wow. Absolutely gorgeous! You're seriously one of the best environment artists I've ever seen man and that's saying a lot since I have about 41 in my "Artists" bookmarks folder and have seen hundreds more. Studios have a hard time producing work this good and you're just one person! Your lighting is what really sells everything.
Minato: A mix of both. The post process isnt working that well though, Im gonna see if I can tweak it, or get rid of it, since I have so little control of it right now. And yes, im modelling in modo : )
I will post some pictures of the base texture etc at some point, just havent got around to it, also the shader keeps changing still ^^
Tiiny teeny update, some new stuff, the doorway i was modelling when i streamed last time aswell aswell as another interior shot.
Here is another short clip with some random environment animations and stuff! Been going back to the drawingboard a bit on some areas to make them less boring, and im still redoingsome of the stuff I lost, but its progressing atleast : )
madness. Freakin love the alley shots. Seriously incredible work.
The shop scene is too noisy for me. I think there is too much grime and too much detail density in the wall and floors. Maybe use larger tiles? Its like everything from the desk to the floors to the walls to the ceiling are made by 2x3ft tiles... its just reads weird.
roosterMAP: thanks! I hear ya, I think part of the problem in the shop is that right now the shelves and the "stuff" is just boxes etc, and they are very noisy, and overlaying on the wals. Later I will have some posters etc that will give some cleaner surfaces in there, also I will try to push the stuff like wires and pipes further out towards corners etc and creating some clenaner spaces on the walls. Also might push the grime in the vertexpaint a bit further towards the edges. Thanks for the crits!
Zepic: I will, sofar there is only one, and i need to make another push and texture it properly and fill it out, still has some space left on it : )
djoexe: I place all my stuff in UDK, also i use modo, not maya : )
Some random shots from some new hallways i have been working on, aswell as an early test of my modular background-ships I will fill the skyline with : )
Did you use ndo for those ships? I think I remember you saying you were going to do that. How did that turn out? Can't really tell as it's mostly in shadow, but if this is the angle you're seeing them at it looks like it works!
rambooze: wat? : D
wester: yeah, the ships are made with ndo, but im gonna do a detail pass on them on top of that actually, and need to work some more on that texture, its still very rought, and the diffuse/blendmasks are not there yet. Also need to sort out a bunch of stuff with the ships and their shaders, but it looks good enough for a test so I know itll work, you wont see them too upclose except in motion : )
futurepoly: thanks! The lighting is 100% dynamic, no baked whatsoever : )
rambooze: haha, thanks!
Yuke: thanks!
Computron: nope, not yet, but im planning to use it alot, when i start making the custom textures, sofar its just one really.
edit: oh, also im playing around a bit with the light atm, trying to get the hang of this a bit better.
pity: no its just static meshes but they are only affected by the dynamic channel, all the lights are dynamic lights, mostly moveables, using the DX11 deffered renderer.
Have been reaally busy lately, but here is a small clip of people walking around, standing around, animation and rigging done by the awesome Markus Hammarstedt! ^^ Obv placeholder models, but still, its aliiive!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LtHmDRGz-0&"]The grime district WIP3 - YouTube[/ame]
if'd have to crit something it would be that some of the effects (smoke and lights) are a bit too fast. particularly in the shop scene it really looks too busy but not the "grungy" cyberpunk busy... more like las vegas busy if you get what i mean xD
Fnitrox: yeah, the smoke is not really good at the moment, alot of the smoke effects are placeholders from older screens with a different scale so they are a bit funky : D Also the lighting overall is pretty shitty, still trying to wrap my head around it, kinda wish I hadnt gone for dynamic lighting.
Long time no update, I have added tons to the scene, but its here and there so its hard to single out, here are some shots from some walkways I have added, will be full of stores and stuff, and not just empty hallways.
The main problem I see is that the street scenes comes off as a bit flat. The main reason is due to the fact that there is a lot of noise, and the silhouettes of your models are getting lost in the similar colors and similar detail density of the crap behind them.
Also, in the top pic, there is a slight composition problem. You have a foreground that is too unsubstantial to merit being the subject of the foreground (railings), and no real midground or background. It looks like the only thing really giving depth is the use of distance fog and dof; which is not enough. Perhaps if you made everything on the left side of the street (past the green light) less cluttered, and gave is a large subject...
Also, with all these interesting shapes, you are missing the opportunity to have them cast large shadows; another tool which could end up giving the street more depth.
