Storage Room/Basement Scene

Count Vader

*latest update in UDK*
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Hi, so I'm tackling this concept, figure it would make a really nice small-ish set.









Some assets:

Count Vader

Attempting to make a tileable worn/old painted brick texture today. As I am not that great at/dislike sculpting, the "sculpt" was created in photoshop using NDO and some painted masks. I realize the tiling is mad obvious, i'm not sure how much of the final wall material will be bitmap vs. vertex painting, so i'm just trying to get the "feel" of the material down currently

chrisavigni

Nice start! I really liked your ceiling - great material definition. Keep it up!

luthyn

Your materials are looking really great so far Are you using dDo or just Photoshop?

DWalker

The number of dramatically different bricks is probably going to cause noticeable patterns even with small wall sections. It might be better to have a fairly uniform wall then use decals to break things up.

ShockInfinite

Great start man. I agree with DWalker and thin you should have uniform wall and then use decals to break things up.

passerby

i would make it a vertex paint material, more variation as it tiles for the bricks the repeat is really noticable right now.

The ceiling stuff is great.

Count Vader

@ chrisavigni: Thanks!
luthyn : Thanks, an no, no dDO, just good old fashioned photo sourcing and painting. I did use nDO pretty extensively for the brick walls.

@ DWalker / ShockInfinite / passerby : Thanks, and yeah I settled on the method of vertex painting. I have created two materials I'm gonna try vertex painting between:


Painted Wall:





Exposed brick:




I'm pretty happy with how the painted wall mat turned out, but not so much with the exposed brick, so if anyone has any suggestions on how to improve it, please go ahead. Just keep in mind it's gonna be a secondary material that will only show up on some places, so as long as it's not like, "sculpt the whole thing from scratch in zbrush"

JamieRIOT

I think the exposed bricks need to be less glossy. It would also look nice to get some noisy/grainy variation in there, the colours look a bit flat at the moment.

Count Vader

JamieRIOT wrote: »

I think the exposed bricks need to be less glossy. It would also look nice to get some noisy/grainy variation in there, the colours look a bit flat at the moment.

Yup, I've actually re-donethe bare brick texture, it has a littel more roughness/variation now. I left a bit of spec on which technically isn't "correct" since there's no way bricks would have any spec unless it's like fresh clay, but it looks better that way I think. Let me know if you think this looks better:

Count Vader

And here is the final-ish vertexblend material in UDK. It interpolates b/w the painted and exposed brick as well as the painted brick and that black mold stuff you see in the concept art:

passerby

you got a nice falloff mask on the very paint material gj

EMC3D

Awesome textures and shots, where's the environment shot, looking forward to seeing it compiled together with some lighting.

Count Vader

passerby- thanks!


Mr Bear- thanks. env shot coming next, basically once all the primary assets (wall, ceiling, floor, beams, door) are done

Prism

I like this concept a lot. Can you tell me who made it ?. Also you are doing a great job with the textures, keep it going please .

chrisavigni

Really great brick texture! So far so good!

Count Vader

Duhh should have credited the concept artist in my original post! It's Mitchell Mohrhauser, here is his CGHUB page - http://mitchell.cghub.com/


Also, I made the VB material a bit better/closer to the concept, now I'm gonna move on to other stuff.

Count Vader

Got the basic "skeleton" done up in UDK, playing around with lighting! Does anyone know how to get rid of that dumb chromatic vignette UDK creates when 'playing' a level?




