How to make this better & cartoonish

[Bijulinus]

I've made this test bg with a 3d program.

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ProvaStrada.jpg

How may I make this more "oldstilish", or cartonish?
Maybe changing textures, or with a specific operation...?

And any hint to improve it?

Thanks.

[Nikolas]

I'm nost sure that using a 3d program will help you towards a cartoonish result.

All the lines are perfect! The same goes for all the textures! I actually think that doing a cartoonish BG would require you to restart from scratch. And I have never said that before.

But do wait for others to say what they think. My suggestions is just too radical. Too much to handle. Plus I'm not known for my graphic designs or BGs so, this is just an opinion from an amatuer.

Nikolas

[Oneway]

I think using a 3d tool is a great tool for making backgrounds.
However if you want to make them more cartoon-like making the scene in a 3d program is just a first step.

For a cartoony look you'll need outlines. Depending on the software you're using there may be renderers that do this for you. Otherwise you'll have to do them by hand.

Also, the use of textures will have to be reduced or even removed!
I did a quick paintover where i added the lines manually and filled all areas with a solid color. The textures are still visible so you can see how destructive the use of textures can be for a cartoony feel.



Also, try honing your lighting skills. It looks like you're using one big lightsource in this scene wich give hard and sharp shadows. If you have global lighting (or global illumination) available in your 3d program, turn it on. If not, place some more, less powerfull, lights that can help fake this effect.

So all in all my advice would be this:
- Lose all the textures and instead give your 3d objects one solid color.
- Enhance your lighting so that all your objects will get some lighting and thereby will visually be showing more colors than just the one solid color you made them. (by more colors i mean more shades of the same color).

If the last tip doesn't make sense for you, let me know and i'll try to illustrate with an example.

Good luck!

[Bijulinus]

Ok, I rendered it again, with solid color textures.
I did not outlined it yet.
Was this that you meant?
And is this lightning what you imagined?
the position of the light is quite.. random   :


http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ProvaStrada2.jpg

Are you sure I must completely remove textures? It looks a bit... void, like an abstract picture...

[ManicMatt]

Now it looks like a virtual reality thing!

I think (amateur here) that the textures themselves were too photo realistic, and need to be cartoony themselves, say hand drawn?

Maybe???

[Bijulinus]

Eh eh...
while ManicMatt was writing that, I was trying what he suggested.

I remake that texture overpainting it.
Et voilà .

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ProvaStrada3.jpg

What about this??? I think is a bit crappy...

EDIT:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=16814.0

Check this old screenshot of my first game:
I'd like to make my scene in a style similar to the second screenshot.

[Oneway]

hehe, i can imagine you think this is a weird looking background now. It is. That's because it's rather empty and clean. But that's something for later worries.

You absolutely did follow my advice the way i intended it to, but the lighting is still.. uhm.. off. It looks like you've placed a light fairly close to the wall. This looks funny because there is no visible lightsource (like a lamp or fire) in the background, but we still the effects of one being there.

Make no mistake about this. Lighting is a VERY difficult subject to control, both in 3d and in 2d.
See if you can improve by doing the following:
- turn your original light on again (if you turned it off)
- place the newly placed light a bit further away from walls and floors
- turn down the intensity of those new lights so that they aren't as apparently visible but more just soften the hard shadows thrown by your main light and make the lights throw a more whiter color light. The color it has now is more suitable for candles and indoor lighting.

I'm not saying that this is THE way to go if you want to make some cartoonish bg's, but it is what i would do. Whatever you choose to do in the end, EXPERIMENT.. A LOT. Try to visit a forum specifically for computer generated graphics and look at techniques used there. (Not that we don't want you here ).

Good luck.

[Bijulinus]

Thanks! I will experiment!

[ManicMatt]

It's getting better though!

Yeah, it looks like it's night time but with a torch shining on the wall.

[Bijulinus]

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ProvaStanzaOutLined.jpg

What about this?

There's a lamp glowing "behind" the viewpoint, but it's reflected on the glass of the window.

Ah, dont mind the mess I made around the window.

[ildu]

What 3D software are you using? The first thing you need to do is determine the application and what are its capabilities. If it's any good 3D program, it'll most likely have a render feature and materials.

The first step towards a cartoonish style would be lighting. Create a material that uses shadowing, but change the shadow to be only one shade of gray. This is how cel-shaded rendering is done, and it's the first step towards a cartoonish look.

The second step would be to create cartoony 3d architecture and models. Bending and bevelling your 3d objects will go a long way to making your 3d objects look more cartoony and wacky.

The third step would be to make cartoony textures. This is where you need most of your talent.

And finally the fourth step would be to keep your style consistent and cartoony.

This is just scratching the surface and it is truly much harder to make impressive cartoony 3d architecture than realistic.

[ManicMatt]

The black lines around the table give it a cell shaded look! (Which is a very cartoony thing)

It looks very different in style to the other background though, but I prefer this one.

[Scummbuddy]

I have a 3dMax tutorial you may be interested in. It can at least hopefully point you in the right direction.
-----------
In the footsteps of Guybrush - A 3D background tutorial
A 3Dmax tutorial made by DHammarin, who is obviously as obsessed with Monkey Island as I am. It makes me think that there is a possibility for adventures in 3D in the future, but not now. Not when polygons are too sparse, unless it becomes embraced and stylistic like Grim Fandango. 

http://home.comcast.net/%7Elucasstyle/media/Footsteps_of_Guybrush.pdf

[Bijulinus]

Please, check my char in my room:
how does He appear here? maybe the styles are too different? or not?

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/JackInStanza.PNG

Question: is there a good character-animation tutorial ? ? ?

Thanks

[Nikolas]

I think that the simple/no texturing along with the simplicity you try to follow with your character (which is not really bad, but still his hair could be worked on a little more), does not fit the windows/picture which is done in much detail.

[Bijulinus]

Well, Nikolas... yes, I forgot to change the texture of the Outside.
But is he ok related to the table, the door and the walls?

[Akumayo]

I think he looks fine in the background personally, as far as he himself goes, I think the hair is fine, but he needs to straighten up a little (unless he's just a slouch).  But yes, I think he looks ok with the background.

[CaptainPancake]

If you're going for a cartoonish feel, I would just take the wireframe image and paint over it with something vector based, like Illustrator.  This would especially be important if your characters are hand drawn, because the contrast between the rendered background and the characters would be blaringly obvious.  The only time rendered backgrounds really work is in conjunction with rendered characters, and those are a lot harder to create.

[Bijulinus]

Yes, now I'm trying to do rendered characters... I'm no good with sprites  :