Progress Log:
Interiors
Shack 1: 100%
Shack 2: 100%
Shack 3: 100%
Shack 4: 100%
Shack 5: 100%
Exteriors
Shack 1: 100%
Shack 2: 100%
Shack 3: 100%
Shack 4: 100%
Shack 5: 100%
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 17:39
#1
[Completed] Shacks / twentyenginerunner
Edited by: twentyenginerunner on 05/29/2015 - 09:51
Ceiling today. Pretty rough right now. The colors are there to differentiate between sections, although the floor has a placeholder texture. I'm pretty happy with the beams and planks, but the mound and non-beam parts of the ceiling need work.
Modeling for this shack interior is finished barring any changes resulting from critique or in game testing. On to vertex painting and texturing. Here's a shot of the "chimney."
Edit: By the way, the model is around 5,250 tris. Not sure how that compares to similar things in Skyrim, though it is almost three times more complex than the Morrowind version.
Keep up the good work.
Quick update: a shot from inside the modeler of progress on texturing.
I changed the concept for the foundation a bit, making it more like dirt piled between and on top of stones. I thought this made a bit more sense, and it also looked better. I might also make some dirt piles that could be used for cluttering, similar to the numerous rubble piles in vanilla Skyrim.
I think that the wall planks would be better off having a color that differentiated them more from the beams, so I'll probably change their vertex colors later.
Textures are 95% done. Still trying to come up with a good one for the "window." In Morrowind it was basically a net at the top of the wall. Since there is no glass, I doubt it can behave like windows in Skyrim. Modeling all the ropes in the net seems like a bad use of polygons, but making a few larger strands would add some dimensionality.
LOVE SHACK, BABY, LOVE SHACK!
Great work!
Awesome work. Maybe you could talk to Ravanna or look at models for the common buildings because they are thatched roofs and you could apply similar techniques for giving the straw some dimensionality
https://tesrenewal.com/forums/environmental-models-and-textu...
i sent u a practice net texture in the texture file, does skyrim not have one we can use?
Tedesignz did awesome Shack awnings and made his own special type of "thatching" for it, essentially it was nowhere near as nice as common, it was more knarly and made of twigs.
The roofs drip a bit. I will send it tomorrow. Can u send your model soon for me to comb over?
I came across tedesignz's shack stuff earlier today, and was going to send him a pm about the texture, but if you can get it to me that's fine. I think he might also have used a different wood texture. As for the ropes, it's not that I don't have them, but that I'm trying to figure out the best way to make them work as windows (and incidentally, Skyrim does not appear to have any sort of net texture itself). Morrowind just had black in the openings between strands, and it would be nice to find a better way of going it. Any tips or ideas are appreciated.
The only thing I have left to do on the model (outside of the windows/nets) is to UV the remaining planks. Of course, there are still something like 4 remaining shack interiors and all the exteriors, but once the first is ironed out the rest should be done more quickly. What file type do you need it as? I can make it game ready if required.
if eloth has time he can convert fbx/3dsmax 2011/12 files. complete with teture id reference.
If you can nif your models and put ingame, all the sweeter, we luv u lung time.
I can nif 'em. Here it is in game, sans the net.
Normal maps are kind of bad right now (still learning what affects what), but I figure most of them are going to be replaced anyway. I only have the collision mesh for the floor at the moment, but will finish it once everything else is done.
I like what becomes of this shack. I'm not sure to clearly understand what is the problem with windows. No matter texture you chose there is always a way to make it do what window is supposed to. Glow shader with External emmitance flag will enable night and day cycle. Or else backlight together with light source placed behind will do it.
Interior cells can have "Show sky lighting" flag in Skyrim's engine unlike previous games.
Update time. Here are some shots of the shack in game as it now stands.
Ravanna found a net texture already in Skyrim, so that is what I'm using on the windows right now. You can just see to the outside via alpha channel, so I'll probably have to fix it up to act like a proper Skyrim window. Still trying to get that thatch texture from tedesignz, but none of my pms are going through for some reason.
Are the planks supposed to look that way? It looks like they are uniformly smoothed instead of having hard edges/smoothing groups?
@Marius S.
Recalculated the normals in Nifskope. The boards are now as flat as... well, a board.
@alysander
I would like to keep the net, since it goes thematically with the fact that many of the shacks are the homes of fishermen. However, I have been thinking of adding another element to make it more interesting. Maybe a crude frame made from some plant commonly found on the coasts. Also, that roof texture will eventually replace the one I'm using, once I get ahold of it.
