[UDK] Overgrown City

aajohnny

Hey,

So I have been pretty busy lately with this environment, and it is my first time doing outdoor environments, buildings and foliage. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and do things to better myself and get more well-rounded.

Environment Story:
So the environment takes place on one of the City streets of a Abandoned City. Nature is starting to take over again, and is creeping in from the park across the street. The City was in middle of a 4th of July parade when it was suddenly abandoned.

Plans:
I plan on having one to three screenshots for this environment, it will not be a fly-through map.

I will be updating the progress section and screenshots as I go

Progress:

6/27 - I am currently working on small sections, and right now I am working from the right to left (from that screenshot) I am working on ivy and branches

NOTE: The large tree is not mine it is from UDK's selection of trees and I am using it for a placeholder until I make my own

Screenshots:






I look forward to any critiques and suggestions, they are totally welcome!

game

add garbage cans and those things air thingy with smoke cumming out of it

peanut™

First to reply

I like it, really man you got talent, this aint so easy to figure. Are you planning to add more buildings ?

Coxy

Its looking very nice of course the only real thing i would say is pack it with more props but i guess your gonna be doing that as this is just a WIP shot. I'm also working on an overgrown city scene....yours looks much better

Looking forward to your updates keep it up.

chrisradsby

That looks pretty cool

marq4porsche

Looks great so far but I think you can push it a bit more. Have some trees and branches sprouting through the buildings and really have a lot more coverage on the ground. This could also help give your scene a good focal point. I like the color choices so far and the lighting is nice. I think you should work on the spec on the windows so they have a nice shine in that bright sun. Add some more different style buildings and more props and this is gonna rock!

circle of friends

I really love it! I don't get that little tent though, it draws my eyes away from the centre too much and there's no way a thing that could catch the wind like that would still be there. You could always move it in to a more sheltered place?

Rednaz

Nice, looks great! Take a look at this short film if you haven't already: http://www.conceptruin.com/
Might be able to use it for inspiration ^^

aajohnny

@game : I am working on trash cans now :poly121:

@peanut™: Thanks I really appreciate it! Yep I am planning on working on more buildings, I am working on sections now so right now I'm still kinda working on the first two buildings

@Coxy: Thank you, and yep I will have props in there , and don't say that! when your working on your environment don't think about how good or bad, just treat it as a learning experience! :thumbup:

@chrisradsby: Thanks man

@marq4porsche: Thank you very much. I have been working on a mixture of branches and props to help things out. As far as the spec on windows I have a cube map on there, but it only shows when the camera is on the other side, I may have to look into that. I appreciate the feedback!

@circle of friends: I'm glad I totally agree with you, i've had that since the way beginning and just never bothered moving or deleting it, I'll probably delete it and replace it with something else.

@Rednaz: Thank you! and awesome thanks for the link as well I'll have to watch it :thumbup:

dpadam450

Tree leaves might be a tad too big?

SirCalalot

aajohnny wrote: »

So the environment takes place on one of the City streets of a Abandoned City. Nature is starting to take over again, and is creeping in from the park across the street.

Coxy wrote: »

I'm also working on an overgrown city scene....

Sonofabi- I'm also working on a similar scene

Yours is looking pretty damn slick though, and thankfully mine is a bit different in style.

I love the idea of the giant flag as it really adds more of a colour range to the area

S-s-s-s-s-s-subscriiiibed.

Kathle7

Good job!

JamieRIOT

This is looking pretty cool. I agree with others about the little tent/stall on the right, it doesn't fit with the rest of the scene very well and the red is more saturated than other colours used.

ambershee

Take a good look at photographs from Pripiat, they should present excellent reference material

aajohnny

Update:

6/29

- I added two placeholder trees on the right, I may have some sort of small jungle/forest over there.

- Added more ivy growing on building two, and will continue working on that.

- I added more roots and branches, especially on the left corner of building one, with it taking away the light pole.

- Added trash cans with trash. (adding more trash soon)

Screenshot:




@dpadam450: On the trees? If that's what you mean then yes The trees are just placeholders from UDK's Selection until I get to making trees myself.

@SirCalalot: Looks like we got a popular subject here haha awesome, and thank you!

@BrianFD: Thanks

@Kathle7: Thank you :thumbup:

@JamieRIOT: Thank you, and yep I agreed the tent is now gone.

