Generic shop

one of five variants for a western shop front i will probably adjust the models to create more of a variant and also acheive this with variant textures for each duplication of the model.

as you can see texturing needs doing hoping to get that completed by tomorrow and i will post my progress hopefully then.

Terrain feature modeling

as a experiment in the creation of the terrain i am hoping to use projection mapping on terrain assets such as mountains and rock formation, projection mapping is a method where you project the image of a high polygon model onto a lower polygon model which makes the low polygon model look much more detailed without the detail impacting the polygon count which would effect the practicality of the model.

i have been gradually working on my high polygon models in mudbox on a night around working on the assets you have seen previously this is some of the sculpts i have done so far ready to project onto low polygon models.

on this image you can see a mountain range which will be used in a much larger ranger of mountains which i have decided to have in the scene both for the aesthics but also as this is a simple but effective way to stop players from being able to leave the map whilst playing the game. i started by grabbing parts of the plane and pulling it up to get the basic shape of the mountain, i then used the flatten tool to give it a more angular feel, then using the scrape tool i roughened up the model to get a more natural feel to the model, and finallly i used the stamps to add a texture to the model as you can see, im happy with the way it has turned out but i have a few concerns on how successfully i will be able to project the model due to the hardware i have at my disposal.

this model is going to be one of the large obelisk formations of sandstorm for the desert part of the map going for the feel of the nevada desert my reference for this can been seen in one of my previous posts, i started by getting the main shape of the model and then used the scrape tool to get the more detailed shape of the model i left the model rough so that the model looked more natural.

the same as the image above this is just another variation on the sandstone obelisks which i will continue to create a few variations of and place them around the desert area of the map. the bulbus part of the model will be underneath the actual terrain plane itself so will not be seen the same with all the models.

again this is another variant of the sandstone obelisks not really much else to say on this i think i pretty much covered everything in the information for the other images.

my next step is to experiment with different methods of projection mapping and hopefully find a successful method to do this with the hardware i have at my disposal, if things dont go as planned i will have to recreate the models in 3ds max using less polygons which will sadly remove alot of the detail but so be it.

Modular Shanty

as my shanty town would be created from sheets of junk metal i felt it would make more sense to make modular pieces and create the shacks from these pieces which would give it a more authentic feel, and also this is much easier than attempting to model the shacks to look this way. so i started by looking at the meterials commonly used in the construction of shanty towns from my research images, a few jumped out at me but the main one was corrigated sheet metal as i liked the texture of it and it straight away jumped out of as a shack like meterial, also to fit with the games theme i felt i would have to input some parts of vehicles so did so by adding a section of a planes fusilase which i was lucky to find a good texture for on cgtextures.com. my main issue with the creation of the corrigated sheet metal was that i wasnt sure whether to acheive this effect by simply using the normal maps or whether to create the corrigated shape into the model whcih would bump up the polygon count quite considerably. after alot of thought into this i decided that if i used flat planes for the corrigated metal solely relying on the normal textures it would lack the depth i want and instead opted to model the corrigation.

this is what i have come up with so far im hoping to create between ten and fifteen various modular pieces so not to be to repetative.

for this modular piece i have used a flat rusted metal texture deciding to use a bright cointrasting colour so that it will stand out well and add to the feeling of the use of scrap to create the shanty town.

from this image you can see i have model the coregation into the sheet, also you can see the normal map at work adding to the texture and depth of the model to give the illusion of the paint bubbling. you can see also from these images i have modeled in areas of corrosion to add to the existence of it within the texture itself which i am pleased to say has come out well i think.

UV MAP

not the tidiest unwrapping but for the purpose of these models where the outer edges are less likely to be seen it was more productive to do it this way.

DIFFUSE

NORMAL

SPECULAR

on the second model i decided to create a bent and buckled panel from the fuselage of a plane as i had come across plane fuselage textures on cgtextures.com and thought they would fit brilliantly with the idea behind the game, again i created it in the same fashion as the others but to add depth as this one would not be corrugated i bent and buckled the shape to quite extremes but without losing the main integrity of the model.

as you can see from this image the overall tone of the texture shows it as a military vehicle with a few small key clues to what it once used to be which i think really adds to the interesting feel of the environment.

from this angle you can see the normal map at work making the rivets really pop out at you and also embossing other features of the model.

