Project Creepy Farm House

[Renzatic]

Yeah, that'd be a better question asked over at Luxology. I've barely even touched Illustrator, let alone imported anything from it into Modo.

[vigorblade]

Originally Posted by jeremy h

Nice stuff you guys are doing.
When I do the same with a path I've drawn myself using the pen tool (a closed path and I've even tried compound one) it just doesn't work. What schoolboy error am I making? I'm currently using 401

I am still amateur at Modo, but in my experiences, I find it works if file saved as .eps (version 8) before importing to Modo. Hope that works.

[Renzatic]

Nearly two weeks of poking and prodding. Two weeks of incremental changes in an attempt to perfect. Two weeks of doing, redoing, and tweaking...

...I've almost got something halfway decent.

Yeah. This is easily the most work I've done with the least amount to show for it. It doesn't look vastly different than the earlier shots, but I've gone over and redone bits and pieces of the cage about three times now. Old trucks be hard things to do.

There's still a few things I need to tweak and change. A few bubbles and dents here and there that need fixing. Once I do that and get it patched out, I can finally start the fine detailing, which is something I'm a little more accustomed to.

And yeah, those wheels are just placeholders to test out the scale, since I eyeballed this entire model without using any measurements. That's never a good thing to do, and I'm honestly surprised it came out even half as good as it did.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by Renzatic

...I've seen that somewhere before. You gotta link?

Sure do! (Sorry I completely forgot to reply to this thread!)

http://www.thethirdguild.com/product...ring-old-ruins

It's pretty good. There are some things I'd do different in it but I'll save those for when I start with my own design (the bevels you mentioned being one of them, I rarely use hard cornered geometry).

It's helped me a lot in learning Modo.

[twiggy0]

Great stuff, count me in for stalking this project. I'm an expert at making cubes and rectangles in sketchup but my skill level stops there, so it's inspiring to such level of work from someone like you take form.

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

It's helped me a lot in learning Modo.

If you want some more tuts to hit up after you're done with the temple, I've got a few suggestions to try out that helped me out tons.

Le Mans Modelling. 90% of what I'm doing on my truck right now I learned from this tutorial.

Spaceship Modelling. This covers the other 10%. It'll teach you tons about the falloff tools, snapping, and all that good stuff.

Make-a-mech. Haven't tried this one out myself, since I'm already fairly decent at hard surface subdivision modeling (though I might still pick it up later for some extra hits and tips, you can never know too much). From the preview videos, if you haven't tried high poly modeling yet, this looks like a great place to start.

Next Gen Texturing. Not Modo related, but still a great tutorial. Just about anything from Eat3D is gold...and priced like it, too. Most everything there is Max/Maya/Zbrush related, but I'm used to Modo enough I can watch someone do something in another program and replicate it there. Once you get to that point (if you're not already), I suggest checking them out.

Plus a ton of other freebies I can't think of off the top of my head. The ones I listed are the ones I found helped me out the most. They'll keep you busy for a couple months at least.

...or if you already know this stuff, then hey...it's good for someone else to check out.

Originally Posted by twiggy0

I'm an expert at making cubes and rectangles in sketchup but my skill level stops there, so it's inspiring to such level of work from someone like you take form.

A couple years back, cubes and rectangles were about all I was capable of doing. I've come to realize since then that the only difference between all the people who's skill I was in awe of and me was a crapton of practice and patience.

...and I've still got a crapton of practice and patience ahead of me before I reach the point I wanna be at.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by Renzatic

If you want some more tuts to hit up after you're done with the temple, I've got a few suggestions to try out that helped me out tons.

Le Mans Modelling. 90% of what I'm doing on my truck right now I learned from this tutorial.

Spaceship Modelling. This covers the other 10%. It'll teach you tons about the falloff tools, snapping, and all that good stuff.

Make-a-mech. Haven't tried this one out myself, since I'm already fairly decent at hard surface subdivision modeling (though I might still pick it up later for some extra hits and tips, you can never know too much). From the preview videos, if you haven't tried high poly modeling yet, this looks like a great place to start.

Next Gen Texturing. Not Modo related, but still a great tutorial. Just about anything from Eat3D is gold...and priced like it, too. Most everything there is Max/Maya/Zbrush related, but I'm used to Modo enough I can watch someone do something in another program and replicate it there. Once you get to that point (if you're not already), I suggest checking them out.

Plus a ton of other freebies I can't think of off the top of my head. The ones I listed are the ones I found helped me out the most. They'll keep you busy for a couple months at least.

...or if you already know this stuff, then hey...it's good for someone else to check out.



A couple years back, cubes and rectangles were about all I was capable of doing. I've come to realize since then that the only difference between all the people who's skill I was in awe of and me was a crapton of practice and patience.

...and I've still got a crapton of practice and patience ahead of me before I reach the point I wanna be at.

Thanks for those links!

That texturing one looks real nice. I'm always after texturing tips and tricks.

I can't wait until I am done with this ruins so that I can go make my own design. (I'm making myself stick with it though I'm almost to the end!)

