Reply With QuoteI could use them. Just last night I was remaking a CoSaS bookshelf texture in hi res, and the books are the last thing I have to replace.Originally Posted by Renzatic
If anyone needs any alpha masked book spines, I've now got a ton.
I could use them. Just last night I was remaking a CoSaS bookshelf texture in hi res, and the books are the last thing I have to replace.
Alright. What format do you want them in? Right now, I've got 15 fairly large textures in .PSD format that are around 50MB zipped. I can upload that if you want, or convert them to 32 bit TGAs to save a little on size.
.PSD files sound fine. Thanks!
Book Spines!
If it gives you a file not found, wait another minute or so. It still had 30 seconds left on the upload when I typed this out.
Pertaining to the topic, work on bookshelf 2.0 is coming along quite nicely. Once I got enough to show off, I'll post a preview shot up here. Probably later tonight sometime.
...which'll probably start another color argument.
Not argument, a healthy and spirited discussion....which'll probably start another color argument.That's a good thing.
Fisticuffs are inevitable.
Last edited by Renzatic; 17th Oct 2012 at 16:01.
One huge thing we have going for us is that Thief's art style is predominantly photographic realism. Any stylization is an unintentional artifact of the low-color/low-resolution limitations of the day. This makes it a hell of a lot easier for a retexture project to maintain a consistent art style from multiple contributors.
Preview of what has to be the most time consuming texture I've ever worked on. And yes, I'm counting all the color tweaking I did on that damn wood panel. :P
Still plenty to do, but thought I'd throw out the currently unfinished version since I got a lot of good feedback after doing it last time.
Looking good. Though ... I'm trying to figure out why the books look out of focus and cartoony. Do you know what I mean? They look painted and not photo realistic ...
Edit: I had a similar need for rendering a 3D cupboard full of dishes as a texture because I ran over the maximum number of objects. I solved it by building the shelves in a room (DromEd, not really building the shelves), putting real dish objects on it, and then taking screen shots from from the perspective of Garrett's standing eye. I then transformed the screen shots into textures. It wasn't as good as having the real space modeled and populated with dishes, but it wasn't remarked on by the players as being horrible either. It went unnoticed. Higher resolution images would have worked better. In any event, the top sheves were above Garrett's eye, while the lower was at eye level. Note how the perspective of the box changes and how the shadowing works.
Last edited by LarryG; 18th Oct 2012 at 00:01.
Wow, that was fast.
Probably due to one the adjustment layers I have applied. Either that, or the fact they kinda stand out a little from the bookshelf makes them look a little weird because they clash. The wood is kinda monotone, the books multicolored. It's bound to look a little strange.
Once I get the left side booked up, I'm going to try to tweak the colors a little more.
edit: it also wouldn't hurt to throw in a few imperfections in on the bookshelf itself. Right now it looks way too geometric.
I could do that, but the end result would be completely different than the base texture. If I want to keep it flatish like the original, but give it a bit of depth, I have to draw it out like it's being viewed from an orthogonal projection. It's got some slants now, a little bit more depth than the nearly perfectly flat original, but still sorta generalized.
Wow.
The black line under the books does make them appear to be floating a bit.
I was thinking more about the shadows. I think your base shelving image needs dark shadowing at the top and no shadowing starting about 1/2 way down. Then, depending on how far back the book is pushed, the top of the book might be in shadow from the shelf above. It's something to think about and try and see if it helps or makes it look worse. And I think the black line under the books is a mistake. If the book projects out from the shelf, it cast a shadow on the shelf below too.
Yeah, that black line has been a pain in the ass. I can remove it in a second, because all it is are shadows being cast off the books onto the shelf. I thought it looked a little weird myself, but when I remove it, it looks like the books are just sorta...there on top of the shelf. I'll play around with the shadowing a bit, and post again in a couple.
Thanks for the books, Renzatic! They were perfect! Sorry for straying off topic, but here's a CoSaS bookshelf with those books added to my new texture.
No prob, man. I've made a few more since, so if you need them, just hit me up.
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.
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.
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.
You people are never happy.
How's that? Added a gradient to the side and bottom edges, and darkened the backdrop. It's pretty preliminary, but it works.
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.
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.
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.But it looks pretty good to me so far, though the colour of the bookcase itself is brighter than the original.
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.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.
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.
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.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.
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.
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.
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.
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.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.
...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.
Dude, rectangular masking on the small books?
Rounded them off, and posted the results above.
...now they look like yee olde medieval vibrators.
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