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[UDK] [WIP] "The Two Towers" Abandoned Water Tower Hideout

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RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
MOST CURRENT:

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“The Two Towers”

Structural Blockout WIP V0.5

Here is a structural (VERY VERY EARLY) Blockout for a new scene I am working on.

Here is the premise:

Abandoned Water Tower Hideout

“Survivors have taken refuge inside an empty water tower. They have been held out for a while and have “spruced up” the exterior with decorations, paint, banners, lights, and pulley system for getting heavy items to the tower as well as a plank that bridges the gap between the two structurally identical towers.”


*INSPIRATION PHOTO*
watertower.png

(maya render for blockout)
test1.png

test2.png

Obviously, this is a very early build, and normally I wouldn't post so early, however I would like to get feedback on not just the art but the idea as well. You can expect all the next-gen bells and whistles on this one as I am trying to go for grungy and realistic with my materials. The Scene will be comprised of lots of cool props to indicate that this is a lived in area with real people. More more awesome work to do!

I plan on working on this when I have time, which may be somewhat slowly. I have 5 more weeks of teaching UDK at NYIT and then a possible job opportunity with a studio in Boston (with a relocation involved) so the progress may be a bit slow. I plan on updating pretty steadily though so please stay tuned!

Replies

  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    These are two models that I am integrating into the scene. Next is blocking out more of the Two Tower's structure and then some more defining props.

    GEIGER COUNTER

    canister.png

    Doomsday Canister/Makeshift Bomb (Inspired by Mission Impossible 3)

    gcwip2.png
  • Fenyce
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    Fenyce polycounter lvl 11
    Sounds like a really nice idea, I'll keep an eye on this :D
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Thanks @Fenyce!

    --

    I just found out that the picture I am using for reference (the one that inspired me) is taken on Long Island; only 30 minutes away from me! It is located at Caumsett State Park, and I will be headed there tomorrow to take some close up reference pictures!!! Super pumped for the little mini adventure! In the meantime (ie tonight) I shall be working on some simple props for the scene!

    I made this while there was some downtime at work, for what it's worth =P

    (oh, and keyshot render cuzI was bored xD)

    cooluh.png
  • Fenyce
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    Fenyce polycounter lvl 11
    I don't know if it's just me but I can't see pictures in post 2 and 4... sadly.
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    @Fenyce Woops! Thanks for the heads up! Just changed the hosting of the images to my folio site, so it shouldnt be a problem moving forward.




    Getting ready to head out for my adventure! I made this in about an hour and twenty minutes last night (to add to the scene)

    lawnchair.png
  • Fenyce
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    Fenyce polycounter lvl 11
    Ah! Now I can see them! =D

    I'm looking forward to see awesome refsheets! Have fun.
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Hey everyone! Got some AWESOME pictures this past Sunday and I'm happy to share them with you! For all the pictures I took with my GS3, you can check this out!
    http://imgur.com/a/b5tXF#0

    Here is the reference sheet I created from the pictures I took of the tower.

    HiOfVeq.jpg

    Gonna get started adding detail as soon as possible!
  • pixelpatron
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    pixelpatron polycounter
    9357975559_8982db5ea8_o.jpg

    Couldn't help myself, just a quickie paint up but you get the jist.
  • beefaroni
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    beefaroni sublime tool
    Ooh I love the drawover above. Very nice use of the different parts of the watertowers. Looking forward to seeing this progress!

    I think another tower would be neat. Maybe one that serves as the "HQ" or private quarters for the leader for the base. I see you have some sort of cut out on the left one so maybe the third could be a cooking / sleeping area or something. Perhaps cooking on the first half with a ladder up to the 2nd floor which will be the sleeping area.

    First thing that came to mind for the sleeping area. Feel free to ignore everything above. Just some quick ideas that came to mind. It looks great so far.

    Sleeping+Quarters+2.JPG
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    haha sick paintover! I wish I had 8 hours a day to work on this project haha That pully system is pretty much exactly what I had planned! The "prisoner" idea is BRILLIANT and I will most likely be borrowing that idea from you =P The bridge seems a ton more practical than my plank of wood.... but I may find a mid ground since the plank of wood is kind of paying homage to The Last of Us =P Your "eaten into" section is an AMAZING idea and will allow for some awesome bounce lighting inside and for some personality for the interior. Now that I know the tower indeed does have a ladder to the top, that lookout tower is looking like a mighty fine idea! Might borrow that one as well xD

    Thank you so much for the inspiration!!! Gonna use a lot of these ideas!

    edit1: grammar
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    @Beefaroni Thanks for the feedback! Loving the feel of that image you posted and a 3rd tower could work since now I'm thinking about getting rid of that building since I feel I have enough with all the extra parts of the tower.

