Home 3D Art Showcase & Critiques

[UDK] Desert enviro

polycounter lvl 8
Offline / Send Message
Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
Visual target update: 31/03/14

5.jpg


Hi guys,

This scene is to improve my organic modelling workflow. I’m still working on blocking out the composition but I thought I'd share some shots.

1.jpg
2.jpg
4.jpg

A quick pass on the vista was done in World Machine.

3.jpg

As for the rocks, I did several iterations on them but I’m still not very happy with the current form, so none of the assets are really complete.

This scene was also a good opportunity to experiment with shaders. The rocks and the the dry pond are using sedimentation gradient based on world position.

gradient.gif


Any feedback much appreciated.

Replies

  • JustGarry
    Offline / Send Message
    JustGarry polycounter lvl 4
    Looks really good so far, I really like the rocks you have sculpted so far, and love the style of texturing on them also :D

    Have a sub from me
  • Stormfreek
    Already shared my love for this scene with you, can't wait to see how this develops :) keep up the great work!
  • YakZSmelk
    Offline / Send Message
    YakZSmelk polycounter lvl 11
    This scene is looking pretty awesome, would you mind sharing the shader setup? I wanted to set something up like this for my western title, but never got around to it.

    My only crits are that the blend between the sand and stone at the edge of the cliff seems a bit too perfect. And the lake rings seem to be a bit too saturated/contrasted, though I'm not looking at your reference so I could be wrong.

    Again awesome looking scene so far.
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    Thanks guys, I will try to update the thread regularly.

    @YakZSmelk – yep, I will be doing some proper rock blends for it.

    I’ve briefly cleaned it up for you: http://krzysztofteper.com/storage/sediment_rocks.upk

    I’m using AO and edge mask on separate channels of one RGB tex but you should be able to plug in pure diffuse straight to ‘VP_IN!’ node.
    The sedimentation gradient is 2x512 texture which in my case looks like that (resized):

    rock_sediment.jpg

    However, I don’t know if it is going to do the trick for your scene, as your rocks have more independent structure (piles of stones) as opposed to homogeneous formation. Anyways, your scene looks interesting, give it a try!
  • aajohnny
    Offline / Send Message
    aajohnny polycounter lvl 13
    It's coming along. I feel the rocks are too "blobby" and soft. Try making the edges sharper.
  • MeshModeler
    Offline / Send Message
    MeshModeler polycounter lvl 11
    the third shot is awesome, love the terrain work
  • Makkon
    Offline / Send Message
    Makkon polycounter
    While the rock props themselves could use some work, the overall scene and shaders are top notch!
  • MiragentGames
    Offline / Send Message
    MiragentGames polycounter lvl 5
    My only complaint is the terrain in the background... The terracing on it is a bit too strong and it was far too obvious to point out which tool you used to create it ;). Other than that the scene looks great! It kind of reminds me of that one level from Halo Reach's firefight...cant remember the name of the level
  • SaboR1996
    Offline / Send Message
    SaboR1996 polycounter lvl 8
    I would love to see your workflow on the texturing of those rocks, I suck super bad at texturing so this would help like crazy! looks great none the less, and yeah I second aajohnny's opinion, the rocks do need to be sharper, still looks great!
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    @aajohnny, Makkon
    Thanks guys, I will definitely put in more sharp edge work to next version.

    @MiragentGames
    Yeah, I pretty much started this project with WM jamming, I wanted to have better sense of scale before actually working on the foreground so it’s definitely not final. I want to have better blending between the actual scene and the vista, as the rock formations will turn out incoherent no matter how much work I will put into rock sculpts or WM terrains. I will probably bake the heightmap for the scene’s groundplanes and the vista together, and bring back the whole thing to WM. Finally, just import it to UDK and dress it with rocks again.

    @SaboR1996
    I’d suggest watching this: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpmua6XE5UawNH5qN5Ey7RT4GrmPDhLvn&feature=mh_lolz
    I’m not so good with texturing either. I used a couple of shader tricks to patch it up.

    The rocks are not really using proper diffuse. I’m using AO and ‘Peaks and Valleys’ mask on RG channels (keeping B for further experiments) rest is just a tileable diffuse texture + normal map. If the normal map is not baked from HP mesh the Blue channel is pretty much redundant, it’s probably best to put a height map in there if you need it.
    Sand cover is just Z axis projected texture (attached download link for the shader in my previous post)

    tex_breakdown.jpg
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    Finally started on proper landscape. I was going back and forth between zbrush and world machine for the last two days (trying to figure out the best workflow for it) but it will probably take two more weekends till I get something I’m really happy with. I will be focusing on breaking up the procedural formations and bringing back props from the old scene.

