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What is it about WOW textures?
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What is it about WOW textures? // Roundtable
Post by TomG // Apr 24, 2008, 5:34am
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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Just out of curiosity, here was what I had got. The floor I had "cartoonised" from a photo, the same with the wood I think. Hadnt really done much with the lighting. Had gone for the chunky furniture look. Had only started warping the shelves at the back but was going to do the same to the rest. Hadnt done the lighting yet.
Had started on a window, which was also "warped". Hadnt textured it yet it seems :) Neither had I got a good cartoon painting for the wall! Theres a tS texture that will be familiar to many.
Had gone for less bold colors, I wanted something slightly less cartoony than WoW in style, a little more subdued, not realistic as such but less crazy on the color scheme. The lighting was going to follow suit.
I did like the name of the inn, The Twisted Arm. As in "Lets go out for a pint" "Oh go on, you twisted my arm"
EDIT - PS the bottle reminds me, they do have texturing drawn in such a way to make it look lit, for things like glass etc especially. You'll note a kind of gradient to the bottle color. Naturally this does not follow the actual lighting in the scene and is the same wherever the bottle is placed, but I remember noting that was how WoW had done it and that it was one of those "forgiveable" things in a MMORPG environment - the fact the bottle seems glassy in some way, with some specular maybe, some painted on lighting, is fine even if that lighting doesnt match the room it is in!
END EDIT
HTH!
Tom |
Post by Délé // Apr 24, 2008, 5:46am
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Délé
Total Posts: 1374
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Excellent work Vickie! :)
I think that's a huge step in the right direction. I think the roof texture works good. I like the deep shadowing you've got on the orange buildings, although I think maybe the shadows could blend off smoother. Some of the shadows stop rather abruptly. You did great job of making some areas pop though, like the pinkish/purple area. The blue roofs and orange buildings have that contrast similar to WoW. Very good.
Do the stairs have the same texture as the building? I think maybe they need their own texture. It looks like the trim is going diagonally across the top of the stairs.
I really like the blue texture on the back building too. In WoW, I'm not sure that they repeat large ornate textures like that so much (except maybe around buildings like the orange). I think a simple blue stone texture (maybe with ornate trim) might work better. From the images I've seen, most of the textures are simple patterns and are broken up with more ornate textures here and there.
I'm not sure the pink works in the ground texture. It might look better smoothed a bit too. I think that stone pattern is good though and works with the scene.
I think the rails along side the road would look good with a smooth stone pattern too. The current pattern kind of looks a bit abstract.
I also agree with the modeling. Avoiding the straight lines would help make things look more cartoony.
Very good first go though Vickie. Thanks for sharing, that definitely gives me more ideas. :) I'm not sure if my first go will get as close as yours, but I'll try. ;) |
Post by Eagle // Apr 24, 2008, 5:46am
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Eagle
Total Posts: 221
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Pardon my lack of knowledge TrueBlue, but what are Ambient materials?
always~
Vickie ;) |
Post by Délé // Apr 24, 2008, 5:56am
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Délé
Total Posts: 1374
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Nice start Tom! I like the stone texture. I think maybe the wood textures on furniture could use more shadowing and perhaps more exaggerated grain. I agree with you on the bottle. I see that a lot too.
I think I'm going to learn a lot from this thread. :D |
Post by Eagle // Apr 24, 2008, 5:58am
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Eagle
Total Posts: 221
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Excellent work Vickie! :)
"Do the stairs have the same texture as the building? I think maybe they need their own texture.
It looks like the trim is going diagonally across the top of the stairs."
Hi Dele,
yes the texture on the stairs is the same texture as the walls. I made
this last night and so far only have 3 textures painted..LOL! I will make
more today and apply them to the models. This level still needs a lot
of work as you can see.
Thanks for all your help and advice! :p
always~
Vickie ;) |
Post by Eagle // Apr 24, 2008, 6:02am
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Eagle
Total Posts: 221
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"Had gone for less bold colors, I wanted something slightly less cartoony than WoW in style, a little more subdued, not realistic as such but less crazy on the color scheme. The lighting was going to follow suit."
HTH!
Tom
Your style reminds me of the SIMs Tom, Nice work!
always~
Vickie ;) |
Post by jamesmc // Apr 24, 2008, 8:22am
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Yep bored and putting out stupid work. :D
Strictly 2D painting - a ummm...dog warrior or something... |
Post by Eagle // Apr 24, 2008, 8:28am
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Eagle
Total Posts: 221
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LOL! Good Job, that reminds me of the cartoon "Captain Simion and the
Space Monkeys"
anyone ever see that show? :p
always~
Vickie ;) |
Post by jamesmc // Apr 24, 2008, 8:32am
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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LOL! Good Job, that reminds me of the cartoon "Captain Simion and the
Space Monkeys"
anyone ever see that show? :p
always~
Vickie ;)
hehe! no, don't believe I have.
