Mapping Contest! Greybox the best level, win a copy of ProBuilder 2.0!

Mapping Contest #1 is Complete!
Cast Your Vote in the Poll, until 01-13-2013 at 01:09 AM!






With ProBuilder 2.0 just over the horizon, I'd like to announce a Mapping Contest!

One of ProBuilder's best uses is extremely rapid prototyping via grey-boxed levels, so this seemed a perfect focus for the contest. Plus, I've always had a thing for that simple, clean, clay-rendered look

Rules are very simple:

1. Build a map using only ProBuilder's free version (or full, if you have it)
2. Use only the standard grey dev material
3. Submit the map to this forum before January 10th, 11:59pm CST
4. Community vote will decide who wins a full copy of ProBuilder 2.0, and all my other Unity tools!

If there are many entries, I'll add several other prizes, of course. Everyone should definitely post their WIP images, ideas, questions, critique, etc in this thread! When it's time to vote I will make a single post with all the entries, and a Poll to vote in.

To download the free version of ProBuilder, view video tutorials, and other info on ProBuilder, go here:
www.sixbysevenstudio.com/probuilder

Really looking forward to seeing everyone's creations- don't be shy!
Best,
gw

 

Mapping Contest #1 is Complete! Cast Your Vote in the Poll, 01-13-2013 at 01:09 AM!

The Contestants Are:












Thanks for participating everyone! It has been great to see such awesome work from everyone, keep watch for another mapping contest coming soon!
Best place to stay up to date is Facebook www.facebook.com/probuilder3d

 

Are there any sort of guidelines wrt the actual level design in terms of judging? ie, best multiplayer FPS flow? best layout for parkour-style navigation? RTS balance? etc?

 

Hi LoTekK, thanks for the question-

The style and purpose of the map is completely open. Judging will be done by the community here, so generally based on which map has the best look.

However, since the entire map must be created using only ProBuilder and the standard grey "dev" texture, architecture and form will be the major focus of each map. Which is good, because those two things don't get enough attention these days!

 

Downloaded the free version, but I found that pro grids only locks to one specific grid size setting, not making it very easy to build / participate in the mapping contest with one specific grid size locked to the user. I was going to participate just as an exercise but found the grid size being locked an issue to build things appropriately. Not a big deal as I can hold control and snap to the grid, just wanted to point that out .

 

Hi Vermz- the free version of ProGrids only has one setting, yes. Just for the contest, I'll make a special Free version with more control over the snapping, since it's such an important part of using ProBuilder.

As for holding ctrl to snap, you probably already know this, but be careful! Unity's built in snap just moves in increments from the point you start at, not to an actual grid point. So, you can quickly end up "off the grid" by accident, and things won't line up. That's the idea behind ProGrids- it's a "real" grid system like in UDK, Hammer, Radiant, etc.

Okay, I'm off to build that special Free version of ProGrids, will post once it's ready!

 

Oh hey thanks! I did know about that, so strange to have a 3D Game Engine without real grid snapping.

 

I just downloaded the tools and as a former Hammer user I find them very efficient. I made a quick blockout of my scene and bumped into the same proplem as previous poster, I feel handicapped by the grid. I'm glad that you are working on better version for the competition. I am looking forward to it.
Here is a super early and dirty wip showing off my composition.

 

Hi Hemuuuli- I like what you have coming together there!

I'm trying to find a good balance with ProGrids- obviously, if I make the free version too useful, there's no incentive to buy the full version I think I might just lock it in at 25cm, which is what I use most commonly anyway.

 

How do we get an updated version ProGrids if we purchased the bundle of ProBuilder?

 

Hey Zombiegorilla! I'd been hoping to hear back from you again- I remember you were an early user, but I never did get your registration. If you check the docs, there are instructions for registering, and that'll earn you the updated versions of everything, including access to the 2.0 beta. Thanks!

 

You should have my registration, you sent me the bundle.

 

@zombiegorilla: Fixed, sent, enjoy!

@All: Lets see some WIP shots folks, I know you have 'em! How about a quick informal contest- best WIP post before the week ends will win the full version of ProGrids! (small print: that's 11:59PM, CST, Saturday)

 

Hey folks! With all the work on ProBuilder 2.0 lately, I've been getting a serious mapping itch..so here's another map in the works- greyboxing is fun!



