Project Creepy Farm House

[Knighty8]

Thanks for that buddy I appreciate it!

Hopefully I can start to learn it fairly quickly as I'm at an okay standard on Ps.. Hopefully it may help..

[chrono1081]

Modo is my favorite modeler although admittedly I've only used Maya and Blender before. Maya is alright for modeling, its what I learned on and Blender I don't like at all.

In addition to the links posted Lynda.com has a pretty good Intro to Modo course and also check this site out:

http://www.modopedia.com

The biggest thing I think to know about Modo is when you fire it up for the first time, click in the viewport, press "O", and scroll down and turn trackball navigation off. This will make it MUCH easier to move around the 3D scene. (I don't know anyone who likes that awful trackball rotation). It was the sole reason I almost didn't buy Modo. I only bought it after learning how to turn it off.

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Originally Posted by Renzatic

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

I dunno about that, it took me like 3 hours to figure out how to make those gumdrops! Materials are a huge weak point of mine.

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

I dunno about that, it took me like 3 hours to figure out how to make those gumdrops! Materials are a huge weak point of mine.

But at least you've done something with them. I treat materials like texture stacks in games. I'll throw a diffuse, spec, and normal on them, but haven't yet touched any of the nice, high end effects. From your renders, I can already tell you're already well ahead of me on that front.

[chrono1081]

I dont know if you saw this or not but Modo has an awesome section in their inline help system. If you open up the help documentation from the help menu and scroll to page 945 and keep scrolling down they have references for all of the settings for your materials, with pictures of each one.

The refraction roughness setting (page 960) was key for me to get the look of the gumdrops right. Before I was just trying subsurface scattering with the transparency set to real light which obviously didn't look that great.

I've been able to do a lot better after finding this reference.

[Renzatic]

Actually, it kinda does. I never once thought to look under the help section for tutorials before now.

Guess I'm just too proud.

From digging around in the manual, I found a great link to a set of tutorials that'll help out newbie guy up above.

Create A Soap Scene from the Best of Modo section at CGTuts. I glanced through them, and just about everything they've got there is pure gold.

[chrono1081]

I was suprised too! Usually help manuals are outdated and crappy *cough* Maya *cough* but this one is actually really good. The materials section is insanely useful. I dig through it at work all the time.

[chrono1081]

Here is a project I made for Luxology's Christmas challenge. Its not exactly what I was after but due to time constraints I had to settle.

I learned a ton though making all of this:



Now back to my robot in the jar

[R1PPER]

Gum drops are tricky they require SSS. Nice try abit of heavy shadow and abit of desaturation would help alot :P

[TweakOnline]

Great work man, what program did you use? Autocad?

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

Here is a project I made for Luxology's Christmas challenge. Its not exactly what I was after but due to time constraints I had to settle.

Man, that is awesome!

Guy below you does have a point though, the gumdrops would look better with the tiniest bit of transparency or subsurface scattering.

Now back to my robot in the jar

Do it.

I'm still plugging away at making assets for my circa 2002 game engine project. Got about 11 done so far, almost enough I can start building up a scene and having something better to show off. I also decided to fire up an old project I started earlier this year, modeling a skeleton.

Let me tell you, hip bones are hard to do.

edit: also corn in a sink

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by R1PPER

Gum drops are tricky they require SSS. Nice try abit of heavy shadow and abit of desaturation would help alot :P

Originally Posted by Renzatic

Man, that is awesome!

Guy below you does have a point though, the gumdrops would look better with the tiniest bit of transparency or subsurface scattering.

Thanks guys! As for the gumdrops they're actually supposed to be acting as lights in the scene but due to the angle its hard to tell :/ . They have SSS enabled and have a luminous polygon inside them to shine outwards. Here is what they look like turned off and on:



It doesn't read too well as lights in the final scene since its hard to see where the light effects them :/ I tried using a 1% transparency but as soon as I do the lumigon inside became obvious. I'm not the best at materials by a long shot so I'm sure theres an easier (and more render time friendly!) way to do those.

Originally Posted by TweakOnline

Great work man, what program did you use? Autocad?

Thanks! I use Modo. Its an awesome 3D modeling program.

Originally Posted by Renzatic

Do it.

I'm still plugging away at making assets for my circa 2002 game engine project. Got about 11 done so far, almost enough I can start building up a scene and having something better to show off. I also decided to fire up an old project I started earlier this year, modeling a skeleton.

