Why am I still working on graphics? It’s not the texturing I can’t get right, it’s the coloring. It’s pretty clear to me why there are people hired just to work with the lighting alone. To help me find out the exact kind of shading I’m looking for I made this concept art using the current model. I haven’t forgotten about gameplay if anyone’s wondering. If I don’t do graphics now I’ll be too lazy to do it later.
There are no ice stages in the game, this actually came to mind when I was thinking of some sort of ice fortress. I don’t know when or why I was thinking of it but the image stuck with me.
UPDATE: June 6 2010
Perhaps concept art is more useful than I thought. Attempting to recreate a concept rather than blindly doing things really helped. Although I had to go back to square one with coloring, I think I finally got the lighting down. Should be easy to move forward from here!
Really liking the results.
Here’s a guess that in the concept, the ambient light is weaker, making the diffuse contour stronger (around the figure).
Highlights seem tricky, I know specular can look plastic, and diffuse a bit “dead”, but I would guess the concept one has a lower specular reflective exponent (the shininess) which makes the highlight spread/soften more, on the head.
I wonder if that was right – modern games look quite plastic anyway : )
Essentially you’re about right : j
I had to virtually kill the specular, and add a three point light model. There’s more to it but but really I’ve tested so much I haven’t kept track.
I’m not really a fan of the plastic look, especially where fur is concerned.