Peri's 3D art thread + other things

[Perihelion]

I've been doing a lot of 3D modeling lately, so I figured I'd make a thread for it. I just finished this character model yesterday:

No textures yet, obviously. We haven't decided what resolution we want in-game models to be yet, so I'm holding off on retopologizing for the moment. Anyway, the clothes are mostly cloth simmed with touchup done in ZBrush, although the boots are mostly ZBrush. Details modeled in Max for the most part. Here's a closeup of the boots:

 

[Ellie]

That's cool. I'm not really sure what I can say, other than that unless that's an old fashioned style of trouser, they'd have to be very, very tight to get a bulge that big (or he's pleased to see you). Other than that it's well proportioned and the fashion makes sense.

 

[Perihelion]

There really isn't much of a bulge; the ambient occlusion Max adds in the viewport just makes it really visible. I'm not really sure how that ended up happening, as I smoothed it out a lot in ZBrush, but I can take another look at it. Maybe the pants were too tight when I was simulating them or something.

 

[Perihelion]

Well, it's not 3D, but I did this recently too:

These are some of the points graphics plus some old tiles I had lying around plus a lot of new stuff I made. Not the highest quality pixel art I've ever done, but good enough for my purposes. I'm making some pixel art packages to sell on the Unity asset store, although I don't think they'll be very popular. There's a lot more, but this is what fit in the mockup.

Oh yeah, Amy, if you want any of this for promotional purposes or .org stuff or whatever, let me know and I'll be happy to hook you up.

 

[Perihelion]

I will also repost this thing I posted in pwoym:

On a tangentially related note, I'm currently exploring the possibility of using Autodesk Revit for game level design. It's designed for archviz but seems like it'll work for games too. You draw a floor plan and drag in fixtures and furniture, and you get 3D models out. It doesn't seem like they're UV mapped, unfortunately, but you can't have everything, I guess.

Here's a floor plan of the building I'm working on right now:

I'm in the process of filling it with furniture I made earlier:

Not textured yet, obviously. The kitchen stuff is all Revit and will need some touchup, but I made most of the rest of the furniture.

I gotta figure out how to put in baseboards/crown molding and what I'm gonna do about the doors. I modeled some really nice doors and windows before, but they don't look good next to the Revit presets, so I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

That pixel art is way too cool!

You know, each time I start to pixel, I give up halfway because "something doesn't seem right". O_O

I'm not sure why.

 

[Xilef]

Oh man that looks sweet, it would make a cool net-hack graphical theme

 

[Perihelion]

Thanks! It takes a lot of practice, but it's a good skill to have. Unfortunately I find art very tedious in large quantities, but I actually have enough of this stuff to probably make a little roguelike game with. Except for spell animations, I guess. I should make a microgame with it sometime.

Honestly, though, if you're making a game by yourself, being good at pixel art can kind of be a trap. It's tempting to try to make all of your graphics yourself, but then the game will never get done in a million years. (I tried this, so I know all about it. :[) Imo it's better for hobbyists to stick to making RTP edits. Maybe you should focus your efforts on that instead of making quality fully custom stuff.

 

[Perihelion]

Oh man that looks sweet, it would make a cool net-hack graphical theme

Yeah, it was intended for a roguelike. None of the sprites are animated, which is unfortunate, but on the plus side, there are like 250 of them (including a bunch of recolors).

If any of you guys want those sprites for your own games, I'm going to be selling them in the asset store soon. It includes a bunch of tiles, sprites, and items.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Thanks! It takes a lot of practice, but it's a good skill to have. Unfortunately I find art very tedious in large quantities, but I actually have enough of this stuff to probably make a little roguelike game with. Except for spell animations, I guess. I should make a microgame with it sometime.

Honestly, though, if you're making a game by yourself, being good at pixel art can kind of be a trap. It's tempting to try to make all of your graphics yourself, but then the game will never get done in a million years. (I tried this, so I know all about it. :[) Imo it's better for hobbyists to stick to making RTP edits. Maybe you should focus your efforts on that instead of making quality fully custom stuff.

What if I am working with a group? Star is programming/drawing portraits, one friend is making music, another is doing dialogue... Should I try then?

I know how to pixel art, I just don't remember how to begin again. o.o

 

[Perihelion]

It depends on a few things.

1. Are you doing anything besides pixel art for this game?
2. How much do you like making pixel art? Is it something you dabble in occasionally, or do you really want to spend several hours a day making graphics for months on end?
3. How motivated are you? How good are your self-discipline and follow-through?
4. How much custom pixel art does the project actually need?

Basically, don't take on more work than you're realistically going to complete. Making all of the sprites or tiles for a game with even moderate scope is a HUGE undertaking, although it might be feasible for something with very limited environments and characters, and it gets tedious very very quickly unless you honestly have a burning desire to spend all of your time pixeling. I found out the hard way that I don't, which is why my art process these days focuses on taking as many shortcuts as possible while still getting an acceptable end product.