    HeightMap = 2k; Color = 4k; Normal = 2k

    3.jpg
    4.jpg
  • ZacD
    Offline / Send Message
    ZacD ngon master
    You might want to try Color = 2k; Normal = 4k, I've seen better results with that.
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    @ZacD – I pulled up every of these to 4K in this update. It may not be necessary for capturing final flythrough, though.

    I updated the vista and trying to bring back all of the rock props. I feel like the terrain became too noisy in some places, I should be able to fix most of that in diffuse but any critique would be greatly appreciated.

    3.jpg

    1.jpg

    6.jpg
  • Harbinger
    Offline / Send Message
    Harbinger polycounter lvl 8
    That landscape looks great! My only crit is to pull some of the sandy texture out of the higher altitude and steeper sections. Any plans for adding some vegetation?
  • Will Faucher
    Offline / Send Message
    Will Faucher polycounter lvl 12
    Looking good, man! The only thing I'm concerned about is the really intense erosion you've got going on in the landscape. Deserts are typically void of water, hence don't have much erosion going on. You'd find sedimentary rock formations everywhere, and the sand, along with strong winds, would have any form of erosion filled in. Sand doesn't really erode the way you have it done right now.

    I know it's a nice tool to use in World Machine, but there are other tools that will give you a more believable result, like steps and plateaus, like this:
    Egypt%E2%80%99s_Desert_Mountains_2009a.jpg

    Just my 2 cents! Keep up the good work buddy!
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    @ Harbinger Yeah, will be adding vegetation and reducing the sand on the slopes during next vista pass ( hopefully the last one). Thanks man.

    @ Prophecies Thanks, I think it was an extra normal map on the flows that killed it but yeah I’m considering reducing the flow maps as a whole.


    Focused on close up stuff this time. Still needs proper foliage and ground blends pass.

    1.JPG
    2.jpg
  • Makkon
    Offline / Send Message
    Makkon polycounter
    Whoa!

    This new update is inspiring! I love it!
  • Quack!
    Offline / Send Message
    Quack! polycounter lvl 17
    Woah, that last update is rockin!

    ...

    Rockin!
  • Cint128
    Offline / Send Message
    Cint128 polycounter lvl 6
    In this picture

    3.jpg

    Is that all terrain or have you put some of the hills and desert into the skybox?
    If it is all terrain is it just a single one as I'm wondering how you achieved the sense of distance?

    Thanks :)
  • oxblood
    Offline / Send Message
    oxblood polycounter lvl 9
    Wow.. that caught me off guard.. nice !
  • Will Faucher
    Offline / Send Message
    Will Faucher polycounter lvl 12
    Whoa! Now that look absolutely awesome!
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. It has been a bumpy road but it’s slowly getting there. Thanks to all who helped with feedback here!


    @Cint 128
    The first plan and the vista are one heightmap but the very far desert plain is just a decimated mesh of the same terrain mirrored and scaled down vertically. I’ve also rotated it slightly to fake the globe roundness.
  • Rhoutermans
    Offline / Send Message
    Rhoutermans polycounter lvl 12
    Looks great! Curious how you went about putting the rock formation together?
  • Fewes
    Offline / Send Message
    Fewes polycounter lvl 8
    Really digging the terrain you've got there. Mind shedding some light on your world machine setup?
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    @Rhoutermans
    I’m still experimenting with different techniques to reduce the mesh count (especially in the lower parts)

    rocks_form.gif

    Hope this helps


    @Fewes
    Turns out the WM file crashed or misses some macros, so couldn’t take a pic. Will try to run it at work tomorrow.
    I did the main blockout in Zbrush and exported a mask that separated the desert plain from mountains. Aside from globally applied advenced perlin, the things that did the trick for the terrain there were Vornoi noise plugged into terrace modulation and ‘good with terraces’ erosion preset. As far as the diffuse goes, I exported pretty much every mask from erosion device + slope select. Then, satellite map photos came in handy :)


    Btw just saw your website, I really dig your stuff man.
  • Mr Smo
    Offline / Send Message
    Mr Smo polycounter lvl 18
    nice work, coolest cliff i have seen in a long time :)
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    @Mr Smo Thanks man!

    Dropping some trees this week:

    FoliageTarget.png

    TreeZbrush.png

    Tree: D,N=2k; 4300tri

    I was learning Headus UVlayout while unwrapping this tree. It is really nice tool but I can still feel my brain aching :D

    It seems like the AO is too strong, I will try to reduce it. Any feedback would be appreciated.
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    Had fun times with Zbrush fibers and UE4 for the last three weeks.

