Drawing Cloth

[PyTom]

Does anyone have any tips on drawing cloth, in CG, in color? One of the backgrounds in my new game includes a blanket covering the lower portion of the POV character's body, and trying to get that right is really driving me batty.

[rioka]

Always color in layers or at least in parts.
Start out with base color first, than add shadows, and then the highlights. When doing shadows and highlights, always consider the light source.
It's kind of quicky drawing example but I hope you get the idea:


Btw, if it's how you draw your wrinkle that is the problem, check out this Cloth: Fold Tutorial. If you don't have the base right, the whole image is shot.

[PyTom]

Did you update the folds tutorial? It's better than I remember it. Or perhaps I was confusing it with the one of the HTDM site. My memory isn't all that great.

The problem I'm having is that I need to mix several kinds of folds. So we have a combination of intert folds and the blanket draping over a prone body. That's really confusing me some, but I think I just need to go back and think about it more 3-dimensionally.

It's also somewhat confusing because the POV character's head is right next to the blanket, meaning that we see it at a weird angle.

Btw, like the new renaigames site. It would be nice to have a tutorial for Ren'Py written by someone who's a user, rather than a developer. But you may want to check the links... some went to .htm pages, rather than .html ones.

[rioka]

Here's some more examples:


For inert folds, just think of them as waves. If you can do a rough sketch, I can probably help you better. And thanks about the heads up on the linking problem. (I can't beleive I forgot about those...) ^^

[PyTom]

I've posted up the work in progress drawing at:

http://www.bishoujo.us/moonlight/pics/hospital.jpg

(Despite the name, it could be a room at a nursing home, hospice, or something like that. )

[RedSlash]

Nice! Plasma TV screen. Looks like your game's coming along good. Keep up the good work.

[PyTom]

Yes.

Because, in The Future, everyone will have a 16:9 plasma TV screen. (It doesn't factor into the game at all.)

[rioka]

No wonder you were going batty. Foreshortening can be a real pain at times. Is this what you're going for?

[PyTom]

No, the goal was to do it the other way. The idea is we're seeing the scene from the POV character's perspective, and he's lying (well, propped up a little) in the bed.

[RedSlash]

I actually thought that head goes the other way as well at first because of the wooden board until I realize the guy wouldn't be able to watch TV if facing that way. It almost looked like there's some corpse under the blanket waiting for you to reveal it...

[PyTom]

I've seen hospital beds with footboards like that... It's where they tend to hang the patient's medical history and things like that, so the doctors can get at it more easily.

[rioka]

Okay, here's what I see that needs editing:
1. When someone lays down and has a sheet over them, their foot usually sticks up at the end. Yours just remain flat like a board.
2. Consider perspective. In relation to the bed which widens nicely as it goes towards the viewer, the body doesn't widen as nicely. Widen it more near the base (i.e. the player). It looks off-center, btw.
3. (optional) You may want to define the legs more or at least the contours with more fold lines at the center.