medievil town WIP(DONE)

[gasmask]

Hey guys, my first 3d post here, usually its just 2d for me but i thought id post my latest 3d work, basically the point of this town is to keep it low poly but make it look good with textures so this is before i texture, then ill post after, i also used only boxes (LOL) but the whole town is only around 3000 tris. Its around 300 boxes. heres the concept first, then 2 renders with skylight. crits appreciated as always fellas.

http://images.deviantart.com/large/indyart/photo/654.jpg http://images.deviantart.com/i/b/4/3/shot2.jpg http://images.deviantart.com/i/0/d/0/shot1.jpg

[neble]

Hello Gasmask

I just had to comment on your models. I've built a lot of cities for the Baldur's Gate series, and your models remind me of the cities before all the texturs were added. Very good start.

When I first started, someone told me that every object in the real world has a beveled edge. Since then, I have always tried to add the beveled edge look to my work. Of course it can only be added when you have higher poly limits, but sometimes you can only do it in texture.

Even if your shooting for a really low poly count, a little beveling will really add to your piece. Above that, would be make the pieces slightly different from each other. A broken roof timber, a knoch in an edge piece, or maybe a hole in a wall can do wonders. Yes you can do it in texture, but when the light bounces off the edges of these areas, and the detail is modeled in,....

Just have to be smart on where the poly count is added.

[Sammy]

sup gasmask,

I wanna see this thing when your done, I love lowpoly stuff... I think it's a challenging artform.

Looking at your concept and then at your 3d made me realize something...
I think you should add a slope to the city layout, like in your concept... one that curves like that..
This would yield some interesting renders for the final.. and not to mention the lighting and composition would improve

[gasmask]

hey thanks alot guys....i really aprreciate it alot, and yeah, i have a little beveling going on but ur right, i should probably add more in areas that will gain more attention, good tip and sammy, yeah the roofs are kinda boring right now, and ill see what i can do, thanks for the advice, ill play around with it on mon. thanks again guys.

[Sammy]

no, I didn't mean the roofs, I think their simple clean design is great..
I was talkin' about the dirt road...

make the city as if it's on a hill... like in your sketch

[Sammy]

by the way... I've been lookin' for an excuse to do a Matte paintin'....
if you need one done for the final I'd be happy to!

I'd have to see your texture first and talk about the styling you're going for

[gasmask]

ohhh the road, yeah well how i have it now, and u cant really tell with those shots, but i have raised some areas up, like the big house is on higher ground, but yeah that seems like a interesting idea, ill play around with it, and yeah when i finish it u can be my guest and do a matte.

[Horus]

I like the overall feel that you are getting. Your going in the right direction (here come the buts), but....

1. You really should use some architectural reference. Learn a little more a bout wattle & daub/timber-frame construction. What I mean is you will find that the frame beams do not sit on the surface of the wall - they are the wall the rest is filler for the holes in the frame. Rooves vary greatly - yours have some real character to them but aren't quit convinsing yet. Here are a couple of books to try; (everyones favorite) Castle, David Macaulay; Traditional Buildings of Britian (hard to find but worth it!), R.W. Brunskill; The English Country Cottage, R.J. Brown (I believe its out of print but try ABE.COM ). The second will really put you on the right track.

2. You are saying this is low poly, but its not. Just because a project has a lower poly count than, say, a character doesnt make it low poly. I would say you are wasting alot of polys on details you don't need. Save it for the texture. In fact, that is a good way to judge whether it is a low-poly project or not - are you creating polygonal detail that can be done in texture? if yes, then you are working on a high-poly project. In low poly you worry about silouhettes (sp) not surface detail. In other words just put in the polys you need to make the silouhette convincing of the style/period/concept, and let the texture fool the eye on the rest. High poly becomes about materials on physical detail, and you don't have enough physical detail to qualify by a long shot. Now would be a good time to decide which direction you are going, because you have the concept down.

I hope this helps, and good luck

Billy :thumb:

[gasmask]

Thanks man, yeah the beams i kinda made up, ill have to check some referance, and i mean either way u look at it, for a town its low poly, nothing has much detail at all, its all primitives with the least amount of segments, some converted to editable poly for beveling and what not. but ill research. i think i have castle books around here somewheres

[Erik]

Hey that looks like a nice start

but...

