[UDK] Church

JustGarry

Latest Image



Hey everyone finally gonna make this scene it's own thread and try and get it looking awesome for my portfolio

I originally received feedback on this scene on my portfolio feedback thread and have started adding some objects etc.

here is the scene in it's current state.



Basically I think the church looks pretty good, and I have made a start with the foliage which I am going to place over the scene, including trees (the tree in the image is a placeholder thing).

Feedback I've already received includes getting rid of the default UDK sky etc.

What I really need help with though is the surrounding area, to make an interesting composition and scene that isn't just the church on it's own.

Thanks for looking

Mr Smo

hey justgarry,

i agree, pretty cool church! i think it can be pushed abit more with very little more effort.

is this a church that has been abandoned and left to rot or is it just not maintained?

first off - some broken roof tiles to break up the outline of the roof are and over the hole:



those stringy vines also look perty cool.

the windows could use a bit of 'life' with some scraggly drapes and broken glass:




the flakey paint looks pretty cool but it takes away from the hand rails, maybe some bare wood style to set it apart from the church itself, add some variation.

some chains on the back doors or a broken askew door hanging off its hinges?

due to my lack of sleep i don't have much to suggest for the rest of it just now, i agree with the removal of the default udk sky. depending on where it is in the world / what time of year/day it is will dictate what the surroundings are. for example if you got for an autumny sunset you might loose the dry stark light you have now, which makes it feel nice at the moment.

good luck and i look forward to seeing more progress !

JustGarry

Wow thanks for the detailed feedback and advice, I will definitely be using these ideas to add to the church over the next couple of days. Need to get this and other old projects out the way before I tackle something new

Slightly off topic but I'm actually enjoying the foliage in this scene, I have never attempted foliage before but don't know why I put it off for so long it's alot of fun, going to attempt some trees tonight

killazzz

Really nice stuff to work wih from Mr Smo
I could recommend a couple ideas to populate your scene. This looks like its set in the Frontier days, (Cowboys/Wild West) Is that what your going for?
If so a couple ideas....
Churches usually had cemetary's built around it, you could start by modeling out some Iron clad fencing to trim outside further and have some head stones and Grave mounds, perhaps some tools such as shovels, pick axes, gas lanterns, definitely could use a Wagon, broken or intact, right now this looks sort of desert like, so id recommend changing your grass t make it more dead looking which would allow for a number of foliage assets, examples being Daisy's/Weeds/Cactus/Tumbleweeds/Dead trees and such.
Hope that helps!

sushi

Hi Garry, I think I gave you some critique in your other thread but I just found this image similar to your scene that might help you refine the structure like Mr Smo suggested

It has that abandoned look. Those hills in your scene really need some foliage, I'm sure you've planned that out already though

JustGarry

@Killazzz

Yeah kindof frontier style is what I am going for, with an unkempt appearance not necessarily abandoned (although I'm still gonna rough it up with suggestions like the broken roof tiles, vines etc).

The scene was originally desert like and baron (mainly because it was an art test and done in a few days) but now I really wanted to push a quite lush environment with lots of grass, bushes and trees etc, as well as rocks/cliffs/hills in the background.

So hope this clears up what I'm trying to acheive, I will throw together a moodboard tonight, as I think this will help me nail the style

@Sushi

Thanks for the image that's awesome, indeed the trees re coming, just hope I can pull them off

killazzz

I see, well definitely not Jungle like, wouldnt quite fit the Church, Something Evergreens/Pine like yes?
A random idea I just thought about, like literally just now, was a Cave made into a mining tunnel in the background, that way you could hide the horizon line with rock formations behind the church, love it or hate it, just a thought

P.S.
Id also recommend referring to Steve0's thread labeled FOLIAGE=)
perhaps that could help you get an idea of some of the lushness for something based around the church.

JustGarry

I was thinking just normal broad leaf trees just placed around not really a dense forest, never actually considered Pine although that's a good idea.

Cave would be really cool aswell, awesome idea, hopefully once I finally nail the setting I can start thinking about how to incorporate all the extra ideas floating around. I should have a small update later today and you can let me know if I'm going in the right direction

Yuke

Good start so far JustGarry, there's some really nice references in this thread, especially the one sushi shared. It's got a nice balance between abandoned and destroyed.

