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Commercial Block

Started by Sarlock, October 24, 2012, 04:52:09 AM

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Sarlock

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this blender thing... getting faster, understanding how to make UV maps a bit faster and line the textures up properly.  I still have a lot to learn from an aestethics perspective, when to build details and when not, bold or more bland colour choices, contrasting textures, etc.

Here's what I've been playing with the last couple of days:



I've had a hankering to build some 2-3 story residential over commercial storefronts.

I haven't added rooftop items, sidewalks, etc.  This is just straight out of blender with no post processing.  Windows on the right will be replaced with night window colour.

Thoughts?

Based off of this:



It's located in the seedy end of town...
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

kierongreen

Difference between the two brick walls looks a bit odd - one seems to have a light gradient vertically, the other not. Nice detail though :)

Fabio

#2
Seems nicer your copy than the original! ;)

Sarlock

Haha, yes, this is from the slums of Vancouver (downtown east).  I want some economic variety... high value, low value real estate.

Thanks for the comment on the brick texture, kieron, I've made that change.  It was just a mapping issue.

I've also extended the awnings over the doors a bit to create more 3D feel for the image as well as made a few fixes to the surfaces so that the windows displayed nicer on the left building (they look the same size now at this zoom level) and other little cosmetic changes.

Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

Roads

I couldn't figure out what Kieron was talking about but glad you did.

I like these buildings a lot!  One of the things that seems often missing in the game is a sense of realism and these do look absolutely realistic.  I think they would make a terrific addition.

mEGa

Quote from: Roads on October 24, 2012, 09:21:50 AM
I like these buildings a lot!  One of the things that seems often missing in the game is a sense of realism and these do look absolutely realistic.  I think they would make a terrific addition.
+1
Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks

Zeno

Hey Sarlock, your buildings do look great. By the way, are you using UV mapping, baked textures,...?

Sarlock

I am using UV mapping but I haven't found a need for baking... at least yet.  Mostly because the models are so small and the key large surfaces are flat and square/rectangle.  Applying textures at this scale is more about how the end product looks than what it actually looks like zoomed in... some of the surfaces look horrible when at a larger scale :)  (way too big, contrast too high, etc)

I'll add some roof elements and I think I'll shorten the buildings just a bit, that long brick wall is a bit too... long and brick-ish.  I might add a couple of things at the back of the building too.
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

Fabio

Graffiti could be a way to make the brick wall less brickish and even more realistic for slums. Make 4 identical buildings, differing only for awnings and graffiti. Then you make another 4 with the lower building on the left and the tall one on the right. With few steps we get 8 high quality new buildings and nicer slums.

Sarlock

"nicer slums"

I laughed at that one  ;D

That sounds like a great idea, that's what I will do.
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

Isaac Eiland-Hall

Ahh, these are nice. I hope you don't get burned out anytime soon! :)

greenling

The Shop looks very nice out.
Opening hours 20:00 - 23:00
(In Night from friday on saturday and saturday on sunday it possibly that i be keep longer in Forum.)
I am The Assistant from Pakfilearcheologist!
Working on a big Problem!

Sarlock

#12
Rear (from NW) view:



Added lots of graffiti, side windows on third story of building, garbage bin, rear access doors, rear windows, roof texture, roof items, other cosmetic changes.

The texture of the bricks isn't quite right but I'll fix that later, side windows are a bit slanted.  The rotation changes how textures when zoomed out depending on the view angle, I'll have to tweak it a bit for the different rotations.

Good enough for any slum.
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

mEGa

Garbage and others accessories of roof are nice, but i'm not sure this painted graffiti improve aspect of building. Perhaps paint a big letters graffiti as we can see in France (may in Europe ?)

Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks

Roads

The graffiti was a great idea but like many details, the images are so small it appears hard to implement.  I agree with mEGa's suggestion.

Sarlock

I had tried something bigger but it just looked like a mess of random bright colours... hard to do at this scale.  I'll keep working at it and see what else I can come up with :)
If I can't get it to look right, I'll just skip the graffiti.
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

mEGa

#16
Quote from: Sarlock on October 25, 2012, 02:18:04 PM
I had tried something bigger but it just looked like a mess of random bright colours... hard to do at this scale.
If I can't get it to look right, I'll just skip the graffiti.
I'm agree with you.. very hardly job ! I tried to help you and I reproduced second example of graffiti. I included it in your screenshot. What are your thoughts ?

EDIT : I joined graffiti png file
Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks

Fabio

I believe large graffittis, like mEGa's, could be easier done in 2D and then added to the building in post-processing...

Here's in attachment a rescaling of mEGa's pic, alone and applied to the COM building.




mEGa and I had the same idea, and in the same time! :awesome:

mEGa

Wonderful. I like it ;)
We are now some choice !
Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks

Fabio

Quote from: mEGa on October 25, 2012, 03:14:07 PM
Wonderful. I like it ;)
We are now some choice !

