Detailed Apartment Building

[Exavior]

I am currently working on a machinima project for an improv comedy group that I work with in Hollywood. This map is designed to act much like the set of a sitcom.

The theme is that of an apartment building in west Los Angeles, California. At the moment, only one apartment is furnished. Others will be furnished once the improv actors establish their characters, then the rooms will be decorated in a manor befitting of the characters inhabiting them.

​

This map is not yet finished, so any suggestions/comments/criticism would be greatly appreciated. You can leave your remarks here, or post them from the image gallery on the site linked to below.

Also, most of the textures used in this map are custom, and many are not yet finished. There are plans to include many custom models, but that will take a bit more time.

Since I have created an online gallery to host images of this map, I only posted the one screenshot here.
Here is the link to the image gallery I have setup for this project: http://www.exavior.com/apt/

Thanks!

/Exavior

 

[Tyguy]

Nice map..if the rest looks like that, i cant wait

 

[~}A{~TF2]

Exavior, that is absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!! That is amazing how detailed you made the apartment complex and surrounding area!! You have done a wonderful job and I hope that you are successful with your project!!

 

[poseyjmac]

really nice looking. only thing i found strange looking was on "patio_inside.jpg". which was the dynamic shadow on the clock. it creates a long ugly shadow. but thats easily fixable. can't wait to see this map released. gj!

 

[Shinobi]

very nice man,, I cant wait to see the finsihed piece

I had criticism but it was based on the texturing of the default props you didnt make

 

[Death.Trap]

Wow, at first glance it looks like a real picture. Awesome job.

 

[Exavior]

poseyjmac: Yeah, the shadows cast by those objects are controlled by a "shadow_control" entity that I have not had much time to configure. It's a tough balance in setting it up, because it handles both the outside shadows and inside shadows at the same time, but both are drastically different light environments. I need to tweak it until the shadows look good in both environments, and I've only just started down that road. But I agree that the shadows (specifically those on wall-hanging objects) look quite ugly.

Shinobi: Yeah, all the props were designed for a post-apocalyptic world which does not fit my project too well. I'm slowly re-texturing their models to fit the map, but I have a long way to go. Which models did you feel stood out the most?

This map was not really designed with a public release in mind. This is because it would not be very good for multi user game play. Many narrow doorways, lots of high detail areas that can see into one another, and a general layout that would not be too fun for death match. It breaks many of the rules of map design, but only because it was designed with another use in mind.

Thanks for the comments, keep them coming!

 

[Ames]

The front lawn could use some bushes or grass. The space seems a little blank and needs some variation. The sidewalk could also use a few more map-based cracks depending on your rendering speed needs....

-Bathtub wall texture shouldn't match with the floor
-Lighting needs to be tweaked, too bland
-A few more map-based details should be added
-Workstation needs a lamp
-Bus stop needs cover (something to keep out the rain)
-Columns in parking lot need to be rounded more
-A few textures are not aligned correctly
-Parking lot needs more debris
-Needs better wood texture for cabinets
-Sidewalk and street could have some water puddles
-Freezer's too small for refridgerator
-Higher detailed ceilings?
-Better concrete texture
-Pool area should be more brightly lit
-Lightmap resolution could be higher
-Some higher detailed brushwork

I think that's all of it.

Good luck!

 

[Dead-Inside]

When I first scrolled down to the pic... I thought it was a reference image. Honest to god. Took me ~4 seconds (Okay, I'm tired as hell, but still).

Keep that shit up.

 

[Exavior]

The Thing: Thanks for the comments, I'll address a few of them.

-Bathtub wall texture shouldn't match with the floor
That might help make the bathroom look a bit less bland, I'll look into it.

-Lighting needs to be tweaked, too bland
Since the map is based off a daytime apartment building, I can not do very much with dramatic or creative lighting. Basically, every light source in the game needs a physical model that represents it. And detailed lighting is generally based on contrast. Contrasting colors, and areas of shadow near areas of light. But since this map is basically a brightly apartment complex, there are not many opportunities for dramatic (or non-bland) lighting, aside from the garage.

-A few more map-based details should be added
I'm slowly adding more and more detail. The map still has a ways to go. Any specific suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The more I burry my head in this project, the easier it gets to overlook even the simplest details.

