Some of you may remember about a year or so ago, I started modeling a supermarket. I stopped because I got busy and, well real life intervened. Anyway, I have a LOT more time now, and I recently went to the Supermarket near me and they had been cleaned out by people who were buying everything that wasn't nailed down. So anyway, that Kind of reminded me of my Supermarket prop, so thought I'd work on it some more. I just added a few touches here today. I'm using Dawn as a scale to base the prop on. But you can barely see her. I pointed her out with an arrow. I need to figure out how to make a shopping cart. I've already done some of the other things like cash registers and counters. even some food stuff which I'll add later.

Nice work. The empty shelves make it extra realistic.

You won't need to bother modelling Toilet Paper, seeing as there isn't any to be found.

Well. I spent some of the night and most of this morning making a Dawn size shopping cart for the Supermarket. Just finished it really. Okay Good News/Bad News. Like I said, I finished it and as you can see, I imported it immediately into the supermarket model I'm working on. Bad news is that when I did, I forgot to save everything I spent all morning working on. So, the cart was imported, but the wheels are gone.

Sad really,, it was really a nice looking cart.

Hey, better news. No the wheels did not import, but the wheel mounts did. So all I have to do is make some new wheels and refit them to the shopping cart.

Looks like I got the whole cart back. I checked just to be sure, and looks like the wheels imported but were buried by the supermarket model.

Now where did I put those cash register files???

Nice work.

ghostman posted at 1:50PM Sun, 22 March 2020 - #4384207

Nice work.

Thanks, Ghostman.

It does strike me though that this is a pretty large model, and even though I'm trying my best to conserve polys where I can in modeling, I'm concerned about what the limits of Poser are. Can Poser handle a large number of Polys? What determines whether Poser can handle it, the software or the computer it's on?

The computer it's on

Aye @ghostman.

Actually, it's the RAM size that matters, because that's where all data must be stored.

Poser itself might become a problem if it comes to handle all this data during posing or moving cameras, but in case Poser slugs down you can still resort to making elements which are not not needed right now invisible. That helps a LOT when posing in complex scenes!

Also, always remember to check "Multi-threaded Bending" in your "General Preferences" if you have a multi-core processor. This will use all the processor cores for bending / moving, etc, instead of just one, while the others sit idle.

K

Well, I've discovered that I will definitely have to make several sections of the Store Wall invisible so the cameras can be set up to look inside. The way everything is modeled now, it's just one big prop. I'm thinking about cutting it up into Quarters. That way, when loading, people can load either the front of the store, the left, the right, or the back. Each side will have a different section of the store, like the Meat and Poultry section, the Frozen Foods, Produce and the Delicatessen.

Cutting it up into quarters will also make it easier to model. I spend a lot of time trying to find a decent vantage point to model from so I can see what I'm doing.

I've started separating the mesh into separate objects and it's paying off already. I caught a few mistakes that probably wouldn't make it through anyone's quality control, and I managed to catch a few reversed normals. Plus, now I can see what I'm doing better.

You never know, when everything is done and dusted, you may need to use it to make training videos, teaching people about the strange concept of "going shopping". :)

Going to be a weird few weeks here; I'm one of the "at risk" people who has to stay inside for 12 weeks.

I'm only working part time now anyway, being semi-retired, but I'm considered "essential personnel" at my workplace. Gotta keep the store shelves stocked. :)

A few of the props I already had done for this set. I even managed to texture a few.

Love the supermarket and the trolley in particular but it is all good. Size wise I didn't think you have an issue when you see what the marketplace has for example Truforms City must be up there in size.

I'm trying to figure out a way to fill up the shelves without doing a lot of modeling.

This is why I hate to texture.

I'm making progress... I think. Hopefully, when I finish, I'll be able to load whole sections of shelves with these low poly blocks. It's not perfect, but they're supposed to be view from a distance. I'll also include separate individual props for close ups.

I have some more cereals to texture, but I think I'm coming along. What do you think?

Still staying inside.

Looking good, mate.

Along with the null toilet paper, you also need to non-make a whole non-freezer full of null frozen vegetables.

Poser has provisions for null props, so you can save a lot of modeling and texturing this way!

@ ockham:

LMAOROTF!!! :D :D :D

Anything I make for the freezer will most likely be in a carton or box. Vegetables and produce will (hopefully) be fresh and in the produce section. I'm working on a plan for that now.

Still working on the cereals for now, but almost finished with the row. Still have 18 cereal textures to go. I have a good idea on how to do the produce though. It'll be a lot like how you do a bowl of cereal in fact. Then I think I'll work on the meats and freezers. One nice thing about this. I suck at texturing, but I'm getting a lot of practice.

I agree that texturing often is the hardest part, especially making valid UV maps.

I'm still learning that too, so for the most part I still use procedural maps.

One thing that came to my mind:

Your shelves are all stocked to the brim with packages. What might give it a more realistic look would be to also show some packages missing from the rows because customers actually took some off the shelve/shelf (sp?). It may not be a grand problem to model a base prop with some packets missing, though it might become a bit more problematic texturing them.

But I think it might add a great amount of realism, because all other 3D supermarket shelves I've seen hitherto look like "send in the clones", and the merchandize looks as if they were placed using a caliper.

