3dsmax with a tablet PC using Artdock

During my Christmas holidays Ifigured I would spend a couple of hours trying 3dsmax on a tablet PC. Using a nice little autohotkey app called ArtDock, if you have a windows tablet you can find the download at the link below

http://konartist3d.deviantart.com/art/ArtDock-283342420

I was surprised at how quickly I adjusted to not using a mouse and keyboard to software like max, but because most hotkeys aside from shift are on the side panel I barely missed either. I spent a couple of hours modeling a metal slug tank

The whole process of only using a tablet stylus in max has left me wondering if its worth switching back to using a mouse which is quite clunky for navigating 3d space.

Impact of graphic design decisions in Video games

This short article is designed to both inform readers of the basic impact of graphics decisions have to the player and help them make graphic design decisions for their games. It will not cover skills related to art style or technique, but instead focus on the rational decisions which go behind the art decisions of a game.

Our eyes view images in an order, the rules which influence this order is know as Composition.

Deliberate choice in value ranges will make any art read well, from simple boxes and circles to complex paintings. It is important you are carefully considering how the black and white values in your image affect how easy it is to distinguish the difference between Actors props and Depth.

The example above on the left shows an example of boxes being used to construct an environment one with clearly defined value ranges for foreground, midground, background and the player. The other to the right shows the same scene with ranges which aren’t clearly defined.

It is important you use this knowledge to create both the illusion of depth and highlight actors in your games environment should be easy to spot/identify. A good rule of the thumb is to have the main actors and creatures have more contrast than their surroundings to visually aid the player of the choices and threats which surround him.

This rule applies to similar to: Complexity of Shape/Silhouette, Scaling of Details and colour. But is best demonstrated with black and white values as they show the impact the clearest.

Below is an example screenshot taken from the popular MOBA game League of Legends. An experienced artist will be trained to view each individual aspect of the scenes art. Values, colour, scaling for details, Shading complexity etc.

You can views these aspects of a games art individually using tools such as Photoshop. The example below shows the scene in black and white values without any colour. You can now more easily view how League of Legends uses Values in there game.

Players faces, Health bars,UI and edges of the Lane/Map have the Darkest Values and highest range of contrast, which aids the player by encouraging their eyes them to view these first. The next example shows the screenshot with only 10% of these black and white Values showing emphasis on what role colour plays in the game.

As well as the players teams Blue and Red. These are the least common colours amongst the environment which mostly consists of greens and subtle browns. When viewing the environment these colours attract your attention more reflecting their importance to the player.

Also notice how health bars are kept in these colours outside of the UI because they are easier to read amongst the green environment and reflect the units team colour.These decisions in colour contrast retain their importance regardless of the chosen colour for the environment or teams, it is the relationship the types of actors/assets art have with one another which improve the game's visuals.

Similarly when the Black and Values are inverted the relationship the assets share with one another still apply. It’s the consistent relationship the art decisions have together which affect whether they read well or not.

As with all game art, it is game specific as to how these decision should be made. But in understanding the decision you can make with your art, will greatly improve its effectiveness of the course of any project from prototype graphics in a games jam to High end triple A development.

When judging and creating your art, you must consider how each assets will read on screen in-game and in which order of importance they should be read. From there you may make intentional decisions as to how you may adjust or create the art assets to complement the overall graphic design of the game.

Thanks for reading,

-Andy

2015 - Update

It's been the longest pause since updating my blog since starting it 4 years ago recently. So I thought I'd come back here and make a new post updating anyone interested in what exactly has been happening in my life over the last 8 months in terms of game development.

Firstly, I'd like to start of my mentioning I finished up and released the UT2004 map shown in my previous entry and couldn't be happier to say it was featured on gamebanana.com and has been downloaded over 200 times in the last 3 months from the site. Check out the link below :)
http://ut2k4.gamebanana.com/maps/187234

Using little more than hand-painted and sculpted diffuse textures and vertex lighting, I have created an environment i can be proud of in Unreal Engine 2.0 one of the very first, first person shooter games I've ever modded. It has been quite nostalgic and I am continuing to do more art to help further sustain this classic FPS title. It has reminded me the quality of art still and always will depend upon our artistic ability above any technical constraints and innovations in game engine tech.

As mentioned I have began creating some new content for the game and will be slowly building it over the next year or two in my spare time. I have also began work on a new project which has yet to see any public screenshots which i will be discussing more in the near future. One which has kept me rather busy with 3d art over the past 6-8 months along side my Job at Psiclone games.

This brings me onto the second thing I would like to mention, I'm now working full-time as a game artist amongst the gambling sector creating the artwork for Retail/Casino games since early April this year. The jump to a secure salary and full-time position has been quite a huge one in my career and I've learn't an abundance of new skills using Autodesk 3dsmax, Adobe After effects and Photoshop. Something which i intend to make great use of in the coming year on my next project "Army of Acorns".

