I was wondering whats the theoretical process of making the building art thats in Rise Of Nations? Is a building modeleed in an app like 3ds Max and then rendered and used? Or would there be touch up done in Photoshop? Also someone said in anothe post that the images are flattened and then rendered. How is something flattened?

I haven''t played Rise of Nations, but judging by the screenshots, I would guess that the buildings are modelled in 3D then rendered as 2D images. Typically, modelling/Photoshopping aren''t mutually exclusive. You can create textures with Photoshop, use them in your models, then touch-up and tweak the final images after rendering.

As far as "flattening", I honestly have no idea.

I know one artist who prefers to do just a basic model outline render in Blender (building a crude, blocky model then rendering it) and working from that with The Gimp to add detail and shading, etc... I''m personally not artistically inclined enough to go that way, so I try to do the bulk of my artwork as a 3D model, and only limited touching up, if any.

Hope this helps


Josh
vertexnormal AT email DOT com

Check out Golem at:
My cheapass website

I actually am artistically inclined, but my modelling skills are sub-par. I have hand drawn whole characters in isometric perspectives and they looked pretty good. But since I wish to make a map editor and have the ability to make a city I believe that a combination of 3d modelling and 2d retouching would be the way to go in my case. I have pretty much doing the same thing as you described with rendering primitves in 3d max and then adding detail in Photoshop. I was wondering what does Gimp offer that Photoshop does not have? Besides being free?

[edited by - wolfbane on August 5, 2003 5:36:42 PM]

quote: Original post by wolfbane
*snip*
I was wondering what does Gimp offer that Photoshop does not have? Besides being free?

[edited by - wolfbane on August 5, 2003 5:36:42 PM]

Nothing, really, except the Gimp runs on Linux, and Photoshop doesn''t. Featurwise, I believe Photoshop still edges out the Gimp in most respects.

I sometimes wish I had spent less time farting off in the back of the classroom during art class way back in high school, and more time learning how to draw and paint. I have all of these mental images of objects, creatures, and people that I would like to create and add to Golem, but it is frustrating when I end up with something that looks like nothing more than a blurry blob of random pixels. Learning to model is resolving the problem somewhat, but I still feel that lack of developed art skills is causing me no end of problems.


Josh
vertexnormal AT email DOT com

Check out Golem at:
My cheapass website

Flattening is a term often used in 2D image editors that allow you to work in different layers. Basically, you can apply different effects to your image in different layers without altering the original image. That way you can work on each layer independently while still being able to see the overall effect. And if you want to make changes, you can easily adjust just the offending layer without messing up your other effects. Then when you have the results you want you "flatten" the image, or combine all of the layers into one layer and save it out to file.

Hey VertexNormal I checked out the screens on your site an they were pretty good. I gather that you didnt do all the graphics but if you did the main char and the catus an the tourch an the wall then thats preety good for a non-artist.

quote: Original post by wolfbane
Hey VertexNormal I checked out the screens on your site an they were pretty good. I gather that you didnt do all the graphics but if you did the main char and the catus an the tourch an the wall then thats preety good for a non-artist.

Actually, I did all the graphics. With a lot of pain and toil and effort, anyway. I just wish I had greater art skills so that I could actually bring the images in my head to life in the game. Everything I try turns out strangely different and far less magnificent than it appeared in my head.

I dunno, maybe I''m just a whiny bitch.



Josh
vertexnormal AT email DOT com

Check out Golem at:
My cheapass website

Read the Postmortem at Gamasutra. They used 3D Studio Max. The artists used primative shapes and modeled them into objects. They used Photoshop for 2D elements.

Scott Simontis
Big Joke: C#