[UE4] Dark Altar [IMAGES HEAVY]
polycounter lvl 6
Hi everyone,
I'm currently unemployed and I think it's a great time to do some art and improve my skills as a 3D artist. I'm fairly new to this field but I'd love to work in the video game industry as an environment artist. I've been very busy last week (playing Dark Souls 3) and I decided to do something I had in my mind for some time.
I'm going to do a small scene in UE4 which would be some kind of dark altar with very gloomy vibes.
I spent some times this morning to gather a lot of references for what could be props, materials, building layout etc. Here's a sample of the references :
I'm experienced with Substance Painter but for this project I will learn how to use Substance Designer in order to create my own materials. I know this is a big project for me and this will take me a huge amount of time but I think if you don't work hard, there will be no rewards, such is life.
I don't have anything else to show at the moment but I've launched UE4 to do some blocking for the scene. If you have references or ideas that you'd like to share with me that would be nice ! Thanks.
I'm currently unemployed and I think it's a great time to do some art and improve my skills as a 3D artist. I'm fairly new to this field but I'd love to work in the video game industry as an environment artist. I've been very busy last week (playing Dark Souls 3) and I decided to do something I had in my mind for some time.
I'm going to do a small scene in UE4 which would be some kind of dark altar with very gloomy vibes.
I spent some times this morning to gather a lot of references for what could be props, materials, building layout etc. Here's a sample of the references :
I'm experienced with Substance Painter but for this project I will learn how to use Substance Designer in order to create my own materials. I know this is a big project for me and this will take me a huge amount of time but I think if you don't work hard, there will be no rewards, such is life.
I don't have anything else to show at the moment but I've launched UE4 to do some blocking for the scene. If you have references or ideas that you'd like to share with me that would be nice ! Thanks.
Replies
I think the blockout is done and while it's still very rough I did some materials and meshes.
Since I haven't make the windows and stained glass, the lighting is basic and is going to be improved all along the project. The stained glass on the windows is going to set a very cold light (blue, light purple) which is going to be contrasted by the light from the candles and braziers.
Now for the materials, here's the cobble floor.
I'm not sure what but in my project something looks off, maybe it is because of the strong contrast between the lights.
For the walls the materials is really WIP as it is at the moment the floor substance slightly modified to be darker, with stones closer to each other and without pebbles.
Next step is to modeling assets for the altar which is the main point of this project.
Nice work) I've watched closely to the floor tiles and it seems a little too rought for me. Stone floor even with the minimum lights has a slight highlights and glossiness, and on your renders it has no. I suggest you to try a little randomize on tiles: to leave some tough rough as it is now and to add some highlights and gloss to another ones.
At this pic look closely to the part of floor where are window and warm light (mb candle?), some tiles are dark and rough and another has a little gloss:
And here take a look, please, at the bottom, where light is not so strong, but stone tiles have a highlights on some edges:
I hope I helped a little =D
Cheers
I would also look at generating a heightmap and using the BumpOffset node - for extra pop.
I agree with adding a height map to the floor. The floor looks great, in and of itself, but for the intended atmosphere I feel it's too flat, and too... pristine? It looks like it's brand new. +1 for the grout being rougher as well, and maybe a little bit darker? Or the stones. Right now they read kind of the same. The floors in your references have distinctly darker stones, like a charcoal grey, and I think that would set the mood a bit better
@KrisLW I think I'm gonna wait just a bit to see how the light coming through the stained glass is going to affect the overall lighting of the scene before switching maybe to a darker color for the ground.
@Adelphia Yes, thank you I think it might be what I'm going to do.
I needed to take a break and I'm creating a wax substance for the candles, I will try to expose the color, and the 'wetness' of the wax when it's hot.
You can see on the last pic a problem I have with the lighting. The stairs are composed of 2 meshes, the stairs and the tile on top of it. I tried to set a higher lightmap density but even 512 for both isn't enough as there's still light going through the tiles, do you know how I can fix it ?
I think my floor isn't as great since I start to have some meshes in my scene, I might make the tiles smaller closer to each other, what do you think ?
