|
|
August MMC - Castell Coch
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
August MMC - Castell Coch // Work in Progress
Post by blakeo // Aug 13, 2008, 12:06pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Castell Coch - No it's not a typo! It's Welsh - (pronounced a bit like Cork) :D It means Red Castle.
I've been absent from these forums for a while - but kept my eye on it regularly. With the release of 7.6 (amazingly free!) and the fact that I'm not getting to grips with XSI, I'm going to give this challenge a try to keep my modelling skills up - I still find tS much easier to use than maya/xsi anyway...
I know I'm starting a bit late but this is what I'm going to attempt - click here for virtual tour! (http://www.castellcoch.info/) Just the exterior.
I grew up playing in the woods around this castle - but I've never been inside, so I'm looking forward to making my version :)
B |
Post by RichLevy // Aug 13, 2008, 12:32pm
|
RichLevy
Total Posts: 1140
|
Nice references, you can't ask for anything better than that. 3 hi-rez 360 panos... it will be fun to see your progress thru this. Great castle.
Rich |
Post by hultek43 // Aug 13, 2008, 1:09pm
|
hultek43
Total Posts: 234
|
Text from the page you linked to.> "A broadband internet connection is recommened and a minimum screen resolution of 1028 x 768 pixels."
Someday we might get high speed out here in the sticks :rolleyes:. Modeling it should be good quick clean fun, getting good textures applied to it may take longer. |
Post by kena // Aug 13, 2008, 6:23pm
|
kena
Total Posts: 2321
|
good luck - there is about 7 or 8 days left on this one!!
could you post a link to this WIP in the
August 2008 MMC Challenge (http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=6059&page=2) Thread?
Thanks! I want you to get a chance to get voted on!! |
Post by Georg // Aug 13, 2008, 8:36pm
|
Georg
Total Posts: 270
|
Hi Blakeo, good to see you back!
You picked quite a challenge, beautiful castle.
Georg |
Post by Nez // Aug 13, 2008, 10:13pm
|
Nez
Total Posts: 1102
|
Blakeo - a cool subject, hope you get on well with it.
If you ever get a chance someday, you should check out the interior too - it's amazing! Very elaborate decor, more like a palace than a castle.
I was at Uni in Cardiff and managed to make a visit although somehow never got round to visiting Cardiff Castle! Best of luck... |
Post by blakeo // Aug 14, 2008, 12:45pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Thanks for the interest everyone! I was going to start tonight but ..er... the er... Wii Fit arrived this morning :D
Rich: Yeah, they're excellent panos, especially full screen. There's actually 8 in total (in case you missed them) 3 exterior, 5 interior. I need all the references I can get - my imagination ain't what it was ;)
hultek: Man, it's so easy to forget that not everyone has broadband, sorry 'bout that! You've nailed it there - the modelling should be OK, but I know I'll struggle with the textures and shaders.
kena: Sure thing, I'll pop a link over there when I've made a proper start and have something of interest to show. BTW, thanks for the topic and running the show - you've got your work cut out with all the extra interest in tS now :)
Georg: Thanks man. Good to be amongst a friendly, encouraging bunch of people again. :)
Nez: Cheers. I checked out the interior in the virtual tour - and it's very, er, intricate. I won't be modelling that! :p I grew up in Cardiff and, well, I guess I'm just getting older there now :) It's weird though isn't it, you never do the touristy things in the place you live... strange.
B |
Post by blakeo // Aug 16, 2008, 1:40pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Progress at last!
Here's a few wires to show what I've been up to today, along with a quick HDRI test render in VRay.
It's mostly blocking out the shapes to get the proportions irght. I've started filling a few little details under the conical roof and the on the entrance balcony...
Any C&C welcome.
B |
Post by rjeff // Aug 16, 2008, 6:27pm
|
rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
|
Nice lookin' there Blakeo..lemme ask..I am test out the HDRI waters myself..however I seems to get shadows from alot of light sources..how do you fix that..you seem to have just one light casting. |
Post by kena // Aug 16, 2008, 7:31pm
|
kena
Total Posts: 2321
|
you can remove the check mark that says to only use HDRI lighting, then put a single shadow-cast light in the scene. |
Post by blakeo // Aug 16, 2008, 9:32pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
The shadows you get using HDRI depend on a few different things, but I'd say the main one is the .hdr file you use as a light source. The one I used for the test is an outdoor sunny day image, so naturallly has one main light source :) the sun.
It also depends if you're using VRay or Lightworks. In lightworks you have the option to turn off shadows from HDRI lighting - I can't seem to find that option with Vray...
The other things you can do are use the controls for the effects of the HDRI (these are for Vray, but lightworks has the equivalent settings) :
Intensity : How bright the light will be from HDRI
Rfl Intensity: How bright the background will *appear* in the image , or, if "show background" is off, how bright any reflections will be in mirrored surfaces. This can be confusing at first as a higher value will make the environment appear brighter, but it's the Intensity setting that affects how much light is thrown into the scene.
Samples: A quality setting, the higher the better. I normally start at about 32 and go up from there if needed.
Saturation: How intense the colours from HDRI file will be.
If you're not getting enough light, try increasing the Intesity, or as Kena mentions, add normal lights in and uncheck the "Envir. lights only" box
You can also turn GI on - but that's a whole bunch of settings that I just can't explain :confused: ;)
B |
Post by blakeo // Aug 17, 2008, 1:03pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Only managed to add the Drawbridge detail tonight... I may end up only finishing the front of the castle for the challenge and keeping the camera on that side :)
The support struts do down to different lengths because of the terrain - to come...
