Small cityscape in UDK

modebloggen

MOST CURRENT PROGRESS:



Hello polycount!

I'm a student who's currently starting his second year in a 3d-graphics-for-games school. I've been working on modelling a small section of a city, just a few houses and stuff, and thought I would start posting here a bit for feedback etc.

My idea is to have it Borderlands-esque. Pretty rough lines, a look that is a bit worn, but not quite as post-apocalyptic as they have it. Also a bit more futuristic (note though that I only have the first game as a reference, haven't played 2 very much).

At the moment, pretty much all of the mesh work is done. Its a bit rough but will do. For now, at least.
The only thing that is textured is a sign. My goal this week is to have most of the props done with texture, and to have it tested in UDK.



The sign from different angles in Maya



The sign when imported to UDK





View of the city



Another angle



Same angle, with the textured sign visible.

I'm looking for feedback, both mesh-wise and texture-wise so please don't be shy!=)

vincentvangeel

As for the mesh, I think it's okay. There is no need to use more poly's.
As for the texture, the style of Borderlands is already starting to show but I'm missing the amount of detail in it.

If you look at the image (of the borderlands trailer) on the bottom of this message, you can see that on the back of the female character there is alot more going on in terms of colors. The dirt stains and scratches give a lot of live into the texture. On your panel you stick to much to the same color, you do have a first impression of scratches which is a good start.

Your blockout of the city is looking great.
Looking forward to seeing more of it.

Nahp

Lookin great! I'm loving that sign and can't wait to see the end result!

modebloggen

Thanks, both of you!=)

vincentvangeel,
I definitely see what you mean about the speckles and dust, I'll work on that a bit today!

modebloggen

So, I worked a bit more on the texture for the sign, giving it a bit more dirt to make it more interesting. I also started on a barrel, though at the moment i has only diffuse and no specular map yet.

Auldbenkenobi

This is already looking prett promising, keep it up

modebloggen

More progress! Added a dumpster to the collection. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I can't get over the feeling of the dumpster not being quite up to par with the sign and barrel. Any suggestions?


Just a screencap from UDK presenting all objects.

silver_hoodlum

nice style, does it have an especif name? doesnt look like standard painted

ivanzu

Looking good,I think that you need more colors and bigger variations in color since its tad boring now.

BTW
I think you duplicated your sky because I can see some problems on the first image .

modebloggen

silver_hoodlum
thanks! Don't know about the style name, a bit cartoony I guess, but other than that I don't really know. I kind of like it because it's pretty gritty and (pardon the pun) a bit rough around the edges.

ivanzu
Yeah, I agree with the colours. I tend to stick with what I'm familiar.. And yes, aware of the duplicated sky! Haha still a newb in UDK...

woot

i believe its called Cell Shaded, art style.

i think the dumpster could do with some more dirt lower down nearer to the ground, and the bags look quite plain, maybe add some stains or something?

other than that, not bad!

Javibcln

I really like the style! nice work, I´ll keep an eye on this

Fnitrox

woot wrote: »

i believe its called Cell Shaded, art style.
other than that, not bad!

It's actually not as cell shading is (you don't say) a method for shading and not texturing... It's just something close to the Borderlands art style

Anyway it's looking good so far, but i think that overall all your textures could use a bit more grunge and color variation. They still look rather flat and not so intresting imho.

woot

Fnitrox wrote: »

It's actually not as cell shading is (you don't say) a method for shading and not texturing... It's just something close to the Borderlands art style

Anyway it's looking good so far, but i think that overall all your textures could use a bit more grunge and color variation. They still look rather flat and not so intresting imho.

hmm, someone told me borderlands was cell shaded, i have been decieved :poly118:

modebloggen

woot: I think Borderlands might be cell shaded, but that would just be a part of what defines their style. to me, at least=)

Today I made a small potted plant, mostly because I wanted to try my hands on alpha channels in UDK.

This will be my last update for the week, I guess I'm pretty happy with the look so far. You all have been really helpful with your comments, and I really appreciate that. I have been rather nervous to post here for feedback, but now I don't know what I was thinking; your opinions have really helped me push this further than i could have on my own, and the (constructive) criticism has been spot on.

A big thanks to all who gave me advice! Next week I will start on the buildings. Tileable textures will be challenging!=)

Here is this weeks harvest, some crappy screenshots.



Dumpster




Barrel




Sign




Plant




Everything together in UDK

modebloggen

just a quick update today. Been messing about a bit with UDK, trying to wrap my head around the basic functions of it etc. I've gotten a bit of work done on some new meshes and textures, but the new stuff still have a lot of work that needs to be done yet.


A quick preview of the current state of affairs. The plan is to go from here, beef up the general rughness and grunge of stuff, make the houses look a LOT more downridden (textures gonna look radically different to say the least) and get some more props in there to make the scene come to life a bit more. Note that I haven't even started on lightning yet, this is still with UDK's default lightning.

EDIT: wow didn't really reflect on it before but wow the shadows look crap. I think it might have something to do with UDK not registering the mesh from behind (backface culling I guess), any tips on how to manage this better?

Clark Coots

nice block out and the style is coming along well. I think you could use some edge highlights to bring out some more shapes and add more depth to your textures.