By the way I did a really small substance for the Wax, there's small variation inside the diffuse and roughness map, here's how it is inside UE4 with SSS, I hope I can improve it, especially the lighting. No FX for the flame atm.
Thank you guys for your suggestions it is really helpful !
I've noticed at the 1st and 2d pic (from May,15th post) that stone floor tile scale is too big, if compare cobble brick's and marble tiles. Stone tiles looks giant. Is that what you were asking about: "I think my floor isn't as great since I start to have some meshes in my scene, I might make the tiles smaller closer to each other, what do you think ?"
Wax is nice looking) But dont you think wax "walls" around the flames should be thinner and pass over the light a little? I think there must be feeling that the wax edge is about to melt and fall into the flame. But its been over 2 weeks since your last update and I believe you have already thought about it))
P.S. Sorry for no reply sooner, was busy
What's new ? The struggle to find motivation and not to be bored from working on a single piece for a month.
Of course I've worked quite a bit here's some screens from the UE4 scene:
I've reworked a bit the scene since it was a bit ambitious for me and scrapped the entrance appart from the lighting. As you can see, the colored shadows from the stained glass are very pixellated but the edge of the shadows are soft so it's not a lightmap issue and I've been unable to find how to correct it.
Here's the main point of the scene. The godrays are made from the directionnal light which interact with the stained glass, at one point it was casting colored shadows aswell but I'm not sure if the engine isn't suited for that or if I haven't found a correct way to do it yet, but the result was also pixellated and absolutely disgusting. As for the other stained glass maybe I should make a mesh since it the directionnal light can cast it only on one direction.
The floor is a bit better I think and there's two variation i've blended together with vertex paiting (thank you @Adelphia ). Also the light coming through the stairs is fixed I think it was something wrong with lightmap.
I kept the Marble from the Substance Share and I'm in love with it, I'm not sure if I'm gonna make another since it will be pretty similar; maybe later in the project.
The bloom coming from the light (candles) is really aggressive but maybe I should not light it this way but from an Emission map only ? Also I haven't done the animated flames yet.
I made the altar and some props I'm sure it will be better with a better lighting and flames for the candles though.
Here's the main stained glass, I textured it with Substance Designer, it was fun to create but to make it work in UE4 was literaly hell.
Here's the arch which support the roof, where it is empty there should be skull inside but I haven't looked yet to the "Static mesh instance" (Before that I tried to put hundred of skulls in my scene and it was barely playable). Also the fire is from the Starter content but I've disabled dynamic lighting at the moment.
Here's some screen from Toolbag 2, I hope I can recreate it inside UE4 on a larger scale but since it's pretty I guess I can show it to you guys:
@Irana_Danchenko Thank you for the feedback, yes I've changed how the floor was tiled and I think it's looking better now. Also for the candles yes you're right but maybe I should work a bit more on the SSS to fake the light ?
Yup, I think, SSS could do the trick) Good luck!
The carpet. It need to be more damaged though, I use the opacity channel for it. It's just an unwrapped and subdivided plane which I used for simulation and then throw inside the engine, it's not really optimized but I wanted a good quality cloth with many folds.
This furniture helps the lighting of the scene thanks to all those candles.
Small rework of the skull textures
I started to work on the furniture behind the altar, and I tested some cloth animation which could be hanged on the wall or between the pillars I still don't know. I hope I can finish this scene ASAP to move on something else but I don't want to rush it either.
I'm working on a substance which would be a mix of bones/skull and rock/cement. Not entirely procedural, some height bitmap are baked from the skull I might add a bit of variation as I enhance the material. Very rough it will be way better since it's just a start.
Also I've added some chains and added skulls to pillar.
I've also added LOD to some meshes to help the engine.
I've reworked a bit the size of the skull and the stone floor based on the feedback from @s1dK
You can see some props in this Marmoset Viewer Scene
Here's some screens, I will try to make a short video this week-end.
As you can see there's not much change, I added some candles, post-effects, some details like pebbles and cloth. I used some slightly modified stock UE4 particle system and it might be the goal of my next project. Also I used some blending with this substance I've made this summer.
I might come back to this kind of scene in the future but for now I will try something more futuristic.
Thank you for those who helped me !
Looks great!) Good luck with the further work