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Creating Fantasy Worlds

Dec 29, 2011 //
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One of the main tasks of a computer graphics artist, particularly if working with 3d, is the creation of fantasy worlds. No matter what the industry, games, film, video or any other, creating backgrounds and environments plays a major role in making the actors or animation look good. In more traditional media such as animation and live film, entire teams specialize in creating sets or backgrounds for the scene. In the computer graphics world there is the same tendency to have people specialize in creating the “sets” and environments for the computer graphics actors.

The first thing to consider, even before discussing design issues, is the meaning of the word “Fantasy”. If we can understand the notion of Fantasy, coming up with the design of fantasy worlds becomes a more natural process.

The second thing to consider is the specific attributes of a 3d computer graphics environment. While fantasy imagery is not a new concept, 3d computer graphics differs itself from illustrations and paintings for its spatial qualities. Creating 3d worlds in the computer is somewhat like designing architecture, except there are not natural and physical barriers to deal with.

To create rich, beautiful fantasy 3d worlds, it is necessary to understand these two concepts before anything else. An overview of the process of coming up with ideas and making them work will also be explained later on.

Concept of Fantasy

Fantasy or fantastic means anything that is different from our mundane, obvious daily lives. The words “our mundane, obvious daily lives” are stressed for many things that exist in our world but are not commonly seen tend to look fantastic to our eyes. Plants, for example, can be quite exotic, especially if foreign. Our minds are used to seeing everyday things, people and places that surround us up to a point were we take it for granted. The next time you walk into a flower shop, take a look closely. Many flowers will seem pretty bizarre when analyzed closely.

While this definition seems a little simplistic (like most of the concepts explained here), it takes some time to let go of our beliefs in order to create those exceptionally fantastic worlds. To create things that are different from our daily lives, we must first understand what are those things that we take for granted. What is fantastic to one person may not seem so unusual to another. That is why most artists work with extremes, which are unlikely to be common place for the majority of people.

Fantasy is also breaking the rules of nature. Nature dictates certain laws that most objects and living creatures comply to. The law of gravity is one of the most obvious rules. When breaking the laws of nature which we live under, we can for sure create things and places that are different from our daily lives. No wonder we are so attracted to space and other planets; we can’t help speculating about the differences these other worlds with have with ours.

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Categories Fantasy Design

Texture art gives personality to 3D objects

Oct 05, 2011 //
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Look the following model of a regular chair. With the current texture applied to it, you have no indication of who it belongs to, where it should be placed, or what is the context of the story it was included in.

However, once you create custom textures made especially for it, then you can really determine a lot about the owner, context and location. (Perhaps this chair is owned by a cartoon character, in a whimsical type of setting! The story is probably fun and cheerful!)

 

Textures indicate materials and add interest

Textures are also responsible for letting the viewer recognize the type of material that a specific object is made of. Besides identifying materials, textures also add detail and interest to otherwise plain models.

 

Textures disguise imperfections and finish off models

And finally, textures can greatly hide the imperfections of a poor model and can also help to add trim and finish off geometry that otherwise would look computerized and artificial.

Observe the two identical models below: the column on the left has a simple texture applied to it. The column on the right has texture that contains careful trims and decorative borders placed in strategic locations. Notice how the faceted polygons of the simple column are much more visible, while the intricate column’s texture disguises it a bit. Also, the connection to the ground and ceiling are much nicer and finished on the column at the right.

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Categories Creative Textures

An Alien Bouquet

Oct 03, 2011 //
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This image was created in 1998 (that’s a long time ago!) as part of a tutorial article for Serious 3D magazine. The software 3D Studio Max 2.5 and Cebas Optic Suite (for the flares) were used.

Every single object you see in this image was created using the ‘box method’, which consists of the following: create a box with 3 to 5 segments and modify its vertices and faces until it resembles roughly the format you want. Then apply the command MeshSmooth, which makes it look nice and smooth, with a very organic look. All the textures were hand painted especially for each model.

The branches can be created by extruding the faces out individually, and then rotating and scaling them.

The inspiration for the image was a flower bouquet. I tried to organize the various different elements in a way similar to a traditional bouquet of flowers, but using different “kinds of flowers”.

Here is a sample of one of the textures which was applied (for the smaller plant elements).

 

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Categories Creative Textures, Fantasy Design

Scifi Texture Art

Oct 02, 2011 //
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This document is part of a Realtime Sci-fi Texture art online class I held around 2000.
Sci-fi is one of the most interesting types of fantasy design, and greatly used in video games. Typical scifi is usually moody, mechanical and almost always covered in a with a layer of grime…. which is probably why it seems to attract so many young men who play games. Video games are no longer a new media; it is a billion dollar industry working on new titles with budgets that are comparable to feature films.

One of the most interesting careers in this industry is that of a texture artist. Painting textures for games is no small thing , you must have good sense of design and be able to transmit dimensionality that is not available due to restricted modeling.Typically, in realtime projects, due to memory and engine speed, the 3D models are kept very simple, the intricacy and beauty is totally created by the texture work.

