AuthorTopic: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section  (Read 60231 times)

Offline miascugh

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READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

on: August 27, 2008, 06:40:02 pm
The focus of these boards clearly has been on the practice we very specifically defined and know as Pixel Art since they were founded back in 2002, with strong roots in low-end graphics of the days of lore. However, as the techniques involved in Pixel Art could witness a modest renaissance with the emergence of more and more capable hand-held systems which put Pixelation in the fortunate position to offer the expertise of its members to artists seeking to work professionally too, the development of these devices has long surpassed the necessity of Pixel Art. Color-depth and resolution have significantly improved, as have capabilities in terms of gimmickery that can be applied. And with the progress technology made, so did the artists involved in this branch. It only suggests itself to widen our scope of interest to new techniques that still remain within the same vein as Pixel Art, and possibly even have emerged from it.

So what to post in this section?
Anything goes that purposefully was created for low resolutions and tries to make best use of its given restrictions. Low-poly is just as welcome as skillfully reduced or pre-rendered graphics, as well as anything you might find on hand-helds from GUIs to gfx. Show us how you can make best use of whatever be your equipment of choice to cater for those low-spec devices. Tell us your tricks to ensure readability at lower resolutions while adequately tapping the true potential of the respective system, or how to use state-of-the-art software like 3DSmax, Photoshop or After Effects purposefully.

This is a test-run of the new section to see if it proves to be a legitimate extension to the old forums.

Have fun! Show off what you've learned!

EDIT: Feel free to post questions and make suggestions for this section HERE!
I will try to modify this introduction accordingly if there is anything unclear.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2008, 07:02:10 pm by miascugh »

Offline Hyrule_SwordsMan

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #1 on: August 27, 2008, 09:18:40 pm
is there any program to make easy low poly human-shape models?
i use sketchup from google for buildings (i can't unenable the AA) but its really hard to is it for human models.

thankss :]

Offline Eclipse

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #2 on: August 27, 2008, 09:21:36 pm
The best tools would be 3D Studio Max, or Maya. If you can afford those there are cheaper and even free alternatives. You can always check out Blender, which is free, or maybe try Milkshape3D, which is around 35 dollars I believe.

Offline AdamAtomic

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #3 on: August 28, 2008, 03:36:46 am
I use Wings3D and Blender for all my low poly models.  Both are free open-source apps.  I think Wings3D is very easy to use, but some people are awfully allergic to its non-interface.  Blender on the other hand has a completely insane interface (though no worse than max or maya).  Wings3D is nice for low poly because its tools are designed around subdivision modeling, which, long story short, means it has a bunch of really amazing tools for blocking out simple shapes very quickly (a la Sketchup - I actually have keyboard hotkeys in Wings to emulate some of Sketchup's functionality).

I've been meaning to do a low poly model tutorial using wings and blender, since they're free, and now that this forum exists I just might have the motivation to do that :D

Offline Akira

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #4 on: August 28, 2008, 07:12:33 am
I've been meaning to do a low poly model tutorial using wings and blender, since they're free, and now that this forum exists I just might have the motivation to do that :D

Please do.
thanks Dogmeat!

Offline madPXL

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #5 on: August 28, 2008, 08:17:43 am
I'm using 3Ds max for models and cosmigo promotion for textures.

Offline noiz_

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Question! (c)

Reply #6 on: August 28, 2008, 09:40:16 am
The techinque of using 3d prerenders as 2d sprites in games is not new, and most of the time, these are easily distinguishable by their specific 3d-look. E.g.: Pulstar, Mars Matrix.
But I've been always wondering how Cave (Progear, ESP Rade, Guwange...) does it.
The graphics in these games of their, while certainly being prerendered (or so I heard?..), just look so pixel art.

Offline AlexHW

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #7 on: August 28, 2008, 02:14:11 pm
for 3d work, it might be a good practice to share the 3d file and texture file so others can get a more hands on approach with their critiques.. otherwise people are left to only looking at it.. this is simply a suggestion, not a requirement.

Offline ptoing

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Re: Question! (c)

Reply #8 on: August 28, 2008, 03:51:29 pm
The techinque of using 3d prerenders as 2d sprites in games is not new, and most of the time, these are easily distinguishable by their specific 3d-look. E.g.: Pulstar, Mars Matrix.
But I've been always wondering how Cave (Progear, ESP Rade, Guwange...) does it.
The graphics in these games of their, while certainly being prerendered (or so I heard?..), just look so pixel art.

I would say that all of the prerenderd Cave stuff still looks prerendered, but most of it (and in new games pretty much all of it) is done with taste. I think it has to do with the lighting a lot at which the models are rendered. Cave uses quite subtle lighting, whereas in Mars Matrix you have lots of highlights and such. Also I am sure that Cave cleans up afterwards with whatever program they use. Oh also, for prerendered sprites you should use untextured stuff, because textures would just fuzz things up.
There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.

Offline Eclipse

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #9 on: August 28, 2008, 04:00:51 pm
for 3d work, it might be a good practice to share the 3d file and texture file so others can get a more hands on approach with their critiques.. otherwise people are left to only looking at it.. this is simply a suggestion, not a requirement.

The biggest problem with doing this is that others can and might take parts of it and call it their own. While no self respecting artist ever would, that doesn't mean others won't. It's a risk, especially if your work is quality. And since the ripper has the model and skin, it can look more legitimate to the people they are trying to fool.

Offline ter-o

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #10 on: August 28, 2008, 04:09:45 pm
The biggest problem with doing this is that others can and might take parts of it and call it their own. While no self respecting artist ever would, that doesn't mean others won't. It's a risk, especially if your work is quality. And since the ripper has the model and skin, it can look more legitimate to the people they are trying to fool.