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

Thanks for those links!

That texturing one looks real nice. I'm always after texturing tips and tricks.

If you're interested in texturing, I did a really long series of tutorial for TDM a few months back that you might be interested in.

Click Here, and look for the Photoshop tutorials under..appropriately..."P". It covers everything from simple tiling with alpha masks to building a stone wall from scratch.

...and since this thread is all about me bragging and pimping myself out, I also did the two Blender tutorials over there. You won't have much of a reason to check them out, but it might be interesting to someone else.

I can't wait until I am done with this ruins so that I can go make my own design. (I'm making myself stick with it though I'm almost to the end!)

I wish I had more to show on my truck, but stupid busywork has gotten in my way recently. Plus I bought this really fun game, and I've been playing it in my free time for the last couple. I'm picking it up today, cuz damnit...I will finish this freaking thing. It's been a pain in the ass that's practically tricked me every step of the way. It's gone from a nice, fun project to my personal temporary Mount Everest. It will get done.

My current problem is I figured out that, because of the way I designed the spline cage, I can't thicken it without causing a huge amount of mess. I have to design the interior sections of the model in splines before I can move along.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by Renzatic

If you're interested in texturing, I did a really long series of tutorial for TDM a few months back that you might be interested in.

Click Here, and look for the Photoshop tutorials under..appropriately..."P". It covers everything from simple tiling with alpha masks to building a stone wall from scratch.

...and since this thread is all about me bragging and pimping myself out, I also did the two Blender tutorials over there. You won't have much of a reason to check them out, but it might be interesting to someone else.



I wish I had more to show on my truck, but stupid busywork has gotten in my way recently. Plus I bought this really fun game, and I've been playing it in my free time for the last couple. I'm picking it up today, cuz damnit...I will finish this freaking thing. It's been a pain in the ass that's practically tricked me every step of the way. It's gone from a nice, fun project to my personal temporary Mount Everest. It will get done.

My current problem is I figured out that, because of the way I designed the spline cage, I can't thicken it without causing a huge amount of mess. I have to design the interior sections of the model in splines before I can move along.

Thanks for the link!

I've been working on a new project but haven't really started the modeling yet. (I have part of a jar made, thats it :P) I started it finally about 20 min ago even though I've had it planned for about a week now.

Its for CGSociety's 10th anniversary contest.

[Renzatic]

Yup. I've been kinda waylaid myself. I volunteered to help redo textures and models for an old game recently. It was supposed to be a side project, but it's kinda flipped around on me, and ended up eating most of my free time.

Truck is still incoming. I worked on it a little bit yesterday. It's just gonna be more an occasional thing for the time being.

And since I like to brag (whole point of the thread, really :P), and haven't gotten to show off my PS skills yet, here's a quick shot of what I've been working on.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by Renzatic

Yup. I've been kinda waylaid myself. I volunteered to help redo textures and models for an old game recently. It was supposed to be a side project, but it's kinda flipped around on me, and ended up eating most of my free time.

Truck is still incoming. I worked on it a little bit yesterday. It's just gonna be more an occasional thing for the time being.

And since I like to brag (whole point of the thread, really :P), and haven't gotten to show off my PS skills yet, here's a quick shot of what I've been working on.

Thats really nice! That texturing is fantastic!

I finished my ruins, then I spent all day making a jar for part of a larger scene.

Ruins: (I was lazy and kind of didn't totally finish them...)




And then my jar (no real background, shadows, etc yet). There will be a little robot in the jar when I'm finished. He's what I'll make tomorrow at work.

[Apple Key]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

Thats really nice! That texturing is fantastic!

I finished my ruins, then I spent all day making a jar for part of a larger scene.

Ruins: (I was lazy and kind of didn't totally finish them...)

Image


And then my jar (no real background, shadows, etc yet). There will be a little robot in the jar when I'm finished. He's what I'll make tomorrow at work.

Image

That jar is really amazing. Fantastic work! I can't wait to see it with the robot inside.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by Apple Key

That jar is really amazing. Fantastic work! I can't wait to see it with the robot inside.

Thanks! I'm still working on the robot. Work has been busy the last few days so I wasn't able to work on it

(I work in IT but since my job sucks and is boring and easy I do 3D all day).

[Renzatic]

You know, I should've commented on that jar a long, long time ago. That is some fantastic rendering work. And the tutorial tower doesn't look too half bad, either.

As for what I've been doing recently, I've been making textures and game assets. Low poly stuff is always fun to do, since you can whip up the models in 10 seconds flat, then spend...I dunno...for damn ever working on the UVs and texture work.

This is what I've done over the last couple of days. Pretty simple and sparse so far, but I think it looks kinda neat.

...and I do plan on getting back to that truck one of these days. Looking at it the other day is what reminded me of this thread, which I had all but forgotten about.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by Renzatic

You know, I should've commented on that jar a long, long time ago. That is some fantastic rendering work. And the tutorial tower doesn't look too half bad, either.

