Well done! Interesting design and nice materials' foliage is looking good too. My only crit is the second render, the super bright hits of light under the openings could be calmed a bit to not break the nice gradient of light coming from the top. Keep it up!
Well done! Interesting design and nice materials' foliage is looking good too. My only crit is the second render, the super bright hits of light under the openings could be calmed a bit to not break the nice gradient of light coming from the top. Keep it up!
Thank you kindly! Yeah those are occuring not due to light. I thought I MIGHT be able to get away without having to fix it, but I'll go back and spend the extra bit of time to cover it up.
Yeah the second shots, regarding the bits that are blowing out, I would mess with exposure and bloom amounts. If you are rocking the default bloom through the world atmosphere volume, I would try playing around with some of the post processing to either even some of that out or create a focal point with it. Besides the overblown foliage and other misc surfaces, I really enjoy the two moods. Maybe a bit more color grading between the two to sell specific moods?
Nice assets and world building, composition is solid, I think it is just missing that last piece of the puzzle with lighting.
Agreed, It could also be your AA type, the FXAA tends to create that glimmer effect that the engine screen grabber could be picking up on because of the viewing angle. Try switching to TemporalAA, might be a quicker solution
Yeah the second shots, regarding the bits that are blowing out, I would mess with exposure and bloom amounts. If you are rocking the default bloom through the world atmosphere volume, I would try playing around with some of the post processing to either even some of that out or create a focal point with it. Besides the overblown foliage and other misc surfaces, I really enjoy the two moods. Maybe a bit more color grading between the two to sell specific moods?
Nice assets and world building, composition is solid, I think it is just missing that last piece of the puzzle with lighting.
Thank you for the feedback. I'll head back in and start to tweak the bloom and exposure more. I'm thinking a LUT could help the blown out surfaces. It's due to the light being intense enough to actually get the bounces and gradation to go far enough down the well, so balance is extremely tough.
Thank you for the feedback. I'll head back in and start to tweak the bloom and exposure more. I'm thinking a LUT could help the blown out surfaces. It's due to the light being intense enough to actually get the bounces and gradation to go far enough down the well, so balance is extremely tough.
I totally know the feels... the life of a lighting artist on a daily basis lol. I literally spend full days fighting issues like that at work. If you are set on having the sun light coming in from that direction, and same with the foliage right there at the entrance, you can also try making a lower gloss variant of that specific plant model's material. And then play with post processing.
This is when you have to play with composition, and then make necessary lighting and world building decisions to meet specific goals. In this case, the issue is obviously blown out surfaces right in the face of the camera. Identify what you want to stay and what you want to go, and then make the necessary changes, it is a common balancing act. Good luck!
looks like it would make an AMAZING graphics demo. make it playable on your portfolio so clients can climb up the well! Would be super impressive.
cheers for the comment. ideally after its released for my demo reel, ill put it up as a VR demo. I've tried it in VR and its a pretty unique experience.
The solid surface modelling and texturing look great! With that being said the stone steps sticking through the solid stone well wall sides don't look right, I'd hide the ends back behind the wall. The water also looks quite odd, the falling water particles disappearing in midair is quite obvious, and the "flowing water" material on the walls looks more like an ungulating magic like thing instead of water, as it stick out so much from the stones.
The solid surface modelling and texturing look great! With that being said the stone steps sticking through the solid stone well wall sides don't look right, I'd hide the ends back behind the wall. The water also looks quite odd, the falling water particles disappearing in midair is quite obvious, and the "flowing water" material on the walls looks more like an ungulating magic like thing instead of water, as it stick out so much from the stones.
This is based off a real location, as stated in the credits of the video. So I believe the steps are made with architectural integrity in mind. I'll definately take a look at having the water particles fade off better. Strangely enough when I record in UE4, the transparency/refraction of the water particles seems to be ignored. And as far as the water on the walls...its kinda just a limitation of the tech I'm using. If I make it more subtle and less specular, it appears to be a crawling wall texture. I'll try playing around with the normal maps a bit more to get a more believable water texture.
But as you can see, the stones in this real wold location are all correctly spaced to make the square cut stones from the steps stick out like that. For your texture they just stick through it at random. Just a thing that bothers me.
I think your rocks are a bit too noisy. I wont dispute that they match the ref, but they seem at odds with the general wet, drippy look you have going. If this is a place that is often wet and drippy, those rocks would be eroded down to the point of being smooth. In the images where you are at the top of the stairwell, with sunlight, that looks good. Maybe transition to the smoother rocks as you go farther down?
Getting close to those hand rails, the hard edge really bothers me. You do such a great job of showing all this wear and character, so missing that on that trim stands out. Perhaps beveling those corners, and maybe adding some warble in there would work well.
The dripping water is great, really does a nice job of adding movement to your shots. After a while though, the pattern became pretty obvious and kept grabbing my attention. If you could vary up that pattern, to have it the water drip for a bit, then stop, then drip again..that might help a bit.
I enjoy all the shots where I can see the sunlight, and the bounced light as its pouring down into the tunnel, but I think the very bottom of the tunnel could use a little more interest. You could sell the cold, dampness a bit more by maybe having some soft blue light, or something. Right now its very grey. I'm talking really subtle, so that it doesn't interfere with the fun stuff happening from the sunlight.
