Playing with Blender to make 3D maps...success!

[SoundRay]

Started playing with the idea of making 3D maps in Blender and using them as parallax maps. Now granted I spent 30mins on this and it's just a badly textured cube with zero textured bookcases but it was easier than I thought it would be after solving the alignment issue of needing things to sync in the RPG Maker editor grid. I think with some pretty models and sexy lighting this could go somewhere...

In editor:

http://imgur.com/pm4Rlid,3sw3xRP#0

In game:

http://imgur.com/pm4Rlid,3sw3xRP#1

 

[Tai_MT]

Definitely an interesting art style...

 

[SoundRay]

Yea its something you could play with I guess. Like if I use a more cartoon shaded render i get something like this:

http://imgur.com/rldRPBQ

Hopefully I can put it to use in something.

 

[Tai_MT]

I actually liked the first style better.  It meshed well for some reason and made it interesting to look at.

 

[Sieginder Niederlage]

Oho? Now this looks interesting...

 

[Fernyfer775]

Ohhhhhhhh....me like.

 

[SoundRay]

I actually liked the first style better.  It meshed well for some reason and made it interesting to look at.

Yea the real issue really is, it'd be cool, and I like the idea of those maps being easily available for 3D cut-scenes as well. but you'd still have to model a hell of a lot of assets. Its pretty easy to get objects in place but the thought of modelling material for an entire game is pretty daunting, unless you scour the internet for free models but that takes the freedom of creativity away I think. 

Unless your a 3D modelling wiz-kid, I'm more of a lighthearted hobbyist

 

[Julien Brightside]

I must say that is an interesting style to work with.

 

[Omega Weapon]

I once tried something like this in SketchUp. It looks good so far.

 

[Dragnfly]

Ah, PSX-era RPGs The fond, fond memories of 2D-on-3D. People who use it will need a different skillset, as you said. I only tinkered in modelling when I had free access to 3DSM and Maya, but how tricky is it to make everything line up to the 32x32 grid?

Yeah, I agree that the first version looks better. I vote that RM sprites aren't detailed enough to look right on fancy toon shaders or whatnot, so a more detailed background provides interesting contrast rather than just looking lazy.
 

Since my current project is an RM build of a very old game I do still have many 3D dungeons which I was changing to 2D. Sadly I don't have nearly enough money/talent to make more.

So fact of the matter is history shows us this can work if done well. Thanks for bringing it up, SoundRay.

 

[Gui]

Ah, PSX-era RPGs The fond, fond memories of 2D-on-3D. People who use it will need a different skillset, as you said. I only tinkered in modelling when I had free access to 3DSM and Maya, but how tricky is it to make everything line up to the 32x32 grid?

[...]

Very.

This is why I choose to build a base scene with the camera set as orthographic projection and inclined at 45° with a checkboard of cubes to simulate the grid. This allows me to place every object without having to worry about alignment for every new map, which can take quite some time to get it right.

I currently have two base scenes: one for 1024*768 (32*28 tiles) and another one, made from the first, for 2048*1536 (64*56 tiles); in theory, I can obtain any size based on the 1024*768 base scene – I just need to reduce or increase the dimensions of the checkerboard while modifying the size of the output rendered image.

 

[SoundRay]

I found it not too tricky working with a grid. I apply a grid on the camera, have it attached so when i move the camera the grid moves with it. Ill show what i mean later, its not too difficult.

 

[SoundRay]

Here's how I approached it. Chessboard material on a simple plane with an alpha value so in rendered view you can see through it enough to align. I parent it to the camera so you can freely move the camera and the grid will stay aligned. Also i have it on a different layer so i can render a final without it by simply turning the layer its on off.

Camera is set to in this case 544x416 and the grid even 32 squares which will correspond to RPG Maker as a 17x13 room.

 

[CzarSquid]

Holy cow! This idea is genius! I started to use blender recently and this looks like something I could easily replicate if I had the time and energy for it.

If you can get one of those free movement scripts with diagonal sprites then you could easily make a pseudo 3D game in rpgmaker.

I just... wow. I'm getting overly excited about this. I'm not good at programming but this is something I can do.

 

[Dragnfly]

Friend 3.....D

j/k

 

[CzarSquid]

Friend 3.....D

j/k

I might do it so I can make the joke.

 

[Marquise*]

Wow this is deep thinking I mean in graphical terms!