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Redwood Forest UE4

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polycounter lvl 9
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Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
Hi there!

Here is a little side project I've been working on lately, a redwood forest :)

Video did unfortunately suffer a little from compression but I'm going to investigate if I can improve it on my end.

Made in Unreal Engine 4. I will be posting some breakdown of the scene and assets shortly :)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzg4QTsi6Ds[/ame]


RedwoodForest_01.png
RedwoodForest_05.png
RedwoodForest_02.png
RedwoodForest_08.png
RedwoodForest_06.png
RedwoodForest_04.png
RedwoodForest_07.png
RedwoodForest_03.png

Replies

  • Cube Republic
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    Cube Republic polycounter lvl 11
  • svelle
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    svelle polycounter lvl 11
    Wow amazing work. Feels really authentic. Also goes really well with the sound.

    Video looks good, unfortunately YouTube compresses videos pretty heavily after upload. But still, mind sharing your encoding settings?
  • Micaki
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    Micaki polycounter lvl 3
    Awesome foliage, everything looks consistent and yeah compression is quite bad in few moments. To be honest i wanted to give some crits but everything is so nice :P Maybe wood textures could use some color variation
  • Kridian
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    Kridian polycounter lvl 14
    I like that you varied the leaf coloring. All too often people forget to add some brown in there for dead leafs/branches etc. Well done! Now add the Speeder Bikes. :poly124:
  • PogoP
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    PogoP polycounter lvl 10
    Nice work! This feels really great. I'd like to see the odd bit of colour in there just to break it up a bit, but otherwise it looks really nice :)
  • FreneticPonies
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    FreneticPonies polycounter lvl 3
    Very good! I mean, if you really want crits, maybe a little dark on the lighting, slightly? But, great modelling and very nice job of putting it all together.
  • Fozwroth
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    Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
    Thanks! everyone :D

    Sure I can see if I can dig the settings up.

    Yeah maybe some more color could have gotten in there, I'll see if I get around to do another pass at it, I will focus on making some breakdowns first for now :)

    I agree it turned out a bit dark maybe, here is a brighter video, but still the crappy compression though... cant seem to find a way around it :/

    [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzg4QTsi6Ds[/ame]
  • Higuy
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    Higuy polycounter lvl 9
    Amaaaaaaazing. Stunning work. Looking forward to the breakdowns :D
  • CandyStripes05
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    CandyStripes05 polycounter lvl 9
    wow outstanding job
  • Kid.in.the.Dark
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    Kid.in.the.Dark polycounter lvl 6
    amazing work! it was actually genuinely relaxing watching that haha... very well executed.
  • Deathstick
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    Deathstick polycounter lvl 7
    The vegetation is strong with this one :D
  • Chase
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    Chase polycounter lvl 9
    Yes breakdown cause I'm making foliage now!
  • Fozwroth
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    Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
    Thanks! :D

    Will start working on the breakdowns tonight
  • Money
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    Money polycounter lvl 8
    Fantastic stuff. :D
  • Nuclear Angel
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    Nuclear Angel polycounter
    This is spectacular ^^ I especially love that you got some variation going on with your ferns. Like the more yellow ones and such. Gives the environment the foresty feel.
  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    great work! so many types of excellent foliage!
  • CupMcCakers
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    CupMcCakers polycounter lvl 4
    Can't wait to see an Asset Breakdown! :D
  • rambooze
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    rambooze polycounter lvl 7
    You nailed it man! So gooood.
  • Digitalair
  • Jack M.
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    Jack M. interpolator
    Looking pretty awesome Fozwroth. I think your modeling and texturing is pretty fantastic. That said I think there are a few things you could add/change.

    The first thing I noticed is that your trees and logs have no moss on them. Although redwoods do tend to have less than I've seen on other trees they still have some moss on them. The colors of the trunks are a little too brown in my opinion as well. I also think they are a little to dark.

    As Digitalair mentioned I think things are too dry as well. I don't think I've ever seen a forest look that dry even in the dead of summer.

    I think the foliage in general is a little too rough/not glossy enough.

    Most importantly I think your lighting feels really flat. Making the contrast a little stronger in the lighting, adding slight bloom, and maybe pushing the blue a little in the ambient fog would help I think. Also if you haven't already, try messing around with lighting temperature. It's a nice little feature that helps you get some really nice colors.

    Make sure mesh distance field ambient occlusion is on. You can find this in project settings>rendering. Distance field ambient occlusion gives you a really good base lighting setup. Then you can move forward from there improving things.

