Server Room WIP

brandoom

Hey guys,

I've recently started a new project.

Some of you may recall Razorb/Aaron posting this image in the 'what are you working on thread' not long ago.


He was nice enough to let me use it for 3d purposes. Eventually once everything is good, I plan to throw it all in a game engine and use it as a portfolio piece.

So far I've just been working away on the highpoly pieces.


server:

floors:



door which im not really happy with yet

wall:

ceiling:


Still got a few more pieces to make and/or fix then it will be on to the low poly.

Hope you like, CnC please and thanks

brandoom

Bit of an update;

MattQ86

Looking good so far, love the concept art from Razorb. Have you baked down to low-poly on those pieces in UDK or are they the high poly?

brandoom

Razorb has some mad skill

The images in the first post are highpoly renders from Max.

MattQ86

Right, I always mistake the newer UI for Max for UDK for some reason.

InMOP

First post so go easy on me
Hi man,
The length of the room doesn't seem right on your model. There should be three tiles going towards the door where the servers are. you only have two right now. It just makes the room smaller and you might have some problems further down the line when putting everything together. Good luck with this piece looking forward to the updates.

brandoom

Hey guys,

back with an update.




I'm in need of some advice.. where should I go from here. I still have the hoses/wires to put in and a little texture retouching. The lighting is bothering me - trying to match the concept has been a challenge.

Also I'm not sure why I'm getting lighting errors/hard edge on the walls and vents. I've made separate UV channels/maps but it doesn't help.

Any suggestions are more then appreciated.

myles

You need to actually make use of the seperate UV channel,
http://hourences.com/book/tutorialsue3lightmap.htm look at the stuff at the end in UT3.

As for suggestion, I'd go about getting your lighting spot on first, having the lightmaps will help you get harsh shadows. You should then create some effects for the dust around the lights. The scene makes use of lots of harsh shadows, so I think this is important.
After this I would then go about making the rest of the props, especially the larger ones. I would then add some more colour and detail to the textures.

brandoom

Thanks for the link Myles, I didn't realize that UV channel 2 in max didn't equal UV channel 2 in UDK.. weird how they would do that.

brandoom

Any tips on getting the hard shadows I'm looking for? I've been struggling with it and im not getting anywhere..

This one has one spotlight and a couple blue pointlights for the signs and its rendered using lightmass..




^ same lighting set up only not using lightmass.

anyhelp would be appreciated. Thanks

DarthNater

I believe in the udk master thread, jordanw stated you can control your shadows sharpness by using dominant lights. I haven't played with them yet but you may want to look at those. If I remember correctly, they are just like dynamic lights in the sense that only 1 can be lighting a surface at any given time...

wasabi

How about using the post process volume?
Some people solve their lighting issues with post process volume.

myles

First, I would check your light map resolutions are high enough, then create a LightVolume and shape it to where you want the light to be dominant. Then make a really bright light and in the ExclusionVolumes list in the lights properties put the volumes name. This will restrict the light to the area set in the volume, play with the brightness and radius. Do this for each light you want to have a sharp shadow.

Also it is worth playing with Light Mass, less bounces is probably a good idea for this small scene, here are some examples http://hourences.com/book/tutorialsue3lightmass.htm

Also take a look at the emissive on your light cos its a bit too overdone, actually add a light texture and reduce the emissive. Also think about adding a tad of emissive to the bits surrounding the light, here's an example - (by Jon Morris)

Without - http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq330/myleslambert/Light_Before.jpg
With - http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq330/myleslambert/Light_After.jpg

myles

This is the tutorial for lightmass i was looking for
http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/UDK_Lightmass_Tutorial.html

brandoom

Ha, thanks for the link. I actually stumbled upon it yesterday while google'ing. What I really need now is some sorta guide to dominate lights.

brandoom

I've made some/little leeway with the lighting.. its proving to be quite a bit more difficult then i hard originally imagined it was going to be.

ZacD

I wish it was closer to the concept, defiantly needs that fog/mist, and stronger brighter lights, and lower the saturation on the yellow bar.

DrunkShaman

Nice work...cant figure out what engine is that..Crysis, assumingly? But awsome work..and keep it up!

ZacD

it says unreal on the pics. *facepalm*

brandoom

Thanks ZacD, I wish it was closer to the concept as well. lol.

