[UDK] Chicago Street Building

Pookhan

Started this project to work on both my env art and my UDK skills. Any crits on the colour, scale, setup, quality etc. is all welcome. Cheers!









If there are any good UDK lighting tutorials anyone can point me too I'd appreciate it.

JO420

A fine start but as stated earlier,it needs more weathering as the other poster said. I think the windows look rather plane and could use other decorative elements to match the level of detail as the base..

Pookhan

@Richapocalypse Thanks man, I've added some dirt and grime to them here and I think it looks better. I don't want to mess them up too much though. I'm going for a building that is semi-taken care of as oppose to a derelict building. Also, cheers for the link!

@JO420 good observation, I hadn't noticed till you said then it was obvious lol. I reused the mesh from the lower portion but I'm not sure how it's working. I made some Air fans to break up the monotony.

[IMG][/img]





Little progress in these images but as always, crit away!

SuperFranky

plates on the floor are too big

wasabi

I might be wrong but scale is knda off. Maybe it's the sidewalk tiles being Jesus size as SuperFranky pointed out...

Pookhan

Yeah I'm not happy with the sidewalk. I wanted it to be big slabs you see in some american cities, but the spacing between them is huge. I'll try to dial it back a bit, if not redo the whole thing.

Marchwarden

There's something wrong with your lighting, the shadows disappeared. This is a very nice start to the scene though. I would suggest adding more elements to break up the sameness of floors 2-5. This is a good reference: http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/Building_Layout_Guideline_Tutorial.html

Pookhan

@Marchwarden Thanks for the link, It will definitely be of use for this project.

Did some work on the ground because the scale was way off. This looks better in terms of scale but need to put more work into the textures.







I haven't changed anything except the ground but give me feedback on all of it please.

Marchwarden

Will you be keeping this to just one building or will you be doing a whole street scene?

MPKNielsen

Your doors seam to be pretty wide, is there a reason for that?

Pookhan

Sorry for the late response, been busy with work.
@Marchwarden- I plan to have a couple of buildings in the scene but for the immediate future I will be working on this one building.

@MPKNielsen- The doors are wide because I was taking reference from the grand entrances of some hotels. Does it look out of place?

Updates: I added a lot more damage to the sidewalk and added more details to the building. These include a fire escape, wires and a hotel sign. Hit me with Crits!











Im struggling to think of how to break up the middle floors beacause they are very similar. Any ideas?

Amsterdam Hilton Hotel

Pookhan wrote: »

Im struggling to think of how to break up the middle floors beacause they are very similar. Any ideas?

maybe try variations on the windows - maybe one or two has some sort of tapestry across it, a few might have different types of light bulbs resulting in different colors (although during night i guess), some people might have replaced their shades, some of the blinds might be broken, etc

Pookhan

@Amsterdam Hilton Hotel- Thanks, I'l definitely play around with that. do you think the windows could benefit from any ornate stonework on them? I have the stone bit on the top of them but I don't like how it's looking. Any suggestions?

l.croxton

I think maybe some open windows or windows with something hanging off the ledge or windows borded up or with posters stuck up on the glass, broken windows, different coloured blinds, maybe curtains etc. Plants both in and out of the windows, like plant boxes or whatever they are called haha. Bottles pilled up in the windows. I could go on and on but I am not sure if this is what you want :P.

Pookhan

@l.croxton- cheers for this, all quality ideas. In terms of story, this is meant to be a hotel so posters wouldn't really be there but the curtains and boards and plants are a great idea.

Pookhan

I did a bit more work into some textures and also added some props to break up the monotony. Excuse the really bright clothes, I forgot to save out my spec map. Also, the night setting was a last minute thing so there is no emmisive map on the sign as you can see.





Hit me with crits!

danpaz3d

Looking good. Only thing for me is 'weathering'..is that what it's called?
It's just that some of the concrete (the walls on the ground floor and the 2 pillars that go up the front of the whole building) seem too clean.

I'm thinking add stain from rain, sun damage/cracks...stuff like that. And you could tweak the diffuse for hotel sign a bit too. add some red or blue to it. Otherwise I think it's great! Keep it up.

Pookhan

@danpaz3d- I have there is some weathering on those parts but it is not really noticeable I guess. I'll have to throw some love into those textures.

I added an emissive map on the sign and also fixed the spec problem with the hanging clothes.Other than that I started work on the road.







I attempted to make puddles for the road using decals but getting the reflections to work is proving difficult. Anyone have any good tips or tutorials on making puddles? As always, give me some crit

CandyStripes05

- is there any other red light source on the HOTEL sign other then the emissive?
- might want to make a few random windows with interior/emissive lighting as well, or put in some street lights something, that red glow is a bit too strong of a focal point in the night time shot
- add some more life to it ! that tree looks good, but oh so lonely
- maybe a trash can or bench etc, but you might already have this planned

looking good !

ZacD

For the sign you just need to check use emissive for static light on the object, you'll get more accurate lighting from the sign.

Pookhan

Thanks for the feedback guys.

@CandyStripes05 There is an ambient light in front of the sing. You're right though it is too strong. I do have other props planned but just not got around to it yet. I'll work on the window emissive lights though, thanks.

@ZacD Thanks for the tip. I'm a UDK noob as you can probably tell. Do you have any advice for making puddles for the ground?

Nellac

Puddles are easy, just vertex paint them in. Like here:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAvupgMlvKE"]UDK Vertex painting- Water, Sand, And Concrete tile - YouTube[/ame]

Pookhan

@Nellac Thanks for the link. I'll give that a shot although I was hoping to find a solution that doesn't require adding more verts. This method has good looking results thought

Updates- I have added a street light and played more with the emissive maps. I've also added some construction props on the sidewalk.