    Beyond those aforementioned things you have a really solid environment here and I'm super excited to see where you head with it.
  • Fozwroth
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    Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
    Thanks everybody and thanks for the feedback! I agree its on the dry side, Ill see what I can do. I am getting some issues with stuff getting overly shiny when in the shade but Ill see if I can solve it :)

    There is moss in there I might just have been to gentle with it :) Will need to make a prettier mixmap so it can be more present and look good.

    Aye I have Distance field enabled but I though having it too strong made the image feel very contrast-y and close to black-ish in some spots but I'll play with the settings some more
  • oxygencube
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    oxygencube polycounter lvl 8
    Bro! Amazing work! I was just on your BF4 page hoping for some workflow/breakdown images then jumped to your portfolio and saw this. Amazing, really! I have really loved working on foliage, I find it so relaxing and rewarding.

    I am working on an abandoned swamp environment and and not sure how best to tackle trees for current gen. Mind sharing how you went about making them? I am tinkering with the idea of making them in a generic pose then rigging them them to get variety. I've been trying to avoid photosourcing because I am convinced that being able to make leaves/plants from scratch with Zbrush/Maya/Photoshop/NDO instead of SpeedTree is a valuable skill to have.

    Would appreciate any advice!
  • pixelpatron
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    pixelpatron polycounter
    This scene is ace! Few more frosting strokes and walk away, don't overwork it.
  • Xaragoth
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    Xaragoth polycounter lvl 8
    Love it, though especially the lighting could use some work. Maybe experiment with a different setting? Sunset could look really nice. Also your foliage looks very, very dry. Which might also play into the light not looking amazing.

    How many assets are in there? I think I saw around 15? Can we have shots of all of them? :3

    I think I see some random color variation settings here and there for the ferns, or are all of them preset?. Did you make them by hand/speedtree? Or do you use a modular blueprint trickery? :)
  • Jack M.
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    Jack M. interpolator
    I figured you'll probably work out the kinks anyways. Your previous work is really nice so I fully expect the end result of this one to be pretty amazing as well. Keep up the great work!

    Just a suggestion, but have you considered selling some of these on the marketplace or uploading them to the community contributions section? I'd love to take a deeper look at your work.
  • metalliandy
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    metalliandy interpolator
    Amazing work! I cant wait to see the breakdowns :)
  • Fozwroth
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    Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
    Trying to apply some of the feedback.. I think its going in a good direction, stayed up waaay to late since I really got into it so I will answer previous questions properly in the morning, just though I post an update :)

    NewRedwoodTest_01.png
  • FreneticPonies
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    FreneticPonies polycounter lvl 3
    Meant a bit more like this
    LAA8Vnj.jpg
  • Fozwroth
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    Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
    oxygencube

    Thanks man!:) I'll be posting a full breakdown once Im done tweaking the last things, will post some assets and such! Yeah and its more fun building things yourself :)


    pixelpatron

    THanks! Yeah I'm trying to just push it a little bit balancing/lighting


    Xaragoth

    Thanks, yeah Im currently trying to improve the lighting and getting the wetness to come through, its a bit difficult though but I'll manage :) Yeah I think Im gonna try to add a bit of variation to things and the stems.

    I think there are around 12-15 assets in total.

    No everything is tweakable in my vegetation shader so making variations is very quick. Its all made by hand :)


    Jack M.

    Will do! Yes, it has come up as an idea but it would mean some issues with me being with EA and Epic being a competitor, I rather stay away from any corporate crossfire :)


    metalliandy

    Thanks! I will make them as soon as I'm done with the tweaks :)


    FreneticPonies

    Ah, yeah I can probably bring back some of the yellow but might keep it a bit less contrast-y than that, just personal preference :)
  • achillesian
    not enough AO on the fungis on the tree, look like they're floating, not connected, missing shadow
  • ZeGerman
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    ZeGerman null
    Looks great so far. Still a little too clean but with a some more texture work, it'll be tits.
  • MrNinjutsu
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    MrNinjutsu greentooth
    This is awesome! Hope you don't mind, i just wanted to adjust a few things in photoshop, discard at will! Keep going foz!

    UUTJ3f4.jpg
  • TheKlu
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    TheKlu polycounter lvl 8
    Yeah i think the same as achillesian. Those mooshrooms looks like fliying. And i think some floating dust on the brighter parts and maybe a some kind of noise to the fog would make it look even more awesome if it possible. But still, this is just amazing! :D
  • Jack M.
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    Jack M. interpolator
    Looking a lot better Fozroth!

    Personally I think @MrNinjutsu adjustments are great. I think it's a tad washed out but the colors are great.
  • Noren
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    Noren polycounter lvl 19
    Nice!
    I would agree that some textures look a bit monochromatic, but all in all I think it's a very convincing experience.
  • Xaragoth
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    Xaragoth polycounter lvl 8
    MrNinjutsu is I think hitting the more vibrant coloring, but I feel it's a tick too far.

