Here is a small WIP environment work, based on a photo I found on AbandonedPorn.com.
I wanted to make a small piece, with a focus on textures and lighting, and trying to keep dynamism of composition.
Fantastic work so far! What on earth is the polycount of this scene? It looks huge, and I keep trying to find the seems and etc. but I can't. Awesome work!
The first few screenshots are a little confusing at first. The camera is really close in all of them, but once I got to the last shot and the paintover, it started reading better.
The paintover is looking nice. I'd consider adding some moss/ivy on the walls too. Depending on how high we are in the house, we might see some rubble on the ground through the window too. I definitely prefer the lighting setup in the paintover.
The missing plaster over the bricks seems pixilated, following the shape of the bricks too closely. When plaster flakes off, it tends to occur along natural faults, and rough edges are smoothed over time. Also, plaster over bricks is often quite thick.
Locater 16 : Thanks! Concerning polycount, there's nothing incredible, actually. The scene is 17000 tris. It can be optimized a lot, of course, and there is some extra geometry for blending. I must admit i didn't paid too much attention in the first place, though. Here is the wireframe :
Leleuxtart : You're right, the firsts screens are confusing... i'll clean this post maybe... I'd like to blend some moss, and add some wetness too.
tottot : Here are some textures, the plaster isn't satisfying right now so i don't show it, and the wood on the beams is still a placeholder... It was all made in Zbrush, in 2.5D :
DWalker : Yes your right, bad blend setting, i'll fix this!
Blaisoid : Thank you! And yes, the doors are placeholder.
Exactly, I first sculpted elements individually, composed them on a document, grabbed textures (normal map, AO, custom mat, etc), and composed them in Photoshop. It's mostly what the amazing naughty dogs guys have explained, especially the tutorial written by Bradford Smith in the "Vertex" bible.
Wow, I'd been expecting that pile of debris to be the usual mound shape, but like I said I just couldn't find it from the screenshots. Great work on the texture for it.
dude... I did not know about that Vertex pdf by Naught Dog, just downloaded, amazing! your texture work looks great and I agree that the last paint over image has a lot of good things working for it.
Exactly, I first sculpted elements individually, composed them on a document, grabbed textures (normal map, AO, custom mat, etc), and composed them in Photoshop. It's mostly what the amazing naughty dogs guys have explained, especially the tutorial written by Bradford Smith in the "Vertex" bible.
Funkdelix : It takes a few hour, i don't know how much exactly, maybe 3 let's say. It still needs work though.
The brick texture was quicker, but I think i'll make another one...
Another update, started to work on vegetation! Next step : grass, ground and a few other plants.
Lookin' nice! Was the new rock texture done in ZBrush? The only thing that's standing out right now is how you blended the two textures. Is this vertex painting? You can give the brush an image(in the material) that basically acts almost like a mask or textured brush, depending on the image.
Also, a good variety of foliage will really help- some weeds and small trees(like you have in the paint over). The warm lighting in the paint over looks good with the green plants.
Rock and mud were made in ZBrush, I use the same process for all textures.
I have a depth map set in the blend material, but maybe it's too soft, i'll work on this, and more foliage.
After a little break, I started working again on this micro scene.
I decided to continue with the Cry engine 3. Right now, i just transfered assets and textures, and played with water, material and lights/postproc.
I'm glad you're continuing this and putting it in CryEngine. I just started learning it myself a few months ago and it's quickly becoming my favorite engine. Although, I do miss the easy material blends...
Not sure how much work you've put into the water, but right now it's looking very foggy. The last shot looked pretty good because the reflections were more noticeable. If the water has been stagnant for awhile, I think it would be darker and more dense, and if it really is stagnant, then stronger reflections.
Alphavader : Ok for the breakdown, i'll try to do this asap.
leleuxart : I didn't worked that much on the water. Anyway, thanks for the feedback, you are right.
And no, it's not a VisArea, I tried both with and without, I have more control in this setup, i think.
I have a question : when I try to open the map, i have an error message "files could be corrupted". A previous test map had the same issue. Now I can open it, but the actual scene won't... Do you have any clue?
Crydev site is down so i can't find any explanation...
I have a question : when I try to open the map, i have an error message "files could be corrupted". A previous test map had the same issue. Now I can open it, but the actual scene won't... Do you have any clue?
Crydev site is down so i can't find any explanation...
It's because Crytek's servers have been down. The engine connection issue has seemed to come and go during the downtime. I actually just had that problem earlier this morning too, although the sites have been down for about a week.
Sheipeiro : Thanks ! I tried with the older plaster with decals. It does not really work that good. I'll try to adapt decals, tweak the diffuse, maybe.
Dudealan2001, Thaurdol and Kuki : Thank you! I will definitely do a breakdown, one day, soon, hem hem
HP : Thanks a lot!! I'll tweak the leaf and grass, u're right.
Anyway, quick update : new materials (the blend between bricks and plaster is bad, right now...), lighting update, and i played around with tessellation and parrallax.
Yop!
Another thing, your grass are just two planes in X being clipped, don't be afraid to make it more high poly, the costs for it are almost nothing and it makes all the difference and it helps with the "spiked" look you're getting now. Subdivide the planes a little bit, add a twist and bend modifier and change their geo, it makes world of diference when you give them a little bit of love like that.
Also grass growing out of mud looks weird, first grass would never grow there, second the bright/dark sudden contrasty stands out like a sore thumb. it would help to add a little "skirt" around your patches of grass so it blends with a "J" shape instead of just clipping right through the ground.
This scene looks amazing!! Keep up the awesome texturing. The only thing I can think of is where the grass meets the brown mud - it is kind of harsh. Maybe you could add some green tint or moss around the grass?