Net is a very good idea imo. But Alysander got a point here. On the screenshot it looks too perfect. Regular squares and repetitive tiling just hit the eyes. Keep the net if you like, but more rough, old looking and irregular will give more character to that shack. Note that you can use vertex alpha to add holes.
the wrong alpha property has been applied to the shack thatch in alys's pics. But i agree that net isnt as good as woven threaden wood could be, twenty can u try and knock something out, do u use zbrush?
No zbrush, but I do have other sculpt tools adequate for the task. I wasn't planning on keeping the current texture anyway, since the strands are far too thin.
It took a while, but I've finally finished the lattice texture for the shack windows.
In order to make it act like a window, I decided that the crevices would be stuffed with leaves and other plant material. Thin enough to let some light in, and thick enough to ward against weather and such; a poor man's glass.
Next up is finishing the collision mesh and modeling the exterior - though I still might make a crude frame for this "window."
"That's nice work, Lou"
^this
I think we might wanna make the lattice a bit more fine, so that it both lets more light in, and wards mosquitoes off. Some mosquito screens would work too ;) They must be a total plague on Bitter Coast. I'm sure Dunmeri would also use incense to scare them away.
I haven't updated this thread in a while, but I've still been working on the shacks and getting input from other devs. Here are the results as of now.
Around three interiors are done (the fourth interior is the same as the second but with a wooden floor and no foundation). I'm going to be switching to exteriors for a while since they are needed more urgently than interiors.
Can you make some separating walls in same style?
To separate big shack on rooms and so on.
we could do a seperate asset, of 2 poles with woodenslats inbetween, to section off inside areas
Looking mighty mighty fine!
I was skeptical at first, but these came to life fast! Well done.
There are those separators made out of Gaur skin from the vanilla game too, so a mix of those and wooden dividers could work. Great progress!
I think walls made of that woven lattice would work awesomely for separating walls. Alternatively, hanging cloth as well ;)
Not sure how heavily used separators would be, since even the largest shack is pretty small, but they're quick enough to make that they shouldn't really take time away from anything else.
Even in small shack would be great to have some personal space - so any walls will be used.
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But if you can go further than MW - i think designers could use even shack constructor assets
(actually just variants of shack interiors with additional doors).
Finally finished modeling the first exterior shack. Figured I'd drop a screenshot here just to show that I'm still making progress.
Next is unwrapping. The parts of the roof that overlap the outer beams will have transparency similar to Ted's awnings.
aaaahh the sweet smell of ever increasing progress.
The Shack 1 exterior is now textured. The only thing left is to apply vertex alpha to the fringe of the roof.
Looks fantastic! Cant wait to see them all
As long as this topic is active, I might as well post some screens of the shack ingame, with the roof fringe now as it should be.
Some squatter from Morrowind decided to set up this eyesore near Whiterun. Rest assured, the guards will deal with the elf scum.
The Shack 2 exterior (and therefore part of Shack 4) has been modeled. I have been somewhat inspired by pagodas for bits of the architecture.
As usual, UVs and texturing next.
Quick paintover showing how you could add some depth to the planks by making one or two around the outside have a physical mesh. Don't do it too often though, and that broken one is probably better off not existing as it will ruin immersion in a lot of cases.
Yeah, the broken one would need to have blackness on the inside. A few protruding a bit would be doable, though, once I finish the UVing and know exactly where the individual boards will be. I could also put in a few cross boards in the other direction.
Yeah, that would be cool! Perhaps give them a bit of vertex color to make them feel like they have been tacked on at a later point in the shacks life.
Another option is to make some form of cloth covering on a wall, like a leather/tent material
These are really looking top-notch. You are fighting the good fight my man. Keep it up.
Shack 2 (and therefore, most of Shack 4) is done. Though I incorporated Eric's idea for some protruding vertical boards, I decided to make the crossboards separate models. That way, designers can customize the look of the shack a bit if they desire, and make it seem like there are more than just five buildings. Also, this is sized to easily work with Ted's awnings.
On to Shack 3/5, the smallest and (hopefully) easiest.
Can you make some kind of shack construction kit? Set of interiors and exteriors to make shack-palace of your dream?
its nice how good your shacks blend into the game , also i like the preview picture in the engine :) thumps up.
I have one critique at the moment, And that is that the wood texture is incredibly tight, and could do with being more defined.
^ this was the only thing I noticed as well. The cracks could be blacker or defined in the large beams. It's looking good though! I like how the wood has quite a bit of grey in it. Very true to reality for untreated, water soaked wood.
I think the distance might be contributing to this perception of the cracks, but I darkened them a bit anyway. Comparisons:
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