@ambershee: Sadly, I never thought of that haha. Thanks for that suggestion that'll help.

Sentinel373

very nice work.

aajohnny

Another update I plan on working on more buildings now, then I'll go back to the foliage.

JoshWilkinson

If youre a modeler/ texturer, this is looking great. If you an environmental artist, I'd consider adding a very light amount of fog and some desaturatation in post. (Maybe not both though, not sure)

DennisGlowacki

fuzzy buildings ftw

You got any further plans for that road concrete texture?

aajohnny

@BringMeaSunkist: Thank you and yeah totally, I appreciate that suggestion, I implemented more fog and will show next update. I will work on the post at the end

@DennisGlowacki: Ha Yeah I have plans for the road, it still needs some work I am going to start working on it very soon.

JoshWilkinson

aajohnny wrote: »

@BringMeaSunkist: Thank you and yeah totally, I appreciate that suggestion, I implemented more fog and will show next update. I will work on the post at the end

Very cool. Consider me enthusiastically following your progress

DanRobson

Looks like a great start. The first thing that jumped out to me is that the centre building (the short, wide one) could do with a bit more variation in the windows. Doesn't look too bad from the diagonal view, but when looking at it straight on it's pretty apparent that theres some repetition going on there. I noticed that on the right building you have what looks like some broken windows, so something like that might work.

BUT! I do think its a bit unlikely that the windows would break like that. If anything I think you would have missing panes where they would have fallen out completely, as opposed to looking like someone had smashed them.

If you haven't seen life after people then Id really reccomend it. Gives a great insight into how buildings would decay without humans there to look after them!

maverickhornet

I love this... the foliage is really amazing like the Ivy on the buildings! Any specific way you did it?

whw

Liking the progress on this. You're moving forward at a steady rate

I'm curious what you'll add in the background as you've got placeholders on the left but the right of the image cuts off suddenly - I know it's WIP. Consider water towers, bill boards etc. Also, what about popping a ripped mailbox in there with letters scattered about?

aajohnny

As requested (First tutorial ever, so forgive me if you have any more questions totally ask them I'd be glad to help in any way)



@DanRobson: I did see one part of Life after people. I'm going to have to watch the rest, it was really interesting. Thank you for reminding me on that I agree with the repetition on the center building, I am slowly moving towards more of the left side of the map, so I am sure I'll break it up a bit

@Maverickhornet: Thank you :thumbup:Hopefully the tutorial I just made helps

@whw: Thanks I appreciate it! Very good feedback, I have to really get going on the background because its really lacking. Good suggestions, I'll be implementing them

Yuke

Really loving how the scene's coming along! Love the high-rise buildings and how the moss forms onto them!

Hugely appreciate the tut too, I've never created foliage before so it was a great help

konstruct

I think a little more structural decay is needed. those buildings are just so clean and crisp underneath all that veg.

aajohnny

@Yuke: Thanks and no problem I'm glad it was a help!

@Konstruct: I'll see what I can do with that

gilesruscoe

This is looking really ace man, big level up from some of your previous environments for sure!

aajohnny

Another update working on the bigger stuff now and then going to the more detailed stuff... probably should have done that before



Thanks Giles I agree, stepping out of my comfort zone does wonders haha.

Sensorium

Hey I really like this environment ... only crit right now: the shrubs on the street look too saturated compared to the rest of the scene which is why I cant stop looking at them

Blaisoid

i'd say it's other way around. it's the rest that's too desaturated.

SirCalalot

I agree with @Blaisoid, as personally more saturated scenes appeal to me.

Have you looked much at Uncharted 2's destroyed city scenes?



Granted though, they are more "warzone" and less "abandonment".

whw

I think reducing the fog will help. There's a certain amount colour grading can help create the desired mood for the piece, going saturated may not evoke quite the "Walking Dead" ambiance that aajohnny appears to be aiming for.

ParoXum

There's too much density in your foliage textures, it reveals too much of your alpha cards for the tree and grass clumps.

The saturation of his textures is probably fine, it's the fog that turns the background into this grey color.

