I have a question for some builders,
How do you guys build something that is original? like my brain cannot fathom it.
I can build something with a reference but I cannot build something original.
How do you guys do it?
7 Likes
Well, there isnāt much of typical, or specific way i do it personally.
- Most of the time i was just messing around, making it some weird shapes. Then it depends how my imagination identifies it, after that i adjust it to suit the idea.
- Sometimes i just originally have the idea in my head, of course after observing many familiar references. If thatās the case then the build is usually interesting, and takes less time than the first method.
3 Likes
Most originality generally comes from inspiration, to be honest. Perhaps take a good look around other build. Find specific patterns/ideas that seem adequate to your taste, and perhaps adapt those patterns/ideas into a thought you may have.
Originality isnāt generally easy to create, and it really just comes to your imagination and what youāve seen.
2 Likes
Get inspired by other games (mostly outside roblox), play different types of games and you will build up your imagination
2 Likes
This is a very difficult thing, as ultimately, creativity is all down to the communication of various neurotransmitters in the front and back of your brain.
Creativity is also subjective. Everybody has a different brain and if you are totally incapable of creating original builds, it might be best for you to try out another development skill (scripting etc) as you might find that your brain is wired to be more creative in logical or methodical patterns - you are always going to be amazing at something!
With that being said, I want to comfort you with the idea that ābrain fogā and āwriters blockā are EXTREMELY common, even the best builders sometimes fly around in studio for an hour or two and have no idea - sometimes Iāve even rage quit over this - so donāt get too anxious about it!
I build most of my things and design all of my terrain free-hand. Building is like drawing, the only skill is being able to put the idea thatās in your head into parts. So all I can do is list my thought process:
This process all starts with the MAP I am building. This is the most IMPORTANT part. (In my opinion)
- Create a scene in your head, what is the map? (Iām going to make a sci-fi city!)
- Find concept art relating to this. Do NOT use google images, find something else, I know a lot of people will disagree but stuff like Pinterest is just WAY better. More concept art = better.
- Start to make a basis for your map. Create the roads, add in varying levels of height - youāll thank yourself later for doing this. Based on the image above, I would make the raised promenade and then make the ramp. This means that even if you struggle to make a building, at least you made some progress.
- Make your FIRST structure BASED off of concept art.
- Notice how you didnāt totally copy the building you just made? You mightāve accidentally added an extra detail or two, maybe cut a few corners. Now you know youāre capable of being creative and finding your own way of making things.
- See what you like about the buildings, maybe merge a few of the ideas together and make a totally new building.
- The more you do thisā¦ the more you do this! Your brain will be automatically wired to produce ideas and images in your head. Now we get onto the hard part, which is actually visualising that and building it in studio. This is 90% of the skill of building and is gonna take you a year or two to master.
It is worth noting as well that giving your building a PURPOSE can really help. If I wanna make a storage depot, I can make the building more industrial and add pipes etc to add detail. If I wanna make a residential building, I can throw some planters and other stuff. Building is all about making things that look nice that cover up space to create a scene.
Also, props are your best friend. Sometimes buildings look sort of dull and maybe you didnāt put enough detail. Slap a few barrels or a street lamp in front and viola! It looks great.
Another thing worth noting is that building does require some PROBLEM SOLVING. This is a thing that often goes overlooked. You have to THINK about how to build stuff. If thereās an arch or curve, you need to find ways to create it with the tools ROBLOX has given us. This is why using blender as a builder is really overpowered.
7 Likes
Honestly, I didnāt expect someone to comment something like this. Thank you so much! this was very helpful thank you for taking ur time typing all of that ^^ About the development skill part I actually script at the same time and I just wanted to pursue building the way I pursue coding! anyways again thank you so much this was so helpful
1 Like
As a builder of over 8 years, this question is pretty interesting to me.
Irreliusā answer is pretty great and conveys a lot of my own thoughts, but Iād like to add some too.
Firstly, let me just say that thereās nothing wrong with building something āunoriginalā in the sense that it was inspired by something else, if thatās what you are thinking. I think most builders would agree that there is a difference between taking inspiration from something and blatantly copying it based off of an image. Equally, thereās never anything wrong with building something āoriginallyā, as Iām sure everyone would agree.
It is extremely hard to create visually appealing / useful work that is truly original, in the sense that you just move a bunch of parts around and connect and color them in a certain way. There are natural things- rocks, trees, animals, etc, that we can conceptualize and then there are man made things- cities, cars, tools, etc. However, man made things especially are prevalent and well known- in the sense that you can think of a chair and mentally construct its core features- because of their widespread use. Think about it. Just because a human comes up with an idea does not mean that that idea will become important or known. I canāt just walk up to someone on the street and expect them to know what my cylinder on a brick creation is. But the way humans advanced at all technologically was that a few of our many ideas became useful and widespread. Somethingās purpose and usefulness, or natural existence, is what makes it known to us. (Slight tangent, but if your interested in this kind of philosophical thinking, Iād highly recommend this Vsauce video on ontology Do Chairs Exist? - YouTube)
Thatās why is it often beneficial to source inspiration from elsewhere. But doing so does not automatically mean your build is unoriginal, is my point.
Anyway, enough philosophy. I hope some of that made sense.
In building terms, I think it the ease of being creative and original scales with the size of your project. It is much easier to make an original looking city than an original looking pen (at least theoretically).
When I build things āoriginallyā, they may not entirely be so. Letās say Iām tasked with modeling a seashell. My brain immediately recalls my subconscious memories of how I visualize a shell. Maybe its a conch shell, or a clam shell, or mussel shell. Obviously none of these objects are the same- and in the case of shells or other natural things like trees, they are all very different geometrically- despite having the same general features. But for everyone else, their subconscious memories of a shell are different, and so its much easier to notice that asking many people to build the same things without a reference produces unique results.
You can also be creative in many ways with inspiration by making different aspects of the build from different ideas. Letās say you are building a large city map. You can take inspiration on the layout from one thing, the color scheme or genre from another, and use creativity to fill in the gaps.
I would detail what I think about how to build originally, but Irrelius pretty much phrased it just as I would have.
Hope this helped a little too!
4 Likes