    Super pumped to work on this this weekend!!!
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Worked through the weekend to get a verity of different milestones met. Got a lot of the base structure of the towers near complete, as well as the walk-way, railing system, and tower itself. Very happy with how things are coming along so far, and only 3 more weeks until I can work on this project full-time. I’ll be trying to get more done through the week, but as usual will probably update more next weekend. Thanks for following!

    wip21.jpg


    wip1.jpg
  • nathanbarrett
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    nathanbarrett polycounter lvl 6
    Awesome concept and idea! I'll be following this :D
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    @nathanbarrett Thank you!!

    --

    These past weeks have been kinda crazy, not gonna lie.

    I interviewed for a 3D Artist position at a company in Boston (not saying which, just yet) last Tuesday and it went amazing. I pretty much got hired on the spot due to a stellar interview, however we're just waiting for mundane paperwork to be filed as well as background check and stuff of that nature. Otherwise, I'd say there is a 97.5% chance I will be hired to work on their new IP and I'm super excited. I'll hold off on the emotional stuff until it is official official...but needless to say, it means a lot to me. (it meant even more to me because the head AD told me I beat out a candidate that had been with the company for 3 years >.> )

    I've been trying to get some work in, inbetween planning to find a new place in Boston in the next >2 weeks which has been a bit stressful. However, after talking with an employee of Crytek (Frankfurt) I decided to give Cryengine 3 a shot for this project.

    (From now on, unless I switch back to UDK (which is not likely) I will be using Cryengine 3 for this project. I will leave it up to the viewers of this thread to decide if I should make a new thread with a new title or keep this WIP up and running. If a MOD reads this, and has the ability to change the title to '[CE3] [WIP] "The Two Towers" Abandoned Water Tower Hideout' then I'd REALLY appreciate it!)

    This past Saturday I shut myself in, and learned AS MUCH as I possibly could about Cryengine 3 !

    Things I learned this weekend:

    Importing from Maya to Cryengine 3
    Importing geo with multiple sub materials
    Greating a multi material
    UI Navigation
    Customizing the UI
    Editing Terrain
    Tweaking the ocean
    Time of Day manipulation and Sky manipulation
    Full environment and sun light tweaking
    Placing individual lights
    Creating custom clouds
    Using solids to build
    Creating a vis area
    A vis area for showcasing or interior
    Using environment probes
    Deffered lighting
    Light masking
    Material editing and advanced material settings

    This is my progress thus far, obviously extremely WIP

    win.png

    Looking to learn much more about Cryengine 3 and it's workflow soon!
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Chugging along! Since the last update I have implemented:

    A rope bridge
    Side Ladders
    Lookout Tower
    Wood Support Beams
    Lots of UV mapping!

    overall_render.png

    closeup_render.png

    lookout_render.png

    bridge_render.png

    base_render.png

    ladder_render.png

    Stuff I still need to do before I start texturing aka To Do List:

    Build ladder going down the tower
    Cloth/Sheet blocking in the main entrance
    Prop Lighting (Christmas Lights, Etc.)
    More Props! (Possibly barrels, crates, and other goodies)
    Destroy some of the railing
    Pulley System
    Sculpt Wood items: (Lookout tower, rope bridge, wood beams- all sculpted)
    Climbing ivy and other foliage


    Then lots of texturing and decal making!

    Hope you enjoyed this update!

    Thanks for checking me out!
  • leleuxart
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    leleuxart polycounter lvl 10
    Looking nice! The new entryway would look awesome with an ivy cover or some thick foliage like you've referenced.
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Thanks leleuxart, that's a great idea! I will try to implement that as well as the prop lighting for the entrance and possible the sheet, if I can figure out how to get cloth working in CE3
  • pixelpatron
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    pixelpatron polycounter
    The current assembly for the bridge looks very impractical. I'd raise the post to allow for entry under the attachment ropes. I'd also suggest making the attachment look more makeshift in nature.

