These are three levels with really clean and perfect looking visuals and I'm wondering what kind of method the creators used to build them.

Did they just free-build it using corner editor or did they use a mixture of fixed angles, small grid and corner editor? Or did they use a completely different method that I'm unaware of? I'm very interested in this kind of style so all replies are appreciated.

https://lbp.me/v/7fzgv5/

http://id.lbp.me/img/ft/49d20f0f100a3652736ab7713b1d407a5e017237.jpg

https://lbp.me/v/qt8m1b9/

http://i1.lbp.me/img/ft/511c0d7e2da1c2b43e7cccfa8a8bc8cc7803fd95.jpg

https://lbp.me/v/0ekvxt/

http://i0.lbp.me/img/ft/8104e9ad83087fd75c0f188b32951623793edeae.jpg

honestly, it looks to me like a mix of all you mentioned, as well as stamping out one object with another, plus a large portion of patience. (when your level gets to the decorate and polish stage, the "patience" tool is very important. been my downfall a couple times, in fact.) they do look very nice.

In the third image, the white lines in the back wall could be objects behind one of the silhouette materials. I like that effect, hadn't thought to use it just as decoration. Kind of obvious, really.

can you lbp.me link them? I know the first one but not the 2 other ones

I added the LBP.me links above each picture.

Thank you

The first and second images looks like 100% grid edit to me.

Also, is that a picture of John Lennon in the second image?

That's John Lennon, yes.

a great man

, you only say that because you like make moosic Nerd_Dog! Nah can't speak for myself really!
Now to the main point (And yes Nerd_Dog, it isn't always about you, well sometimes but yeah!)
First Image. Definite use of grid, slice and dice (possible) and corner edit seeing that it hasn't got much curvature!
Second Image. Use of corner edit and probably grid!
Third Image.Copy/Pasted shapes, use of silhouette glass material, and some shapes have some form of symmetry.

Hope this helped, just basic information on what I can judge. I'll have to play for myself!

Thanks for the replies! I'm still having a hard time to replicate those smooth shapes using only grid and corner editing, they must have used something more because all I get is very "square-like" shapes. But it still doesn't look like free grid-mode because the shapes would be way more random then... Any suggestions for me to approach this kind of design?

Have you tried a combination of Grid-Snap and Angle-Snap? That might work!

well, i'm not great with visual design but.. I've seen my buddy LOOKaUsername make some very similar sort of shapes to some of these. he was making like.. patterns using grid/corner editing and they would fit together if placed properly. he was using these shapes to construct everything in the level. i'm not sure if that's what these people did but I know his turned out very eye pleasing.

there was more to it than that obviously. but I know he is a very mathematical person. these shapes seem to be very well thought out

I'd like to see what he's made! If you could send a LBP LINK to it, I'd be glad to insist!

I met LOOKaUsername a pretty long time ago and I have seen a lot of what nerd-dog described in his moon. Hes very good at making any object look realistic with lots of focus on details. He uses a very clever way of making shapes, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures. His levels are mostly logic tools if you was hoping for a visual display of his awesome skills.

And I can say that his way of building shapes is not very similar to these pictures...

you're probably right @Blacksackman. I really don't have a great eye for visuals. but yea. he publishes logic mostly (great logic). he has a co-op lbp2 platformer published but it's not the best example of this. too lazy to link.@sana_88 search his awesome name instead .

but like @Blacksackman said, his good visual designs are always on his moon. he's the type that could really care less if people know about him. a respectable trait

If you want really smooth organic shapes you'll probably have to venture off of the grid, and just make a loooot of corners. Always has worked for me.

I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

Maybe it's just best to stick to my own thing, which is a very sterile and clean looking design. It doesn't look pretty but it works well with gameplay at least. Maybe you get the best results when you don't try to copy another design that is outside your comfort zone, but who knows....

That's some very positive thinking and a great moral! I think you'll be fine when it comes to creating.

