Bringing the synergy paradigm to fruition
by Spencer Boomhower · 03/28/2007 (1:38 pm) · 8 comments
Sorry, I just had to see how many business buzzwords I could cram in a title. Though I really am thinking about "synergy," because I've just experienced synergy, specifically by finally getting around to linking the product pages for my character packs AdamPack and AvaPack to the Torque Motion product page. The Torque Motion people do motion capture, and came out with this pack of mo-cap moves that's compatible with my characters (and the Torque Orc), and I'm pretty psyched about it.
I mention it because it's the kind of mutually beneficial deal that us indies could stand to do more often. There's so much scattered potential out there in this community that could be pulled together into something truly formidable. The "how" is the tricky part. Indie stands for independent, a character trait that doesn't lend itself to teaming up. Still, I made my packs on my own, and Torque Motion did their thing on their own (off in Thailand, I think!), and after the fact we were able to both benefit without sacrificing our respective independence, or even entering into any kind of deal. Pretty neat.
Oh, I also mention this as a form of blatant self-promotion. Buy my packs. Tell your friends.
:)
-Spencer
I mention it because it's the kind of mutually beneficial deal that us indies could stand to do more often. There's so much scattered potential out there in this community that could be pulled together into something truly formidable. The "how" is the tricky part. Indie stands for independent, a character trait that doesn't lend itself to teaming up. Still, I made my packs on my own, and Torque Motion did their thing on their own (off in Thailand, I think!), and after the fact we were able to both benefit without sacrificing our respective independence, or even entering into any kind of deal. Pretty neat.
Oh, I also mention this as a form of blatant self-promotion. Buy my packs. Tell your friends.
:)
-Spencer
About the author
#2
Off topic a moment (hope you don't mind me asking) Spencer, is your real surname Boomhower, regardless of whether it is or not, cool surname name man (at least I think so anyway)! :0D
03/28/2007 (4:21 pm)
Good point Spencer, like Ed said, short, but sweet and straight to the point nonetheless! Oh, good work too! :0) Off topic a moment (hope you don't mind me asking) Spencer, is your real surname Boomhower, regardless of whether it is or not, cool surname name man (at least I think so anyway)! :0D
#3
Since you asked, this is what I'm working on at the moment:
This is a very rough, fairly low-res character using normal maps, with a diffuse map that, at the moment, only has the self-occluding shading in place. Occlusion shading is the shadows that are in the nooks and crannies, like inside the ears. I made this model using first 3ds max, then took it into a fantastic sculpting program called Mudbox for detailing, then back to Max to project the normal maps and shading onto a low-poly model. It's the pipeline of the future, and I'm trying to stay on top of it. Or, actually, it's the pipeline of the near past and future both, and I'm trying to get caught up. I've tested out the pipeline to Unreal Engine 3, and it works pretty well. When I get that figured out, I'll look into putting it into TGEA.
@Leroy: thanks much, and yes it's a real name :). I'm told it means "tree cutter" in either Dutch or German. Actually, the German translation is more accurately "tree smacker." A German girl I used to know got a good laugh out of that. I don't want to know what they were doing back in the old country...
03/28/2007 (5:31 pm)
@Ed, great to hear! I really appreciate it. Since you asked, this is what I'm working on at the moment:
This is a very rough, fairly low-res character using normal maps, with a diffuse map that, at the moment, only has the self-occluding shading in place. Occlusion shading is the shadows that are in the nooks and crannies, like inside the ears. I made this model using first 3ds max, then took it into a fantastic sculpting program called Mudbox for detailing, then back to Max to project the normal maps and shading onto a low-poly model. It's the pipeline of the future, and I'm trying to stay on top of it. Or, actually, it's the pipeline of the near past and future both, and I'm trying to get caught up. I've tested out the pipeline to Unreal Engine 3, and it works pretty well. When I get that figured out, I'll look into putting it into TGEA.
@Leroy: thanks much, and yes it's a real name :). I'm told it means "tree cutter" in either Dutch or German. Actually, the German translation is more accurately "tree smacker." A German girl I used to know got a good laugh out of that. I don't want to know what they were doing back in the old country...
