(CE3) Lakeside Environment

Jack M.

Hey polycounters, Jack here again. I have, unfortunately due to work and school, been unable to make some showable environments for quite some time. Well I would like to get some feedback on this environment that I've been working on for the past couple weeks. Still have a lot of work to do, but it's time to get some crits in so it can shape up well in the long run.

I've been somewhat lost on this environment. I feel like the environment is pretty empty, but I'm not sure what to fill it with. I've been thinking of remodeling the rocks as well because the erosion doesn't really look right. Please give me some crits, tips, useful references, or anything else that might help. Struggling quite a bit on this one for a while.

Thanks in advance for the help guys, and sorry for the wordiness. Here's what I've got so far.

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mats effect

Hey

Sand texture looks quite nice and its cool they way you have it covering parts of the rock face though it might be a bit strong in places. The rock mesh's themselves are nice though it looks very repetitive at the moment. Try and make a wider range of variations and I think that will help a lot

Jack M.

Thanks for the tip and compliment mat. I'll fix the sand in the morning and see if I can't have some more progress images with some more rock meshes in the evening

Xendance

Also add moss slightly above the waterline on the rocks.

BasicallyNormal

Consistency is good, and it's cool that's you're trying to push as much as you can with just one mesh (from what it appears), but I think in this case mats effect is right and you need at least one or two more variations with the rocks. I think you make nice use of the rocks in the background though.

Jack M.

hey guys, I've got a little update. Been pretty busy as usual so I couldn't get all of the stuff done when I wanted to.

I've made another rock model that is a similar style to the original, just different in pattern to keep the style consistent. I think I might need one more.

I also added that moss Xendance suggested. I started by using my ambient occlusion bake to bring in the moss using a mask in photoshop onto the base diffuse texture. Then I added some decals to support the mossy texture like I did with the sand.

Then finally I used the ambient occlusion bake to bring in the sand into the cracks of the rocks.

I'm thinking of adding a final rock that stands out quite a bit more than the others to accent the environment. Tell me what you guys think and give me some more crits.

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Jack M.

thanks Amile

Bigglesworth

Very beautiful and atmospheric.
May be this rock should be wet at the bottom?

Jack M.

wow... um... I'm not sure how I missed making that rock wet. Thanks for pointing that out Bigglesworth. Dr. Evil would be proud.

Jack M.

Alright, so here's a little update. I got the rock looking wet, but I'm having trouble making it transition from wet to dry (I'm not even sure if it would look right).

Should I just adjust the spec map based on where I have the water touching the mesh or is there a better way to go about doing this effect?

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Optinium

You seem to be getting the right effect, I'd maybe also make the diffuse a bit darker in the wet area, it will help create contrast and make it look more.... well wet

Jack M.

Well here's what I've got. I think it looks better, but I'm still having some difficulty in making that transition from a wet to dry look.

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Jack M.

Alright, so I've made some more progress. I made a model that meets the terrain a little more seamlessly, and I decided to, for the most part, remove the wet rock. I wasn't liking the look of it and I got some feedback that it didn't really belong there so I moved it closer to the dock and resized it.

I still really want to break up those seams. I'm going to put pebbles and maybe some dead logs down. Any other suggestions to get rid of those nasty seams going into the terrain would be invaluable.

Thanks guys for all of the crits so far, but I still need that feedback.

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