[UDK] Natural Selection 2 lab environment
polycounter lvl 12
I plan on making an environment in UDK from this Natural Selection 2 concept.
The project is due May 2nd.
Goals of the project are:
Learn the art side of UDK.
Learn modular building techniques.
Push texturing skills, especially material definition.
Fit nDo2 into my workflow.
How to organize large scale scenes.
...I think that is it.
I began by highlighting unique assets in the concept.
Then in maya did a block out using a grid system to ensure they will all snap together when the assets are eventually brought into UDK. I made some slight changes to the concept by making this lab like a inspection point for the pods. So the track enters into the lab from one side, and cycles all the way through out the other side. I also put a big electrical junction box on the wall to break up the repetition of the pillars. I am still a little unsure what to do with the ceiling pieces where they connect to the walls, I am not sure if I am happy with how they look.
Roughly the same view as the concept.
Top down view to see what I added.
View from the other side of the lab
View through the window, looking to the area that is not in the concept.
I took my blockout and sent it to UDK just to check the height proportions were OK.
Nothing to exciting at this point, but I plan on starting my modeling in the next few days. Thanks for looking, and any feedback, critiques, and comments are welcome.
The project is due May 2nd.
Goals of the project are:
Learn the art side of UDK.
Learn modular building techniques.
Push texturing skills, especially material definition.
Fit nDo2 into my workflow.
How to organize large scale scenes.
...I think that is it.
I began by highlighting unique assets in the concept.
Then in maya did a block out using a grid system to ensure they will all snap together when the assets are eventually brought into UDK. I made some slight changes to the concept by making this lab like a inspection point for the pods. So the track enters into the lab from one side, and cycles all the way through out the other side. I also put a big electrical junction box on the wall to break up the repetition of the pillars. I am still a little unsure what to do with the ceiling pieces where they connect to the walls, I am not sure if I am happy with how they look.
Roughly the same view as the concept.
Top down view to see what I added.
View from the other side of the lab
View through the window, looking to the area that is not in the concept.
I took my blockout and sent it to UDK just to check the height proportions were OK.
Nothing to exciting at this point, but I plan on starting my modeling in the next few days. Thanks for looking, and any feedback, critiques, and comments are welcome.
Replies
Top view.
This is the right side of the concept which you cannot see, in the concept. I added overhead pieces which I want to make some type of venting system because it looked so empty with the large gap between the ceiling piece and the wall.
This is the front view of the lab, which is directly behind your view point in the concept. I need to figure out something for that wall. I am thinking a sign or something above, and then maybe a small electrical box or something. I am not to sure yet.
I think I am going to start cranking away on the high polys tomorrow. I want to get the large pillars, wall tileable texture, and floor tileable textures done as soon as possible so I can get the thing into UDK. I am not a big fan of the grate flooring from the concept so I have to experiment with some other options. Will post fun stuff tomorrow lol.
The concrete wall tile, and the floor tile that will be on upper floor area.
Track piece and support beam.
Pillar piece.
Basic industrial light.
Floor tile pieces. I plan on using polished concrete as the main material, and use the metal sci look as the trimming for it. I think it break away from that normal generic paneling you always see. Then the other tile piece is the drainage which I think looks better instead of having the entire floor covered in grating.
I wanted to avoid the simple sliding scifi doors, so I took inspiration from Paul Pepera (http://www.peperaart.com/) who did those awesome mechanical doors. I don't really plan on having that much detail in mine but I am happy with the basic structure so far. Would really like some opinions on this piece so far.
Thanks for looking. I will be doing lots of high poly modeling this next week.
I don't really want to put creatures in the pods because I think they will be obviously tiling, and I find that kind of boring. I plan on making a creep looking egg that kind of still fits into the Natural Selection world a little bit. My friend Kyle painted me this, his blog is here. http://kylesewnarain.blogspot.com/
Let me know what you think.
Not a lot of detail needed for it since it will be connected to the ceiling. I was more concerned with the silhouette. Also the I noticed after rendering it that the edges were a tad to sharp, so I softened them up. I will be posting some more high polys later.
Got these done today, and started making progress on the pod which should be done tomorrow.
I messed around with the design for the light to give it a little more of an interesting shape. I don't now if I like how the light looks curved like that, so i might change it, idk.
This is the pipe that is right down the center of the concept.
This is the pipe that has the lights on it you see in the ceiling, and going through the pillar.
Thanks for looking.
I finished the high poly for the floor tiles.
The left one is the drainage ones that will sit below the pods. And the middle one is the walkway that does down the center.
1 - Split in the overhead rail. I like how in the concept the rail veers right but there's still enough straight track for a few globes to be separated off from the line. If this is an inspection room, what happens to the ones that pass/fail? Think about moving the curve back towards the camera the length of 2 or 3 globes. I did a quick paint-over of your layout to show what I mean. (A) is the idea straight out and (B) is slightly tweaked in case the right side looks a bit bare. Bonus of B is an extra rail going left to right (I like interesting stuff going on at roof level
2 - This may come later in your workflow but I like the verticality of the orbs in the concept. See on the right how some of them have moved up to get over the consoles, getting some of that in there will be more interesting to look at. In conjunction with (A) you could maybe have the arms on the ones that have failed inspection be fully extended so the globes rest almost on the floor and are open.