er..what time does it come on? :D
(fetches kool-aid and cheetohs...) |
Post by Eagle // Apr 24, 2008, 8:44am
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Eagle
Total Posts: 221
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Captain Simian & The Space Monkeys. An animated show from the mid-1990s,
and yet another story about astronaut monkeys. This time, a monkey-naut
in the 1960s gets lost in the outer reaches of space, only to get picked up
by a race so advanced, nobody can pronounce their name. The monkey gets
an upgrade, including enhanced intelligence and high tech, and recruits a
squad of other monkeys to fight a villain who's half-human, half-black hole
(and who wants to destroy the universe.)
http://io9.com/assets/resources/2008/03/captaincharliesimian.jpg
It's not on anymore, but it was good while it lasted~
always~
Vickie ;) |
Post by jamesmc // Apr 24, 2008, 8:52am
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Captain Simian & The Space Monkeys. An animated show from the mid-1990s,
and yet another story about astronaut monkeys. This time, a monkey-naut
in the 1960s gets lost in the outer reaches of space, only to get picked up
by a race so advanced, nobody can pronounce their name. The monkey gets
an upgrade, including enhanced intelligence and high tech, and recruits a
squad of other monkeys to fight a villain who's half-human, half-black hole
(and who wants to destroy the universe.)
http://io9.com/assets/resources/2008/03/captaincharliesimian.jpg
It's not on anymore, but it was good while it lasted~
always~
Vickie ;)
Ahhh!
Darn, well I wanted to get in touch with my inner primate too.
Maybe I can find a chimp substitute. :) |
Post by TomG // Apr 24, 2008, 9:00am
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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Rumour is they are making a new Earthworm Jim :) The old games are coming out (Wii Virtual Console I think it is), I'll be picking those up for nostalgia value, I loved those! A new game is in the works, and I seem to recall it was being suggested that surrounding media would also be appearing, which could mean a return of the cartoon, which I also enjoyed.
A bit off track, but thinking of old cartoons reminded me of this piece of news, which had given me great joy earlier today haha :)
Thanks!
Tom |
Post by RAYMAN // Apr 24, 2008, 9:55am
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RAYMAN
Total Posts: 1496
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Yes I love those too !
But about the not being baked textures ....
There are very well examples of baked textures like here you find a mix of
painted caracters on BAKED field of plants !;) |
Post by TomG // Apr 24, 2008, 10:59am
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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Still could be painted in a 2D app rather than baked. In fact baking refers specifically to embedding shadows onto a UV mapped object - all this screen shows is that a 2D image has been painted onto a plane, which is not baking.
Even if 3D was used (model the ground and the plants, render from above to give a texture), its still not strictly baking.
Baking would be having a building and then capturing the light and dark areas on its surface (eg dark corners, light reflected from floor) and then using those textures on the object. Different from merely rendering to a 2D image and then using that as a texture.
For what you show to be baking, the ground would need to have the furrows modeled, and the lighting of the scene captured onto the furrows as a texture rather than calculated in realtime, but thats not what we have - we just have an image painted onto the plane.
HTH!
Tom |
Post by RAYMAN // Apr 24, 2008, 11:08am
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RAYMAN
Total Posts: 1496
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Ah yes I refer to that as light baking !
So were actually talking about 2 definitions....
I see baking more like making a picture as such (that was rendered)and then ading as a texture opposed to painting by hand.....
Another form for me is normal map baking.....etc.:)
Peter |
Post by trueBlue // Apr 24, 2008, 9:53pm
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trueBlue
Total Posts: 1761
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Pardon my lack of knowledge TrueBlue, but what are Ambient materials?
always~
Vickie ;)
You should be able to find a couple of examples of Ambient materials in the Materials - DX9 library. Here is an example using the Ambient Layered Plastic with one Spot light in the scene. It uses a Constant Shader and two blended textures which is adjustable. |
Post by Délé // Apr 24, 2008, 10:15pm
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Délé
Total Posts: 1374
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This is still very early (I'm slow :p), but I thought I'd post what I have so far. I still have a lot of modeling yet to do and I'm still playing around with the textures. The UV mapping is quick and dirty right now too.
All I've done so far are tiled textures. I plan on making more unique textures for buildings and such.
Am I heading in the right direction? Suggestions?
12215 |
Post by jayr // Apr 25, 2008, 12:05am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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Deffinatly the right direction dele, all i'd say it try to bevel the tower's edges slighty so that they're not too sharp.
I don't think some simplified bump mapping would hurt, just enough to add the the crack in the stone wall, too much will ruin the cartoon look though. |
Post by Jack Edwards // Apr 25, 2008, 12:55am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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I think the grass texture looks too much like green noise. :( I think you could try painting grass flattened against the ground and alpha blend it with patches of cracked dirt. Also helpful would be to drop some alpha mapped grass and plants after you get your building and prop geometry set up.
