How to draw in Spore: Moogle

So for this tutorial, I’ve selected a simple line art – a moogle from Final Fantasy. I know it’s cute, but you creepy creators don’t have to share it :P It may look daunting at first, but hopefully I can help you out with that. The easiest way to figure out how to make it, in my opinion, is to look at in the editor and take it apart. But here’s a hopefully detailed and easy to follow tutorial. To the right is the moogle we will be making. This is also posted in my All About Buildings thread too.

Step One:

The first thing you should do is place a block, or whatever you’re making your picture on (I’m going to refer to it as the backdrop), in the center. Turn it to face the screen, raise it up using Ctrl, and make it as big as you see fit. You should probably make it as big as you can so you don’t have to squish everything together or fix it later. The next thing is to make your border. I usually just do a simple rectangle-ish one with a little color. You can go as extravagant or as simple as you want, but you have to take complexity in mind. I make the border first so I don’t have to worry about adding one later.

Step Two:

Now we will start making the image. When I make line art, it is almost entirely made of the Epee part. Since the moogle’s pom pom thing is at the top, start with that. Grab a Candominium base part, turn it with a connector (you won’t need to if you have DVDMaster’s mod), and put it near the top and a little to the right of the center. Make the rim black and the inside red. Then take an Epee, turn it so it’s smooth against the backdrop and sink it into the Candominium. Next take another Epee, make it bigger with the mouse wheel and extend it a bit. As you can see in the diagram, I circled it in red, the base part of the Epee is outlined in white. You’ll have to turn it a bit using the axis, and sink it into the backdrop using Shift. I turned the screen a bit so you can get a view. This is how I actually make the pictures, they stick out a bit :( The first image is looking at it from the front making sure that the placement is right. The second is from the side.

Step Three:

Now do the outline of the face. At first it might look not so great, so don’t get discouraged. Trust me all of mine look horrible until I’m almost done. When looking at reference pictures, look at the lines and different angles. Don’t look at the image as a whole. Every line or curve makes up one Epee, sometimes if the line is pretty long it will take two. Here’s how many Epees you need and how to make them (sorry that they aren’t exactly straight, but you get the idea I hope):

The rest of the outline is composed of the Epee part. I used two Pointed triangle detail parts – a black and a red – for each ear. Try to just get theoutline of the head done, and then readjust after. As you can see from the first image, this should take up about half of the backdrop now.

There's also a video of what I have so far found here.

Step Four:

Now fill in the face. The eyes are two Epees, one on top of each
other. The nose is an Esphereal as well as the mouth. The whiskers and chin are Epees. For the nose, make the red part as big as it can get using the arrows. I had to use four black Esphereal for the outline to fit around the big red one. To make the chin, make the Epee as small as it can get and sink it into the backdrop. For the tongue, I made it a little smaller then the black Esphereal for the mouth, turned it a bit and painted it pinkish.

Step Five:

On to the body! This is entirely made of Epees. Make the body first starting with the right arm. The wings come last. I hope you guys can see all of the numbers and figure out the order. I started with the right arm, then went to the right leg, next was the left leg, then the gut, the left arm, and lastly the wings. It looks like there should be 30 Epees for the body and wings. I included a side image too, to show you what it looks like at this point.


Step Six:

Finally fill in the wings, add color, and smooth everything out. For the right wing I used two Boxy, one Pointed, and two Tear Dropped parts. Make sure that all of these parts kind of flow together as best as you can. You’ll have to sink them into the backdrop using Shift. Refer to the image for where to place these parts. The Tear Dropped parts go in the tips of the wings (numbers 1 and 2). The Boxy parts go in the top angle of the wing and by the arm and shoulder (numbers 3 and 4). The Pointed part goes in the second corner thingy where the wing and fur meet (number 5). The left wing is made of two Hanging Fangs.

I added a pink Esphereal to the nose and another to the pom pom. I also added cheeks made of Dollop Habitat base parts. You don’t have to add cheeks, but if you do you have to adjust the whiskers. Lastly I made the backdrop a light brown. Make it whatever you want or just leave it white. There’s a little complexity left, so add more details if you want or make a more extravagant border.

And now for the final image!

I hope this made sense. Just ask if you want anything cleared up or you want any additional information :D!

Parkaboy's building class: lesson 2

As I've said on the previous post, this is the "class" I'm teaching at the University of Spore Creations forums. Here goes the second lesson:

LESSON 2: On styles,

symmetry and the basic building shape

Let's move on! The main reference for this lesson is going to be this set, the Logian set:

Shall we start?

First of all, I must confess something. I'm an advocate of what I call "playable content". That means I like the content in my galaxy to make sense in the logic of the game. I usually only download creatures that look like creatures, buildings that look like buildings, and so on. I know there's a lot of laughter on flying around in a UFO shaped like a wheelchair, but I'm a sci-fi fan and I like to keep the nonsense to a minimum.

