[ UE4 ] Italian Coastal Town Street

photonarbiter

Hey everyone! I'm working on a new portfolio piece in my Advanced Seminar class this semester based on a few reference images I've gathered from pinterest and around the net. The plan is to create modular building assets that can be used to create 2 mini environment scenes and diorama pieces for my portfolio. Here's where I'm at so far.
Things are still pretty early but I'd like to get some feedback on the direction that it's headed.

Marshkin

Hello!
Can you share the reference images? Sometimes it helps to know what you are aiming for .

I'm having a hard time telling what time of day you're aiming for based on the lighting/lit lamps, but this might just be stand in lighting for now. You may want to lock that down early so you can confirm that your materials are displaying the way you want them to in your specific light set up.
I'm guessing this is still the block in stage, so I don't have much feedback to give. Layout looks good, if a little bland. I can't tell what the focal point will be yet but I'm assuming this is a symptom of this still being in the early stages.

Keep it up, I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes!

photonarbiter

Hi! Yeah I'm still not sure what time of day I'm going to go for yet, its still in the block out phase. Things are shinier than I want them to be so I'll have to tone that down as well. Here are some of the references that I'm using as inspiration for the project. http://imgur.com/a/EFoEX

I'm trying to keep the scene simple but I'm currently experimenting with putting more arches into the scene.

photonarbiter

Hey team! New update! Things are progressing well, I'm working on breaking up the scene's block out a bit more and filling in the space. I'm working on some props at the moment.
Here are some screenshots of the progress today.

Swarm22

get rid of those point lights and position your directional at a better angle to compliment your layout

photonarbiter

Will do, I'm still not sure what my lighting is going to be, I haven't taken the point lights out since testing the evening version.

photonarbiter

Here's an update with this weekends progress. I still have a ways to go on this project but things are starting to move at a faster pace. I'm working on more props to fill in the scene and a few more major building pieces/tweaks to existing ones (those arches in the screenshots are going to be gone by this afternoon and replaced with actual good arches for example) You know the drill, here's some screenshots!

asdaq

hey, nice thread, will be coming over as I plan to tackle the UE4 myself soon too.

The streets and alleys on your references seem to be much narrower and less straight and that changes the overall mood quite a bit. Maybe divide the facades into more narrow buildings and add some variation to the path the street follows - so it won't be straight ahead.

sloppymess

Hey! It's looking good so far! I know it's you're still working on a lot of stuff, but you've got some wonky UV's in a couple of places. (The red building in one of your shots has very inconsistent texture densities) and also on the first shot in the doorway your stone texture is going vertical instead of horizontal :P.

I'm excited to see what you come up with for building improvements, because I think it would really help. Right now, specially on the yellow building with the overhang, it's looking very blocky. Maybe adding some trim to it would help break up the harsh lines!

photonarbiter

Thanks! The UV's aren't finished yet. I have more modeling to do first before I focus on them. I was thinking about doing wooden support beams to help break up the edge.

photonarbiter

Here's a quick update on what I'm doing at the moment. I'll have a more solid one on Saturday. I've started making the last pieces and am preparing to get into making my materials for vertex painting.

photonarbiter

Hey guys. So I got super sick this weekend and wasn't able to get much done. I did however make progress prior to getting sick. Here's what I was able to do so far. I started vertex painting my walls and am going to create more defined materials for everything.There's a lot to do so I'm going back to it now. Here are the shots.

LostLeo77

I'd say to take out some of the smoke from the chimneys. Unless its -30c!

photonarbiter

lol okay.

photonarbiter

Hey everyone here's a small update to show what I've done in the past 2 days.
I'm going to be adding lightmaps tomorrow to get rid of the errors for the objects I have. I'm also going to finish the Arch door, Arch Path, and Arch Gate. Lot's of arches. lol
Also here's a closeup on the vines and cloth in motion.

billymcguffin

You should add a blend texture to your wall material so the transition between the textures is more interesting. Here's a tutorial for UDK which should also be applicable to UE4:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS8wLVOJuUA[/ame]

photonarbiter

Thanks for the video, I'm gonna check it out now. I already have vertex painting on the walls. I'm planning on making more materials to throw into it though. I have to do a layer of grunge to make it less clean.

photonarbiter

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I posted a new update. I've been cleaning up assets and taking a little bit of time away from the project to come at it with fresh eyes. I'm only a few assets away from being complete in terms of modeling, and then the final phase can begin. Creating more materials for the scene and rounding out the lightmass uvs for any remaining objects that are left. I'd like to be done with the modeling before this saturday so that I can finish materials next week and jump into my next project. I'll be modeling a vespa to put in my portfolio and in the scene.

