"Final" shack models here...

[SACarrow]

Now that I understand opacity maps, the render in Max is truer to the final look. These pictures contain the following changes:
- Use of opacity maps on the fringe and the siding,
- Changed the foundation to one that Stilgar provided,
- Changed the wooden poles to the other wood texture that he provided.

Some thoughts:
- I like the idea of having transparent gaps between the boards, but the gaps would have to be narrower to offer only a glimpse of the two-sided textures, as a real-game-time view would be impossible.
- I've had a couple of suggestions to increase the polygon count. Where should that count go? After all, angular is a big part of the look of the shack; OTOH the poles do look a little too regular.
- As for the thatched roof: I based it on the ref model from TES3, but I understand the look. There is no real truss structure to the roofs; sticks were laid across the top and reeds were piled on until it stopped leaking. So I think some variant on the humped roof appearance is the way to go, rather than a roof that neatly falls away from the center.
- A question: how wide should these "boards" be? The shack itself is a little less than 10X10m in size, so the current would have each board about 2' wide. Is that reasonable?
- How do you UV map poles? Nothing I've done looks good, and I suspect that BethSoft punted on the question by using a dark blurry texture.
- Is there a way to use the TES4 normal map in the Max rendering?

Thanks,
Steve

[Zarf]

The opacity looks great.

I can't answer for much of your stuff, but I believe you can see a basic interpretation of the normal maps by putting them in the bump map slot in a given material. Might not be 100% accurate, and make sure to remove it from the slot before you export the model.

Also, you might have to UVW map individual segments of the poles. It's really a pain, but it gets the best results. Try using a Cylinder map on the poles, then adjusting the map within the Unwrap UVW modifier. It's right above the UVW Mapping modifier in the modifier list.

[Razorwing]

Nice work, it's looking better by the minute!

When I texture a cylindrical shape I usually rotate the viewport so I'm looking straight on the flat stump, then press the View Align button, then choose the rotation checkbox that looks right. It works most of the time. Like Zarf said, if the cylinder is bent you need to cut it into segments and map those individually to get a perfect map. Keep the lengths the same on all uvw maps of the segments.

5,000 to 10,000 faces could be a good number for the whole building. Then again that's assuming it's used in Oblivion, Morrowind users probably can't use models with that number. One exterior cell in Oblivion shouldn't have much more than 200,000 faces overall. Not sure if that number helps any but I thought I'd mention it.

Keep up the good work! :goodjob:

[SACarrow]

Hey there,

Here are new shack images almost totally textured by Stilgar. Those textures sure are pretty! The only textures of mine left are the thatch ones, which I made more yellow this time around. I also made the poles based on 11gons instead of hexagons and also took the time to map each segment of each pole. :eek:

I think these look really good now with real textures on them, but as always, I await your comments, in particular from the "customers", TID & IATE.

Thanks,
Steve

[IAMTHEEMPEROR]

hmm, well, that isn't really "swampy". It looks too refined. But nice job anyways, but go fore a brownish wood look, please. :goodjob:

[The Old Ye Bard]

Also the thatch should be darker aswell, with prehaps mold or some muck on it.

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by sacarrow
Hey there,

Here are new shack images almost totally textured by Stilgar. Those textures sure are pretty! The only textures of mine left are the thatch ones, which I made more yellow this time around. I also made the poles based on 11gons instead of hexagons and also took the time to map each segment of each pole. :eek:

I think these look really good now with real textures on them, but as always, I await your comments, in particular from the "customers", TID & IATE.

Thanks,
Steve

It's looking better than ever, and I can tell you put in a lot of work on it :goodjob:

The texture mapping on the poles look stretched compared to the texture on the walls. Perhaps you could tile it more? Oh, and I think the poles would look even better if there was a planarmapped wood rings-type of texture on the caps. The texture on the block just beneath the doorjamb looks fuzzy, which is particularly noticeable since the base area is mapped crystal clear and perfectly. Other than that it's looking mighty fine!

I'm inclined to agree with IATE that the textures look a bit too clean for a swamp environment, but, I think either judicious use of vertex painting or also using separate planar models textures with mold or murky patches could achieve that impression. Vertex painting is done in max, whereas the mold/murky texture patches would have to be made by a texture artist. Then again one could use both techniques too, which I think would look the best than just using either one.

[bob196045]

Good looking shack's


I thought they were supposed to be ugly

or is that something else hrug:

[SACarrow]

Yes, my ugly shack is just too pretty; isn't that the way "Betty La Fea" turned out? Here are new views with grainier mapping for the poles and using a shadowed texture that Stilgar had provided but that I hadn't used. As for some of the other points:

- There actually is a tree-ring tex, but there's not enough contrast to notice. I have a request in.

- Stilgar did a great mossy effect on one of his previous board textures, so I asked if he could apply that effect to all of the shack texes. Let's face it if a PC rests on the Bitter Coast, he'll wake up greener than he was before!

- I've seen the vertex color tutorials out there, but I'll have to look into that more.

Hopefully all of these things together will lower the property values.

Later,
Steve

[TheImperialDragon]

I like it! I don't suppose you could re-arrange how the texture was mapped for the door? It looks kinda repetative.

But it IS looking amazing, keep it up! :goodjob: