Chemical Burn and chiQ Interview

	Burial Ground Interviews Chemical Burn / ChiQ: Skinners
So you're getting just a little bit tired of using that same old Visor skin that came with Q3 and you're thinking maybe it's time to go out into the Qmunity and find yourself a new one. While surfing around looking at the latest available offerings you start to wonder about just what would be involved in creating a custom skin. Well lucky for you, I was fortunate this week to hook up with Chemical Burn and chiQ of The Bane Forge (http://www.planetquake.com/baneforge) who were more than willing to share a few insights into the skinning business with us. Skinning: BG- What was it that first attracted you to making your own skins? Chemical Burn: I had been doing skins for Quake II, so the tradition continued. I always liked customizing things, whether it be cars, computers, etc. My primary motive was our clan needed skins. After doing one or two, I was pretty well hooked. chiQ: Well, it was my innate instinct the fiddle that brought me to crack open a PAK - you may be able to imagine that it took me a while to get through the Windows 'open with' list before I hit WinZip for a start. It was the absolute joy of seeing my own art on a player model that kept me interested. BG - What steps do you take when creating a skin, from inception to completion? How long can that process take? chiQ: That's a hard question. I'm got four skins out and each one has been totally different in it's creation process...as different as they are to look at actually - I'm on a learning curve at the moment, it's steep, and it's not looking like plateauing any time soon. I seem to have hit on a good method with the skin I'm working on at the moment. I've started from mesh as I have with a couple of others, and blocked in color, as I did with a different couple of others, then added shading and detail. I'm doing this bit by bit. Eventually I'll have the whole mesh covered and will be able to add overall detailing such as damage and make sure that ambient lighting color and angle is consistent, etc. I test in Quake 3 as I go, having a dir for the model set up with test .skin files which I output my skins to as I go to view in-game. I don't use third party model viewers as they just don't cut it. I can take anywhere from 20 to 60 hours to make a skin, depending on the problems it presents and what sort of detailing I'm wanting for it. Chemical Burn: chiQ and I use pretty much the same methods, though I have more skins out than she. If I get into a groove, I can finish the mesh for one in a day's time. If not, it can take up to two weeks. A tool that's helped me speed up the process is SeeMD3, a fairly accurate model viewer. If I make a long series of drastic changes, I run it through Quake III. If I am doing small changes, I'll use the model viewer. BG - What software(s) do you use when creating a skin, and what do you suggest the newbie skinner on a budget use? Chemical Burn: PhotoShop 6.0, Q3ASE, SeeMD3, Windows Notepad and Winzip. So far, I haven't really needed a Wacom, but I am almost sure it would be a good investment. It is one of those tools that would make doing art a hell of alot easier. Folks on a budget, I would strongly suggest saving the money, to get the good stuff. Paintshop Pro is okay, but it's not as good as PhotoShop, by any stretch of the imagination. chiQ: Winzip, Quake3 and notepad are the tools I use for everything but painting and they are the budget solution as well as the best in my opinion. When you come to image editing it gets more complicated. PhotoShop is my tool of choice, used with an Intuos Wacom tablet and stylus, but that is an expensive one. Paintshop Pro and a mouse or imitation wacom (because lets face it nobody does it like Wacom) is a cheaper option. BG - What happens when you have a design concept, but are having difficulties implementing it technically. Where do you go for advice/help? (ie: shaders) chiQ: I go to two places: the Polycount bulletin board, or skinners I know. That's if I can't nut it out myself. I'll spend varying amounts of time on any given issue depending on time constraints and the problem itself. Chemical Burn: I'll usually bug chiQ or post my works in progress on the Quake3World message boards. I rarely go to Polycount anymore, as I find I get more and sometimes better feedback from people who are gamers first, than artists. Nine times out of ten though, I can usually figure it out on my own. BG - Some personal artistic ability is obviously an advantage, but is it a necessary requirement to be successful skinner? chiQ: Yes, though that doesn't necessarily mean painting. You can successfully turn out stunning skins by having an eye for color, form, and their application of 2D to 3D in the form of photo's or preexisting textures. Chemical Burn: Artistic ability takes many forms. You simply have to have an eye for color theory and how shapes, lines, shadow and light merge with one another. Even if you photo source, you still have to have these basic concepts. BG - Does color selection as related to gameplay have a factor in your designs. For instance using bright pinks or yellows which are highly visible as opposed to shades of brown or gray which would blend into the map better? chiQ: Yes, it's a very important part of the process. I'm learning every day, and there are a few basic rules: Don't use white or black. Use variations to make things look those colors, but be sparing. There's nothing worse than GLglow or total inkiness in-game and that's what you will get with the extremes. I used too much black on CrashHO. She will get an overhaul at some later date and be re-released. Hades Minion Awoken is a camper's dream too. He's stony and very camouflaged on most maps. It can be hard to strike a balance, and sometimes you have to go too far one way, but