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Name:	Apparatus
Date Posted:	Jun 24, 2008
Rating:	4.8 out of 5
Public:	YES
Comments:	YES
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Blog post

A massive wave of heat hit my country and the past 2 days I couldn't do much but pray for a breeze. So I sat and put in a mission example the environment pack models I have been working on. To be honest, I think I would like to re-edit some of the stuff here, in particular the trees - a full fledged pack with all kinds of trees; and when I say all kind I mean this: in a (type of) forest you see large trees; various sizes and shapes; but then there's the smaller guys, the branches and everything else that makes the forest such a cool place (eh); in a couple of shots is visible how a group of trees just 'stand' on bare soil and that is not pleasant to the eye. To make my point, most of the stuff that touches the ground in this pack / level / mission has some grass around; for this I made a special billboard model (since the foliage fx works only on relative large areas.Anyway, maybe I should've kept only a few, I like all of them : )

Here they are:

edit:removed duplicate

Recent Blog Posts

List:	12/10/08 - Textures Pack Down 12/09/08 - Materials Bazaar ~ Metals Library release 12/07/08 - Materials Bazaar (II) update 12/03/08 - Materials Bazaar (I) 12/03/08 - TGEA Environment Guide 11/04/08 - Kork 2.0, halted work 09/24/08 - Constructor Pipeline (I) 09/23/08 - Interior Guide Pack Free Download

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Zach Gipson (Jun 24, 2008 at 05:38 GMT)

It looks really great. It's one thing to look at a bunch of pictures but I bet it's quite another to actually look at it in game. I bet it's beautiful.

Apparatus (Jun 24, 2008 at 06:08 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

I am making a video tonight or the next day, and then indeed, with sounds and particles flying around it really comes to life.

Jacob Poulette (Jun 24, 2008 at 06:47 GMT) Resource Rating: 4

As always Apparatus you work looks amazing. Now I need to get around to doing stuff again :)

J.C. Smith (Jun 24, 2008 at 07:00 GMT)

Gorgeous work man.

Taylor Petrick (Jun 24, 2008 at 07:09 GMT)

That is just amazing! It reminds me of the promo screenshots on the Hero Engine website. Great job man, keep up the good work!

Daz (Jun 24, 2008 at 08:04 GMT)

I love your work man. Awesome!

Leslie Young (Jun 24, 2008 at 08:31 GMT)

Another one of your packs I'll be sure to buy. this is looking really good.

Michael (silentMike) Hall (Jun 24, 2008 at 09:39 GMT)

Awesome! Those screenies look so natural and environmental :)

Leroy Frederick (Jun 24, 2008 at 10:45 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Why only 4, it' looks gorgeous :-D

Andy Hawkins (Jun 24, 2008 at 11:52 GMT)

Looks totally amazing! Some of them could be paintings :)

Apparatus (Jun 24, 2008 at 12:02 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Andy - well that's maybe because I spend 80% of the time on looking for camera angles and lighting of the scene? and also because I used to be a traditional painter? :)
@all - thanks!

Morrock (Jun 24, 2008 at 12:15 GMT)

Damn. That has to be an amazing place to frag someone in. Of course, other people would find other uses for that wouldn't they. And are those detail maps I see on some of that scenery? :-D
Edited on Jun 24, 2008 12:16 GMT

Apparatus (Jun 24, 2008 at 12:43 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

yes Morrock those are detail maps complete with tiling and secondary texture for detail : )

Craig Fortune (Jun 24, 2008 at 12:56 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Apparatus: Fantastic work! Your stuff is always amazing but this is just 100% pure awesome. Still all done with XSI I hope ;)

Out of sheer curiosity, could you put up a few similar screenshots of this scene without the detail maps? I'm interested on how the recent fixes look on a scene-wide rather than single object perspective.

Apparatus (Jun 24, 2008 at 13:08 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Craig - sure, will put some examples with/without dmaps later on (heading to town now); yes, modeling was made in XSI (I am a long time xsi user, since version 3.5); trees were exported from maya (simply because I like how png's are drawn on screen as opposed to max) and the rest from Max (detail maps can work from max only - as far as I tested); if only xsi had support for transparency (tge user here)...

actually the dmaps have 2 values here really; if you can afford more stuff in your mission, more texture resolution, the detail maps only add a nice layer on the model, just like in photoshop; in combo with custom ambient light (w i suggest to everyone) the results could be stunning; on the other hand, if your mission/game is limited a bit, you could use the detail maps for the initial scope - adding detail easy upon low resolution texturesl.

crap, i hope i wasn;t too confusing, sometimes my english is kinda lumpy :)
Edited on Jun 24, 2008 13:11 GMT

Tom Spilman (Jun 24, 2008 at 15:29 GMT)

Quote:
and also because I used to be a traditional painter?

It shows... the color composition in these scenes are perfect. Great job!

Rubes (Jun 24, 2008 at 16:00 GMT)

I love when people complain about TGE's graphics being far out of date.

Deborah Marshall (Jun 24, 2008 at 16:35 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

So pretty. Makes me yearn for the weekend so I can go take a hike now that the summertime weather has kicked in.

And anyone who knows the word "lumpy" in context has fantastic English. ^_^

Eric Fritz (Jun 24, 2008 at 16:42 GMT)

Or a bike ride, right Deborah? ;-)

Fantastic work as always Apparatus!

Affectworks (Jun 24, 2008 at 19:59 GMT)

Gorgeous work.

Fredrik S

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