Don't be shy to share your own WIP images- remember the best WIP image by the end of this weekend will win a full copy of ProGrids!

 

Not sure where I'm going with this, but it is definitely a "work in progress." Size is huge. Red dots are standard capsules.

 

Wow, that's quite a crane! This all reminds me of some scenes from "Shogo"...

 

Quick question about the contest. The map I plan on making makes use of varied terrain. How do you feel about us being able to use terrain or would you prefer we just mock up terrain using boxes?

 

Hey BlackTerror- that's a good question...and I'm going to say yes, although only the same "grey" terrain material. Looking forward to your WIP images!

 

Another WIP screenshot... It's hard to do stuff just in grey.. The scene is lit to show off geometry and the "water".

 

Top looking down....

 

Started to re-create a level I once made in Hammer. Good times.
Also, this is meant to be a futuristic cellblock.

(totally forgot to add the third story... ugh)

On a side-note: I noticed that Beast is throwing warnings on planes that have no surface. (No valid triangles found on plane)
That is to say when I nudge edges, (making a non-cubic shape) the plane isn't removed from the object set.
Would be cool if that was a feature of 2.0 too

 

Thanks! Just wanted to say I love how intuitive the tool is. Was going to watch the tutorial video but just started playing around and figured everything out. Love it.

 

@lockbox: thanks for posting even more images, looking forward to seeing more detail there!

The beauty of "grey" is that it forces one to really concentrate on the architecture and lighting, which is too often not given enough thought, in my opinion.

@damagefilter: looking very nice, excited to see more- and you definitely hold the lead for WIP winner this week! Oh, and yes making non-cubes will cause errors, vertex welding is a surprisingly ugly process to get just right. However, it should still work just fine

@BlackTerrorGT: Good to hear, that's the idea- to be be fast, intuitive, and plenty of power to build. So this means we'll see some WIP shots before the weekend, right?

 

Just thought I'd mention- the free version has been upgraded to allow visual on/off toggling of the grid, and the grid size is set to .25 meters, a much more usable amount. This should really help everyone in building more complex scenes with the free version.

Grab it here:
www.sixbysevenstudio.com/progrids

Enjoy, thanks for making your voices heard!

 

Wow, way to name drop such an obscure game from my teenage years, LOL.

 

@Prime: Ha, I thought nobody would know it!

@All: New feature added to ProGrids, Angle Guidelines- super useful for complex structures!

 

Thanks for the updated grid too, the workflow is 100x better now!
I made this highway and bench today. I'll try to get my hands on Unity Pro so I can get better lights.

By the way does the pro version have some kind of visgroups or cordon tool? I like to keep my stuff organized and I am already getting into problems with my laptop's ram when constructing more stuff into my scene.

 

Neat, liking the detail! Glad the upgraded grid is helping If you really like it, don't forget to purchase!

Among many (many!) other things, ProBuilder 2.0 Beta #4 just added an "auto vis groups" feature, akin to Hammer's implementation. Detail, World, Trigger, Collision, and NoDraw can be toggled on/off with a click- it's very handy! The beta is only available to folks who have already bought ProBuilder, however. Check out more info on 2.0 here:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/156435-ProBuilder-2.0-Beta-is-out-it-s-coming-together-folks!

 

More to share.

 

@lockbox Holy moly. You formed cylinders from those blocks? Kudos man. That must have been a crazy hassle.

My last one for now, I'm off to family christmas business the next days and be without Unity ^^

It starts to resemble my original now.
Hitting about 9k draw calls here though.
The lightmap index limit also comes scary close and I have two more areas to brush out ...
Ah well, I'll manage.

 

@lockbox: holy cylinders batman indeed! Luckily, in v2.0 you can create stairs, cylinders, etc, just like Hammer

@damagefilter: drawcalls- you can knock 'em down to 1 or 2 by doing this:

Happy Holidays all, I'm leaving for my own 10 hour drive back home, heh. Though I'll check back often!

 

So are we going to be lucky in v2.0 in that you can just select the a face in the inspector to specify a NoDraw texture? ... without having to click the texture button in the ProBuilder pane?

 

Just need to be patient... lol

Looks awesome so far. I guess we have already a winner for the mapping contest.

