmNurlKU/s1600/smc5_150mins01.jpg


Adamos - Yeah, I find that modelling from 2D is my preference but I always wind up deviating from my original design. Nothing I've ever modelled from paper has ever come out 100% the way I intended. I envy those that can model strictly from their head. I consistently need some sort of reference to be accurate. Thanks for the comment.

chunkymunky - Yeh its a little weird, agreed lol The more I look at it the more I'm wondering how much sleep I had that day. Thanks for the compliment/comment!

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

That's a bummer that it ended up taking more time than expected in the base object. The platforms take this in a good direction, so some unifying elements that give it purpose might bring this entry home. :)

[behemoth]

Well, it has been a good run but I am finally complete. There were some things that I wanted to add to this piece, but simply ran out of time. I've learned quite a lot from this piece including how to use Maya's deformers more quickly and efficiently. the houses that were built took much longer than anticipated due to lack of experience using Maya's Flare and Sine Deformers. However, I picked up on them pretty quickly for my first time and the houses are all done and positioned as you can see. I also had just enough time to quickly place a ladder to connect the two levels. So the way this works is the inside of the tree is the main living quarters and the houses outside are storage, shops and outdoor living quarters. There are many ways to travel within the tree to then move to ground level and perhaps visit other tree houses such as these in the jungle. I will be posting the final images as soon as they are complete. Thanks for all your comments.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9JnYRTJhkI/AAAAAAAAAWU/xHKfKb79bKY/s1600/smc5_houses_norm.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9JnYOP9FpI/AAAAAAAAAWM/cpZwv3HhuI8/s1600/smc5_houses_wf.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9JnY6hOdqI/AAAAAAAAAWc/w_ftVBevVlw/s1600/smc5_240mins01.jpg

BlueSummers - Thanks man! encouragement is always good. Thats what I like about this forum. I feel like the community is very helpful. I'm in these competitions to learn and meet other artists. Some forums take things a little too seriously. Good luck to you and all who participated! :D

[behemoth]

Here's a couple more quick images I comprived for the night. I'm off to get some sleep, long week folks. Enjoy!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9JnZuhkTPI/AAAAAAAAAWk/QAZbjSMB0WQ/s1600/smc5_render01.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9JnZ965pII/AAAAAAAAAWs/rlDHM2BfhmI/s1600/smc5_master01.jpg

[chichiri]

You really managed to make a nice model but I think that we don't see the houses enough in your test renders. Good luck!

[behemoth]

Here are some more test renders but with everything textured fully. I may need a little help here, I'm deciding between two render styles here. The first image is using 2 spotlights with the addition of Maya's "Physical Sun and Sky". The second is using an HDR image with a basic 3 point lighting setup. I'm liking the realism of the 2nd image more but there are some little things about the first image that stand out more. The leaves are also just experimental at this point. I will be working on them much more as I do more rendering. The post work will compliment the leaves a lot more than the initial rendering. Any comment to help me out here would be awesome!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9Sum5rLr_I/AAAAAAAAAW0/mvHKd7rTvYo/s1600/forgotten_retreat_color01.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9SunXtRB3I/AAAAAAAAAW8/sBtrvWNEiGY/s1600/forgotten_retreat_beauty01.jpg

chichiri - Thanks man! Yeah I think you are right. The work done on the houses should be complimented more. I'll try some new camera work and see if that helps :)

[behemoth]

Well after a couple hours of tweaking and a day of rendering I think I've come up with something I'm fairly happy with. The leaves are my only complaint at this point. I was hoping they would blend better, none the less, here is my beauty render. I will post wireframe and clay renders tomorrow. Sleep time for me! :D Good luck everyone!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9YzBWBVPTI/AAAAAAAAAXM/EX8RMmNqIAY/s1600/forgotten_retreat_beauty_final_2.jpg

[chunkymunky]

Superb update! Wonderful :)

[hulahuga]

Cool :) The design is really nice and the deck turned out good. Leaves have some odd blur to them, but you said that yourself...