Let me tell you, hip bones are hard to do.

edit: also corn in a sink

Image

LOL I love the corn in the sink! Very random

And yes, I'd imagine a hip bone would be hard to do :/

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

Thanks guys! As for the gumdrops they're actually supposed to be acting as lights in the scene but due to the angle its hard to tell :/ . They have SSS enabled and have a luminous polygon inside them to shine outwards. Here is what they look like turned off and on:

It doesn't read too well as lights in the final scene since its hard to see where the light effects them :/ I tried using a 1% transparency but as soon as I do the lumigon inside became obvious. I'm not the best at materials by a long shot so I'm sure theres an easier (and more render time friendly!) way to do those.

That up close shot looks perfect. It gives the impression that it's a light radiating outwards through a thick material. I guess the biggest problem is that it's such a small details, you lose the effect at a distance, and the end result looks like the material is just fullbright lit when viewed from farther off.

Really, it isn't all that huge of a thing, and doesn't bring down the scene at all. Though if you wanted to experiment with it, I'd suggest maybe exaggerating the effect a bit. See how that looks.

...and the swirl on your peppermints. Is that a procedural effect, or did you do it in Photoshop? I ask because I always have trouble painting swirl effects on UVed objects. If I can automate that in Modo, I could just bake it out as a diffuse detail it elsewhere. It'd save me a helluva lot of time.

LOL I love the corn in the sink! Very random

There's a story behind that. :P

And yes, I'd imagine a hip bone would be hard to do :/

Yeah, hip bones are such odd shapes, I'm having trouble getting an idea of their structure from 2D images. Random photos and Google Body have helped me out a bit, but what I really need to do is go to a doctor's office or something and take a bunch of pictures of a model skeleton for better reference.

...I can't wait to see how I'd broach that subject. "Hey, I just came off the street, and...no. I don't need an appointment. I've got this camera, and I want to take pictures of skeletons you might have lying around. Why are you looking at me like that"?

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by Renzatic

That up close shot looks perfect. It gives the impression that it's a light radiating outwards through a thick material. I guess the biggest problem is that it's such a small details, you lose the effect at a distance, and the end result looks like the material is just fullbright lit when viewed from farther off.

Ya I noticed that a bit too late. I wish I'd of experimented more with it on where it was located in the scene :/ Chalk it up to a lesson learned though! I need to stop messing with materials until the scene is created.

As for the peppermint swirls...UGH

The candy canes were easy, I just did a cylindrical unwrap on a thin tube and then laid the UV's out diagonally on a red and white stripped image map. I then used a deformer to shape the cylinder into a cane.

The round ones were not so simple...

First I made a texture map in photoshop of radial white and red stripes and then used the twirl filter to get the middle twirled. Then came the UV mapping of the mesh.

I basically mapped them into three parts, Front, back, and edge (with a split so it laid out flat). I tried projection painting the front and back of the peppermint with a big brush so it bled around the sides but no luck. I had to simply projection paint the front and back and then do the sides by hand. It was super tedious.

Oh and good luck getting that hip bone reference!

[chrono1081]

Well I didn't win the Christmas submission (no surprise there the entries were amazing) but I won the "random winner" prize! I get $150 store credit to the Luxology store. Modo splash kit and Rendering Interiors tutorial here I come!

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

Well I didn't win the Christmas submission (no surprise there the entries were amazing) but I won the "random winner" prize! I get $150 store credit to the Luxology store. Modo splash kit and Rendering Interiors tutorial here I come!

Man, once again, that's awesome! I wish I checked up on this thread before, so I could've congratulated you sooner.

And now for the ulterior motive for me resurrecting this thread.

I MADE SOME OLD GAS PUMPS!

Yeah. I know. Gas pumps are awesome. Hence why I did them. It's actually for yet another project I'm starting up (and I swear to all things holy I'm gonna finish it this time). I wanted to do a little abandoned gas station out in an autumn woods along some old back roads. I've been goofing around with the idea for at least a year now. Occasionally doing a bit here, a bit there, just to see how it all goes. Much like everything I do, it's been an off and on slow practice session.

This time, I want to experiment with the UDK. See if I can make a little basic overhead perpsective point 'n click environment to play around in. The programming is probably a little beyond me, but I've already learned how to swap some test assets into the editor and get some fairly decent results out of them. At the very least I'll be able to make the environment, if not the test game itself. Plus it gives me access to Realtree, which means I won't have to spend a billion and one hours making trees, grass, and foliage.

