Handpainted Environment [UE4]
polycounter lvl 3
Hey Polycounters!
I'm recreating the Goldshire Inn from World of Warcraft for a University project. I'll be keeping a development diary on this thread and I was hoping to get some feedback from you guys on how I can make it look better.
Majority of it is very WIP/blockout but I would appreciate any pointers you guys can give me. I'll post screenshots of the current Unreal map below this comment
I'm recreating the Goldshire Inn from World of Warcraft for a University project. I'll be keeping a development diary on this thread and I was hoping to get some feedback from you guys on how I can make it look better.
Majority of it is very WIP/blockout but I would appreciate any pointers you guys can give me. I'll post screenshots of the current Unreal map below this comment
Replies
Have you dropped a character in there yet though?
The scale looks off on most of the props. For instance, the tables and chairs look too low to the ground.
I feel that lighting wise it will need something to balance all of the warm, orange lights/colors. Maybe a blueish light coming from windows/roof openings?
Keep it up!
Here are some of the reference images I've collected
@Tobbo the chairs in the original scene have really stylised proportions and I tried to recreate that, however they do look really small in my scene compared with the steps on the stairs. I think tomorrow morning I'll have another look at the proportions of my assets and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the help!
@martinszeme thanks for the suggestion! I actually tried doing something similar when I first started setting up my lights, but the result was really cold/moody. To get an idea of how I want the end piece to feel, here is the soundtrack I'm hoping to use on the fly-through I submit: [ame]
Also my orange/blue lighting build:
The build that I ended up with just looked really cold. I think I'm actually going to have the shutters closed on the windows next to the fire because it looked like there was too much going on. But I do definitely agree that my scene is too orange-dominated. Should I try to create a blue ambient light around the edges of the room?
I'm looking for some feedback on the windows I've been working on. I currently have 2 window frame meshes but I'm a torn on which one to use.
The first:
The second:
Closed window comparison:
I'm not really happy with either, one of them is big and a bit too 'in your face' the other is a bit basic, but I feel that the windowframe should be more subtle. Could anyone give me any insight/feedback on how I should approach this?
Its modelled/UVed and got the texture blocked out.
Been working on the windows. Textures are blocked out but I've been working on the emissive/lighting coming from the windows. I think it still needs a lot of work though to make it look good, but it is adding contrast to the room.
My notes: I personally like the orange and blue lighting scheme better than the all orange. I think it is much more fitting with the blue light creeping in through the windows, and just that the all orange is, well, VERY orange.
In the most recent update, I see the light spread coming in through the window no longer has the diamond pattern - did you remove it on purpose or is that still just in-progress? I really liked that little detail! I'm not sure if I like closed or open windows by the fireplace, though. I think open gives more visual interest, however, closed makes it feel like it's colder outside, and makes the inside feel much warmer. Either could work well.
Your hand painted textures are wonderful, too! It seems the originals are more detailed, but I think I like yours better. There is a lot going on the references you provided, and I think that your version of the textures will help cut down on some of the visual chaos.
The original seems bigger, somehow - but not in a particularly good way. The lighting is very generic and it feels very busy, and kind of looks like every mesh they made has smoothed normals with no hard edges to be found. I struggle to find the visual divisions, if that makes sense. Your lighting scheme seems much more well defined and focused, and overall easier to look at. (Although, of course 2015 UE4 is prettier to look at than whatever they used back in 2004!)
I'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out!
@KrisLW I totally agree! My old lighting setup was an eyesore (aswell as my original blue lighting) I'm pretty happy at the moment with the lighting setup, just the windows need tweaking. For the diamond pattern, that is because the blockout version was created with seperate meshes, so I could keep the glass mesh 1 sided and keep the criss-cut pattern 2 sided which allowed me to create those shadows. All I need to do is seperate the glass from the grid pattern to get those shadows back (which I intend to do!) Thanks for the feedback, I truly appreciate it!
@lunatorra Thanks for encouraging words!
On a serious note, you've got off to a great start! It's noticeable from the off that it's Goldshire Inn. I do feel the lighting and overall warmth of the scene needs to be upped, especially if you want to replicate the general theme of Goldshire. Look at your references of Goldshire you've taken (or perhaps they're in game shots on your character on WoW
Remember, Goldshire was more of a warm atmosphere for players to sort of down time and just afk in xD (well that's what i did mostly haha) So try to replicate the theme. You're doing great nonetheless and i'll keep an eye on this
I do struggle with UE4's lighting, feels like a balancing act, but I'll try tweaking it tomorrow. With the light shafts, I was intending to use them, but I cannot get them to travel through the glass mesh (the light comes through the glass because its a one-sided material, but the lightrays do not follow. I assume I have to make my own using planes/alphas? Does anyone have any insight/tips on making artificial light rays?
In regards to the bar, from the screenshots, it looks like the base of the original is stone, with a wood top - versus yours just being all wood? Changing the shade of the wood could work, but really, I think it works fine as it is if we're just going with what you can get away with versus how true to the original you intend to stay.
As for artificial light rays, I remember some from back when I was poking around with the Dungeon Defenders development kit with UE3. If I recall, they were basically just planes with a streak of a light color on them, arranged so that a cross-section looks like a "+." You just have to adjust the shader so that they don't recieve shadows or react to ambient light in anyway, since they are supposed to be light themselves.
As for light shafts, you can create your own. I remember using a tutorial on Youtube under the name of i believe "creating god rays in UE4."
