Skate Warehouse
polycounter lvl 9
Working on a skate warehouse for my senior project.
The story is basically, a company tanked and left their warehouse to the public. Some people came in and are in the process of turning into a skater paradise. Some of the items are fully built while others are still in the process of being constructed. The warehouse itself started off fairly huge so that the player would have room to skate around without running into a bunch of other junk. Time constraints have led me to condense my environment down to a smaller section of the warehouse. I chose the loading dock area to focus my attention.
A final quarter deliverable is due next week. We have next quarter to finish the project but we wanted to get as far as possible now. I figured I'd do the more important props to texture. I'll model and unwrap the warehouse itself and that will be it for this quarter.
Next quarter I plan on making the filler stuff: trash, boxes, crates, equipment, old vending machines, pallet movers, storage shelves, etc. Possibly even some left over machinery. Not totally sure yet.
Hope you enjoy. C & C Welcome
The story is basically, a company tanked and left their warehouse to the public. Some people came in and are in the process of turning into a skater paradise. Some of the items are fully built while others are still in the process of being constructed. The warehouse itself started off fairly huge so that the player would have room to skate around without running into a bunch of other junk. Time constraints have led me to condense my environment down to a smaller section of the warehouse. I chose the loading dock area to focus my attention.
A final quarter deliverable is due next week. We have next quarter to finish the project but we wanted to get as far as possible now. I figured I'd do the more important props to texture. I'll model and unwrap the warehouse itself and that will be it for this quarter.
Next quarter I plan on making the filler stuff: trash, boxes, crates, equipment, old vending machines, pallet movers, storage shelves, etc. Possibly even some left over machinery. Not totally sure yet.
Hope you enjoy. C & C Welcome
Replies
As of right now I hope to get it Unreal when I'm all finished with it.
Been debating possibly just building the warehouse itself with brushes and just bring in the props. Not really sure yet. Probably figure it out part way through next quarter or over my break.
another note. dont use crazybump for your spec map. make your own starting with your diffuse. also turn down the large scale slider to 0 when youre generating normal maps in CB.
careful with the graffiti, they shouldnt have any bump. use the spec to bring them out.
Thanks for the help. As for the spec and nrms. Just did really quick to so not to be just straight diffuse. Was going to go back when I update the textures and make new nrm and spec maps.
Your totally right about the graffiti as well. Was thinking to take out of diffuse completely and make as all separate decals. That way the ramps and walls will have their own spec and nrms and same with the decal stuff but without the bump.
Thx. Yeah I can do that. I needed it on the ramps but I forgot to clean the loading dock and the wood parts that don't need them. I can get rid of some and will update with next post.
There is no limit for this project, poly wise. I am currently sitting around 17,800 tris so far for the whole scene. Not too worried about cutting a few hundred or so. But I do want to keep mostly optimized and get the best use of my polys.
Thx for the heads up.
Thanks. I had originally drawn out a much bigger warehouse area so that the area was not so cramped and compact. I ran short on time for this milestone so it was suggested to focus in on a more specific part of the warehouse, by bringing the assets in close to make it a more complete scene. I can spread it out later but I need to have some kind of piece mostly done by next week. I have next quarter to finish and possibly spread everything out and have a better flow to it.
I did a quick flow chart of how I'd see this place being used as is though.
- I see a lot of small chamfered edges in your later shots. Do a proper high rez and edge control bake and drop those chamfers like a bad habit.
- A lot of your meshes could be better broken up and used modularly. Stairs are a prime example. Not only could you better re-use them, but those edge cuts don't need to run the length of that raised ground section and your collision, texture and material use will be reduced. Your half pipe as well I could see the ground (where you currently have wood connecting the two ramps) being just concrete or a modular piece that connects each side. Ceiling pipes could be broken up as well. Save time and work smarter.
- Keep meshes on the grid. The grid is your god.
- Light fixtures are too low res. Yes, they may never be seen, unless maybe you fly off the half pipe right by them. Just ensure the silhouette is near round and remove any detail on top that won't be seen.
- Think about breaking up the building shape. A giant squre / rect room is boring.
- Light light light. A bit cliche for a wharehouse, but consider some windows, or cool skylight, or a roof chunk missing for some dramatic light.
I think you could use BSP just fine for the walls. With a few modular assets such as pipes, metal fixtures / construction beams, doors, windows, etc to cover the surface it should look fine. Decals would be a nice addition as well, though keep in mind Unreal's decal system sucks. Cards and custom unlit mats might be the way to go.
Cheers,
Tyler
Thanks Tyler. Good idea with the modular stuff. I had a due date this morning of that progress so the ceiling pipes and such were last minute. I will be making 90 degree bend and straight vent objects for it. They will have spots were they connect as well (to the wall and to each other)
I will start the unreal section of this over my break. I should have a good block out with some better lighting by early on in my next quarter. Did not realize unreal was not that good with decals. So I'll make as separate small mats.