@nerd_dog
I'm too lazy to search, so you shouldn't be too lazy to put a quick link... -.-

@blacksackman: if you don't push yourself outside of your comfort zone, how are you supposed to improve? I've always done my best to emulate through styles of my favorite creators until I form them into my own style. But that's just me.

@sana_88 i'm too lazy to do lots of thing... I should really clean my room >.>

here he is. the one and only http://lbp.me/u/LOOKaUsername

True, but that process took a pretty long time didn't it? What I am trying to say is that it's almost too late for me, I have played since 2008 but I have never really tried my best at something. I have become a much better creator than I was in LBP1 but I never really pushed myself beyond that border because I was too lazy. I have been following other creators that changed from being noobs to expert creators. They tried, learned, failed, and they slowly became better creators by publishing loads of good levels. I have never done that, I have always liked it simple. Mini-games, versus levels, survival challenges and all that easier stuff. I never even tried to make a good platformer until LBP2 and when I tried it didn't look good because I never went trough the phase of creating levels and improving the visual appearance for every new level I made.

I'm best at logic, it's my favorite part of the creating process and it's really the only way for me to fully show my potential as a creator.

OMG! LBP.me LINK! CLICK!
My room is actually trash irl... Seriously, I found a tonne of legos from about 3 years ago under my bed...

@blacksackman: Then I guess just use that to your advantage. Honestly most of my levels are more logic driven and constructed in such as way as to utilize visuals I can do well. For example Dungeon Break is completely composed of custom made animation sprites that work well for me because I'm quite good at drawing and making art like that. It has a look I haven't seen from any other levels and yet it's far more logic driven than visually. Not sure of that helps, but that's kind of how I feel.

just look at people like Enigma_0123. I love that guys levels. they are definitely more technical than visual. for me, i'd rather play cardboard levels with great gameplay ( like some MrMike levels ) than something like eye candy levels with very little creative gameplay. this is all just person taste I suppose. I can appreciate a very visually artistic level too. But if your level isn't visually mind blowing, it doesn't mean that it can't be fantastic.

Actually, that's not true for a lot of people nowadays. A lot of people only look at visuals, but a lot still look at gameplay.
I like the gameplay whereas there a shapes that use in/out and then like rotate and refit and activate gears that allow the player to do etc.
They're really cool. I'm gonna look at those a bit more and see if I can make some of those
You gotta admit, they're awesome

I'm a very smart person when it comes to thinking of design and mechanics, and I'm pretty good at maths too

@sana_88: Yum math.

@Tynz21: Yum cake, and donuts! And fudge! And chocolate! And caramel! (OMG) * EATS ALL OF IT WITH KIRBY POWERS*

Summary of everything I have learned in this thread.

I'm going to focus on more logic heavy levels instead of even trying something artistic which I suck big time at. I learned that some people actually prefer to play clever levels with good gameplay and ideas instead of beautiful levels with stunning visuals. I'm gonna stick to my own thing and hopefully make something awesome. Thanks for the replies, helped a bit.

@ Blacksackmen.
Creating should be fun and not work.
Dont force yourself on something new but also dont ignore the possibilitys of improvement.
Just have fun experimenting and if you hit something new then enjoy and use it.

I would say that's a good approach @Blacksackman. Create what you want or what you're good at. there are endless ways to express creativity on LBP. I think the only real way to fail, is to follow trends for the purposes of plays and popularity. and like I said before, some of the best levels (in my opinion) really lack appealing visuals. but that definitely doesn't mean that they can't be fantastic.

This seems like a good place to leave this:

Since I am becoming one of those who is logic strong (ex-programmer) and design weak, I started thinking about different ways I could get interesting shapes to work with, using little effort. I remembered that if you if you put material around an object, it leaves an open space for the object... Aha! And stickers make a shape when cut out, even if the sticker is not good... Aha again!

