[UDK] Hunting Tower WIP

davidosterlind

Hey!
Time for a new three week project. Im going to make a Hunting tower in a winter setting, so lots of snow! Im doing this mainly to learn more about UDK shaders / materials in general and to get better acquainted with vertex painting. This time Im starting my thread earlier so I can get feedback from the start.

Some inspiration:


Crude concept:


Quick blockout in Maya:

davidosterlind

Made two highpolys today, a lantern and a stone.

pongo1967

coolios

SaferDan

Does the tower need to be a bit higher? It looks a bit small! The rocks look ok but I think you might have went up the subdivisions every so slightly. and that surface noise isn't working I don't think.

davidosterlind

Thanks for the feedback guys! Some good pointers there Dan.

New update! A lot of stuff has happend since my last post. Im tweaking pretty much everything at the moment. Im not so sure about the lighting, I think im going for time of day:late evening but I dont think the lighting conveys that yet. I want it to be dark enough for the lanterns to make sense, but I also want more contrast and some crisp shadows on the ground as well as nice reflections in the snow.

Question: I cant get my lanterns to glow as much as I want them to. They have a pretty high emissive boost and I have multiplied my diffuse texture with numbers over a 100 to no avail. Any tips?

m1neh

Looking really nice, I like the ice/snow, reflecting nicely. Think inside, you need to vpaint some snow onto the wall panels near the bottom, as it appears quite suddenly.

Like the env, will be interesting to see it with lower light, gotta make sure the ice really gleams though.

framedrop

Really nice, maybe a bit too bright?

Rurouni Strife

Lantern tips-use a fog volume. I did a large piece back in the early part of the year before I moved out to Turbine and my glow on my lamps wasn't enough for the look I was going for. To make up for it, I created fog volumes. You're able to control fall off (can't remember if that was via texture or something else) and everything.

Other general feedback-I feel like you should do something to the silhouette of the building. Perhaps hang things to the side, some misc platform, or wires that are tied to the trees. Right now I feel it's too boxy.

Overall, looking quite good.

davidosterlind

@framedrop: Thanks, and yeah, agreed its too bright, I think my snow-emissive also makes it look a bit blown out.

@Rouroni: Great feedback, i will definately look into the fog volume thing. As for the blockiness I agree, I will try to break up the silhouette with some props, I have planed for a few more items connected to the tower.

Latest Update: Tweaked overall lighting and added some snowfall using planes with panning textures.

Bad Spleen

I think the model and texturing are great. The tress also look very good.

The problem the way I see it is the composition of the presentation. The eye is drawn to the left, yet nothing is there. I'd say make the objects more of a focal point, or add some more detail to the mountainside.