[1.12.2] 32x32 IC2 Textures Rework

  • Here is my take on
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    Basics of texture making in Minecraft (heavily WIP; v0.5)
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    Introduction

    This might be far from "beginner level" psychologically, noone starts working on texture packs (or drawing in general) with thoughts like "i have to master engineering of visual designs; great responsibility kicks in RN", i get that and it's not supposed to be a book of rules. That is to make you understand: there's more to it than you probably think, and it's better to be aware of complexities beforehand.


    An issue

    There's an issue with pixel art, don't want to sugarcoat it (raising awareness means eventual raise of quality). Average pixel-art piece looks like crap. This style became a shortcut for primitive portrayings - try googling "pixel art stock" - redrewed in regular style, that's child' scribbles, what's worse, it's getting saled.

    Just think how highly common people tolerate establishment (in general and commerical terms) of low-effort garbage. "If something is dumb simple, it's good" (hello pop industry).

    Don't get the wrong idea, i used to suck in pixel art (probably still do), well i also never tried to sell shitty 32x32 icon - aka 5 minutes of unqualified work - for 12 bucks. The idea is to git gud, then proceed to serious (no) business.


    *cliches for associated traits*


    *icon design for shape*


    *firm stance and enstablishments for open mind and rethinking*
    Here's another important point: you don't have to "agree" with original creators in terms of portraying (i'm not talking exclusively about IC2). They might be more of, say, programmers and less of artists than you. Everyone's doing their jobs; you know better.


    *techniques for better looks*


    I forgot the smol header name's here

    So, "to make things look good" is a vague objective, of course. "...look informative" would be wiser wording, and recognizability is an important aspect of it. As a texture artist, most of the time you're portraying day-to-day things - in terms of "cultural images" (cliché[s]); say, there's rayguns in every space opera media for like 50 years now, so it's kinda molded in your brain and you don't consider it unusual, even though never seeing it in real life.


    What you need is to balance between such clichés and realism depending on the context (project's general degree of realism i'd say). Well, Minecraft isn't about realism in it's mechanics, so i don't see the point of forcing it in it's graphic aspects, we can go full cliché mode here; let's try to break down a "cultural image" of Uranium from IC2 (without considering it's original looks, imagine that it doesn't have any textures at all for now) for example:


    -Dangerous

    How mod handles this aspect/trait:

    Radioactive debuff mechanics and stuff in terms of gameplay; it doesn't in it's ways to inform a player about it, however. Generally, aside from realism (there's no "HAZARDOUS MATERIAL!!!1" labels on every piece of uraninite in real life, obviously, and so it can be in more realistic projects) where there can be zero informing, it depends on the project's internal ways to handle it. IC2 could've do it within the Minecraft's own boundaries using item descriptions (or it does that? ~2011 was the last time i've played IC2 without GT...), but you see, the developer[s] way of thinking aren't clear here - since they probably did it intendly.

    How you can add to it:

    Let's assume that they left it for you to solve it in artistic way, what can we do? Minecraft has enough hacks and abstractions in it to have doubts about adding some more. So, going meta and putting an icon (radioactive hazard one) right on it should do the trick.


    -Glows

    How mod handles this aspect/trait:

    It doesn't, i don't know why though.

    How you can add to it:

    Since glowing is a "code thing" in Minecraft, there's no much to it; "contacting software side devs" would be it, but it isn't since texture packs aren't official.
    Going hand-draw, we still can add a halo and some inner glow.


    -"Acid"-colored

    How mod handles this aspect/trait:

    it doesn't and it's not supposed to, here's your job actually kicks in since this trait is completely about visual features.

    How you can add to it:

    Make it "acid"-colored, of course. But in this case, drawing it dark would be a better option to point out that it's raw and not in it's "full power".


    That's what we have with it. I didn't want to do it very precisely, just a 3 min sketch.


    More things:

    *Consistency;

    *Style;

    *Uniqueness;


    *the end blahblah*

  • That was really informative, thanks!

    I've been trying to figure out how to apply a certain realism so when people see a machine they can tell what it does immediately, but that could imply changing the art style completely and i'm not sure if i can manage to come up with something that is IC2 worthy to be honest.

    Last couple of days i've been trying different concepts and designs, though i couldn't come up with anything that felt right for the mod.

    I'll keep trying and if i can manage to get something cool i'll post it here.

  • It was actually the basic machine casing, aka the base for all the basic machines.

    Though i've been playing around with a concept involving a hybrid of the old textures modified and combined with some of the designs of the new high-res ic2, as well as some of the design choices that i took with this texture pack which i'm quite pleased with. I also have one that was the current 32x32 design ported to 16x16.

    At this point i'm not entirely sure if i'm going to keep working on this 32x32 texture pack considering it doesn't really fit vanilla unless i'd choose to leave some textures 16x16 (basically all that is resources; ores, ingots, plates, casings, etc). I deeply dislike the idea of having two different resolutions in the same mod, which has been quite the reason i'm not motivated to continue working in this, and 32x32 textures in general. But who knows, maybe i come up with something in my head that i wanna implement here and i end up doing so.

    For now i'm gonna keep working on this hybrid and see what i end up with.

    The acid method is definitely going to be implemented on the uranium related stuff, i might require your help for that if you're interested.

  • About casing: ara-ara, that one seems quite hard for me (basic casing)... It's usually simple to give an icon for object or concept, but to give it for concept of empiness is different case.


    About 32x32 pack: alright, i get it. I'm with you on the point of 2 resolutions.
    I'll keep working on that post above and move it somewhere else when it's done (hope it is before the august). Don't yet know where, though...

    About any help, sure, ask me anything.

  • I thought i gave it a responce already, my crap memory seems to have effects MinecraftSquid. Sorry 'bout that.


    About big post: i'm both buzy doing some textures and lazy because it's hard to talk about it in english.


    About that texture: generally, it looks good, natural, i'd say. But it have nuclear theme instead of uranium one, i think. In other words: it would work good for nuclear reactor, for uranium stock metal block look should be better choice. I have to say more about reasoning, but to keep it as simple as i can right now: you can't make block of uranium randomly, or, rather, you will already be aware of it's radioactivity (and it's obvious that block of uranium inherits radioactivity effect(s) from it's components). So, making it "pure" green to indicate this inherity should work. That's my opinion here.

    EDIT:
    Added 2 pixels, looks a bit better now.

  • Slightly offtopic: i just (~1d) realized i have mild form of ADHD for ~8 years already. I called it "lazy" in previous post to keep it simple, in fact i'm just losing concentration after failing to express my exact thoughts. It affects process of writing of course.

  • 35 (36) posts from you and me only, makes me feel like that's a private conversation, huh.


    I'll probably try texturing models aswell. I also should continue working on my pixel art post, probably tomorrow will do...

  • Are you still around mate? I've been busy with (sudden) home repairs last 2 weeks (and some other crap). I still keep some drafts in my notepad, dunno when i'll have time to get them posted.