WIP-Garden Temple Environment

Will Faucher

So after finishing my abandoned castle environment, I'm back at it again!
This time, based off the amazing concept art by John Wallin Liberto.


Started this about 2 days ago. Most of the stuff on the temple itself is the low-poly with normals baked. The only part that I still need to work on (for the temple) is the central arch section, and the upper dome.

This environment won't be going in a game engine for the moment. It will be for an offline renderer (for now... I'm pretty convinced that I'll get this into UDK sometime )


So here is what I have done so far! (Also, please ignore the piss-poor lighting I have going on here, I just popped on a skylight with the default scanline renderer.)


Yeah I know, I have super pro paintover skills. Admit it.

All criticism is appreciated!

divi

not in love with the pillars. too thin and too many segments. and that top concave part feels really odd.
what i really like about the concept is that the gryphon's wings sorta hold up the rim. maybe move them back a little?
since you haven't tackled the dome or inner arches yet i won't comment on those a lot, but the proportions between dome and rest in your version make the whole thing feel a lot bigger and less balanced.

looking forward to updates on this.

killingpeople

these are quick proportion observations that i noticed were different from the concept.

Top dome is missing a level below the cap that's visible from the concept.
The first level ceiling/pillars are too high/tall
Birds are too small wings are the wrong shape
Pillar capital is different shape
Pillar segments are smaller than concept
wall in the background is thicker
V shape pattern below the bird should be more flush to the surface

Will Faucher

Thank you for the comments. Changes will be made for sure. Like i said, I'm basing this environment off the concept, there are a few things that will be different though. Such as the griffons (notice that they have hind legs in the concept, they aren't eagles). I have very limited time to complete this, so I'll be using the griffon I had already made in my previous environment. One thing I may change about it are the wings however. If time allows it I will redo them to fit the concept more.

As for the pillar segments, it is pretty hard to know exactly how many are in the concept, since none of them are super clear. Every pillar has a different number of segments, and some dont have any at all.

I'm still working out some of the kinks, but I'll get there eventually. Thank you both very much for your input!

Ark

Nice concept you have there, although the composition could be better as its a bit too symmetrical.

Looking forward to see how this turns out.

Will Faucher

Haha don't worry, I'm working my ass off. I plan on it being finished within the next week or 2.
Just need to finish a few things before posting an update.

Will Faucher

Once again, pardon my terrible lighting. I'm still pretty new to rendering in max, and I just have not had the time to set up a decent lighting system. So bear with me. I've started the texturing pass. Looking forward to start lighting up this scene in a decent manner. Right now I'm just using the default scanline renderer and the anti-aliasing on this thing blows. Can't wait switch to mental ray.

Note: textures are very, very WIP right now. Just getting a basic sense of the color palette. I'm thinking of putting those relief patters on the arches in gold, rather than the plain stone in the concept. We'll see how it turns out.

Intermission

You already know what I think of this...

SimonT

I like it! I hope you will get the lighting running like in the picture. Personally i think that could be really hard.

haiddasalami

Man prophecies your churning these environments out :P Nice looking forward to watching this one.

Will Faucher

Thanks for the kind words guys!

SimonT: I'll do my best to get it nearly identical to the one in the concept, if not better
Haiddasalami: Yeah I am working day and night non-stop, this is for my school portfolio and I have until the end of the month to finish everything.

haiddasalami

Prophecies wrote: »

Thanks for the kind words guys!

SimonT: I'll do my best to get it nearly identical to the one in the concept, if not better
Haiddasalami: Yeah I am working day and night non-stop, this is for my school portfolio and I have until the end of the month to finish everything.

It'll all pay of in the end

SHEPEIRO

might be nice but i can crit until i can see it properly... get a quick exposure control on it

Will Faucher

Finally got something decent up. Nowhere near what the lighting will be like later though. Just enough so I can see the results properly!

haiddasalami

dunno if its the lightining or the textures, but its moving from an orient atmosphere to something middle eastern-ish.

Will Faucher

That is because there is no vegetation whatsoever. And there is no atmosphere yet. No cloud/sky diffuse, Everything is yellowish because of the yellow sun. But yeah I know what you mean. Once I get the ground floor done, it should help out alot, along with the trees and vegetation. It is definitely the lighting that is doing this. Everything is too yellow at the moment, even though my textures have far more contrast than this.

Will Faucher

Thanks! Yeah I think the lighting was part of it. Unfortunately, Vue can only be used with the daylight system which is... well, it's realistic, but rather unexciting and boring. Also, vue doesn't include nice cherry trees. So I'll see what I can do about the leaf color, but I can't find anything similar to the trees in the concept. Here's a start though. I guess right now I have more of a cool fall morning mood to it. I'm actually liking it. But with mental ray, I'm not getting the mood I wanted. I guess I'll have to bring this into UDK!


