Things I've learned using programs I've got
Just thought that I'd leave a note here as I keep battling with render/lighting settings in Vue.
First off - modeling. I use Milkshape 3d for all my base meshes (until I start learning 3dmax that is). I usually leave the model at somewhere near 300 - 600 faces, then subdivide within MS3d one time to add more resolution. I then export it as an .obj.
THEN I go into Zbrush, and add at LEAST 3 subdivision levels. I do a little tweaking with the first level, doing general poly pulling to get the basic shape refines. I pretty much skip 2 and 3 and go into level 4, where I sculpt details. After I'm satisfied, I start poly painting, create a uvmap using UV Master, turn polypaint into my texture, go back to level 1, and create a displacement map. As a note, I also add a little dark grey and white brush strokes along some of my details to enhance places of depth (wrinkles, contours, etc.) I then invert Y, export the new level 1 .obj w/ texture, and move into Photoshop.
2nd, in Photoshop, I open my texture and my displacement map. I place my displacement map over my texture as an overlay layer, and erase and alter the overlay to my liking. This allows me to have a little more control over my models looks through any lighting. I usually lower the opacity to somewhere near 2% to 10%, as I don't want to over exaggerate (and some details are already there from my polypainted details).
As for my scenery, it's much the same, only without Zbrush. I use Unwrap3d sometimes for aiding in my UVmaps. I use Deled to create rooms, place my models, etc.
This is the important part about Deled - its .obj export function is a little... not good :). It saves the .obj, but makes all the models into groups - which Vue doesn't recognize (DOH!). Vue sees it as ONE HUUUUUGE Model! So, I found a workaround - open the Deled exported .obj in Milkshape, then just save it again as another .obj file. Milkshape seperates the groups into groups that Vue can understand, allowing for individual texture tweaking, bump/displacement maps, etc. in Vue. Why Deled's export doesn't, I don't know, it's annoying but then again, it wasn't made for making static renders, but videogames... oh, and just as importantly, Deled's .obj export saves the groups by their material names, and if every model has to have a different material name, or when you get to Vue, you'll notice that you can't edit one model without editing the other with the same material name (I used to be lazy and everything modeled used Material1 for a texture name, lol).
Anyhow, after that I pretty much just tweak my scene in Vue, then add lighting, then fight the different settings until I get the look of the scene right.
Once I'm satisfied, I take the final render, put it into Photoshop, and use adjustment-layers-curves in place of Dodge/Burn (more control, no oversaturation), use various filters (mostly from Digital Film's 55mm suite) to add lens/film effects, and save it all!
Wow, I just realized there's more to my process than what I thought...
First off - modeling. I use Milkshape 3d for all my base meshes (until I start learning 3dmax that is). I usually leave the model at somewhere near 300 - 600 faces, then subdivide within MS3d one time to add more resolution. I then export it as an .obj.
THEN I go into Zbrush, and add at LEAST 3 subdivision levels. I do a little tweaking with the first level, doing general poly pulling to get the basic shape refines. I pretty much skip 2 and 3 and go into level 4, where I sculpt details. After I'm satisfied, I start poly painting, create a uvmap using UV Master, turn polypaint into my texture, go back to level 1, and create a displacement map. As a note, I also add a little dark grey and white brush strokes along some of my details to enhance places of depth (wrinkles, contours, etc.) I then invert Y, export the new level 1 .obj w/ texture, and move into Photoshop.
2nd, in Photoshop, I open my texture and my displacement map. I place my displacement map over my texture as an overlay layer, and erase and alter the overlay to my liking. This allows me to have a little more control over my models looks through any lighting. I usually lower the opacity to somewhere near 2% to 10%, as I don't want to over exaggerate (and some details are already there from my polypainted details).
As for my scenery, it's much the same, only without Zbrush. I use Unwrap3d sometimes for aiding in my UVmaps. I use Deled to create rooms, place my models, etc.
This is the important part about Deled - its .obj export function is a little... not good :). It saves the .obj, but makes all the models into groups - which Vue doesn't recognize (DOH!). Vue sees it as ONE HUUUUUGE Model! So, I found a workaround - open the Deled exported .obj in Milkshape, then just save it again as another .obj file. Milkshape seperates the groups into groups that Vue can understand, allowing for individual texture tweaking, bump/displacement maps, etc. in Vue. Why Deled's export doesn't, I don't know, it's annoying but then again, it wasn't made for making static renders, but videogames... oh, and just as importantly, Deled's .obj export saves the groups by their material names, and if every model has to have a different material name, or when you get to Vue, you'll notice that you can't edit one model without editing the other with the same material name (I used to be lazy and everything modeled used Material1 for a texture name, lol).
Anyhow, after that I pretty much just tweak my scene in Vue, then add lighting, then fight the different settings until I get the look of the scene right.
Once I'm satisfied, I take the final render, put it into Photoshop, and use adjustment-layers-curves in place of Dodge/Burn (more control, no oversaturation), use various filters (mostly from Digital Film's 55mm suite) to add lens/film effects, and save it all!
Wow, I just realized there's more to my process than what I thought...
posted by roedigital at
10:00 PM
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