3DForge Exteriors

@Whippets

Had some family stuff to take care of part of today, am at pc now working
Looking to see what selection I can add for Trees, bushes/shrubs, flowers & grasses

Trees:
Looking at normal mesh trees and looking at Unity Tree Creator >>> do you have a preference

Bushes/Shrubs:
Normal mesh types >>> do you have a preference

Flower & Grasses:
Mesh types as well as terrain plant-able textures >>> do you have a preference

Cheers
Cobus

 

My person opinion...I am using Speedtrees and if I were not, I would use Big Environment Trees or some other tree because they are more detailed.

Since many who use your items will be mobile developers, I would make trees for them. There are plenty for us desktop users, plus Speedtrees.

Probably the only non-speedtrees I will use will be grasses and flowers and there are so many out there, I can't even begin to think of what could be added.

 

@Teila

I contacted Speedtree about 1 month ago, inquired about subscribing and paying the monthly cost for using the creator app they have, asking if I can make trees with it and include into packages that I sell.
The answer was a very short " No" and that they will look into it for future.

Guess they want to be the only ones allowed to sell contents made with it.

Big Environment Trees >>> you mean like the one that was on the recent MADNESS SALE ?

Grasses & flowers >>> Normal mesh ones you place or the terrain planting ones ?

 

Yep, they are weird about that.

Yes, the Big Environment trees that were on sale. Those are the best Unity trees, imho. I had them my game until Speedtree came along. I like ST better though because of the way they look in the wind and the LOD system. They just work better than Unity trees..no fault of BE. This is one of those Unity terrain issues more than anything I think.

I would not mind some flowers, even potted plants. I remember players of UO, way back when, loved those potted plants. And that might go really well with your style. Garden flowers or even vegetables would be great too.

 

Personally I'm more interested in your pack for the buildings and props. If it were me and I was going to do trees and plants, I'd probably do them as a separate pack, especially since they would probably be common between this kit and other village kits you might make... Not saying don't include them, but might be better as one of the addon kits that could also be sold separately and easily combined in other culture kits you might make in the future

I'm like Teila. I have all three of the big environment packs and many of the speedtree stuff that I picked up on sale before the money dried up. Not that I wouldn't welcome more detail plants, but more hurting for awesome modular building options.

 

Mmm...

Some good points you have there and some good advice.
Lets see what I do tonight and come up with

Cheers
Cobus

 

I use SpeedTree for all my tree and grass needs. Foliage that I'm short of is potted plants, flowers, climbing vines/plants, farm crops, hedges (topiary and box), and dangling plants. But, mainly, the sort of climbing plants that (partially) cover buildings.

But I'm happy to see these in a separate pack. Mostly I want to start playing with the architecture

 

Hi everyone,

Just a very quick look at one tests

What I am aiming is to give the kind of stuff that you will not have and will enrich your flora collection further.
Give the kind of stuff that you dont see often
These are just quick shots, you will get growing from the ground, then hanging down ones, and also horizontal versions.
What is great is that they can be placed wherever, hanging from a bridge or any other structure that is in your game world

Take note the cool shadows they cast, it that just add lots of realism













Cheers
Cobus

 

Looking great XD - can we also have some coming up from the ground, and petering out, like this.... (with very small leaves). The combination of both will really break things up.

 

Beautiful!!!! Thank you!

 

@Whippets
Most certainly. There will be that comes from the ground, hanging down and horizontals ones as well

This was just a quick test to check that the alpha channel was doing it think, saw myself that the leave were a tad to big.
Will have some just blue-green as well.

@Teila glad you also like what you see

Cheers
Cobus

 

Autumn colors would be nice later down the road.. Or add some branches that might have some brown leaves where the branch is dying out..

 

@Shawn67
Yeah, you sometimes see these with very radiant reds & oranges

 

alpha looks perfect, the fact that it casts shadows as well, looks wonderful. I can see it hiding cave entrances as well.

 

Never tried using speed trees in u5

I have Cobus's 4 seasons pack and I'm happy with the trees in there


I really like how the ivy looks in the images here

 

I share Shawn67's view completely. I don't expect any trees, bushes or grass in this pack. Like many others I have specialized assets for that. From my point of view vegetation would be an unnecessary aspect to this pack.

