UE4: Fantasy ruins environment

jsargent

Hey guys, I'm updating this intro as this was to be a showcase for a friend but no longer needs to be used for this purpose so I'm free to do what I want with the scene now

I've decided to set it in a rocky mountain setting full of pine trees and a big river running through the middle. I'm using this software for the project:

3Dmax
Photoshop
Zbrush
Agisoft (for photogrammetry rocks)
World machine
Speedtree
Substance painter
Unreal 4 (and truesky)

Latest:

Please feel free to critique away!

Thanks!

Jode

jsargent

Updated thread with the latest on this project:

LATEST




Please critique away!

Thanks!

rapiddave

looks really cool! The lighting sets a really good mood. I don't know how well it would fit into the brief that you got, but maybe some more broken props on the floor that convey the world and its story (time period, culture). Just a few props I think would do a lot for the scene.

Fwap

Looking nice! Great atmosphere.

jsargent

Thanks guys, I will definetly look in to get more props and ruins in there

zagreusent

You have done some good work.
All the best

EpicBeardMan

Good job so far, although I would recommend bringing up the roughness of those slabs in the middle, since they look too wet, unless you want them to look wet, then it's all cool.

Cheers!

jsargent

Thanks!

Epicbeardman you are right, I think I am going to be redoing the floor in the middle as I dont like it much, will see how it goes

jsargent

getting some larger rocks in and some tessellated ground debris to blend it all...this is fun!

EpicBeardMan

Great blending between the rocks and the rubble. Can't say nothing bad about it. Good work.

Cheers!

jsargent

final updates for the day, laid out most of the rocks, bit more lighting and blending the rocks/material work...

Shizaiphrein

Nice mood ! I would have kept the wetness on the floor though ! maybe add little puddles between the tiles so it can reflect the sky nicely ?

just a suggestion !
Keep up the good work

amirabd2130

great job :thumbup: love the mood

jsargent

few updates, added some rose bushes, lighting and material work and started reworking the floor. The well in the center was meant to be a portal so I decided to change it to be more of a sinkhole where the portal has opened. Forgot to use realtime so the lights are missing the fire source but im tired....

Loads of work and tweaking to go!

jsargent

oops, also left a light on he floor that is making it all too bright, especially around the edges....will fix that tomorrow

EpicBeardMan

Good choice to replace the middle part. Now, the new sinkhole makes for a much better focus point of the scene. And I like the colors in the scene overall.

Cheers!

JoshWilkinson

subscribing

Sparr

I think it might help if you made an overall structure for the portal 'first' and then ruined it, or maybe had the portal appear in an existing structure, destroying it in the process. As it stands now, it just seems like people put some pillars around a hole in the ground and called it a day.

In other words, if there were a pit that had a 'temple' built around it, I would imagine it to look more like the well at Delphi, where there's an obvious floor and platform everything is built on, everything is rounded, there was a roof on the building etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi#/media/File:Delphi_tholos_cazzul.JPG

Or you could do a neat alternative where maybe its a square temple or something and the portal ripped through it and caused it to be a ruin in the first place.

linwail

beautiful so far!

mats effect

Looks really nice might just be me but some of the pillars look a little odd the way the meet the ground like the clip into it rather than merge into it. Good work so far though.

jsargent

Thanks for the comments and critiques guys, I will definitely work on the way that the pillars meet the floor mas effect.

I have a little update after having a break from this for a couple of weeks. Its definitely not looking its prettiest at the moment but I'm trying to ignore that and instead focus of the landscape. The terrain was build in world machine and I've got it all set up in unreal now with all of its place holder material layers and even a little spline river. Pretty much everything at this stage is al placeholder still but I'm plugging away at it trying to get all of the big elements in there first. Next up is some ground materials and grass.

jsargent

Hi guys, added some grass and switched on the distance field AO!

jsargent

last updates for the weekend! Very productive day today

EpicBeardMan

Great progress. The lighting seems pretty good. Could use more variety in foliage, more bushes and flowers
Awesome work.

Cheers!

jsargent

Yes definetly! I need lots more varieties, and more rocks. Hopefully now a lot of the groundwork is done it will be easier to get things in

jsargent

Got a few little foliage updates, some new heather and shader tweaks.