The fence also could use more variation in height and scale. Maybe by adding thicker and taller support posts at an interval. Have some loose boards, tilt it in places, etc.
Roof texture is good, but I think the wooden wall texture for the building needs more contrast. I like the rock wall texture, no crits there.
Good things to add:
Tie ups for the pack animals/horses
Stones
Trees
Meat smoker
Firepit
Fish drying rack |
Post by Délé // Apr 25, 2008, 1:45am
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Délé
Total Posts: 1374
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Thanks guys, those are some good suggestions. :) I agree with the ground textures. Those are actually just the default ground textures for the Splend shader. I haven't gotten to messing with them yet. It's definitely on my list. ;) I also agree with the building texture. The current wood texture is just a base placeholder. I plan to paint a door on the front and beams on the corners. The fence is still bugging me too. The texture looked good in Photoshop, but when tiled it doesn't look as good. I think I have the shadows too thick. I'll have to play with that a bit yet.
Still lots of stuff to model. Thanks for the suggestions. :) |
Post by jamesmc // Apr 25, 2008, 4:13am
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Agree with others have said Dele.
In addition, I would make the fence have more shadows built in. It's too 'flat' right now and needs some distance referencing.
With that said, I understand this is a WIP, so disregard any premature advice. :) |
Post by Eagle // Apr 25, 2008, 4:20am
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Eagle
Total Posts: 221
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Looks Good Dele! You have a nice clean start (unlike mine which looks like a yard sale..LOL!)
it will be nice to see how you do your trees. Looking at you level, to me it would look cool
with a few big colorful apple trees~ ;)
always~
Vickie ;) |
Post by jamesmc // Apr 25, 2008, 8:11pm
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Here's a description page ( for another software) - this is a plug-in for that software.
Anyways, it talks about baking, the types of baking and what's available in that particular plug-in. Thought users would enjoy gaining some knowledge provided by this very capable plug-in writer.
http://www.inagoni.com/content.php?content.3
Look at the human figure at the bottom of the page with and without the Zbrush normal map. Interesting I say. |
Post by jamesmc // Apr 25, 2008, 9:11pm
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Okay, here is some more information on Normal Maps. The reason I'm putting this here, is that it appears that game modelers are using this method with great frequency.
The main thread from a Zbrush Forum.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=2575&page=1&pp=15
Exporting Normal Maps From Zbrush
An interesting thread
And this entry caught my eye so went to the Website. (a free tool)
NVIDIA Melody
NVIDIA Melody creates high quality normal maps that make a low-poly model look like a high-poly model. Simply load your low-poly working model, then load your high-poly reference model, click the "Generate Normal Map" button and watch Melody go to town. The normal map generator can also create texture coordinates from your high-poly reference model using a projection technique.
You can rotate your models and see the normal map in action. A command line version is provided to help you integrate Melody in your content creation pipeline. Read more about how you can get the most out of Melody in the accompanying User Guide.
Please note that progressive mesh decimation (LOD creation) has been removed in the latest release. This allows Melody to generate normal maps for significantly larger models
NVIDIA Melody FAQ
Melody FAQ
Does Melody work on GPUs from other vendors?
Melody should work with any GPU that supports PS2.0 shaders. Additional minimum system specification (minspec) requirements are:
* Windows XP or 2000
* DirectX 9
What geometry file formats does Melody support?
Melody supports reading .3ds, .obj and .ply file formats. The .3ds file format has a 64K poly limit per mesh, but you can have multiple meshes in each .3ds file. If your geometry is not in a format supported by Melody, you will need to convert it to a format that is supported.
What is the maximum number of polygons Melody can support?
The maximum number of polygons Melody can support is limited by the amount of main memory available on your system. PCs can address as much as 4GB of memory, and that can contain huge models. The display driver also needs to have enough memory to create a vertex list for your model, so it can be displayed.
How much does Melody cost?
NVIDIA does not charge for Melody. It is provided for free as part of our developer tools program. Please let us know if you would like help incorporating similar features in your commercial products.
--------------------------------
http://www.nvidia.com/object/melody_home.html |
Post by TomG // Apr 28, 2008, 3:44am
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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They are used a lot in games - but not in WoW that I know of. Its engine predates Normal Mapping becoming a standard thing in game engines. Again it would add more detail, whereas the WoW look is really about more simplicity :)
HTH!
Tom |
Post by nowherebrain // May 4, 2008, 8:49am
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nowherebrain
Total Posts: 1062
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I was using normal maps for a while, but in the end I decided they looked a little too contrived for what I am doing...I put up a new screen(group of, actually) in my WIP thread. |
Post by Norm // May 5, 2008, 8:10am
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Norm
Total Posts: 862
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I tend to agree that some normal mapping does appear contrived. I also believe that dzignr will use all available resources and some sort of real-time blending will take shape for truly stunning results.
tweak, tweak, tweak, all the way home :) hoildemchoose. |
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