-Workstation needs a lamp
Thanks, I'll add one. I had desk lamp for a while but it was an unstable physics model that kept falling over.

-Bus stop needs cover (something to keep out the rain)
I realize it is rather ironic to say this after disastrous flooding just struck this area, but rain in Los Angeles is not common enough to warrant coverings over most of our bus stops. Often the only covered bus stops are found in business districts or in down town Los Angeles. Residential areas are often lucky if there is even a bench to sit on. Which is one thing that needs to be changed. Our bus stop benches are covered in advertisements.

-Columns in parking lot need to be rounded more
Yeah, I did not have any luck getting smoothing groups to effect the way the columns rendered. I hate to add more faces to the world brushes, so I plan on modeling them in XSI in the near future.

-A few textures are not aligned correctly
Where? I've not noticed any alignment problems lately, but I'm sure there are some out there.

-Parking lot needs more debris
Since this is not a post-apocalyptic world, or a slum, I can only go so far with debris. Often in game design things look too artificial/plastic because they are clean and lack signs of aging/weathering so designers essentially over compensate by leaning toward extreme distressing and weathering of objects/textures. (That is one reason why so many games take place in run down buildings or war torn environments) The problem here is that since I am creating a well-kept modern apartment building, I can not make use of many common techniques that rely on distressing to add realism. This has proven to be a real pain, especially with all the nice clean white walls in the furnished apartment. I've had to put a lot of things against the wall and hanging a lot of pictures just to keep the walls from looking too bland.

-Needs better wood texture for cabinets
Yes, badly! I am not at all happy with the way the cabinets look with that wood texture. It is just a place holder until I can come up with something more detailed. I don't like the way the handles blend into the drawers/door fronts, the pattern is just too overwhelming.

-Sidewalk and street could have some water puddles
Again, LA is technically a desert, and quite dry. The streets do need more details like no parking signs and fire hydrants as well. One thing to keep in mid is that the actors that will be using this environment will not be using the streets. They will only use the outside area directly in front of the building. The rest of the detail is intended as background detail seen through windows. That's why I did not bother to hide the edge of the map with building details, and settled for an ugly brick wall encompassing the map.

-Freezer's too small for refrigerators
That is the default HL2 fridge model with a new texture. The proportions are technically correct for that style of refrigerator.

-Higher detailed ceilings?
I am working on 2 things to help the ceilings in the apartments. I plan to add a row of track lighting over where you now see the entertainment center, and the living room and bedroom will both get a ceiling fan with mounted lights on it. This both adds detail to the otherwise bland ceilings, and provides physical representations of light sources so I can move on to actually lighting the apartment. Right now the bedroom and living room are just lit by a couple bright light entities. I've been unable to "really" light them since I do not have anything to represent the light source, and every light has to be accounted for.

-Better concrete texture
For which concrete area? All the concrete in this map is still HL2 textures. I plan to eventually replace most all of the HL2 textures with custom textures, but that takes time. Though the HL2 textures are really great, I like having as much of the map as possible be original. Right now the roads look pretty bad in the screenshot, since they get extremely blurred when you look down them length wise. Thankfully they will usually only be seen from an elevated position when the camera man shoots out a window, or when the actors are standing near one of the larger windows like the one found in the lobby.

-Pool area should be more brightly lit
Right now that area, like all the outside areas, are only lit by a light_environment entity. This is because the only real light source there would be the sun. Do you think the sun needs to be brighter? I can also make the sun angle steeper, which will place more of the pool area in direct sunlight. But then I lose some of the dramatic long shadows that look good in the street areas. I'll try brightening the sun a bit and sacrifice the longer shadows for better lighting in the pool area.

-Lightmap resolution could be higher
I've not worked with lightmaps much yet, I still have a lot to learn in that department. Do you have any suggestions to help get me started? Could you point out one of my screenshots that has too low a lightmap resolution so I could see what should be changed? I've not played with the lightmap settings much so I don't know what all they effect. I assume they just give better definition to shadow outlines?

