Polygon Pilgrimage - Episode 2 - The Tale of Two Brothers

Chris Tate (website)

Ben Tate (website) (under construction at the time of this writing but the tutorials are still accessible)

Greetings all! This week we get a 2-for-1 deal with the introduction of the Tate Brothers!



The collective genius of these CG artist brothers is clearly evident in their clear, concise, and easy to follow video tutorials. What makes a good tutorial great is the time and care taken to show the viewer every step in the process and to further, explain why it is important. Here you will find many a great tutorial that will expand your knowledge and your bag-o-tricks.



These are not your typical 3-5 minute “here-is-kind-of-how-I-do-this” tutorials; these average 4 hours long each! Not only that but tutorial comes with the required reference images and any additional files such as custom checker maps for your convenience. With great care Chris and Ben have taken the time to show you the exact steps needed to create awesome assets and uncanny unwraps. I don’t think it is possible to recommend these guys highly enough.



Along with learning how to use the “basics” such as 3DS Max and Photoshop the Brothers Tate show you some of their (and my) favorite 3rdparty tools that can shave HOURS off your workflow. Several of the tools that they recommend are now staples in my personal pipeline. (Next week we will discuss Tools so stay tuned!)

You can view even more of their tutorials on CG Tuts+ where Chris is a co-editor. There are several tutorials there from the guys that were created exclusively for CG Tuts+.





QOTD (Quote of the Day):
"The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity."
Alberto Giacometti

I hope you enjoyed Episode 2 of the Polygon Pilgrimage. If you like the series please be sure to subscribe and follow the series on twitter (@PolygonPilgrim). Cheers~

39 - Back In Action

Back In Action!

Whew, it's been a while since I've been able to post something for you guys. My time has fallen prey to that thing we call Life lately. For a while there both my wife and I were sick with upper respitory infections and we were out of town for a bit. Anyway, enough about all the boring stuff, back to the art!

GraveYard Gate Update:

So the GraveYard Gate is done! I got a chance to sit down tonight and power through. I really didn't have that much left to do it was just finding the time to do it. This was a challenging one. I had to learn how to make effective low poly trees and do some serious detail balancing. Fortunately there will never be more than 2 characters in this scene at a time so the rest of the team won't have to worry about balancing like I did. The lead informed me that we needed to hit between 4k and 5k for this scene. The final count came to 2,900. Given the fact that I still have almost 1500 polys worth of wiggle room I think I may suggest some unique detail and a second pass at the trees to add more braches or smooth out some of the curves. Once more for a refresh here is the original concept followed by the final image that is currently under review. Should there be any desired changes by the lead I'll post an updated final.

Concept:



Final Submitted:





A thought about Trees:

What I found was that trees are not terribly difficult to do, save for when you need to make them super low poly and still look good. The trick is to think of the tree as a series of tubes or cylinders. (See Fig.1)



After you establish where the "meat" of each tube is going to be the rest is just welding the ends together and then tweak for branch or trunk shape. (See Fig.2)



I tried to create a quick base mesh in ZBrush but the geometry created that way was messy and did not lend itself to branch instancing very well. (See Fig.3)



Ultimately I decided it was faster, more efficient, and it gives me better control to do it "manually" with cylinder objects in Max. This way I can create one branch, twist it and make it very natural looking and then copy it to the next location and in the end, weld the resulting ends together. (See Fig.4)



Next week I will be on travel for work however when I return I will be working on the first episode of my Polygon Pilgrimage. I've been brushing up my material skills as well as getting my feet wet with Unity for an upcomming project.



Until then thank you very much for your time. As always comments, suggestions, ideas are welcome.



Enjoy!



Cheers~

38 - GraveYard Gate

Greetings all! I apologize for the delay but I have been rather busy with real life stuff and sadly there hasn't been time to post an update. I have some new Imagineer art for you today to make up for it! :) My newest assignment is the GraveYard Gate. This is the entrance scene to the GraveYard that I've already completed.