Place an object, and smear material around it. (Some objects are more than 1 layer, which can also be interesting, so watch for that.) Delete the object. Smear a solid piece of material. Copy the one that had the object in it, and use it to stamp the full piece. Is the shape interesting? Use it. Similar approach with stickers. Put the sticker down, cut it out, then remove the sticker.

I've also been using the "position in layer" setting to make decorations. Line the pieces up in separate layers, and assign them to values depending on which needs to look like it's in front. I stay with 10, 5, 0, -5 and -10, and I use a thin layer. Now de-physicalize them all (physics tweaker) and move them to the same layer. Glue them all and remove the tweakers. It creates a nice 3-D effect while only using 1 thin layer.

While doing that I found that two thin objects, if both are de-physicalized, can be bolted together in the same layer, and they'll rotate on each other! It can be tricky but it works and makes a nice effect.

Another trick I'm playing with right now is using the shardinator to break apart blocks of material. I'll use something that won't move, like sticker panel, so the pieces stay together, and make sure the lifetime of the shards is set to infinite. Once broken, the pieces move and delete as one item, but single parts can be removed using the destroy tweaker. I have an object saved that is all the shards of a half circle, each separated then grouped back together. (That took a long time to separate each piece.) I might take out parts of the middle to make the entrance of a cave, or something like that.

Just wanted to share, and this seemed like a good place to put it.

I know all 3 lvl and can clearly say Rikkirikki-itas and Lockstitch way of their corner edits were made for their gameplays functions. Pimpi's lvl just design. Not sure if that helps.

I'm glad that I checked back on this this thread! Great tips @Indomitus1973, It's always good to hear some different creating possibilities from other happy LBP players. It's like lubrication for my creative mind. Greatly appreciated.

@nerd_dog Yeah I've learned that visuals don't mean everything. But you can't always avoid the visual side of things especially in creation contests. If I really try hard it can look good but I don't always have that patience. This brings me to a completely new set of problems not even worth mentioning...

@Sandro8708 I understand your point but when I make levels I don't even think of making the design work well together with the gameplay. I change the gameplay parts afterwards to fit with the design and not the other way around. It's basically a natural process, not so much thinking but more just follow the flow and what looks best.

@Blacksackman

-You can take curvy "objects" (ei. pots, bottles, jars) out of your goodies bag, stamp a large piece of material over it to get a cut-out type shape of your "object.

-Then delete the "object" but NOT the cutout material piece, then place a seperate piece of material, take the first piece with the cut-out shape and use R3 to get a copy piece.

-Using said copy piece delete over the second piece to get a outward curvy shape or keep the first piece to have an inward curvy shape.

-Use the "cut tool" or any method you prefer to alter your new shapes, and dont be afraid to corner edit to perfect your desired shape. You can even flip it with L3 and stick two pieces together via gluing or stamping (combining) to make new abstract shapes. You can even add flare by using the UV TOOL and changing the size, orientation and angle of the material's pattern/designs

For precision curves with the grid what I do is scale the material up x2 or x4. When you scale it back down again after you've finished working on it you have in essence made the object with a smaller grid.

Another thing you can do is create a piece of material a quarter-grid square in size. You do this by placing two small squares of material diametrically opposed to each other and scaling them down. Using the resultant piece of material allows you to move objects up and down exactly half a grid square, which gives you double the number of grid coordinates.

Just to add to the method of stamping out shapes using objects from your toolbag... If you want to capture the internal shape of something that sackboy can fit inside of, like a tube for example... USE THACK. Place the thack in the level, then stamp the object down onto it. Now you can use that piece to stamp out the inside shape on something else. If you also stamp out the full shape on regular material you can assemble your own custom tube, or just use the curves for something else.

(Info for the newbies: Thack is a piece of material between thin and thick, exactly as thick as sackboy, so it fits in the same places. It was a glitch back in LBP1, and an old favorite for creators. Look for old give-away levels from LBP1 and LBP2 to find some, along with Theck which is just a little thinner.)