Game Art Challenge #10: Steam powered post apocalyptic monkeys of doom

[franklyn]

wow ...its strange but it really is quite creative ...original..

its a nice idea but a bad design so far its just a barrel on a set of tracks i think u cud take the idea further ..keep at it ..
btw: ur suposed to show a bit of the driver ?
cant see the monkey yet .

[spudmonkey]

Hmmm, the back bit was relatively easy, which probably means that the main part of the vehicle is going to be a complete nightmare...

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render001.jpg

And yes, I had to waste those polys on the spigot; it is a vital component after all! The wheels are based on the old style, as used in Formula 1, Goodyear #1 Eagles. Think I need to fix the rims, but they might be fine as they are once textured.

[spudmonkey]

wow ...its strange but it really is quite creative ...original.

its a nice idea but a bad design so far its just a barrel on a set of tracks i think u cud take the idea further ..keep at it ..
btw: ur suposed to show a bit of the driver ?
cant see the monkey yet .
Thanks! I'm struggling with putting the front together at the moment. There is however a monkey aiming, counter-balancing and firing the gun (he's labelled in a couple of the images) but there needs to be a driver too.

Not sure if I will be going for the tracks or the clockwork/cogs style just yet. The barrel on the tracks is the base for the gun unit, which will spin around on top of it. Kind of hard to explain!

[franklyn]

hmm if that 1303 triangles then i think what ive made s far is gonna go off the scale ...whats that in polygons so far?

cant coment much because i really dont get what its going to look like i thot it wud be the last pic of the drum on the tank threads.

[spudmonkey]

hmm if that 1303 triangles then i think what ive made s far is gonna go off the scale ...whats that in polygons so far?

cant coment much because i really dont get what its going to look like i thot it wud be the last pic of the drum on the tank threads.I tend to work in triangles rather than polys as then I know exactly how many faces I am working with. The model could stand some optimisation, but as with most vehicles, there's a lot of polys/tris in the wheels...

I quickly knocked together the rough design so far, based on the bits I've drawn, but I will need to work out where the driver will go before I model any more parts... I think he will be sitting in front of the main barrel, but I might go for something more unusual _if_ it fits the design...


http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/scans/Image13.jpg

[franklyn]

ok its piecing up in my mind now ....tats a nice vehicle if u get it to work right ...with textures and all...btw will u be using normal maps? ...
i actually wanted to ask sysop to remove normal maps out of the accepted maps coz a lot of us havent tried it and it looks rather complicated .
which wud give the ones who know it an unfair advantage.

[spudmonkey]

I've not played with normal maps yet, so I probably won't use them for this. I should be able to get away with a bump map instead, though I might give normal mapping a go afterwards, if I have time :) If people want to use normal maps then I guess that's up to them. At the end of the day it will come down to how the models are judged, and I would hope that not using normal mapping would not count against you.

Nice Humvee design btw :)

[franklyn]

shud have said that in my thread....no one has seen it yet...
well i didnt mean that it wud be an advantage to just use a normal map but the fact that u can show a lot more detail and still stay below the limit of 4500 triangles will give them a much greater advantage over us.

[Dargon]

shud have said that in my thread....no one has seen it yet...
well i didnt mean that it wud be an advantage to just use a normal map but the fact that u can show a lot more detail and still stay below the limit of 4500 triangles will give them a much greater advantage over us.
NVidia (at their website), (or is it ATI?) have a plugin for Photoshop that converts bump maps (greyscale) to normal maps. You won't get the high level accuracy of normal maps made from geometry, but it'll work nonetheless. It is a bit of an advantage using normal maps, but for rigid geometry, the photoshop plugin should work just fine.

That being said, there are different styles to texture painting - shaded and shader. Shaded means you paint in highlights and shadows yourself, where the realtime lighting either is non-existant, or doesn't affect in to great a way. You can get amazing results just using this technique. The other is shader, which means you paint colour maps, bump maps/normal maps, spec maps in order to get the realtime lighting of the game engine to cast shadows and highlights. The second one will always look better in the game, because you'll see it moving around, and the shading change as it goes. But in stills for a contest, the shaded versions can often look even better, as you can be quite selective and artistic in how the light lands.

[spudmonkey]

That's a good point Dargon :)

Quick update. Thinking about changing the turret design from a barrel to something different to give the model a bit more contrast, but I'll stick with it for now, as it can be removed and replaced at a later date without too much effort...

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render002.jpg

[spudmonkey]

A monkey I made to be used for scaling purposes.