in general I always try for a good balance of visibility versus aesthetics. Chemical Burn: Everything in moderation. You can actually get away with whites and blacks, if done very carefully, and not abused. Many of my first skins abused black sorely. Instead of using strong shades, it's generally better to use darker and lighter hues, or saturation. BG - What sort of feelings does it evoke in you to know that an "object" that you created is available for and in use by thousands (hopefully) of people? chiQ: It's a total buzz. I don't actually have a clue how much use my skins get. I get virtually no feedback and play RA3, so all I see is OOTB team skins. I always reply to those who send me feedback as I really appreciate it, but it's all too rare. Chemical Burn: Unlike chiQ, I play primarily vanilla Quake III, most mods don't appeal to me, save Painkeep, Weapons Factory and Team Arena. I have had the treat of seeing people use my skins, that I don't even know. It was quietly flattering, and made me feel that all the work I do to give something cool back to the community has been worthwhile. BG - Does it bother you at all if people take one of your skins and use it as a base for their own? Chemical Burn: As long as I receive proper credit in the readme (and there had better be a readme) I can stomach it. Nine times out of ten, a person doing that doesn't improve the skin, rather they mutilate it. It's always better to construct from a wire mesh. chiQ: Yes, but I'm damned if I'm going to try and prevent it. You have to start somewhere, and if someone likes my skin enough to butcher it then I should take that as a compliment. There's always that underlying cringe-factor though. BG - Can you tell us anything about any ongoing projects you are currently working on, specifically the Painkeep Arena mod? Chemical Burn: I'm the only Bane Forge team member working on Painkeep currently. Hulka has pretty much sworn me to silence, but I can say I've re-skinned the nailgun and I will be re-doing the airfist. Depending on how things go, and time constraints, I will probably be re-skinning a few other weapons and doing some map textures as well. BG - Is there any advice you would give to a skinning newbie? chiQ: Just try anything. As insane as it may seem, it's the completely off-the-rails ideas that have panned out well for me. Play and fiddle and just throw everything you have at a mesh. Consult the experts, pimp for feedback, and take note of what others say. My skins would not be what they are without the input I've had from various pimp-victims. Chemical Burn: Make backups of EVERYTHING. Experimentation is good, but sometimes an experiment goes awry, and you end up losing something that could have been stellar. Something like that happened to me, and I've chided myself ever since. Quake 3 General:* BG - - Burial Grounds runs a custom map OSP server. Do you play custom maps and what are your favorites? Chemical Burn: The better question is, when do I have time to play? I usually stick to the stock maps because I actually play so rarely, I haven't had the chance to play many custom maps. Of the ones I have played, I like most everything Lunaran has put out. Let's Drink Beer and Shoot Things is one seriously cool map. chiQ: Yes, and no...messy enough for you? I play a few, and some I like, some I don't. My problem is I can never remember what is by who. There's one RA3 map, Darklands, I particularly like, and I love LloydM's work, but most of the maps served locally are OOTB, RA3, or Q3WCTF, so what exposure I get is that I give myself. I D/L maps and play around on them at home on our LAN, and that's very limiting. BG - You both have your own web sites, you are bb moderators, you are involved in a multitude of Q3 projects. How do you find enough hours in a day to accomplish your goals? Chemical Burn: In pursuing this, as something more than a hobby, the key word that comes to mind is sacrifice. I make no bones about wanting to get into the gaming industry. In order to improve enough, to be at that caliber, sometimes going out with friends, or doing something you'd rather be doing elsewhere, has to be set aside. An important thing to note however, is don't lose sight of the world around you. Simple things found in everyday life you can bring the strangest inspiration. chiQ: With difficulty. I get a tad run down now and then and just stop skinning altogether for a few days. It's not possible to do all I want and make a living to support myself. BG - Do either of you have any inclinations to take your skinning hobbies one step further and go to work for a game developer? chiQ: One word: YES! Hell yes, that's my big dream. Chemical Burn: Who wouldn't want to get paid for doing something they love? I wasn't serious about it, in my Quake II skinning days, but since Quake III, I think it's become my primary goal in life, to land an in-house position somewhere. chiQ (arghh, gender question) BG - I know that my wife mentally drifts away whenever I speak "Quake talk" as do any of her friends. I'm very interested in how, as a woman, you got interested/involved in gaming. chiQ: Hehe, that's not a question, it's an opening to say I don't get the disinterest of many of my sex any more than you do. Weird aren't they? I got into gaming because my partner is a gamer and he introduced me to his clan, gaming buddies and the web scene. From then on in it was love. I'm hooked. ------------ And there you have it. Everything the neophyte skinner needs to know to get a foot in the door. If you're the lazy type like me and would rather leave skinning to the experts, then head on over to The Bane Forge and start downloading. Many thanks to Chemical Burn and chiQ for dropping by and helping us out. The best of luck from all of us at The Burial Grounds goes out to you both. Q_B
Interview conducted by: Quad_Bait