Thanks Nitewalkr, glad you like it. And yes, as ZacD pointed out, its Unreal.

I was hoping that the UDK came with a premade fod particle i could use but it doesn't look that way.. unless someone knows of one or maybe someone has one they've made I can use? Particles aren't my forte.

myles

Okkkkay, so I think i've found how you can sharpen your shadows. Here's a list of things that will help -

- Ensure your light map is high enough 512x would be good.
- Under world properties go to Lightmass -> Lightmass Settings, change envrinment intensity down to about 0.5, this control the brightness of the light outside of the lights limits. Ensure Use Ambient Occlusion is checked.
- Under your lights properties go to Light -> Light Component -> Lightmass -> Lightmass Settings lower Inderect Lighting scale considerably (0.2 ish)

And there you go. Worked for me quite well -

http://www.sstld.g2mods.net/HardLightMassShadowUDK.rar

brandoom

Thanks for that Myles.

Heres the results of it.. as you can see, shadows, but not as crisp as they should be.



also, which such a bright light in the scene the textures are becoming washed out.

myles

could you show me your light setup (i.e ineditor without g pressed)

brandoom

all the blue lights there are of low radius and intensity.

danshewan

Looking real good, man. You're right, the ceiling area needs some detailing and I'd probably start trying to get the fog happening sooner, as it'll affect your lighting setup pretty significantly.

I'm guessing you used an alpha plane texture for the status readout above the door? Looks really nice.

Great work, can't wait to see it finished.

Nizza_waaarg

lookin great man (i remember razorb posting the concept a lil while back). Amazed at the cool camera angle and lighting setup you got going so far.


and cheers for those tips myles. everything i've put in udk has had 0 shadows so far :poly136:

brandoom

Thanks for the kind words both Danshewan and Nizza.

Heres a bit of an update. With the help of Myles I was able to make some good progress with the lighting today. Hope you like.

carlo_c

Nice, this is really starting to come together from the earlier shots. If you want to really follow the concept you can definitely push the shadows a little further I think.

It's a small nitpick I know but the lights ont he servers aren't the same blue in the concept as the sign, I know it's small but the variation in the concept I think is interesting and your probably already going to change it

Looking forward to more updates!

brandoom

Hey guys,

back with a bit of an update.




The desk still needs some lovin' which I'll be glad to give it after I get back on Monday.

Thanks

ZacD

YAY I like it.

brandoom

Ha, glad you like it ZacD.

Alright so heres where its at now.



I'm liking it, I'm pretty happy with where it is right now, and really wouldn't mind calling it done. But I'm surrrrrrrrrrre someone has some input.

Thanks

Razorb

Hey brandon! great job with the environment! i think a few more tweaks on the atmosphere and you will be good to go! also maybe try increasing the specularity on some textures? i dunno just a sugestion! but anyway i did a super quick paintover on your picture to explain what i mean a bit more!..

I added alot more dust/fog near the back of the room and up closer to the lights i also enhanced the orange/yellow colour coming form the main lights and a few other random colour balance things that aint really an improvement.. more just me playing around with it ;o

also i did overdo it! but ya didnt realise sorry! so much fog aaaah its lieka smoking room now haha, im so tired!
hope you dont mind!



EDIT* yea and in response to guy below they where meants to be numbers but i was too lazy to do them all so i ended up just doing dashes ;( sorry brandon!

Shogun3d

Nice work, really coming together. I know you're being accurate to the concepts, but the blue lights on the servers really bug me for some reason. As if they don't really serve a purpose and they're all just blocks. Would be nice if they were letters, etc but that's just personal opinion.

The lighting is much better than before. Keep it up!

DrunkShaman

Impressive work so far. Really have to admit that my skills are'nt this great yet. Not yet. However I have one suggustion.

Since there is smoke in your scene shouldnt the blue lights on the server be blurry? Or Fading outwords at 0.001 ratio? Or your plan was to create the static lights for them. Not sure if you understand my question.

roosterMAP

Very good job! I love the style. U have a tallent. Just scrap the door and im happy.

ZacD

Yeah dial back the fog some (not too much I think it looks good)
The only thing is shouldn't the lights be glowing a bit if its that hazy?

brandoom

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Aaron, you should go pass out for a few hours. lol. Thanks for the paintover. I'll work on adding in some more atmosphere fo sho. The blue dashes though! MISSLEADING! hah, jk.