Anyhow, I hope that all makes sense. Taking each pic and breaking it apart reveals an astonishing level of detail and care, but in the grand scheme of things, a lot of it gets lost in the busyness.
RoosterMap:
Yeah, the shadows are a bit of a problem when dealing with the dynamic lighting, still haven't figured that part out really, and for the composition of things, I just take random screens from different angles, so the composition isnt really... thought out from those angles ^^ Looks better from the ground atleast
made a quick prop when streaming, the holographic sign part is a placeholder : )
Been following this for a while, looks pretty cool! Got some crits though:
1) How far are you planning to take these buildings? Are they supposed to be semi-final or just mockups right now? It's kind of hard to make out exactly what they are because everything looks busy and abstract. Would be nice to have some windows and some hints of their purpose, basically as a way to set them apart from each other.
2) Avoid tiling the same texture too much, it gets obvious pretty fast (for example that big long trim that runs along the buildings)
3) Composition needs some work too. Your detail placement is very uneven which in turn helps to make everything look even more busy. Try to have some pockets of details here and there instead of details everywhere and some areas of rest.
4) Focus/hero buildings. Are you planning to have any in the level? Those would go a long way to help get rid of the "UT3k kit bashed" modular feeling. Architecture could also be a bit more interesting, with balconies, windows, etc
5) Not really a fan of too much shit on floor tiles (as in this screenshot: http://www.torfrick.com/Art/WIP/fps35.jpg). They are supposed to be a surface where people walk on and not traps :P
My setup for renders changes for every render basically. Its really nothing fancy, standard GI with some gradient background, a bit of ambient occlusion and one light, too lazy to do something fancy ^^
Thiago, im planning to take the buildings quite far, some buildings are close to final, some are just placeholders, kinda hard to tell everything apart right now, which adds to the mess and noise. I have just started to add more architechural variation, like windows etc in the last few updates, but yeah, its something im aware of, right now everything is kinda... wierd, just scifi buildings without function, but im trying to go through them and create new variations to give everything a sense of purpose.
I cant really avoid using the same texture since everything is built using the same one right now, but that is also something that Ill go through and cover up later on when I have time, hopefully it wont be as noticable once I have things like custom signs and setdressing on top of the base shells of the buildings. Composition is really off right now, thats true, some areas I have built to almost full detail, some of them are still placeholder buildings etc, so its really uneven and unpolished right now aswell ^^
Focal/hero buildings will be in, yes, but none of them are past mockup stage. I should really post a video with a walkthrough from FPS-perspective to show it off in a better state, posting random shots from different angles doesnt seem to be the best idea : D But all in all, very accurate observations, I just hope that what I have in my head right now will solve most of those issues, thnx : D
This is amazing! I can't believe how much you have made since you started it. You seem to have no weaknesses, it's crazy. You should open your own game studio haha
Replies
pity: it is quite heavy on the performance at times, yes.
Edit: Also what is your modeling program?... Modo?
What is this wizardry?!
Sorry to hear you lost 2 weeks worth of assets, know the speed you model at that's about losing 2 months worth of assets for regular people
Really love the work you're putting out and watching your stream is always motivating yet demotivating at the same time.
Minato: A mix of both. The post process isnt working that well though, Im gonna see if I can tweak it, or get rid of it, since I have so little control of it right now. And yes, im modelling in modo : )
I will post some pictures of the base texture etc at some point, just havent got around to it, also the shader keeps changing still ^^
Tiiny teeny update, some new stuff, the doorway i was modelling when i streamed last time aswell aswell as another interior shot.
[ame="
The shop scene is too noisy for me. I think there is too much grime and too much detail density in the wall and floors. Maybe use larger tiles? Its like everything from the desk to the floors to the walls to the ceiling are made by 2x3ft tiles... its just reads weird.
roosterMAP: thanks! I hear ya, I think part of the problem in the shop is that right now the shelves and the "stuff" is just boxes etc, and they are very noisy, and overlaying on the wals. Later I will have some posters etc that will give some cleaner surfaces in there, also I will try to push the stuff like wires and pipes further out towards corners etc and creating some clenaner spaces on the walls. Also might push the grime in the vertexpaint a bit further towards the edges. Thanks for the crits!