    5.jpg

    4.JPG
  • narticus
    Offline / Send Message
    narticus polycounter lvl 7
    Very impressive work! I am completely amazed and inspired. That cliff scene is really through the roof. My jaw was on the floor for a good few minutes upon seeing that.

    Care to share the Zbrush fibers grass technique? First I'm hearing of that. I love the results.
  • Computron
    Offline / Send Message
    Computron polycounter lvl 7
    narticus wrote: »
    Care to share the Zbrush fibers grass technique? First I'm hearing of that. I love the results.

    I'm curious as well.
  • BARDLER
    Offline / Send Message
    BARDLER polycounter lvl 12
    Does UE4 light foliage like that by default or do you have to tweak and set up some custom nodes to get it to look right like you have to in UDK?
  • locater16
    Offline / Send Message
    locater16 polycounter lvl 8
    Looks very nice. Some advice though:

    It looks like you're using UE4 and targeting high end platforms. Did you know that even a low end PC will have relatively more than double the RAM available than say, the 360 and PS3? Mesh count should not be as much of an issue in more modern platforms as compared too previous platforms.
  • Sam_T
    Offline / Send Message
    Sam_T polycounter lvl 5
    really nice work
  • mats effect
    Computron wrote: »
    I'm curious as well.

    same, very interested too.
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    Hey, thanks for all the comments guys, I really appreciate it.

    I was really surprised how easy and fast it is to create foliage with fibers. Here is some stuff that may help:

    678Rhch.jpg
    (my quick plan sheet)

    For grass I basically masked a spot on a plane and experimented with fiber sliders till I was happy with the result. I found that it’s good to exaggerate the grass width, so you get better result while smoothing it afterwards.

    FiJ4BT4.jpg

    For thorn I used two fibre passes. One for branches (mask on a plane), and one for spikes (mask on the whole bush).

    Gk2w9iD.jpg

    Importing everyting to maya.

    uh5T19s.gif

    The HP is vertex coloured, I may use it as a mask to add more variation later on.

    I would recommend checking Zfibers with Micro Mesh tutorials if you want more control over the single grass/branch shape.

    Please bear with me, I will do more tidy and organised breakdown at the end of the project :)

    BARDLER wrote: »
    Does UE4 light foliage like that by default or do you have to tweak and set up some custom nodes to get it to look right like you have to in UDK?

    I think that the key is to get the smoothing groups right. I did not find subsurface scattering a lot better than old transmission, at least on foliage. But yeah you don’t have to use custom lighting model to get that here.

    locater16 wrote: »
    Looks very nice. Some advice though:
    It looks like you're using UE4 and targeting high end platforms. Did you know that even a low end PC will have relatively more than double the RAM available than say, the 360 and PS3? Mesh count should not be as much of an issue in more modern platforms as compared too previous platforms.

    Thanks man. In this case, I’m more concerned about shader complexity (multiple alpha overlaps) rather than mesh count. I don’t want to limit myself to any particular target platforms or specs with personal project but yeah I will keep it sane to some degree. My laptop anecdote concerns the G74 that freezes 5 times a day with UE4 (and it’s a really decent machine otherwise). So I guess it’s time to get a desktop PC just for the sake of work comfort ;)

    And yeah hopefully new technology and consoles will bring it to upper level. It is a real headache to fit everything to PS3 memory, especially at the end of the generation.
  • Harbinger
    Offline / Send Message
    Harbinger polycounter lvl 8
    Great work! Since you're a Maya user, have you used PaintFX for foliage before? That's my typical workflow and I'm curious if you can compare your zBrush techniques vs. doing similar in PaintFX.
  • luge
    Offline / Send Message
    luge polycounter lvl 4
    thats really interesting, nice to have a way to make grass O_o seems a lot more useful than the way i used to do it.
  • Tepcio
    Offline / Send Message
    Tepcio polycounter lvl 8
    Harbinger wrote: »
    Great work! Since you're a Maya user, have you used PaintFX for foliage before? That's my typical workflow and I'm curious if you can compare your zBrush techniques vs. doing similar in PaintFX.

    I haven’t tried PaintFX but big thanks for bringing this up, it looks really interesting.
  • Harbinger
    Offline / Send Message
    Harbinger polycounter lvl 8
    Cool, it's pretty straight forward. Build a PaintFX brush (or modify a preset), draw out some strokes, convert it to geometry, and bake just like you're doing with your zBrush results.
Sign In or Register to comment.