Guild of Writers

Revision as of 14:22, 6 September 2024

Vertex painting is a versatile resource that is used heavily in Cyan's content for Uru/EoA but little utilized by fan created content. It is a great way to add depth to Ages and areas as well as any props within as well as creating the illusion of lighting in areas where RT lighting is not being used.

Colour Theory

One thing worth keeping in mind is colour theory. Colour theory is the establishment on primary colours, secondary colours and how they interact with each other. Primary colours gives you red, blue, and yellow. By mixing said colours you then get secondary colours of orange, green, and purple. In addition to these primary and secondary colours you have complementary/contrasting colours. These complementary colours are opposite colours on the colour wheel.

As you can see in the first image of Ae'gura they use a lot of blue lighting in contrast with the oranges and browns. This results in the colours "popping" more and having more of an impact. The tones of the contrasting colours used are also important. A vibrant green and a vibrant red are very jarring and hurts the eyes

But if you tone it back a bit, it's not so painful on the eyes.

Another aspect of colour theory is that colours effect mood. Green for example is thought to be calming whilst red is more of an angry colour. The choice of colours within your Ages and areas (not just with vertex painting but with texture colours, FNI settings etc) will have a huge impact on the mood you wish to establish.

If you're interested in reading more about colour theory Colour Matters has a nice little write up.

Light Sources

Depending on the content you're building the main light sources you want to take in to account is the location of the sun (if you're building an Age) and the location of the lake water (if you're building a D'ni location). You will also want to take into account the colour of light that is coming from the sun. A common mistake often seen in the art world is people using white for the suns light and black for the shadows. When you actually look at shadows in the real world they're not black they are cool colours like blues and purples. This is due to how the light refracts in our atmosphere. The reason I make this comparison is two fold. Firstly using white and black for highlights and lowlights makes any colours you're lighting look muted and muddy. Secondly whilst vertex painting is colouring vertices in a 3D canvas, it does follow a similar approach to how one would with a traditional painting.

So once you've established the direction of your sun on your Age.