Higuy

Looking nice here, enjoying the scene so far!

stilobique

Great render ! Have you add wind with your foliage ?

jsargent

Thanks guys. Yes the grass and speedtrees use wind, i will try to post a video soon . Next stop is a trip to Wales this weekend for some reference and photogrametry

jsargent

Hi guys, so I had an awesome weekend in Snowdonia in Wales doing a ton of photogrammetry! Here is my first rock test, ,it needs rebaking and a few uv tweaks but in happy with the test overall. Its just over 3k tris.

foreverlost

Your scenery is so beautiful; it's easy to forget that this was about actual ruins themselves

jsargent

Thankyou! To be honest the ruins part is the brief I was given and is part of a VFX showcase for a friend. I wanted to massively expand it out as I wanted to learn world machine, agisoft photoscan and speedtree as well as UE4 so I thought I would just make it in to something a bit more expansive. Trying to make a lot of it procedural so it should allow me to make a big environment!

EpicBeardMan

Very well done cliffs. It feels kinda empty, although it isn't necessarily empty. We need more perspectives. But, overall atmosphere is amazing.

Cheers!

jsargent

Thanks for the feedback guys.
Epic Beard Man, I know what you mean! The reason for this is that I have made a decision to get more props in after the first blockout stage. I normally get bored with big personal projects early because they are slow to come together and I want them to looking great straight away! . To combat this I did the initial layout and now I am focusing on getting a lot of the procedural stuff working and more of the content in. I'm being quite loose with the map at the moment and will focus more on more world building soon so hopefully all the elements will come together. I have loads of little mini test areas in my map so that I can see it all working. I hope that makes sense!

jsargent

Hi guys, done some more rock work Finished and rebakes the cliffs, also made them much more modular as the original photoscan was quite a challenge to use the way that I wanted. Worked n some materials that have grass on top for the cliffs and rocks.

desu

That looks beautiful!

jsargent

Thanks Desu!
I have a little update today, I'm trying to get a sunset lighting thing happening. Finding it a bit tough! Everything is still placeholder/ having loads of tweaks and changes to crits very welcome!

jsargent

little update, mainly working on terrain materials and lighting...

RobeOmega

I am loving the sense of scale here!

EpicBeardMan

I assume the stairs aren't final since they seem really sharp (like they are BSPs or something). And the texture stretching is present.
Everything else looks pretty good, and the progress you're making is great.

Cheers!

jsargent

Thanks Robeomega!

EpicBeardMan, yeah they are BSP! I have been working on some spline rocky paths today, hoping to get them working well tomorrow. There is still nothing in there that is final at the moment. Going to do a big pass on the trees soon. Trying to get a lot in to a decent standard so that I can keep iterating on whats there and know that its all set up and working technically, then I can just concentrate on the art.

jsargent

Hi guys, I have a few updates as I have been ill all weekend but on the plus side I have made loads of art time! Mainly work on the terrain and materials!

ZaqSchlanger

Scene looks great, but I would definitely throw on a depth fade on the water so you can have a little bit of a softer transition between the river and the bank.

EpicBeardMan

Foliage looks great. Good job on it, although it might use more variation, maybe one or two flowers more and a small bushel here and there. It's up to you though.

Cheers, man!

jsargent

Thanks! The foliage and the river are my next big jobs for sure. Time to make some trees!

redshark

really love the foliage ! keep it up.

stilobique

Great work, i like your foliage ! A little breakdown can be possible ?

jsargent

Thanks guys . I will be doing breakdowns a little later on as the tree is still placeholder at the moment. I will also be doing breakdowns on the photoscans and the scene as a whole hopefully

jsargent

very slow progress on this lately as I haven't had much free time but here is a little update to the rocks with wetness near the water and some foliage tweaks. Trees and foliage still WIP.

jsargent

Hi guys, I had a few hours free this wknd and I'm trying to spend some time working on the foliage.  Here is a small update with new grasses and heather. I'm going to try to get some more assets to near final stage starting with the ground level stuff... 

garcellano

Oh man, I'm liking how the scene is turning out!