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render003.jpg

The poly count is within what I was thinking for the gunner, so if he textures well, then the monkey stays. If he ends up being ugly then the monkey gets it... :)

Now that he's modelled I should be able to work out the seating rig for the gunner and also the harness for the driver. Once they are modelled I should know how many polys I have left for the turret spinning bits and extra detailing. If I have two complete monkeys (with hands that aren't modelled yet) then that would stick me somwhere around 3250 triangles, leaving a reasonable 1250 triangles for the seats, spinning mechanism and extra details, which should be plenty.

[franklyn]

hey dargon i already know about that ...but with the photoshop plugin the detail u can get is not so goo ..but ill see about it .

hey spudmonkey things are coming along nicely . it looksl ike a m1a1 barrel tank (battle tank)

nice looking design i like the way the turret is dont now u just need to get that pointy chimney thingy up

and oh yeah you should adjust the way the barrel is conected to the tracks

tank track dont actually look like that but if ur not making it relaistic its all cool.

[spudmonkey]

More progress, though not much as the cricket was pretty exciting for a change :) One monkey in place and started on the harness. Still need to do quite a bit though before I can start texturing:

1. Monkey hands!
2. Driver cockpit and underside of main barrel.
3. Top arm and chimney.
4. Connector between the front and back parts.
5. Extra details to use up any spare polys.

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render004.jpg

[hanzo]

spudmonkey I like your design, nice to see some cartoony, and with a monkey!? KEWL!! can't wait to see the textures on this one..

[Daemos]

I love the beer belly on the monkey.

[spudmonkey]

I love the beer belly on the monkey.Well, they had to empty the barrel first ;)

Run into a slight problem with the loading mechanism; it looks too cluttered with the design and position I was going to use, which is a bit of a pain. I could fake it and not build one, but I think it really deserves a coconut delivery system... Will have to think about it for a bit, but I have a few more ideas yet.

[spudmonkey]

Right, more progress! It's been a pretty productive day, on-and-off :)

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render005.jpg

Next steps:

1. Monkeys need hands. I know. Patience.
2. Optimisation.
3. Extra details!
4. Texturing

At 4439 polys the model is just under budget, but I'd like to add some more definition to the barrels as they are really the centre-piece. The front at the moment is a copy of the gunner monkey, which was purely done for position and balance checking. The cockpit will be slightly different, and should take less than the 716 polys that are currently there.

The main optimisation points that I can immediately spot are

1. The cockpit (as mentioned... Started repeating myself... Bad sign!)

2. The axle on the rear barrel. There's a reasonably high level of detail there that you don't really get to see, so it can be tidied.

3. The cogs on top of the barrel. I quite like them, but they could be replaced with something lower poly which still breaks up the flat area.

4. The monkeys (No! Not the monkeys!). The tails could be simplified and the driver can be dramatically reduced with the new cockpit design. Warning: Chopping monkeys in half is not big and it's definitely not clever, and so it should never be attempted at home. Go round your mates place instead...

There's a few other bits and pieces I can do to make the model less symmetrical, such as change the angle of the chimney and hanging things on the barrels too.

Sorry if this sounds a bit blog-like, but I like to write things down to remind me to do them and, in the case of the stuff I make up on the fly, to stop me from forgetting it!

[ElysiumGX]

I love this entry, even if just for the title. Barrels, monkeys, HAHAHA...ok, I'm done.

I'm tempted to suggest the cannon shoots poo. But coconuts are a good choice.

[Xiahou.rDa]

hahaha thats so awesome im watching this one for sure :) I love it keke its awesome!


xNATEx

[vrapp]

This entry is so hilarious, I love it! :thumbsup:

Keep up the good work, this will look neat with textures!

[spudmonkey]

Thanks for all the really positive comments :) Texturing isn't my strong point at the moment, so it's going to be good to practice on this model. I was thinking about doing a more serious entry too, but this one deserves a really good texture job, so it will probably take up all the available time!

Cockpit design is done. It's a little bland, but it does lower the poly count to 4263, leaving me enough to add details to really make it shine.

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render006.jpg

[spudmonkey]

Quick pose test, which had the benefit of me finding some unwelded faces and hence lowering the poly count very slightly, but also showed a problem with the positioning of the rear barrel, as it is a little bit too close to the main body. The monkey gunner would get a slightly nasty experience with the pump handles, but that's easily fixed by moving the rear barrel back a little bit, so nothing drastic!

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render007.jpg

EDIT: ok, fixed that and also removed some more unnecessary polys from the inner part of the rear wheels, so it's now 4141 triangles :)

[JoeB2C]

Awesome work, really, care to make a wireframe screeny? :thumbsup:

[spudmonkey]

Awesome work, really, care to make a wireframe screeny? :thumbsup:Thanks, and as you asked so nicely:

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render009.jpg

Click for bigger (252k image though, so probably not for dialup!) (http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render008.jpg)

Thought I should protect the gunner a little and finally give him and the driver hands, so it's now 4337 triangles. Just a few more details to add and the modelling will be done :)

[spudmonkey]

Damn and other such harsh words! The top of the turret didn't have an edit mesh modifier on it, so it's actually 4427 polys...

