[UDK] Sci-Fi Underwater Environment WIP

Arizia

Hey Polycount, thought its about time i get this on here so i can get some help with design ideas and modelling feedback.

This is the second complete environment i am attempting after the one i uploaded on a previous thread: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112535

As stated in the title the environment is trying a sci-fi theme in an underwater setting, so think rapture crossed with portal in a way. Not exactly working from a concept really, just adding thinks to the blockout as i go and see what works and what doesn't, so any feedback on placement and what can be changed will be greatly appreciated. Some of the meshes constructed have been based quite heavily off of other existing concepts so far and are waiting to be changed so nothing at the moment is final.

Here's what i have so far:







The crane was the most recent addition and here is the model with the high poly chain from my 3ds Max blockout:



Will update this thread with any major updates as they come, hopefully you like what i have so far and any crits are welcomed

Synyster

It's looking really sweet so far. I really like the architecture. It gives off the vibe that you're underwater. Only thing throwing me off is the mech. It doesn't feel like an underwater mech so it looks a little awkward there. I recommend looking up some more concepts to make it fit better in your scene.

Arizia

Its definitely an early draft for the mech i was aware how unsuitable it is as it stands xD, my plan is to have some sort of streamlined jetpack sort of thing with the sort of propellers you would get on a submarine or a submersible. Its not staying like that don't worry, but thanks for the comment

Arizia

I've been pretty awful with posting as i go along with this particular project...i need to get feedback as i go along in future. Main issue was time management alongside other university projects meant i didn't have the luxury of doing things right i just had to get it all done.

Anyway the project has been completed in terms of for my assignment deadline, however i am going to be going back and properly finishing it at some point as there is an awful lot wrong with it, and i will try and post regular updates when i do come round to doing that. Most obvious thing is the lack of texturing in the environment...

Below are some hi-res screenshots of the overall environment as it is, with a video flythrough i made at the end. Apologies for the poor framerate of the video, something went wrong between compressing which is a shame.

Any critique at all is appreciated, if u like something let me know, if u think something looks wrong and you know how it could be changed also please say










Youtube Flythrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMAP_zC-NNo

Sam Hatami

Just saw this. It's a cool design, however it feels a bit unfinished (taken your deadline in account). I think you have gotten the relative scale of your structures vs props pretty good and UDK's lighting is always very nice .

Lighting
I have a hard time feeling that I'm actually in a facility submerged in water. I think this is mostly due loss of light direction. With this I mean there is no external natural light gradient from the roof of your structure to the bottom of your structure. Even during overcast, light will decrease by depth in water, even though it won't go as deep.

I would have tried to indicate that light is indeed coming from outside, top and around, and gradually decrease this the further down you come, until it goes quite dark (depending on how deep your structure is submerged).
For future work, make sure you get your main lighting down first. Sometimes you need to do quite early, just to see how your geometry will break against the contrast.

Geometrically
As you say, you're lacking textures. But before your texture would be useful, you need to make sure your geo reads as structures, and not as faceted features. I would try for the next piece, to make sure you add as much as geometry to make things read smoothly and then try to reduce/optimize as you go, basically don't limit yourself geometrically that much when you are creating your structure.

By the looks of it, you took your block out geo and textured it?

Textures and decals
Well you are aware of this, there isn't enough to give you crits about .

Arizia

Thanks for the speedy reply, and some very fair comments .

I did go a bit back and forth with the lighting, i had a dominant directional in there at one point to mimic some sunlight/moonlight seeping through the water, but it was just overpowering some of the models. Additionally since the environment is supposed to be making full use of dx11 features and dominant lights can't be deferred i thought i would take it out. But you are very right that having one would have made a big difference. :P

In terms of the geometry, i was fully intending to add a lot more meshes to reduce the modularity in the scene, such as pipes, wires, extra panels and some rocks etc for the exterior environment as well. Just more things i had to sacrifice due to time constraints. The main problem with the scene was because i wanted an interesting floor design with different elevations and interesting shapes, i caused myself several issues with trying to make it all fit together. Such as needing new wall, trim, floor and ceiling pieces : /. Didn't leave me much time for other stuff so i really need to spend more time on planning in future.

Quite a few of the meshes were only slightly changed from the block-out, but some of the earlier ones were redesigned such as the main pillars and walls, and the floor and stair sections. But i ended up not having high-polys for quite a few of the meshes because i jsut needed to get started on texturing and unwrapping what i already had. Something along the lines of 40 individual assets in the scene so far ><

Anyway your comments are very appreciated and i will take all of it into account when i come back to this and try and do it properly . Even though in some ways this already looks nice i couldn't leave it the way it is knowing how unfinished and poorly optimized it is :P

tulkas09

I agree with Sam Hatami... plus it seams that you have fear to add more polys, all is extremely low poly. Just add more polys, you have the excuse that you don't have a game in the background, any character in the scene, and always you can say that is for a PC.

Then you have to add life to the environment, but without life, I mean more usefull things in the floor, small details as wires, pipes... tons of wires and pipes, more boxes, you are in a underwater thing, people works there... add things!!(+ light work)

See u!

Mischievous

Looks very awesome, I don't mind the lack of textures, we can call it a Shiny style :P If it was me though, I would have tried to implement Sam Hatami's idea by using multiple directional lights, but then again I don't know anything about Dx11... But also try to add more contrast to lighting since it can really stand out in interesting ways with the lack of textures.
Anyhow what I wanted to point out is that even though it's a sci-fi underwater base, that doesn't mean that you couldn't have a bit of a human element. Like a can of soda forgotten on a crate somewhere, or a dropped pencil, or a poster or calendar with some picture of a sunny mountainous terrain on it. Ok the last one probably wouldn't fit in that particular interior but you get what I mean.

Arizia

Again more useful comments thanks

I was definitely intending to add some more decoration assets into the scene but i was limited by time and had to get to just finishing what i already had. tulkas you are very right in that i probably shouldn't have been so concerned with optimization since its a presentation piece but i guess its mostly force of habit.

Mischievous i love your thoughts about the human element, i wasn't originally going to do anything like that as i wanted to keep it all to the theme but what you say makes a lot of sense. It would definitely make the player able to relate to the environment a lot more and i will try and implement some of the things you suggested when i come round to redoing this

Thanks again guys.