Here are some new shots to hold you over until the weekend.

I'll be adding more variation to the building colors for the final version and texture the foliage as well. Right now it's just got a constant on it.

photonarbiter

The scene has grown to the point where building the lighting to test changes takes an hour, things are going slower but I'm on track to finish it by the end of the weekend. I've started preparing some of the models for vertex painting and have experimented with the moss material I made on the barrels. It's looking pretty good so far.Let me know what you think.

Cay

looks good already!
You could tint the buildings in different colors.. right now everything has the same shade of grey

not a big fan of the walkway tiling texture.. but since this is probably not really a road in the middle, you could get rid of the whole walkway if you want.. currently nobody would be able to really walk on this thing anyway

the old town of dying light could be another source of reference, if you need any

photonarbiter

Hmm yeah maybe you're right, changing the walkway up would improve the scene. It's a simple thing to change so it wouldn't hurt to experiment more with it.
I'm planning on having the buildings be multi-colored but at the moment the vertex material setup for it only has one color. I'll work on the floor when I get back from campus. Thanks for the feedback.

photonarbiter

The latest batch of screenshots is good to go. I'm almost done with the lightmass UVs for everything. I'm definitely going to get to the materials this week. I'll be staying up here for spring break so there's going to be plenty of time to get work done. It's gonna be fantastic. Hopefully the shots aren't too large, if they are I can scale them down.

photonarbiter

Hey everyone! There have been some changes around the scene lately and I figured it was time for a new update.

Ged

coming along nicely, that pink colour on the buildings is a bit wierd, try some other colours maybe, heres some decent colour reference
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cuXA_0GnFmM/THUuHdG7heI/AAAAAAAAAAk/XM9VWzNWRE8/s1600/11.Typical+Street.jpg

photonarbiter

Thanks! I'm still playing with the lighting and colors of things at the moment but your reference looks like the right direction to go in. I'll push it more towards that direction for the next update.

photonarbiter

Hey everyone, here's a few screenshots to show where I'm at before I get to work finishing this thing today.

I'm making final tweaks to things and adding a few more materials. The project has come a long way. One thing to note, the vespa models that are in the scene are placeholder wips of a vespa that I'm working on. They will be featured in the final version when they are complete but I just wanted to get a feel for where they'd fit into the scene. Thanks!

photonarbiter

I'm at around 95% completion of this, I'm so proud of where its at. It was a long time coming.I just need to swap out a few materials and add one or two things and then It'll be complete.

photonarbiter

Here's a rough video I made of the scene just to get a feel for where I'm going to put the cameras in my demo reel. [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LcH5Haec_0[/ame]

I ran into a strange issue with some planters not rendering materials properly and I'm not sure why that happened. I'm going to look into it further tomorrow when I have the time to hunker down with it. My preliminary research shows that UE4 has an issue with speed trees on occasion but this wasn't a speed tree asset so I'm going to keep looking for a solution.

Vugtje

the stones on the floor look like a grey plane to me, maybe u should add some variation and depth between the stones, btw looks cool man

photonarbiter

Thanks! It's been a while since I updated this thread. I replaced many of these materials. Here's a more recent version. I'm working on a vespa to place in the scene as we speak. It should be done soon.

Vugtje

the floor stones are much better now, gj

photonarbiter

Thanks! The Vespa is coming along too. I expect to be done with it soon. Vehicles aren't so bad once you get to know them. :P

Stranger

As some one who lived in prague. This is pretty good heres another reference

photonarbiter

That's a great shot! I'm going to save that so I can use it for later. Maybe I'll model it next time I do an outdoor scene.

photonarbiter

Here's a work in progress shot of my Vespas for the scene. Materials are all set up but there are a few objects that need their modular materials and uvs applied.

photonarbiter

Update: Hey team! There are a few things I know I can tweak but I'm happy with where it's at.Here are my screenshots from the demo reel draft I've prepared. I'll post the final version here on Friday.I learned a lot during this one! I look forward to sharing future works with you.

photonarbiter

Super fun bonus round posts!! [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30qF6SvF870[/ame]