CrazyBump = Better, Faster Art

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Prairie Games   (Jan 28, 2008 at 16:34 GMT)

Dinosaurs Rules!

Kory James   (Jan 28, 2008 at 17:00 GMT)

The model looks amazing, how many polys is your model? I been using crazybump for a couple of months and this is a perfect normal specular map and ambient occlusion map creator.

Russell Fincher   (Jan 28, 2008 at 17:11 GMT)

That model has about 8,000 polys and 2048x2048 diffuse/specular and normal maps. I've been using Zbrush for a week or two and I'm amazed at how fun it is to model in once you get used to it. Also, painting diffuse maps in Zbrush (or at least to create a starting point) is another huge step in art creation for me. Saves a ton of work.

Really, I think CrazyBump's greatest asset is the ability to easily make fake ambient occlusion maps from normal maps. It really adds to the sense of realism when added into the diffuse texture. In this model in particular, the specular map helped a great deal, too. I can't imagine how I could have made a specular map that covered only the raised portions of the scales any other way that easily.
Edited on Jan 28, 2008 17:38 GMT

Taylor Petrick   (Jan 28, 2008 at 18:21 GMT)

Crazy Bump rocks. I use it to create a Normal and Displacement map, then merge the two together in GIMP. This creates a parallax-like affect. I'm not sure how to bake specularity/occlusion into a diffuse texture, though.

That dinosaur looks awsome by the way!

Ed Johnson   (Jan 28, 2008 at 18:28 GMT)

Zbrush is amazing, TGEA is amazing, your combining them.... amazing!
I'm at a loss for words! :O

*Downloads and installs this*

Russell Fincher   (Jan 28, 2008 at 19:30 GMT)

@ Taylor - for baking the ambient occlusion into the diffuse texture, I just dropped it into a layer above my diffuse texture (in Photoshop), changed its layer mode to Multiply, and pulled back the transparency on that layer. Baked-in ambient occlusion! You can tweak the color of that layer if you want your shadows a little cooler in color.

The specular wasn't baked in, just left in the diffuse alpha channel so it can do its job in-game.

Phil Carlisle   (Jan 28, 2008 at 19:39 GMT)

Nice Dino Russ!

Ben Acord   (Jan 28, 2008 at 21:02 GMT)

@Russell - Would you mind posting the FPS for those shots? I'm not a TGEA owner and am very interested into how it performs with these newer texture types.

Tom Spilman   (Jan 28, 2008 at 21:27 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

@Ben - This isn't meant to run on the average PC. Our target machine is a 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad with an Nvidia 8800GT. We're using an extremely early version of Torque2 with our own custom TerrainBlock renderer. With that in mind... this scene is running at 270fps for us.

Joseph *Nailo* Rick   (Jan 28, 2008 at 22:13 GMT)   Resource Rating: 4

I just toyed with this using very, very, simple textures.....I have to say that this is a wonderful improvement to the tools list, and a must have. Only real thing I'd like to see is the ability to adjust the size of the preview window.
Edited on Jan 28, 2008 23:20 GMT

Ryan Clark   (Jan 29, 2008 at 01:16 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

Hi Russel,

Thanks for mentioning CrazyBump. Your dinosaur is beautiful, and I'm glad you found CrazyBump a useful tool in crafting him!

Just to avoid confusion, I wish to clarify that CrazyBump is an open beta test, free for use during the beta period. I don't want anyone caught by surprise when the beta ends and CrazyBump is released commercially.

Thanks for your help beta testing CrazyBump!

-Ryan Clark

Russell Fincher   (Jan 29, 2008 at 01:36 GMT)

Thanks Ryan. In my opinion, the cost of this utility (or lack thereof) is by no means its most attractive selling point. ;)

Sean H.   (Jan 29, 2008 at 15:21 GMT)

so this tool generates normal, specular, and ambient occlusion maps based solely on the diffuse texture. does this mean this tool relies on shadows being initially baked into the diffuse texture?

Magnus Blikstad   (Jan 29, 2008 at 15:27 GMT)

Quote:

---

Hi Russel,

Thanks for mentioning CrazyBump. Your dinosaur is beautiful, and I'm glad you found CrazyBump a useful tool in crafting him!