 

In the beginning I was thinking that it would be cool to have vegetation in the pack. Especially if they are low poly versions suitable for mobile.

But now I'm more in line with Parallaxe, shawn and teila - they could/should be most propably an own pack. I would be fine for me to add only vegetation to the pack which are fitting into the idea of the pack itself or can be attached to the buildings. Like small bushes / flowers for a cemetry or a castle garden etc.

 

@Teila @Shawn67 @Whippets @smada luap @Parallaxe @Wylaryzel

I will then try finish off the sample / Example buildings today, after which do marketing images and submit

I want to have examples and a good number of ready to use drag & drop prefabs

If can ask again for everyone to give me a short list in order of importance from the FREE updates on the road map

I will like with the ToDo list add this list to the first post and keep track of progress
So post your preference here and after the Interiors Kit walls and floors HD update I can start working on the list

 

1. Unique buildings
2. Thatch / red tiles / shallow sloped roof parts
3. Notice boards / signs / pavements / sidewalks
4. Castles exteriors
5. City walls
6. Harbour
7. Marketplace
8. Underground tunnels
9. Damaged parts
10. Flowers, bushes, hedges, potted plants

No rush, 1st of June will be fine XD

 

Thx for asking again - missed the last time

For myself I think from the importance point of view I would start whats already in the interior kit and doesn't have an matching exterior part in v1.

a) Castle/Cathedrals (to fid with the castle&cathedrals)
b) Cemetry (to fit with the Catacombs/Catacombs)

- I'm now not sure if the other pieces of the interior kit are already covered by then, otherwise they should checked again

c) Market place kit
d) City walls
e) Harbor kit

C-E would be great to create a living village and should be very important, A and B are somehow important as well as they don't have a corresponding piece in the exterior currently..

f) underground system
g) unique buildings

The other mentioned updates are a bit more in line with the fitting to the individual update kits (e.g. like message boards fitting well into the market place, etc).

BR
Wyl

 

See -> http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/3dforge-exteriors.316736/page-6#post-2079982



In (slightly) related news, I've been experimenting with random terrain again in Unity, trying to generate a world where I'm happy with how it looks, but I did end up with this one



All I need to do know is try and tweak the settings to get a perfectly seamless transition between the terrains. The image here is at the edge of the main terrain where it has been tiled around to give the impression of an endless world

 

I love speed tree and yep, i wish they would allow other ppl to sell packs made from them as well.

I like the ivy concepts and the potted plants sound good as well. I guess its about what you would typically see in this sort of setting.

Other decal type textures would be interesting to allow variety to be added to your walls / roofs / grounds.

Maybe some type of flower / garden bed concept that could be constructed and then planted in.

Am always a fan of nice flowers n grasses

 

@S4G4N
The vegetation that 'clings' to your architecture would be the only vegetation I would add to this pack. If you have trees, bushes, and grass....separate pack please. There is one exception that could go either way....flower beds or pots...that fit with the architecture 'feel'. Like others here I have things to fit this so no really necessary.

 

Thatch roof parts
Unique buildings
Harbor
Arches and pillars parts

 

1. Unique buildings
2. Thatch / red tiles / shallow sloped roof parts
3. Notice boards / signs / pavements / sidewalks
4. Marketplace
5. Damaged parts
6. Underground tunnels
7. Harbour
8. Arches and pillars parts
9. Castles exteriors
10. City walls
11. Flowers, bushes, hedges, potted plants

 

This... For now. I wouldn't mind vegetation later, but unlike others, I'm not really interested in low-poly cartoony vegetation. I would need nice detail vegetation. Low poly would be ok as long as it looks like real vegetation.

 

Seeing Unique buildings high up on everyone's lists and checking on the FREE Update road map, there are only 3 buildings mentioned, can I have some more suggestions for this line item ?

- Windmills
- Waterwheel
- Sawmill / Lumberyard

 

Sounds good to me! I can't think of anything else I can't make with your parts. I made my own waterwheel...very complex, but lots of fun to model. It turned out well but the texturing was a bear. I imagine yours will be better.

 

Offhand, I can't think of any others. If it is too small for a kit, maybe combine it with one or two of the other ideas which are also small. Or leave it small and it can be expanded down the road.