For any one willing to use it: in the building I put the same graffiti twice, on the left "natural", on the right changing its hue and doing just a little of pixel pushing... Thank you for the Rime graffito! If liked, I could make a few more. Being scaled down this much, I don't think there should be any copyright issue altering pictures found on the net. This is my biggest problem sampling textures and parts of photos. ???

mEGa

Quote from: Fabio on October 25, 2012, 03:20:48 PM
Being scaled down this much, I don't think there should be any copyright issue altering pictures found on the net. This is my biggest problem sampling textures and parts of photos. ???
Yes it's important to take care. My example (KS) is too readable  but we can create easily another letter (sIMu why not ?)
Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks

Sarlock

Aha!  I didn't even think about doing one that big... I was trying to do something more to scale.  Doing one 8-10 pixels high makes it a lot easier to do something that can be read... thanks for the additions and input, I'll go back to my model and toss those in and see what I get :)

I agree with the copyright issue... down at this scale and modified I don't think there's any issue... but it still shouldn't be blatant.
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

Fabio

Quote from: Sarlock on October 25, 2012, 03:47:02 PM
Aha!  I didn't even think about doing one that big... I was trying to do something more to scale.

Well, some graffiti in the city are one storey tall, so mine being 16 px is not so far out of scale ;)

Sarlock

Here's an update:



Thanks for the suggestions and images!  The feedback you give me is really valuable to me, it helps me improve my style :)
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

Fabio

It's gorgeous now. Well not really, just perfectly run drown! Great work!

mEGa

Quote from: Fabio on October 25, 2012, 06:51:37 PM
It's gorgeous now. Well not really, just perfectly run drown! Great work!
+1
Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks

Sarlock

#26
From the NW side:

I added some water stains to the roofline, tell me what you think.  I might have a do a tiny bit of GIMP on the water stains to make them blend a bit better, but they're close even in the 3D render.



This is the close-up shot:



The black flower "graffiti" on the side of the building is actually my 7 year old daughter's artwork.  I haven't asked her yet for copyright permission as she's at school, but I'm hoping she consents  ;)

I think I'm going to add a black fire escape ladder sequence to the right side of the building (at the back).
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

mEGa

Quote from: Sarlock on October 25, 2012, 07:33:49 PM
I added some water stains to the roofline, tell me what you think.
The final result is good in spite of the small size. Now I think more details aren't necessary.
Quote from: Sarlock on October 25, 2012, 07:33:49 PM
The black flower "graffiti" on the side of the building is actually my 7 year old daughter's artwork.  I haven't asked her yet for copyright permission as she's at school, but I'm hoping she consents  ;)
All family's member contribute to Simutrans ! Excellent.
Quote from: Sarlock on October 25, 2012, 07:33:49 PM
I think I'm going to add a black fire escape ladder sequence to the right side of the building (at the back).
I'll drink do that. Undoubtedly more realistic.
Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks

Isaac Eiland-Hall

Again and again we need pak512. Very very nice!

Roads

I agree!  Very good!

Say, since this is the side and back, will it only display in game when you rotate your map?


Modify:  Nevermind, I see the closeups now...

VS

Perfect for low level. Now, we must find out when graffiti really took off to have a reliable intro date :D

BTW, this reminds me of DM-Dogtown for Unreal Tournament...

My projects... Tools for messing with Simutrans graphics. Graphic archive - templates and some other stuff for painters. Development logs for most recent information on what is going on. And of course pak128!

Sarlock

#31
I'm thinking 1970+ for this building.  These residential over commercial buildings were built before 1970, but to be in this run-down condition and with graffiti, it would be 1970+.

I might make a 1940-1970 version of the same building minus the run-down aspects.  Make it look more like it would have when it was new.

And pak512... *shudder*  I don't even want to think about making trees in 512x512!  128x128 is just fine for me!   ;D


[Edit]

Fire escape added.  I'm still going to work on it, it's not as clear as I'd like it to be... though it's a lot of detail to really get much better.  You can certainly make out what it is, though.  I might do some manual work with GIMP and see what happens.



Time to take a break and work on a tree or two.
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

Dwachs

You can put the graffiti in the front image layer to create buildings with different graffiti...
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and maggikraut.

VS

Just a quick note - you should stay inside the tile, it gets clipped in "front" (of viewport). If you want to have the building span entire tile width, you'll have to shorten it for details in its back(yard?).

My projects... Tools for messing with Simutrans graphics. Graphic archive - templates and some other stuff for painters. Development logs for most recent information on what is going on. And of course pak128!

wlindley

Mama always said nothing good would happen if we let those Sims run around in our Simutrans city.  What's next, lowrider citycars?

greenling

Opening hours 20:00 - 23:00
(In Night from friday on saturday and saturday on sunday it possibly that i be keep longer in Forum.)
I am The Assistant from Pakfilearcheologist!
Working on a big Problem!