Abandoned Drain - UDK Modular environment

Javibcln

Hi there polycount!

I´ve been working on this small modular environment, it is the first one I´ve done, so dont be very hard

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpa8dPjX2S8"]Abandoned Drain UDK Modular environment - YouTube[/ame]







The textures for the vertex paint, images straight from the internet, didnt know what I could add more than a spec and a normal map.



Let me know what you think! And check out my new site if you have a sec, I would like to get some feedback about that too My Portfolio

NOlhovskis

Okay, there are several things that bother me with your environment. I assume all the plants are there because it's abandoned and overgrown? If so, your textures need a lot of reworking. Metal would be rusted, there would be streaks of dirt and rust on the walls. Same with the lights - some of them would be dimmer, and not plain white, there must be some dirt covering them up. Moss on the walls, some grass and small plants growing in corners, where the dust and dirt usually gather.
Just look up abandoned places. Reddit's /r/AbandonedPorn is a good place to start.
Asides from that it needs more assets to populate the area - some rubbish and broken stuff on the floor, bigger stuff like pipes and bins, crates. At the moment it's just too empty.

Other than that, a good start. You will have a decent environment if you spend a couple more weeks on it.

ng.aniki

Hello !

Also, I think there is something wrong with your reflections on the ground.
It looks like you are using some mask, so the reflections are not everywhere, but right now it does not look right.

If you want to make them look wet, the wet parts should look darker:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HvwK8_YKLVg/TlOWbDjNnnI/AAAAAAAAAFk/RlsJMfGMZFQ/s320/_MG_8677.jpg
You could eventually use the mask to do a small substract to the diffuse channel.

Or make the whole ground reflective. Or not reflective at all. Right now it does not make much sense. Also because these ground part look a bit like concrete.

Endfinity Jon

Ahoy!

There are a few things you can do with lighting and atmosphere to easily enhance the look of this piece (and that's saying nothing of environment design, materials/textures, etc).

Your biggest area for improvement is adding some focal contrast. Concerning the lighting, it's very...lit. What I mean, is that everything is the scene is illuminated (pretty evenly in fact) and that makes it far less interesting. I'd almost wager to say that posting an unlit version vs. a lit version wouldn't show any substantial changes in the read.

Your lights create a very even wash across all facets of the scene. Combine that with an unclear focal point, and the image isn't as strong as it could be. You don't need to sculpt a ridiculously detailed center piece, you can create focus in your lighting.

I think you can lead the eye better here, especially by the way the room is shaped. Let the lights on the wall create bright pools that dissipate off into darkness. Adding some gradation (in value AND saturation) will give the eye somewhere to go.

Because of the evenness, there's also a lack of depth. Foreground, mid-ground, background all read as if they're on the same plane. Try something a bit punchier closer to the camera and fade value and saturation away from the camera (with lighting and fog) so that the space feels more atmospheric.

A suggestion might be to let a booming light source peek out from one of your corner turns and have some mildly bright sources leading your eye to that point. As a player, I let that light lead me down the corridor toward the brightness and wonder what's around that mysterious corner.

If there's one takeaway, let the light move naturally through the space. Introduce gradients, changes in value, color, and some more atmosphere. It would be very telling if you made your image black and white.

Good work so far, keep at it!

Love,
-Jon

Javibcln

Hey guys! Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate you spent time with it

@Endfinity Jon, Here you got the lit vs unlit images, I really can see a big difference between them, but I want to know your oppinion about it too.

Lit:



Unlit:

Endfinity Jon

Beyond my comment about lit vs. unlit modes, my critique and opinion is stated above and I still think there's lots of information to glean from it. Plain and simple, the light isn't moving through the space as realistically (or as dynamically) as it could, and ultimately, your image lacks some depth and atmosphere.

The only real difference in your lit and unlit is specular response, basic value bumps, contact shadows, ssao, and a very slight gradient at the top of the tunnel (along the ceiling line). The way the light travels evenly across your floor without any dissipation makes it feel less dramatic.

Try increasing your light intensities, but in the properties, decrease the amount of indirect light that comes with each bounce (might need to pull a bounce out of world properties too). Allow light to pool and drift away into a more mysterious darkness. This will help lead the eye better as we can sift across the image to focal contrast points.

If you're using point lights, that's part of the problem. Because point lights move outward in all directions (and because of your GI bounces), you're potentially washing a lot of light over the space. It might be more appropriate to try spotlights shooting outward from your sources so we can feel the movement of the light better. There's also an emissive lighting control in the the properties.

Just because the environment is modular doesn't mean the lighting needs to be. Decide the mood you'd like to convey, the story you'd like to tell, and the colors that help bring that feeling across.

Keep at it,
-Jon