#4
03/28/2007 (7:20 pm)
How much do you charge Spencer for a custom model? You do awesome work. (basic animations as well) 
#5
We were glad Spencer was kind enough to let us work with an additional set of animations for Adam and Ava. Now, only if he would release more contentPacks and we'll buy every single one of it.
PS: Yes we're in Thailand :)
Aun.
Torque-Motion
03/28/2007 (8:42 pm)
The quality of the model and texture put into both contentPacks (AdamPack and AvaPack) are incredible ! We were glad Spencer was kind enough to let us work with an additional set of animations for Adam and Ava. Now, only if he would release more contentPacks and we'll buy every single one of it.
PS: Yes we're in Thailand :)
Aun.
Torque-Motion
#6
Yeah it seems to be a bit of a problem in my opinion there is so much great content now available for use in the games we make, but a lot of it just doesn't seem to be compatible. And so it becomes a shame that some things can not be easily used in conjunction with each other. I believe standards is the key (as un-indie that may somewhat sound), but whose and how?
I know there are a few standards about for bones and etc but I don't feel there used as much as they could be. Standards for the animations would be useful, especially now with Torque Motion. An utterly brilliant pack yet not all models and thus games can make use of it.
03/28/2007 (9:32 pm)
Amazing looking character model there. Looking forward to seeing it in TGEA!Yeah it seems to be a bit of a problem in my opinion there is so much great content now available for use in the games we make, but a lot of it just doesn't seem to be compatible. And so it becomes a shame that some things can not be easily used in conjunction with each other. I believe standards is the key (as un-indie that may somewhat sound), but whose and how?
I know there are a few standards about for bones and etc but I don't feel there used as much as they could be. Standards for the animations would be useful, especially now with Torque Motion. An utterly brilliant pack yet not all models and thus games can make use of it.
#7
@Edward Moyer: In a nutshell, custom work is EXPENSIVE. That's why things like content packs are such a good deal. For even a custom character design, construction and texture, I would first see if a client could make use of one of my packs (or someone else's), and then try to build off the pack for economy's sake. Then, even building off that skeleton and those animations, you're talking about a job that's likely to break $1k. With everything custom, it could push or break $2k (though I do tend to give indie developers a break on price). Most game art freelancers bill between $50 to $100/hr, so you can see how even a week long job (which is about how I would define a custom character) could get pricey fast. And before you think, "freelance artists must be rich!" well... they're not :). It's all about billable hours, and a freelancer is as likely to put almost as much time into non-billable activities like self-promotion, invoicing, negotiation, and just plain waiting for the work to come in as he does billable work. Most freelancers, in most art fields, tend to bill around 1000 hrs a year.
Hope that helps, and feel free to email me directly with any other questions: spencer@boomhower.com
03/28/2007 (10:09 pm)
Thanks everyone for the kind words, it's always a boost!@Edward Moyer: In a nutshell, custom work is EXPENSIVE. That's why things like content packs are such a good deal. For even a custom character design, construction and texture, I would first see if a client could make use of one of my packs (or someone else's), and then try to build off the pack for economy's sake. Then, even building off that skeleton and those animations, you're talking about a job that's likely to break $1k. With everything custom, it could push or break $2k (though I do tend to give indie developers a break on price). Most game art freelancers bill between $50 to $100/hr, so you can see how even a week long job (which is about how I would define a custom character) could get pricey fast. And before you think, "freelance artists must be rich!" well... they're not :). It's all about billable hours, and a freelancer is as likely to put almost as much time into non-billable activities like self-promotion, invoicing, negotiation, and just plain waiting for the work to come in as he does billable work. Most freelancers, in most art fields, tend to bill around 1000 hrs a year.
Hope that helps, and feel free to email me directly with any other questions: spencer@boomhower.com
#8
The model looks great thus far, I look forward to seeing the finish article! :)
03/29/2007 (6:13 am)
Quote:tree smackerThat's a classic! :-D.
The model looks great thus far, I look forward to seeing the finish article! :)
Torque Owner Ed Johnson
Awesome work, and great post.. albiet short... Keep us up to date if you've got cool stuff cooking!
- Ed johnson