I think this means I will be limited to sticking some boxes around the place to break up the big areas, rather than anything more interesting, but I will see what I can manage to make with 73 triangles...

[spudmonkey]

Work and footy tomorrow so I doubt if I will find the time to update until the middle of the week... For now I'm going to say that the modelling is done. Once the texture sheet is layed out I will know if I have spare space for some silly little extras or not, so there may or may not be some extra modelling to be done later.

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render010.jpg

[ManiaX]

this is hilarious!!
great concept.
but to answer your post in my thread:
i was not inspired by your idea. monkeys are just cool creatures:-)

[spudmonkey]

this is hilarious!!
great concept.
but to answer your post in my thread:
i was not inspired by your idea. monkeys are just cool creatures:-)
Bah! There was me thinking I could claim credit ;) There's something very right about post-apocalyptic and monkeys - I blame Planet of the Apes :)

[spudmonkey]

Might be watching more footy tonight, but I will try to make a start on unwrapping too, but then I'm out tomorrow night and on a stag do on saturday... Hopefully sunday won't be a complete "hangover day" waste!

EDIT: Tidied up lag-induced double post!

[spudmonkey]

OK, so, busy week last week... First out drinking loads, then the stag do, then someone asked me to do a quick model for them of a WW2 style truck for a game they are thinking of writing... Yes, I'm easily distracted! I keep looking at the monkeys, starting to unwrap, but somehow never actually finishing the unwrapping process... Here's some screen shots of the truck though, which might turn into my more serious entry, if I can do both :)

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/truck_01.jpg

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/truck_02.jpg

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/truck_03.jpg

So little time and so little patience with unwrapping has always been a problem! Never really worked out an easy way to do it, so any tips would be greatly appreciated!

[spudmonkey]

OK, distraction over for now - pressure is off on the truck, so I found a little time to start working on unwrapping, which I hate doing. Updates are going to be a bit as-and-when at the moment as lots is going on at work (including being bought out!), but hopefully I will find more time to work on this before I go to the US in two weeks...

lots of fixing to do, but the basics are getting there. I need to resize the parts within the image borders, organise them into positions for the best usage of the available space and unwrap the other bits, so loads to go! The seams will need to be sorted too but that will be a texture map tidy job at the end with any luck.

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render011.jpg

Oh, and if you are wondering why the non-unwrapped bits look a bit strange, it's because I like to do a sketch render before texturing. The sketch render allows me to play with colours and the like in PSP/Photoshop through basic colouring in! This is the sketch output:

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render33.jpg

All I need to do is start playing with the colours, then the main texture will come from that.

[spudmonkey]

Urgh, I hate unwrapping, but it's done! The monkeys will be on the second, smaller texture map as the vehicle proved to be a bit of a beast. I could have done some bits differently I guess, such as the two barrels, but this will do as a first run. I can always unwrap it again if I decide that it's not so great...

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/textures/texture001.jpg

[spudmonkey]

quick play with textures just to make sure the unwrap is good! The barrel wood colour is pretty drab, so that will be changing, plus the details for each plank of the barrel will be different.

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render012.jpg

Edit: Hmmmm, looks ok in a game engine though, but still, the wood must change! http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render013.jpg

[spudmonkey]

Bit more work on the texture. It's starting to look about right now, though the edge of the wheels needs fixing...

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render014.jpg

[JoeB2C]

hehe, I just love that contrast between the rough wood and the slick tires :P

[DevilHacker]

The beer keg looks good...
Now what about thouse tires...

over-all keep up the good work:thumbsup:

[spudmonkey]

I know, the tyres are a bit clean at the moment. The way I tend to texture is to make the clean texture components, save them separately in case I want/need to use them again, then paste into the texture sheet for the model. Once there I can then add dirt and so on so that it matches the wear on the other texture components.

Anyway, who's to say that the monkeys wouldn't have used the first things they came across - a mouldy old beer barrel, but some lovely slick 1970's Eagles... OK, yeah, I see your point ;)

Bit more progress, but as normally happens, once I start work on something for myself I show someone else, who immediately asks for free stuff for their website and/or game... Still, at least these little jobs give me breaks and also the occassional free beer or three :)

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render015.jpg

Oh, and I'm actually really proud of the texture for the wheel, as it's probably the best bit of 2D work I've ever done! :) I'll definitely have to do something about the tread though!

[spudmonkey]

Last post for tonight as I'm in danger of overdoing the amount I'm posting! Tire wear and first pass at the gun, also with an initial pass at a spec map for the metal parts...