B |
Post by jayr // Aug 17, 2008, 1:10pm
|
jayr
Total Posts: 1074
|
This is looking really nice blakeo, can't wait to see the finished thing. |
Post by Jack Edwards // Aug 17, 2008, 1:17pm
|
Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
|
I agree, this is looking nice. With the large surfaces, textures may well be what makes or breaks the model presentation though.
Keep up the good work, blakeo :)
Also a trick you can use once you get the materials set up on the separate objects is to then set the boolean tool to "preserve material" then you could boolean those intersecting shapes into a non-intersecting geometry while maintaining the existing UV mapping and texturing. |
Post by blakeo // Aug 18, 2008, 10:26am
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Thanks jayr & Jack.
Jack you're a flippin' mind reader! I fully intend to boolean everything together (within reason:) ) and was starting to wonder how that would affect any UVs I'd set-up. Now I Know. Genius.
B |
Post by blakeo // Aug 20, 2008, 1:54pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Here's some more progress - time is definitely running out on me on this one ! :)
Wires show detail added through the entrance arch and to the right hand tower.
Plus a couple of quick renders including a quick and dirty (clean!) texture/UV test...
B |
Post by Jack Edwards // Aug 20, 2008, 1:57pm
|
Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
|
UVs are looking good. Nice work Blakeo! :jumpy: |
Post by Breech Block // Aug 22, 2008, 9:03am
|
Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
|
Wow, great work Blakeo. Great textures and a real nice camera angle on your rendered shot. |
Post by blakeo // Aug 22, 2008, 3:02pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Thanks for the encouragment guys. :)
Here's the final rendered shot, with a bit of PS post-process work (I know - lens flare for pete's sake!)
I used a modified version of the stone texture that comes with tS for the stonework. I made a big canvas in PS and used the Make Pattern filter to randomise it and then painted the discolouration in. Rendered with HDRI as lighting and background image.
I didn't detail any of the rest of the castle that I'd modelled earlier as I knew I wouldn't get it all done.
I may finish this project off as my first Virtual Earth asset :rolleyes:
Cheers,
B |
Post by W!ZARD // Aug 23, 2008, 1:20am
|
W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
|
Cool! That texture came out great - this should look good in VE too! |
Post by TomG // Aug 25, 2008, 1:12am
|
TomG
Total Posts: 3397
|
Nice lighting in particular, looks very like daylight! I look forward to seeing it on VE too.
HTH!
Tom |
Post by Georg // Aug 25, 2008, 5:22am
|
Georg
Total Posts: 270
|
When I saw the reference pictures I was awed by the complexity of the castle but you did a great job. Also on the texturing.
georg |
Post by MikeJoel // Aug 25, 2008, 8:04am
|
MikeJoel
Total Posts: 266
|
Yes it is a great model. If I can point out one thing (it isn't even the model though, just the render) - the trees must be awfully tall :D |
Post by blakeo // Aug 26, 2008, 12:08pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
:D Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.
W!ZARD: Yeah, I was very pleased with it, even though it was rushed as the deadine approached. I want to make it much more varied and dirty but have only done enough for the right tower... so far.
TomG: Well, thank HDRI for that - it was the MeadowTrail03 freebie from HDR Mill : http://www.hdrmill.com/Freebies.htm I just happened by chance to get the sun shining between the towers like that! I also applied a Photo Filter adjutment layer in PS to warm it up a bit, and the lens flare.
Georg: Hmm, it was was a bit too much to take on. That's why I only did the front :) - and only got half the detail in that! I do intend to do it justice and complete it a bit more fully.
MikeJoel: No probs, I welcome all crits :) My SO suggested that it could be on a steep hill (which it actually is in the real world) but I also think it looks wrong and makes it look too small. My original plan was to get some tree models and a bit of landscape in there for the render but had to go with the hdri due to time. PS I really liked your chess piece image.
B |
Post by blakeo // Sep 1, 2008, 1:13pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Continuing the August MMC .... into the September MMC - it's my Fairytale castle , hehe :) :) Just kidding! This is not a September entry :p
I've added some more detail/blocking to the parts of the castle facing the inner courtyard (yellow in the wireframe shot) and done some preliminary texture/UV work.
Slow going though as I'm finding little time to do this right now...
B |
Post by kena // Sep 1, 2008, 4:11pm
|
kena
Total Posts: 2321
|
NICE!!! glad to see someone continuing a project after the voting. I like the texture changes. Looks like your UV is set very well. |
Post by blakeo // Sep 6, 2008, 1:48pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Here's another update to the castle.... couple of wires showing the added bits around the courtyard. :)
B |
Post by kena // Sep 6, 2008, 5:38pm
|
kena
Total Posts: 2321
|
looking good. Looks like you need to fix the UV in a couple of places, but you are probably waiting on the finish of Contsruction. |
Post by blakeo // Sep 7, 2008, 1:20pm
|
blakeo
Total Posts: 214
|
Uvs will be sorted out later :) I did accidently apply a cylindrical mapping to a couple of things, oops.
Here's what I've just been working on. It's the support beams around the courtyard inner wall.
B |
Post by W!ZARD // Sep 7, 2008, 5:13pm
|
W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
|
Superb castle - some nice textures too. You're doing a good job of keeping this quite low-poly and I can't help thinking it would, when construction is finished, make a great candidate for use both as a VE object and - even more fun - a 3d environment you can enter.
Keep it coming! |
|
