AuthorTopic: GR#123 - Pixel Cars - Sideview  (Read 23074 times)

Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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GR#123 - Pixel Cars - Sideview

on: December 13, 2012, 11:43:03 pm
Hi! It's been a while, I know. Got sidetracked by RL. But still trying to dabble with pixel art from time to time.

Anyway, I'm working on a game where a car (several will be available to choose from) is driving in front sort of parallax background, but this is only the backdrop for the game objective. Can't go in more details ATM. It is a great project to practice one skills on simpler pixel art (at least when it comes to complexity of outlines and animation), until I muster up my energy to get back to this:
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=14226.msg132760#msg132760
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=14567.msg134786#msg134786

My progress so far on this project:



Blueprint used for outlines:


Photo of a model used to get a better idea of shapes:


Any advice on my design so far, color usage and shading is more than welcome.

Please help me improve this!

Thanks!

Offline Yngar

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #1 on: December 14, 2012, 02:08:33 am
Its really good, I like the dithering. I think some AA would go a long way on the hood and roof, and maybe more shadows in the wheels.

Offline wurfle

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #2 on: December 14, 2012, 04:46:24 am
I would really push the highlights, it will give the body a much more glossy look. Don't be afraid to push the brightest parts all the way to white.

Offline NaCl

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #3 on: December 14, 2012, 04:52:38 am
Don't be afraid to mess with the perspective a bit. These perfect side perspectives look lifeless. Like a blueprint or instructional diagram. You can rotate it just a little bit, not enough to mess with the gameplay, but enough to breathe life into it. Short of that, you can change the perspective for animations and such.

Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #4 on: December 17, 2012, 10:48:48 pm
Uh, again so little time to pixel. :{

But had time to make some edits:

New:

Old:


Hope you approve the changes.

Still having troubles with the roof and transition from windows to hood. Any tips?

NaCl, I appreciate the suggestion, but I am afraid. I am very afraid. Tried originally. I just think it's a too big bite for me ATM. I want to keep this simple and finally finish a game. It's been years for me and mostly because I increased my pixel art standards, but didn't acquire the needed pixel art skills. Now this concept finally seems like something I can use to break this blockage.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2012, 10:56:05 pm by Lachie Dazdarian »

Offline Phlakes

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #5 on: December 18, 2012, 01:02:32 am
I'd suggest cutting back on the dithering, actually, or at least the way you're using it now. With random patterns like that it adds a very rough texture, which I'm guessing isn't how the car's supposed to look. You can still use it to buffer transitions, but it needs to stay smooth and deliberate.

Offline Cyangmou

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #6 on: December 18, 2012, 01:41:56 am
Hi Lachie,

You did quite a good job with capturing the proportions, that's great. And
your main colors are also quite good - I really have to say I like the contrast of the tones.   :y:

The bad thing is that it looks more like a junker than a car fun to drive - which is mostly caused by your wrong use of dither. 

In detail I think there are several things to think of if you want to improve the whole sprite.

At first your wheels aren't exact circles, if it's sideview stich with them as circles, at least for the wheel rims (the wheel itself can be a bit squashed)

The other points are: Your sprite has lots of Jaggies, Sel-out, and no AA (or if you'd call some parties AA'd I'd recommend to look up the technique, there was a good tut sheet flying around). The dithering isn't structured and makes no sense and the shading of most of the details is wrong or off. Another huge point is that you dob't give any material information or form wit hyour shading which let's the whole sprite look flat.

I made a gif with some steps to solve some of the problems and added a few own ideas too. I used both of your references.

Let's talk about the process of pimping ya ride:


You'll have to open the gif in your graphics programm to follow the steps in detail.

