RAD2 shell 129

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RAD2 shell 129

Postby Marcello » Sat Jul 05, 2008 2:56 am

Some time since I posted in my journal. Big plans and zero product. Now that I've entered the RAD2 contest I've got a stick to hit myself with and actually start doing something again.

Ok...

My shell no is 129 which is a community shell. My main intention is to make it a nice and hopefully fun area to be with a group of friends. I won't give away the concept but will every now and then post stuff I did and provide subtle hints. For starters it will be a place to be active in (if one chooses to be) and part a place to relax. I'll use this shell as kind of a prototype for another age or two that I have in mind.

As for progress:
I modelled the base structured in a broad sense. Meaning I got the outlines pretty much done and will add detail in the upcoming days. Still trying to find a method to do this kinda thing more quickly. What irritates me most is that it's hard to make objects line up nicely. I would love somesorta magnetic mode in which objects, edges and vertices can be snapped to other edges, vertices, etc. from other objects.

But as I said... the base is pretty much ok now. I got a platform in the shape I want it, a walkway and the base for another space. Need on more behind that one, but am not sure I will be able to finish that within the timeframe we have.

I hope to find some time to test stuff in the new 1.5.0 plugin. It would be cool to add some animation triggered by alcscript. Sadly though I haven't had much time to really dig into alcscript. So maybe I will call on some of the alcscript die hards (be warned!).

I intend to start working on preparing textures too this weekend. I'm still not sure which of the two themes/moods I have in mind will make it to the final shell. I could go the "Tomb Raider old ruins" way or choose more of an Italian/Roman marble kinda look. Not sure yet. Idea's or wishes are welcome :)

More news soon!
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Re: RAD2 shell 129

Postby Marcello » Sat Jul 05, 2008 3:49 pm

Did some further work on the basic geometry and learned some new tricks to align vertices while doing so :)

Kinda stuck now (and late here too). I want to make a platform with curved edges. I made the outline first and now have to fill this thing with faces. I tried several things by hand, but somehow I'm doing to much work here. This has to be easier! Not sure how I'll tackle this. Hopefully I'll come up with something. The current method leaves me with big very triangular faces. Way to big for decent shading :(

He.. but I did make some cool stairs and a nice border around the walkway I made. If I tackle the face-making I might be able to post an image or something tomorrow or the day after.

Edit: just thought of something. I will have a look at Bevin. I still have an import saved as a blend file. Hopefully this will give me some new ideas on how to make this work and still keep a clean mesh.
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Re: RAD2 shell 129

Postby Grogyan » Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:44 pm

If you subdivide the faces of the platform that will be curved, eg 2 or 3 levels of subdivision will work

There is a method in the Blender noob to pro book that shows how to pull those out to get a smooth rounded edge,

After subdivision add a SubSurf modifier to the mesh, no more than 3 levels of SubSurf
go into side view
press the "B" key and drag select your vertices
press the "S" key to scale them outwards
after that just set the SetSmooth button and your good to go

Hope this helps
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Re: RAD2 shell 129

Postby Marcello » Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:01 am

I'll check it out Grogyan. Thanx!

At the moment I'm fighting another problem. I managed to redo part of my geometry. I copied and mirrored half and suddenly the new half has all faces facing the wrong side. Normals are ok, all naming convention are ok, so no clue what's wrong. Hopefully I'll tackle this soon.
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Re: RAD2 shell 129

Postby Marcello » Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:54 pm

I tackled the problem in my last post so can finally test again :)

Apart from the backend of my shell (for which I don't have a real purpose yet), most of the base geometry is done. I've started working on the first details, being a group of pillars. I will probably use these in several spots. I don't have everything planned so will work from here. I have an image in my head which I will work towards. I have nothing textured yet. I want to have some more stuff modelled before doing so. Maybe I'll make some sort of texture moodboard to have all textures match. Haven't done that before but it might work.

But for now... a first preview of shell 129:

Image

So what is it? Well... it will have something to do with water. And if I have enough time for (texture) animation the Bellagio might come to mind. The top floor will be a community place where people can hang out. I will add benches and stuff later on. The basin will be a place to swim in. As you will notice I still need some stairs into the water. I intend to have several waterfalls both into the pool and at the back of my shell. Maybe simple covering a rock formation (would solve my back of shell problem too ;) ). Hopefully I have enough time for more water tricks along the way.
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Re: RAD2 shell 129

Postby Lontahv » Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:49 pm

Looks cool. :)
Currently getting some ink on my hands over at the Guild Of Ink-Makers (PyPRP2).
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Re: RAD2 shell 129

Postby Aloys » Fri Jul 11, 2008 7:50 am

Oh, interesting. I like the way your structure fits the shape of the shell. The slightly triangular shape of the shells isn't always easy to work with.

And if I have enough time for (texture) animation the Bellagio might come to mind.
You mean the Las Vegas hotel? *has flashbacks of Ocean's Eleven*
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Re: RAD2 shell 129

Postby Marcello » Sun Jul 13, 2008 2:00 am

Thnx Aloys :) I've made several design for different kindsa shells and I liked this one. For the moment though I'm running behind on schedule.Spend too much time on figuring out my texture problems. Done that now so hopefully I can get back to real work. I will probably go on modelling first. Filling details in and stuff.

Btw fitting that shape was a drag. In general things would be so much easier if one could snap edges to edges of other objects. It's almost impossible to now have slight gapes every now and then. In general I think I did all right. In the end though an approach like this doesn't have room for major changes later on.
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Re: RAD2 shell 129

Postby Marcello » Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:07 am

Yesterday I incorporated a couple of waterfalls in my design. Planned from the start and finally in. I have some work to do to make them more real, but the idea is there.

As you might recognise in the image I posted (more will follow) is a basin at the heart of my shell. I tried to get the bottom to act as a waterset. I did this before in my pool age (used in the swim tutorial), without any problems. Now however I have been trying to get a waveset for days. It either freezes and is too reflective of it is white all together. I reset everything a zillion times, but now luck. The plan initially was the flat bottom. Based on several problem threads I lifted one side to the height of my object midpoint. Still no luck. I have to solve this, since without water, my age looks crap!!! :shock: :?

Today I will probably leave the waveset for what it is and continue texturing and modelling. The back of my shell has to be covered and I think I will turn it into a roch structure with yet another waterfall. Probably a smaller basin at it's foot. To make it a more enjoyable place I will have to add plant (in pots and hangin) and lights too. Since it's a community room I will also make some benches. All this I think I can manage in the next couple of days. The round patch on the topfloor is meant to be groundlevel fountain (the type kids run through on the street). I hope I can create a realistic texture animation to have the water push up and fall down gracefully again.

I do worry about the waveset though...

Btw in the end I went for a more Tomb Raider kinda old roman stone sorta texturing. It starts to look ok.... :)
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Re: RAD2 shell 129

Postby Marcello » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:48 pm

I finished most of the base texturing today and am pleased with the results. I also started working on the big hole a the back of my shell. I will add another pool there bordered by a rockwall. The wall isn't done yet, but the idea is there. If I have time another waterfall will work it's way done :)

Trying to solve the waterset problem in another thread. Hopefully some good suggestions will do it since I will need another waterset for the pool on the higher plane.

Another preview below. As you can see a lot of dressing up has still to be done. I will try to make some reusable assets to speed things up in the upcoming days. Time is going to be an issue though :( Oh and btw the rim below the rock isn't textured yet. It enherited the texture of the floor, since I used some of the floor edges to make it. I will retexture it tomorrow.
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