-Some higher detailed brushwork
I would really like to do more detailed brush work, but I've actually had to go back and remove a lot of brush detail I added in the past. This is because the map layout goes against the basic mapping technique of preventing high detail areas from seeing into one another. Since the apartment building is basically a donut, covered in windows and doors, many areas can see through the building into each other. There is not much I can do, since this style of apartment building is very common in LA, and I can not really change the layout to help improve performance. Having so many windows and doors is a bit of a hassle, but modeling after a real world environment has its pitfalls.

Thanks again for all the suggestions! You've given me a few new things to work on, and reminded me about some things I had planned to go back and replace before I got sidetracked by shiny objects.

 

[brisck1]

Amazing work Exavior. I can tell you have worked your ass off on this and you have achieved a new level of machinima quality. Can you give us some info on what the comedy series is about?

well done mate

 

[v1p3r]

Do you plan to release the bsp for people to explore?

 

[Dasparov]

Make the bed a bit more rounder? and maybe the bedframe have a little more detail put into it.

Awesome map, i like how you have g-man as the newsreader and the detail with the DVD's ect is great! goodwork

 

[AH_Viper]

Someone mentioned the pool lighting, and I was thinking the same thing. You need lights on the roof of the walkways to get rid of the shadows.

I supose one way to test you lighting to the max is to get rid of you ligh_env and see if you can still navigate your map purely based on you light fixtures.

Also, to brighten up your walls, try putting some borders on them like: http://www.babybeddingtown.com/product_images/animal_kingdom.jpg

Not the wood strip as this is kinda old fashioned, but the bit of wallpaper around the edge like this: http://www.thewoollysheep.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/1204-CL41202BFishandLureBorderB.jpg

Simple but I think it might just work.

Also, best way to see how to make a tidy room look detailed.... google Put in bathroom into the image search Toilet roll for one is something that stands out. How about a toilet brush, took brush's and toothpaste? Clothes basket for dirty clothes? A Radiator with clothes drying on it... simple things.

Try doing an image search on bedrooms. Selfs with models, planes from the room if its a younger guy. And how often do guys make their bed with hospital corners?

Bedside cabnets, alarm clock, tv remote, cd player, wallet, watch some of the stuff I have on mine as well as my stereo. How about a monitor out of the way on the floor while the dude works on his inards of the PC? Oh yeah, where are the unplugged wires for the PC? Doesn't the guy test his work now and again?

Also, you call that posters?!?!!? this is my room: http://lamppost.mine.nu/ahclan/files/desk.jpg

More posters than you can count, and a roof covered in a huge scotland flag

Hope my ranting helps

 

[Dario D.]

I'm glad to see that the source engine still looks good with nice clean, smooth textures.

I was almost convinced they used such dirty textures in HL2 to cover up to chunky shadows. Looking good.

 

[Dekstar]

Woah those look excellent. You must have spent ages getting everything looking like a real set.
Tell us when your machinima is done. I would love to see it.

Also, just a little thing: The carpet in the bedroom and lounge seems a tad low-res. Try making it a bit more detailed, and it'll look really realistic.

-Dekstar

 

[Eclipso]

WOW, that looks phenominal. I am still a mapping nub so I have no suggestions.

 

[Exavior]

brisck1:
We have not yet started rehearsing with the comedy troop yet. We still have a few more hurdles before we are ready to bring in the actors to start developing characters and picking a comedic direction for the show. We have to find a way to make it so characters can sit on sofas/chairs. I hope to treat them like vehicles that users can enter and exit, but I am unsure how that would look in multi-player. The mount/dismount animations (if they exist) may not fit the action of sitting in a chair/sofa, and I still don't know what multi-player characters look like when sitting in a vehicle. We may have to develop custom animations, and I've yet to dig into that area too much.

We also have to figure out a way to trigger mouth movement, so the characters at least look like they are speaking when the actors speak. I still don't know where to begin on that issue either.


v1p3r:
I would eventually like to, but I don't know how to go about packaging something like that. Right now it contains many custom textures, custom skins for existing models, and all the CS models copied over to the hl2dm model archive. On top of that, the map will soon contain other custom models. Any tips on how to package something like would be great. But that would be a ways off, there is still a lot of work to be done on this map.


Dasparov:
On the page that has the screenshot of the bed, there is a note that explains a bit about why it looks so crappy. It is basically a place holder until I can take the time to build a more detailed bed out of world brushes, or ideally model one in XSI.