That also mean I worry a bit about stuff like scale. I usually do this: whenever I create a new set of buildings, I test it on a saved game (on Civ or Space Stage), and check if the average creature could actually fit in those buildings, as well as how the set fits together. When making matching sets, this is very useful, so test before uploading (you don't even have to save the game, after all)!

Creating Matching Sets:
Well, there's at least four things I take into account when making a set:
1- Try to use the same style of parts on all buildings (we'll se more details on that below);
2- Try to use the same textures and colors, or use the "Paint Like" option;
3- Try to keep some variation. Use variations of the same shapes, or add specific details so we can tell the buildings apart, such as chimneys for factories;
4- Try to organize the buildings according to size. This depends on how you usually create the layout of your city, but the average Spore city will look better if the center buildings are taller than the peripheral ones. The City Hall is always in the center, so it should be taller. I normally put factories and entertainment in the middle and houses around the rim, so the houses should be shorter.

Styles:
Certain parts fit better together; a certain door is a better match for certain windows than others, for instance. Pay attention to the details on each part: some are kind of medieval, others are futuristic. Here are some examples:

If you can't see it on the thumbnail, open it on the editor. There are many good combinations, so trust your gut. If you use the same types of parts for the entire set, you will increase the chance that the game will recognize those buildings as a set and use them together for NPC races (Matching colors and textures also help). Symmetry Notice the how the examples above are uninteresting as buildings. Well, they could look slightly better if I placed more details on the other faces, and not only in the front. This is very important when making City Halls; you don't want the centerpiece of your city to look dull from some angles. There are 3 main types of symmetry you should use:

The first one has equal opposite sides, meaning it has two types of faces. The second one has the front equal to the back, but different sides; it could also have equal sides, but the front different from the back; it has 3 types of faces. The third has only one type of face, meaning all of them are equal. All three types can be good choices, if you keep the building balanced. A version with four different faces is not recommended; usually it won't look good. It's not hard to make equal opposite sides, since parts like doors and window will "snap" to the opposite side of an already placed part, neatly aligned. The basic building shape: A good, conventional building often has 3 parts: a base, a "body" and a roof. You don't literally have to use roof parts to make a roof, for instance, but adding some details to the top of your building will improve it's appearance. The shape we were using in this class is kind of dull, though:

Of course some body parts or blocks are more detailed than this simple cubic shape. But we can make more interesting shapes if we don't stick with only a single block for the body. If you use several blocks of different heights and lenghts, and align them on the center of the original block, you can make something like this:

Looks already a bit better, doesn't it? You can improve it by using different types of blocks, though simpler ones are more easily combined. Just remember that the prettier buildings in real life aren't cubes. The building will look even better when windows and details are placed. But you can also use stacked blocks as pseudo windows (see the red parts on the picture below), just remember to use the "Ctrl" key for more control:

That's it for now!

Parkaboy's building class: lesson 1

I've been teaching this "class" on creating buildings at the Sporeuni forums, and I thought I should post those tips here too. So I'll be slowly publishing the lessons on the blog, too.

LESSON 1: Review

In this lesson we are going to review some basic features. It may not seem much, but will be enough to allow an inexperienced creator to make a set such as this:

Advanced Part Handles:
Hold down the "tab" key with a part selected. That will show more handlers that allow you to rotate or distort the part.

Copying Parts:
Click on an existing part while holding the "Alt" key, and drag the copy to another spot. Some parts can be copied to the same spot, and you can then rotate the copy to create some nice symmetric forms.

Directional Placement:
Hold the "Ctrl" key to move a part in a vertical axis (up and down, even hovering in thin air or underground - see the image 1 below) or hold the "Shift" key to move a part in a horizontal plane (see image 2).

Painting:
In the "Paint Mode", holding "Alt" lets you copy the texture style and colors of a part; holding "Shift" lets you paint an entire part with a single click, and holding "Ctrl" lets you paint the same feature of a part on all of those parts that exist.

Also, you can import textures from the vehicle creator by using the "Paint Like" option.

Snapping:
Most parts - as well as the very base where we build in the editor - have an useful characteristic: snapping points. They work like this: parts tend to "snap" to a point located on the center of a part's "face" or the editor base; also, if you place a part on the base or on another part's face, other parts will tend to align with it. Check the image 3 below. If you place a part in a spot (let's say, that part "a"), it's as if other parts will be attracted (and will "snap") to imaginary lines crossing the center of the original part.

This feature is useful to align windows in a building side, for instance. If you want to place a part in a specific point and the "snapping" is getting in the way, use the "Ctrl" and "Shift" keys; parts don't "snap" when you're holding those keys.

I know this is a very basic lesson, but I felt this review was necessary, to allow less experienced creators to get up to speed. In the next lesson, I'll share a few "secrets". See ya!