Adventure Game Studio

Creative Production => Critics' Lounge => Topic started by: txarly on Tue 06/12/2005 22:47:21

Title: cemetery:night version
Post by: txarly on Tue 06/12/2005 22:47:21
Well again, a new render(third render) to c&c.
Hope you like although looks better at 800x600 and .bmp.
I'll post the day version nextly too.

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/cementerio.jpg)
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Ubel on Tue 06/12/2005 22:59:02
Looks very lovely, though the tree on the right looks a bit flat. Why don't you post that 800x600 version as a .png file too? :)
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: RocketGirl on Tue 06/12/2005 23:01:36
I agree, it looks nifty. I also agree about the trees. I'm gonna comment about the one in the lower left: some of the twigs don't look like they're actually attached.

Other than that, it looks way cool. Can't complain about much!

What do the characters looks like that might be strolling about in this scene?
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: DanClarke on Tue 06/12/2005 23:17:46
Nice render, my only pointer would be that the myst is far too bright.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: RocketGirl on Tue 06/12/2005 23:20:07
I kinna like the mist that bright. It's creepier, looks more like something spooky-magical is gonna happen.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Darth Mandarb on Tue 06/12/2005 23:50:42
Is this a cutscene graphic?

Is this even for a game I should probably ask first ;)

The reason I ask is because there's almost nowhere for the character to walk on this screen and the areas there are would be tricky to do because you'd have to have the mist surrounding the characters feet!

I think the render is quite nice though.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: big brother on Wed 07/12/2005 00:36:04
I think you should take out the signature and the date in the lower right hand corner. They distract from the realism of the scene.Ã,  ;)
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Nikolas on Wed 07/12/2005 01:25:34
Wait, wait, let's not start again the discussion about the watermark. The current watermark is very respectable and not at all annoying to me.  ;)

Now about the BG. If it is in a game you do have a problem, as Darth mentioned. I mean you have divided the screen in two. The place with the two graves and the outside. No door, no gate, so the character is either in or out. Unless you plan to have some kind of puzzle about that.

About the render. I find a little weird some of the clouds. They have a little blackish outline which does not fit too well, like it's been badly drawn. I'm talking about the one above the moon and on the corners. The fog is a bit low. I mean there is a lot of fog in the bottom of the character and nothing above that. Absolutely nothing. And I'm not sure about the proportions. I mean the two graves show how big a body must be (around) and the two buildings on the back (domes? how do you call it), especially the left one are huge! Also the lamp seems a bit small. Maybe it's just me.

Keep in mind that when I critisize this much it means that I like it a lot... ;)
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Sam. on Wed 07/12/2005 20:44:25
Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Tue 06/12/2005 23:50:42
Is this a cutscene graphic?

Is this even for a game I should probably ask first ;)

The reason I ask is because there's almost nowhere for the character to walk on this screen and the areas there are would be tricky to do because you'd have to have the mist surrounding the characters feet!

I think the render is quite nice though.

not so difficult actually, i believe you could use rawdraw, and draw the mist over the top, like a layer, and another nifty trick is to set the characters walk anim with mist swirling aorund their feet, looks pretty cool!

Its a lovely render, but the mist IS too bright, it should be alot more shadowy, keep up the good work!
Title: Re: cemetery:day version
Post by: txarly on Wed 07/12/2005 23:19:18
Here is the day version

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/cem6.jpg)
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: RocketGirl on Wed 07/12/2005 23:25:12
So...what is this for, anyway?

And, I'll ask again, what do the characters look like?