    9542664626_47af7119f3_b.jpg
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Thanks for the feedback pixelpatron!!! I am going to scrap this bridge idea (as well as all the hours of work =P ) and use a hybrid of your idea and my old idea. I am going to try and use 3 planks combined together with nails and rope, length wise, and also integrate your idea (but maybe use a car wheel or whole tire instead) with the pole and the rope. I think those would fit the theme much better! Thanks much for feedback though, much appreciated!!
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Well, I'm about done with the modeling for now. About to jump head first into texturing and sculpting asap. All of the wood objects (Lookout tower, Plank bridge, and the Support Beams) will be sculpted upon and then baked down into a normal map. Everything else will have normals generated from nDo2/dDo.

    I will leave the foliage for after the initial texture pass, because I wanna make sure it looks good even without the foliage. This way the foliage will serve as a layer of polish.

    I'm pretty happy with where everything is so far and I know that the textures will breathe life into the scene greatly.


    overall_822_render.png

    closeup_822_render.png

    bridge_822_render.png

    bridgeOverall_822_render.png
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Sorry for the lack of updates, things have been hectic.

    I'm hard at work bustin out base materials for the scene at hand. Here is the clean version of the main watertower tiling texture. This is still WIP and will be further expanded upon with more detail. What I'm going to do is create a completely rusted and grungy version and then vertex paint between them. (Does anyone know if Vertex Painting is possible in CE3? If anyone has any tuts or write ups they can point me towards, I'd appreciate it!


    clean.png
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Did a lot of "leg work" today. Instaled the cryTIFF plug-in as well as got a bunch of textures in there, some more along than others.

    I'll be churning more textures out tomorrow.

    closeup_831_render.png

    edit: added this for shiggles

    inEdCap.PNG
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I'd like to see the cut out area of the tower match the texture more, like the cuts would be effected by the seams and rivets.
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    @ZacD Great suggestion! I'm trying to think of ways that I cam implement it in there. any suggestion on how you would implement something like that?
  • Joopson
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    Joopson quad damage
    In this picture: http://www.rad-3d.com/Images/WIP/closeup_91_render.PNG

    To me, the hole looks a little bit too much like the near-clipping of polygons. (That's just what it calls to mind. I know it wouldn't make literal sense.)

    Maybe try to make the hole a little less planar? Or otherwise avoid a view from such a straight-on angle?

    Otherwise, I'm really enjoying this so far. Really cool.
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Thanks Joopson!! I have to decided to address this with some decal overlays, as well as a nice climbing Ivy mesh. I really appreciate the feedback!

    closeup_98_render.png

    Right now, I'd say I am about 80% through with the project.

    Stuff to do:

    Lots of ivy!
    Graffiti on the left tower
    Finishing touches on the top-of-the-tower turret
    Work on the base
    A few other odds-and-ends and texture work

    Definitely gonna try to finish up this project this week if I can, then on to the next !!
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    I'm kind of at this point where I kinda wanna just move onto the next project. Probably won't be working on this for much longer. But, even with that said, I'd still love any feedback you have. Definitely much appreciated!

    closeup_914_render.png
  • Parth
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    Parth polycounter lvl 10
    Looking pretty good. One thing I would like to point out is that the ivy needs some color variation. Also u might play more with placing it. Make it more random maybe.
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Thanks Parth!

    After somne feedback on other sites as well as self review I notice a few things

    I need to step my Ivy game up and just generally make it better. A more low-poly, varied, color varied, and overall randomized look would be better for this project I think, especially after re-looking at my reference pictures.

    I need to bite the bullet and throw in some sort of interesting background. Presentation counts. If I want the project to "pop" I'm going to need SOMETHING around it to ground it in reality. I still could go back to my original idea of a black background with a "base" but I'm thinking this project just may need that extra push when it comes to surrounding environment.

    Once again, ANY sort of feedback is much appreciated! Especially when it comes to what I could do as far as a background landscape goes.... still thinking about what I could do.

    Thanks!


    Edit: also...

    polycount_replyometer.jpg
  • Shrike
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    Shrike interpolator
    Looking good , some painting with a rust decal would come along nice aswell probably,
    im sure you could push that subject a lot higher if you wanted to spend the time, its a really great idea to build up upon

    For a backdrop, Id take a photo in the right angle +-, blur it hard and make it a little lighter , probably the easiest way

    I dont really get the reply o meter. Is it about the skill level of the people answering, or the skill level of the people posting ?
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    @Shrike

    Thanks for the suggestion! After much though, I think I'm going to go that way with the image plains.