AH_Viper:
Yeah, I need to put some lights over the walkways, that should help. As for wall borders, I originally had walls with borders much like the example link you provided, but it was pointed out to me by my partner in this project that Los Angeles apartments generally have bland painted walls with no details aside from a basic floor board at the base. Walls like that are generally found in homes or more "colonial" style apartment buildings.

For the bathroom, I do want to get a clothes hamper, toilet paper, shampoo for the tub, a tub faucet, shower head, and a few other detail items. But most of that requires modeling which I have put off as one of the last tasks. I'm generally not happy with the bathroom since the mirror can never really be functional, and you can't really get around having a mirror in a bathroom. One of my friends suggested having it fogged over, like someone recently took a shower, and just have the minor reflection details be handled by a cube map. That is probably what I'll end up doing.

As for the google suggestion, I'm with you on that 100%. I could not live without google, it's been one of my main resources for finding reference images to base most of this map off of. Most of what I need to start adding is just the basic clutter that you can find in most rooms, and that takes time. I'll have to make a lot of custom models to fit the clutter themes of the various rooms. The random bottles, cans, barrels, boxes, and crates that HL2 provides are not quite enough.

Nice room AH_Viper! I would add more posters, but right now the room is more of an example of a furnished room than an actual furnished room. This is because each of the apartments will eventually be the home of a complex sitcom style character, so the posters will have to reflect their personality. But adding lots of wall detail is something I do want to do. Hopefully some of the posters I choose can be used by some of the characters. Eventually there will be 3 or 4 fully furnished apartments, all unique in their theme.



Thanks again to everyone that has helped, all these suggestions are great, and my "to do" list is getting longer by the minute. I really need to get moving on making custom models. Sadly the export code that Softimage gave me for XSI does not work. So I've been waiting for weeks for their customer service department to get back to me. I might just have to go back to using 3DSM, which is ok since I have been working with it for a bout 10 years. XSI is still not very comfortable to me, but I know I need to get around to learning it.

 

[Limpet]

That looks amazing even with everything you plan on fixing.
Another lighting issue (and this seems to be nit picking). In the closest is that supposed to be incandescent or fluorescent light, if its the first one maybe have it be a more orangish color? I know you probably wont be worried about that until much later, but I thought I could throw that up since your going for realism.

 

[StardogChampion]

Annoying when people are going on about how amazing this is, and I can't see the pics...

 

[AH_Viper]

Just thought I would post to say that although I sound VERY critical I was just trying to help I really love what you've done so far and think it rocks but never accutaly said it last time.

Its just your reply sounded very defensive and I didn't mean my post to be that way, but don't worry, i'll still keep hitting your with C&C though

Have to say, I realy admire the attention to detail and can't wait to see how well you manage to reflect the characters with their appartments. Sign of a realy good mapper / genious if you pull it off well. Games designers have been trying it for years and as you mentioned before they tend to make up for clutter by making it over the top then just making the place a bump.

Also, to add to v1p3r's question: What would be the possibilty of making it a MP map for CS? just for s**ts? Would that be any different from releaseing the source where all the external models would be needed? Does a BSP complie everything into the file? I just realy want to run around that place

 

[Geronimous]

This is actually the first time I have ever seen somebody pay such attention to details in his Source mapping.... incredible and props!!!

I am going for the same amout of detail but I am not sure it is suitable for the map, since it is rather large and for MP...

 

[RoyalEF]

The texture on the stairs to the garage--the look like fire stairs. the tread on the steps is misaligned. You probably caught that by now.

I guess there are no mirrors? You could have a camera setup in the mirror and the output of the camera laid on the mirror surface, so you would see yourself when you walk in front of it. You would not guet the reverse angle and chagning view though. I guess that was just Doom 3 and Unreal2 that had functional mirrors?

The bathroom seemed way out of proportion. It is gigantic and has nothing. For that size to look right you should have a double vanity. Or use an armoire for towel, or a corner shelf unit for knick nacks. SOmething needs to fill that dance floor.

I know they are just HL2 models, but am I the ony one that noticed the chairs look like kindergarten chairs at the dinner table. None of them look high enough. The back barely reach the top of the table. There is a scale issue--but you'll probably correct that with your own stuff.