For example: a simple box can be converted into an intricate and interesting object, with one texture only.


And with two textures, you can add an enormous amount of intricacy to a simple cylinder:

 

True, it is not an extremely photorealistic depiction, especially where the lighting is concerned, but in the gaming world ultra-realism is not as fundamental as in other industries such as film.

A good realtime texture artist therefore is one that is capable of showing a lot of intricacy on a single flat piece of texture art, one that will give character and life to the simple polygonal models that make game levels.

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Categories Creative Textures

Choosing the Concept for a Fantasy World

Oct 02, 2011 //
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The beauty of using computer graphics to create worlds and environments is they do not have to match our reality at all. All you have to do is make them believable through the use of good modeling, lighting, texturing and animation.

Before even attempting to start creating a fantasy world, it’s more than important to choose a concept, or an idea of the world to be created. Fantasy Designers and Computer graphics people tend to be under a lot of pressure, with tight dead-lines, thinking that perhaps the conceptual part is not really so important. Without a concept, the design will not be formulated in the most creative way.

While some artists are very comfortable with the notion of verbalizing a concept, others might need some help. A concept can be as short or as lengthy as you like: it could be a simple one-paragraph verbal description of the place. Some concepts can be very sophisticated, describing every detail in the project. Other times there will only be a general idea of what feelings the world should stir in the audience.

A good idea is to try to try to write it down. If the concept is clear, it will be very easy to translate it to words;  if not, try using just some adjectives. Some of the following questions might help to clarify the concept a little:

  1. Who are the inhabitants, who lives in this environment?
  2. What kind of species live in this world?
  3. What kind of living attributes do the inhabitants and other species have?
  4. What is the time period or style?
  5. What kind of cultural practices and belief systems do the inhabitants have?
  6. What kind of emotions will this world encite upon the audience?

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Categories Fantasy Design

Manipulating the qualities of a scene to create fantasy

Sep 30, 2011 //
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While analyzing the works of well known fantasy artists, we can come up with a series of qualities to the scene. These qualities or parameters are often manipulated in odd ways to achieve a surreal effect. Here are a few of them:

  • Scale
  • Proportion
  • Position
  • Color
  • Texture
  • Light
  • Camera and point of view (perspective)
  • Shape and form
  • Animation, timing and rhythm
  • Physics and the laws of nature
  • Organic Attributes
  • Mechanical Attributes (hardware)

The way the artist works with each one of the qualities applied to the scene is what gives the sense of fantasy or normality. A few guaranteed ways to achieve a surreal look is to manipulate qualities of the scene in the following ways:

Exaggeration

A simple and effective way to achieve a fantasy look is to exaggerate elements in the scene. Almost anything can be exaggerated, from the size of objects to the saturation of colors. Scale and proportion are very effective for they are easily perceived by the audience. Most people have a very good sense of what is correct and what seems slightly off.

Sharp Contrast

Elements in a scene that contrast sharply with each other or with our sense of reality tend to generates a strong reaction from the audience. For example: manipulating lighting to produce contrast between well lit areas and dark shadows usually achieves a very dramatic effect, for in our routine we rarely encounter such differences.
If the contrast is not strong enough, the audience might perceive that something is slightly off, but will not be able to pin point it. This is usually a good trick if the project demands only a “touch” of fantasy feeling.

Affinity or Similarity

Similar elements in the scene usually bring the whole thing together, and give the “designer look” to the scene. The audience gets a feeling the scene was planned to be that way on purpose. For example, the use of a limited palette of colors in the scene is a well know trick to many fantasy artists. In our everyday lives we see different colors all the time. We rarely encounter a place with is entirely covered by only two hues.

Combination or grouping

The combination of elements that would not be seen in real world is a guaranteed way to achieve a fantasy look. A well know example is the cyborg character encountered in sci-fi scenes which is half human, half machine. The combination of the organic living qualities with the machinery seems completely impossible to us.

Absence

Absence is a powerful tool not very used. In the real world, we take certain things for granted, and assume they will be there. The total or partial absence of elements that should be there and are not usually produces a very effective fantasy feeling to the scene.

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Categories Fantasy Design

Layering to form an intricate unit

Sep 28, 2011 //
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This is a mini clay sculpture I created a while back. Today it is mounted on a different backing, but I like the simplicity/complexity of the design isolated shown here.

What is interesting about this piece, to me, is the layering aspect of it. If you pay close attention, all the elements are quite simple if analyzed individually. However, as a collective unit, they appear to be far more intricate than they really are.

Also interesting to me is the color palette. There are only 4 main colors in this entire piece, which makes it look very unified: Purple, Teal (Turquoise), Blue and Dark Gold.

This piece is entitled “Rain Cloud”. Please do not distribute or post without written permission.



							


			

			
			
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