Appreciate the advice.
If those garage door tracks aren't there to trick off of, they have no reason to exist. I can picture myself doing a jump, and colliding with those things sticking out there, especially when trying to jump over that gap.
What's that thing down in the gap? It's the perfect place for a little quarterpipe ramp! Also, you have boards just leaning against the wall. They should be laying flat and connecting the surfaces together so that players can easily get from spot to spot, to make a long combo line.
That boards near the door should lie across the grap to the raised area from the half pipe, and the ones against the wall on the far right should link that quarterpipe to that other raised surface at the bottom right.
The raised area near the doors should be bordered by a railing (nice place to lay that board). Especially where those stairs are. (Oops, I just looked through the pics again, and you DID lay the board there. It's not visible in all your pictures).
Big fan of this scene.
I was originally pushing toward the Skate style. Although you can still do combos in Skate and I am going to need to implement that better with the rest of my scene, to better the line flow like your talking about. They have added the option to get off the board now which could lead to more manueverability around the level. (I know TH does as well) This I will need to keep in consideration as well.
As for the piece in the gap area. It is a scissor lift w.i.p. I could extend the lift up so its flush for people to ride over. It was inteneded as a way to move boxes, pallets, etc from the sliding door down to the main floor.
And I wasn't thinking of the newer features where you can move objects around manually. Are the pallets there for ramp improvisation? I haven't played recent games. I stopped when THUG made THPS less of a skating game, and more of series about immature pranksters on skateboards.
THPS4 was the end of the line for me. That game was perfect. Not to mention that the hardest things in THUG were easier than some of the goals in the first 2 THPS levels!
Haven't gotten to SKATE yet, but it's on the TODO list.
THUG 1 & 2 threw me off as well. Did not care for them. They did get better though after those two. If you enjoyed the TH series you would more than likely enjoy skate as well. The game play is unique and can become very entertaining. I highly recommended maybe just renting it or something. I have only played the original Skate. I haven't gotten a chance to play the new one yet but have heard good things.
Anyways... yeah the pallets were for ramp improv. I was also using cinder blocks and such. Could lay those around the scene as well. (strategically of coarse)
Working on adding lighting, floors, roofing, wall decals (posters, banners, graffiti, grime for under windows), and finishing the doors.
C & C welcome.
a) in engine light or a decent in program lighting would really help. Just using defaults in those renders. Might be better once I get the lighting working correctly and looking good.
b) I could saturate or add some more color into some of the greys if you think that would help make it look less blobbish.
- Rokkx - For the floor I was thinking like big cement slabs. That way I can make a few different slabs (cracked, broken, normal) and repeat them around. It was suggested since I'm going to be having parts of the roof missing to have built up puddles or debris under the holes on the floor. Also looking to make some trash to take away some of the 90 deg angles around the floors.
Thanks for the comments.
- StJoris - I know the lighting is lame. My bad. Will have for final shots later.
- whats_true - I had a more open area where the character would be able to have room to skate. For the sake of finishing this project on time it was suggested to make a smaller, more condensed area and populate that. As for the area where the "debris" is at now is just like their building area. I had a whole separate area of the warehouse where the people would be building ramps and putting decks together but just wanted to add into scene. I could move slightly further off screen if it is too distracting.
Thanks for the comments and advice. Much appreciated.
Debris fine as long as it makes sense. If I were to be skating in that area, I might move a few things out of the way, cause it would seems like I would be running into people when I'm trying to skate.
Keep at it! Definitely coming along.
Here is my favorite prop from the scene rendered out with Marmoset.
Any c & c welcome. Thanks for the comment, advice, and feedback. Little or small it all helped in one way or another. Thanks again.
Super rough, but at least you can see the environment.
Keep at it.
do this.
thats way too saturated, IMO its not too dark the levels are wrong, in this image all i did was psuh the levels so that the high points are correct then desatured
- Daaark - I like to keep you in suspense wondering if it'll show up again. :poly124:
- gamedev - Yeah I did not get a chance to throw into unreal. Asa suggested the same thing. Now that it's over with I'll need to do it on my own time. Like over break or next quarter b4 portfolio so I can at least have it for that. Thanks again for your advice. Sorry I missed you when you came by the school as well. Would have liked to meet you and talk with you one on one a bit.
- zilk - I know what your saying. Looked fine in maya. When in marmoset it looked streched. Some people just think it looks grinded on or used, but I'll go back and check and make sure they are not stretching.
- Snight - Will do good sir.
- Spepeiro - Gotcha. That is a great paint over. I see what your saying about the levels. So push the high levels and desaturate huh? Will look into giving that a try. Hopefully getting some legit lighting will help all that.
Thank you all for your time, advice, and comments. I am learning a lot from this project and I appreciate all the help I can get. Cheers.