Weasel on 18/10/2012 at 04:12
Thanks for the books, Renzatic! They were perfect! Sorry for straying off topic, but here's a (
http://flickr.com/gp/cjedwards47/tY6NEk) CoSaS bookshelf with those books added to my new texture.
Renzatic on 18/10/2012 at 04:36
No prob, man. I've made a few more since, so if you need them, just hit me up. :thumb:
Okay, the effect is pretty subtle, but I've edited it a bit to darken the upper edge and minimize the black line underneath the books. I'm finding out my biggest problem here is that I've got shadows on top of shadows, and it's making things difficult to edit.
(
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3018396/bookshelf_preview.jpg) Check it out
I'm thinking if it still looks a little goofy, I might make the books flush with the lip of the shelf, like how they are in ZB's shot above. I want to maintain a slight illusion of depth though, so I'll only do that if I can't make it look any better.
ZylonBane on 18/10/2012 at 04:44
Shelf bevels defintely need to fade darker from bottom/front to top/back. Looks very strange having the "back" of the shelf fully lit when it's surrounded by books.
Xorak on 18/10/2012 at 07:19
I know it's a pretty thankless job to do all these textures. But if no one complained, the work would stray almost immediately from the originals. But it looks pretty good to me so far, though the colour of the bookcase itself is brighter than the original.
I'd also try lowering all the books by a bit and have them sit right on the edge, rather than trying to create that perspective with the dark line. And I know you'd probably add it at towards the end, but I'd put blurring/shading around the bottom of the individual books rather than the darker line of the shelf. imo, the edges between the books are too fine, as well as against the shelf and the background.
I'd also remove the newer looking tags on some of the books, for example, the first book on the top row, the second book on the second shelf, the far right book on the second row. Or maybe change around the tags on the forth and eighth books on the second row, since they are the exact same, although maybe that doesn't matter so much once more books are added.
Renzatic on 18/10/2012 at 07:54
Quote Posted by Xorak
I know it's a pretty thankless job to do all these textures. But if no one complained, the work would stray almost immediately from the originals.
Yeah, I know. If you ever see me using the angry face, I'm not being serious. :P
I actually need the feedback, because, as of right now, I've got close to 80 layers on this thing, and PS is starting to get laggy. I'm gonna have to collapse something soon, and now's the best time to fix things up, since it can all be done fairly quickly and easily.
Quote:
But it looks pretty good to me so far, though the colour of the bookcase itself is brighter than the original.
Yeah, I'm going to try to color match at least the bookshelf towards the end, when I've grouped everything together a bit tighter.
Quote:
I'd also try lowering all the books by a bit and have them sit right on the edge, rather than trying to create that perspective with the dark line. And I know you'd probably add it at towards the end, but I'd put blurring/shading around the bottom of the individual books rather than the darker line of the shelf. imo, the edges between the books are too fine, as well as against the shelf and the background.
I actually figured out what was causing the harsh line. The books were on top of the slanted edge layer, but behind the forward facing boards. That means that any shadows ended up getting cut off at a perfect shear because the bookshelf was covering them up in the foreground. I rearranged the layers, and now it looks a lot better.
Though I will soften up the bottoms of the books a bit before I'm done. You're right. They are a little too harsh.
Quote:
I'd also remove the newer looking tags on some of the books, for example, the first book on the top row, the second book on the second shelf, the far right book on the second row. Or maybe change around the tags on the forth and eighth books on the second row, since they are the exact same, although maybe that doesn't matter so much once more books are added.
I dunno. I think they look pretty cool. They're fairly old looking labels, and add a nice bit of small variance. It's no big problem to remove them, but for now at least, I kinda want to leave them on.
LarryG on 18/10/2012 at 13:07
Getting much better.
I'm not convinced about the library tags. Nor, if you must have them, them being in different locations on different books. Or are some books upside down? I'm not keen on that if that's what's going on.
Quote Posted by Renzatic
I'm thinking if it still looks a little goofy, I might make the books flush with the lip of the shelf, like how they are in ZB's shot above. I want to maintain a slight illusion of depth though, so I'll only do that if I can't make it look any better.
If you look more closely in ZB's photo, you'll see that some hang over the edge and cast a shadow on the shelf edge, and some are slightly back. If you vary the depth that the books are with respect to the edge, you will also break up that line and make it look more natural.
Renzatic on 18/10/2012 at 22:18
Quote Posted by LarryG
I'm not convinced about the library tags. Nor, if you must have them, them being in different locations on different books. Or are some books upside down? I'm not keen on that if that's what's going on.
Alright. Library tags are now out. And yeah, a couple of the books on the top row are upside down. I did it as a cheap way to break up the monotony of having all the same books lined up in a row. I figured it's an old, neglected bookshelf. Some books might be placed a little haphazardly. You'll notice I also changed the colors of a few books in the next set to achieve the same effect.
Quote:
If you look more closely in ZB's photo, you'll see that some hang over the edge and cast a shadow on the shelf edge, and some are slightly back. If you vary the depth that the books are with respect to the edge, you will also break up that line and make it look more natural.
I did that on my previous attempt, and didn't particularly like how it turned out. Doesn't mean it'll look just as bad here as it did there, but right now I'm kinda liking where it's at. In fact, moving the books up on the layer stack and adding the gradient shadows in on the bottom shelf helps the books blend in far better than what they did.
(
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3018396/Bookshelf_Example_2.jpg) ...for example.
Also, kind of a weird request, but since I don't have TG installed, could someone send me the map files for THC and the training mission? I want to be able to check out these textures ingame.
ZylonBane on 18/10/2012 at 23:15
Dude, rectangular masking on the small books? :eww:
Renzatic on 18/10/2012 at 23:37
Rounded them off, and posted the results above.
...now they look like yee olde medieval vibrators.