By prophecies at 2010-08-08

SHEPEIRO

make your own trees

Visceral

SHEPEIRO wrote: »

make your own trees

this, if you could model that by yourself trees should be a cakewalk for you.

Will Faucher

See, normally I would. But I am pressed for time for this project. Which is why I am using Vue. Once I am done with the actual project, I will be bringing this into UDK and I will make my own trees. It's not because I am lazy, it's simply because I do not have the time. I had less than 2 weeks to finish this entirely. So cutting corners where possible was a necessity. I will come back and finish this the right way, and in a game engine, soon.

cholden

Prophecies, more like Prophe-TREES! boo-hoo, I don't have enough time. Nah, I feel you. but you know, it's rough, taking such a great concept, and not giving yourself enough time for proper execution.

rumblesushi

Very nice work, looking sharp. Needs cherry blossoms though

The lighting obviously looks much better than before too, what lighting are you using now?

Will Faucher

Let's just call it temporary improper execution. Let me explain my situation here. I'm currently at the very end of my school year, and I need to have a demoreel completed before the end (Final project). So basically, I need to get this thing done before that. Once the project is handed in, I will continue working on this environment to make it much, muuuuch better. And preferably in realtime as well. I'll be sure to give this concept it's deserved glory. In the meantime, I decided to give the mood a little twist. Photoreal lighting is boring, so I did my best to make it a little more interesting to look at.

I was looking through some old pictures and realized how different photography was back in the 70s.

Edit: Rumblesushi, you posted while I was typing this. Thanks! I'll make some cherry trees once I get this into UDK. Right now I'm just using mental ray's daylight system, with an AO pass composited over it.

divi

the thing that bugs me the most are the plaster stones. in the concept the cracks are smaller and filled with grass, which warrants a flat surface, but yours try to look extruded due to the normal map but obviously fail since its just a flat plane.
if you have the time i'd consider re-doing them and maybe even spreading a few grass thingies sprouting in between them on planes since that's the part that breaks the look of it the most for me.
just looks very obvious like fake cg with bad bevels.

warby

pure love !

Will Faucher

@Divi: Yeah I'm actually working on that right now. It is the one thing that bugs me as well. Unfortunately any form of cracks that are normal mapped will look fake at the angle the camera is at. I'll see if I can't get some parrallax/displacement done. It would *definitely* get that job done very well I think. May increase my render times a ton though. We'll see. Apart from that, anything else?

@Warby: Thanks!

MainManiac

I was searching around for something else and i crossed the concept you're using:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=259096

Mypeople

looks really great pro, how did you do your trees? any tips

pangarang

Stayed true to the concept! Only striking thing is the lighting - very dark on the inside. Can't see the details I'm sure you spent a lot of time on!

Will Faucher

Thanks guys!
Mypeople: the trees were made with Vue. Due to lack of time. But, once I bring this environment into UDK, I'll remake the trees for sure.

Pangarang: Thanks! As for the lighting, I've tweaked my settings a little bit and the inside will be a bit clearer. I'll post up the final results once I finish my render settings.

acapulco

I would've loved it a lot more with the pinkish leaves. Makes the whole thing pop out more. I also think its way too red tinted. It just looks overlay red. Liked the version with the daylight more than the postprocess colours.

Apart from this good work.

seventhspine

man that is great, looks pretty close to the concept.
I agree with acapulco, reducing the red tint might help bring the contrasting colors back to the textures. just a thought.

Kewop Decam

pink leaves... now

good stuff!

BradMyers82

Nice selection on concept, and great exection. Like others have said, it would be great if everything was completely done by you, but I can understand time constraints. Just make sure you revisit this one when you have time. I'll be looking forward to it.

Will Faucher

Thanks guys! I really appreciate your advice! As for the pink leaves, I've tried, and Vue is being really dumb. So, I went with a more autumn-ish approach. I can garantee you that I will be bringing this into UDK. With everything done by me. Basically the only thing that wasn't done by me are the trees. So those will be redone. I'll have way more control with the lighting and atmosphere and mood once I get into UDK. Looking forward to it myself!

As for the reddish tint, I'm going for a more 70's style photo look, sort of like this:
http://www.fairviewkenya.com/wp-content/uploads/1973/09/1970s-post-card.jpg

Without it, I found it too ordinary, too plain and... well, too real-life ish. Needed a little bit of punch. I'll look into toning it down just a little bit though.

acapulco

Yea, but for that look you have to blur it to a certain degree, else it will look way too sharp for those old cameras. And give some hint that it is meant to be a photograph.

I have to say that I love this project, 50% cause I love the concept artist and his work and I always like to see people work with them.

Will Faucher

Thank you! I looked up some old photographs, and not all of them were cheap cameras. Take a look at this: http://www.eightyonedesign.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/70-photography-2.jpg

I wouldn't say blurring is necessary. Although some cameras do have more graininess than others!