Frothlords WIP Thread

frothlord · Post by **frothlord** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 1:59 am

Thanks 8cores

Heres some more environment work, as well as some screens for my side waterfall effect.

Environment_Level01

Environment_Underfloor

Environment_Underfloor_Screengrab

Environment_Level02

Indoor Waterfall Screens

The underfloor is just that. I wanted to pan down and comp to a darker scene. I filled this area with very low poly objects with a little bit of shape. I'll probably flat shade these and just focus on where the ball is dropping. The ball's have that light texture on them, so I'm hoping it sticks out a bit. Theres a lot of detail but I dont want to focus on any of it, so I'll probably use common shaders on a lot of these objects. Again, not a lot of UVing planned. I'm sticking to the idea for this part in that something bled acid over the floor up above and it tore through the level. I wanted to add some post spark effects above the air duct (bottom part).

If you take a look at the latest dynamic previs Ive done this might make more sense.

The level 2 part is the least furthest along. I was thinking of something like a maintenance tunnel. Well, originally I wanted to put water in there, but looking at where its at compared to the level above that wouldnt make much sense, since the floor above has windows that look out in to space.

I'd like to progress the cause and effect to the right, and curve it left down another hall way in the same "room" where the final outcome will take place. I plan to texture this a bit more then the previous 2 areas. I'm hoping this wont take too much time.

My fall back plan is to toon render all of this for the contest final. I dont want to do that, but if it ends up happening I plan on going back to finish this the way I had planned. Guess I'll have to see what kinda settings I can get away with vs time constraints.

The waterfall was done by taking 2 of the wavy meshes and constraining the particles between them. I have a third mesh behind the first 2 with magic on it at a low value. Dont know if its making a difference. it was at one point but now im not sure I need it now with a different setup. I just left it in just incase.

Not the greatest job with this, I ran the mesh animation and it goes so fast it looks like animated noise. I'm sure its a scale issue. I'm not too worried, this was more of an aesthetic effect anyways. Not going to dwell on it.

daantjuh44 · Post by **daantjuh44** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:37 pm

Thats awesome !

I really love the environments !

frothlord · Post by **frothlord** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 11:08 pm

Hey Thanks Daantjuh44

Ok the plan today was to block in the general layout of the environment, and not to spend too much time in one area. Well, I gotta work on that. Spent more time then I had originally planned to on some parts today. I did get the general area blocked out eventually anyways.

Heres a little refinement and blocked layout.

Level 2 Refinement

Level 2 sat shot

Level 2 layout idea

After looking at the scale contrasts I think im going to need to bring in a dummy character to normalize everything. The ladder looks to be a bit big. I quickly eyeballed it.. I'll fix it in the next updates. Maybe. If I remember.

I'm thinking I should simulate the beginning out the way Id like it to start, texture the first floor, light it, and get it ready for rendering before I move on any further. That way I can have something rendering while Im afk.

daantjuh44 · Post by **daantjuh44** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:49 pm

I'm really liking it !

frothlord · Post by **frothlord** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 6:55 pm

Not really an update, just wanted to say.. man my machine is slow!

GI's a bummer, too bad it's giving the look I want.

Might have to shorten this up some more if I want to start rendering Monday.

Will post some progress by then I'm sure. Hacking away at it every chance I get.

EDIT:

Lookin like a realistic render wont have realistic render times on this machine. I've been playing with a stylized look instead, I can get pretty consistant frames @ around 5 to 6 mins per. I havent switched over all my shaders yet, going to give that a shot now. Id like to keep the times as low as possible, still have some simulation and modeling to do.

frothlord · Post by **frothlord** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 3:59 am

Some modeling and render tests. The shaders may change, they're the same ones I had on the sphere, just wanted to get away from doughboys for a change.

Model Test 01

Model Test 02

Model Test 03

I was revamping some of the interior environment to make more sense. I had brought a dummy person in the scene to eyeball scale and noticed that the bench is really, really tiny. I'll Probably just scrap it.

The waterfall deal as well will probably be scrapped. First off importing the mesh into my scene then hitting render for some reason kills Max. Secondly it really doesnt add to the scene much. It was thrown together in one night, Id rather spend time on it if I'm going to keep it (times a luxury

)

Also I added a bit more to the dynamics side. Times running out so I had to kinda speed it up a bit. Still trying to keep in interesting though. I'll post a
screengrab animation later. Still working on it at the moment.

I know not all of this makes much sense. Just trying to have a bit of fun with it.

Back to work!

daantjuh44 · Post by **daantjuh44** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 6:43 pm

I think it looks brilliant ! :happy:

frothlord · Post by **frothlord** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:23 am

Thanks again!

Ok so, most of the things that I wanted to do I feel like I changed or left out. Still wish I had a clever way to incorporate the no-gravity thing. I think that would've been pretty cool. The ending changed considerably from what I had imagined. I was having issues with my computer crashing on me randomly and consistently every time I tried to manipulate around 100 pieces of geometry (dog food).

Sooooooo.. its kinda lame, I realize this, but now it drops a bone. I had also considered changing it totally so it just turns off a radio or something, but I figured Id stick with at least a treat dispenser.

I worked on some exterior shots last night which still need some work, and nothing but cameras today. Some parts still feel a tad weird with the camera - Ultimately I'd like to get rid of the total static parts.

Anyways, here's some links to what I've got so far:

Full Size Dynamics and Camera Run (Right + Click, save as) (77mb)

Half Size Dynamics and Camera Run (Right + Click, save as) (26mb)

These are PAL 25fps, full and half rez.

I want to get some of the environments fleshed out a bit more. Figured getting the camera done first would help. I'm not sure how much time I'll have, but if time looks good ill try to get a better ending in there.

EDIT: Oh, that device thing at the beginning right when you fly inside isnt finished. I was going to have it extend the ball out and drop it. Just incase anybody was wondering.

daantjuh44 · Post by **daantjuh44** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:56 pm

It's looking great !

Some parts of the camera movement could be a bit slower but I'm sure you will figure it out !

frothlord · Post by **frothlord** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:01 pm

Yea you're right. I'm going to play with the lensing later, Right now its just going to make people motion sick.