But anyway, enough yakking from me. Here's the first step on what will hopefully be a fruitful endeavor.



edit: ...and the inspirational shot.



Click for embiggening.

[chrono1081]

I love it! Glad to see this thread come back. I haven't had time to work on anything really but I'll make sure to make something to keep this thread going. (I still have to finish that robot).

As for UDK its really easy to get an environment you can walk around in. Its been forever since I used it but you pretty much don't need any programming as long as you don't want weapons or anything.

Also they have Kismet which alleviates a lot of programming for menial things. There is also Matinee for animations.

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

I love it! Glad to see this thread come back. I haven't had time to work on anything really but I'll make sure to make something to keep this thread going. (I still have to finish that robot).

Ha! I know the feeling. I planned on starting the building sometime today, but ended up stuck at a friend's house helping him do all the handiwork involved in building a set of old fashioned bunk beds from scratch. And by scratch I mean not a kit. That'd be too easy. I'm talking about it starting out as a bunch of boards laying in his garage, and now it's a bed.

I was supposed to only be there for a couple of hours to help him plane boards and carry some of the heavier finished pieces up the steps, but...yeah...it's 6AM, and I'm just getting home.

The whole experience has given me a newfound appreciation for cheap Ikea furniture.

As for UDK its really easy to get an environment you can walk around in. Its been forever since I used it but you pretty much don't need any programming as long as you don't want weapons or anything.

Also they have Kismet which alleviates a lot of programming for menial things. There is also Matinee for animations.

Yeah, UDK is about as streamlined and straightforward as you can get. I have some past experience from playing with the Unreal Tournament 2004 editor, and what I've seen of it so far seems like a greatly extended version of that. As long as you've got a player start, and a closed map, you've got the beginnings of a basic game going on.

The thing I want to do though is make something from an overhead perspective, which'll require a bit more work. I've wanted to make a game like the old SNES Shadowrun since I rented it from Blockbuster way back in '96, and this is a bit of semi sortakinda wish fulfillment. I don't intend on this being a full game, but if I can get a cool looking scene built up with a little guy walking around within it, I'll be happy.

[Renzatic]

Double Post!

Work resumes on Project Creepy Something Or Other. Originally, I had done an old 30's style gas station. Done two, actually, which look something like this shot I used to show off to all the folks in the news and rumors section up at the top of the board. I'm a horrible braggart, and prone to bouts of self aggrandizing.

After doing all that work and thinking about it, I thought I'd be more interested in making one of those old live in general store/food dive/honky tonks you used to see on back roads the country over. It fit what I had in mind better. A abandoned gas station is pretty cool and all, but it only gives you so much space to play with. I needed something bigger. Something I could walk around and explore a little more.

So I scoured the internet and found this...



Throw that out into an overgrown patch of woods, and it'd be perfect! In the right environment, it'd have a nice, lonely vibe going on.

Also, if this is anyone's house, I'm sorry.

I began the work earlier today. Got all the framing and most of the details done.



I shrunk it down a tiny bit, and subtracted that extra long end on the addition. Changing it from what looks like a kitchen addon to something more like a storage porch.

Next up: UV mapping. The one part I consider the worst stage of the modelling process, and the one part that always takes me forever to do. It's not difficult exactly, just incredibly tedious and time consuming. I don't find it fun in the least.

Once it's done, and I have everything textured (which would be my favorite part of the modelling process), I'll post up another shot here. Then, I'll normal map it and the gas pumps, make a few extra props for flavor, then start porting it all into UDK.

[chrono1081]

I love it so far! I can't wait to see it textured

[Renzatic]

You semi get your wish...



I've come across a semi-medium problem, and I'm hoping some of you here can offer up some hints, tips, and advice.

This is by and far one of the largest objects I've unwrapped. If I want to keep the pixel density at decent levels, I've got to do something different. See, normally I like giving all the surfaces their own space on the sheet. That way I can add in more throwaway details, and bake in AO without any issues. In most circumstances, this isn't an issue, but this building? It's big. Too big to do that.

I've got a few choices here.

1. I can tile all the surfaces on one generic texture. Basically I glue all my islands together in big long chain, like I unwrapped it from one corner and just laid it out. The pros for this is it'll take me about 15 minutes to do. I hop on CGTextures, find a nice wood wall, doctor it up, and I'm done. The cons is that it's just one texture tiling over and over again across the map. I can't detail it or bake in AO.