Your moss could be improved a little bit as well. Right now it reads very clumpy and noisy. Specifically on the tops of the arches in the shots looking down the tunnel. I think this would be a bit stronger if you faded moss onto the rock wall above. Right now there is a hard line and it becomes a bit of an eyesore.
These are mostly minor things. Overall this is stunning, and I think you did a great job. My favorite shot is at 0:34 in the video, looking up at the outside with the sunlight creeping down into the tunnel and making the material response on those rocks sing. Good stuff!
I think your rocks are a bit too noisy. I wont dispute that they match the ref, but they seem at odds with the general wet, drippy look you have going. If this is a place that is often wet and drippy, those rocks would be eroded down to the point of being smooth. In the images where you are at the top of the stairwell, with sunlight, that looks good. Maybe transition to the smoother rocks as you go farther down?
Getting close to those hand rails, the hard edge really bothers me. You do such a great job of showing all this wear and character, so missing that on that trim stands out. Perhaps beveling those corners, and maybe adding some warble in there would work well.
The dripping water is great, really does a nice job of adding movement to your shots. After a while though, the pattern became pretty obvious and kept grabbing my attention. If you could vary up that pattern, to have it the water drip for a bit, then stop, then drip again..that might help a bit.
I enjoy all the shots where I can see the sunlight, and the bounced light as its pouring down into the tunnel, but I think the very bottom of the tunnel could use a little more interest. You could sell the cold, dampness a bit more by maybe having some soft blue light, or something. Right now its very grey. I'm talking really subtle, so that it doesn't interfere with the fun stuff happening from the sunlight.
Your moss could be improved a little bit as well. Right now it reads very clumpy and noisy. Specifically on the tops of the arches in the shots looking down the tunnel. I think this would be a bit stronger if you faded moss onto the rock wall above. Right now there is a hard line and it becomes a bit of an eyesore.
These are mostly minor things. Overall this is stunning, and I think you did a great job. My favorite shot is at 0:34 in the video, looking up at the outside with the sunlight creeping down into the tunnel and making the material response on those rocks sing. Good stuff!
Thank you very much for this feedback. After spending so many hours on it I became numb to the issues. I've started to dive back into this between all my other projects, and will tackle a bunch of this. I agree with the handrails. I'm working on having the moss fade more, as well as an improved transition material to help it blend into the wall more. For the water (particles I assume), these can definitely be varied more. After rewatching it, I think its a bit too much atm. Excellent suggestion with the light. I originally had a blue light down there, but tried to warm it up a bit to help the transition to the top part. I have intentions of adding interest with a slumped suit of moss-covered armor at the bottom. As for smoothing the rocks out...I'm a bit limited on what I can do based on the construction of the piece. The entire wall is one single mesh, and couldn't be achieved any other way without seaming issues. I'm also maxed out on material blends and channels. I'll check again to see if there's any possible way for me to reorganize this material to free up space.
Update: calling this one done. I have learned an immense amount from this project, and am ready to move on. As far as edits go, I softened the edges on the moss, worked the lighting, and post process more. slightly wobbled the edges of some of the railings. Added candles. Huge thanks for the crit.
Replies
Yeah those are occuring not due to light. I thought I MIGHT be able to get away without having to fix it, but I'll go back and spend the extra bit of time to cover it up.
Nice assets and world building, composition is solid, I think it is just missing that last piece of the puzzle with lighting.
This is when you have to play with composition, and then make necessary lighting and world building decisions to meet specific goals. In this case, the issue is obviously blown out surfaces right in the face of the camera. Identify what you want to stay and what you want to go, and then make the necessary changes, it is a common balancing act. Good luck!
make it playable on your portfolio so clients can climb up the well! Would be super impressive.
I think your rocks are a bit too noisy. I wont dispute that they match the ref, but they seem at odds with the general wet, drippy look you have going. If this is a place that is often wet and drippy, those rocks would be eroded down to the point of being smooth. In the images where you are at the top of the stairwell, with sunlight, that looks good. Maybe transition to the smoother rocks as you go farther down?
Getting close to those hand rails, the hard edge really bothers me. You do such a great job of showing all this wear and character, so missing that on that trim stands out. Perhaps beveling those corners, and maybe adding some warble in there would work well.
The dripping water is great, really does a nice job of adding movement to your shots. After a while though, the pattern became pretty obvious and kept grabbing my attention. If you could vary up that pattern, to have it the water drip for a bit, then stop, then drip again..that might help a bit.
I enjoy all the shots where I can see the sunlight, and the bounced light as its pouring down into the tunnel, but I think the very bottom of the tunnel could use a little more interest. You could sell the cold, dampness a bit more by maybe having some soft blue light, or something. Right now its very grey. I'm talking really subtle, so that it doesn't interfere with the fun stuff happening from the sunlight.
Your moss could be improved a little bit as well. Right now it reads very clumpy and noisy. Specifically on the tops of the arches in the shots looking down the tunnel. I think this would be a bit stronger if you faded moss onto the rock wall above. Right now there is a hard line and it becomes a bit of an eyesore.
These are mostly minor things. Overall this is stunning, and I think you did a great job. My favorite shot is at 0:34 in the video, looking up at the outside with the sunlight creeping down into the tunnel and making the material response on those rocks sing. Good stuff!
Final Video