100
(^03)
BUILDING A BRICK
Select the cube Clay brush and edit its shape using the Shape Editor.
Change the proportions of the shape to match that of a brick. For this piece I
imagined the kind of brick used in a medieval castle. Whenever you’re building
assets, it’s a good idea to enable the grid guide. That way you can always get the
asset aligned correctly to the scene, even if you change its orientation after
building the object. Exit the Shape Editor and stamp the basic brick in the scene.
(^04)
BE SMART ABOUT IT
In Dreams, the best thing you can do for performance (thermo) is to
reuse as much as possible. So, give your brick different sides so that you can
rotate it and flip it around to avoid a boring repetitive look. Use the Clay tool to
add a few dents and ridges, and then use the Looseness tool like you did with the
rock. The impact an object will have on overall performance is determined by the
surface area of the object in terms of the amount of flecks it takes to cover it.
Endless vistas
Tricks and tools for creating a performance-cheap scene
(^01)
LOOSENESS?
Looseness is one of the
things you should use to your
advantage in Dreams. It’s a good
(and performance-cheap) way to
add textures and variation to your
models. Looseness defines the
distance between and the size of
the flecks that cover all surfaces
in Dreams, and you can use it as a
way to smooth hard edges. In this
example you can clearly see the
difference between the left (without
looseness variation) and the right
one (with). To paint with looseness in
your models, switch to the Looseness
tool while you’re scoped into a model.
02
LET’S ROCK
Let’s make a rock. We make this using the basic Clay tools – use the
square Clay brush set to Stamp mode, then use add and subtract to rough it up
a little and bring out the form you want. Experiment with soft blend as well for
some interesting effects. Use Smear mode to draw some cracks and texture on
the rock. Finally, add some colour using the Spray Paint tool, because rocks are
rarely uniform in tone. You can duplicate and rotate your rock to create a heap.