[UDK] Shire Environment

DQ89

Shire Environment I've been working on for awhile. I've been having a really weird issue with shadows that you can see in the third image. It just bakes these black blocks right across random meshes. If anyone knows of a possible solution I'd love to hear it! Thanks

djgardner

This is impressive!
Not sure about your lighting issue. I originally thought it was your light maps in the 2nd UV channel, but this look like a bigger problem then your light maps.
Maybe post this in the "Technical" forum?

locater16

Not a bad start, though I'd say the lighting needs work and there's the feeling of noisy, repeated patterns a lot.

A more golden/warmer light from the sun should help quite a bit:


I even remember the grader specifically saying they upped saturation on yellow for the grass during the first movie.

Another thing to note is that the grass is bit more neat and tidy:


Regardless, I hope to see where it's going, good work!

davidosterlind

Cool! Really like that first shot, looks like a nicely planned place to live
I agree on the grass, feels a bit off. Personally I think grass is really hard to get right. It might be too long and thick overall, seems like the entire area is covered in tall, rough grass, try varying the length. The path needs some love, seems really flat(as in no normal-details) and like its never been used. Liking the trees!

oh, btw. Those light artefacts, dunno if its remotely the same problem but you never know, seems to solve different issues with shadows: http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/817623-Black-artifacts-in-seams-with-lightmass-SOLVED

DQ89

Thanks for the feedback! Good points on the lighting, grass, and road. That's interesting that the grader said they upped the yellow saturation, can definitely see it in that reference though, I'll see about changing that. The grass does looks more neat in that ref agree that more variation would be good too. Ya the road could use some work as well been going through several variations of mats for that, probably get some more cobblestones and such in there too. Thanks for that link David it actually seems to have solved the problem!

DQ89

Update on where this guy is at

Tobbo

I'm liking where this is going! Nice work.

leleuxart

I think it still feels a bit dark. The one thing I remember from the Shire is how bright/saturated it was. A lot of the photos of The Shire show saturated greens and yellows, with a bright sky. It's missing that fantasy feel

I like the fact that you're doing the Shire though. The LoTR/Hobbit fan in me is happy

Fingus

The grass is very uniform and kinda noisy, it looks like astroturf.
And I agree with the previous comments on the saturation and contrast. Look into Color LUT's: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g6kyZ7kRPs"]Color Correction with Look Up Tables in UDK - 3dmotive - YouTube[/ame]

BobtheGreatII

One thing that's really standing out to me is that you can see so much of the roof, when if you look at the pictures that were posted, a lot of the roof, if not all of it, is covered with grass.

DQ89

Thanks for the crits, I'll have to work on getting the houses into the ground more, and adjusting the grass as well. I've done a bit with that post processing color correction Fingus posted (cool stuff!) here's how it's looking now.

locater16

Definitely better! The sky looks a little blown out now, but the closer grass has some nice variation and the lighting is better overall. The one thing that stand out is the road feels rather plain and unadorned. Could do with cobblestone and wagon tracks, footprints and etc. to make it look used.

DQ89

Thanks! Ya I agree on the road and sky, still have the default UDK skybox so that's on the list of things to change. I also plan on getting some decals for wear on the road so hopefully that'll make it look a bit more interesting.

DQ89

Update on where this is at

Aasmund1986

Amazing work! I`m actually working with a re-make of The Shire exatcly as it shows up in the The Lord Of The Rings, myself. I have been using CryEngine, but due to its limitations, I went over to UDK. I have a very basic-understanding of UDK, but I`m learning. It must be like, stepping into the movie when your`e walking in that world Did you do the grass and trees yourself?

DQ89

Thanks! O cool ya UDK is a really nice engine to work with. I've never used CryEngine myself but I've seen it can have beautiful results. Ya I did all the foliage, there's a great tutorial over on 3dMotive that I went through, this was my first time really doing foliage at all and I learned a lot from it. Do you have any screenshots of the work you've done so far? I'd love to see it!

Aasmund1986

I can send you pm with my Facebook-album for the project
In my project, I remaked the "Concerning Hobbits" track for use in a preview-video.
But I had to have a licence for using my remake. I managed to get a go from Warner Bros so I did call Universal Music and New Line Cinema, but they didn`t lincenced things like that. But I guess its ok for use in a personal and non-commercial project? I wish Peter Jackson could see your work

DQ89

Oh nice ya it shouldn't matter as long as you're not making money off of it. Haha ya that would be pretty cool:)