[HP] : Thanks! Incredibly useful feedbacks, I'll definitly re-work vegetation.
looprix : thank you I think i'll remove most of the grass, and keep it around the windows. Maybe add some debris, and grass in those spots.
The lastest update is looking really nice. Maybe get a stronger sense of contrast in there, with the part closest to the camera in the last shot darker, with stonger sunlight streaming in from the windows and broken parts of the roof.
AbKi and JamieRIOT : thanks! I'll try to work on contrast, and light gradient, but later, right now i spent to much time on tweaking over and over, I need to finish this, before I lost all my motivation ^^
Exactly, I first sculpted elements individually, composed them on a document, grabbed textures (normal map, AO, custom mat, etc), and composed them in Photoshop. It's mostly what the amazing naughty dogs guys have explained, especially the tutorial written by Bradford Smith in the "Vertex" bible.
I usually get nasty seams around the edges when I do ZGrab, I hope you know what I mean by it, if you had this problem was there any particular setting to get rid of it? Whenever I got this seam I would fix it in Photoshop but it always consumes time.
Replies
The paintover is looking nice. I'd consider adding some moss/ivy on the walls too. Depending on how high we are in the house, we might see some rubble on the ground through the window too. I definitely prefer the lighting setup in the paintover.
i hope that current doors are placeholders and that you will make proper doors like ones on the photo.
Thanks a lot for all your feedbacks.
Locater 16 : Thanks! Concerning polycount, there's nothing incredible, actually. The scene is 17000 tris. It can be optimized a lot, of course, and there is some extra geometry for blending. I must admit i didn't paid too much attention in the first place, though. Here is the wireframe :
Leleuxtart : You're right, the firsts screens are confusing... i'll clean this post maybe... I'd like to blend some moss, and add some wetness too.
tottot : Here are some textures, the plaster isn't satisfying right now so i don't show it, and the wood on the beams is still a placeholder... It was all made in Zbrush, in 2.5D :
DWalker : Yes your right, bad blend setting, i'll fix this!
Blaisoid : Thank you! And yes, the doors are placeholder.
What was your process?
im assuming you sculpted a few subtools individually and then stamped them on a plane in zbrush, i could be wrong..
Third!!!
Where can i pick up this vertex bible!?
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104752
It's a great project, a ressource and tuto compendium from many many artists (and a Frenchie )
Thanks for comments !
Funkdelix : It takes a few hour, i don't know how much exactly, maybe 3 let's say. It still needs work though.
The brick texture was quicker, but I think i'll make another one...
Another update, started to work on vegetation! Next step : grass, ground and a few other plants.
I'll also clean the first post.
I keep working on this scene, another update.
Textures for the ground :
Also, a good variety of foliage will really help- some weeds and small trees(like you have in the paint over). The warm lighting in the paint over looks good with the green plants.
Rock and mud were made in ZBrush, I use the same process for all textures.
I have a depth map set in the blend material, but maybe it's too soft, i'll work on this, and more foliage.
I re-worked the plaster texture :
After a little break, I started working again on this micro scene.
I decided to continue with the Cry engine 3. Right now, i just transfered assets and textures, and played with water, material and lights/postproc.
I need to bring the blends back, and continue
could you give us a bit more breakdown of the vegetations and textures ?
Is the scene in a vis area ?
/suscribed!
Not sure how much work you've put into the water, but right now it's looking very foggy. The last shot looked pretty good because the reflections were more noticeable. If the water has been stagnant for awhile, I think it would be darker and more dense, and if it really is stagnant, then stronger reflections.
And to copy Alphavader, is it in a VisArea?
Alphavader : Ok for the breakdown, i'll try to do this asap.
leleuxart : I didn't worked that much on the water. Anyway, thanks for the feedback, you are right.
And no, it's not a VisArea, I tried both with and without, I have more control in this setup, i think.
I have a question : when I try to open the map, i have an error message "files could be corrupted". A previous test map had the same issue. Now I can open it, but the actual scene won't... Do you have any clue?
Crydev site is down so i can't find any explanation...
It's because Crytek's servers have been down. The engine connection issue has seemed to come and go during the downtime. I actually just had that problem earlier this morning too, although the sites have been down for about a week.
thank you!
Next Update :
Tried to improve waters
worked ont the walls (new plaster, AGAIN, added decals, moss, colors variations).
improved lighting.
Next Step :
adding missing assets, more decals and integration, improving the woods.
Thank you!!
Amazing stuff
Sheipeiro : Thanks ! I tried with the older plaster with decals. It does not really work that good. I'll try to adapt decals, tweak the diffuse, maybe.
Dudealan2001, Thaurdol and Kuki : Thank you! I will definitely do a breakdown, one day, soon, hem hem
HP : Thanks a lot!! I'll tweak the leaf and grass, u're right.
Anyway, quick update : new materials (the blend between bricks and plaster is bad, right now...), lighting update, and i played around with tessellation and parrallax.
Yop!
Also grass growing out of mud looks weird, first grass would never grow there, second the bright/dark sudden contrasty stands out like a sore thumb. it would help to add a little "skirt" around your patches of grass so it blends with a "J" shape instead of just clipping right through the ground.
looprix : thank you I think i'll remove most of the grass, and keep it around the windows. Maybe add some debris, and grass in those spots.
the scene came a long way since its first iteration!
New windows! And work on the ground.
I did not worked on the grass yet, it'll be the next step.
Thank you!
@Boyo
I usually get nasty seams around the edges when I do ZGrab, I hope you know what I mean by it, if you had this problem was there any particular setting to get rid of it? Whenever I got this seam I would fix it in Photoshop but it always consumes time.