Cool scene :D

[behemoth]

Well, I think I'm finally done. I struggled some more with the leaves in the beauty render but none the less, I think its an improvement over the previous image (which by the way has been replaced in the earlier post with this new one). I wish everyone good luck as the competition is drawing near. Thanks to everyone for their comments! :D Its all greatly appreciated!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9ZdZ18TLRI/AAAAAAAAAXc/HEw2mSyHVL8/s1600/forgotten_retreat_wireframe.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9ZTSGRPhnI/AAAAAAAAAXU/SuNqNYmUO94/s1600/forgotten_retreat_clay.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RsQsak8fySs/S9dz4OjleLI/AAAAAAAAAXs/lYSutBD-VQo/s1600/smc_forgotten_retreat_beauty_2.jpg

[chunkymunky]

Well done, looks great, best of luck for the competition :)

[behemoth]

Thanks chunkymunky! :D I'm feeling pretty good about how it all turned out. A vote of confidence is always good. I will be updating my modeling methology later today I think to close everything off.

[behemoth]

Okay before I post the new images to the finals page I thought I might outline some of the modeling practises I went through during the process of this piece for the competitions sake. They're outlined as follows along with the timeline for each component:

Tree Trunk (75 minutes) - This was kinda tough because not only was this my central focus for the image but it also was the most detailed object in my planned scene. How I modelled this quickly was simply by using basic modeling practises (same way you would model anything really) with a few tricks. By creating and editing cylinders I was able to reach a desired poly flow to make the bulk of the trunk. Rather than starting from the bottom and building detailed to the top I fleshed out the simple design of each section of the tree and connected everything up as a unit where needed. By using the "Average Vertices" button, I was able to sustain an even flow quickly in areas that caused pinching or weird deformations. Other than that, nothing special here, just lots of extruding and editing verts.

Wooden Plateau Levels (45 minutes) - In a lot ways, the turn out of these stages were more important than the tree itself, so efficient modeling and care was needed here as well. Simple box modeling with bevels were the practises involved in the making of this setup. What really sped me up on both levels when making mutliple planks, bolts, nails and banister pillars was a combination of pivot location with "Duplicate Special" to arrange multiple copies of a particular object in an axis desired.

Mud/Clay Deposit Homes (90 minutes) - The houses really give purpose to the scene so my approach was to make them to be simple but show a degree of uniqueness and odd shape. By creating basic primitives combined with the "Sine" and "Flare" deformers, along with "Smooth" I was able to get a desired look to them. Extrusions were added to finalize the houses inner works and windows.

The Smaller Details (30 minutes) - The other details included the leaves, ladder and just some random tweaks to the tree itself. The leaves were done by Maya's Paint Effects for the most part. I created a tree that seemed to fit best with Paint Effects and converted it's geometry to polygons, seperating it from its leaves. I then resized the geometry for the leaves, duplicated and rotated until it fit my tree. The ladder was literally a very last minute addition which is simple box modeling.

Well, this may have been pointless, but hey lol I really didn't have much to do right now so I kinda wanted to lay out this project's breakdown in this thread in case there was any confusion as to how some of this was done. There's plenty of times I really want to learn how to efficiently model something, or learn new methods of modeling and its harder than it seems to find out what other artists do. So I guess it just felt right to do this lol. Anyway, Good Luck to everyone! Hope you all had fun with this one :). Any comments would be excellent. :dance:

[chunkymunky]

I think that's great that you've given that breakdown, we all get to learn the process that went into making the artwork :) This turned out really great, it's so good to see your created something so organic out of normal modelling instead of mudbox and zbrush etc :)

[hulahuga]

Real good that you've shown us this :). Like a mini tutorial. Always good to see the workflows of others..

Scene turned out real cool too :)

[behemoth]

Thanks chunkymunky and hulahuga! Its awesome to here that the time was well spent to lay out the breakdown. I'm happy enough with the turn out of this one to kinda give everyone a mini tutorial, which I think I may continue to do in the future. Thanks muchly for your comments, they are all very helpful and encouraging. Good luck everyone! :D