Just to avoid confusion, I wish to clarify that CrazyBump is an open beta test, free for use during the beta period. I don't want anyone caught by surprise when the beta ends and CrazyBump is released commercially.

Thanks for your help beta testing CrazyBump!

-Ryan Clark

---

Yep, thanks from me too Ryan for a great tool! Been using it for quite a while now too, and as Russell said; the (currently non)-cost was really not a deciding factor for doing so.

Russell Fincher   (Jan 29, 2008 at 16:17 GMT)

At Sean: I'm just a humble artist with no affiliation with CrazyBump, so I'm not too sure how it does its job, but I would presume that it just uses lights and darks in the image, and the controls that you define (like focusing on broad or detail contours) to approximate an imaginary height. That produces the normal map and "fake" ambient occlusion shadows. Now, if you start with a normal map, then the height information is obviously already there. No shadows are required in your diffuse texture that I know of, and you don't have to begin solely with a diffuse, if you can also use a normal map.

All that being said, the success of this whole process of creating height information from a diffuse texture greatly varies depending on the image you start with. Some will just work better than others. Its free for now, give it a shot! :)
Edited on Jan 29, 2008 16:25 GMT

Ryan Clark   (Jan 29, 2008 at 17:25 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

@Sean&Russel:

CrazyBump can use a couple of methods to get shape from a texture. It uses the lights and darks of an image, and it also uses its own shape-recognition algorithm. Of course, the best technique varies from one image to another. I recommend experimentation.

Taylor Petrick   (Jan 29, 2008 at 17:39 GMT)

Thanks Russell. I just tried baking in the ambient occlusion. It works great.

Russell Fincher   (Jan 29, 2008 at 17:44 GMT)

You programmers and your algorithms. What exactly are these mysterious things, and where can I get some?

Timothy Aste   (Jan 30, 2008 at 01:05 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

Awesome Dinos! I use CrazyBump too, it's freaking sweet.

Affectworks   (Jan 30, 2008 at 15:52 GMT)

It is indeed a sweet, sweet program. I was sad when the new beta refused to work on my vista machine. :(

Fredrik S
Edited on Jan 30, 2008 15:52 GMT

Ryan Clark   (Jan 30, 2008 at 16:20 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

Hi Fredrik,

I'm sorry that the new beta isn't working for you. I hope I can fix the problem!

Could you email me with more information about what happens on your Vista machine?
For example, does CrazyBump display any kind of message, or does it simply fail to launch?

thanks very much,

-Ryan Clark
ryan@crazybump.com

Tom Spilman   (Jan 31, 2008 at 09:24 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

The physics and animation on it are nice too. ;)

Kory James   (Jan 31, 2008 at 15:32 GMT)

That video is crazy it looks better then Turok for the 360 and PS3, are you using speedtree and if not where did you get the trees from?

Keep up the great work it looks amazing

Russell Fincher   (Jan 31, 2008 at 15:46 GMT)

Tom hijacked my thread about map creation to satisfy his own dastardly whims!

Thanks Kory! Yes, we are using SpeedTree for the foliage, and the groundcover is a mix of meshes and billboards... and incidentally Physx rigs to give the dinos dynamic physics on their tails, neck flab, and full ragdoll situations. We've really just recently been able to get our tech to a more mature stage, but much more to come.

My favorite part, that you can't even see... soft water edges. It's the little things.
Edited on Jan 31, 2008 15:46 GMT

Prairie Games   (Jan 31, 2008 at 16:32 GMT)

The video looks great, and really, who doesn't want to be a T-Rex at least some of the time? :)

Johnny Hill   (Feb 01, 2008 at 15:49 GMT)

Video is great, almost makes we want to hit the arcade looking at the controls for that T-rex :)) or maybe someone will come up with a dino sim coin-op. hmmm.

John E. Nelson   (Feb 01, 2008 at 17:16 GMT)   Resource Rating: 4

This is a great tool, I had been using the Nvidia plugin and had to keep redoing the work.
Thanks for showing this to us!

Adrian Tysoe   (Feb 10, 2008 at 03:53 GMT)

yeah it is a great tool, I've been using if for several months and will buy it as soon as it comes out for free beta.

Gerard Prudhomme   (Mar 24, 2008 at 01:31 GMT)

That is a beautiful dinosaur, very impressive!

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