A gnarly tree stump - Updated...

Ali · Tue 06/01/2004 00:33:28

This isn't for a game in particular I've just been experimenting:

My rendering software is very poor and it isn't really capable of building a whole room without causing errors. What would people think of a game made up of bits and pieces of images like this one, in the vein of the Blue Ice?

I'm just musing, so I'd be pleased to hear comment and criticism.

Thanks.

P.S. the tree isn't meant to be gnarly in the surfer way, just in the tree way.

EDIT: You're right about the top of the bark DM I think I'll change that a bit.

Because this was just a quick job I used photos I'd taken for the texture of the bark and ground, normally I'd have drawn them myself.

Also it was rendered in Visual Reality, the crAzy Grandma of Simply 3d (It's no where near as good as Maya) but I did tweak the grass a little in Corel Photopaint.

Darth Mandarb · Tue 06/01/2004 00:42:21

When that picture first came up I saw it before reading the post and I was like, "If he did that by hand I'm quitting right now!" I could never hand draw/pixel art something like that!

That's really neat looking!

What 3D software do you use?

I think as long as the elements all fit together seemlessly it would look great! A lot of people throw 3D objects together into scenes and it looks horrible!

The ground around the base of the tree looks incredibly realistic!

The bark (at the top) looks a little like plastic and smooth rather than rough like bark!

])]v[

Peter Thomas · Tue 06/01/2004 07:20:02

:o

*faints*

Minimi · Tue 06/01/2004 13:30:15

Amazing! It seems like something with Maya, but correct me if im wrong

I agree with darth, that the textures are very realistic. So did you drew them, made a photo, or was it premade? Bytheway, I think it will be hard to make a game of all loose objects of 3D. You can better make scenes, because then you can scale every object to the size you want, and also reflect light onto the objects.

sergiocornaga · Wed 07/01/2004 08:20:06

Wow... That's really cool... Pity you can't make whole rooms like that...

TheYak · Wed 07/01/2004 09:51:22

If this could be done in a consistant style with a character that didn't stand out too badly, it'd be excellent. I think, however, that to reap the benefits of 3d-rendering, each background would have to be its own scene and not just a gathering of "tiles." If you experiment a bit more and throw a full background together, please post it.. it's an idea I've been playing with myself... not that I've been playing with myself.. ah, nevermind.

As for critiques, the top of the stump seems a little inconsistent with the style. Something about the grain looks a bit off, you may wanna check a reference again. Also, the color's a bit too bright for the surrounding bark. From the way the light interacts with the rest of the objects, I'd imagine the exposed wood wouldn't be quite that brightly highlighted. Absolutely excellent construction/rendering though.

James Kay · Wed 07/01/2004 12:16:38

Surely every background in AGS is a single image file, and thus each 3D scene would have to be rendered out individually anyway, in which case you can build a library of objects and import them into a workspace, et voila. "Tiling" doesn't make sense here at all.

Nice model! Lighting is a bit dark though, but that could be because it's isolated or just my personal preference to have high brightness/contrast in images (so scrap that comment - sorry).

If you did do this with Maya, check out the 3D canvas/paint tool options for some lovely organic modelling for when you're adding grass and other flora to the scene. As simple as making a brush-stroke with a mouse!

ThunderStorm · Wed 07/01/2004 14:27:48

QuoteAlso it was rendered in Visual Reality, the crAzy Grandma of Simply 3d (It's no where near as good as Maya) but I did tweak the grass a little in Corel Photopaint.

LordHart · Wed 07/01/2004 23:11:51

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Tue 06/01/2004 00:42:21
When that picture first came up I saw it before reading the post and I was like, "If he did that by hand I'm quitting right now!" I could never hand draw/pixel art something like that!

I thought the exact same thing.

Pessi · Thu 08/01/2004 20:05:47

Looks great. I love the values, I think they're fantastic.

The reason I'm posting is that I think you might have problems with the bits and pieces part because of perspective. If you make a city scene for example, you would have to have exact perspective for it to work, I think.

Just a though.

InCreator · Sun 11/01/2004 10:24:13

Uh... proper start of a reply in this thread would be:

*Whoa!*

Okay.
Now tell me, Is there really some faaar simpler/better 3D progs than 3ds MAX is, or you're just a kickass modeler?

Okay.
1. Mixing a room together with separately rendered pieces is a bad idea. Because of the light and perspective. True.

2. If you have just a stump with SO0o high polygon count (or at least it looks like one), making a whole room with lotssa objects makes me think you're working in NASA or some other Government facility with a few miles of supercomputers located at the basement.

Okay.
Looks super. I really can't criticize a thing I could never do. EVEN if top of the stump looks like a part of a balloon and should/could be a little bit flatter.

Ali · Wed 28/01/2004 13:26:46

Some of you seemed interested, so here's what the meshes look like:

As you can see it becomes a lot more complex around the top - though I haven't yet managed to make it rough-looking enough.

Also, I din't explain very well what I meant by a compilation background. There are some screenshots from blue ice here which might show what I mean:

http://www.gamershell.com/hellzone_Adventure_Blue_Ice.shtml

Edit: Isegrim, I modelled the tree mainly by hand, I used extrude tools for the roots and a sort of magnet pull thing for the ground. I use a free limited edition version of a japanese modelling program called Metasequoia. Despite the fact that it's named ater a tree, it isn't specifically designed for trees, it's just an ordinary modelling program. I believe Metaseqoia is geared for making low-poly characters to be put into games like Quake, but I find it quite easy to use for this sort of thing (even though the translation from Japanese is tricky at times).

Isegrim · Wed 28/01/2004 19:57:39

Wow, that's awesome!
Did you do all the modelling by hand or did you use a tool for it?

I'm right now looking for a convenient way of modelling trees realistically, so I'd really like to know how you did that! (If you actually DID model that manually, maybe you or anyone else here nevertheless knows a good and free tree-grower?)