[CE3] Sci-fi Machine Room
polycounter lvl 6
Hi guys,
So, I decided to start a new project. Since I tried to make a sci-fi environment for a really long time and failed everytime, I want to go slowly on this one and do the proper planning and also post it here!
After thinking about it for a while, I've decided to do a sci-fi machine room with big and futuristic engines, generators, tons of cables, control panels and stuff like that.
I have to say that I'am a really beginner to that whole game art and 3D thing so I don't know, how to start with environments/scenes like that properly!
Here's how I started:
First I gathered reference all over the internet to get a basic idea of what I want to create. Here's a little mood/referenceboard of the stuff which inspired me most.
After I've had a solid idea, I started blocking out the whole thing in max and brought the first stuff into the engine.
As for the engine, as you can see, I've choosen the CryEngine since I really love the capabilities of it and wanted to get some more familiar with it for a while now so I thought this is the chance!
Before that, I wanted to make the "centerpiece" of the entire scene. As I knew it would take a while (I'am really, really bad at designing sci-fi stuff^^) I started that thing after the first few pieces I brought into the Engine.
Here is what I came around with:
After that was done, I've went further with the blockout. And yeah, here I'am now. :P
And this is what I've got so far:
It's not much at the moment but C&C is really appreciated! Also I would like to know if I'am on the right track or better go and do something else. :P
Thanks in advance!
So, I decided to start a new project. Since I tried to make a sci-fi environment for a really long time and failed everytime, I want to go slowly on this one and do the proper planning and also post it here!
After thinking about it for a while, I've decided to do a sci-fi machine room with big and futuristic engines, generators, tons of cables, control panels and stuff like that.
I have to say that I'am a really beginner to that whole game art and 3D thing so I don't know, how to start with environments/scenes like that properly!
Here's how I started:
First I gathered reference all over the internet to get a basic idea of what I want to create. Here's a little mood/referenceboard of the stuff which inspired me most.
After I've had a solid idea, I started blocking out the whole thing in max and brought the first stuff into the engine.
As for the engine, as you can see, I've choosen the CryEngine since I really love the capabilities of it and wanted to get some more familiar with it for a while now so I thought this is the chance!
Before that, I wanted to make the "centerpiece" of the entire scene. As I knew it would take a while (I'am really, really bad at designing sci-fi stuff^^) I started that thing after the first few pieces I brought into the Engine.
Here is what I came around with:
After that was done, I've went further with the blockout. And yeah, here I'am now. :P
And this is what I've got so far:
It's not much at the moment but C&C is really appreciated! Also I would like to know if I'am on the right track or better go and do something else. :P
Thanks in advance!
Replies
I've started blocking out some kind of terminal thing. I don't wanted to go crazy about the design so I kept it very simple. I want to do the tricky design stuff first since -as I said- I'am not good at that.
So, heres a quick viewport grab of the basic design/style I want to start off with for the terminals and control panels.
Of course there will be added lots of wires later on.
Keyboard will be holographic so these little things on top should be the emitters.
Thats all I got for the moment! Thanks again!
C&C is really appreciated...as usual!
Next step is to take the blockout some further and begin to block in the "smaller" stuff.
C&C is always welcome!
@Brygelsmack: Thanks for mentioning this! I've changed the resolution of the pictures. Please let me now if its better now.
Concept wise I wonder, if you can project a keyboard on nothing but air, why not project a screen?
in case you are wondering current cutting edge technology of projected keyboard still requires a surface so that the light beam collide with something and the Z axis of where the user fingers tapped can be more easily mapped and recognized.So I assume this device belongs to an era when they already learned to create full interactive holo-projections
The reason for that is, that I want to combine two different styles in this environment. On one hand, that clean, minimalistic, modern science fiction like you find it in games like Mass Effect and Deus Ex and on the other hand that "old" sci-fi style with big pipes and -sometimes blocky- overexeggerated shapes like you would find it in an old Alien movie. I know, logically it makes absolutley no sense but I see this as some kind of a self challenge in terms of design. Maybe should have mentioned that before...
Very interesting facts I didn't knew! Thanks!