1 - First I looked at your sprite closely and removed the whole shading, I also worked on the jaggies here and there and tried to remove those I reminded.
I also changed the shape of the bumpers to add a sense of form (it'd be wrong for this perspective but it looks better imo - artistical choice)

2 -  I added a main lightsource and a few more details to have a basis to work with

3 - I started with improving/ working on the shading and shaded the bumpers (tried to achieve the metallic material look)

4 - Mostly reflections, I also improved the form of the car roof part and the side details

5 - fixed some proportions and details regarding to the photo and worked on the wheel

6 - made some tonal improvements regarding to the brightness composition and worked on a lot of smaller details

7 - small detail adjustments

8 - I added a cast shadow to giv it depth, although it's a sideview car.

9 - more detail adjustments, shading of the front wheel regarding to the photo reference and added the palette

Now it'd only need some small tweaks regarding to AA, details and clusters, but all in all I'd call it done. Over the whole process I changed and adjusted some colors, but both versions have exactly 15 + bg (transparency) - I don't know if this is a limitation though.

Here is a comparison for a better illustration of the changes:



And here is the pimped sprite of mine as static image:



Try to work on your forms and jaggies and you'll achieve by far better results. Good Luck  :y:
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Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #7 on: December 18, 2012, 06:28:00 am
Wow! You destroyed me. :P

But you showed me what needs to be done in so much detail.

I was pretty sure I knew AA. Oh, well.

I love you Cyangmou. We should be together. :P

Anyway, will try to replicate your suggestions and approach as soon as possible.

Thanks once more!

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #8 on: December 18, 2012, 08:54:09 am
Quote
That's stunning and instructing. Chapeau, Cyangmou!
Yet, there's a little something about the horizontal lines for shading that disturbs me. They work very well on the car's door, but they're not doing as good as could be around the wheels. (time is missing for an edit, unfortunately).

Offline Cyangmou

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #9 on: December 18, 2012, 01:44:34 pm
That's stunning and instructing. Chapeau, Cyangmou!
Yet, there's a little something about the horizontal lines for shading that disturbs me. They work very well on the car's door, but they're not doing as good as could be around the wheels. (time is missing for an edit, unfortunately).

Right, the form aroud the wheels - I also thought that there is something off, but I also thought nobody'd care ... meh even the quietest thinking about a probably issue is too much...  :'(

Now as I overslept it I saw a bunch more things, I fixed some more details, added an windscreen wiper and edited the shading of the wheel rims. I think this was the final layer of polish the graphic needed. Now I really like it  ;D



And Lachie, I really don't wanted to destroy you ... I just wanted to share some thoughts. Cars are things I usually don't draw and so they are a really interesting subject for studying to me.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2012, 01:58:41 pm by Cyangmou »
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Offline tim

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #10 on: December 19, 2012, 02:07:28 am
I think a bit of perspective would make it more interesting.
Look at this very easy worklow to rotate something :



The result :



If you put them in the same space, you can really feel the difference :
« Last Edit: December 19, 2012, 03:04:48 am by tim »
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Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #11 on: December 23, 2012, 11:41:14 pm
This is a WIP rough replication of Cyangmou's edit:



I want to keep the original design of the frame around the front tire (tire cut-off at the top). But I need to figure out the shading for that part.

Thanks for the great input tim, I might use your method somewhere else. Really useful.

For this very game it's problematic, because in it the car will move in a straight horizontal line. I could work with a slight orthographic perspective, but I don't think I can execute it at this point of my life.

Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #12 on: January 02, 2013, 09:14:34 pm
Ok, finally got to finish this, more or less:



I was pretty much confused by the tire work, since that part is particularly awesome and out of my league at this point, so it's for the most part blind replication. In other areas I hope it was replication with understanding. I pertained some of the shapes and distances out of my own preference. Overall, I would be completely helpless without Cyangmou's help.

Hopefully I can exploit this process when working on a new model from scratch, starting right now.

If something should be fixed on the latest rendition on this model, please, it will be appreciate. I will mostly likely return to it from time to time with occasional nitpicks.