For lighting issue. Consider changing the values for lights. Light falloff has three pattern QUADRATIC, LINEAR, CONSTANT. Put a 1 in the type you want and 0(zero) in the other two. QUADRATIC is the default and I find it is not realistic. Linear drops off slower and gradually lessens in intensity. CONSTANT is like sunlight. No matter how far you are from the source, it is just as bright as standing next to it. Light normally carries much further the quadratic calculates and sunlight bounces like crazy. I don't use any lights in my house on a sunny day and no amount of windows in a HL2 map can simulate that light bounce.

Great, Great work.

 

[StardogChampion]

Your hosting's working again. Your map/creation looks seriously well made. I like the lighting. I always have problems with lights making the player weapon model go too bright when I had it in a decent position.

 

[Exavior]

AH_Viper:
No worries, critical is what I want. I'm aware that nothing is ever perfect, and I often find myself overlooking the most basic mistakes. The larger the map gets, the harder it gets to stop looking at the "big picture" and focus on smaller details that I planned to go back and fix, or were unaware of. Those easily get buried in the ever growing list of things I'm working on.

As for coming off defensive, I don't intend to. *acts all defensive*
I can see how some of my replies could come across that way. Mainly it is because many of the issues brought up here are either things that are work in progress, place holders, or hurdles I can't overcome due to aiming for realism in a very specifically themed environment.

Your criticism was great and I thank you for it. So far I've done this all on my own, so getting a little outside input will be help greatly.

And don't worry, I will find a way to make some kind of demo version of this map downloadable. I'm pretty sure I can compile all the textures into the BSP. Unless that has changed since older versions of the halflife engine. It'll just be one hell of a large download. I'm not sure how to go about distributing the skins for all the default HL2 and CS models, since that would effect other maps/mods you have that use the same models. The map will not be very playable, but possibly fun to explore. And since I am pushing the engine a bit with all the detail I'm adding, it would not run too well on older computers. All the detail and the general layout don't really make this map very useful for any type of gameplay, but I'm sure some people could have fun with it. But since my priorities are on finishing the map and researching ways to get game characters interacting with the environment, any kind of demo is a ways off.

Geronimous:
Thanks. I plan to add a lot more detail, but I'm running into lots of boundaries. Since so many areas of this map can see into one another, a lot of load is placed on the engine. Thankfully, the final resolution the game will be run at (during live stage performances) is bare minimum. This is because it will be going through some of my video mixing hardware which translates the video signal into broadcast resolution. (NTSC 525x480)

It's a delicate balance between performance and detail. I still need to learn more about area portals, but from the way my map is designed I'm not sure how much help they will be.

RoyalEF:
The later quake engines also had functioning mirrors.
The idea of using a camera had been brought up before, and you can actually "mirror" the display surface horizontally to get a proper mirror effect. The only thing preventing me from doing this is the fact that HL2 only allows 1 active camera at a time, and the camera is currently being cycled through various "TV studio sets" to display images on the TV. For example in the screenshots on my site you'll notice a fake CNN broadcast using the GMan as an anchor man. I could put a trigger in the bathroom that switched the camera over to the mirr POV, but that would pose a problem if one of the actors entered the bathroom set while the camera man and remaining actors stayed in the living room.

As to the bathroom appearing large, that is intentional. All the rooms are larger than you would find in the real world. This is because they are designed to be used as a machinima set, and the "camera man" needs room to pull back to get groups of actors in a single shot.

In normal TV studios you have what is called the "4th wall" which is a wall in all sets that is either non existent or removable to give cameras the ability to pull back beyond the boundaries of the room. Since I can't have all the rooms have only 3 walls, I made them larger to allow for camera movement. Even with the large size of the bathroom, it will still be really hard to fit a camera man and 1 or 2 actors in there with space to move around.

As for the scale issue with the chairs and table, that's a known problem that has been plaguing FPSs for years. You'll notice that if you design a house to the scale of the physical model of a player, when you play that environment everything will seem over-sized. The problem is caused by the field of view of the player. For example, if you walk up close to a door in HL2 and look up, you'll feel about 4 feet tall. Quake*, doom3, and HL all have this problem.

