The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Reveal what you have made so far and get feedback on development.

Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Spas12 on Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:11 pm

Incrase your direct and ambient environment lighting and add sooo much more debri and damage and it will look golden.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby nub on Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:32 pm

I say you should rely on environment light (which from what I can tell is what you're doing). You should change the lighting pitch so it's steeper, that way you could get some nice shadow play going on to make the scene feel more lively. I think the dev textures are making it look darker than it really is, plus the Source screen shot function always turns out darker pictures.

If you can, try and turn all those ceiling windows in to models then add them to the lights.rad file so they cast texture shadows. That would look AWESOME.

Then you could add some fancy light shaft and dust mote effects to make it look pretty.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby joe_rogers_11155 on Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:27 pm

i think a few generic light entities could be placed throughout the area to simulate radiosity, even if the environmental brightness is low.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Anplagd on Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:44 pm

Dejavo wrote:I've prolly bumped in to every issue possible exporting from max to source. All while learning to model... Finally solved the last issue though thanks to you guys. And got a tree in to my anime-ish alley scene.

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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Dejavo on Wed Feb 29, 2012 8:50 pm

Anplagd wrote:
Dejavo wrote:I've prolly bumped in to every issue possible exporting from max to source. All while learning to model... Finally solved the last issue though thanks to you guys. And got a tree in to my anime-ish alley scene.

Image

are you laskowski?

Image

I wish I were. I really admire that guys skill and I was going to make clear I used it as a reference when I thought my map held the artistic quality to justify me using his work. I didnt ask him though (should one do that?) since I had no clue if I would be able to produce something worth bothering him about. It just started out as a texturing-exercise.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Knights on Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:33 pm

Dejavo wrote:
Anplagd wrote:
Dejavo wrote:I've prolly bumped in to every issue possible exporting from max to source. All while learning to model... Finally solved the last issue though thanks to you guys. And got a tree in to my anime-ish alley scene.

Image

are you laskowski?

Image

I wish I were. I really admire that guys skill and I was going to make clear I used it as a reference when I thought my map held the artistic quality to justify me using his work. I didnt ask him though (should one do that?) since I had no clue if I would be able to produce something worth bothering him about. It just started out as a texturing-exercise.

hehe that's cool, it's a simple scene and that building on the left looks different from the picture. You got the lighting perfect you should be able to do this well. Looking great keep it up!
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby nub on Thu Mar 01, 2012 1:52 am

I think it looks great so far. It needs more detailing of course. Here's my two cents:

I think you should consider some slightly overgrown ivy or other form of foliage to break up some of the monotone areas (like the side of the building on the left or anywhere on the short wall to the right). Basically, you could use a little more green in the scene I guess. The tree is proof enough that green helps your scene.

Water/rust stains around areas where metal structures are anchored to the building sides would also help add a layer of detail to the scene.

I'd also find a new texture for the short wall so it doesn't share the same texture as the building on the left. That will help "partition" it from the rest of the scene. Nothing too striking though, just a texture with subtle differences in color or material so it doesn't look out of place.

The building on the left looks good even if it's inaccurate, and I think keeping it like that works better. You might be referring to the picture, but if you give it your own style then it should make it more unique, and I think the artist of the reference would be more impressed by that. I think it's just better than trying to go for a carbon copy, know what I'm saying?

The cords coming out of the electrical box by the telephone pole look like simple brushes. I imagine it's a simple placeholder, but make sure you reiterate that little detail via a model to replace the brushes. You could just make a couple of 6-sided tubes to achieve the look you need.

If you haven't set the lightmap scale to 2, you should. Unless you plan to make it a playable map, you might as well set the lightmaps to 2 to get really crisp shadows.

One last thing, reduce the HDR exposure a little so the yellow building doesn't look radioactive. HDR is helpful for creating some additional saturation, but in your scene's case, I think relying more on the coloring of the textures would be a far better approach. And you can also play around with color correction in-game and see if it works well with your scene.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Gary on Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:08 am

nub wrote:If you haven't set the lightmap scale to 2, you should. Unless you plan to make it a playable map, you might as well set the lightmaps to 2 to get really crisp shadows.


