AuthorTopic: [WIP][C+C] Star Trek bridge  (Read 6389 times)

Offline 128K

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[WIP][C+C] Star Trek bridge

on: December 28, 2015, 01:03:22 am
Hi everyone! Although I'm new to making pixel art, I'm working on a Star Trek pixel art webcomic set in the era of the original series, using Pixen on OS X. The first set piece I'm working on is the bridge of the main ship of the series, which is about 2/3 the size of the Enterprise but has the same kind of style. I'm working first on the "command pit", which is the sunken part in the middle where the captain and helm officer sit. It's done in a cabinet projection rather than pure isometric, but as with isometric pixel art the angle is 26.565° rather than 30° to make the lines less jaggy. The bridge is of course circular, so getting the curves right was a bit of a pain. And while they're not exactly right, I think it looks good enough to trick the eye into feeling right. There's a little bit of perspective forced on some of the elements, most notably the railings, but most of it is just straight cabinet projection.

Right now I'm at the point where I'm starting to add some dithering and antialiasing to get rid of banding and jaggies, which is where I'm having a little bit of trouble. Here's what I've got so far:



At (1.), you can see where I started adding dithering underneath the 'lip'. Even though that particular panel is going to be covered by stairs, I started working there to get a feel for dithering. I'm not sure if I did it "right", but at 100% it looks good enough to my eyes to be a convincing dropshadow. The problem is that, as I started working on the angled part at (2.), the dithering seems really off to me. Am I just second-guessing myself, or is there a way I could do it better? And how is the dithering at (1.)?

You can also see that I started adding some antialiasing at (2.), but I'm pretty uncertain about if I'm doing that right or not. It seems like there's just a lot of trial and error involved, but I feel like there should be a "system" to it that makes it easier to get right on the first try. Is that just something that comes with practise? How does the antialiasing look to you?

Here's some images I've been using as reference as I work on the piece:




Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. :)

Offline 128K

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Re: [WIP][C+C] Star Trek bridge

Reply #1 on: December 29, 2015, 10:56:39 am
Worked on it a little bit more. Thoughts?

Offline 128K

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Re: [WIP][C+C] Star Trek bridge

Reply #2 on: December 30, 2015, 12:15:56 am
Little more progress. I did some antialiasing on the outer edge of the lip on the segment I'm currently working on, which I think looks decent. I can't figure out how to do it for the steps at (1.), though. And at (2.), I can't seem to get rid of the steppiness no matter what I try. It's kind of turning into a mess, I think. What am I getting wrong?

Offline 128K

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Re: [WIP][C+C] Star Trek bridge

Reply #3 on: December 30, 2015, 03:08:06 pm
Decided to re-do the dithering. I think I'm getting the hang of it now. Also did antialiasing along the rim. How's it looking now?

Offline 128K

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Re: [WIP][C+C] Star Trek bridge

Reply #4 on: May 28, 2017, 10:16:55 am
Sorry it's been awhile! I ended up changing from a cabinet projection to just a straight-on side view. Also, stylistically, I decided against antialiasing, but still made use of dithering. The proportions are a little bit off to accommodate the sprites, which are more on the chibi side.



Also, I whipped up a floorplan of the bridge which I used as a reference when creating the bridge art:

« Last Edit: May 28, 2017, 10:21:57 am by 128K »