Hitman Absolution environment
polycounter lvl 6
Hey all, I'm one of the newer members of Polycount, and I'm trying to tighten up my environment skills so I can produce something worthy enough for a portfolio.
After completing my last project, I came to the conclusion that it was too quick and unimpressive, and I wanted to put to use some of the lessons learned during its creation to a bigger and longer project that looks the part. So I was trolling the threads and decided to set myself this enviro, for a two-month deadline.
Here's a quick and dirty paintover of the key assets the scene requires. As for game engine, I was thinking UDK.
After completing my last project, I came to the conclusion that it was too quick and unimpressive, and I wanted to put to use some of the lessons learned during its creation to a bigger and longer project that looks the part. So I was trolling the threads and decided to set myself this enviro, for a two-month deadline.
Here's a quick and dirty paintover of the key assets the scene requires. As for game engine, I was thinking UDK.
Replies
Today I started by blocking out and unwrapping the meshes. No textures yet and the UTGuard is there for height reference.
I hope to add more tomorrow, but I find modeling/unwrapping first and then getting stuff into a scene serves as a much better motivator.If you can see anything immediately wrong, crit away
Considering using Image-based reflections on the floor to mirror the concept floor's reflective properties. Thoughts?
Tomorrow I will texture the filing cabinets and add more stuff to the enviro.
Tomorrow, I'll texture the ceiling pipes and add more meshes to the scene. Crit away as usual, every little help makes it better.
Looking forward to seeing more though!
Also threw in a pedal bin and a desk lamp, as well as some base textures on the ceiling pipes. I'll do more tomorrow.
Did more on it today. added the TV/stand meshes, and textured some other stuff. Currently struggling to get good shadows on the ceiling, will play around with it a bit more.
Scene should look pretty dark overall(attempt to match the dark color of the ceiling in the concept art in the same area)....then it's just a matter of placing your point/spot lights from your light sources (yellowy brighter lights). It's always easier when you light in reverse, most people start with their lights instead of the other way around.....just like a good under painting, those darks are hard to put back in.
Thanks PixelTron for the tip, I was able to make much deeper shadows thanks to that!
As a result, the scene looks much better now. I added in some more blockin meshes today, such as the keyboards, the printer and mugs. Lighting's not 100% but it's definitely getting there now. I also redid the texture of the lights, as they were flat and very hastily done. For the rest of today though, I shall continue blocking in/texturing. Will update later. Crit away
Yeah Serrife, I realised this, but i came so far that I decided to just keep going. I'm considering adding some shut office windows to the piece as an extra, as it feels a little too boxed in. Will continue on to texturing.
Crits all welcome.
Thanks for the feedback Sonley, will do it once the bigger assets are textued and done.
Latest update: still fiddling about with the lighting, got some much deeper shadows because my spotlights had too big a radius and that was killing the shadows in front of the divider. I textured the computer parts, redid the chairs and other tweaks. Just need to texture some more assets and the fun of composition begins. Crits welcome, especially on the lights.
Hey don't worry about it-- I was just being quirky- I was more curious of why the concept artist did it that way :B
Thanks for your support guys, I'm not an experienced artist by any means!
Here's another shot from down the hall. Today I added a couple more things and tweaked the lights, considering going beyond the concept and adding trailing wires, coffee machines and the lie as I feel the scene lacks variety. If anyone has any ideas on a frosted glass shader in UDK, I'd be forever grateful.
One thing that is distracting to me is the amount of those 'Reward' posters around. Seems a bit too repetitive. I'd suggest mixing those up a bit for the final piece, different colours, layouts, sizes etc
Other than that, great work
Today's/yesterday's work. I textured the lamps and paper piles, and added a couple more meshes. The windows looked really out of place until I put some venetian blind meshes over them; this way it's more justified that the office would be lit only by the striplights from the ceiling.
I added some distortion to the material of the frosted glass, will still have to tweak it though. I altered the opacity and tinted it blue for now. My main focus will be to fix those awful lightshafts, which will be my next goal. As for those Reward posters, what can I say, it's a busy station....but in all seriousness I will make a different texture set that reflects the documents in the concept. I'll keep you posted
I added a fibre texture sample to the lightshafts and generally tweaked the shader and the results look much better. I'll eventually add the trailing dust motes to the shader to emulate the concept more.
I also textured the computer chair today. I made the highpoly in Max and took that into ZBrush and then XNormal for the baking. Here's a shot of the highpoly chair.
The texture is not finished, though, will probably do more to it. Tomorrow, I will make tweaks and add more stuff, and also change the shape of the computer chair to be more rounded. Crit away, be as mean as you like
The chair is looking nice though. Can't wait to see the texture.
Today, I changed the light shafts as per Oniram's advice, and added some more textures. The desk fans looked terrible with geometry for the slats/cage, so I masked them instead and it looks far better.
Any advice? I'm currently struggling to light the room in the background, as the bloom of the lights is tough to replicate.
And the inner room, which is a large office area I decorated with the previous assets:
Things to do/change:
Texture the assets. The most important one to come next is the TV.
Re-sculpt the column trims, they look quite bare and could use some spicing up.
Consider adding more assets, including skybox assets and other office supplies.
Critique, as always, is readily appreciated. Be as harsh as you like
Quick update. I added some more textures, fixed the high specular of the floor and altered the lights to try and make the back room more like the concept. I also added a fire extinguisher mesh blockouts to add more variety to the office.
As usual, critique is appreciated.
Are you doing high poly bakes for all the models? Or just a select few?
Thanks for the advice guys, I took it into account and toned down the shafts. Today, I added some ring binders and made some adjustments to the meshes, particularly the dividers as the end tables weren't long enough. The ring binders share a texture with the folders, as I'm trying to cut down on files by combining textures into one sheet.
I tried tweaking the lighting to make the level brighter....with mixed results. Do you think it was better the way it was? Crit away!
P.S. The grain was a post-process effect. I like messing around with them sometimes.
Quick update: I added the TV textures and a office phone asset to the scene, still can't get the lights the way i want them however. I also started the frosted glass shader using a stronger distortion map. Still lots to do and change here and there, but the bulk of the work is done. I decided in the end that the lighting was too bright in that last shot, so toned it down a bit. As usual, anything look wrong, be it an asset , light, anything, crit away
Anyways for the crits. What jumped at me right away was the green divider. It almost comes off too blurry compared to the rest of the scene. Think about maybe not having that white wear in the middle and instead maybe try to spend more time on the spec. I can see clear specs as in polished wood in the concept and your wood looks sort of dull and blurry. Also the police logo on that same divider seems to stand out too much. Maybe make it slightly transparent. Also you might want to tweak your lights there, the small divider beside that green table looks very well lit, and yours looks dark.
I modified it a bit using you guys' advice. I have ambient occlusion and bloom added to the scene now, but one of the problems I have is getting the shadows to bake properly on the conduit/wall on the right. I want it to look like this
Any advice? Gonna try and finish the textures this weekend if possible for the assets.
fixed some textures, adde ceiling clips and changed the pipes, and added skybox stuff; just a couple of adjacent office blocks. From the concept, only the printer remains to be textured, but I'm going to redo the column supports in ZBrush (even in the concept, they look a little boring), and texture the other miscellaneous stuff in the office.
Critique and comments, no matter how harsh appreciated.
Added skybox offices, tweaked a few textures, not much left on the texturing front aside from the other assets I added. I also tweaked the lighting, gonna work on some bloom coming off the lamps on the desks at least. Any critique, good or bad, appreciated.