VBSP shits(crashes) itself when I try to place overlays on brush surfaces with a lightmap scale like that.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Fulcrum on Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:16 am

I'm making a desert map which consists of lots of small step like cliffs.

Should I keep it as it is
Image
Or add prop rocks to all of them.
Image

Issue being you can see where the rock joins the step leaving an unsightly line, it also takes up a number of polygons.

Also please give any improvements you can think of regarding the scenery, props and lighting

EDIT: the floor is bumpmapped but my laptop will not display said bumpmaps for some reason.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Gary on Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:34 am

Could we see wireframe and with lighting built?
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Fulcrum on Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:49 am

Ah embarassing :(
That is with lighting. Being flat there is very little to cast any shadows. I'm working on some juniper and pine trees for the map which will cast shadows. I do agree though, before you say it, the lighting is horrendous.

Here is the wireframe
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/46973 ... F7B6BCB19/

That single cliff has 6 props each with 81 triangles, approx 60 units high. I made it this way incase I wanted to use it as a taller cliff elsewhere on the map.

One issue is the map is meant to be for gmod as a flatgrass type thing. So it is very large and I'm trying to minimise complex geometry for the physics calculations.

EDIT: the lightmap on the ground displacement is also very large to avoid hunk overflow errors so this too effects the shadows.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Gary on Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:10 pm

Fulcrum wrote:Ah embarassing :(
That is with lighting. Being flat there is very little to cast any shadows. I'm working on some juniper and pine trees for the map which will cast shadows. I do agree though, before you say it, the lighting is horrendous.


Then change the color of the lighting, cause it's impossible to tell without shadows.


Fulcrum wrote:Here is the wireframe
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/46973 ... F7B6BCB19/

That single cliff has 6 props each with 81 triangles, approx 60 units high. I made it this way incase I wanted to use it as a taller cliff elsewhere on the map.


That doesn't sound bad. Any modern computer will handle that and far more easily. You could always make them not render when below DX9.


Fulcrum wrote:One issue is the map is meant to be for gmod as a flatgrass type thing. So it is very large and I'm trying to minimise complex geometry for the physics calculations.

EDIT: the lightmap on the ground displacement is also very large to avoid hunk overflow errors so this too effects the shadows.


Prop_dynamic trees will cast RTT shadows. Which are not as good looking as lightmapped shadows can be, but will be far better than lightmapped shadows on a low-quality lightmap scale. (Err. I said that in a confusing way...)

EDIT:
Lightmapped vs RTT (Would of thought I could got lightmapped to look better...)
Note: You don't need anymore VRAD options for RTT shadows. Your prop just has to be dynamic.
Image
Though, the above picture is from my mod. Which uses high-res RTT. The below picture is more accurate(though I used EP2) to what you will get in GMOD:
Image


Fulcrum wrote:EDIT: the floor is bumpmapped but my laptop will not display said bumpmaps for some reason.


What type of graphics do you have(Intel, ATI, NV)? Their control panels will sometimes override game's options. Forcing ugly ass textures.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Dejavo on Thu Mar 01, 2012 1:32 pm

nub: Good feedback, all valid points. Thanks.
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Xanthi on Thu Mar 01, 2012 2:12 pm

Yes downside of dynamic props is that they require a bit more memory though
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Re: The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

Postby Fulcrum on Thu Mar 01, 2012 2:44 pm

Thats a very useful post on shadows thanks! it will help my map a hell of alot!

I fiddled with my gcard settings but nothing enabled bumpmaps I guess It requires some shader type not available to me. I did however manage to turn up the texture quality :D

I'm going to make another rock model with half the size since most of mine is currently underground that should help optimise it. Any ideas on lighting. I was thinking either at night or to mess with colour correction... somehow...
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