But for the time this environment is set in, I think it's about 2290. So very far away. I also didn't knew that technical accuracy is that important in an sci-fi environment. For the next assets I try to stay with the artstyle I'am going for but also take the technical aspect more into account.
At the moment I'am working on the first design for a ground plate. I want to have 3 sorts of ground plates in the end:
One with pipes (this one and one with a curved pipe), one with cables,
and one with just some kind of metal casing on it.
I really would like to go further on the actual environment instead of spamming you with that high poly stuff but I would like to do the most difficult and most time consuming things first.
Is that the right approach?
Maybe I'am going to add some more modelled detail to it instead of tons of normal mapped detail. How many tris is okay for a ground plate like this?
I couldn't resist and did some texturing tests. Going to finally take the blockout further tomorrow.
C&C is really welcome!
Just another small update. I've worked a bit on the barriers and stairs.
Aaaaand....
Bit of an update.
This is the scene as it states atm:
Today I've worked on the monitors on the wall:
And thats how they look from behind:
I know the normals are far away from perfect now. I try to fix that immediately!
And the highpoly:
Nothing special^^
C&C is appreciated!
Fixed all those ugly normal map/smoothing group artifacts.
C&C is always appreciated!
Is there something I do/I've done wrong? If so, I would like to know what it is and how I can fix it.
Is the work too bad?
Is there just nothing to critique?
In the last case, I were happy but I think there is lots of stuff I could improve if I'd recieve some crit.
Just wanted to say that. Thanks in advance for any kind of critique!
"Polycount - Where pros are praised."
Everyone in between shitty and pro are just left to figure out what to do on their own... If you're awesome, you get tons of pages worth of praise, if you suck, you get tons of pages worth of crits. If you're good, you get nearly nothing. But hey, you got two pages already, it's more than what I've been able to scrape together.
I think this looks nice man. Keep at it.
But yes, I'm silently stalking this project
Think maybe the Bloom on the screens can be toned down a bit so we can see the stuff on the screens, maybe get some movement on them
I'm also digging the extreme hot and cold color scheme. Sort of reminds be a bit of the bulletstorm color pallets.
Sort of a preference crit, but it would be awesome to have one of the floor panels by the thick wires offset and pullet up so you can see the underworkings. Maybe some repairs are going on. This would help make the room feel larger and be a nice place to mimic the normal details such at the back of the monitors. (wires,pipes,etc.)
Again just a thought. Keep it up!
just keep posting
@Brygelsmack:
Thank you.
What you described is exactly what I've saw many times before on the polycount reply-o-meter if you know it. Sad but true.
@Kazperstan:
Thanks! Yes, I've posted in the WAYWO as an x-post but this thread goes that fast that your stuff is not really been seen.
About the monitors I struggle with the sub-material for the screens itself to play videos on them. Will figure out how that works later on.
@Gary Maticych:
Thank you kindly!
@aaronmwolford:
Thank you!
The big turbine model is long planned. Will write a bit more about that now.
The color scheme is not really final yet, since I'am not sure about the overall colors itself. Also I'am not sure, if I should use subtle ambient light or illuminate the complete room with light entities.
I've already had in mind that floorplate thingy you mentioned. I'am going to make a smaller opening on the right side of the plates where you can see the details which will be there in the future.
@e-freak:
Thanks a lot! I'am really glad you like it!
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Okay, so for now I've started to gather reference for the big turbine in the middle of the room at the start of the project but I've mainly looked for modern steam turbines.
I've stumbled upon some pictures of turbines called "gas turbines" and was overwhelmed by the awesome amount of sci-fi looking details on them. Here is a little referenceboard I've mocked up quickly to show you some of the pictures I use to get an idea for the main style and design of the center turbine.
All of those pictures show awesome details but this one is the one which style and colorscheme I like the most so its also the one I'll heavily base my turbine on.
I'll start with the high poly of the turbine right now. This could take some time since -how I realized now- this thing is the "hero-prop"^^
Thanks again for all your replies and critique!
Still very simple and WIP
Any C&C is welcome!
btw i think the colour matching for some props is too mix up between cool color and warm color, it make abit weird for me.
a quick sample is the backside of the monitor, the red color is not matching with the blue wire.
correct me if im wrong
@RavenTheBird:
Thanks!