I didn't really like how the overhead railing was split like that in the original because it didn't fit with how I built the right side which is not seen in the concept. If you look at the right edge of the concept it has like a medical inspection light looking thing so maybe I can build a split over there where the ones that have a problem are sent in a different direction. I will think about changing it though, thanks for the idea. As for the pods themselves I plan on doing a simple rig for them so I can adjust the height as I need them.
@JamieRIOT
Thanks dude
I redid my light, I decided I didn't like the shape. Didn't bother re-rendering it though.
My friend Kyle once again helps me out lol. He did a paint over on my block out so I could make it look fancy.
I decided to take a modular approach to my computer console. I realized I need about 4-5 different computers in the scene, maybe more. And it would tile to bad if it was just one piece placed through out. This why I can quickly build different computer stations without much difference resource wise, and save a bunch of time on the modeling side.
Thoughts and feedback are appreciated, thanks.
I made the high poly window today. Kept it fairly clean and simple.
My friend Kyle finished the paint over for the door so that should be a boat load easier to model. I am going to have to mess with the design of the console on the right because it might not fit into the area I have blocked out for it. I will be posting the highpoly for it tomorrow hopefully.
Onto the low polys!
So I kind of took everything and made a little hallway scene. Here it is.
I feel like the scene is a little to small and closed off. I would love some advice on a way to open it up a little bit with the assets I have, or just a better layout overall. Here are some ideas I have.
-Make a T shaped or L shaped hallway. Problem would be that the tiling might come off to strong.
-Quickly finish the railing asset, already has a low poly, but no UVs. I could take the existing metal texture from the window and use that to save time. Replace the windows with a railing instead. And use the windows to break up the near and fall walls more. Maybe combine this with the T hallway layout mentioned above.
-Bring the pods on the inside of the window and make the hallway wider. The problem is that I have no way of covering the boarder of the whole I would need in the wall where the pods will enter.
-Use the window as a framing element, and create visual interest on whats going on outside the window. Maybe have like rows and rows of those pods kind of like farm type thing. Remove the pillar from the left side, and use them on the other side of the window and have my scene out there.
Note: I have not setup any shaders for anything yet. Everything is just simple diffuse, spec, normal, emmissive, and opacity so far.
Any feedback, or ideas, would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I'm one of the NS2 env artists, and I can give you a bit of feedback to make this more in line with the NS2 maps if you like.
Firstly, it feels very blocky. It feels more like a concrete bunker than a lab/research facility or whatever. It's the blocky walls and 90 degree corner that is doing it.
I would start by working up the floor a bit more. Have a main pathway with side trims, and add in more geo! Get some depth in there to get a bit of visual interest. Get some big chunky floor panels in there.
The walls also feel very blocky. I'd maybe try making a few different trims and stuff, to break it up a bit. Don't make it go straight up, try and get a few different shapes/depths in there to break the verticality of the wall up a bit.
Try and do something more with the pipes too. They kinda just end. Maybe if they had a 90 degree turn and come down just above the doorway then went through the wall? Might look a bit more interesting.
Your materials need a bit more definition too. As I mentioned before, it feels more like concrete than metal, so try increasing the specularity, decreasing the glosiness, and I'd remove a bit more of the grime. As I also mentioned, get some panels and trims in there! Wiring, cables, etc, it all helps.
Some computer terminals or something might help too.
Keep up the good work and best of luck!
So I made some of the tweaks you mentioned today.
I think it helped a lot. The scene feels a lot less boring for sure. I will mess with the specular and shaders tonight and see if I can push the metal more. I think once I get the cube map in there, tweak the spec maps, add reflections, and some better lighting it will read a lot better. I am not sure why the window isn't getting any highlights at the moment
If I have time I would like to add a little keypad to the door, and some wire bundles. I am running short on time because this is due Thursday, so we shall see what I can get done in time lol.
Thanks for the help! I will post more progress tonight, or tomorrow.
Added reflections to windows, and floor tiles.
Added distortion to pod glass.
Fixed the annoying normal/shading issue I was having.
Things to do.
Make a basic wire asset to added some visual interest to the scene.
Make a little computer screen for the doors to make it more interesting, and create a new light source.
Figure out a shader for the creature and pod to make it look like it is suspended in water. Any ideas?
Tweak lighting more.
I don't think I will have enough time, but a little box asset or something to add to the hallway would help a lot.
Any feedback would be appreciated!
This is what I am handing in today for class. I am not entirely thrilled with the end result, but I am super happy with how much I learned. I might keep tweaking it a little bit this summer, or I might take what I learned and do something else. Any feedback would be appreciated.
I will post some more screens and stuff later!