The Swamp

[d1ver]

Hey there Mapcore!

How are you all doing?

I decided to finally put up online something that's been collecting dust on my hard drive for ages now:

Swamp - YouTube

I'm pretty sure you know what it is. Yeah, it was that texturing test and it was a lot of fun

I did get the job, but unfortunately had to turn it down for personal reasons.Anyway...

I hope you enjoy!

All texturing took exactly one week.

I appreciate you taking a look! Thanks for your time!

All kinds of crits and questions are very welcome.

Cheers

[Kinky]

Fantastic work. I especially love your use of the blue channel for the opacity map, always a sucker for clever optimisation me.

Where do you work? If you dont mind my asking...

[kikette]

Fantastic ! Thanks for sharing your tips =D

[KungFuSquirrel]

Those gifs are fantastic; I love seeing the way each layer comes together. Great work!

[penE]

So inspiring!, great techniques.

[Kedhrin]

really cool stuff

however, it does seem like using the extra shader instructions for the alpha vs. the extra texture memory for an alpha texture wouldn't really work that well in large scene scenarios. That's just a thought though, it would really need to be put to the test

love the gif break downs!

Edited February 12, 2013 by Kedhrin

[FMPONE]

Great colors

[Bunglo]

d1ver gets the job at naughty dog and turns it down... what a beast!

Break downs are sweet! How long did it take to complete the test?

Edited February 12, 2013 by Bunglo

[d1ver]

Thank you very much Kinky! Yeah it just felt like such a waste coming from my "procedural" texturing project where I used to get normal, spec, diffuse and opacity from a single 3 channel map.

I don't mind at all. I work at gameloft montreal right now. There are a lot of dimensions to that, though, that are hardly for message boards

You're very welcome, kikette! Thank you.

Thanks KungFuSquirrel So do I. I wish I'd done some videos or something.

Much appreciated, penE! You're too kind

Thanks Kedhrin. Totally viable concerns. But to be honest the opacity mask approach here is dirt cheap. To be more precise it costs exactly the same amount a regular opacity mask would cost only without adding an opacity mask. It is an optimization. And this is exactly what you see in the video and on the images.

For the transparency mask you have to do 6 additional instructions which is not that bad. But obviously more stress.

If you sample your mask not from the alpha channel but a different texture, the texture sampling and fetching will probably cost more then just encoding it into the diffuse.

But as with all optimization it depends on what you've got to spare. For example PS3 is very tight on VRam but has aplenty SPUs so it might be a more viable solution there.

Huge thanks, FMPONE! I'm trying to get good with general artistic disciplines and color composition here is a product of a lot of thought and consideration. So I'm glad you like it.

Hey, Bunglo You're very kind and I wish it was all that easy. If some things wouldn't have happened right after I got the job I would've loved to work there. They've got amazing artists and do amazing things. But now, I don't really think it's for me.

The test itself which is the textures took exactly one week. Another week for the BG and the lighting and the camera animations for the video. And then some time on top of that for editing and sound design.

Thanks again, guys.

Edited February 13, 2013 by d1ver

[sock]

Wow the detail images after the main screenshots are amazing stuff. I wish you would release something like for others to look at, it would be helpful to see how you linked all the shader surfaces together. I especially love the fact you aligned the moss on the trunks (north side), this is the type of detail that makes an artist truly gifted IMHO.

[d1ver]

You're too kind, sock! Yeah I've been getting a lot of request on breakdowns for materials so hopefully you can expect something like that. It's mostly just a question of finding the time. Which I'll hopefully have sometime soon

Thanks again!

[Stevelois]

Love it ! Yep, again LOL

[The Horse Strangler]

Number 1 thread revivial

[KoKo5oVaR]

Very very cool stuff mate!

 

I never saw your work, and then i went to read your articles, man you are a beast ! Your enthusiasm is so very inspiring, thanks for what you are doing

[d1ver]

Hello again Steve! I'm just glad you like it buddy!

 

KoKo5oVar, you're very kind! I do what I can. And I greatly appreciate when someone appreciates it. Thank you so much!