The day version looks pretty cool, too, BTW. I like the use of texture, looks pretty real and unflat.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: txarly on Wed 07/12/2005 23:49:05
well, some people asked me if the screens are for a game,soÃ,  i'll tell you.
I'm thinking to make a game, but first i'd like to know what people like more, if screens in aÃ,  toon way or more realistic ones.I mean, if you likeÃ,  monkey islandÃ,  or syberia style.
Also it helps me to improve my work because is not for a long time i'm working with 3d software, but i've test that is faster to render scenes than to draw them, at least for me.
So i'll post screens to hear what you like more (and to know my mistakes tooÃ,  :)).
Finally, excuse my english tooÃ,  :-\
Txarly
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Nikolas on Wed 07/12/2005 23:55:30
Well in this case there are some practicall issues to think about:

Most BGs you have done (I can't remember the third one), are difficult to use in a game design-wise. Take for example this one: Where are you going to put the character? Unless it is in first person, in which case this problem vanishes. As well as the next problem.
These Renders are perfect (IMO)! So your character has to be perfect also. Can you handle this? I mean there is a high risk that the character will stick out too much.

I personally like realistic BGs, but it puts the hurdle really way up for the rest things respectivly. In a MI-ish BG you can expect a "simple" character drawn, and everything is fine (now, I can't do even that, but that's no reason to kill me here, I mean I know it is difficult, but it looks simpler). Here everything has to be perfect... I dunno, your choice...

And btw thanks...
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Ubel on Thu 08/12/2005 05:33:05
I really think everyone should make the graphics look just like they want. So if you want to go with 3D rendered realistic looking graphics, then you go with them! If you want to make 3D realistic more than you want to make 2D cartoony style, then I see no reason to make the last one.

Game making should be fun and it shouldn't be limited with what you think other people like the best. And that's not even really possible since different people have different opinions about game graphics. :)
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: ildu on Thu 08/12/2005 09:54:44
Cartoony 3d is harder than realistic 3d to get to look convincing. So stick to realistic.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: RocketGirl on Thu 08/12/2005 17:39:43
Quote from: txarly on Wed 07/12/2005 23:49:05
well, some people asked me if the screens are for a game,soÃ,  i'll tell you.
I'm thinking to make a game, but first i'd like to know what people like more, if screens in aÃ,  toon way or more realistic ones.I mean, if you likeÃ,  monkey islandÃ,  or syberia style.

Bah! Make your game the way you want to make it. Personally, I don't care if it looks cartoony or realistic as long as it doesn't look like crap...which this scene doesn't. This scene looks pretty good. I'm actually not seeing the problems some people are about where the character can go if this were for a game; I see some very narrow places a character could walk, but they're there. Some Sierra games had less space for you to walk on, lemme tell you!

Quote from: ildu
Cartoony 3d is harder than realistic 3d to get to look convincing. So stick to realistic.

Oh, I disagree. While I'm working with AGS I'm also working on a toon-shaded Star Wars fan film, and I have to say that, a few lighting issues aside that are an artifact of how large my scene is rather than any inherent defect in toon-shading, it's been pretty darn easy.
I could write up a tutorial on just how easy it is in 3DS MAX--my 3D platform of choice--but I'm not sure if this is the right place or time. But if people are interested, I'll take the time, cuz writing tutorials is kinna fun! :) It's all about Gradient Ramps set to Lighting and Solid, for those who know MAX. Trust me.

For example:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/rocketgrrl/TantInt02.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/rocketgrrl/Shot02B.jpg
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: ildu on Thu 08/12/2005 18:47:18
Yeah well, I'm talking about how convincing it looks. For a building to look like a somewhat realistic building, you only have to make a box and slap a texture on it. For a building to look like a convincingly cartoony building, you have to add bend, noise, etc. modifiers, you have to have a knack for making things look cartoony, you have to model more stuff, so that the plane textures don't show through it and you have to adjust lighting (which isn't really a big deal). This whole thing is probably reverse for characters and other objects that become too complex to realistically create.