I do agree that you should down tone the orange a bit, but that's just my general opinion
And it's been 2 years since i did last play WoW but i'm unsure, but i don't think WoW did have a day and night cycle across all areas. I could be wrong, but if it did, try pulling up some references of Goldshire at night time. The blue tint coming from the windows look sweet, just need to be pushed more!
@KrisLW The original is has pretty flat ambient lighting, its a very old environment and I would probably say I'm not trying to produce a duplicate but rather recreate it with my own painting style, whilst not straying too far from original's design/layout.
My current plan is to remake the room/furniture similar to the original (which I'll hopefully have ready for my alpha presentation in 3 weeks) and then spend the last 4 weeks adding my own warcraft themed assets to add narrative to the scene, things like quest posters/card games and perhaps even an evil warlock themed table by the open window (any ideas for this kind of stuff would be appreciated!)
For the bar counter, the original has the same texture as the stone wall but I was a little unsure on how to translate that into the style I was trying to go for. I started just randomly kitbashing assets to see what I could come up with and I was pretty happy with the wooden version, I was just hoping that it wasn't too obviously tiled from other meshes. If I could get away with kitbashing the counter, it would save a lot of time to work on extra assets.
And thanks for pointers on the light shafts! I will probably trial and error with that method, though I'm a little worried because in UE4 you cannot exempt a mesh from shadows (as far as I know)
@DweenieTodd Yeah I should make it clear that its "Goldshire inspired" rather than Goldshire itself. That link tutorials should be really useful to me, thanks! I'll try find it when I come around to making the lightshafts ^^
I am struggling to get the light to come through the windows. I was hoping for it to somewhat spill out through the gaps in the shutters, but its really underwhelming even with massive intensity coming from the spotlights outside. Do you know any settings I can play around with? I've used raytraced shadows, which give the scene some nice shoft shadows, but toggleing this on/off has little effect on the blue lighting coming in. Thanks for the feedback!
I kitbashed the shelves behind the bar counter. Reworked the ceiling wood beams (still going to add some metal fittings to them). Changed the hue of the bar counter planks to try and make sure it doesn't get lost in the ocean of wood. Also just modelled the bookcases, hopefully I can get these UVed and start on the texture before I head home.
I'm still having trouble getting the blue light to spill into the room. Tried a lot different light setups but I cannot get it to look natural/believable.
Also something pretty fun; I conceptualised today. Thinking about having the corner table warlock themed, sort of like an 'outcast' table. Added a green light to this area to represent a felflame theme (I'll link references to felflame), I think it adds a nice level of contrast to the scene.
For those unfamiliar with wow, heres some felflame reference. was thinking about having the candles lit with this colour and a glowing felcloth tablecloth, along with other warlock themed assets.
Got the bookcase texture done today, but mainly been focussing on blocking out a lot of smaller assets. Here is some screen grabs.
This mesh will eventually be a banner tried to the roof/wall supports, and it will have the writing "hearthstone tournament today!".
Next is the table by the fire, I've put a lot of bottles/tankards around this area to show its a very busiest part of the tavern.
Hearthstone board:
And here is the bar counter:
Not really done a lot to the warlock area, but I'm planning on adding a burning green gem, a black orb, a grimoire, a black tablecloth with a glowing red rune and maybe some graffiti on the wall.
Oh and I also tried to do some self evaluating, still a lot of things need to be fixed and I still cannot get the light to spill out through the windows
Are you trying to get the volumetric-style light shafts, I.E. a really dusty, thick atmosphere, or are you more about trying to get the blue light to "project" through the windows onto the other furniture/floor? Perhaps you could use a light function on a spotlight placed just to the inside of the windows to project a texture vaguely in the shape of the window opening?
(Also, I love the Warlock table idea - I think that will bring in some really nice contrast!)
What I'm doing at the moment is shining a spotlight through to get the light pattern from the windows, the problem is that the light just doesn't spill into the room but rather just flops in. With the open window near the warlock table, I could fake it because I could place a low intensity blue point light above the nearby table.
Ideally I want the light to come through the window openings and project the shape of the gaps onto the furniture (like the moon crescent) and then have the light bounce out, giving the immediate area and blue-ish glow.
I also want to get that volumetric-style light shafts, but after I get this lighting sorted. I think that light function method would actually be a lot better way to do it, tomorrow when I'm back at uni I'll have a quick look at it. Thank you very much for the help
I'd agree, you have some areas that are too bright in colour. You have the roof that seems to reflect such a bright colour. You may need to tone the attenuation radius down on some of your light.You have the ability to create source radius and lengths in your point lights, and you should utilise these to avoid light scattering in areas you don't want.
@DweenieTodd - Thanks for the suggestion! I just logged on to upload some screenshots when I saw your comment, so I quickly went back and tried fine-tuning the lights. I lowered the radius/intensity of the main ambient light and then pumped up the candle lights on the bar to keep it visible. This helped a lot with toning down the roof - thanks!
So recently I've just been working on a few things, made some materials for the bottles. Used a bit of metalness to pop them out a bit (maybe they pop out too much?). I've also started on the tankard texture, but that still needs a lot of work. Oh and I refined my normal maps a little more! I got some decent results from nDo but it had a lot of noise in normal map because of my brush strokes. Yesterday I was brave and decided to clean up my stone floor normals by hand, so now they are a lot less noisy, but still need a clean up around the edges of the map.
Lastly I was working on the windows and specifically the light coming through them. I made my own lightshafts! They turned out ok-ish. I alsao replaced one of the windows next to the fireplace with a fully open window. Because the corner window was now flooded with green light, I decided I could open up another window and flood that area with blue light.