Maybe you should have a look at @3dcheapskate's "Morphing Book Rows" for inspiration? OK, for a grand panorama this may be overkill and simple textured cubes will do. However, for closer-up renders, it might look a lot more realistic.

Just a thought... and great work thus far, no doubt!

K

Actually, textured cubes is going to be the basic way I stock this store. There will be holes on each aisle. This will still take some time. I do have another idea about reducing the number of vertices even further with some of the smaller packaging in other aisles.

@EClark1894 you should talk to 3dcheapskate about amusing alternative titles for your product packaging, to avoid any legal entanglements His bookshelf titles are a riot

I already know about it. I'm just texturing them for now, but I am changing the names on a few.

Whew! Okay finished stocking the cereal aisle in the supermarket for now. Made a few texture improvements like color of the shelf and floor. And giving the shelves a bit of a metallic sheen. I think I actually need to shrink the height of the shelves a bit and reduce the cube size of the boxes a bit more. These things appear to be dwarfing Dusk.

I've just worked out why that last image looks so weird. There's no perspective. The shelf further away appears exactly the same height as the closer end. Makes it look like it gets bigger the further away it appears. Optical illusion.

The camera's in orthographic mode. I just wanted to show that I finally stocked all the shelves.

an0malaus posted at 4:56PM Sun, 29 March 2020 - #4384752

I've just worked out why that last image looks so weird. There's no perspective. The shelf further away appears exactly the same height as the closer end. Makes it look like it gets bigger the further away it appears. Optical illusion.

Here's a perspective view of the aisle for you.

Thank you. Brain no longer complaining

Is that the cereal killer you have in your crosshairs?

an0malaus posted at 11:36AM Mon, 30 March 2020 - #4384795

Thank you. Brain no longer complaining

Is that the cereal killer you have in your crosshairs?

groan

Well, I'm continuing to create products to stock my store model with. Of course, they're low polymodels because I'm going to need a lot of them. I did something this time that I didn't last time, but ultimately, I'm still going to have to go back and re-texture these models. But here is a sample of what I'm working on now. Three brands of bodywash from the hygiene and first aid aisle in the supermarket. I'm doing some rethinking about the size of the supermarket, too. I'm thinking I may shorten the width of the building and thus the aisles. I'd need less products, equals less models, equals less memory. We'll see. One of the things I've been doing during spending time locked in my house is watching television. I didn't have anything else to do so I subscribed to Disney Plus. So while I was binging, I happened to watch one of the movies, I think it was ToyStory 4, and they happened to be in a supermarket. I couldn't help but notice the products on the shelves, and no you couldn't make out any brands or anything close to looking like one. They were completely generic looking. So, I'm going to have to go back and make all these products completely generic looking.

Still slaving away stocking shelves.

Finished for tonight, so I'm off to bed.

Still stuck at home, but I'm still stocking shelves.

Stop right there.. stocking done... At least that how the shelves at the stores around here are looking right now with the Coronavirus in effect. Please note this is meant a TIC (tongue-in-cheek) comment. :)

My local supermarket filled the empty toilet rolls aisle with easter eggs. So, I tried them but I must be using them wrong, they just make it more messy!

"Wash day, no clothes." EClark1894 posted at 1:31PM Fri, 10 April 2020 - #4384776

an0malaus posted at 4:56PM Sun, 29 March 2020 - #4384752

I've just worked out why that last image looks so weird. There's no perspective. The shelf further away appears exactly the same height as the closer end. Makes it look like it gets bigger the further away it appears. Optical illusion.

Here's a perspective view of the aisle for you.

This is so unrealistic, I tried that already ..And they said I had to put clothes on.

I thought it was a new requirement to stop shoplifting

I don't know if I'm more confused by the fact that he's nekkid, why he's holding his arms like that, or why he chose to do so in the cereal aisle...

Looks like the supermarket sniper is about to take out his toes though.

Oh... I get it now.

"YOU THERE, NUDIST! THIS IS THE SUPERMARKET SNIPER! I HAVE YOU IN MY SIGHTS! ASSUME THE T POSE OR I WILL BE FORCED TO REMOVE YOUR TOES!"

Still got a long row to hoe. And no, the brand names will NOT stay.

EClark1894 posted at 8:39PM Sun, 12 April 2020 - #4385899

Good progress! Keep them coming.

I think this image looks the most like an actual supermarket shelf: Different products, different packaging formats, and different sizes.

B.t.w., don't worry for product names and textures right now: You can always modify those - what really matters is to create stocks of products that don't look like a factory store!

You should focus on making your shelved products look as individual as possible, and not like a row of 20.000 boxes the same size, as it was in the beginning.

You have a smartphone I suppose?

Visit your local supermarket tomorrow and take photos of the shelves.

There's nothing better than having actual photos as prototypes! I use this method all the time, and it's extremely helpful, because the photos show you how the RealWorld (tm) actually looks, and not like you think it looks like.

(a problem frequently encountered in 3D models - They think it should look like what they're modeling, but actually: it isn't!)

-K-

<EDIT Also remember that people won' buy a whole collage of the same product (except for toilet paper at these times ;D ), but rather buy a single package! If you could add this as an extra (e.g. via geometry swapping), it would add just that bit of realism that the 100-items-bundles look still lacks.

K