# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > 3D modeling (map elements and height maps) >  3D Map Assets

## JasonWrong

Hey there,

I'm working on some assets for my Capstone class, the end goal for the project is to have 3 sets of module environments in PNG format. Each asset will be scaled from 500x500 to HD formats so that they can be used on several different platforms. Ill also be rendering them from isometric view and top down. Below are some of my WIP. Ill update this weekly at least so i can get feedback. Thanks in advance.

----------


## Falconius

They look good so far, what sort of critique were you looking to get?  What sort of aesthetic are you aiming for (ie realistic, high fantasy, etc.)?  Also, are these going to be textured and coloured or left as plain models?  I'm assuming poly count doesn't matter since they are to be rendered and then used.

A note about top down things don't read very well as what they are, so you might consider scaling in the tops of objects, like they did in the old Zelda games, so you can see the sides of things even in top down mode, just a thought, I don't know how well that might work in actual practice.

----------


## JasonWrong

Ill take any critique you can think of, im making this for the community so community feedback in any form is welcomed. A little more info about this project, the three envionments are going to be Forest Ruins, Desert Town, and Fantasy European Townb. As far as the style im going for high fantasy Blizzard-ish look. I will be texturing them, polycount isn't much of an issue. However because it is for a class i will try to keep it on the lower end once i start retopo, but not so much that they would lose detail. 

Thats good idea for the top down perspective Falconius, ill test it out once i get one of them done and post it.

----------


## JasonWrong

Hey all,
I decided to axe the Desert Town in favor of creating smaller props such as potion bottle, table/chairs, crystals, crates, ect. If you all have any suggestions or anything you want to see please let me know.

----------


## JasonWrong

A little later than i wanted to post some updates, but i was on vacation. Did some potions, another pillar. I will be posting much more now that i'm back. C&C welcomed

----------


## Falconius

Good to see you back.  The potion bottles are appealing to some serious Zelda nostalgia for me.  The middle one is the best of them though, it is very very odd for a container to truncate so suddenly like the other two, even in modern times.  Cut crystal does that effect some times but most other things have a build up like the middle one before terminating.

Also I really the round pillar too.

----------


## JasonWrong

I got your potion fix Falconius

Also blocked out some of the town

----------


## JasonWrong

Here is some more base models, need to hit them with zbrush

I am trying to decide on what castle to build, here are some block outs

----------


## JasonWrong

Some WIPs of the village well, i found out who my teacher was finally. I wont have to worry about poly count so i will pretty much be using Zbrush for HP, and then just poly painting my models

----------


## Falconius

Those town icons are pretty sweet.  I like the square ones with the half columns especially but that may be just because they have a little more detail, the round ones have a very pleasing silhouette.

----------


## JasonWrong

Here are some test renders, im feeling out what kind of look i want the project to have.  Let me know what ones you like. Or if you like the look of the previous ones.

----------


## Falconius

Those look great!  I assume that these will bee seen on tables and shelves and stuff in an environment?  If so it is not going be worth going further with them.  If you did want to go further I'd suggest trying to get the glass material to look more like glass than crystal.  And if you felt like it getting this detailed it might also be worth it making the mesh imperfect (things such as making the bottom thicker on one side or the wall thickness vary more etc.).  But as I said I think they look great, the rightest most two are the most promising, I'd tone down the red in the glass though as it drowns out the red of the potion.

----------


## JasonWrong

Another update, think i have pretty much got the potions as far as i want them, i might go in and add some better scratches and such but i think i like how they turned out. I found that the lighting and HDRI made a huge difference for the glass realism 


Here is a WIP of one of the village houses, and some screenshots of the finished well, and another pillar i might use.
   

Here are some extra renders, one of them has a tinted class not sure if i want to use tinted or not for the red potion.

----------


## Falconius

Yup they look excellent, the HDRI makes a huge difference.  Love the house and the detail on the well.

----------


## ChickPea

These are amazing! Well done.

----------


## JasonWrong

Made an example sprite sheet for my class or what the the stuff will look like at 280x280, they are not sized to each other its just each one is 250x250 to make use of the full space.

----------


## JasonWrong

Hello everyone, its been a while since i last updated this. I will be posting more as i end the near of my semester. As always i'm open to any critique or comments. 

House update, I built everything modular so now that i finished the textures and models ill be able to make a couple cool ones with minimum custom work. Heres an example. Also i am aware that there are some leaves on the ivy that are still cards, i will need to paint them out of the final product because they somehow render outside of the floor.
     