You really should do the following things:
1. mess up the streets. I mean, the houses in middle age towns are rarely built as american city blocks.

They are crooked, narrow and widen, and they have a distinct circular orientation (mostly) Get some maps of old city centers and work from there. All kinds of small squares (markets, pumps, stables etc) are usually found here. Streets often had businesses of a single kind (the blacksmith's street, the weaver street, etc)

2. More different houses, and they are usually askew and crooked. They sag and they have all kinds of modifications.

3. Different height levels and sloping streets. That's something that can really help you. Connect the levels with stairs and sloping streets. Houses with a 'gate' or 'arch' to another street are common in some parts.


In general, try to figure out what happens where in your town, how it is situated (is it on a hill, in a valley, ...) how it would be defended, where people live, where people buy their food, etc. Get some maps, of for instance old German towns, or towns from Tuscany and Umbria in Italy.

This helps build an original city.

Good luck!

[gasmask]

Dang im getting awesome advice on this, thanks alot im definetly gonna mess with the layout, ur right, it seems to uniform, thanks for taking the time to respond

[gasmask]

hey i finally got around to doing the first round of textures, hope u likehttp://images.deviantart.com/i/c/6/c/shot3.jpg http://images.deviantart.com/i/c/e/e/shot4.jpg http://images.deviantart.com/i/2/4/e/shot5.jpg

[nick reynolds]

The scale is off on the big buildings roof texture. Right now each wood tile would be about the size of a character. Look at the size of the wood tiles compared to the size of your door. The other roofs are a better but could be a tad smaller. Unless the tile are huge for a reason.

I think the tiles over the window hangings are the right size on the smaller buildings. You should scale all the tiles to that size.

It definitely coming along, nice work. Its good to see more environment artist. :D

[gasmask]

Yeah, the tiling is off right now, so ill have to adjust that like you said, especially the big one thanks

[Erik]

There are no chimneys.

Medieval buildings used to have lots of chimneys (typically one for every room)

[gasmask]

hehe ya right now i gotta get the textures done for a final, but ill continue to add detail like chimney, some barrels perhaps and other things u might find in this type of enviroment

[MDuffor]

Any further progress on this town? I'd love to see any updates. :)

Cheers,
Michael Duffy

[gasmask]

Hey as a matter of fact its basically done!, i just gotta take some new shots and post, should be soon

[3dimentia]

nice look, don't rely on that darned brazil or skylight. Learn how to do lighting.

[gasmask]

Hey guys, sorry i didnt update this sooner, i forgot but i did finish that town, actually months ago, LOL but yeah their stil lare problems im aware of like the ground is to low res. that tree stump gotta go and their are some seems, and one building doesnt have a roof yet but i got sick of it, but il share it and hopefully you guys have even more crits for me as i know im a beginner with enviroments and such, thanks alot guys!http://gasmask.skrubbles.net/albums/album01/shot7.jpg
http://gasmask.skrubbles.net/albums/album01/shot8.jpg
http://gasmask.skrubbles.net/albums/album01/shot10.jpg
http://gasmask.skrubbles.net/albums/album01/shot9.jpg

[3dimentia]

well, one suggestion right off, try not to use just tileable textures that you find around online. See how well ya fare at creating your own textures with photoshop and the like. The geometry is nice and clean. Perhaps you could make some of the wood supports be a bit more organic, and worn, and less straight. Hope that makes sense. Overall looking nice, just try to do your own textures, I think that'd make it really stand out!

cheers!

[gasmask]

thats definetly good tips and i appreciate that, im going to start another enviroment soon and since i did this one i got to know ps alot more so it should be alot more fun! thank you for the honest crit.

[3dimentia]

where you from in seattle?

cheers

[gasmask]

like newcastle area, 15 min away from downtown. peace

[3dimentia]

go to AIS? I coulda swore Ive seen that image there.


cheers

[neble]

A lot better. Along wtih your comments, watch for texture stretching and repitative objects (the barrels).

[gasmask]

lol i do go to AIS. my names chris, im like 6th or 7tj quarter animation and kinda drunk right now so i dont remember, who r u?