Alternatively, the smart shader automatically decides where to apply different bitmaps, surface attributes, and procedural textures based on predefined rules that take into account, for instance, the surface's location, slope, elevation, and convex or concave attributes, as well as the amount and direction of sunlight the surface receives. "Because J'nanin is such a large environment, if I tried to create a custom shader for each piece of the terrain, it would have taken forever to finish," he explains. Subdivision surfaces were then added for a more polished look (below).įor the shaders, which add textures and colors to the geometry, Brown created a single, smart shader that could be applied to all the terrain in the Age. To build J'nanin's cliffs, artists extruded simple shapes into more complicated geometry (right). "For J'nanin, I created nearly 100 custom displacement maps just to build the terrain."
Instead, the animator painted them into the surface using displacement maps.
"Organic surfaces like wood and rock are extremely complex to build in 3D environments, and it would have been impossible to model all the subtle undulations, cracks, and crevices in J'nanin's landscape," he says. To smooth the terrain's surfaces and add the more detailed geometry, he subdivided the surfaces using 3D Studio Max's Meshsmooth. To create J'nanin's environment, Brown first built a simple representation of the entire Age by lofting shapes, a process of creating shapes or cross sections of a model and then letting the computer extrude those shapes to create 3D structures. Conceptual artists decided how each island would look, and then 3D artists formed the various terrains using Discreet's 3D Studio Max. One of the most compelling Exile Ages is J'nanin, described by Brown as "a rock climber's paradise." To ensure that J'nanin, as well as the other Exile Ages, retained a unique graphical appearance, each was assigned its own designer and production team, while creative director Phil Saunders worked to maintain an aesthetic consistency among them. One of the more intriguing game worlds is J'nanin (center image), an island filled with unusual rock formations that captivate players with thei Using 3D Studio Max, Presto Studios created five diverse landscapes for the computer game Myst III: Exile. As a result, the imagery, which is all pre-rendered 3D, had to be especially compelling to capture and hold players' attention.
This is in contrast to most computer games, in which the characters and action -rather than the landscapes-are the main attraction. The most challenging modeling task, ac cording to lead animator Mike Brown, was creating the Ages, or islands, which are the focal point of the game. With Cyan committed to other projects, Presto Studios was chosen to continue the Myst tradition of artistic beauty and striking imagery, the likes of which have never been seen before. And Edanna, possibly inspired by dreams of paradise lost, is contained in an inward-growing tree whose massive, hollow trunk creates the perfect environment for a variety of exotic plant and animal ecosystems.Ĭyan raised the bar for graphics realism in gaming when it released Myst in 1993 and its sequel Riven in 1997. Amateria, a mechanical wonderland in the middle of an endless black sea, consists of basalt columns and geyser-formed mud pots that poke through the landscape amid sophisticated mechanical inventions. Voltaic, a dusty world of sand and sky, water and wind, contains strange, man-made constructions that inhabit an otherwise dry and desolate landscape. J'nanin, an elliptical-shaped island, is home to towering granite cliffs and strange, tusk-like formations that surround an azure caldera. Tomahna sits like a garden oasis at the edge of an endless desert landscape.
#Myst 3 ages software
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