Of course you can just make a box, man-handle it a little, and change the lighting to cel-shaded. But then it won't be very convincing as cartoony, and that's my whole point. If txarly were to switch to cartoony, he would most likely have a harder time making backgrounds of the same quality as his realistic work. The two extremes are reality and fantasy. It's much easier to make people say, "Hey that looks so realistic", than to make them say, "Hey that's as good as the graphics in Finding Nemo."
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: passer-by on Thu 08/12/2005 19:05:43
I think that there is enough room for the character to walk among (or above??) the graves or behind the rails. It didn't even occur to me as a problem before I 've read about it. I think it depends on the "scenario".
I agree the myst is too bright, looks like sunlit dust.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Rel on Fri 09/12/2005 14:44:26
Both those images look fantastic, especially the daytime one! My only crits would be to do with the lighting. The sun in the day image looks like a long, vertical oval because of how the white extends right down to the horizon in that part. It would be more realistic to have the white centre of the glow smaller & circular (eg. see http://www.fotosearch.com/DEX130/ph026_020/ ). With the night image, it's only the light beams in the front-middle that look odd to me â€" I don't think the moon beams would be that bright or clearly defined at night time, given that the moon's mostly obstructed by clouds in the picture (hence any non-lamp light would be dim) plus the fog would diffuse light (so areas of light & shadow would blur together a lot).

The lamp's lighting and the rest of the images are great. I really like the textures you've used.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: He-Man on Fri 09/12/2005 15:13:21
Very nice background. I can't put a finger on it.
But I'll have to agree that making characters for it is going to be rather difficult.


Quote from: RocketGirl on Thu 08/12/2005 17:39:43
I could write up a tutorial on just how easy it is in 3DS MAX--my 3D platform of choice--but I'm not sure if this is the right place or time. But if people are interested, I'll take the time, cuz writing tutorials is kinna fun! :) It's all about Gradient Ramps set to Lighting and Solid, for those who know MAX. Trust me.
I am just learning 3ds Max and I would love to see that...
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: RocketGirl on Sat 10/12/2005 17:55:28
Quote from: ildu on Thu 08/12/2005 18:47:18
Yeah well, I'm talking about how convincing it looks. For a building to look like a somewhat realistic building, you only have to make a box and slap a texture on it. For a building to look like a convincingly cartoony building, you have to add bend, noise, etc. modifiers, you have to have a knack for making things look cartoony,

Not at all. See, that's true if you're going for a specific style of cartoon--say, something Sam&Max-ish--but that's only one style of cartoon!
There's anime-style, there's afterschool adventure-style (think GI Joe or The Transformers or TMNT, etc), there's the FOX Kids style (a more blocky version, like the recent Batman cartoon), there's the Powerpuff Girls style (which is like the old Hanna-Barbera style mixed with anime), and so on and so forth. You only have to warp the geometry in funky ways if you're going for that specific style. If you think that's the only way to look cartoony, well, you need to think outside the box a bit more!

Quote
you have to model more stuff, so that the plane textures don't show through it and you have to adjust lighting (which isn't really a big deal).

..."so that the plane textures don't show through it"? I'm not even sure what you mean by that.

And adjusting the lighting can be dealt with. Using a toon-shading plugin is actually somewhat problematic when it comes to lighting, but that can be dealt with by using the plug-in only for the inking and making your own shader out of Gradient Ramps (if you're using MAX, that is). In fact, by being creative with Gradient Ramps, you can do something that most toon shaders don't: alow your toons to react to light color.

Quote
If txarly were to switch to cartoony, he would most likely have a harder time making backgrounds of the same quality as his realistic work.

Re-texturing a photo-real 3D scene to become toon shaded is time-consuming, but the results can be very rewarding.

Quote from: He-Man
I am just learning 3ds Max and I would love to see that...

Well, when I have a spare moment, perhaps I'll post a toon-shading tutorial, then. For the interested.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Nikolas on Sat 10/12/2005 18:25:49
One question out of interest, since I have already criticised the fantastic piece of art: You guys (and gals) that use 3d MAX you have a legit copy of it? Or is it too risky to tell me? Just questioning so I can see what I can do... in the future...
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: RocketGirl on Sat 10/12/2005 18:52:43
Quote from: Nikolas on Sat 10/12/2005 18:25:49
One question out of interest, since I have already criticised the fantastic piece of art: You guys (and gals) that use 3d MAX you have a legit copy of it? Or is it too risky to tell me? Just questioning so I can see what I can do... in the future...

