Some textures for an environment.

WadeWT

Hi,

Here's some textures I've been working on for a subject at my uni. They're for an environment.

Would love to hear any feedback that could help me improve. Thanks.













I wanted to add a picture of the environment but UE4 keeps crashing, so I can't get a screenshot right now.

YakZSmelk

Please share the screen shot when you can!

I'm really enjoy the rough but defined look you have going on. Can't wait to see more.

WadeWT

Hello! I've been pretty busy with other projects and have been having a lot of problems with UE4 crashing but I finally managed to get a screenshot. And I have one new texture to show!

This one is for the cliff:

The scene is based on a really lovely concept you should check out here

And here is where I'm at right now:
Still a lot I want to do to it, but most of it is at least there.

djoexe

wow, I really love the concept so far

beefaroni

Wow, it's really nice to see the textures in your scene!

I don't do any handpainted stuff but I would say the only thing to keep an eye out for is maybe the style of each texture?

WadeWT

Thanks, and that's a good point, some of them do seem to lack consistency. I'll have to try and work on unifying them. I'm putting in some grass and stuff at the moment and working on lighting. Any thoughts?

BagelHero

The grass is perhaps a little too green right now, I have a preference for a slightly yellowish green myself.

Looking good, though, loving the subtle color variations in the first wood, the wall (Plaster?? Paint?? I'm unsure what it would be in this setting but it looks nice) and the cliff textures. I think those are my favorite, I think the weakest that I can see that are actually in the scene would be the roof tiles, the path/ground and the castle stone walls. The light green foliage isn't looking so crash hot, either. Would look more at home in a rain-forest or something than this kind of wood-y environment.

I think those could do with another pass on the rendering, they feel a bit more "unfinished" than the ones I really liked.

Can't wait to see more, though! I'm pointing out the flaws because I love the concept and would like to see it at its best.

atomander

Your subtle color variation is really awesome. I think on some of your wood textures that your shadows are looking too black; perhaps shift them to a contrasting hue. Other than that, its looking really cool. Looking forward to more.

WadeWT

@ BagelHero: Thanks so much for the advice, I agree with all your points. Do you have any suggestion for what foliage might look appropriate? I will be going over all my colours next as well as trying to get the lighting and feel much closer to the concept.

@atomander: Thank you! I will have a play with the wood shadows.

BagelHero

Hey, no problem. For the foliage, maybe something that's a little more bracken-esque? The cute little curls that the growing leaves make could make for some nice stylized details.




Something like that might work for the ones closer to or under the trees, but I'm not really sure anything out on the cliff-side would be that kind of foliage-- I feel like what would be out there would be more along the lines of clover patches and flowers.
If you're stuck, or stuck for what look to go for, I'd image search "Pine woods" or "Pine forest". It's bringing up some great results, atmospherically and just for foliage that would grow in and around this kinda environment.

WadeWT

That's a great idea, I think I will do some flowers for the empty patches and some ferns for under the trees. Hopefully I can get some more progress up soon

pixelpatron

Sorry but I'm not diggin your composition at all. The main castle door is too big, and color doesn't really jive well with your brick color, you've destroyed your castle tower silhouette with your massive cliff rock, and the trees that are angled off the side of the hill look really out of place. Strive for a better composition, your assets and treatment are great.....keep going.

AutoExit

I think that roof tiles and brick wall need more contrast, like some dark between tiles and bricks. I agree with pixelpatron about composition. Proportions are confusing because of huge doors and small fence on the path.

Waterbear

I think it's matching the concept art fairly closely. Maybe just make sure your screenshots are showing the the scene just how it appears in the image? It's superficial, I know, but it'll people a better idea of what you are going for. If it's not just a camera issue, then I'd match the concept a lot closer.

I like your textures a lot. The white bricks look flat to me though. Good luck!

BagelHero

Oh, I just looked at the concept-- make your mud-path texture smaller, it's messing with the scale.

WadeWT

Hello! Thanks for all the feedback guys, I've done a bit more work on this. I made a fern and a flower to throw about.



I've done some smoke as well, but I'm not really happy with it, I thought the windwaker style smoke would look cool but I don't think it fits at all. I'd like to do a whispy line kind of thing like in the concept but I'm not sure how to go about achieving this.


I also did a new picture to show the entire scene next to the concept, I suppose I should have mentioned before that the camera is not necessarily fixed, I'll be making a little fly through of the scene when it's done. Although putting it next to the concept certainly highlights a lot of problems with the scene, lighting and composition are not my strong suits so I'll need to focus on that I think.




Haven't had time to mess around with the textures yet, but it's on the list. I did initially have a lot more contrast in the textures but I wasn't liking how they looked in the scene, I'll try bringing some back to see if it helps, though.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback, it is very appreciated!

BagelHero

I like the new ferns and flowers. I think some point soon you should really be working that lighting. The lighting in the concept oozes with mood, and makes it clear that the huge cliffs and wall are quite overbearing, blocking the light so that the only area that receives much is the edge of the cliff, near the houses.

The rest of the scene is in this cool, dark shadow. Compared directly to the concept, yours looks like it's a bit washed out because you're just lighting everything equally. Works well enough on the ground, but for overall scene composition not so much. Keep it up!

MrsNomingtons

I'm enjoying this a lot! Your texture work is really pretty. Definitely keep working on the lighting as you go, post pro is of the utmost importance (volume. heh. heh. HEH.) Try moving the light out a bit more like in the concept where it just highlights the mid/bottom left. Push the contrast a whole lot more, add low brightness ambient lights with massive falloff for the shadow areas (blue shadows in your case, keep playing with the tint until it feels right)

And most definitely play with the day/night settings. I remember discovering the stars when changing it to a certain time of day and that alone changed the atmosphere of my entire scene.

And one last note is to try to make the top of the tower bits that are clasped to the mountains a bit more obvious cause I feel that detail is worth noticing. Maybe make them a bit bigger, a bit lighter in the texture as well?

Really a fun piece to watch. Look forward to seeing the rest!

Fenyce

I really like how this is coming along. I'll be following this thread!
Are you planning to do a custom skybox as well?

WadeWT

Thanks guys, this is very motivating!

@BagelHero & MrsNomingtons - Yup, I have a long way to go with the lighting, I haven't done much so I'm really hoping I can make it work before this is due!

@Fenyce - Yes! There will be a custom skybox soon.

WadeWT

Finally had some more time to work on this, I've got some particles in for wind and leaves and a lot of lighting fixes and post processing as well as a new small door which was in the concept but I hadn't modeled yet. Hopefully that helps with the scale problems I was having.

YakZSmelk

Absolutely fantastic work, the above image makes me want to hop in and explore the world.

Do you have any plans on creating an interior?

WadeWT

Thanks so much for the kind words No plans for an interior. I'm just hoping I can fix up the last few things before I have to submit it at this point.

WadeWT

Here's the video:

May still have time for some small changes before the final submission unless other assignments get in the way.

http://youtu.be/YnmXVdE-zaY