Sorry for any bad spelling or grammer. This took quite a while to type. Congrats to everyone, and don’t take my criticism too seriously, or personally.
Several of the entries appeared to be more along the lines of Pre-Apocalyptic, than Post-Apocalyptic. But that’s a matter of opinion, so I didn’t focus on it so much.
[color=white]Andy H
I’m handing you a little sticker that says “excellent”. I too find it difficult to criticize this model. Every aspect is designed very well. Your mesh is solid. Your textures are consistent. Nice saturation and use of small details. Your bumps and specs do their purpose. The only…ONLY, thing I can imagine that would improve this piece is a paint job. While the metal texturing is top notch, the overall appearance is bland. The “08” just isn’t enough to keep my attention. Of course, I wouldn’t want to say that to someone sitting on top of one of these. Your concept was a great start. The creation from then on was professional standard. The final render is well done. Congratulations. It’s good that someone of your quality is around to make the the Game Art Comp the challenge that it is.
[color=white]Zem
This is a concept I would have loved to work with. Who hasn’t imagined decorating a school bus in graffiti and armor? For the mesh itself, it seems off balance. There are some areas where geometry could have been avoided, and replaced with a well designed texture. While the school bus is the largest object and focus of the scene, the driver and guns look to have taken a significant amount of polygons. The bus is very primitive, while the guns are small and complex. The texture looks rushed and unfinished. The spray paint looks awesome in few areas, and like a quick photoshop doodle in others. The driver and guns textures add nothing to the scene. The entire texture sheet looks flat, lacks any attention towards lighting. The bump and spec maps don’t appear to help with the lighting either. Great concept, but it appears to need more attention in the design process.
Sizzling
The concept is enough to get me hooked. Great attention to detail and well planned, the style is represented clearly and unique for this contest’s theme. Of course, the concept isn’t the focus for judging, but it’s the first step towards a creative design. Looking at the mesh itself, this model is flawless. Every edge has purpose. Looking at the textured object, it shows that the front of the vehicle, the skull, could use a few more edges to round out the shapes. The texture by itself appears to be suffering from 3rd degree photoshop burns, but still works well on the mesh to give it a saturated, yet dirty appearance. Although, a better approach could have been made depending on the timeframe. More attention could have been focused on the characters to give them an equal amount of style. Overall, great work. Good imagination. Stays true to the concept.
Fukyrayuk
Your design looks similar to the school bus. Maybe you two should place them in a game together. The concept is very simple, but illustrates your idea properly. The mesh for the truck is nice. There are areas where geometry could have been avoided and instead designed with a texture. But depending on your game platform of choice, that’s nothing to worry about. The texture lacks attention to lighting. Even with a spec and bump map, game engines need a little help with rendering. Adding depth to a texture, even tho sometimes inappropriate for the environment’s lighting, can be much more pleasant on the eyes. The dirt on the texture looks rushes and applied without thought or purpose. I detail vehicles for a living, so from my perspective I look at your model and ask “how did mud get in that area?” When trying for a texture that displays harsh abuse from natural elements, try to integrate that into the texture of each area instead of throwing it on as a last step. You want to make the object believable. Adding dirt and mud isn’t easy. That’s why there are so many clean objects in the game world. So I applaud your effort. You bump map looks like a quick greyscale job. It doesn’t work that way. Use it to your avantage. A good effort, and nice design. I hope this process has taught you a few tricks to apply next time around.
Crimson13
Excellent idea. I praise your creativity from blending a futuristic theme with familiar historical events. A glimpse at a Post-Apocalyptic world that didn’t happen…thankfully. You have good taste in antique vehicles. It’s always good you use reference. Because of that, your vehicle’s mesh turned out really well, but try not to show all your vertices in the image next time. The geometry is very clean and organized. I’ll jump right in and say your texture lacks any attention towards lighting. It’s always a good idea to lay down the basic light and shapes of the design before overlaying textures. I hear this all the time with my work. As a result, your texture looks unfinished. The driver texture doesn’t even appear started. Perhaps you were short on time. You spent more time painting her ear, which is hardly visible in any render, than you did her whole body. Focus attention where it’s needed. Spend the time making the texture a result of your own efforts. I would advise you, and several other participants, to study on light and shadow along with the process of creating your own unique textures for you designs. The idea was smooth, but the design process was a bumpy ride. Good luck on future efforts.
