Warhammer Online environment concepts from the archives

I was digging through some folders on my PC and found a few 'fast turn around' environment concepts I did back in 2004, while working on Warhammer Online. It was nice to try something different as my focus was/is generally on characters.
They were 1-2 hour concepts done in photoshop for the Environment team to use for location and model guides.

This is a long shot of 'Chiseltooth Peak' which was a Dwarf mine that had been overrun by Skaven, hence the eerie green glow of Warpstone from the entrance.

Here's is a closeup of the entrance with partially ruined dwarf architecture and the remains of a couple of unlucky adventures who went looking for treasure in the depths.

This is a shot of the entrance to 'Rat skull Barrow' which was another dungeon. This was meant to look like an ancient Barrow where men of an earlier age were laid to rest. Adventurers might find treasure or magical items inside, but they would risk awaking the ancient 'Undead' kings and their kinsmen who guarded them.

And lastly, here are some modelling and scale guides for environment props that we planned to place in different locations. The first row are Elven Waystones which channeled magic through the land, second row are Dwarf marker stones which would line ancient Dwarf roads and on the bottom row; Undead Monoliths that would line the route to Barrow entrances as a warning to the brave/foolish.

I wanted to do a render of my Cthulhu model with some dramatic ligthting. The renders I'd done so far were to show the model and it's texture in it's entirety. For this I wanted something a bit more 'filmic'.

Cthulhu renders

Here's some renders of the finished model I did in Max using VRay. Basic HDR lighting set up as I wanted to show all the detail on the models. I'd really like to do a base for him at some point and get a 3D print made, but I'll need $$$ :-)

 

 

 

Completed textures

Specular maps are all done now so it's onto rigging and posing.
I'll post some more shots when I get a mo.

Cthulhu texture WIP

Here's a pic of the work in progress texture for the Cthulhu beastie. I was trying various colour schemes and wanted to avoid going for something dull. I felt it needed some green in there, but I'd also read that red is very hard to see in deep water so I thought it might be interesting to try this lurid pinky red on his head and tentacles. The spec and gloss are just defined in the material at the moment. I'll be doing specific maps. I wanted to pick the scales out in a similar way to dinosaurs and lizards with the lighter tones in between where the skin is softer and the dark tones for the tougher plates. More to follow...........

Tertiary detail

I've been working away on the tertiary detail for this beastie. Lovecraft describes '.....a grotesque scaly body' so I went to town. Colours to follow, but what colours?

Tentacles

All the tentacles/feelers plus several hundred toothy suckers are complete. Now onto the high frequency detail and painting.

Driver project render

Here is a couple of renders I've created of the finished driver. I wanted to do a simple, single material render to give it the look of a 3D printer model. I might do some other versions with textures and separate materials at some point.

Driver test poses

I've brought all of the high res elements of the driver together in Max and have been tying some rough test poses. I think he'll carry the helmet when I come to render it.

High res driver

As well as the helmet and harness, I've also been working on a racing driver model. Here are some work in progress shots of the various elements I've been sculpting in Mudbox. I've previously posted one of the techniques I used to sculpt these on The Area: http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-mudbox/my-tips-tutorials-workflows/handy-technique-for-sculpting-fabric-panels-or-padding/
Next step will be rigging and posing the whole character up with the helmet and getting a texture done.

Hans device and harness

Here's some more hard edge stuff I've been working on recently. This is a 5 point racing driver harness with a Hans neck support device. Like the helmet, these are just some initial render tests. There's a hi-res driver body, I'm also working on, which I'll post up soon.

Arai helmet

I've recently been doing some hard edge modelling. There's a different kind of satifaction from building something real, as accurately as possible, over creating something from your imagination. I find both rewarding. This is a model of an Arai GP-6RC racing helmet. It's still work in progress, but I thought I would do some render tests. I'll post up some shots of the harness system I've built as well soon.

Cthulhu progress

Most of the body sculpting is done now. I've been working on the Tertiary detail i.e. sinews and veins etc.
After that it's time to finish the tentacles/feelers and mouth, before starting to think about posing him up for rendering.

Oh, I've also been working on a non euclidean base for him to stand on :) I'll post it up soon. Happy New Year!