I think what you should do is use the RTP for everything that you can and make RTP edits for whatever custom work you need done. But I would encourage the people designing the game to design around what content they're realistically going to get, so no huge environments you don't already have most of the graphics for. Stuff like that. It's actually a pet peeve of mine how much people in the RM community criticize others for using the RTP. I used to be the same way, but then I actually tried to make all of the graphics for a game from scratch, and it was an overwhelming amount of work and went nowhere. It's just not realistic for a hobbyist unless the scope of your game is really small.

 

[Ellie]

Well, it's not 3D, but I did this recently too:


These are some of the points graphics plus some old tiles I had lying around plus a lot of new stuff I made. Not the highest quality pixel art I've ever done, but good enough for my purposes. I'm making some pixel art packages to sell on the Unity asset store, although I don't think they'll be very popular. There's a lot more, but this is what fit in the mockup.

Oh yeah, Amy, if you want any of this for promotional purposes or .org stuff or whatever, let me know and I'll be happy to hook you up.

That's really cool. I've only ever seen that style done badly before but now can see how it's supposed to work (the four visible walls). It also goes really well with the character graphics. Would love to see a small game made with this.

Also with your pixel packs if you packaged them up as tiles you might be able to get them sold on rpgmakerweb, I'm not sure how it works. I think they'll do well on unity though.

 

[Perihelion]

Thanks! The top-down perspective is actually quite inconsistent with the furniture and sprites, but it's readable at a glance and is sort of an established style, so it works. The GB/C Zelda games are the same way. And yeah, since I have this stuff now, I'd consider making a small game with it sometime, but I'm really busy with my other projects and dunno when it'd happen. I have a soft spot for roguelikes, though, so maybe.

I could sell them on RMW, but everything is 16x16, so it would have to be blown up to 200%, which might be kinda weird. Good idea, though; I hadn't thought of it.

I actually have 3/4 versions of the walls as well, but I think I prefer the top-down. But you can take a look at them anyway:

I still need to edit these a fair bit to make them work as tiles, but whatever.

I've had all of this stuff sitting around for a few weeks and should probably get around to actually packaging it up for Unity at some point...

 

[Perihelion]

I did some rough character design today. This is the main character of my game:

Everything went better than expected, largely because I figured out how to cheat at drawing! You just pose a 3D model and then trace over it. I'm actually really proud of the face; I think I really nailed her character with the expression.

Also, note that this is for 3D, so the more detail, the better. I want to add more detail to the coat at some point. I wish there were a way to make pants more interesting, though. I tried a skirt, but it didn't pan out very well, and I think she's more of a pants person anyway.

 

[Ellie]

If anything I think the pants are a nice contrast, especially the clean ironed-in fold down the front. It says a lot about the character (possibly) that they're kept in good nick and not too flashy.

 

[Perihelion]

Yeah, I think it's definitely the kind of thing she'd wear. I'm just concerned about visual interest since she's the main character, as you typically want craptons of detail on a high-res 3D model. I also really struggle with interesting modern character designs in general. :I Well, we have a character designer on the team I'll probably pass all of the designs off to at some point, but I wanted to take a shot at it myself first. The pants might be fine if I can make the coat interesting enough.

 

[noise shaman]

I could sell them on RMW, but everything is 16x16, so it would have to be blown up to 200%, which might be kinda weird. Good idea, though; I hadn't thought of it.

do it dude. i made 16x16 tiles and blew them up 200% and am selling them on rmw and steam and shit. if you've already put the time into making them, it's basically free money every month. plus my stuff was super lazy and yours is better. :P

just email lunarea.

anyways

I wish there were a way to make pants more interesting, though.

don't imo. with the coat and the cool tattoo thing, adding too much flair to the pants might take away from the character design. i like detail-contrast to really make her stand out. adding too much stuff to a design is a trap. the last thing you want is a character with twelve belts and sixteen pockets.

 

[Perihelion]

I could sell them on RMW, but everything is 16x16, so it would have to be blown up to 200%, which might be kinda weird. Good idea, though; I hadn't thought of it.

do it dude. i made 16x16 tiles and blew them up 200% and am selling them on rmw and steam and shit. if you've already put the time into making them, it's basically free money every month. plus my stuff was super lazy and yours is better. :P

just email lunarea.

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. It's free money, so why not. I'll get around to doing that at some point.

don't imo. with the coat and the cool tattoo thing, adding too much flair to the pants might take away from the character design. i like detail-contrast to really make her stand out. adding too much stuff to a design is a trap. the last thing you want is a character with twelve belts and sixteen pockets.

Yeah, but the tattoo isn't always visible. But yeah, you're right, I don't want to overdo it. I'll have adequate detail on the coat and make that the focus of the design.

 

[Perihelion]

Man, it's really hard to design interesting-looking modern male characters.

I struggled with this a lot, but I'm out of ideas for more distinctive features to add. :[

 

[Sauk]

I'm no artist or anything and I don't know what you're trying to portray with your male character, however, I feel as though if you lower his eyebrows and make his eyes more narrow with more of a hood over the tops that it would improve his looks.

^my poorly edited version in paint.

I don't know if that's too generic for your tastes, but the big eyes and high arched eyebrows kind of give him a more androgynous/effeminate look (unless that's what you're going for?). Just my 2 cents.