AlanSMitchell

Very cool amazing work. Note all those roots hanging outside the building, well I expect to see a huge tree portuding out of the side of the building. Also why are those roots like that? do you have refference? because I expect to see them shooting out like that then going into the ground.
http://paleo.cc/ce/ta-prohm-temple-tree.jpg
but I think if your gonna go with this idea you may want to go with something like this. I don't think ^ this fits the sene so maybe it's just something to look into.
Other than that I really like it, and I'm just being picky. Also thanks a lot for the Ivy tutorial!

aajohnny

@Sensorium: Thank you, and its hard to tell because my monitors I have to calibrate them properly, it seems every time I do a graphic driver update it removes my settings.

@Blaisoid: I'll see what I can do about that

@SirCalalot: Well I don't want it too vibrant because people will try to compare it to games like Uncharted, ect. I want to give it a grim and dusty overgrown feel. Not sure it's too appealing though ha.

@whw: I think that may be the cause of why it is too unsaturated, as much as I like the fog I may have to reduce it if its too much.

@ParoXum: I am looking into replacing the grass, as well as the tree textures, that is on my top of my list to do, and yeah that's what I'm thinking too

@dudealan2001: Thanks man I appreciate it! I'll look into that totally, thanks. I think when I add more destruction it will make more sense, but I'll still look into it, and no problem glad it helps!

SirCalalot

Ah, well if that's what you were going for, then the scene is working really well with its current unsaturated colours

aajohnny

Awesome thanks

Here is more progress, I am working on the destruction now, then I will probably get back to props and foliage:

Seaseme

I disagree with the saturation comments. I think you're going for something different - that saturation works in those super stylized environments, it could work here too, but I'm not sure its worth pursuing.

Part of what is lacking here is that i cannot find anything that seems to be the focus of the scene. Your building is nice, but where's the story?

I think you could probably reduce the fog a lot too.

One thought - Those trees would be a LOT bigger. The root systems coming form the buildings hint at some epic huge trees in the area, but your trees look still look well kept and young. Making them a lot bigger will get a bit of timelessness to your scene.

I would consider crashing something into your foreground building - maybe there's a plane wing hanging from the side of it? Some evidence of a fire, or whatever it was that destroyed it?

Other than the scene is looking killer, it looks like a background though. There is nothing extraordinarily "wow" about it yet.

Here's what an overgrown street might look like:





It seems unlikely that garbage would still be sitting next to the spilled garbage can, as it seems though years have passed since it has been upkept.

Grass is far too sparse, and its saturation is clashing with the rest of your scene. It could definitely be rotated around a bit, all of your grass is going the same direction.

Keep grinding! It's looking nice!It definitely is on the way to something "wow".

aajohnny

Thanks for those images and feedback Sesame. I made trees bigger and added a crashed plane in the building. As far as the grass goes I think I am going to redo it. I haven't really shown much about my story actually, I've been getting carried away It was last touched by Humans during an 4th of July parade, so I am thinking of adding a float or something there. I just never really got to that. I did try to turn down the fog a bit, hopefully its better.

Seaseme

Ahh. There we go. Trees are great, as is the air plane wing. Now, maybe take UDK's vertex paint tools and add some darkening around the middle building, where it appears there was some fire damage.

A story you could tell is that maybe there are some survivors in the building? You could put smoke coming up from it, or maybe hint that there is a camp-fire inside, some survivors cooking.

DanRobson

Coming along nicely! I think there's a bit of an issue with the scale of some of your props though. If you imagine a character is about 1.7m - 1.8m high, then the bins should be about approx 1.1m? This means, even when allowing for perspective, your characters would be almost hitting there head if they went into that right hand building. This would also mean they were around a 3rd of the height of the streetlights,which is way off.

Check out the size of the street lights and bins this image and you'll see what I mean.

aajohnny

Thank you both for the feedback I scaled stuff down , hopefully its better. I added a parachute, along with some other things

Blaisoid

nice, the new sky made the whole scene look much better.

peanut™

Yes this is all getting along nicely. Good work on the vegetation.

aajohnny

Thanks guys

I tried to make it more vibrant, I hope its better :

rockstar6

damn it looks very good man, love the atmosphere. although I think in the last screen it might be a bit too green. or is it just me?

cheers,
rockstar

sltrOlsson

This is really shaping up man! I think the green made the whole thing pop! Keep it up!

pinkbox

I like the new vibrance! it looks like nature is taking back over

Snefer

The saturated look works much better! I think the building could use some more signs, commercials etc to break it up a bit more : ))