[W.I.P] Khajiit skooma den + brothel

[Psientist]

@TheSuey

Dat pillar! I love that greek structure, but honestly what is lacking is my skill at modeling.

Here's some concept for the pillar that I just whipped up but that's been at the back of my head.

And yeah maybe I should simply take a photo of my blueprints and try to explain the layout more properly so you guys who wants to help can get a better idea of what it looks like in my head.

http://i.imgur.com/yxbtO.png

 

 

@Matth85

The pillars will be mostly along the wall where there's no real "action" but there are 4 pillars in the center of a great hall, with tables placed on 2 sides of them, but the centerpiece will be a performance stage which I at least plan on making rather dimly lit.

Actually here's a toss up instead:

Black Circle = Pillars. Gray Cicle = Table. Red Circle = Warm light source.

Black square = Scene. Blue Circle = Cold directional lightning from an opening in the roof that is supposed to hit the center of the stage and creating like a pillar of light that will illuminate the performer. (Preferably operated so it can be opened/closed)

http://i.imgur.com/XDRa4.png

 

The problem is that it HAS normals :P I just need to make better ones, draw them by hand or something.

I started on a non-tilable texture where I started polishing each stone to make it unique, I'll just drag and drop those onto a new plate and see what I can do with them.

I made the structure with 128x grids so the long stones should be 256x128 and the smaller ones 128x128, sadly I also made them very square :(

[Psientist]

W.I.P (actually about to be scrapped) the pattern is more soothing but doesn't tile like I mentioned, so something like this but with vertical seams that are somewhat asymmetrical?

ps: I could probably use a more high res base for the stones themselves, this one is kind of blurry. I just don't want to use any copyrighted material.

http://i.imgur.com/lUQAp.jpg

Edited December 4, 2011 by Psientist

[Matth85]

Hm... A few better normals and some specularity would do wonders. A few tips:

 

1: Next gen model it. Make the model of each brick, get it into a sculpting software and model each brick individual there. Export it out, make a low poly and get out good normals. Texture it and overlay a new norma with surface details.

2: Old school: Draw the bricks as lines inside GIMP/Photoshop and get a normal out of it.

 

Basically the bricks does't "pop" out now. It looks pretty flat. And the lack of a specularity makes it all look very generic.

 

The bricks itself doesn't look too bad. Break up a few a little more, and it should be good.

 

Eh.. yeah. It generally doesn't look too bad. It simply lacks the small things :)

 

EDIT: http://cgtextures.com/ - royalty free images. You are allowed to use them as much as you want, as long as you do not sell the textures. The nr.1 site for any texture artist :)

Edited December 4, 2011 by Matth85

[Psientist]

Hm... A few better normals and some specularity would do wonders. A few tips:

 

1: Next gen model it. Make the model of each brick, get it into a sculpting software and model each brick individual there. Export it out, make a low poly and get out good normals. Texture it and overlay a new norma with surface details.

2: Old school: Draw the bricks as lines inside GIMP/Photoshop and get a normal out of it.

 

Basically the bricks does't "pop" out now. It looks pretty flat. And the lack of a specularity makes it all look very generic.

 

The bricks itself doesn't look too bad. Break up a few a little more, and it should be good.

 

Eh.. yeah. It generally doesn't look too bad. It simply lacks the small things :)

 

EDIT: http://cgtextures.com/ - royalty free images. You are allowed to use them as much as you want, as long as you do not sell the textures. The nr.1 site for any texture artist :)

 

Yeah the walls are one of their concrete textures :) But they have almost no sandstone textures, at all.

Next gen model would be cool, but I've mainly done textures (I actually got into this whole thing about a year ago when I made a texture pack and some mods for minecraft, which means no modeling) and haven't gotten into any real 3D software, my cunning plan so far has been to make as much as possible in UDK and then export the meshes and then read a guide on how to use 3DS Max so I can adjust them.

So no skill, almost no experience, but for the first time in my adult life I have a hobby that I enjoy so I'm determined to give it the time it needs :)

 

Anyway [/blog] :P

Changed the texture to a sharper one, more "bricky" I guess.

I realized that if I had to change the base texture I had to go back a few versions before I messed up the bricks themselves. So if this base looks better then I guess I'll start working from scratch on it.

Also I know the areas around the bricks are too dark, it's just a layer of darkening to give the bricks shape, I didn't realize how dark it would look in the render so I'll just adjust that, maybe replace it with some concrete.

http://i.imgur.com/wavRe.jpg

Edited December 4, 2011 by Psientist

[Matth85]

Starting to get somewhere now!

Break a few up, and a good specularity, and it should be good.

 

And you should really get into 3d modelling. Its a blast! At least for this kind of work, since you can doodle in a sculpting software for ages. It is simply artistic fun.

 

But they have almost no sandstone textures

They don't need to. You just need a base with the right kind of texture. The color hue and bigger detail is easily made yourself by using other photos and some paintovers.

Edited December 4, 2011 by Matth85

[Psientist]

Ok I think I've got it :) Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate that you guys are taking your time helping out!

Also working on a totally revised version now, should have something ready by tonight! Also I cut down a lot on my shadows and highlights, I am too used to the cartoony style I used for minecraft with exaggerated highlights and shadows.

[TheSuey]

Im hittin you up with a +1 for the hard work and proof youre showing up :thumbsup:

[TheSuey]

Also i thought you should know that Ive referenced your thread in Suey's Mod Wishlish :biggrin:

[Psientist]

I'm having a hard time trying to check out the texture in the render, as soon as I as much as glance at the normals they make everything look like some kind of alien sponge :(

http://i.imgur.com/n9rL6.jpg

 

I've done about 1/4th of the current version, probably not going to be able to finish it tonight, plus I'm starting to freak out over if it doesn't look good with hand-drawn bricks. But I don't just want to take a brick texture that someone else has already made and just call it mine :(

Oh and thanks Suey :)

Edited December 4, 2011 by Psientist

[Matth85]

Want my personal opinion? Don't use Crazybump. It is just too.. bumpy.

I'd reccomend photoshop and the plugin. Get a good grayscaled image from you difuse, and go from there.

 

With Crazybump you simply can't isolate the part you want to bump, and which you want to keep clean.

 

I've done about 1/4th of the current version, probably not going to be able to finish it tonight, plus I'm starting to freak out over if it doesn't look good with hand-drawn bricks. But I don't just want to take a brick texture that someone else has already made and just call it mine

 

There is 3 ways to texture.

 

1) Hand painted. This menas you use nothing but painting tools.

2) Hand made. This mean using filters and everything to get a desired effect. Still cartoony, but more realistic than hand painted.

3) Next gen/Photo maniulation. You take a photo and edit it to fit your image.

 

So keep at whatever you are doing! What a friend once told me: The time you learn the most, is the time you sit and think "How the F**** am I going to do this?".

Another artist once wrote:" Learning stuff is like hitting your head against a wall. You can always ask somebody else to tell you where the door is, but you learn more by breaking it down yourself. The negative inpact is the headache you get!." - that is so true on so many levels!

 

So the only advice I can give you is to not use Crazybump. I have never gotten the desired effect of it, as it simply blows everything up. A well-adjusted grayscaled image inside Photoshop makes a good normal map, or a high poly bake gives a perfect one.