Mackster
Your submission also made me laugh. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a concept quite as unique. Unfortunately, I can only judge on technique and presentation. Since you were aiming for humor, I won’t citique the exaggerated proportions. Although the character does appear difficult to animate. A better approach for the face detail could have been made. This submission is odd, considering the focus was the vehicle and weapons. So I’ll bounce right to the “vehicle”. From my point of view…WAY too much geometry used for the gun barrels. This is were a simple shape, a nice texture, and a bump map would suffice. Take it easy on the game engine, it’s fragile. Your textures would have been better if you used the bump and spec maps properly. I’ll focus on the “vehicle” for this aspect. In the color map, you painted a highlight and shadow for the ball. The same highlight and shadow appear in the bump and spec maps even tho the ball is smooth all around, and holds the same specularity for the most part. BIG NO NO!! A textured highlight should NOT affect the bumpmap for such a simple surface. Consider what the additional maps do separately. This can also be said for the character’s uniform. Each color on a camouflage outfit doesn’t not represent a change in lighting or surface elevation. For example, bumps should be used for wrinkles in the cloth… As with other participants, if you plan to use addition maps, use them properly. Never settle with a greyscale image. For presentation, your submission was funny and a needed deviation from the realistic entries. I hope you learned from this event, and contribute more in the future.
PKD
Less story, more concept. Hehe. The mesh is great. Few complaints here. I’m glad attention was placed on the character. I believe if you’re going to do it, do it well. So, great job on the additional work. Thumbs up for taking the Normal map and Spec map route. Each map looks to serve their purpose well (not a simple greyscale). The paint designs of the character and mech did not influence the normal and spec…which proves you know what you’re doing. You state that your texture is based on ingame Dynamic Lighting, but it still appears to lack depth. In fact, it suffers somewhat from the Doom3 “Everything is Plastic” appearance. As a result, your submission looks like an action figure playtoy. Which is cool. Kids like toys. Return to your normal life for a while, and find happiness in the fact of being a good designer. I respect your drive to accomplish difficult tasks. We hope to see more of your work from now on.[/color]
[color=white]Hanzo
Hanzo, my main man! My dogg! You never disappoint. Glad to know someone decided to expand this theme further into fantasy. Excellent concept, and unique (similar in style to Sizzling’s). From that alone, we know what to expect. I’ll admit, I’m not a fan of FF, or manga. But, your style succeeds in grabbing my interest. The mesh, perfect. The driver, while not the focus, is very well designed and has life to him. The cannon is optimized for gameplay. The textures have a consistent level of saturation. There is attention to proper shading. I’m surprised you didn’t jump on the bandwagon and include bump and spec maps in your design. But you prove they are not required. Best to avoid them than to use them incorrectly. Your beauty render and overall presentation is outstanding! Excellent creativity. Great dedication on your part. And a helpful member of the community.
Powermaennchen
A very familiar concept for an all-terrain vehicle. The idea of nuclear winter is clear. You decided to focus on the vehicle and weapon, leaving only a tiny portion of the driver showing. Probably a good idea. Outstanding work on the mesh. The texture is also top notch in realism. The spec and illumination map appear useful. Judging overall design, I dislike the gun. It feels out of place compared to the vehicle design, as if it was slapped on in a hurry. And for an attempt at realism, the mechanics behind it seem unlikely. Great job on the render tho. That in itself is a work of art, considering it appears to have more of a cinematic quality than game art. Well done.