Closeup of beams/upper wall in marmo:





(Unfinished) Concrete floor:

copenhagenjazz

Looks good

But is it just me or are the normals pointing the wrong direction in your normalmap as to how UDK renders them? They look correct in Marmoset but your shots from UDK looks a little weird. The light from above looks like it actually highlights the edge on the underside of the bricks so try and flip the green channel and see if that doesnt look better

Count Vader

copenhagenjazz wrote: »

Looks good

But is it just me or are the normals pointing the wrong direction in your normalmap as to how UDK renders them? They look correct in Marmoset but your shots from UDK looks a little weird. The light from above looks like it actually highlights the edge on the underside of the bricks so try and flip the green channel and see if that doesnt look better

Haha good eye, thanks! I knew something was off about those bricks but couldn't put my finger on it. I knew I had to go around and flip the green channels for most of the materials, but I guess it didn't occur to me it had to be *all* of them lol

Here it is with the green channel on bricks flipped, pretty sure it looks more correct:

copenhagenjazz

Much better

Imasho

Inspiring stuff here I love that flaking paint on the brick wall.

beefaroni

Your assets are great; however, I don't feel that they're being shown off with the lighting you have so far.

Count Vader

Imasho thanks, it's a pretty straightforward vertex blend material

beefaroni Yeah the current lighting probably isn't too impressive, I'm still trying to figure out how to light the level, whether I should go with lights that only come from the light sources in the scene or cheat and have lights shine on certain assets to emphasize them (Which I'm kind of already doing for the floor, I placed a bunch of point lights right above to create some highlights)

I pretty much know nothing about lighting a level

Count Vader

improved/finished floor texture in marmoset

[y/n]?

chrisavigni

Nice!

Count Vader

Door WIP, any critique would be greatly appreciated!

Count Vader

cool well here's the finished door asset!:

m4dcow

So I know it matches the concept, but the door handle seems like it should be lower. Looks pretty sweet nonetheless.

chrisavigni

Once again great material definition!

Dubzski

With the door i'd be careful about the directions of rust/scratches/wear and tear there are at least 9 elements next to each other that don't look unified; also be careful of over texturing your stuff.
It gets really busy when everything has hardcore rust/stains etc.

Count Vader

@ m4dcow yeah it's probably one of those things that can go one way or the other ie sticking to the concept and having it be too high, or having it in a more right place but diverging from concept, i would say i'd prob. rather stick to the concept (as that is the course of action that currently requires less effort on my part lol)

@ chrisavigni thanks!


@ Dubzski not sure if I follow, what are the elements that don't look unified? I thought I was keeping it relatively 'clean' (for what is pretty grungy set/concept) But I guess I may have over-grunged it.

Count Vader

locker asset:

Count Vader

Update in udk!



And a fire extinguisher, cause why not

slosh

You're doing a pretty good job but I would go back and try to match the concept's mood and lighting. Also, there are more colors, grime, chipped paint that really pop on some of the metal in the concept that you are missing. The door is also more featured in the concept whereas in your render, its very hard to see at all. Basically, try to match the concept even closer. Those light spots in the concept also look nice and set a gritty mood. You're on the right track but I would work on those details more.

Count Vader

slosh wrote: »

You're doing a pretty good job but I would go back and try to match the concept's mood and lighting. Also, there are more colors, grime, chipped paint that really pop on some of the metal in the concept that you are missing. The door is also more featured in the concept whereas in your render, its very hard to see at all. Basically, try to match the concept even closer. Those light spots in the concept also look nice and set a gritty mood. You're on the right track but I would work on those details more.

Agreed, I think a lot of it is just the shit lighting in my scene, which is something I'm still trying to work out, I've nevr really lit an environment before, like with the door thing I'm trying to find a way to illuminate it in a way that looks "natural" since the lighting that comes from light fixtures doesn't really hit the door at all (Thought i'm gonna try to take advantage of the emmisive light at the top of the door frame, maybe that will help make it more prominent)

As far as the metals, is there a specific asset(s) you're reffering to, or just pretty much everything?

Thanks for critiquing!

ae.

really like the progress on this, lighting needs the most work at this point.

Count Vader

ae. wrote: »

really like the progress on this, lighting needs the most work at this point.

thanks, any tips as far as lighting goes?

Add3r

ae. wrote: »

really like the progress on this, lighting needs the most work at this point.

This.

