Critique on my Environment portfolio
polycounter lvl 6
Hi all,
I'm an aspiring Junior Environment Artist. I have a very small amount of my environment done, but I would like to know all of your opinions on it. Feel free to let me know what you think looks good, or what needs improvement.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you
I'm an aspiring Junior Environment Artist. I have a very small amount of my environment done, but I would like to know all of your opinions on it. Feel free to let me know what you think looks good, or what needs improvement.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you
Replies
1. Your texture resolution doesn't seem to be consistent throughout your props. It could be your UVs or the quality of the images (assuming you're using images) you've used.
2. Everything seems quite flat right now (though I know you said this is still early). Do you have plans for normal maps/specular maps/etc?
3. Do you have references/concepts from which you're working? Some of the geometry seems odd to me.
1. When you mean texture resolution, do you mean 1024x1024 for the size of the maps of the textures, or do you mean something else?
2. I already have Normal and Specular Maps applied to either most or all of the models in my environment right now. Are you referring to some of the textures that might look a little bit blurry or off in the distance? If so I was wondering how I correct that since it doesn't look right, and if it's correctable in UDK.
3. I do sort of have some references. I have in game screenshots of an already existing game that this environment is based off of, but I'm making my own version of how I want it to look. They might not be the best references, but I'm not sure which other references to go off of. Which geometry seems odd?
ScottMichaelH: Which things are you referring to that are the same size and are too many? Which models have a blocky look to them?
Currently the models look a bit more like a bsp map rather than modeled out if that makes sense.
I do like that you seem to be setting things up for a nice focal point as you work though. Playing around with models at different heights and adding some depth to the terrain will help a lot, as well as making the resolution of the textures more consistant; especially when they are right next to each other. (The house texture is drastically lower res than the boards in front of it, you can fix that by either making the walls a tileable texture or upping the size of the texture maps for the house if you want to go unique, although if this environment is supposed to be built for first person closeups I'd recommend a series of tileable textures for objects the size of buildings with some possible vertex paint or damage decals for additional variation.
Oh and when it comes to texture resolutions, not all texture maps have to be 1024x1024. It really depends on the size of the object. IE a texture for a soda can would be drastically smaller than a texture for a car in order for them to look consistent when placed next to each other. Some arbitrary number like 256 for a can and 2048 for a car, I just made it up but I think it gets the point across.
One of the areas that I'm still working on is figuring out how many polygons is enough, too low, or too high for objects. Sometimes I can't tell if the object has the right amount, etc. Is there a way to determine that easily, or is their a chart or guide that has the polycount for current standards of objects?
When you talk about BSP maps, are you referring back to when you suggest that I add more edge loops, extrusions, etc. to my models to up the poly count?
Now that you mention about the texture resolution, I'll go back and try to correct some of those
1. It could be that being too low for some things, but I have a feeling it's more likely to be the UVs aren't unwrapped well or the source images you're using don't scale up well. I'd have to see your texture to be sure.
2. Right now, the normal/specular stuff isn't really popping out to me. That could be because of the lighting or the maps themselves. Again, I'd have to see the textures to be sure.
3. Like others have already mentioned, a lot of the models seem blocky and very basically shaped (perfect example are the light posts. To me, they look like just two scaled cubes shoved together). Don't be afraid to use more polys to make more interesting silhouettes and smooth things out for your pieces. If you're still early on in learning 3D, I would try to stick more closely to your reference (or find/create more references - even just texture references or simple sketches can go a long way in the end). It'll help you a lot and give people solid ways to give you more feedback.
You should also feel free to browse other people's environment work on the forums and see how they did things, as well as maybe look at the featured artwork section in order to get an idea for whether your polycounts are too low or too high. PC games are usually drastically higher than ipad games for example, and a first person shooter generally has more polygons than a third person shooter, which has more than top-down game due to the requirements of the camera being very close to some of the objects. Mostly it's just about making sure your models are made correctly (IE 40 edge loops that don't add anything to the model/doesn't break the form at all would be bad, unless it was done for vertex painting. If you're creating a high poly used for baking, polycount doesn't really matter since you have to build a lower poly model to bake to that maintains the overall shape (which does matter).
Like I said, browsing the forums and seeing some other people's environments could give you a better idea, as well as playing some games like Skyrim or the witcher 2 and really getting in close and analyzing the forms of their models. You can figure out alot just by taking a few screenshots of a model and seeing what was left in a normal map, what was actually left modeled out, etc.. Typically portfolio work usually aims for a step above work developed for a currently released game due to things like meeting production times and having the game run on a wider range of PCs.
Long story short, polycounts depend on the project and object. Factors like is this object actually simple in real life (crate) or have a complex surface like a car? Is it going to be a "hero piece" or a part of the primary focal point of the player, or is it going to be a little prop thrown in the corners as more for background clutter rather than a focus. Will there be just a few of them in an interior room (can be higher poly since the interior walls will cull off/not enable anything not currently seen in the room), or will there be 400,000 of these things everywhere (blades of grass using a billboard method, usually very low polycounts, the simplest version literally being a plane (2 triangles) with an alpha masked texture of grass blades on it.)
Hopefully those things help you figure it out, but generally I'd say you can probably at least double or triple your current count for the models. What could also help you even better in being critiqued if you're unsure about polycounts and such is posting wireframe images of your models as well, so people can better tell you if you're making them in a good manner.