Concept art:

As you can see there is a lot of detail in this scene! I've got the detailed wrought-iron gate, the stone walls, the massive door with complex mechanics, and the ghoul statues to either side. It's going to be tough to meet the budget this time as there are many moving parts. What you will not see in the render I have for you is the tree that I have been working on. Low poly trees are quite difficult as there is a balance between the right amount of geometry to get the shape and too much geometry spent on that shape, thus pushing the budget. At the moment I have most of the scene, percentage wise, complete. All that remains are primarily the trees and the ghouls (as you will see in the image) Speaking of the image please see below and enjoy! The objects in the blue-ish semi-transparent material are all of my "block out" meshes. These are temporary objects designed to take up the approximate size and shape of the object that will eventually be there. This helps me to determine how large other things are in relation to one another.

Current WIP:

Lastly you may notice that the camera angle and distance does not match the concept perfectly and to be honest it never will, but that's ok. The concept artist has the ability to draw in such a way that the "physical" model can never achieve the exact proportions and camera distance shown. There will always be a little bit of creative license involved. :) I have accounted for this by extending the set a bit further than the camera can currently see in order to give the lead some wiggle room in his placement of the camera's final position.

I hope you've enjoyed and I thank you very much for watching. As always your feedback is encourage and appreciated.

Cheers~

37 - Back to Work!

Greetings all!

After a short break I am back at it again. A lot has happened so let me try and catch you up to speed quickly.

First we had a family vacation to a cabin in the mountains to celebrate my parent's 31st wedding anniversary (Congratulations again!). The cabin was amazing! We went hiking to the nearby water falls, ventured into the woods a bit, and visited the local small town. Nothing like a great family vacation to recharge and relax. There was much laughter, fun, and boardgames!

Next sadly we had a close family friend pass and we were all hit pretty hard by it. I'd like to wish his family well and offer my prayers and thoughts.

Then after returning home and trying to get back into the swing of things my wife and I had some very expensive sudden home repairs needed. Now my back and my wallet are hurting. :(

But there is good news, I'm back to work!

I have received my next assignment from ImaginnerGames and will be posting about that very soon. This will be the last scene for me to model related to Episode 1. Very exciting but a little sad too. I've had great fun with Imaginner and we will continue to work together, I just have to be patient and wait for my next batch after this. :)

In the meantime I have a few other projects spinning up that you will see on here and my site soon.

My work for Gioz the Defender is coming along well. I will have an update to that soon as well.

Lastly I have a very exciting mini-series that I will be posting about the things I learn, study, and do, relative to 3d. I am calling this series the "Polygon Pilgrimage" as it is my never ending quest to sharpen my skills, obtain all the knowledge I can, and ultimately grow as an artist.

You can follow my progress here on my blog, on my website (www.mentallic.com) or on Twitter at @PolygonPilgrim.

I look forward to bringing you more awesome 3d art very soon!

Check out my site at www.mentallic.com, let me know what you think.

Thanks very much for your time. See you again soon.

Cheers~

36 - The Mausoleum

Greetings all!

You get a double post today since I was away visiting family on Sunday. :)

Next up is the mausoleum. The player is faced with a strange tomb of unknown origins and technology in this dark underground passage.

This scene will be complex but fun. So far I have most of the major forms blocked in and a lot of details going already. A good deal of the geometry you see here in the WIP came in the blockout but everything needed to be reduced heavily in order to fit the budget. What I am calling the "Device" on the back wall there is very interesting.

To do for this model:

- 2 relief stones (see concept)

- overhead wires

- break symmetry on floor wires

- final cleanup and smoothing

Please enjoy the WIP render.

As always your feedback is welcome.

Thanks very much

Enjoy!


Mausoluem concept:

Mausoleum WIP:

Cheers~

35 - The Graveyard: Finished!

Greetings all!

It's done! The Graveyard was a really fun model to build. I was fortunate that the lead sent me a really detailed blockout that helped to get the major forms flushed in quickly.

Surprisingly the candles were pretty easy to make and looked fantastic, but I had to reduce their poly count for the final. I may take the model I did for their base and "finish" it by making a highpoly sculpt and baking out some maps for it; just because I was proud of how easily I broke down a complex shape into a simple approach. :)

In the scene you can see a door that leads down into a mausoleum. Interestingly enough that mausoleum is my next assignment. Look for a post about that soon.

All in all I had a great time as usual creating these models for ImagineerGames and I look forward to continuing to do so.

As always your feedback is welcome.

Thanks for your support!