    As for the chart, it is basically saying that people only usually comment on threads where the OP is either an inexperienced noob, or an amazing masterful inspirational artist.
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Added an image plane backdrop, changed up some of the ivy (no color variation yet), and grunged up the banner and tweaked the material. Getting there.

    closeup_915_render.PNG
  • joeriv
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    joeriv polycounter lvl 7
    just some personal opinions:

    -The ivy seems to have to much spec/gloss making it seem a bit plastic.
    It also seems that on the left on the tower you have repeated one set to much, wich causes some noticable repetition.

    And maybe I am wrong, but isn't a plant like that still supposed to grow out of something (earth/soil), it just seems kind of weird to me just randomly growing at such a height.

    -Some of the graffiti seems out of scale, the black text on the left tower for example, judging by the scale of the other things, and how a text like that would be done (just a single fast motion), you would need a rather huge spraycan.

    -The circular base could use a bevel/chamfer on the edge, looks a bit to sharp now.
    And the material on that part (and the "legs" of the tower)could use some more work.

    -The banner seems a bit to much like a plane with a tiling texture on it, can't exactly pinpoint why but it looks a bit fake.
    maybe 2 things that could help:
    -A more visible attachment point, now it just sort of floats.
    -Some actual folding/pulling like this
    http://factorydirectcraft.com/pimages/20120907091705-120441/83x_20_red_blank_fabric_banner_ready_to_decorate_sign.jpg

    -The boxes, make another one (maybe one that is closed), add some actual things in it, or around it, to give a bit of a purpose to them instead of just random boxes.
    And they could also use a bit of beating up/weathering if they have been left there for a while (rain for example).

    -The brown part that is in the cut in the watertower seems a bit lowres
    -Same with the grunge on the banner.
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    @joeriv Thanks so much or the feedback!

    Can't say there is a single thing you mentioned that I don't agree with, so thank you so much for that. I really appreciate it when people take the time to out give me crits; especially at this point when my eye is just so used to what it's seeing that it gets REALLY hard to pick stuff out to fix. I Will spend tomorrow tackling those issues for sure!
  • Trevelyan .
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    Trevelyan . polycounter lvl 11
    Hey Rogelio, nice choice of concept! You've got a really good project here so far, I hope you keep pushing it though to take it to the next level, I see you're looking for crits so I hope that I can be helpful :)

    - The wires wrapped around the towers, nice touch, but their motion path seems strange, moving up and down, perhaps you could try pinning it at intervals to the underside of the roof and having it droop down in between the fixtures?

    - The walkway, this area might benefit from being a different material, or at least having a different colour hue to the legs, perhaps the surface would also have a tread, to make it non slip, or accumulated dirt/weathering damage. After all, it shelters the legs of the structure from the elements (at least the top of the legs) and so you would expect it to show signs of this.

    - I'd also investigate the modelling on the walkway, particularly the edge, it needs a little more visual interest (such as stains from the railings, or modelled detail where the railings merge with the base) or even just a bevel for that hard edge that runs around the top of it.

    - The ivy is a good start, but as I believe someone else has said, Ivy needs to grow from the ground up in this situation, rather than sprouting from metal. You could adjust the layout of your planes to show this perhaps...the main critique on your ivy however is that it needs more volume - a few additional texture variations, perhaps of a thinner layout, or individual leaves would allow you to break up the repetition of your current layout. If you look at your reference, the growing ivy columns are much thicker than the legs of the tower themselves due to their volume....Ivy is tough though! Especially creating believable, thick layouts - the polycount wiki might help you though, it has a few foliage tutorials :)

    Adjoining edges - often edges that meat at angles create an area of occlusion, whether it be from light, or as an area for dirt and dust to collect in. For example the right angle created where your roof meets the sides of the tower. You have a stain running down the tower, but it would be nice to see some occlusion in there too, to soften this join, as well as some accumulated dirt, or even just some spread from the stain on the metal, to the underside of the roof. A quick note also on the other side your shadow ranges need to increase to remove the light leak you have.

    - The red rooftops in the bottom right corner of your background seem to draw the eye and are a little distracting...they also seem a little too similar to the red hues that exist on your assets (the graffiti, the banner). Looking at the bottom left, the trees at the base of the tower work really nicely and provide a good visual contrast, it might be nice to have similar trees lining the base of your image and fogging out a lot of those buildings in the background to remove the visual noise.

