[UE4] - Merlin's Tower

Jeff Parrott

I wanted to spend some personal art time learning Unreal Engine 4. Seemed like a great place to try some new techniques (PBR) and ideas on too. I'll post updates as I get them done. Taking my time with this one though so don't expect it overnight. I'll try to share things as best I can. Any questions ever just post and I can break stuff down.

Most everything will be going through ZBrush at some point. I'm not sticking to the reference images 1:1. Things change shot to shot a bit and it'll be hard to match up. Also the walls for one I wanted to push more in the sculpt than the bricks in the movie. Overall though the telescope, bed, books, globe, etc will all be in there and it should feel like the tower.

Inspiration:



Initial wall sculpt:



Probably went overboard with the sculpt. But the grout pretty decent. Just needs a polish pass and some tertiary rocks and details.

Clark Coots

high poly looks nice. is this low poly wall going to be a unique asset with unique texture?

nathdevlin

Heh, As I mentioned on twitter a material blend between brick and a softer render / mortar would get you a result similar to what's seen in painted 2d backgrounds.

Usually detail was reserved for areas of interest or to focus the viewer on a general area. This avoided too much noise / detail fighting for attention.

The sword in the stone did do many noisier backgrounds it seems.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-60NyQr9oFQU/UYmYcZWlFxI/AAAAAAAALds/I3RXknIPDaY/s1600/10.jpg

Jeff Parrott

Thanks coots7! Right now I'm not thinking I'll do a material blend with the walls/floor/etc. I'll probably make it a large unique asset. Just cause I guess. The material blending stuff I looked into seemed a bit limited. I was planning on doing some material blend stuff when I get to some of the repeating props (books).

nathdevlin good point about the blend stuff. It just seems like it's pretty expensive and since this is just for a personal piece I wanted to go nuts with the sculpt and push that. I've got ref shots of some backgrounds closer and they definitely push the detail more. Once this gets in engine and lighting is in place I think the detail will balance out some. I'll try the blend material stuff on some smaller pieces till I get used to them. Maybe for the exterior tower I'll do that towards the end.

artofkee

Uuu those rocks are nice!

Jeff Parrott

Thanks artofkee! Actually reworked them a bit off Poop's comment about the grout:



Did a quick decimate and bake to test it out in Unreal 4. Need to work on the materials though. That'll be next or I'll sculpt the ground and roof. Not really sure yet where I'm going on this.

JWalk

Looking good.

Could be your lighting setup, but your normal definition looks weak though.

I don't know if you used the matcap above to sculpt with, but generally any matcap with a built in cavity will give you a stronger/more defined look- which isnt actually representative of how it might look in game. I'd recommend using either the default white matcap or skinshade4.

Joost

One of my favourite movies when I was younger, looking forward to seeing where you take this!

fearian

I have a special place in my heart for this film!

Personally, I would say that the stones are too rounded, but I think thats just fine for the back wall. However, When it comes to the hole in the building, I think it would do alot for the shot if you kept the idges of the hole sharper, and really defined the negative space as in the reference.

In the reference, the hole has loads of contrast in value and shape, with lots of hard angles. I havn't seen the film in years, but I remember vividly how unstable and dilapidated merlins tower was, because of how exaggerated these holes are!

Populating this looks like it will be alot of fun, can't wait to see how you do the books and paper!

Jeff Parrott

JWalk yeah the normals are a bit flat. Need to work on that. I want to do a proper retopo once I get the wall sculpt polished. I still have to add the window with the curtain in the back.

Yeah komaokc it's an underrated classic.

fearian yeah I know I kinda went a bit nuts with the sculpt. Was sort of just having fun sculpting. I'll probably do a polish pass on the overall sculpt this week, add a window hole/frame, and hit the rubble hole on the right again. I see what you mean about the silhouette on that. Totally agree that it reads great in the film. I'll definitely hit that. Thanks for the call out on that.

Jeff Parrott

Worked on the lighting a little more. It's at least at a close enough place for me to just keep pushing with assets now. Time to polish and fix up the walls!

luge

I like it so far. its a good start. I do feel the lighting could be a little softer. But thats a personal thought. Can't wait to see more updates on it.

Jeff Parrott

The lighting will develop as I go. I have a base in though.

Finally got some time to add a window frame and polish the sculpt.



Need to retopo the collapsed hole area with more polys and rebake. Otherwise going to move on to the floor next.

In Unreal 4:

Tobbo

This is coming along nicely. Looking forward to seeing the textures when you get around to it!

Kend

Great job man, the sculpt looks amazing

Rhoutermans

Loved that movie! Was hoping for this when I saw the thread title. Your sculpt looks good, the wall and window seem to have lost a lot of details in the bake though Can't really see any of the damage you sculpted in there. Also maybe work on the blockout of the props / break open the roof etc so you'll have a feel for proportions before you start the high polys. It's something I still do sometimes as well, but I think a full blockout is the proper workflow Anyway, I really like this project, very original, will follow this! Keep it up~

Jeff Parrott

Thanks Tobbo it'll probably be a while till I get to materials and big boy texturing. Going to focus on blocking in all in and sculpting.

Thanks Kend! Need to get the bakes retaining that detail.

Rhoutermans I cannot agree with you more. Kinda bummed at the bakes. Need to reotopo the window hole area, rebake (hopefully with better results) then get other stuff blocked out.

Jeff Parrott

Fine I'll start working on this again. I did a pass on the roof supports, roof tiles, materials, and lighting dialing it in a bit closer to the movie. Time to start on the props.

Here's a progress gif:


And a current wip:

vbaguirov

I think this scene offers good opportunities for more interesting lighting. Did  you think of making a night time variations? I can just see the cannon pointing towards the stary sky 

Jeff Parrott

Decided to go back to this project and finally finish it up. Ended up with Substance Designer/Painter for the whole thing.

I tried to keep the workflow as simple as I could.

Maya/ZBrush block out > ZBrush sculpt > Polypaint colors for ID map > decimate Highpoly > UV map in Maya > Apply materials in Substance Painter > Export to Unreal 4.

Anyways, here's the final:

Some assets in Unreal:

Sculpts in ZBrush:


Final process gif:

jth852

Looks awesome!