 

It's very, very early - but here's a WIP pic of the church outside my window. Should have started with the interior first really, but I need to go and gather more reference for that...



I've been having a spot of bother with duplicating boxes - not sure what I'm doing to get it, but I've had a number of vertex handles left behind when I exit edit mode (which I was able to clean up), and somehow I've got a BuilderBox with no children or components that I can't delete. Also a couple of boxes that I positioned off-grid keep getting snapped back onto the grid, when I accidentally select them with the grid snap enabled. Have left the box grid-aligned and moved the verts off-grid instead, to try to stop that happening.

I'm using 1.7.3 though so I guess some of these issues may be addressed in v2...

 

I think WInterbloods church is more awesome right now
I love the old medieval look.

 

Thanks damagefilter! It's actually an 1863 building in the Gothic Revival style, so it's not as old as it appears...
Done a bit more - this is it for tonight though.



Having some lightmapping artefacts on the seams, anyone know why? I'm guessing it's just because I can't flag internal faces as nodraw in the free version...

Also I've screwed up the round window by collapsing cubes into prisms, which seems to cock up the normals on the triangular faces. Does v2.0 handle degenerate triangles?

 

I'll participate! Let's see what I can cook up.

 

@Winterblood The seams look likethe baked amient occlusion Beast produces with the default settings.
Other than that it might be (not sure if Unity does that with lightmaps) an issue with mipmapping.

 

I scrapped the whole city scene. It was too large for my laptop to handle (I am studying abroad atm so I am forced to use this piece of fine retro hardware).
I am quite pleased with the new scene and now that I know the basics of the tools it didn't take too long to create, except for baking the lights. I could eat a meal while it was creating shadows for me.

By the way I can't see other people's images because my current school is blocking dropbox for some reason. But I can share your experience of duplication releted problems and prisms. I had some of those is my previous scene, now I am being more careful with my shapes and avoid triangles for now. You just need to be always sure to select the whole box when working outside the ProBuilder.

 

This looks great! Lighting looks awesome! Good job!

 

@damagefilter - cheers for the tip, but I've definitely got AO disabled. Close-up the seams look like bilinear spill from neighbouring sections of the atlas to me. Don't know what I can do about it though...

 

I haven't been using Unity long and I felt this a good chance to try out its lightmapping feature so it was my first attempt at that.

Naturally, with any first attempt it was rough around the edges. lol These 3 pics are from the same "room."
The kind of game it would work for as a level would be something like the old Descent games.

Love the tool though and could see a purchase in the future!

 

Hello all, i am loving proGrids as it is most easy to use. I wish i could bend capsules with it too.

Well i am also trying to make things inorder to win a copy [if i can].. Here are few images-

 

Please ignore beautification, i'm not working on lights for now,

In this hall i have tried to give arcs

 

Here's the new stall -


and another new stall


Will make 8-10 stalls and then 8,10 furniture, other required items and then will start to re-arrange and then
LIGHTS


Another update - Create Furniture 1st



update- Furniture 2nd

 

Wow everyone, I love seeing this kind of work- lovely! I wish I could just give full licenses to everyone, especially since v2.0 would really allow you to exercise your creative powers...but I have to pay rent somehow

I really can't decide on a winner this week- it's definitely between Winterblood, Katalyst, Damagefilter, and Hemuuuli. Jessica, it's great to see you joining the competition too!

(20min of looking at everyone's images passes...)

Alright- I think I have to call it- Damagefilter, you take the prize this week! I really like your use of soft atmosphere lighting, and a tall, open space, feels like a good story could take place there.

Winterblood, that is a beautiful church-build you have there- really excited to see the interior once it's fully lit! I also happen to building a cathedral at the moment, maybe we can inspire each other

Katalyst, that's awfully good for a first use of Unity! The sci-fi architecture looks great, another area I can definitely envision as an exciting location in-game. Really looking forward to seeing how your's comes together!

Keep at it everyone, it's really, honestly, exciting to see such great work coming from everyone using the tool. I'll keep giving out a copy of ProGrids every week to the best WIP images, and of course ProBuilder 2.0 in the final contest!

 

Wow. Unexpected :O
There's some really awesome competition around.
I'm glad I'm not holding the contest xD

Thanks a lot
Comes right in time for christmas eve here, lol.

 

Another stall design-

 

Merry X-Mas !!