As for tips, I say bring some of the contrast back in terms of lighting. Right now you have a lot of just scene based illumination, meaning nothing really has a shadow, and everything feels pretty flat. Add a focal point or two with spotlights or omni lights, bring some darker corners back, and just reduce the overall amount of baked lights down. Like I said already, you just have a lot of light in the scene, and this is supposed to be a storage/basement style room. Right it feels kinda like a dentist/doctor's office's lobby or something. Very "clean". Really make the spec work that you have done pop with a dynamic light casting an awesome shadow, and really make it feel as old and rusty as the props already in the scene.

Also, I feel you could definitely scale down the tiling on the ground texture. Right now the tiles feel huge, and kinda throw the immediate sense of scale out of whack.

Count Vader

Add3r wrote: »

This.

As for tips, I say bring some of the contrast back in terms of lighting. Right now you have a lot of just scene based illumination, meaning nothing really has a shadow, and everything feels pretty flat. Add a focal point or two with spotlights or omni lights, bring some darker corners back, and just reduce the overall amount of baked lights down. Like I said already, you just have a lot of light in the scene, and this is supposed to be a storage/basement style room. Right it feels kinda like a dentist/doctor's office's lobby or something. Very "clean". Really make the spec work that you have done pop with a dynamic light casting an awesome shadow, and really make it feel as old and rusty as the props already in the scene.

Also, I feel you could definitely scale down the tiling on the ground texture. Right now the tiles feel huge, and kinda throw the immediate sense of scale out of whack.

Cool, thanks for the advice. I'm a total newb to lighting/UDK. So would you say it's more advisable to place my lights on the basis of where I want highlghts/spec to be prominent rather than trying to replicate how the light would come "naturally" in the scene (within reason of course, obviously no lighting shit from the bottom when you clearly have lights coming from the top, etc )

Oh yeah, and scene is lit with dynamic lights only (+lightmap shadows)
it's to take advantage of udk's dynamic spec
I might catch a lot of flak for this, since it's kind of a "Cheat" but.. I just can't stand the way UDK makes the spec/normals look when the lighting is fully baked.
Gonna do my next project in cryengine so I don't have to deal with that bullshit again.

Add3r

Count Vader wrote: »

Cool, thanks for the advice. I'm a total newb to lighting/UDK. So would you say it's more advisable to place my lights on the basis of where I want highlghts/spec to be prominent rather than trying to replicate how the light would come "naturally" in the scene (within reason of course, obviously no lighting shit from the bottom when you clearly have lights coming from the top, etc )

Oh yeah, and scene is lit with dynamic lights only (+lightmap shadows)
it's to take advantage of udk's dynamic spec
I might catch a lot of flak for this, since it's kind of a "Cheat" but.. I just can't stand the way UDK makes the spec/normals look when the lighting is fully baked.
Gonna do my next project in cryengine so I don't have to deal with that bullshit again.

I am the exact same way. I just do not enjoy UDK's lighting in general. Creates a lot more hassle than should be necessary, and I am just sick of baking lightmaps and such. That could possibly be because I am a lighter on last gen consoles right now at work, and all I do is work with lightmaps and old static style lights.

But yeah, I mean, make sure the lighting makes sense, but first and foremost is quality. I tend to have all of my primary lights come from a model or light source that makes sense, and then rim lighting and all other secondary lighting I sometimes BS. Since this is a port piece though, do not feel like you are under any sort of major budgets. Portfolio pieces are here to show what we can bring to a team, not how you can make content that matches what the studio has already released. Push the envelope.

I personally believe in lighting that has an obvious light source. Sorry if I repeated myself and was completely redundant during that rant, at work lol.

Count Vader

Add3r wrote: »

I am the exact same way. I just do not enjoy UDK's lighting in general. Creates a lot more hassle than should be necessary, and I am just sick of baking lightmaps and such. That could possibly be because I am a lighter on last gen consoles right now at work, and all I do is work with lightmaps and old static style lights.

But yeah, I mean, make sure the lighting makes sense, but first and foremost is quality. I tend to have all of my primary lights come from a model or light source that makes sense, and then rim lighting and all other secondary lighting I sometimes BS. Since this is a port piece though, do not feel like you are under any sort of major budgets. Portfolio pieces are here to show what we can bring to a team, not how you can make content that matches what the studio has already released. Push the envelope.