Enjoy!

GraveYard concept:

GraveYard Final:

P.S. The small polygons sticking up or hanging off of things are alpha cards for later texturing.

Cheers~

34 - The GraveYard

Greetings all!

I have been hard at work on my newest assignment from Imagineer Games. This time we have the GraveYard! This is an eerie location above a mysterious mausoleum.

I received a great concept piece as well as a very detailed block out. So far I have been working on details mainly as the majority of the major walls and objects were already blocked out for me. Everything will get a detail pass though to ensure that we have it matching as close as possible to the concept artist's sketch.

Thus far I have added mainly the candles, the vases, and rebuilt some of the walls for poly flow.

Concept Art

WIP:

As always your feedback is most appreciated.

Enjoy!

Cheers~

33 - Gioz Units Progress 1

Greetings all!

Today I have 3, count them, 3 WIPs to share with you. :)

I have been hard at work on the enemy units for the Gioz: The Defender tower defense game.

First up we have the Infantry unit. This is the weakest enemy of the bunch, the cannon fodder if you will. He has a standard armour layout of a helm, pauldrons, gloves, a belt, and boots.

Next we have a double render of the Infantry and the next most powerful unit, the Soldier. The Soldier has a horned helm with decorative pauldrons, slightly larger gloves, a front hanging tabard, and boots.

Finally we have a very early render of the Scout unit. This guy is all about speed. From his slicked back pointy hair, to his winged boots he is ready to sprint past your defenses. Bring him down fast! I have much still to do for this model and some to redo that is not working well yet.

As always your feedback is much appreciated.

Enjoy!

Cheers~

32 - Gioz the Defender: Concepts

Greetings all!

Here for your viewing pleasure is the latest concept art for Gioz the Defender. The lead and I have been working hard together to bring you a blend of good old favorites and fresh medieval unit designs.

First up we have the Infantry, the Soldier, the Scout, and the Archer.

I am awaiting feedback from the lead but I expect he will be pleased.

In the meantime, what do you think? :)

As always your feedback is most welcome.

Enjoy!

Cheers~

31 - The Secret Lab - Done!

Greetings all!

The Lab is done. This has been a very fun model to create. I love the atmosphere of the piece and the cannon / laser thing was challenging. The final poly count came to: 2777 / 3000. Just made it, whew! :)

All in all I've had a great deal of fun with this piece and I am looking forward a great deal to the next.

As always your feedback in most welcome.

Enjoy!

Cheers~

30 - The Secret Lab: Nearly Finished

Greetings all!

I spent a few hours last night pushing to get to the finish line on the Secret Lab scene. I am happy to tell you that I'm almost done! I have a very short list of very minor things left to do:

- fix camera position slightly (you can see along the left and top edge of the image there is a bit of the behind the scenes magic being revealed! That is a simple fix of moving the camera just a tad.

- top left wire connection (the vertical beam furthest to the left has a wire just sticking out of it. I need to bend that up and terminate it off camera. Again, a simple and very minor fix)

- wires (LP) (all the wires you see in the scene are made with an object called a Spline. A spline is a 3d line that normally does not show up at render time. What I have done is check the show in render button and given it some thickness to show where the wires will be. Now once the rest of the model is cleaned and finalized I will go back and model a sort of half cylinder shape that faces the camera to take the place of the splines as the final wire geometry

- cleaning (last but not least general model cleaning. This consists of checking the model carefully and any faces that will never be seen by the camera are deleted. All the lighting in the scenes of the game are baked in, meaning there is little to no dynamic light, so faces that would normally provide shadow detail are not necessary. Also during cleaning I check to make sure that an object will not move during the game. If an object moves then I need to find out how it moves and be sure not to delete any faces that could show later on. For example there is a hidden room in this scene and I need to make sure the object that moves out of the way to reveal this room has all it's faces intact.

So that's all for now. As usual please let me know what you think of my progress. All feedback is greatly appreciated.

I've had a lot of fun with this model and truth be told I'm a little sad to see it come to an end. I told the lead for ImagineerGames that I really liked the canon/laser thing and would consider doing a High Poly version if they needed or wanted it for promotional reasons.

Enjoy the render (which has been brightened up a bit for your viewing)

Cheers~

29 - The Secret Lab: Tangled

Greetings all!

