UE4 - Futuristic cathedral

Zemskiss

Final update:

Video render:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJggkZlhass&feature=iv&src_vid=-LJ1LR6p7_s&annotation_id=annotation_4152564285[/ame]


UE4 screenshots:


















Interior











For current project I am essentially trying recreate a 12-15th century cathedral in a sci-fi setting. Geometry wise, the building should have an identical silhouette that is seen on structures such as Reims cathedral, yet the materials and props should look fairly modern. While building should look modern, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't utilise materials such as stone or concrete,however. There always should be a solid balance between organic,stone structures and "sci-fi/tech" related props.



When it comes to intricate architectural details, I really want to try and cover an entire cathedral with golden floral and square shaped props to make it look a bit more rich.



Last but not least, for my game industry references I am primarily focusing on games like: Gears of war, Deus ex, Castlevania:LoS series. Also, last week I got extreeeemely inspired by latest trailers for Final Fantasy XV.

DWalker

At the moment, the palette feels a bit muddled; light gray & sky blue don't really go with black & gold.

If you're going for bright, gilded surfaces, then look at Eastern churches - especially Russian - rather than western ones. Western cathedrals tended to have rather drab surfaces with ornate stone work; the only color was typically on the windows.

Finalhart

I can feel the pawah of this piece

Zemskiss

DWalker - This is probably the biggest issue I've had nearly for a week. You see, the golden flower and "square" patterns with black,glossy material was something that I've put down as "must" in terms of architectural style in order to make details pop. In regards of stone texture, I mostly took references from a couple of buildings from New York. The reason for that is, well...both tower structures should actually look more like "engraved" skyscrapers rather than what we see on cathedral references I had above. Material wise, it should be more modern,skyscraper'y, rather than obvious stone work with paint on top of it that we see in churches sometimes.

Also, after taking a look at Russian churches, I can now definitely see what you mean. I can't unfortunately envision how the pillars and walls will look like with solid or drabbed paint, so this is something I'll have to test out in engine. My only worry is that if I go with a solid paint like this, won't I lose too much detail on flat surfaces of walls/pillars to the point where black and gold pieces become the focal point of an asset, putting everything else to shame?

Before trying out painted texture instead of stone/concrete one, I decided to mess around with colour grading of what I have at the moment first. While 20% still seems to be acceptable, everything else look "meh".





I will also try and redo the stone texture with something like that's seen here:



Thanks for feedback! :thumbup:

Finalhart - Will do my best!

fab-camp

I think you should go back to your conceptphase.
I get the impression you know very little about were to go with your church at this point. start looking for a design in 3d and engine doesnt seem to be the best way.
you might create more concept in 2d first, getting overall and detailed forms clear. as well as colorpalette.

or lets put it that way: you dont design a cathedral from the first floor upwards

Zemskiss

Fab-Camp - I did actually create a couple of concepts before I started modelling things for UE4

After I gathered all references I made a couple of simple 3d sketches inside 3ds max:





And eventually everything ended up me doing bsp blockout inside of UE4 to have a modular base to work on. All assets that were created so far do not match presented concepts at all, specifically because I had new ideas flowing at that point when I was doing modelling itself.

While I do have a strong vision of how the building should like on geometrical level at the moment, I do have to agree, color palette definitely needs to be sorted to progress anywhere at this point. I will try to get even more reference now, considering that yours and DWalker's feedback is leaning towards the same direction where the core of all problems is my selected material definition. Most likely will end up making some refined concept pieces to represent the final version of the "cathedral" as well. :thumbup:

Yuke

I think you've made a good start here with the reference you've gathered and with your block out but I do agree with Fab-Camp.

As you've shown you did a model in Max at the start to thrown down some ideas, which is good for structure and silhouette but I would recommend taking that a step further and doing a few paint-overs or photo-bashing with it to work out the direction you want to take this piece in.

This should really help with your colour palette too, as DWalker posted, I'm not sure what yoy have colour-wise works. Whites and Blacks compliment gold well (for the exterior).

I'd be tempted to set this piece at night as well with some up-lights to really push through the materials and make the golds glimmer, but that's more of a personal choice than anything else.

Keep at it, it's an interesting piece (Y)

Zemskiss

Hey guys, didn't update this thread for a quite while, so decided to share some progress.

After going through all feedback, I decided to take a step back an reassess the situation and sort out the concept. Eventually, I ended up with a simplified version of a cathedral combined with industrial and sci-fi'ish elements. Some stuff looks a bit disconnected here and there, but it's all WIP

Lt_Commander

woha, that's quite an update! Very impressive work. I'm getting Talos Principle kind of vibes from it, but just barely. You've done a good job finding a style that really is cut from its own cloth.

Can't wait to see what you do with the inside.

wccrawford

Nice job so far! I was having trouble visualizing what you were aiming at, but I can definitely see it now.

Zemskiss

Cheeky update.
Apart from slightly redesigning the sides of the building and calibrating certain materials, I was primarily focusing on creating statues. From this point on I really want to focus on the front entrance as it lacks any sort of detail.

Zemskiss

Hey guys! It's been a while!

So I'm finally starting to wrap things up with this piece. Currently it needs a bit of tweaking here and there, as well as adding blueprints to the level so that player could navigate around the whole environment...or 70% of it at very least. The whole thing, depending on different locations, runs around 55-28 fps on GTX 680.

Any feedback is appreciated!

*Moved progress to the top of the page*

Zemskiss

*Moved progress to the top of the page*

snake85027

great work and its nice to see a exterior and interior piece, i find it hard to do.

Zemskiss

Tweaked the lighting for the exterior part of the project for the last time, alongside global post processing effects. Moving on to redoing proper video render.

Doxturtle

wow this is amazing. I think the white exterior works really well with the trees

Zemskiss

Thank you IF it wasn't for the feedback from previous posts, the building could've been dark grey right now. Kinda glad I didn't go that way.

Zemskiss

Made final renders and moved some content to the top post.
This should finally wrap things up with this project!

NomadSoul2501

This looks fantastic!
One thing I'd revisit is the long exterior shots in your vid where you do more than one camera move.

Excellent work

Tobbo

Wow this is awesome!