Offline tim

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #13 on: January 03, 2013, 02:32:07 am
For the wheels, to understand Cyangmou's edit, you need to understand what you're drawing. It's not "out of your league", it's just that you're probably not trained enough and don't have the right way of thinking. You're not drawing shapes here (like you did at the beginning), you need to draw how the light is going around the shapes, which is very different.
This is the most common plague I can see on pixel art : people just fill each different part with a different color, without emulating light, without emulating the look of the different materials.

So, how to draw the light going in the wheel ? It's not that hard if you use photos and start to think about it :

• Because the wheels are under the car's body, they don't receive light on their upper part : so add a shadow.
• Paint the metal reflection of the wheel rim : which means variations of grey inside a shape, instead of one grey like you did.
• Add some specularity using well-placed bright pixels. This helps a lot to sell the metallic look.
• Also, the tires needed to be darker.

When you are in doubt, always do some research and use photos as references for shading and lighting your elements.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2013, 05:01:23 pm by tim »
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Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #14 on: January 04, 2013, 04:48:12 pm
Thanks, tim. As you said in another thread, proper workflow is the key. Lessons are being learned.

Anyway, finally got to start another car model, after losing my work yesterday (luckily outlines preserved), I had to redo it, and the results aren't half band:

Outline reference:


Shapes/shading reference:


Current WIP:


Pointers are more than welcome. The outline around the frame above tire is confusing me...one lighter shade defining another ligther or?

« Last Edit: January 04, 2013, 04:54:22 pm by Lachie Dazdarian »

Offline Cyangmou

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #15 on: January 04, 2013, 08:06:49 pm
This car looks a lot better than your last try. and the focus of your issues moved a bit.
You also added alreay some nice details, like the door handles.

It looks rather good as a whole, but if you compare it more in detail with the reference a lot of detail issues appear.

You have by far less jaggies in the sprite, however some inconsistent lines can be found over the whole sprite, try to get rid of them. Also at the bottom it doesn't really make sense that you don't use a straight line there.

The other big problem you have is banding. nearly all areas around the windows, the bottom line and the line above and at some other places the sprite suffers heavily from it.

And because those are both sprites for the same game, you should be consistent with some details, like the transparency/lighting of the windows. Use the same colors/technique like in the last sprite, to achieve a style.

I am not confident about the tonal alues of the yellows, the contrast could be a bit higher, to emphasize the metallic effect.



In detail there are quite some planes which are off in their angles, i filled up some of these areas with red in your sprite.
You also don't added the front windscreen, which could add a lot if it'd be there.
the magenta area is heavily off in proportions
the blue areas could need some work for detailling
at the top of the cyan area you can see a disconnected line, this looks strange.


The area you pointed out looks imo like a conical panel, or at least I'd shade it like this. The light gray areas there look indeed strange. Is the reference a photo or a 3d render? I suppose it's a render and 3D programs aren't as exact with lighting like nature a photo is a much bette rreference for tonal relationships.

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Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #16 on: January 04, 2013, 11:04:38 pm
Thanks for your suggestions. Very useful. Already continued working on it before your post, and quite some of your suggestions I implementing before reading your post. Out of some other changes you did not mention, I increased the height by one pixel, because a lot of stuff is going on the top of the car and I needed more space there. That is also the case in the original as well.

Anyway, ...

Old:

New (still WIP, but close to it):


Still the part above tires is bothering me. Would I ask too much if I would ask your edit only of that specific detail (above the car)?
Yeah, I think that reference image is computer rendered.

Anyway, the new model side by side the first model:


Edit: Uh, forgot that I break a straight line on the bottom of the front-side window. Will fix it.

Edit: Maybe a better shading reference:



Chevrolet Aveo 4 doors Sedan, BTW.

Edit:

Another rendition:
-->
« Last Edit: January 05, 2013, 03:16:19 pm by Lachie Dazdarian »

Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #17 on: January 10, 2013, 11:22:40 pm
Working on a 3rd model, Dacia Duster.