As for what I've been doing recently, I've been making textures and game assets. Low poly stuff is always fun to do, since you can whip up the models in 10 seconds flat, then spend...I dunno...for damn ever working on the UVs and texture work.

This is what I've done over the last couple of days. Pretty simple and sparse so far, but I think it looks kinda neat.

...and I do plan on getting back to that truck one of these days. Looking at it the other day is what reminded me of this thread, which I had all but forgotten about.

That is really really nice! I love the room! (And I've been keeping tabs on this thread :P)

I'm not working on much right now, just the Luxology Christmas challenge. I have a roughed out scene of gingerbread kids sledding down a hill (no poses, textures, final models, etc yet) but I haven't updated in awhile. I've been working on my scene and will have an update soon.

[12dylan34]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

And then my jar (no real background, shadows, etc yet). There will be a little robot in the jar when I'm finished. He's what I'll make tomorrow at work.

Image

The jar looks great, but crank up the antialiasing. You need that with complex reflection/refraction things. If you look at the areas at the top and bottom of the jar, it looks sort of jagged and granular, which more AA will fix.

Unfortunately, it will increase render time by a good amount. I don't know how to do it in Modo, but usually 4x4 per pixel will do just fine for that. Maybe you could get away with 2x2, but probably not.

I made these in Cinema 4D. The 4x4 one could still be better, but you get the idea.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by 12dylan34

The jar looks great, but crank up the antialiasing. You need that with complex reflection/refraction things. If you look at the areas at the top and bottom of the jar, it looks sort of jagged and granular, which more AA will fix.

Unfortunately, it will increase render time by a good amount. I don't know how to do it in Modo, but usually 4x4 per pixel will do just fine for that. Maybe you could get away with 2x2, but probably not.

I made these in Cinema 4D. The 4x4 one could still be better, but you get the idea.

Thanks! I was wondering how to fix that! I knew it was probably an AA setting somewhere but being fairly new to Modo (and still trying to figure out its crazy shader tree) I wasn't sure where to look for it at.

I think I still have my jar somewhere so I'll look for it and give it a try.

[CrickettGrrrl]

Did you ever finish the robot? Please post it!

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by CrickettGrrrl

Did you ever finish the robot? Please post it!

Not yet, I had to take a pause on working on him but the pause was a good thing since I came up with a design I like much better.

I hope to have him almost finished by New Years (I'm not very fast at this yet...)

[CrickettGrrrl]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

Not yet, I had to take a pause on working on him but the pause was a good thing since I came up with a design I like much better.

I hope to have him almost finished by New Years (I'm not very fast at this yet...)

Okay! A robot in the new year --auspicious!

The images you all have posted already are pretty cool beans, this has been a fascinating thread. Re time, I guess in a way, it's nice to know that the level of detail is the result of craftsmanship and not just the software.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by CrickettGrrrl

Okay! A robot in the new year --auspicious!

The images you all have posted already are pretty cool beans, this has been a fascinating thread. Re time, I guess in a way, it's nice to know that the level of detail is the result of craftsmanship and not just the software.

Thanks! Its definitely a time consuming hobby (well, for me anyway). I'm not nearly as fast or good as Renzatic but I'm improving and learning a lot.

Today I was working on my Christmas contest submission for Luxology to try and win a Mari license. Theres not much to see yet but I made some gumdrops on the house :P

There will be more of the and they'll act as Christmas lights:

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

I'm not nearly as fast or good as Renzatic but I'm improving and learning a lot.

Ha! Man, you're already far, far better than I am at materials and rendering. There's a reason why I only show off clay bakes. It's cuz that's all I know how to do on that front. :P

[CrickettGrrrl]

The evolution of trompe l'oeil...it's taken a huge leap in the past 10 years, or a very interesting side branch.

[Knighty8]

Hi,

Loving the project so far Renzatic, hopefully you will get some time to work on it soon

chrono1081 I cant wait to see the robot in the glass!

After looking through this thread I would love to start up on modo! What's the best place to check beginners tutorials?

[Renzatic]

I'm still banging away at it. Slowly and surely.

Newbie videos? Off the top of my head, Luxology's own freebie channel is a good place to start. It's updated both by the users and the devs, so you're always bound to find something interesting to learn about while browsing through there.

If you're a beginner as in "I've never touched a 3D modeler before, I dunno what the hell is going on", then I'd recommend starting off with...

Navigation Basics

Then hitting up...

Basic Primitives and Meshes

Then...

Basic Modeling Tools

And finally...

Polys, Faces, and SubDivs, PSubs, What?

That last is a nice primer for what you'll be getting into later.

Once you're comfortable there, I'd recommend paying for one of Lux's tutorial series. Specifically Modeling Hard Subdivision Surfaces, which will just about run you through everything you need to know about the intermediates of modeling.

Anything else? Well...you've got Google. I didn't start out learning with Modo, so I don't have any good newbie tutorials bookmarked for it. If I find something good, I'll post a link here.