My copy of MAX is legal. It's MAX 3.1 because I'm too broke to upgrade, but it's legal. And gets the job done.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: ildu on Sat 10/12/2005 19:06:51
My copy is illegal, version 7.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: MarVelo on Sat 10/12/2005 21:33:20
wow good thing im not an asshole and have you reported for software piracy.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: ildu on Sat 10/12/2005 22:02:37
Reported? Who are you gonna report. It's still legal here in Finland. And it could be rhetoric for all you know.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: IM NOT TEH SPAM on Sat 10/12/2005 22:05:20
What?  You wanna search that?!  IT WAS PLANTED I SWEAR!!

I don't think the police really care to search computers because of a piracy tipoff--it's just too much hassle for too little spoil.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Elliott Hird on Sat 10/12/2005 22:09:28
Quote from: ildu on Sat 10/12/2005 19:06:51
My copy is illegal, version 7.
Cleverest thing to say on a forum. Ever.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Nikolas on Sat 10/12/2005 22:12:10
Shit and this is all my fault. Now I propose everyone to edit their post. I know what I want to know and thank everyone.

Now since there is no money making I don't think anyone cares for that. I used to have piraced copies of samples (50 DVDs!), but now I don't use them anymore, since my works have gone public. Simple as that.

No harm done.

Nothing to see here people. Carry on, carry on...
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: MarVelo on Sat 10/12/2005 22:53:55
Not that I really give a crap! I am anti-capitalism but its not that smart


George Orwell- "Big Brother is always watching"
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: ildu on Sun 11/12/2005 00:56:53
Quote from: Elliott Hird on Sat 10/12/2005 22:09:28
Quote from: ildu on Sat 10/12/2005 19:06:51
My copy is illegal, version 7.
Cleverest thing to say on a forum. Ever.

You should visit the forums at www.theisonews.com (http://www.theisonews.com) or www.nforce.nl (http://www.nforce.nl), so you'd see tens of thousands of similar posts. On a sidenote, piracy is becoming illegal in Finland quite soon. The parliament is currently discussing the matter. Nevertheless, it would be quite a lottery if one person was arrested for one piece of software, especially when the software wasn't finnish. There have been only some 2-3 serious arrests in Finland altogether that all included wide-range distribution of pirate software (of which one was a FBI collaboration to get a finnish guy who was a cracker for the infamous DOD, the first warez team). It's funny how in Sweden everything is still legal, even distribution. The big players there know that outlandish laws have no relevance there, as they don't in Finland either.

Sorry for the rant. If anyone is uncomfortable with this, just ask a mod to delete these posts. I don't think it's fair for txarly, either, since it's his thread.

So, on-topic: Great looking backgrounds. The day image is much better than the night one. And I don't see much trouble with the walkable areas in them. Maybe the interactions are a bit limited, since that fence restricts movement, but I don't see anything especially wrong in the backgrounds. Good stuff, hope to see more soon.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens on Sun 11/12/2005 16:47:49
People, please THINK before you post a reply.  That means, think about whether it is directly on topic and germane to the discussion.  Asking whether someone has a pirated copy or not of 3dsmax has absolutely NOTHING to do with a critique of Txarly's work, it's quality, or anything.  Now get back on topic before I have to karate kick you all in the butts!

As for the image, I quite like the layout as far as an opening still shot or a fmv goes.  I don't see how it could work for a 3rd person walkable area though, if that is what the intention was.  It has a good moody atmosphere, the trees look decent (which is rare for a 3d scene imo) and the fog and such hides some of the jagginess the image would have otherwise.  Nice work.
Title: Re: cemetery:night version
Post by: Reminder on Tue 13/12/2005 08:55:09
Hi! I love your backgrounds. Also, I'm trying to make one like that for my game. I think you could give some general advices about 3d rendering to help people to improve their skills in that ( Well, i think i need them :PÃ,  ;) ), like: what program do you use, computer, rendering engine...
I decided toÃ,  make 3d backgrounds for my game because I tought that it would be faster to render scenes than draw them, but I think i was wrong; I don't have enough experience in 3d rendering (neither a good computerÃ,   :-\ ).
bye!