The Throne Room - Handheld Environment
polycounter lvl 5
Hello Polycount! I finally had the opportunity to put together two full environments this year at University, something that I've never really done! This is the second of the two that I created. For this module we had to create a small Environment in UDK Mobile with a tri-limit of 100,000 and average texture size of 512x512.
The artistic direction of the project was "A Darksiders inspired environment" and I think I slightly managed that but only in terms of the use of glyphs and skulls as well as working from some of their concepts. I worked on this over the last month and decided only to work in nDo2 for normal maps.. I think if I took the time to delve into ZBrush I could have gotten the much broader more exaggerated shapes the Darksiders sells so well!
Latest Update:
Anyway I'll start with a few early progress shots and references and lead up to what is my current position on the project. The module has been handed in but I'm not calling it done yet, I feel like areas such as lighting, particle effects and how to deal with the candles (flames were textured on and look terrible) can be worked on so so much more.
Some of the Darksiders concepts I worked off of, wanted to try and keep a similar theme across the scene so used similar sets from the game.
The initial top-down plan for the scene
The final stages of the block-out before pieces were optimized for hand-held and worked over a bit for modularity.
Key Assets:
Technical Shot:
Beauty Renders:
I'm pretty sure I went completely overkill with the emissives in the scene but I guess learning that some things work better in moderation is something I'll grow to understand.
I have a few more Environments to work on over my last semester at Uni so I'm hoping that things I learn now will really make an impact on that work!
The artistic direction of the project was "A Darksiders inspired environment" and I think I slightly managed that but only in terms of the use of glyphs and skulls as well as working from some of their concepts. I worked on this over the last month and decided only to work in nDo2 for normal maps.. I think if I took the time to delve into ZBrush I could have gotten the much broader more exaggerated shapes the Darksiders sells so well!
Latest Update:
Anyway I'll start with a few early progress shots and references and lead up to what is my current position on the project. The module has been handed in but I'm not calling it done yet, I feel like areas such as lighting, particle effects and how to deal with the candles (flames were textured on and look terrible) can be worked on so so much more.
Some of the Darksiders concepts I worked off of, wanted to try and keep a similar theme across the scene so used similar sets from the game.
The initial top-down plan for the scene
The final stages of the block-out before pieces were optimized for hand-held and worked over a bit for modularity.
Key Assets:
Technical Shot:
Beauty Renders:
I'm pretty sure I went completely overkill with the emissives in the scene but I guess learning that some things work better in moderation is something I'll grow to understand.
I have a few more Environments to work on over my last semester at Uni so I'm hoping that things I learn now will really make an impact on that work!
Replies
Its something were, individualy on your props, they look fine, but as a whole, its really distracting.
Just because you can add emissive into your scene, doesnt mean you should.
Cooking dinner at the moment but decided to quickly remove the emissves and de-saturate the glyphs etc in the Diffuse to have a real quick idea at what it would look like without the glows and was quite surprised at how heavily it affects the scene..
(obviously the parts on the door are just flat grey now and look terrible, but it was just a very quick test)
I'm pretty sure it's miles away from what you wanted to depict in your scene but I just wanted to give it a go. It might not even be that good to others you know.
The other thing is I don't feel like you have a focus in the room. I know, I know, the throne should be one but because the color matches everything around it, it doesn't stand out. You may want to mess with your lighting a bit to bring focus on the throne and the path leading to it. Right now with your lighting my focus in the wall behind the throne as well as the two torches up front. I hardly even notice the path leading up to it.
As for the Throne and Door, would you say that those red parts are banners similar to the rest of the room, or rather that they are just painted in that way to create a better focal point (without the blown out over used emissve) and fit with the rest of the scene?
praetus: Yeah you're right, I think lessening the light on the real wall and focussing in more on the carpet and throne would help an awful lot, but I wasn't sure how to put light into those areas.. as I was unsure where their actual light source would be coming from. I guess an option would be to have light coming from where the camera is shining up the stairs onto the throne?
Finally got round to Mesh Painting the walls which got rid of some of the uneccessary detail, although I could probably tone it down a bit more. Not sure if the Throne is only standing out more now just because of the DoF or whether the door behind is too distracting.
I think the lighting needs more hot/cold contrast, as right now the primary light source from the windows is very strong, but there's nothing to emphasize the lighting, especially the pillars on the sides, and the top parts of the pillars - the lighting looks really flat there. Maybe try and increase the light coming from the lamps up top, radius and value?
