AuthorTopic: Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss  (Read 2679 times)

Offline Vinik

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Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss

on: August 21, 2018, 05:29:53 am

Mystery Meat gave me this idea in the slime thread some time ago to have my slime minion contained in a glass jar, so I tried to make it the boss of the level :). Minion for size reference, maybe it would look better one-eyed to match:

I've tried and failed to render a glass sphere around a opaque content, so currently I only have a cross section rim. I am globally using front light, but here I feel it is necessary to change that because centered highlights would hardly read as glassy shines i think?  I also might have stared at curved glasses a bit too long and they are all around the house.

Any pointers on where to begin with this would be very much appreciated as always

Offline yrizoud

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Re: Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss

Reply #1 on: August 21, 2018, 07:17:26 am
I'd try a round white highlight, in order to give the illusion of glass surface. Hopefully it won't be confused with an eye.

Offline eishiya

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Re: Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss

Reply #2 on: August 21, 2018, 01:38:15 pm
The minion looks lit from above, so lighting the boss from above sounds like a good option, and would give you appealing highlights on the glass.
I think the glass might feel more glassy being less thick. You can (and probably should!) also add distortions of the creature towards the edges, since glass bends light, and curved glass bends light a lot. The thicker the glass, the stronger the distortions, and glass this thick might distort the creature's shape beyond recognition. There can also be interior reflections around the edges.
You can find some reference images for this by looking up snow globes (especially if the sphere is filled with fluid rather than air; greater distortions) and "sphere terrarium" (plants, etc growing in glass spheres; especially appropriate if the sphere is filled with air rather than fluid; more subtle distortions due to the air and thinner glass).

Offline Vinik

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Re: Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss

Reply #3 on: August 21, 2018, 03:24:10 pm
Thanks eishiya, those are killer search keywords for references. The glass was thinner, I tried to make it thinker to avoid involuntary banding because tight concentric circles band pretty bad. I just realized how much there is to learn about glass, specially spherical glass, this will likely take a while.

@Yriwoud, I think the best approach to do that is to have a rounded highlight like you said but use composite alpha while indexed to the palette, so I can have the creature forms "seen through" the bright highlights, as clusters of different light shades.

Edit: I keep seeing this pattern faintly reflected on a lot of references, it is surely the photographer's room, the interior of a cube like form reflected on the sphere, so I think something like that would be about right for a rectangular boss room, only that the central "squircle" would be the reflection of the roof instead of a wall because it is topdown-ish, and shortened/larger sides should be reversed(?):
« Last Edit: August 21, 2018, 04:10:00 pm by Vinik »

Offline eishiya

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Re: Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss

Reply #4 on: August 21, 2018, 04:17:46 pm
If you add reflections, you should be able to make even thin glass visible without any banding, because the reflections won't be a bunch of solid circles :] Depending on the environment, you might also not need the outlines on the glass (they're so light that they probably don't really work as anything but banding anyway).

Here's a quick edit with thinner glass and some refractions and reflections to hopefully give you some alternate ideas:

(I hastily thinned the glass, so it's not quite a circle, whoops!)

Edit: Reflecting the room like that would be cool if the boss is completely static. However, it also puts a highlight right in the creature's face ):
« Last Edit: August 21, 2018, 04:20:17 pm by eishiya »

Offline Vinik

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Re: Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss

Reply #5 on: August 21, 2018, 07:09:29 pm
That is a awesome, for instance, making the color of the content flood the insides of the glass extrusions was something I had not considered but is natural, and making the bright border one pixel thin without any aa also seems super effective :y: Thank you, I have a clear goal now ;D

Offline Vinik

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Re: Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss

Reply #6 on: August 22, 2018, 03:56:27 am
Eh, it is messy and there is a lot to clean up, but its a start, thank you very much. Tried an underlight/reflection, can still use decent hard highlights, but it somewhat a glassy ball now.

I can tell I'll spend way too much time on this lol

Offline pistachio

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Re: Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss

Reply #7 on: August 22, 2018, 11:24:12 am
That's progress there. You've taken a lot from eishiya's edit (glass). This is good, and the latest result almost aces it. Almost, because you can scribble in some small highlight in there. If/when slime-guy moves but the highlight is static this will be more obvious I think.

No edits on my side, just 2 cents for future reference:
When you struggle with a complex material priority #1 is to abstract it, make it read. And consider for example use cases, what background it is seen in, how it functions, is it animated?

Don't overthink at the outset. Pondering over room reflections in post #3 is an example of overthinking. Fantastic that you're studying physics of light, a backend of useful knowledge informs and improves results, but probably won't be seen here, especially because it's stylized. The ultimate question is: will it blend work?
« Last Edit: August 22, 2018, 11:32:13 am by pistachio »

Offline eishiya

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Re: Here goes a slime-in-a-jar boss

Reply #8 on: August 22, 2018, 03:12:17 pm
Looking good! Your big reflection at the bottom looks a lot better than mine :D
Seconding pistachio re: abstraction. Understanding what it is you're drawing is important, but ultimately what matters is whether you communicate the right idea to the viewer, and realism/accuracy is not always the best approach.

I see you added a pale cool green to use as AA. It's not bad, but unless that colour was already in your palette for other things, I think it's unnecessary, since it's only used as AA and has a value almost identical to the existing light warm green.