14th century small town environment
polycounter lvl 3
Hello polycount! I recently started working on a project that was preying on my mind for quite some while: a medieval townlet environment of my very own making, presented in Unreal. I like to track my progress and so I thought I'd start this topic, maybe some of you want to follow me along.
Most important: If you have any feedback or thoughts, share them!
From top left to bottom right: Encho
Enchev's painting (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5aREE) captured the mood I want to go for pretty well and the guiding lines and composition were a helpful guide so far. Jayson
Kassis' render (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/LgYbk) gives some idea how vgetation could be integrated into the scene. Jens
Kuczwara's piece (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/eDDQG) inspired me to have some strong accents in terrain altitudes, just as Pablo Dominguez (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XGXBy) did for architectural scales. Finally, Sven Dännart's view into a medieval street front ( https://www.artstation.com/artwork/koXel) gives a realistic impression of how houses may have looked like between 1300 and 1400 AD.
I created a quick blockout in Maya to get down the interesting scales and shapes already. Most houses are copy-pasted, the background shapes will be low-detail and only assist the overall atmosphere. The two houses in the foreground as well as the remains of an aquaeduct will be my hero assets.
Realising that I would need quite some houses, I decided to go for a modular setup and started breaking down modular elements like seen below:
Most important: If you have any feedback or thoughts, share them!
From top left to bottom right: Encho
Enchev's painting (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5aREE) captured the mood I want to go for pretty well and the guiding lines and composition were a helpful guide so far. Jayson
Kassis' render (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/LgYbk) gives some idea how vgetation could be integrated into the scene. Jens
Kuczwara's piece (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/eDDQG) inspired me to have some strong accents in terrain altitudes, just as Pablo Dominguez (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XGXBy) did for architectural scales. Finally, Sven Dännart's view into a medieval street front ( https://www.artstation.com/artwork/koXel) gives a realistic impression of how houses may have looked like between 1300 and 1400 AD.I created a quick blockout in Maya to get down the interesting scales and shapes already. Most houses are copy-pasted, the background shapes will be low-detail and only assist the overall atmosphere. The two houses in the foreground as well as the remains of an aquaeduct will be my hero assets.
Realising that I would need quite some houses, I decided to go for a modular setup and started breaking down modular elements like seen below:
Replies
The theme is really nice and I have a soft-spot for medieval towns. Hoping this turns out awesome
Done with the modular house parts (for now). Next up: Creating tilable materials and texturing non-tilable parts. The big building shapes will most likely get a higher resolution so they're actually usable for vertex painting in Unreal
Some wall substances created for a layered wall material. While the color masks worked out nicely, I might resort to creating this layering via vertex paint in Unreal. Already got a material set up for that, will show it once it's all connected.
A first proof of the options the modular design is giving me. Can't wait to see it fully textured
Next I'll start assembling several house variations and slowly build my medieval market place
After having to figure out why Unreal kept overwriting my lightmap resolution settings, I finally could start putting my houses into my blockout scene. Still quite some placeholders, but from here on it's only assembling different variations...
... which I will tend to next week!
One suggestion I'd make is to try and blend the plasterwork with the wood uprights, right now there is a lot of contrast between the wood and the plaster; the easiest way to do this is to have "splashes" of plaster around the edges of the wooden beams. Perhaps even consider giving the wood more of an ashen colour to soften the overall contrast?
Besides placing some interesting shapes in the background (watchtowers, keep, refined aqueduct), I spent some time on adjusting the lights and fog layers to my liking. Next step will be the creation of small assets to dress the scene.
What do we have here? Modelled and sculpted the well that will serve as close focal point in the final composition (block-out in Maya, sculpting in Zbrush)
The market place is slowly filling up with market stands, crates and other goods. It's so easy to get lost in detail work, but I'm positive that I will be able to finish the scene by next week!
Done!
I'm happy to announce that the project is officially finished. have a look at ArtStation for more shots!https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XWOJR