Pixelling reflective windows

[Dusty]

I've been doing some urban pixelling -- buildings and such, and have come to windows. Normally I shade them with bland streak highlights, but I'm so tired of that. Does anyone have any good references as to how I can pixel windows that look lively and nice, without using the boring highlighted streaks?

[ptoing]

If it's skyscrapers you can pixel silhouettes of other buildings and sky reflections on the. that works pretty well if done right.

[Dusty]

If it's skyscrapers you can pixel silhouettes of other buildings and sky reflections on the. that works pretty well if done right.

Well, it's more for just like an apartment building, so essentially normal windows. I was thinking something like a horizon but I couldn't think up anything that would look nice(at least when I tried to pixel it). I do agree though that some sort of silhouette may look nice if I could get one working without it needing to work dynamically. However, I could maybe make it semi-dynamic, via a parallax strolling of sorts, if I could construct a background that would look nice like that.

Here are some examples... they don't make much sense and were just really random experiments. None very successful, obviously:

[Larwick]

I really like the stone texture you've got going there.

Why have the windows like some sort of opaque shiny surface atall? Why not show what's behind them?
From looking at references it seems to me that the actual reflective properties of the windows on these buildings shouldn't be the only priority. Should help to break things up a bit and add a bit of interest.



It doesn't have to be too complicated, blinds, curtains or pictureframes for instance.

Apologies if you were planning on doing this anyway.

[Dusty]

Thanks ...Well I was going to have some with blinds/curtains, but I don't want to actually fill them with content. From a pixel standpoint I think I'd go insane trying to creatively fill each window with something, and from a viewer standpoint I worry that it would get busy and distracting. There's also the issue of most 2D games never being proportional. It is usually passed off because you are either inside or outside... but if you have a comparison right there in the window, it would look really weird.

The more I look at the piece though I am picturing it, so I may try it out... no harm, right? After all this is a mock-up so I'm not working under much limitation other than my own sanity. My only worry is I want to eventually submit the final mock-up to PixelJoint, and I'd be tempted to use some layers with alpha and such on the windows.

[Zoggles]

As much as they are both great photos showing what *can* be done to windows, I'm not sure the viewpoint is all that relevant to the 3/4 view of the piece in question seeming as you are looking down not up. I guess you'ld really be seeing the grass/gound in the reflected windows instead of sky, but I'm not sure how weird that would look.



or

http://www.wealddown.co.uk/images%20historic%20building/market_square_aerial_view.jpg
http://www.theplancollection.com/house-plans-images/aa/elev_lr544502351_1000.jpg
http://www.planetware.com/i/photo/washington-white-house-presidents-park-washington-d-c-dcwh2.jpg
http://www.planetware.com/i/photo/palace-of-holyrood-house-edinburgh-sco531.jpg

Probably better other example images out there, but these were from a quick google image search for 'aerial view house'

-Z-

[Dusty]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Aerial shots do provide the angle I want, but they're also so far away that windows tend to not show the detail I'm needing. However, I hadn't googled that specifically so I will definitely look into that.

Here is what I came up with so far experimenting. Decorations were just thrown together for variation... not sure if this is starting to qualify as a critique thread, so I'll leave that to the mods.