    Should be easy to adjust test settings with a post process volume though.



    It's pretty cool that it's all made by hand :D That's my next adventure in art as well :)
  • killnpc
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    killnpc polycounter
    This is really great.

    I'd love to see some moss and leaves on the fallen logs in main view. I also think some variation on the shape of the angled log wold be cool. adding some broken branches and a more triangular end I think would make for a more interesting silhouette that is less cylindrical.

    The lighting and vegetation is fantastic. Nice work!
  • Fozwroth
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    Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
    I'll see if I can get the shadow or AO to draw further :)

    @MrNinjutsu yeah thats really cool! Maybe not the look I'm going for but might make a variation like that just for fun :)

    @killnpc Yeah I'll work it over a bit :) maybe even add a second more straight version to get som more diagonals in the picture. I'll paint some moss and leaves on the logs as well :)

    Thanks everybody! Still tweaking a lot but I should have something to show fairly soon :)
  • Cremuss
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    Cremuss polycounter lvl 12
    Looks great ! I agree it feels a bit "raw" at the moment. I like what did MrNinjutsu with the color correction and all but it might be a bit too strong for my taste. I like FreneticPonies's correction too so I'd probably do something in between those two :)
  • Fozwroth
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    Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
    Thanks!

    I made some more tweaks to the materials, lighting and post. Still some content fixes to do but I'm kinda liking it so far. thinking of maybe doing a more high detail sculpt for the trunk and try got get a bit more out of it.

    Cant seeem to get the shadows to draw for the little mushrooms, might need to go for a blend shader so they don't stick out as much.

    Spec is a lot better now in game but get slighty matted in the screenshots, I think its because I must take them at x3 since the x2 settings just generates a checkerboard like image..

    Hopefully going to have time to do the last push this weekend :) starting to feel it might be time to move on soon :)

    Redwood_01.png
    Redwood_06.png
    Redwood_08.png
    Redwood_03.png
    Redwood_02.png
    Redwood_04.png
    Redwood_07.png
    Redwood_05.png
  • Fozwroth
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    Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
  • furys-death
    This entire scene is pretty spectacular. Your spatial awareness is really good which helps it feel all that more believable! Keep up the amazing work :)
  • killnpc
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    killnpc polycounter
    It turned out beautiful, I'm satisfied, excellent work.
  • synergy11
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    synergy11 polycounter lvl 6
    Great work on these plants!

    Is there any chance you will be posting close ups or wireframes. Specifically of the taller plants/tree saplings. :)

    How many polys for the saplings?
  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    wow its looking really good! agree with this post ^ good points about lighting and shadows.
  • leleuxart
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    leleuxart polycounter lvl 10
    The new lighting definitely made a difference. Overall it's looking really good, but I do have a few minor critiques.

    The vegetation doesn't look like it has that much color variation, so the up close shots like the clovers look a little plain.

    The fog in the background also feels pretty bright. I'd personally tone it down a little and work with the falloff so it's a little more gradual, because it feels like it's almost a wall where the fog starts, if you look in the center of the image at the log.

    Keep it up! Subbing so I can see how this turns out :)
  • Add3r
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    Add3r polycounter lvl 11
    Erik beat me to it, that lighting critique is spot on, would also play with slightly more blue fog to add a tad bit more cool if you do go with his value adjustments.
  • Fozwroth
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    Fozwroth polycounter lvl 9
    Thanks for all the awesome feedback!

    I tried to apply some of it today :) Specular seems to have gotten a little muted with the increased sun light though

    Yeah I will post full breakdowns of assets and such when I'm done with the tweaks :)


    Redwood_01.png
    Redwood_02.png
    Redwood_03.png
    Redwood_04.png
    Redwood_05.png
    Redwood_06.png
    Redwood_07.png
    Redwood_08.png
  • John Baxter
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    John Baxter polycounter lvl 7
    I live in a redwood forest, and you did a great job! I'm looking out my window and comparing the screenshots with the real thing, and the new pictures look a lot closer to reality.

    One thing I'd say is that the atmosphere is a lot less apparent, but I understand that that might be a stylistic choice to increase the visual contrast. However, to be realistic, you might want to tone it down a bit more. Another thing is that redwoods drop a LOT of leaves and branches, so small rocks like you have on the trail would be completely buried.

    You completely nailed the vegetation though, especially the "carpets" of clovers.

    Have you considered using DFGI on the scene? I'm curious about what that would look like.
  • Xaragoth
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    Xaragoth polycounter lvl 8
    Nice update. I think both the rock moss and the clovers could use a little more pushing into the wet area. Especially the moss. Otherwise, love it :)
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