I have been hard at work on the Secret Lab and have some progress to share with you.

Last night I spent some time getting most of the various wires put into place. At the moment I believe I have a little over half of the wires placed. After placement they will require some hand editing in order to become game ready.

The gun/laser thing in the ceiling is just about complete. The concept shows a little bit more (what looks like brackets to mount it to the ceiling) however based upon the desired camera angle you can not see it. I modeled it anyway but have hidden it for this render.

Still to-do is:

- Books on shelves
- Finish wires
- Various pipes / gauges in ceiling
- Clean up and budget check

As always your feedback is welcome. Enjoy!

Cheers~

28 - Gioz the Defender: Tower Defense

Greetings all!

I have been contacted to assist with a tower defense game being developed for most mobile and tablet platforms.

The game is called Gioz: The Defender. During the tower defense style action you take control of Gioz and are able to assist the towers in fending off the Creeps; an endless wave of evil minions.

My first task is to create the 10 different forms of Creeps. For this task I was requested to develop Creeps of 3 different sizes: Small (.5 units), Medium (1 unit), and Large (1.25 units).

To begin I gathered as much information and reference from the client as I could on what style he was looking for and from there I built up a proportion sheet. Next I created a base character mesh from which the other proportions would be sourced.

During the process I generated an even larger still Creep to use as reference and any possible boss Creeps.

From this Boss Creep mesh I tweaked, pushed, pulled, and smoothed my way to victory; 3 different proportioned meshes, all from the same source, and all with the same vert count and uvs.

This should make the animator's job a lot easier.

See below for all 4 of the base meshes:

My next task is to take the drawings I have done for each of the classes of Creep and create their armour and weaponry.

As always any feedback is greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

P.S. Link to the Tower Defense game thread: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92751

Cheers~

27 - The Secret Lab: Continued

Greetings all!

Work on the Secret Lab is going well. I have got most of the major forms nailed down for the room. The only major form remaining is the laser cannon.

Not counting the duplicated master instancing objects and the wires (which are not final) I am sitting at 1,373 / 5000. There is still room for tweaks however I am not sure yet how much the laser will eat up.

Below you will find two WIP renders; one with and one without the laser gears I've been working on this evening. Even though there is not much to see yet behind the gears I figured this would make viewing the scene a bit easier.

As always please let me know if you have any feedback as it is always welcome.

thank you for reading and enjoy!

Cheers~

26 - The Secret Lab

Greetings all!

I have received my next assignment from Imagineer Games. This time I am to create the Secret Lab that exists under the Manor Interior that I have already created. (See blog post #20 - Mansion Interior).

Below you will find the original concept as provided to me along with my current progress.

As always your feedback is much appreciated.

Enjoy!

Cheers~

25 - 3D Training 2 - Train Harder

Greetings all. I have been quite busy with personal things this week but I have new progress to share.

Having completed the Low Poly pass for the TV Remote I did a test bake of the Normal Map for it.

The results are fairly good but I am not yet satisfied by the result.

See below for the Flat Render and Wireframe comparisons.

As always any comments or feedback are greatly appreciated.

Above you can see the wireframe for each pass. The High Poly pass is sitting at just under 4,200 polygons (with a TurboSmooth of 3 added for baking), while the final Low Poly is just 125 polys!








Cheers~

24 - 3D Training

Back to the Future Basics!

I have been working on learning all I can from several tutorials and fellow artists to improve my skills.

First up I am learning more about proper Normal Mapping basics from my friend Warlock279. He is a freelance artist in Pennsylvania.

To begin we set forth a task for me to create simple household items and study their physical properties in order to better understand how to paint the various texture maps that mimic those properties.

My first model was a very simple light switch. Here you can see the model in both it's high poly and low poly state (with the resultant normal map bake applied). On the left is the high poly model at 4,800 polygons, and on the right we have the low poly (game ready) model at just 46 polygons!

Below you can see the wireframe of each model:

Next I will be working on creating the Light Switch's Diffuse and Specular maps.

After the Light Switch model is complete I will be moving on to a TV Remote model for which I have the high poly already complete. (See below)

Thank you for viewing and if you have any questions or comments I would greatly appreciate any feedback.

Cheers~