UV MAP

DIFFUSE

p.s not the neatest mapping as i felt the outer of the model would not be shown as much in the environment so to be productive found the method which would take the least time which in this case i pelted the outer shape hense the ring.

NORMAL

SPECULAR

in the next model i wanted to create a more detail design for use both on the roof or the wall of a shack i thought i would do something totally different from the others and used the probolean tool to  cut out a piece from the centre of the model to show a more natural corrosion pattern than that of the other which is only shown on the outer areas.

as you can see from the model as i said before i have taken a section from the mass of the model which i think really lends to the illusion of a shanty town and also shows a example of another corrosion path.

again with this you see the normal map giving the illusion of depth perception giving the illusion of the paint bubbling and raising really happy with the out come.

UV MAP

again as i have said before not the tidiest unwrapping but for the purpose of this model the outer edge will not be seen so the texturing is not noticeable so i did it this way to up productivity.

DIFFUSE

NORMAL

SPECULAR

overall I'm happy with the outcome of these models as i said previously I'm hoping to have fifteen variants of these models so i will keep updating as i go along and then start to develop concepts based on the pieces i have created on the ways i can utilise them in my piece.

Texturing: saloon

originally when embarking on unwrapping the model for texturing i worked to try and keep the model all on one map but half way through the process realised it was far to much information to fit onto one map whilst trying to keep the resolution upto a acceptable standard, this lead me to split the model up by detaching the interior from the external and then detaching the roof signs from the walls of the external and also the roof of the balcony aswell as the balcony itself and finally detached the boardwalk, then i also detach the front walls from the back walls this has meant that overall i can get a better resolution in the textures and keep as much detail in the model as possible.

above you can see the colour image for the roof signs the overall texture was on i sourced from cgtextures.com the texture image is of wodden boards with worn paint to fit with the wildwest theme i also sourced the font from 1001textures.com which also fits well as this is a worn texture to fit with the worn paint on the boards. this texture known as the diffuse is the main colour mass and gives the objects its colour.

this is the UV map this is what 3ds max renders out when you have completed the unwraping it give you the placings for where the textures need to go.

this is a map called a normal map also known by other names such as bump map, this map uses UV colours to project the illusion of depth into the texture as you can see the cracks in the boards are showing depth through the variants in colour.

this map is known as a specualr map and simply tell the game engine where the light needs to hit and where shadows should be cast this again adds to the realistic feel of the texture all these textures have been added to the model in 3ds max 2011 the images of this are below. all these maps apart from the diffuse which was created in photoshop by hand where created using a peice of software called crazybump.

i then textured the balcony roof in the same way again sourcing the textures from cgtextures.com again i added all the same map as the maps above.

UV map

Diffuse map

Normal / bump map

Specular map

i then textured the front walls using all the same maps as the to maps above.

UV map

Diffuse map

Normal map

specular map

still got alot of texturing to do but time has caught me up again but i will be posting more of this model tomorrow.

 

Saloon continued............

since the last post on the creation of this model alot has progressed as you can see by the image above i have added cylinders as place markers for the columns that when completed will be twisted rectangles to give it more depth and a more interesting look.

another render showing the column place finders in place to give the idea of what it will look like when finished

the image above shows the starting of the development of the interrior i started by making an inside box withing the outer shape of the saloon and as seen on this image i added the second floor whihc will house a balcony that will run around the whole floor and will also house three lodging rooms

as i said before i have added the three lodging rooms and also the balconyrunning around the shape of the building and a cut out for the position of the stairs.

in this render i have set the outer structure to give the viewer more of a understanding of the structure as a whole, as you can see from this image i have now also added the lower level rooms these will be used for store room and one room for illegal gambling ie poker in the game.

again this is another render of the same as the image above just in a more wide angle shot to show the structure more clearly altogether.

this is a render from below to show that i have added windows to the external running through to the internals and i have also added a internal doors which eventually will be operational in game.

from this image you can see further development in the shape of putting in a main front door on the bottom floow and beginning to add the windows to the front facsard of the building.

this is the finished exterrior of the model which im happy to say is now almost full textured also as you can see all the windows are added to the model both on the ground floor and the first floor of the building also i have added a door to the upstars symetrical to the lower main door.

this is another render of the finished exterior of the model which shows i have added windows on the rear of the building also aswell as a smaller rear access this part of the modelt is yet to be textured.