For lightning i think you could try to add some torches to the pillars and maybe get some more red in the throne's emissive (and toning it down just a little bit so it doesn't get overblown to white). i think this will give some more threatening atmosphere (if that's even what you're aiming for)
tristamus: Thanks!
Fnitrox: I'll definitely try the stairs idea later, shouldn't be too much of a problem to change in 3ds Max quick and get an idea of how it works! For now I've moved the camera up a bit to make the Throne more visible and tried to decrease the emissive to get rid of the over-blown white effect a bit more. The torches is something I might try, maybe having them attached around the pillars and pointing into the centre of the room to give the lighting a better source.
Thanks for the input everyone! I definitely have a lot to learn and it's really helping me a tonne! Here's my recent update from today, I don't have much time to work on it but I'm trying to make slight improvements based on what you've all said!
Please shout if I'm headed in the wrong direction! I've kept emissives on the stairs/throne/door to give them some detail but I think they're all something I might want to change to move closed to ParoXums paint-over!
Edit- _Erik: Thanks! I'll have to consider how to break up those horizontal lines, maybe doing some on one side will help create some asymmetry in the scene too, past the point of the lighting. Maybe a weapons rack or piles of something (skulls/rubble) could help slightly.. will have to look at some dungeons and think about this one!
for example, the wall behind the thrown the bricks should be similar in contrast rather than black or white. This should also be true for your floor. Your stairs is another part that I believe could use help. Notice the part that the red carpet goes over the stairs the ao is overbarring and doesnt create a solid black line, but on the parts with the stone it does. Less ao, and if you do have it be a color closer to the stone rather than black
The lighter coloured tiles and bricks were meant to be showing the grout or concrete underneath where tiles had been broken off or bricks had been knocked off, but maybe I'm not selling it as that, or it may look too noisy still.
First image is just a few lighting updates and some slight changes to textures and materials along with the mesh painted walls:
And the second image is the same but with the "CleanBricks/Tiles" material applied to the floors and walls.. (I can also make a quick edit to apply it to the ceiling if that would fit with the rest of the scene better):
Thanks again for all the feedback! It's really helping, I just hope I'm executing your ideas well enough to really help the scene
'Clean' tiling textures:
Mesh painted:
For the candles, I took the AO and multiplied that by a linear gradiant, and put the result into alpha, which is used for transmission mask.
For the flame, there are 2 intersecting quads, using a different material(but same textures). There is an opacity mask in the alpha of the diffuse which is used to additionally mask out the flame. The material is Additive and two sided, and as for the animation:
Hope you find this useful
I just wanted to comment and say I think the DOF is a little detracting. The center peices is really nice and detailed, but the wall behind it, which doesn't appear to be very far away, is a blur.
Great work regardless
As for criticism, I believe the clean brick variant really takes away from the visual noise. As one of my professors constantly repeats, "You should use the least amount of noise as possible, strategic noise and story telling elements are what drives a scene. Not the amount of "cool things" and intricate, small details you can add. Simpler the better, especially if it helps cut polycount, draw calls, and still can portray the same message." - Darkrusader.
May not be his exact words, but basically sums up how he ends every lecture lol.
Add3r: thanks!
Do you mean that the clean look improves the scene because it gives the eye somewhere to rest and gets rid of some of the noise? Making the Throne even more of a focal point?
Here's the latest update based on a couple of things! Going away for Christmas so not going to manage to update it much but i'll be working quietly on the textures based on what chrisundrum, praetus, ParoXum and whats_true have said!
That sir, is exactly what I meant. I need not say more!
As for your scene, even though the subtle changes you have been making, havent made a HUGE difference, such as like massive color changes and that sort of thing. It has come a LONG way with just the subtle tweaks. Less is more, and this scene demonstrates it well with the intense lighting and extreme focal point. I personally enjoy this piece a lot, Though you could use a little bit of subtle rim lighting on the right side as well. Not as strong as the left, but the pillars just kinda disappear on the right. Just enough to determine shape. Not sure how it would look, but a suggestion!
And again that's something I hadn't even slightly noticed! But I definitely see what you're saying now! Ill have a play around with the lighting on the right of the scene as currently there's pretty much none, it's mainly affected by the ambient light and 1 low intensity fill light.