2. Slap it all on a big ass UV sheet. I'm thinking at least 2048x, but more likely 4096. I can go on as usual, but it seems like a huge waste of resources to do it this way. The roof and frame are gonna have their own sheet. By the time I have my diffuse, my normal, and my spec in there, it'll be around 200+ meg worth of textures just for this one building. That's overkill with a capital kill.

3. Cut it all up and give certain surfaces their own material. I'll probably end up with the same situation as above, minus a few dozen meg or so, with the added benefit of making everything more complicated.

I'm gonna continue messing around with it, but I'm open for suggestions and criticisms in the meantime.

[Renzatic]

It begins! AO baked, and texturing on it's way!





I went with the third option, cuz...hell. Why not? This is all practice and fun, it doesn't have to be the prime example of cutting edge efficiency. I want all my surfaces unique, and this was the only way I could do it without resorting to using an obscenely large 4096x texture.

...cuz, you know, since my 7 sheets only consist of 3 2048x textures for the frame and roofs, and 4 1024x for the trim work and details, I'm saving on so much, and obviously made the right choice.

Also, if you just laughed at that, you're a nerd.

Anyway. Nothing too exciting yet, but it's starting in earnest. I should have something neat to show off here soon.

[Renzatic]

Project Creepy Stuff Thing Continues...



This is my favorite part. When I realize I haven't screwed anything up, and it all starts coming together.

Once I get the building done, which should be later tonight if my free time keeps up, I'm going to start all the extra details. Right now it's looking a little bland. It needs more stuff to really bring it to life. I'll probably start out putting an ice machine out front, like in the photo above. Then I'm thinking about putting an old, old coke machine out next to the side door on the little addition building on the right side. In the corner between it and the main building, I'm gonna throw in some overgrown ivy, and maybe a water meter there. Then I'll probably put up some random license plates. Places like this always seem to have license plates nailed to the wall.

From there, I'll normal and spec map all my textures, and bring it into UDK for the biggest part. I'll post a screenshot prior to that momentous occasion.

...also, I can't help but feel like I'm talking to myself here. :P

[chrono1081]

Holy crap this thread updated a lot since I last saw it! This is looking amazing!

I usually check Macrumors at work but since we've been ridiculously busy I haven't had the time

Keep the updates coming!

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

I usually check Macrumors at work but since we've been ridiculously busy I haven't had the time

Sucks, don't it? I've got about a week of down time right now, so I'm taking advantage of the time while I got it.

Plus I've got one more update. This was a giant pain in the ass to do, so I've gotta share it.



IVY! I'm not sure if this is how ivy actually grows, but I'm sticking with it for the time being.

What I'm gonna do is use this as a backdrop, and model a few vines to give it some depth so it doesn't look so 90 degree angled. Then I'll make a bunch of alpha masked ivy leaves, and hang them around everywhere, with them bushing up along that corner beam and ending up underneath the trim.

Anyway, staring at a bunch of 1000% zoomed in pixels for the last hour and a half has given me a huge massive horrible splitting headache. I'm calling it a day.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by Renzatic

Sucks, don't it? I've got about a week of down time right now, so I'm taking advantage of the time while I got it.

Plus I've got one more update. This was a giant pain in the ass to do, so I've gotta share it.



IVY! I'm not sure if this is how ivy actually grows, but I'm sticking with it for the time being.

What I'm gonna do is use this as a backdrop, and model a few vines to give it some depth so it doesn't look so 90 degree angled. Then I'll make a bunch of alpha masked ivy leaves, and hang them around everywhere, with them bushing up along that corner beam and ending up underneath the trim.

Anyway, staring at a bunch of 1000% zoomed in pixels for the last hour and a half has given me a huge massive horrible splitting headache. I'm calling it a day.

I think it looks great! As for not being sure how ivy grows your close. It will branch out as it gets higher. We have a TON of it all over the buildings at work but sadly I can't take pictures there or I'd get fired :*( (I work at a state building that was formerly an old mental asylum, IMAGING the texture opportunities I see daily!)

Seeing this come together is making me itch to model something. I do have to squeeze in a model for a Houdini class I am taking (gotta model a waterwheel). Maybe I'll find some time in the next two weeks to start that.