But it's worth the "risk" for the good of the community. I wouldn't be too worried about ripping, coz in the end it will always backfire at the ripper itself. I still haven't seen a ripper who've gained anything in a long run. If they use it for applying a job, the ripper's lack of skill will be apparent in no time etc.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2008, 04:11:19 pm by ter-o »
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Offline Conzeit

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #11 on: August 28, 2008, 09:50:22 pm
maybe we should declare anything posted here is in a creative commons innitiative for the sake of education?

think about it, the risk here would be the same thing as with the sprites, people HAVE taken a bunch of pixelation sprites and put them up in their page as if they were their own before

Offline ptoing

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #12 on: August 28, 2008, 11:13:58 pm
I am not for that tho, everyone should decide under what kinda copyright they want their stuff.
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Offline Squiggly_P

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #13 on: August 29, 2008, 01:48:52 am
I don't know if there are that many services out there for realtime 3D on the web, but one way to get a more in-depth level of scrutiny for critiques would be to use a service that would allow people to see your model / animation loop in realtime in the browser.  Since this is geared towards a low-spec sort of hardware, I don't think performance of a 3D java or flash applet would be impacted that greatly by the detail in the models.

This way people could see the model, rotate it around, maybe see a looping animation if there's one available, and even check out the wires and shaded and unshaded versions.  I know there are some sites that are trying to be "like youtube, but for 3D objects" type of sites.  perhapse embedding one of those (if that's possible) might be a servicable alternative to distributing the actual files.  it would probably aid in file-format issues.  You'd probably end up with people asking constantly how to open 3ds files in whatever app all the time if youu started distributing the files.  I think it would be best to avoid as much as possible the software-specific issues that tend to pop up on a lot of 3D sites.

Anyway, I'll do some googling and see if I can suggest a service as well.  I've always been more deeply involved in 3D modeling and animation than pixel art, and I'll probably make more use of this section than any other section in here, now, as far as posting goes.  This could destroy my lurker status.

Offline ptoing

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #14 on: August 29, 2008, 02:03:24 am
I know a guy who coded a java or flash or something .obj viewer. I think you just had to throw stuff into a folder where the applet was and it would work. I will ask him if he has it available for download somewhere, so people who have an own webspace will be able to use it. I am sure he will give it out.
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Offline GMRK

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #15 on: October 26, 2008, 10:26:04 am
is there any program to make easy low poly human-shape models?
i use sketchup from google for buildings (i can't unenable the AA) but its really hard to is it for human models.

thankss :]

Hello all.

I've lurked here for while, this is my first post.

For human figures a good place to start for source meshes is Make Human:

http://www.makehuman.org/blog/index.php?post=s1210243808
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MakeHuman

I think there is a degree of control over polycounts but it's at least a good starting point to create a mesh which can be used as a template or reduced and optimised itself.

There are also many good threads on CGTalk, esp. Steven Hägg-Ståhlberg's body topolgy discussion, again not necessarily for low poly modelling itself but a good starting point for producing human forms in 3D:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=108412

Hope this provides some help.

« Last Edit: November 04, 2008, 09:25:47 am by GMRK »

Offline Conzeit

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #16 on: November 05, 2008, 03:40:11 am
I found something interesting on that issue of creative commons, it's a license that I think pretty much fits one on one with art-forum netiquette...something to think about.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

it allows to remix (I am thinking of edits for crits here), You must credit however the artist wants you to, you CANNOT make money off of it, and if you share it you must use a compatible license.

I want to clarify that if you want to share it in a different way, the artist can give you the consent to do it however you want...

I couldnt see the harm in doing that in a webforum, since that is pretty much what goes on and what people automatically expect.

Offline Jakten

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #17 on: June 09, 2009, 04:42:03 pm
I was looking for some reference for mega man legends characters, I wanted to see how they went about making them. Then I got to wondering if anyone knew of a resource page similar to the game sprite archives only for 3D models. I've seen lots of people rip models from games so i wouldn't be surprised to see one.

Also ptoing, did you ever manage to find out if that guy had an .obj viewer we could use? I think that would be really neat.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2009, 04:46:06 pm by Jakten »

Offline .TakaM

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #18 on: December 23, 2009, 10:51:58 am
Anyone else thinking this section should maybe be renamed to "Non Pixel Art"? We're getting a lot of amazing stuff in this section that isn't exactly low spec.
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Offline Elk

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #19 on: December 23, 2009, 11:25:47 am
Should rename it to "No Pixelnazi's Welcomed" :O
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Offline Jad

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #20 on: December 23, 2009, 10:05:13 pm
Anyone else thinking this section should maybe be renamed to "Non Pixel Art"? We're getting a lot of amazing stuff in this section that isn't exactly low spec.

Mmmmnah, not presently. Things are still conforming to some kind of low-spec logic, with low-res graphics ala PS1 abe's odyssey and stuff like that (and the occasional lowpoly 3d). We're not getting huge digipaintings and stuff, and we don't want that here either, so I don't see the point of changing the section name to something that's basically "ALL ART THAT'S NOT PIXEL ART" - I think this section is beginning to show its potential ' 3 ';,
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Offline ilkke

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #21 on: April 14, 2010, 09:17:00 am
I've been meaning to do a low poly model tutorial using wings and blender, since they're free, and now that this forum exists I just might have the motivation to do that :D
:y:
i

Offline SirPrize

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Re: READ FIRST! - Introduction to the new section

Reply #22 on: May 22, 2010, 06:06:44 pm
Quick question.
Which program has a good mouse control? I tried Wings3D and couldn't grasp the concept of manipulating cubes and geometry to make a model.
I was hoping to find something that would allow me to free hand create models polygon by polygon, prehaps I don't understand how ot control this program properly to get it to do this?