I am getting a weird shading issue along the sides of some of the mesh. Like dark jagged lines. Anyone know what that might be? Also, any more suggestions on what to add/change would be appreciated!

Pookhan

Few updates. Still not been able to get the puddles to look good. Added some detail to the road with decals.









keep coming with crits. Also, how can I make this into more of a scene so that it's not just a building in the middle of nowhere?

ZacD

Make more buildings, be smart about how you position the camera, I'd plan a few angles and do the minimum amount of work and details to make those shots work, you could do 3 building right next to each other, like a street row.

Pookhan

@ZacD is there a way to control the camera other than moving around? I'm taking tiled shots while i'm playing the level.

ZacD

Not sure what you are asking, you can turn on a no clip fly mode for the camera while playing the level.

Pookhan

in fly mode I can only move the camera up/down/left/right but is there a way to rotate the angle?

danpaz3d

I think it's right click to rotate the camera when flying?

As for the rest of the scene, I agree with ZacD. Be smart, I would use the same building (different materials) and just rotate them around the main building (one on each side of the main building). Like a plus symbol from top view +

Keep it up! It's looking much better.

Pookhan

@danpaz3d thanks I'll try that setup.

After some more advice I realised the night shot was looking too bright. However, I feel it still looks off.



I added a second building which was built from reusable assets. I will change the materials later but for now they are the same as the hotel. Any advice on how to fix the lighting would be great. Also when I zoom out there seems to be some depth or fog that makes the building a little washed out.

Crits Please!

Fastcarver

Your illuminated sections are too flat. There is no hot spot on the letters from the neon, also Illuminated textures for the windows need more depth. Try imagining where the light source would be and add a radial gradient going from that spot. Another great way to do this is by take a picture of a window at night, study the results and you will see lots of dark and light areas and hotspots created by the objects in the room.

Pookhan

@Fastcarver Thanks for the tip. I agree, it does look quite flat. I'll throw some more work into them.

Update! I have created more buildings with reused assets to make it more of a scene.







I might add some tall low-poly buildings in the back ground. Things I still want to add is a vehicle and more litter around the sidewalks. I also want to add something to the hotel to make it a more dominant feature. Like a carpet or awning similar to what hotels have on 5th avenue.

Any crits welcome!!

Pookhan

added some street lights to illuminate the scene a bit more. Also, I plan to render this scene in day and night for my folio but for now it will just be night. More crits please.

danpaz3d

Looking better!
Crits:
- Make the sky and fog a bit darker
- Lit windows are too plain. Add curtains/blinds etc...
- Roof of buildings are empty. Add antenna's/satellite dish etc...
- 'hotel' sign still needs some work. Make the inner glow a bit more white/bright.

Thats it!

Pookhan

@danpaz3d thanks a lot for your tips, it's all good stuff. I'm not sure how to edit the fog, I didn't actually intend to have fog but I think its a UDK preset. Any ideas?

danpaz3d

I'm assuming you started with the night scene preset in UDK. Look for the fog actor, it looks like the head of a vulture/bird. Delete it and start from scratch or change its properties.

Help
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/HeightFog.html

Pookhan

So thats what that is haha. Cheers, I'll play around with it and try to get it working a bit better.

danpaz3d

Glad to help!
One thing I forgot to mention. The traffic light needs a light! Make it brighter!

Pookhan

I wanted to use emissive for the traffic lights but both use the same texture space. So it would mean both would show green lights which obviously is not ideal. Other than using a point light is there any other solution?

Blaisoid

the scene looks cool, it brings back to me the sweet memories of hell's kitchen in deus ex.

nathanbarrett

I think you should tone down the specularity of the bins a little bit.. they stand out a lot to me and look superimposed.

danpaz3d

Pookhan wrote: »

I wanted to use emissive for the traffic lights but both use the same texture space. So it would mean both would show green lights which obviously is not ideal. Other than using a point light is there any other solution?

2 ways to go. Either setup the material differently or... cheat and put in a custom decal for it.

Pookhan

just like to say thanks for everyones advice, it has been spot on.

I have added a low poly car, added detail to the illuminated windows and refined the fog.



Crit me!

Quickel

danpaz3d wrote: »

2 ways to go. Either setup the material differently or... cheat and put in a custom decal for it.

Yeah if you just use a grayscale diffuse and emissive textures for your light and then multiply them by a vertex color which you assign on the faces of the lights, you could use the same texture/UV space and get what you want.

Scene's coming along. I personally would like to see a little more directional moonlight brightening up one side (probably the front) of your building. If the front were a little lighter and the sides a little darker it could look more dimensional.

MisterSande

this scene misses.... fog! you should try and render this out in the cryengine

Pookhan

@Quickel I tried adding a dominant directional light but with all the other lights in the scene, it took about 90 minutes to build but crashed at the end. Also, it looks to bright because the front of all the buildings are affected. what's the best way to go about this?

@MisterSande The fog made it look kind of washed out. Also I'm trying to learn UDK with this project. My next project will be Cryengine

Pookhan

Small update. I've added litter. Still working on the lighting.

danpaz3d

Pookhan wrote: »

The fog made it look kind of washed out.

Yeah, I think it still does.

If its an exponential height fog then you can get rid of it.
Put in a standard height fog actor and make it with about the same density (maybe a bit less) and make the colour of the fog black or really dark blue.

Note that the exponential height fog actor doesn't render dark colours as the brightness is also the alpha.

Pookhan

Any suggestions on how I can make the road less flat? At the minute its a flat mesh but it looks too flat.

aajohnny

Coming along, I am not sure about that pipe from the roof to the window? also maybe have some skyscrapers in the distance past the other brick buildings

Pookhan

Hey aajohnny I loved your overgrown environment. How did you do the skyscrapers in the back of your scene? did you reuse assets or are they low poly buildings?