 

Root cellar
undershot and overshot waterwheels
Jousting tourney and seating area

 

If you can make the wheels/blades and internal axles and gears as separate pieces, I'll provide scripts to make everything move (with levers to make the internal mechanisms lock into the outer mechanisms).

 

Barley Maltings for roasting grains for beers and spirits
Tannery with tenterhooks and vats for curing skins and hides
Mill buildings for weaving and thread making (tall windows) looms and spinning wheels, carding areas, etc
Paper factory taking wood - turning it into wood pulp, pressing and drying on frames
Dyers with chemical equipment for grinding rocks, or making plant extracts for dyes & inks & lye - and large vats for dying cloth, with lines for drying the cloth
Butchers yard with drainage and hooks for hanging meats

 

@Whippets Lots of good suggestions there.
Some very special Unique buildings here, thanks.
Some of the items I think belongs with the planned props pack though, but the combo between the buildings and the props will really add good contents

Thanks
Cobus

 

Oh.. Maybe a small wizard's tower with alchemy type area, maybe a dungeon-like basement for the more necromatic wizard, and a huge library at the top. Think Raistlin's tower in the dragonrealms books. Would have curved walls so have curved shelving, stairs, etc.

Maybe a variety of different tower options, both round and square.. Could be used for mystical towers, guard towers, etc..

Possibly additional bridges? Hard to really think of a lot since I'm already forgetting all the stuff you already included in the base.. lol

 

arcane towers, good call.

 

Carts with separate wheel meshes(with the pivot being the axel) for goods and transport etc would be nice. In fact if the cart bases were able to be attached seamlessly with wooden wall prefabs then just a couple of ladders and a small draw bridge prefab and you would have a siege tower!!! The same modularity would allow rams/catapults to be made.

A lot of tradespeople worked outside in all but the worst weather so just the facility to build outdoor workshops/shops

Hollowed out stone formations for use as cave entrances. Scalable from small to massive so could use as cave dwellings to valley entrances.

Boats

 

I think the ideas of the unique buildings are great But on the other hand, I think several of the (if not most) can be achieved with a proper collection props. In that case someone can design a harmonized look of the village and feeding the different types of buildings with the addition of the props (e.g. mill stone and bundles of grain for the miller, some sacks and a proper oven for the bakery, etc).

BTW Cobus, are you getting to the end with the examples? Hopefully If I see some of the timelines for getting the first approval in the asset store, I see the availability already coming to June

 

@docsavage
Thanks for the suggestions I will take note of them.

@Wylaryzel

Yes, the pre-made, ready to use buildings are not far from done.

I have completed a large selection of Viking Village buildings, busy with the Kind of Standard Medieval Village styled buildings, so almost there.

Should be in the Store before then

 

An easily made Unique Building could be a watchtower/guard station. Something similar to this wooden one in Skyrim for instance, or maybe a circular stone tower instead. I can foresee using watchtowers extensively at the entrances of villages. An eerie alleyway would be useful in a lot of situations also, but I guess that could be accomplished with props, walls and lighting. A stable could be good. If any of these suggestions have been said, apologise for missing them. Love the Exteriors so far!

 

Watch towers and guard houses are new... Well thought

 

Viking village?? in this pack?

 

Yup, didn't you see the viking roof on many of the houses?

 

@kittik
Welcome to the thread, always nice to see new faces.
Very nice suggestion there. I think that geometry can be done with the what is in the package
Let me see

@Whippets
Yeah, just as in, that top end roof with the spiky bits that you have seen in many of the sample shots, everyone referr3ed to them as Viking Looking, so I build a set of pre-done ones like that.

Cheers
Cobus

 

XD, Well, looking forward to seeing all that

 

I am not a 3d modeler - so please excuse me if this is a dumb question.

It strikes me that there is a huge amount of work here and that it consists of both modeling and texturing. As a software guy i think both practically and commercially about software reuse, and I don't think I have ever seen texture packs on the asset store that extend the usage of the original packs.

