Rocks again

michaliszissiou · 27 Sept 2010, 15:18

I find rocks particular difficult to model. If we have in mind a low-poly mesh of course because they tend to look smoother than they are. Another try here. Podium v2 render 16 sec. PP for dof, vignette and hdr conversion only. Started as box-modeling in SU, exported to 3DCoat, sculpted, re-topology, UVs and painting. File conversions via blender.

SketchUpNoobie · 27 Sept 2010, 15:37

Beautiful. The only thing I think would be better is if there was a little less moss. That might just be me though. Not that I can render at all. =P

michaliszissiou · 27 Sept 2010, 16:15

Thanks SketchupNoobie.
There's a lot of moss on these mediterranean rocks. But its so easy to make it more 'dry'. This is when UVs with nice seams and no stretching is used. Here.

sepo · 27 Sept 2010, 16:22

Looks cool. Maybe some lonely tree or bush to give scale.

Richard · 27 Sept 2010, 20:59

Very nice work again mate! You really do have this rock making nailed, all the results I've seen from you are some of if not THE best.

teofas · 27 Sept 2010, 23:03

great work michaliszissiou!! is there any chance to share that beautifull rock?

michaliszissiou · 27 Sept 2010, 23:51

Thanks sid, teofas, Richard
This "rock making nailed" I haven't so far. Something is missing. A more simple structure maybe. Its like abstract art.
What I have in mind is a set of simple rocks that anybody can use like a puzzle. As these models have a decent UV structure you can use any seamless square texture you like. No visible seams and no tex stretching. This "miracle" from UVmaster zbrush plugin.

Richard · 28 Sept 2010, 02:42

Mate it is looking very much like some rock in our local area, the centre arete' in fact looks much like a section of rock I put a route up a few years back "I'd rather be dead than red"!

Ross Macintosh · 28 Sept 2010, 09:56

Beautiful rock formation and render Michalis.

Along the lines of Sepo's comment that maybe a tree or bush might add scale, I wondered about a cliff diver. I hope you don't mind that I quickly tried adding one in to test the idea. Although it messes up the fine composition of your image I think a diver would work in establishing scale.

Regards, Ross

pilou · 28 Sept 2010, 10:53

Dreaming island

ken28875 · 28 Sept 2010, 11:45

Really nice rock, Michalis!

You mentioned you rendered it in Sketchup with Podium, right? How did you import the textured model back to Sketchup?

Have a great day!

_KN

michaliszissiou · 28 Sept 2010, 18:00

@richard: another reason to visit terra incognita
@ross macintosh, thanks, diver is a good idea but not the right scale I'm afraid. Here's my version, I'm not sure he'll survive
@Pilou Merci Pilou
@ken thanks, imported as 3ds, use any app you like. Just have in mind to name the textures with less than eight letters! and have them in same dir with the ***.3ds file. Unfortunately 64k tris is the limit for a single mesh. Blender for example exports a very clean 3ds and never had a problem. In fact SU can handle these models easier than some of its own. I have a theory on this but I'm not sure. Bad topology leads to messed UVs...
http://www.sketchupartists.org/tutorials/blender-to-sketchup-a-workaround-for-texturing-organic-shapes/

mateo soletic · 28 Sept 2010, 18:42

Great work Michalis.

Richard · 28 Sept 2010, 22:52

@michaliszissiou said:

In fact SU can handle these models easier than some of its own. I have a theory on this but I'm not sure. Bad topology leads to messed UVs...

Hmmm? Now that's something interesting!

michaliszissiou · 29 Sept 2010, 11:27

OK, you have permissions to use this Low poly rock as you wish. Have fun.
I made some improvement on textures, I baked some AO. Lo-poly rocks aren't easy.
@richard
Multiply it as many times, rotate resize etc, do some scene and notice the performance of SU.

lodef_rock.skp.zip

Richard · 29 Sept 2010, 14:20

Wow mate I think your theory might well have some strong basis! Over 100 copies all over the place and all still nearly fine while naving!

teofas · 29 Sept 2010, 14:24

Heres my try, thx very much for sharing this great rocks, i love them!!!
about the tree i know it dosent looks good, ill take it away..(thx michalis for the feedback)

michaliszissiou · 29 Sept 2010, 14:38

WOW, is these my rocks?
Thanks teofilo. Sprays are too much for this calm water, they should look more as a line, you know.
@Richard: 100 copies? wow. I may be right, I really don't know, just noticed this. The use of 1024x1024 tex does help here. A 2048x2048 is heavier but 4096 ? . Square textures you see. It helps too.

Update for kerky and thea lovers
Use this map as "tangent normal map", you all know how, don't you? Please NEVER convert it to B&W bump, it doesn't work like this.
Update#2
If you like to use displacement here's the map. Its not working as a bump!

solo · 29 Sept 2010, 21:41

Cool stuff as always mate.

Quick render with tree

pilou · 30 Sept 2010, 17:45

Another Gaudi style