I also got some feedback from my class and revisited the potions, and gems.
    

Here are some of the other assets i have been working on. I will most likely be adding some ivy to some of these. The smaller images are separate 250x250 images combined into a single image. I will be creating all the way up to 1024xx1024 for all the assets i make.
   

And this is an early test layout for branding the item packs with some of the unfinished assets. I got some feed back on this current one and plan on updating. As part of my project i am going to be creating a Gumroad account to sell some of the assets on, and a Patreon account for tutorials and work files. My idea is that i will sell the packs for a set price and the single items will be pay what you want. If you could id be curious what kind of price tag you would pay for assets like this? A pack would contain at least 10 items minimum, themed around a topic. Like a village, or ruins.

----------


## Falconius

These look really great, nice job.

I'd try and get the wood texture to have the grain follow the big cross beams instead of vertically, same with the windows (where the texture wraps around the sides), but that's about it.  And it is certainly not critical since it is very unlikely to be seen or noticed, and if that is the case just leave it as is.

As for pricing I have no idea.  Are you selling the models or are you selling the top down and iso shots to be used in a raster mapping program?

----------


## ChickPea

The cottage pics look fantastic! I love the foliage creeping up the side of the building.

----------


## JasonWrong

Thanks! Good catch idk how i missed that. The gumroad would be selling the top down/isometic shots for mapping programs, and the patreon would give the models and tutorials on how i make them depending on what tier they pay for. Essentially i want to sell the final product on gumroad and the process on patreon.

----------


## Souricette

*Splendid !*
Could you make *vertical top down pictures* for each of these items ?
I'm looking for more potions and cauldrons to fill my alchemist' room ...
thank you

----------


## JasonWrong

Update:
Had to cut some of the bigger assets like the castle due to time constraints. Figured out how to get the PNG to render with shadow, just have to use a black background when i render. The rocks are an example of shadows with a white back ground, you can see how the shadows are super light, using the black background makes them darker.

Here are some more WIP pictures of what I've been working on. 



I also tried some different things on the crystals they didn't really fit the rest of my assets so I'm reworking them to my original attempts. Here is the failed attempts.



How do you guys like something like this? Adding painted effects like floaties and glow.



Souricette, i do plan on doing both topdown/isometric of everything I make. Thanks for the interest  :Smile:  
Also im not sure if there is a image cap, i thought i remember reading something about it at one point but with finals abound my mind is racing lol, let me know if there is thanks

----------


## JasonWrong

I forgot i also wanted to ask, Do people want these rendered out in 1024x1024? I know most map assets is pretty small usually no bigger than 512x512, just trying to think of was to save on rendering time. Thanks!

----------


## JasonWrong

Back with another update. So i finished my final capstone project for school, I created a brand named 3DCritical. I was nominated for Best Capstone, didn't win unfortunately but i was honored to be nominated. I'll be making assets every month and down the road i will be doing tutorials as well. Of course i will be here asking for feedback, getting suggestions, and giving away freebies. Business model is 5$ a Critical Pack, which contains at least 10 assets each, all rendered in different angles, and Critical Singles which will be pay what you want.

Here are the links to my sites
Gumroad - Store front to buy the item packs.
Patreon - Place for tutorials, working files, development.

Heres my final project video.



I will be giving out some of the items from my first 3 packs as freebies below. I have also created a coupon code for the guild. Use code "cartographersguild" if you would like to receive 3$ off each pack (Limited to 10). I will restock the codes every now and then when i have enough content available. 

Cartographers Guild Freebies
Attachment 95648

----------


## Troedel

Hi there, those assets are comming along nicely. One thing you should try to avoid are perfectly straight lines created by box modelling. Give them a ever so slightly twist and everything will look better in an instant. Good luck with 3DCritical

----------


## JasonWrong

Hey folks,

I've been away from the forums for a long time. Quick recap, life hit once i finished school and my work has kept me busy. Anyway I remembered that my project never took off, and I am releasing ALL the content I had made for it originally, for free. I am doing this because i learned a lot from the community and have used that knowledge in my own home game, plus they are 2 year old assets that no longer reflect where I'm at as an artist. so here's the download to all the 250x250 images, multiple angles and perspectives free to use in any project, no terms. I have higher resolution images as well but didnt want to make the file too large, so just let me know if you want a higher resolution file and ill put it together and re-upload it https://gumroad.com/imjasonwrong#AqvJb
Thanks all

----------