I will finish up this post by showing a screenshot of some of the assets in the works for my new project and a piece of work in progress concept art. :)

Thanks for viewing,
-Andy

DM-Crater wip 3

Hey guys,

Quick update on the progress I've made during the week on my handpainted/sculpted deathmatch map for Unreal Tournament 2004.

I'm currently sculpting the bark texture at the moment, I'm quite happy with how the maps turned out so far, I've just started working on the skybox and looking at reference for ideas as to what i can add to it. So I've been looking at clouds, planets and starts etc.

Thank you for your time,

Andy

DM-Crater Wip2

Hey guys,

Just a quick update on the DM-Crater map from my previous post

The trees and some of the foliage are finally in awaiting textures and I've added some nice orange glowing bases for all the weapon spawns.

I'm currently sculpting some rune stones to add outside near the cave entrance and in the caves interior by the bio-rifle.

Thanks for reading,

-Andy

DM-Crater

Hey guys,

I've started working on a new Unreal Tournament 2004 map on Friday. Its a small 2-8 player deathmatch map, I've been keeping this one pretty small so I can really polish the visual for my level design portfolio. I've been looking at some of my old concept art and some of the new World of Warcraft art for inspiration.

Some of the references I've been looking at for ideas are:

This piece of environment concept art I made couple of years ago

These screenshots from the new World of Warcraft content

As well as mostly spiritual inspiration from the mood of the level The Truth and Reconciliation from the original Halo game.

I'm currently designing some foliage for the map and looking at different types of props i could use to improve the visuals. I'm considering making blue glowing rune stones for decorating the cave and orange ones as a base for all the weapon spawns.

The map is will also have a lot  more cover when I add the 7-8 trees in engine based on my original layout design.

Thanks for reading,

-Andy

DM-Crushbone - Cliff walls

After chatting with my brother about the map I gathered some reference for cliff walls then sculpted and modelled a cliff mesh to use for the map.

The sculpted texture was base on vertical layered rocks found in places such as the grand canyon or in cliff forest areas where the softer rocked had more easily eroded leaving sharp inclines of this type of layer rock exposed as a surface.

I'm currently decorating the level with the cliff mesh shown above.

Thanks for reading,

-Andy

Everquest UT2004 maps - more textures and UV fixes

I've created some more textures using 3D and 3D sculpting for the Rock, Marble rock and grass in the scene. I then i had to spend a significant amount of time fixing and creating all the unwraps as all the texture warp on the ground/walls was incredibly noticeable with decent 512 and 1024 resolution textures.

Heres a screenshot with the original 64x64 Everquest textures

 and here is a screenshot with my 512 grass and 1024 rock texture.

It's been quite fun trying to retrofit this old scene but there's only so much I can do before it starts to loose its appearance, I'm going to finish up with the wood textures and move on from the map soon.

I've started creating a new map inspired by the Legend of Zelda: Windwaker using some simple hand-painted textures painted directly in Photoshop not using any sculpting at all. Below is an unlit screenshot of the scene in 3dsmax.

Thanks for reading,

-Andy

Everquest UT2004 maps - continued

I've finished fitting out the level and testing it with bot pathing and pickups, and I've moved on to cleaning up/reworking the geometry and textures. I'm taking a lot of care not to take aware from the classic old feeling area but there are things that just plain ugly, and the UV unwrapping and texture resolutions of the originals are beyond hideous.

I've spent some time chamfering corners and unwrapping the level as well as adding some more geometry to make the castle feel more like a castle.

Before:

After:

As you can see there's some extra trims and castle details, which are still quite blocky and keep with the old school geometry of the castle but add a lot to the aesthetics of it. I then decided to move on to recreating my first texture.

I modelled the bricks in 3ds max and imported them into mudbox to sculpt. Using screenfiltering to extract the base texture and normals (not that UE2 uses them xD) I also extracted some cavity maps and other masks to help my in photoshop while painting. I put a lot of time and care into making sure i matched the colours shape and values of the original texture to keep it as authentic as possible.

                                                                    Original texture:  

New texture:

I took a lot of inspiration from modern sculpt to handpainted styles as they make as much as of the diffuse channel as possible, the only channel ut2004 and everquest uses for textures as it's all vertex lit.

Here's the new texture in game

It made me realise I have a lot more UV's to sort out xD especially on the inside of the castle but it's a lot more pleasant too look at already. I also made a quick spec and took a render in marmoset showing the tiling texture with full diffuse specular and normals for future use on my portfolio website.

That's all so far this evening, I'm going to sculpt plank textures from the bridges and wooden flooring soon and perhaps make a mesh and sculpt the cobblestone wall just outside the castle. Thanks for reading

-Andy