No, you're right. But the blue and the red cable are the mass and the plus cable. Don't know if its technically correct but I've saw it in some reference pictures so I replicated it.
The red color behind the lever is to make clear that this lever should only be used in case of emergency or malfuction.
Can't wait to see more progress.
Instead of bright as fuck and saturated as hell reds use a light orange or a desaturated red. But keep the red and grey/silver color scheme, don't introduce greens lights, blue lights, ect, try and either use well placed lights to add contrast or keep it mostly one color. It's hard to explain but it's all over the place and just not as cool as it could be.
Thank you!
All the light, bloom, glow etc. I've got in the scene right now is just temporary. I'am going to finish all the stuff like high poly, low poly and baking first, then make out a good color scheme and texture my assets according to that.
@Clos323:
Thanks a lot!
@AlexCatMasterSupreme:
Thank you!
Like I wrote above, lights and textures are all just some temporary playaround. I start with the real texturing and lighting process after all the high poly, low poly and baking is done properly. So finding a good color scheme is definatley part of the plan.
I want to keep the basic idea of the hot and cold lighting as you said but there will be needed tons of tweaking in the future. Further I'am going to remove all the diffuse maps I've applied to the assets right now and replace it with just normal and AO until the final texture is done and the lighting is someting better.
Thanks again for your critique!
Now I'll finish the rest of the high poly, low poly and baking stuff and when thats done, I'll start with the textures and the lighting.
The "hole" in the middle is supposed to be the base the main turbine will sit in.
Here is how it looks atm:
Either way, your HP work is quite fantastic
I really like the open part of the scene, the "floor" doesnt't look like a floor to me. I would go with a straight purpose to that floor, the massive pipe in the middle is what makes it confusing too. It just reads like "dont walk here" to me.
Also keep composition in mind. Where do you want to place the camera for the final shots? Do you want to do a flyrthough? Make paints of interest, make the details lead the eye to your masterpiece in the scene. Make it work from a few angles well. Keep in mind how tons of detail can distract the eye. Use far detail to guide the eye to your main peice and the peices along the way. Once the eye rests let it have some more details to look at a little closer. THEN when your just walking near it have that close up detail to really bring the player in. If you make things too detailed it won't read well and would just be interpreted as visual noise.
Also put a massive dick in the scene. That would be really funny.
Thanks! Yeah, I planned to post it on CryDev as well but their site was down in the last days. Will try it again tomorrow.
@Add3r:
Thank you!
I don't want to be praised. Actually I prefer a harsh but helpful critique.
As I said, I'am going to completley revise the colors later on. Hopefully that will work better.
@AlexCatMasterSupreme:
Alright, giant dicks make things better. Message recieved! :P
The pipe in the middle of the floor panel is something I saw when I recently played Halo 4 and -poorly- tried to kind of "replicate" it. Since I don't have many ideas for floor panels and flat walls, I take any inspiration I get and tried to make it a bit more interesting by adding something that stands out.
I have planned some spots for the final shots and also a flytrough but I want don't want to "concentrate" the details in those spots.
As for the hero prop, in my opinion it's the main turbine in the middle of the room I'am working on at the moment.
The detail for the super close view you mentioned are usually texture details I assume?
As for the noise I think you mean the metal on the floor. Atm I don't like the scale of it and will make it something bigger later on that its readable way better.
Also I plan to add an open hatch on the side of the turbine with some cables hanging out and a some tools lying on the ground next to it like there are some repairs are going on.
Is that what you mean when you say "points of interest"?
Thank you!
@KennyTies:
Thanks! No, there are just some smaller turbines in the actual scene right now. Atm I'am working on the high poly of the center turbine.
Well with textures generally you'd want to have 3 types of detail that read at different ranges, so it looks good from any distance, same goes for mechanical details. The big shapes draw you to the smaller shapes to make it feel more detailed and realistic, then the texture detail and rivets/bolts up close. The first or second video can explain some texturing and fundamentals pretty well. https://www.3dmotive.com/v101201.