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Tylak
10-05-2003, 03:40 PM
This is another level I made for a student game. The game project has reached deadline and I'm continuing the environment for a portfolio peice.

Currently its mostly the base terrain, with active lava below. It's sitting at around 5200 polys. The first shot is a DOF of the center volcano and the second is a shot from my motion cam with 3d motion blur (no DOF).


http://www.angelfire.com/ex/dat/export/lava01.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/ex/dat/export/lava02.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/ex/dat/export/lavaWire01.jpg

Here's what's on my to do list so far:
1 - implement a sky
2 - fix errors (texure alignment, streches... ect...)
3 - add some tasteful particle effects (smoke for the main volcano, steam, maybe some lava bursts)
4 - add a centerpeice..... this one requires additional explaination

With all the environments I've been working on I've found that it will never seem complete if there isn't something for the viewer to identify with. Something that sets human scale and that helps the viewer imagine themselves there, immersed and interacting with the environment.

The problem is that there is really no way to place the viewer into this environment without having them instantly incenerated and bubbling across my soft-body poly plane (lava).

I've been thinking of maybe putting some sort of exploration vehicle into the scene a-la "The Core" or some other center of the earth fantasy.

Any ideas? Anything really! You guys are my greatest resource. Thank you again!

EDIT I gave a bad polycount, due to the lava plane being untriangulated. Here's a more accurate breakdown:

Cliff Wall, mountains/spires ................ 3982
Lava .................................................. 2404 (not 1202)

current total : 6386

sorry about the confusion, the lava has been subject to a lot of changes and remakes recently and is currently in need of some cleaning up, I could proably cut about 500-600 without changing a thing, but I'm waiting until I'm totally happy with how it looks before I invest a lot of time cleaning it up before my final rendering.
EricChadwick
10-06-2003, 03:19 PM
Looking cool, er... hot.

Something that might help the scale would be to add a dock, possibly with a boat-like vehicle tied to it. Needn't be wooden, could be pitted/burnt steel/iron. Maybe some dynamic motion for the boat?

One thing that would really help this environment would be to add a bit of texture transition between the lava and the rock. That would really help the hard transitions at the bottoms of the spires.
TheWriter
10-06-2003, 09:46 PM
The DOF and motion blur, are these things you plan to simulate in game? If not, then you may want to just show renders as-is for a real comparison.
Ghostscape
10-07-2003, 02:44 AM
I agree with TheWriter, don't add effects that won't be used in the engine...or else your actual in-game piece won't turn out as well.

Looks pretty good...although the poly count looks like its designed for the early quake3-based games...It looks good at that poly count, but it looks dated.
Tylak
10-07-2003, 10:23 AM
thanks for the replies

Here's what I gather:
- better rock/spire ttexture transition
- don't use DOF or motion blur
- more complex geometry

I have about a week left before I have to present this environment along with the other ones I've been posting about {Okadian Isles (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=90148&perpage=15&pagenumber=2) and another I haven't posted). So I want to use my time wisely.

I like posm's suggestion about a dock. Anyone have any other ideas to really spice up the level? The polycount is low enough that I can add a lot more. I had an idea about making some idustrial complex suspended above the pit, some sort of refinery that requires heat of that magnitude.

Thanks again for taking time to help me out. I'm trying really hard.
gaggle
10-07-2003, 12:21 PM
A goat, bunny, or cow caught out on one of the centerpieces would add a touch of bizarre humor :).

That aside, tribal-stuff maybe? They always seem to worhship the angry fiery gods, so that could happen here as well.


In any event, this environment has similarities with the Okadian Isles one, in that I think they look their best when viewed from a bit of a distance. RTS-ish point of view. The polycount and texturedetails generally seem just a tad too low to really sustain the two closeups you've posted thus far. ..well, actually the first one is more appropriate than the 2nd, but I think the wireframe one may be even more suitable.
Tylak
10-07-2003, 01:14 PM
Thanks gaggle, good advice.

How about this..... I'll focus on getting shots from more of an above view. I'm already working on higher poly versions of the spire, to avoid those sharp edges. I'm retexturing most of it and I'm implementing a smoother transition for the spires (ramped alpha). And I'll add some actual content to the tops of the islands.

Example of new perspective:

http://www.angelfire.com/droid/dat0/export/lavaTop01.jpg

I wanted to fly the camera inbetween the spires and have a close encounter with the animated lava (render #2 in the first post), but I won't mess with that if it looks crappy.

UPDATE

out of bandwidth, for the next 5 hours

I will repost this image as soon as I get home.
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