Zepic: I will, sofar there is only one, and i need to make another push and texture it properly and fill it out, still has some space left on it : )
djoexe: I place all my stuff in UDK, also i use modo, not maya : )
Inspiring as always
wester: yeah, the ships are made with ndo, but im gonna do a detail pass on them on top of that actually, and need to work some more on that texture, its still very rought, and the diffuse/blendmasks are not there yet. Also need to sort out a bunch of stuff with the ships and their shaders, but it looks good enough for a test so I know itll work, you wont see them too upclose except in motion : )
futurepoly: thanks! The lighting is 100% dynamic, no baked whatsoever : )
Yuke: thanks!
Computron: nope, not yet, but im planning to use it alot, when i start making the custom textures, sofar its just one really.
edit: oh, also im playing around a bit with the light atm, trying to get the hang of this a bit better.
Have been reaally busy lately, but here is a small clip of people walking around, standing around, animation and rigging done by the awesome Markus Hammarstedt! ^^ Obv placeholder models, but still, its aliiive!
[ame="
if'd have to crit something it would be that some of the effects (smoke and lights) are a bit too fast. particularly in the shop scene it really looks too busy but not the "grungy" cyberpunk busy... more like las vegas busy if you get what i mean xD
Long time no update, I have added tons to the scene, but its here and there so its hard to single out, here are some shots from some walkways I have added, will be full of stores and stuff, and not just empty hallways.
Also, in the top pic, there is a slight composition problem. You have a foreground that is too unsubstantial to merit being the subject of the foreground (railings), and no real midground or background. It looks like the only thing really giving depth is the use of distance fog and dof; which is not enough. Perhaps if you made everything on the left side of the street (past the green light) less cluttered, and gave is a large subject...
Also, with all these interesting shapes, you are missing the opportunity to have them cast large shadows; another tool which could end up giving the street more depth.
Anyhow, I hope that all makes sense. Taking each pic and breaking it apart reveals an astonishing level of detail and care, but in the grand scheme of things, a lot of it gets lost in the busyness.
Yeah, the shadows are a bit of a problem when dealing with the dynamic lighting, still haven't figured that part out really, and for the composition of things, I just take random screens from different angles, so the composition isnt really... thought out from those angles ^^ Looks better from the ground atleast
made a quick prop when streaming, the holographic sign part is a placeholder : )
edit: That's sounds really creepy... GOOD JOB BUD!
1) How far are you planning to take these buildings? Are they supposed to be semi-final or just mockups right now? It's kind of hard to make out exactly what they are because everything looks busy and abstract. Would be nice to have some windows and some hints of their purpose, basically as a way to set them apart from each other.
2) Avoid tiling the same texture too much, it gets obvious pretty fast (for example that big long trim that runs along the buildings)
3) Composition needs some work too. Your detail placement is very uneven which in turn helps to make everything look even more busy. Try to have some pockets of details here and there instead of details everywhere and some areas of rest.
4) Focus/hero buildings. Are you planning to have any in the level? Those would go a long way to help get rid of the "UT3k kit bashed" modular feeling. Architecture could also be a bit more interesting, with balconies, windows, etc
5) Not really a fan of too much shit on floor tiles (as in this screenshot: http://www.torfrick.com/Art/WIP/fps35.jpg). They are supposed to be a surface where people walk on and not traps :P
Hope that helps!
Thiago, im planning to take the buildings quite far, some buildings are close to final, some are just placeholders, kinda hard to tell everything apart right now, which adds to the mess and noise. I have just started to add more architechural variation, like windows etc in the last few updates, but yeah, its something im aware of, right now everything is kinda... wierd, just scifi buildings without function, but im trying to go through them and create new variations to give everything a sense of purpose.
I cant really avoid using the same texture since everything is built using the same one right now, but that is also something that Ill go through and cover up later on when I have time, hopefully it wont be as noticable once I have things like custom signs and setdressing on top of the base shells of the buildings. Composition is really off right now, thats true, some areas I have built to almost full detail, some of them are still placeholder buildings etc, so its really uneven and unpolished right now aswell ^^
Focal/hero buildings will be in, yes, but none of them are past mockup stage. I should really post a video with a walkthrough from FPS-perspective to show it off in a better state, posting random shots from different angles doesnt seem to be the best idea : D But all in all, very accurate observations, I just hope that what I have in my head right now will solve most of those issues, thnx : D
Here is a new video of me walking around a bit in the level, tons of stuff needs fixing, postprocessing looks a bit messy here aswell
[ame="