I understand the value of time, and know Cobus makes his living out of this, so I don't begrudge paying more if I get more value. I also can't do this myself, so if he were to offer different texture packs which were essentially different styles on the same models, then having more cool ways to use this pack is something that would be interesting to me. It's a little bit like being a kid in a lego candy store

So my question to the community here, is whether or not there is an interest in purchasing additional texture packs which extend on the theme and style of the models post launch, and then from Cobus himself, is this idea that he finds interesting?

It strikes me that these could probably be relatively easily re-skinned and leveraged - so I am curious as to what everyone thinks

 

@AdamGoodrich
Because of the modular nature of this package, many parts has the same shapes specifically to be able to really customize buildings and play with a Medieval LEGO" set. The have to be, so that they are swappable.

This has the result that even though you have different building and different villages and towns, you are going to end up with a consistent look & feel when the player travels through your game world.

If this was just a small pack with say 20 buildings it, for me it would be useless.
You can only repeat those 20 building so many times before each village is just going to look the same as the previous and the player is not by looking at the surrounds know which one he is in.

That is the main reason for the LARGE pack on release and then the FREE Update road map.

You are going to at release with v1.0 have great art in your hand to build your Houses, Shops, Guild Halls, Inns and all those cool spaces that your game world consist of and then with the updates coming add more special geometry and spice to your world. While the consistency of the package contents will be there to tie them all together to be lelievable all of the same large Medieval Fantasy World

The FREE Updates will be completely new Textures and geometry each time, many of them the "Kit" at the end for they each will be substantial and in fact be able to be pulled out and used as smaller packs with other projects.
These smaller "Kits" will be released as smaller packages, but believe me, buying the full package at launch and even at normal full price after the 7 days launch SPECIAL, will be way better than buying the small parts.

But like with the Village Interiors Kit, there was a call for and and some users just wanted / needed a small part and was happy to just buy that.

Users must please note, that I have no means to later "Upgrade" so to speak to the full package.

I can just say, that with the Village Interiors Kit https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/17033
having 48 excellent reviews and 108 X 5 STARS I have not had one person emailing me and telling me they regretted buying the full package rather, but rather the opposite, many stating that they feel that they received such a bargain when looking at price and what they received.

My motto with any package that 3DForge makes.
I want you to be happy to pay for what you think you are about the receive, then, when you download and open it,
I want you to feel that you even got way more.
I want you the user to feel that you got the good end of the deal and looking at the reviews, I think that motto plays itself out almost every time

Enough yabbering from me, let me click and do stuff so that you can have in your hand soon soon

Cheers
Cobus

 

Hi Cobus,

Hope you didn't take my post the wrong way - the quality and quantity and value for money of your work stands for itself - you totally live up to your motto

And as you say, the modular design really lends itself to many interesting combinations and permutations - which is sort of why i asked the question...

Which makes me think maybe I will add another module to my terrain tool to allow the user to construct buildings procedurally out of your components and place them into towns

Cheers,
Adam.

 

@AdamGoodrich
Don't see any reason to have taken anything in a wrong way, I invited everyone to come share thought sand help shape what they love to use and in that way help themselves

There are always users looking for automation of processes if it is going to make there lives easier or if it can take care of parts they don't like doing or don't have the time doing.
The fact that the package is modular will very possibly make it viable to develop such a product.
even if the user end up building themselves small libraries of building sets according to a theme per set, as in a specific selection to generate a wanted look & feel.

Then a town generator can grab assets from such a library and do it's thing with you going in and adding props afterwards as you see fit.

This way towns/villages will retain the specific themed looks and the props placement process can further strengthen that by adding things to this and that spot that will make location unique and momorable.

Make a props "brush" that you can predefine folders to look at and users can paint the props onto/into scenes
Have different "brushes" so to speak that can be saved per project or town.

Well there is lots of potential for such tools

Cheers
Cobus

 

Great idea, Adam. Is your terrain tool out yet? I am always looking for good terrain tools.

 

Not yet - my paying work keeps wanting to take up my time !!

Its largely functional now, and I have a couple of full days planned later this week as well as the time i put in before and after work every day.

I shared some screenshots with Cobus earlier today and he suggested that i also add support for caves and overhangs. As I already dynamically create meshes so there is no great reason why i couldn't do this as well.

I think another week and I will create a forum like this to start showing it off in the countdown to release