Refrences:



Can't seem to get it right. Uh, would love to see an edit, on either model 2 or 3, by someone more proficient.

Offline Chris2balls

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #18 on: January 11, 2013, 05:03:59 pm
Hey there Lachie,

I thought I'd try to help. I don't usually draw cars but this reminded me how difficult it can be.
For now you've got quite a few jagged lines, and the way you shaded the car ages it badly (reminds me of a '70s paintjob). If you look at the finish of the Duster in your ref, it's really shiny-not only that, but smooth too. Making smooth gradients isn't obvious when you want to avoid dithering and banding.

Here's my edit:

My clusters could be better, but I hope you get the idea...
I think you're going the right way with small highlights and small areas of shading, it'll avoid you having to do complicated shading: it's all about edges and getting the right shape for the clusters to convey volume (thinking of the back lights and wheel areas).

Keep going! :)
« Last Edit: January 11, 2013, 06:52:05 pm by Chris2balls »
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Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #19 on: January 13, 2013, 10:47:44 pm
Thanks Chris. This was very useful color-wise.

Trying to reboot my coloring, but stumbling over.



To be honest, I posted a wrong photo of the car. Well, not wrong. It was mean to illustrate the shapes, not the light source. But you did a great job pixeling that specific light source. Only, it confused me a bit as my light source is sorta center-top. Well, my fault. Basically, I'm trying to replicate this light source:



Continuing my battle with the 3rd model.

2nd model updated:

Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #20 on: January 20, 2013, 07:22:30 pm
Gah, this can be so discouraging sometimes.

3rd model, still WIP, struggling with it, using multiple references, with conflicting lighting.



Anything easily fixed or?

All three models, side by side:



All comments/critics are welcomed.

EDIT:
more messing
« Last Edit: January 20, 2013, 09:57:58 pm by Lachie Dazdarian »

Offline rafal345

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #21 on: January 21, 2013, 07:09:10 pm
these may have too many shades for you but the're perfect reference for lighting. not made by me
http://i.imagebanana.com/img/4izwq2ng/proszeuzywacwszystkey.PNG
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/4337/audirs4b5.png
this one has cartoon proportions and less shades

google manga cars or pixel cars to find specific forums, I won't advertise

Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #22 on: January 26, 2013, 12:43:16 am
Thanks, but I'm aware of the work from http://www.pixelcarart.com/ , and while it is useful in some details, I find it constricting for what I'm trying to do.

Anyway, more progress on the 3rd model, but still can't get the front part right. Maybe I need to rethink it once more. Slow, but rewarding process. Hope I'm learning something...

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #23 on: January 26, 2013, 01:11:53 am
It seems like you're having trouble with the front of your cars. For the truck I would probably ditch the lighter part in the back and just shade it more solidly. It looks like pillow shading atm.

The blue car has an even worse problem with the front, though. Look at it again. It seems you have a mix of perspectives going on there; something between a full side view and a slightly skewed view, like you couldn't decide what to choose?

Offline rafal345

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #24 on: January 26, 2013, 11:23:51 am
Thanks, but I'm aware of the work from http://www.pixelcarart.com/ , and while it is useful in some details, I find it constricting for what I'm trying to do.

I didn't mean to follow all rules of pixelcars, but lighting should be the same if light source is above the car ;)

Offline Lachie Dazdarian

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #25 on: January 26, 2013, 11:29:13 am
I was trying to say that most cars there have the same basic shape, so when a newbie like me is faced with slightly different shapes and proprotions...he is lost. :)

Dr_D, I think Berlinetta 1960 is pretty much right, regarding the shape. Check out the blueprint, or this image:

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Re: Pixel car(s) (WIP)

Reply #26 on: January 26, 2013, 10:54:30 pm
This is the part I'm referring to:



And to be honest, the blueprint looks odd in the same way. The actual car doesn't look like that.

 I can see how it might be required to connect the windshield to the front of the car. But the shading you've employed makes it look like a separate plane.