Thanks for the lighting tips. I've not tried using the QUADRATIC, LINEAR, or CONSTANT light settings at all yet. You'll notice in areas like the living room/bed room, there are just 4 bright lights that light the entire room. This is done as a place holder, since the models that will represent the actual light sources in that room (ceiling fan with mounted lights, and a row of track lights) have not been created and placed in the world yet. For now I'm just using a few bright lights and the inlay light models from CS Office

Your info on how the QUADRATIC, LINEAR, CONSTANT work will surely save me a lot of time when I start working on the final lighting for this map, thanks! Lighting is one of the hardest parts of creating a good map, and I plan to put that headache off for a while!

 

[Faulk_Wulf]

Besides saying the obvious: HOLY CRAP, THIS IS AWESOME. I would also like to say I love your news broadcast. Somehow, the Gman seems to fit into that role nicely. (Nice A-Bomb in the top left corner, too. ) Other than that, not much. Looks awesome.

 

[Pesmerga]

When I first scrolled down to the pic... I thought it was a reference image. Honest to god. Took me ~4 seconds (Okay, I'm tired as hell, but still).

Keep that shit up.

You're not alone. I was looking for the part that proved it was in-game, and noticed the grass texture.

Excellento jobo!

 

[Exavior]

Yeah, that grass texture needs work, hehe. Eventually I want to have it randomly spawn little grass clump sprites. I'll move that up toward the top of my list.

 

[Nubzcore]

is it just me, or am i missing ALOT of modles. so meny people have all these modles, and i cant find like half of them. did u make them yourself?

 

[Pesmerga]

Damn, now that I look through it again, I can actually invision a guy walking through that door in real life. My only complaint is how powerful the flames on the oven seem to be. The gases seem to be way more dense than they should. Although, they may very well be that dense in real-life, I've never actually stared at a gas oven before.

 

[Bling]

wow, awesome awesome job.

good work!

 

[Triggerhappy41]

ridiculously good job! So you imported all of those textures yourself?

 

[Exavior]

Nubzcore:
I copied over all the CS models to hl2mp. You have to do this by hand, since they do not normally allow you to use the CS models in HL, or the other way around. To learn about copying models over, do a forum search on "GCFScape" Also many of the things in my map that look like models (the remote, vcr/dvd/surround sound unit, speakers, big TV, coffee table, etc) are made out of world brushes and custom textures.


Pesmerga:
Yeah, the heat wave effect is a bit extreme. I need to tone that down a bit. I also wish I could have the flames be blue, since natural gas flames are not red/yellow/orange.


Triggerhappy41:
Not all the textures, but most of them. Many of the textures were created using digital photographs, or hand painted in photoshop. Some of the textures are from HL2 though. But I plan to slowly replace them with custom textures, as I find the time to make them.


I plan to have some updated screenshots later this week. I've just added a few new models and made a lot of changes based on the feedback I have received so far in this thread.

Thanks again for all the comments/suggestions/complements.

 

[Fender357]

Is there a reason the site isn't working?

I get here and read all this awesome stuff about this work and I can't see any of it...

You teasing bastards!!!

 

[Exavior]

For some reason the webhost I use has been acting up lately. It's working fine for me at the moment.

 

[v1p3r]

brisck1:v1p3r:
I would eventually like to, but I don't know how to go about packaging something like that. Right now it contains many custom textures, custom skins for existing models, and all the CS models copied over to the hl2dm model archive. On top of that, the map will soon contain other custom models. Any tips on how to package something like would be great. But that would be a ways off, there is still a lot of work to be done on this map.

I'd simply RAR up your entire HL2DM folder and put a torrent up, and tell people to back up their existing folder first so they don't end up with a weirded out HL2DM

 

[CanopuS]

Although I know you didn't originally intend to, while it might not make a great MP map I think you could turn it into something enjoyable in the single player game. The setting would work quite well if you wanted to convert it. Anyhow, it looks great but you already knew that!

 

[Crispy]

Oh my...

...looking to join a Mod?

 

[azz0r]

That is absolutely fantastic - any chance you are going to bone the shower curtain and be the first to create a physic based material?

 

[PvtRyan]

That is absolutely fantastic - any chance you are going to bone the shower curtain and be the first to create a physic based material?

That sounds horribly wrong 'boning the shower curtain' lol
(know what you mean though)