Low Poly Modeling Shenanigans

Hey kids, remember those individual urban props I mentioned that I would be doing for my next project? It's happenin'. Some screenies:

There's no big underlying theme or meaning behind this project. The main focus is to take something found in the real world and make it look as good in a game engine as you possibly can. I'm going to really be focusing on texturing for this project more than anything. I feel as though it's my biggest weakness as an artist right now. So I'm giving myself the challenge of making all four objects be entirely hand-painted in Photoshop. I don't care too much about how long it will take either, it's going to be a learning experience more than anything. I took alot of good pictures of these guys from a bunch of different angles, so that'll make for a more accurate reading of scale, texture, color, etc. As always, I'm not trying to really skimp on the polys as if it's for a mobile game. It's more to be used in an engine like Unity or Unreal.

Speaking of Unity, I've been really reading up on it as of late. This project will be the first thing that I've done in Unity. Since it'll be these four objects in the scene with nothing else, it's a good simple start. I'll get the hang of importing, set up lights, etc. I think I'm going to add a chunk of ground for the objects to sit on as well. It'll be a big chunk of some really roughed up pavement to help make the screenshots look more interesting than just putting the objects on a flat gray background.

Right now, I'm getting started on the Zbrushing. More pics to come.

Tweaking That Stuff

So I took some advice into consideration and made some changes to the deco environment.

These include:

1) Added more contrast to the skybox.

2) Tweaked the cubemap reflection so that there's less white.

3) Upped the contrast in the lighting so that shadows are more noticeable as well as highlights.

4) Added some curtains for the windows.

5) Made the horizon line higher and added water to add interest.

Let me know what y'all think! ;)

Deco for the New Year

It's been awhile, hasn't it? Things have been beyond hectic for me throughout the holidays, so this post is coming a little later than I would have liked. But I'll get to the actual point of showing you all what I have on the Miami Deco environment, and save the personal stuff for later. In a word, its' done! Well, for now. Once I get some feedback, I'm sure I'll make changes. It's definitely close though.

Here it be:

Now that I look at the last post, it's amazing how different it looks. Polish goes a long way, eh? I really focused a lot on lighting this time around. I originally had a simple directional light set up to represent the sun, but it wasn't getting me the results I wanted. It still looked

very flat to me. Instead, with the advice of someone well versed in lighting levels, I used a 3 point lighting setup. A key light, back light, and fill light. 3 directional lights all with different intensities and color tinting. Other than that, nothing really changed from my last post other than using those purple arches all around the bottom. It just seemed better than breaking it up with two different arch models. The switch from one to another was too abrupt and just looked awkward. I also increased the amount of palm trees for added visual interest and added in the cubemapping to the windows for a nice reflection.

The only main thing I have to do as far as touch up goes is remove all the seams between pieces in photoshop. It pains me to do it post engine, but I (as well as everyone else that's experienced this problem on the internet) couldn't figure out how get rid of them. Apparently, it's a limitation with UDK. Kinda crappy. Next time, I'll have to design around it.

As I mentioned earlier, lots of craziness over the past two months. The usual holdiay hoopla, combined with longer hours at work. And oh yeah, my computer died. As I said earlier, I had plans to buy a new one already in motion. But I decided to wait until Cyber Monday to get one at a cheaper price. So a few weeks before that, it died. Literally two weeks before getting a new one. After having it for 6 years. O_o

So now I make any needed changes to this project. After that, I'll be going through tutorials on how to use Unity and I'll also be brushing up on some of the programs I already know. Speaking of which, that's what I'm gonna be using for my next project. I think it's just gonna be some urban prop work. I don't really have any individual props in the portfolio, so I'm thinking that's the next logical step. I'm not sure how fast it'll get done though, as we might be ramping up on that indie project I mentioned earlier. It all depends on how that goes.

I'm also thinking about branching out from just doing game environments for the sake of making myself more well rounded for the dried-up job market I'm facing right now. Just limiting myself to games isn't the best idea with all the studio closings and layoffs I've seen as of late. Which of course makes it even harder than it already is to break in. Such is life for an aspiring dev.

I guess we'll just see........ :D