The Foliage tut on 3D Motive is really nice if you want to have a quick peek at that. I think a few scattered trees maybe with a forest in the distance could be a nice idea?

killazzz idea for a cave/underpass could add some nice story to the scene and give some more to that distopia/survivor feel.

JustGarry

Small update to this scene with some trees etc. as well as cliffs in the background and a few rocks I made in ZBrush. Still need to get round to the changes to the church as suggested on here just wanted to define the style first to get away from the abandoned look and make it more green etc.

Think I will attempt a cave in ZBrush and put it in the cliffs behind the church.

locater16

Looks like something out of Fallout or The Last of Us.

Which is to say extremely low poly but nice and solid all the same. Though if there is one area that the low polycount goes from nice efficient use to egregious is the very top of the roof slants right below the cross. Everything else looks solid, but that's just too much, too obvious.

JustGarry

Hey thanks for the crit, I will add that to the growing list of changes to the church building, your right it's way too straight looking and jarring now that I look at it properly. I'll take the last of us comparison as a compliment though thanks!

JustGarry

@Yuke

Thanks for the advice and feedback, I did check out that 3d motive tutorial and it was great so thanks for the link

killazzz

Coming along JustGarry.
Im happy to hear you will be going with that cave idea as I think it will fill in the negative background space nicely.
My main critiques would be Id recommend doing a variation or two of the trees you got going on as they appear to obviously repeating in the right there. And id like to see some more foreground assets, you got the rock going on there but id like to see more to better frame the Church.
Keep at it

JustGarry

@killazzz

Cheers mate yeah it's getting there slowly but surely. I was planning on adding a different variation of the tree, although I have uploaded an image of my current WIP and it shouldn't be looking as obvious now, let me know what you think.

I also started adding some grass into the foreground and will add a prop, probably a busted overgrown wooden cart, in front of the church.

killazzz

Its definitely starting to frame better, I have some thoughts about the foreground elements, id stray away from something man made because you want it to appear more overgrown, perhaps abandoned yes?
Id just recommend doing one or two more trees that would fit in this environment, be it pines/evergreen variations, because it is just to obvious that its the same tree. Id also suggest vertex painting eventually to get some Moss/Fungus growth on the trees.
Heres some ideas for the foreground.




Thats more what I would suggest. Good luck!

JustGarry

@Killazzz

Thanks again for all the suggestions .

Already started adding moss to the rocks etc, will add it to the trees also, good idea with the mushrooms aswell

JustGarry

Small update playing around with the foreground items and dabbling in some more vertex painting on rocks and tree trunks, might keep the Ivy on the tree trunk in the foreground or might swap it for mushrooms just need to wait and see.

Feedback is appreciated as always

JustGarry

Update on this scene, keen to get it finished.



broke up the roof more and added more foliage to the building. Also added a cave amongst other random changes. Feedback appreciated.

HitmonInfinity

Your trees look a little bare in actual foliage compared to how big the trunks are. It looks like they were pruned and are growing new branches still. Some ref to look at:



Other than that, i think it's coming together quite nicely. Keep it up!

JustGarry

Hey thanks for the cool ref's. I'll try and replicate that look but did try something similar to this originally and it didn't look quite right in the scene. Does make the trees look much more out of control etc which would suit the scene well.

JustGarry

Just realized that the last image is a small compressed JPG and I got nothing to hide so here is a much better image

Mr Smo

coming along nicely, I agree with hitmoninfinity about the tree

JustGarry

Ok so based on the ref images (and the fact I had to make another tree variation aswell) I have created another tree shape.

Let me know what ya'll think



And one in UDK.

locater16

So here's a neat, and true mathematical ratio. The sum of the diameter area of all branches of any tree will be equal to the diameter of the branch they come from.

Less mathy: All the branches coming off the main trunk of a tree will, when all added up together, have the same diameter as the main trunk by itself. And then, all further branches, that sprout of those initial large branches, will also add up to the branch they all come off of and so on.

So, those branches coming off your main trunk are too fat initially. They need to add up too, at most, the same diameter as the main trunk. Which is why your trees look weird. I hope I explained that coherently. Yay math!

JustGarry

Haha cheers for that Locater16 I will tweak the branch sizes tonight