I personally believe in lighting that has an obvious light source. Sorry if I repeated myself and was completely redundant during that rant, at work lol.

Yeah currently I just have the most generic lighting possible, just point light coming from each light fixture. I tried doing some 'specialized' lighting to bring out the spec on the locker and the fire extinguisher but since no one seems to have noticed it probably didn't work out so well.
I just wanted to gather as much lighting tips as possible before going ahead and tackling the lighting in a serious way, so that's gonna be my next major step.

Add3r

I say as a start, dial in your main light fixture's outer FOV and bringing the inner FOV or radius out to give it a slightly harder fall off, as well as bringing up intensity. It will help with spec that the light is hitting, give a harsher look while bringing some darker areas back to the scene, as well as give it less of a diffused look. Maybe experiment with a flickering or broken middle light or a light that is broken to make the lighting and scene a focal point and some story. It is perfectly fine to stray away from the concept in the name of creating something awesome Just some thoughts I am throwing around. Really comes down to what you like and think looks good.

Count Vader

Add3r wrote: »

I say as a start, dial in your main light fixture's outer FOV and bringing the inner FOV or radius out to give it a slightly harder fall off, as well as bringing up intensity. It will help with spec that the light is hitting, give a harsher look while bringing some darker areas back to the scene, as well as give it less of a diffused look. Maybe experiment with a flickering or broken middle light or a light that is broken to make the lighting and scene a focal point and some story. It is perfectly fine to stray away from the concept in the name of creating something awesome Just some thoughts I am throwing around. Really comes down to what you like and think looks good.

Will do! Well I dunno about the flickering light thing since I doubt I'm gonna make a video for the scene, but I will definitely play with the falloff/attenuation of the lighting

Cint128

Can I ask how you did the textures on the beams, they look really nice?
Could you post a pic of the texture maybe and what size they are?

Only feedback I have atm is that the concept seems warmer then your scene, possibly try making the lights more yellow in colour, though I know your changing the lighting anyway.

Nice work!

Count Vader

Cint128 wrote: »

Can I ask how you did the textures on the beams, they look really nice?
Could you post a pic of the texture maybe and what size they are?

Only feedback I have atm is that the concept seems warmer then your scene, possibly try making the lights more yellow in colour, though I know your changing the lighting anyway.

Nice work!

Thanks for the feedback, and yeah definitely gonna work on those lights

Here's the flats for the things. In my scene they're 2kX1k probably overkill but whatever, its a portfolio piece not a console game, scaled them down here.



As far as process or how I made them, nothing special really, just piling on photo source textures and painting some dirt in where required... I used nDo to add certain texture layers to my baked normals, when this is done sparingly and in a subtle way it can help add an extra dimension of depth and realism to your textures (well in some cases at least).

I could have planed the modularity way better for these and probably would have had to texture less stuff, but whatever, live and learn

Count Vader

Cool so I made the light a little bit warmer, as well as tried to accentuate the light/dark contrast in the lighting, wondering if it's looking any better lighting-wise. Prior version for comparison: http://www.thesnakepictures.com/stanfork/hallway.jpg

Count Vader

And another lighting iteration, I dialed down the yellows in the wall texture by a lot since the warmer lighting was making them look too urine-colored so i had to compensate for that, think it looks better/close to the concept now.

Count Vader

another update before bed

Count Vader

Well I guess I'm pretty much ready to call it done, though wouldnt you know the exact day I finished is the day UE4 'drops' which is pretty annoying haha.. By the way, does anyone know if there's a free version of it similar to UDK?

Anyways, Here's the ostensibly finished version, any final critiques/tips would be nice

billymcguffin

Count Vader wrote: »

By the way, does anyone know if there's a free version of it similar to UDK?

No, you have to purchase it, though you can continue using it after cancelling your subscription, and you get free updates for as long as your subscription lasts (ie, the rest of the month that you payed for).