I realize they look a little ‘clean,’ but as materials weren’t the focus of this endeavor, I don’t particularly care. Ignore the clearly dark clockface in the first render, I had the IOR set far too high on the glass.
The plan is to upload the files to Turbosquid, but I feel I need feedback to ensure that these assets are as polished as possible before expecting anyone to buy them. All suggestions are appreciated, and feel free to ask for wireframes.
Edit: Also, I need to know if the use of rasterized fonts in the textures will be a copyright problem.
It’s pretty good already. You might try making alternatives and publish a set instead. For example, the propane tanks, you can change the type of valve, or dent the valve cage. Besides that, maybe you could add weld lines where the valve cage joins the tank.
silkroadgame-Narrow in width, or narrow in depth? I can vouch for the width, they’re based off of real-world items (a blueprint and dimensions from a payphone manufacturer and a real grandfather/longcase clock), but the depth is more guesswork and eyeballing.
Models themselves are pretty good (materials could be better, but I understand that was not point of these renders). Only thing I can think of is the telephone chord, which is usually not smooth, but it has grooves on it. Beside that I think there is nothing to be reproached. Unfortunately I cannot tell you, if you can use those textures, but I think that it is not allowed to use even freely downloadable textures (but you can add links to those textures, if I am not mistaken), so this might be banned as well (just guessing).
instantmelanie - I could give it a shot, sure. Not so certain about how to approach weld lines though. Sculpting, perhaps?
Tatarkow - I’d actually planned to add grooves to the phone cord, but it seems I forgot altogether. Also, none of the textures are downloaded, all custom. The copyright issue I’m trying to avoid is the fonts (Garamond, Arial, and Didot) used within those textures.
Are you sure you are interpreting the font licenses correctly? If using the font in a texture is a copyright violation, it seems like any electronic publication using those fonts, e-books, web sites, ad banners, etc. would also be a violation. You could ease your mind by getting a free font that is similar to the fonts you did use, but that might be a problem with the phone, since the font used there is iconic, and changing the font would be noticeable.
Exactly this. I think that you are creating a problem that is not there - fonts are copyrighted so that you have to purchase them to use on your computer in your projects, not to prevent you from using them in rasterized images. If this were the case, newspapers and magazine publications would be illegal, no? You are not packing a subset of the text into a file to be used later, are you? Just rastered flat texture?
The valve cage on the propane canister has been improved, replacing the rather underdeveloped original, and weld lines have been added to the side of the tank.
The grandfather clock hasn’t been greatly changed. I only replaced the Garamond in its face numbering with an open source font, for peace of mind. It also is a bolder font, and thus seems an improvement.
The payphone now has a grooved cord. I also changed out the font that was meant to demonstrate lettering pressed into the surface to another open source font, the differences of which are negligible. I kept Arial in the textures, as it was too iconic to replace.
So, as I start wrapping things up, what would be your appraisal of these items? How much would you choose to charge if these were your creations? I only ask since I have no clue what costs assets go for, or of the comparative quality of my work.
Any further comments and criticisms are appreciated.
They’re all pretty good, only the clock seems a little plain as if something is missing? Perhaps a winding hole and manufacturer’s name or other detail on the clock face? I feel like the weld in a propane tank should be closer to the middle?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protection_of_typefaces says:
“Under U.S. law, typefaces and the characters they contain are considered to be utilitarian objects whose utility outweighs any merit that may exist in protecting their creative elements.” I.e. the font file is considered to be a computer program due to the hinting or other technology they contain, but the rendered typeface is not copyrightable (usual I’m not a lawyer or an American disclaimer applies). Oh and the names are usually trademarked which is why there’s such a crazy proliferation of fonts with the same design and different names.
I think the propane tanks would be more salable with some commercial markings on them. Maybe a colored stripe going around it and some generic company name like “Midland Propane” and one of those ubiquitous consumer warning panels. Then someone could replace the texture with their own if they wanted to.
The clock does need a winding hold in the clock face. And I agree that the face is a bit plain. Most of the grandfather clocks I’ve seen have pretty ornate faces.
it looks nice, it also makes me wonder, your capeabale, and your wondering what you could do with your blender skills.
So if you want want to show of, and would like to help a non profit org, let me know. i think we could use your skills
It’s not much, but I figured that printed, illustrated calligraphic lines would look better than the flat, geometric gold leaf shapes that it’ll be replacing. I found this style in a reference image, which, unfortunately, failed to cover the top arch-like section. As a result of improvisation, that part of the design seems poorly matched to both the arch’s shape and the other lines around the numbering. The winding holes will be added later. Also, I’ve moved the weld line on the propane tank to the vertical center.
The question I have to ask is: should I continue with the ornamental illustration look, or should I look more into molded details (which appear to be more common on clocks of this type and age)?
Not a bad idea, I’ll work on that after I get the clock face figured out.
Perhaps after I get a few things out of the way, I could look into this. I’ve been wanting to get into a few team projects for a while.
No commercial markings for now, but I have the mock warning labels on the tank. I think this will be one of two iterations: one with just these two warning stickers, and another with a full wrap, including commercial markings.
Also, I’m redoing the valve:
Much better than it was before, but I’m still not sure how mechanically accurate I can/should make this. There’s still some smaller details to work out, but it’s near done.
In addition to the remodeled valve, I created a new plastic sleeve as an alternative to having a blank exterior or the warning stickers. I also created the materials in modular layers, so the warning labels around back can be complimented by one of three company logos via nodes.
Okay, zero hour for the propane cylinders. I’ll upload the .blend file, but I’d rather there be something for regular 3DS users, too. As such, my final task is to export the model, but when I export in .obj format and reimport, all of the materials listed are a flat gray. The material names are there, but their properties aren’t.
Very good stuff!
My only crit is,
on the payphone, the box at the top, that holds the sign “phone”. I feel the bottom edge should be more rounded. Right now it looks so sharp that it could of been CnC milled. I’m not sure if any city has money for that :P. Also, maybe add some inaccuracies, like little panel gaps from the outside wall to the inside components.