keeganb_2000
Nice bike. I have the most fun driving old motorcycles in Battlefield1942. I like the concept. At first I thought the character was a woman. The gun is huge compared to the motorcycle, but that was the idea of the contest. The mesh is blocky at times, even for the character, but the texture seems to hide that. It does appear to deform well, which is important. The texture itself contains good attention to detail but appears flat. I know it’s suppose to be metal, but it could just as easily be cloth. This is where more aging and scratches, or simply a spec map, would have come in handy. Because of the texture, the character appears lifeless. But, the clothing is designed professionally. His gloves and boots show the specular highlights that the metal should have as well. Nice submission, but seems it requires some finishing touches…and more spokes.[/color]
Por@szek[/color]
Very very nice bike. Or, I should say trike. Ok, your concepts are pityful, but it shows you knew what you wanted, and that’s all anyone really needs…other than love. It’s clever how you and Keeganb_2000 designed your spokes. I would have never thought to use a single alpha mapped plane. That’s thinking like a game artist. Anyway, the mesh is terrific. Good design, you know your vehicles. Your character is terrible. Never an easy way to say that. 1206 polys could have accomplished better than that with a suitable texture. Now, your character texture saved you. The vehicle texture is just awesome. I mean, it is well designed ugly! I can easily assume it’s been smashed repeatedly with the Post-Apocalyptic stick. Bonus points. The bumps and spec maps look to have been work on, but also look like quick greyscale jobs. I believe the surface of her vest is reversed. It does appear odd on the final render. The focus here is the vehicle and it looks awesome. In fact, I’d love to have one in real life. Although, the gun looks boring. And I’d hate to have that thing aimed at the back of my head while driving. The trike is really the star here. Hey, where’s Kenny btw?
[color=white]XP-58
Creative vehicle/mech design. Not the usual mech. Your rough concepts laid out the plan very well. The mesh looks good. The wheels looks so tiny, and out of place. The mapping is very complex. I don’t see how you texture something that crowded. But you did very nicely. You even paid attention to lighting, and rust. You are not human! One thing I notice about some of the entries as that the texture designs look very clean with fresh rust thrown on them. This takes away some of the realism. I commend you for using a normal map. Amazing work there. The driver is barely visible, which is good considering it has ruined other entries. So everything is left nice and consistant. You like your mechs.
Arrax
Nice idea for a tank design. Not sure about Post-Apocalyptic, but it does look futuristic. To some things up, this entry looks unfinished. The texture is laid out quickly, and poorly. You should spend more time working with textures to build experience. For the mesh, it looks good. The tracks look excellent. Having the beams for supporting the tracks project from a single point looks odd. I would have choosen a design to appear more supportive. Possibly one beam from each corner of the vehicle. The driver and beam texture is awefule. Remember you are designing for game engines. Certain rules have to be followed. That’s the art. I hope you learned from this contest, and return with more skill and a determination to submit a finished entry. Don’t rush it.
Konstruct
Now here is your basic mech. I honestly didn’t think we’d see many of these in this contest. Well, you modeling is fantastic. As I’ve stated already, I don’t know how you guys are able to texture such busy and complex uvmapping, but I guess there’s no way around it. I’m sure you original concept image was much better than that one. The one thing that really hurts this entry is it’s cleanliness. For a Post-Apocalyptic mech, it sure looks straight out of the factory. No wear and tear. I really wish you had found the time to include a spec map, because this entry needs it the most. Not only is the metal not dirty, it’s not shiny. It appears soft. Another week or so, and you’ll have a great addition to your portfolio.
[/color]
Yay, I’m almost done.
And the nominees are:
First place - Hanzo(3 points), there’s not much you can dislike about this one. and that’s a good thing.
Second place - Powermaennchen (2 points[color=red]), [/color]the gun could be better, but this entry still kicks ass
Third place - Andy H (1 point), top notch modeling, and high quality texturing, you would have stolen this competition easily with a design slightly more alluring
This was difficult to judge. I always feel like a hardass telling everyone what they could have done better, but that’s how we learn. Take it lightly, and learn from it. Congratulations to everyone. This was a great turnout. You’re all very talented simply for making the deadline, even you, Konstruct. I hope the participation increases in the next couple competitions. And I hope for many of you to return with new skills and a determination to tackle the more experienced artists. I’ll plan on joining the fun again soon as well. Let’s get this next competition started ASAP. We’ve got holidays coming up.