    I hope you might find this critique useful, if you're done with this project then I hope it helps with the next. Don't be disheartened by people not commenting on your thread so much, people tend to comment on familiar names rather than because your work is of a certain quality. What you have here is a nice piece, just keep on pushing! :)
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    @Trevelyan Wow, REALLY useful for sure! I agree completely with everything you said. Good crits are hard to come by; I really appreciate it! I've definitely learned a TON from this project which is the most important thing- second most important being a piece that I can be proud to show on my folio. I'm going to try to push myself to work on this for at least one more week before I move onto something else and your feedback will be among the top of what I hit! Looking forward to pushing myself even harder!
  • Trevelyan .
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    Trevelyan . polycounter lvl 11
    Hey Rogelio, no problem! Glad you're going to push just that little bit further and a week is a good time window to get in some of those little things. When you're done at the end of the week it'll be great to look back and see where you almost left it and what an improvement you've made :)

    Good luck, looking forward to seeing the final images!
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    closeup_920_render.png


    Some of the issues I addressed:

    Beveled Edge on walkway.

    Add grunge on boxes, as well as closed version.

    More Rust and Grunge

    7TH TIME re-doing the IVY!! This is a less poly solution and overall I think I like this one the best.


    Definitely have gotten to that point where I just wanna ut it to bed. I feel like my time would be better spent working on pre-production on my next project.

    Overall I'm more than satisfied with how much I've learned. I completely taught myself how to use CryEngine during this project and I'm pretty proud of that...ESPECIALLY as a Maya user =P

    I feel like this piece came out pretty strong though.

    Thanks for everyone who followed the thread and provided feedback! Very much appreciated!
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Rogelio_Delgado_TTT.png

    Well, after many weeks of hard work, I am calling this project complete. You can find the final beauty shot located here, or visit http://www.rad-3d.com/Pages/thetwotowers.html to view breakdowns of the completed project.

    In Memorandum:

    First of all, I must say that I think that this project was overall, a success.

    Firstly, I believe it was a success because I believe the construction quality and final product is visually appealing and well made.

    Secondly, and probably more importantly, I believe the project was successful just for all of the awesome things I learned during it’s creation. I came into this project knowing absolutely nothing about CryEngine 3 and left with a really good understand of a lot of it’s processes. I learned a lot more about dDo, 3D Coat, and just about my overall workflow and application.

    Some things that were not so successful:

    First, the Ivy, after being re-done close to 6 times, could absolutely be better.

    Secondly, I am not the greatest designer. I know this. I’m not quite as good at designing as I am at constructing. Although, I would say that I pushed myself pretty far considering that fact. My next project is going to mostly be based off concept art- this way I can spend more time building than designing (which is a bit more realistic to my role in the industry if I were to get a job; concept artists would be illustrating designs that I would build)

    Even though I have a pre-pro petpeeve, and love to plan- more planning could have been done.

    Moving forward, I will take everything I learned from this and apply it to my future projects.

    Thanks everyone for following and critique!

    -Rogelio
  • ysalex
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    ysalex interpolator
    Looking nice. Personally I liked the more saturated version before, but I understand with something like this that there's a mood to be made so I understand the choice.

    A couple of things - the ivy on the left side tower looks more like curtains made out of moss. I think this is because they seem to have formed no attachments, and they are hanging down somewhat awkwardly as the demarcation between the tower hole and the tower exterior. Also, typically ivy has a falloff element where its tendrils reach out to grab whatever, and here it just seems like concentrated leaves.

    I really like the rusting damage on the metal, looks great and natural.

    I mentioned this before, but that font is killing the presentation for me. It looks like the kind of thing you create when you google 'sweet photoshop text tutorial'. Maybe consider something simpler and monocolor, like just white Bebas.

    That's about it. I'm not crazy about the background, but I personally cannot think of any other way to do it without creating your own, and I think that's probably too much work.

    Anyways, cool stuff.
  • m4dcow
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    m4dcow interpolator
    I think the Ivy/Foliage saturation level needs to come up compared to the rest of the scene.
  • RogelioD
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    RogelioD polycounter lvl 12
    Thanks for the feedback everyone! I put this project to bed right before I made my move to Boston (to work on Infinite Crisis) but I may one day return to capitalize on the awesome feedback!

    Thanks all!
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