Environment: Cartoon-style Realtime Mine Scene

[Toxic Frog]

Closeup of a tree:

http://www.toxicpond.com/Media/Images/ToonMine/TZ_ToonMine-03.jpg

[Toxic Frog]

Entire scene:

http://www.toxicpond.com/Media/Images/ToonMine/TZ_ToonMine-06.jpg

[LoneLobo]

wahooo, cute!!

very nice style, I love it!!

[oxygen_77]

Very cool little scene! Keep up the great work!

[Maximus Groff]

Excelent!!!!!!!!

[Joel Hooks]

I like the attitude of this scene. I don't care much for the dark dirt below the tracks. Maybe this could get some work?

I want to see what happens! Make it go!

[Toxic Frog]

It's very inspiring to hear positive comments - thanks everyone!

lowdown - I agree the dirt is kind of weak, but I don't plan on revisiting this piece again. I do plan to make a new piece with a similar style when I come across that elusive thing called 'free time'. :)
This scene took about 40-50 scattered hours to complete from start to finish. I think that, now that I've gotten a feel for this style, the next one should be easier and will be done more quickly.

[Risibility]

on your next work, add a horizon, unless this is at the top of a very very high mountain....we should see a horizon...looks cool tho

[jerO]

That's really nice, man.
Suckerpunch (http://www.suckerpunch.com) is looking for maya environmental artists.

i know cuz i already got rejected. :)
blaming it on my Max-centric background of course.

go for it.
jerO

[Icestar]

Try making the clouds more cartoony, i dont know why but they really standout to me.

[Icestar]

actually i've figured it out. I think it's the fact that they look more blured and outta focus than the rest of the scene. Anyways my two cents. It's really cool!

[jerO]

doing some vertex-colored faux-cloud-sprite thingys could be cool. that would keep the edge of the rest of the scene.

Whenever i'm doing a scene like this as well, i usually don't
even render it, but just bake/paint the mesh verts
and take screengrabs.
That'll give you a more realistic in-game look at it as well.

You can get away with a lot by using greyscale maps
and tinting polygons as well... Square always does an
awesome job of using vertex colors to save on
texture memory... essential for PS2 work.
jerO

[Toxic Frog]

Thanks again for the comments!

Risibility - your suggestion for a horizon is duly noted. I really made this scene to be seen from one angle, and I actually did have a horizon at one point, but I thought the composition looked better overall without it.

Icestar - Good suggestion. If I understand you correctly, you mean that more solid-color clouds would fit better. I was trying for a Warner Bros type look, and your suggestion would probably complete the look I was going for. Consider it done on the next one!

JerO - Thanks a lot for the tip (and I like your website)! I *love* the look of Suckerpunch's stuff - I'd apply in a second if it weren't so far from Texas :)
I've just started learning the UT Editor, which lets you do a lot with vertex colors, etc., so I plan to do much experimenting with those techniques you mentioned.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, folks!

[DarkSun]

Heyy it is looking really sweet man :) I would like to see an animation goes there ;)

[jerO]

tons of shops look harder at you (in a good way, rather than dumping your resume) if you have UT tool experience. Don't know that i've ever seen such stylized work done with that engine, so you may be in for a challenge, or not. I'd love to see the stuff you end up doing in it.
and thanks for checking out my stuff :) soooo need to overhaul my site.

jerO

[Jonny Bubonic]

I might be nice if you used some texture blending on the grass and dirt to help break up the repeat a little. You can get some really lush looking terrain that a PS2 can still render with just a couple of alpha blended textures.

[Baal]

Cuuuute ! :love:

This is really neat, reminds me a bit of Bugs Bunny's style, good work :D !

[JBruckner]

Wow, to tell you the truth I wouldnt mine taking on of my charecters through that scene, its really nice, the trees are some of my favorits.

[Toxic Frog]

It's really nice to hear suggestions and criticisms. I'm going to use all the input I've gotten here on the next project.

DarkSun - I would like to put an animation to this scene too. I've been planning to do a cartoon-style character as well. When I find time to do it I may incorporate it into this scene.

Johnny Bubonic - I agree totally. In hindsight, I should have separated the terrain textures with alpha blending. (And is that Bruce Cambell in your avatar? Did you work on the Evil Dead game?)

Baal - Thanks! That's the look I was going for, so I'm glad to know I pulled it off at least somewhat. :)

Glitchwolf - Thanks a lot - I'm pretty happy with the trees. I've been making trees for realtime games for a long time now. Plants are relatively easy, but good trees can be tricky to pull off. In the last couple of years I've gotten to the point that I'm usually pretty pleased with the results (due largely to the fact that we can use more polys and higher-res textures than 8 years ago).

[Jonny Bubonic]

Hey toxic...not guilty for working on "Hail to the King". :p

[Ocean Size]

Looking good man, I'd change the tree texture to not look like the same color/texture as the grass, they are too close together as it is now, (I suspect they have same texture with different scale?) need to have more contrast between them.

Rock on.

:cool:

[ashe]

How did get that cartoon style! Was that a plugin?

[unrealwarfare]

a good break from groundbreaking realism - "cartoonism"

very good

[Toxic Frog]

Ocean Size - actually the tree is a unique texture from the grass. I kept them similar to keep a color scheme throughout the scene. In retrospect, it might look a bit better with slightly darker trees. I may try it out, since it would be a quick and easy experiment.

ashe - nope, no plugins. I painted all the textures in photoshop. I kept them simple to get the cartoon look. It was very different from the style of textures I usually make, so it was actually kind of challenging, resisting the urge to add details. I can post a couple of the textures later if anyone's interested.

"cartoonism" - heh. I like that word :)

[ashe]

Awesome....Very interesting.....Hey did you unwrap the objects before you placed the textures? And i would like a couple of textures just to study them. I am very interested in the 2d look.

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