Kaburan, I actually just tried out some fonts/numbers inside the blue and they just get washed out with the DOF and bloom. I will have to play around with it some more on a later date... like, tomorrow. lol.

Nitewalker, thanks Not sure I totally know what your asking though. The lights are a tad blurry thanks to the emissive and bloom. too much bloom and they look goofy.

RoosterMap, thanks But Whats your beef with my door? Huh!? lol. But seriously.

ZacD, theres actually next to no fog in it.. the level i have it set at is 0.00008 density and 0.05 brightness. ill play around with it some more though. thanks

DrunkShaman

Well, it seems that lights are still static with the mild fog. Try putting it to 0.005 density might solve this issue. ZacD asked the same question as mine by the way.

Nice work so far. =D

Orb

kaburan wrote: »

Nice work, really coming together. I know you're being accurate to the concepts, but the blue lights on the servers really bug me for some reason. As if they don't really serve a purpose and they're all just blocks. Would be nice if they were letters, etc but that's just personal opinion.

The lighting is much better than before. Keep it up!

100% agree with the light, maybe smaller round lights like LED




But you're getting very close to the initial concept, beeing a nice looking scene!

Ged

really nice, is there anyway you could have like perspex glass looking panels on top of the floor panels with some nice reflections? just an idea but it might be overkill

brandoom

Hey guys - im back with moar!

Thanks for everybody's input thus far.

Ged, thanks for the idea. However, i think i'll save it for another project . Maybe my next one. I don't really know much about making reflections within udk... something with cubemaps and something something something. lol.

I've made a few updates.. hopefully for the better.

I changed the server lights to LEDs as Orb mentioned. They look alright... I don't know if i like them yet.. probably still need some tweaking.
I got rid of all the planes i was using for the atmosphere and made some emitters instead which look muchhh better.
And lastly I tweaked the lighting a bit to make it look a little more like the paintover Aaron did.

Heres a close up of the new server lights.


and the new overall look.


Watcha think?

Thanks again.

erikb

Great work on everything, man.... Impressive how close you got to the concept.

The new dotted server lights look much better, just one tiny suggestion, randomize it a bit, right now it's very obvious it's exactly the same light pattern on both the left row and right row of servers. Other than that it's great.

nrek

The scene is looking great man, I agree that the new lights look much better. To push them even further it might be worth it to take the layer that you made the blue dots on in your texture and use it as a height map in crazy bump so you can get little normal mapped recesses around the lights. And other than that I think adding some noise to the blue holographic signs would help make them more believable, like they are being affected by dust in the air. A projection source mounted on the wall with a bright light in it might also be a nice addition since as it stands now it doesn't make much sense where they are coming from or how they work.

acapulco

Coming along really really nice! Keep it going!

glib

While I think you've nailed the true color temperature of fluorescent lighting in your ceiling, the concept has something closer to metal halide temperatures, which I think works well against the rest of the cool image. Without it, your image falls back to a very compressed hue range.


Impressive improvement over the course of the thread.

brandoom

Alright so,

I tried to randomize the lights a little more - they may need more work still. And i added into some "hologram projectors" by the doors. I also tweak the colour of the light beams.




Acapulco - thanks

Glib - Are you suggesting that I bring more red into the fog and lights? And i appreciate the kind words. I'm glad the scene coming together as nice as is it.. when i first started the project I was worried I was going to be able to do Aaron's concept any justice. This is my real first attempt at trying to mimic a concept.

ZacD

The circle/square of lights are a bit too repetitive. The monitors look like they are going to fall backwards.

erikb

Which software did you do the meshes in? Could you give a bit of workflow info for your mesh elements, also, about units, how you made sure they fit the grid, and how you got the scale right. Also, the volumetrics, are they meshes or "real" volumetric? Haven't done too much in UDK yet, just a simple square room and imported a couple of test meshes.

I'm wondering how you did the cables on the floor, and the cables hanging in the ceiling as well.

Lot's of questions, hehe.

hawken

brandoom wrote: »

all the blue lights there are of low radius and intensity.

Looks like you may have a T-Rex hiding in the upper right viewport. Watch out!!

roosterMAP

looking really good. almost done too!

AshleyTayles

That's just awesome, keep up the good work!