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render016.jpg

[spudmonkey]

Damn.

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render017.jpg

Gun texture. Bad things.

The detail on the side is all wrong. It should be more like the top bit - simple but vivid. Comments would be greatly appreciated on the colours though as I'm not sure whether the green works and if it should be metal or paint...

[spudmonkey]

More progress... Somehow managing to find time for updates, but the problem is that I'm out for the next couple of nights and then off to the US for 2 weeks. Trying to update as quickly as I can, but having a fulltime job and fulltime life keeps getting in the way! Determined to finish it!

http://www.perversonality.com/cgtalk/renders/render018.jpg

[DevilHacker]

Looks very good... :thumbsup:
But, 2 of the gears on the top of the big barrel, seem to be out of no were...
With out slots, how can thouse gears be able to turn?

Hope you have fun in the USA, if your in Houston, look me up and ill give you a tour.
:beer:

[spudmonkey]

Looks very good... :thumbsup:
But, 2 of the gears on the top of the big barrel, seem to be out of no were...
With out slots, how can thouse gears be able to turn?

Hope you have fun in the USA, if your in Houston, look me up and ill give you a tour.
:beer:
Thanks!

I'm going to be in whatever is left of Florida visiting friends but thanks for the offer :)

The texture on the main barrel is still very WIP, so I still have to

1. (Re)texture the main barrel including fixing the top (well spotted!)

2. texture the ammo tube and the crates

3. finish texturing the gun

4. texture the drive mechanism for the front tracks

5. Texture the chimney

6. Maybe use the spare 73 polys, maybe not!

Step 7 will probably be blending the textures a little better so that there is a nice colour balance on the model, but we shall see how much time and enthusiasm I have when I get back! I might revisit the track texture too as it's not quite as good as I would like it to be...

[DevilHacker]

Thanks!

I'm going to be in whatever is left of Florida visiting friends but thanks for the offer :)

The texture on the main barrel is still very WIP, so I still have to

1. (Re)texture the main barrel including fixing the top (well spotted!)

2. texture the ammo tube and the crates

3. finish texturing the gun

4. texture the drive mechanism for the front tracks

5. Texture the chimney

6. Maybe use the spare 73 polys, maybe not!

Step 7 will probably be blending the textures a little better so that there is a nice colour balance on the model, but we shall see how much time and enthusiasm I have when I get back! I might revisit the track texture too as it's not quite as good as I would like it to be...Cool it sounds like you have a good plan ahead, but I just wanted to say that the gun metal seems a little to smooth than how a monkey would put together, I think that a few dints and bangs on it would help it a lot!

Keep up the good work, and I hope that your trip to Florida is fun… :thumbsup:

Most likely going to the beach, but you might see a lot of damage… lol, Florida has had the crap kicked out of it from all of the large hurricanes.

[funkyrayuk]

very cool, it's good to see something quirky/funny/original, it makes it stand out from the crowd more.
Florida's fine, i just got back from there just over a week ago, some fallen trees and stuff but other than that i barely noticed the damage. have fun

[Por@szek]

The project is very ... sic :twisted: But I like the vision what you want to show(something like that). Texture could be bettter, but of course I don't know what You have in mind finally. You have great imagination :)

[spudmonkey]

The project is very ... sic :twisted: But I like the vision what you want to show(something like that). Texture could be bettter, but of course I don't know what You have in mind finally. You have great imagination :)
Wow, thanks :)

I really need to find some time to just sit down and work on the texture - the problem has been that I've only been able to grab the odd 30-60 minutes here and there, so there's not been much consistency in what I've done. Loads to do, but my flight leaves very early tomorrow morning, so this will have to wait until I get back.

Any suggestions on the texture would be appreciated, but I guess this is too early to really comment on as only the rear barrel is complete at the moment, with the rest being around 20% done...

[vrapp]

This model kicks some serious ass, but the textures aren't really living up to it yet.
The main problem that I see is that you work with too saturated colors, making it look like it's contagious (well, maybe part of it is, but that's not the point). Try to make use of more subtle colors, and the texture will problarbly look a whole lot better.

Also, almost never use a completely black (00,00,00) color. This gives too much contrast and also it makes the colors seem less vivid. Try using contrasting colors instead, for example, using a little blue in the shadows (and not a fully saturated blue).

I fooled around with your latest render in PS for a bit, trying to down the contrast and saturation. I hope this might give you an idea of what I'm talking about - please tell me if you want me to remove the image.

Cheers,
Vidar

[spudmonkey]

#include rudewords.inc

ok, I missed the deadline thanks to work. Not too happy about this and I may not have any time to work on this for a while, but I will try to finish it at some stage... Thanks to everyone for all your support during the build :)

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.