[UE4] Fallout 4 & Dear Esther Inspired Environment

Auldbenkenobi

Hey everyone,

I've been working on this the last few weeks after being inspired by some of the concepts in the Fallout 4 Artbook and wanting to learn how to use Quixel Suite 2. I'm not finished yet, and there's things I want to add and change but I'd love to know your thoughts so far.



I can also post some asset shots too if people want them, I'm just being lazy right now, haha.

shadacer

Love the mood so far, the lighthouse also looks pretty solid and I love the shapes of the damaged walkway!
The main suggestion I have is for the sand texture on the beach - there's nothing to bed in the surrounding seaweed and crates. Perhaps try adding some bits of flotsam and jetsam as either a vertex blend or small meshes around those props. Would be cool to see those boxes shattered/spilling open. The boat right now looks solid from a texture standpoint, but could really benefit from hanging wires, seaweed hanging over the railing and more details. The sea behind it also could use some rocks in it to sell the idea of the shore/ocean gradient in that space. Good work so far

mon246

Auldbenkenobi said:

I can also post some asset shots too if people want them, I'm just being lazy right now, haha.

Please do, would love to see more

Auldbenkenobi

I'll grab some Marmo renders tonight then Mon246, and thanks for the advice Matt, have taken it on board and applied it to the environment! (Well, the vertex blend at least, I was messing with that most of today getting it set up, so I'll do some detritus next)

Auldbenkenobi

Here's some of the assets up close, and a quick look at where I am now. Like I said, I spent a lot of time today learning Vertex Painting, so not a whole lot has changed, except some lights etc.

Auldbenkenobi

Added the changes Shadacer suggested, getting very close to calling this finished I think

Deathstick

I'd fix whatever's going on with the skybox, or perhaps replace it. The dark clouds look a little too much like a photoshop airbrush and don't appear to be matching with the other clouds. The white line below it between the ocean and sky is also distracting and looks like a visual error, possibly the horizon line for your skybox is set too high, I'd lower that so it is hidden by the ocean plane in the distance. The rock texture/models could also use a bit more love in comparison to the rest of the models, perhaps a little closer to this for what you're looking for? http://www.hhresort.org/tour/rocks-01.jpg

Not that you necessarily have to do this, but as an idea some of your smaller objects in the foreground might benefit from an additional subtle light, such as a lantern laying on the ground or a torch/flashlight, just to draw the viewer in a bit more on those shots and bring attention to how the light interacts with the materials.

Getting water to look right is kind of a pain in the ass, but if you wanted to push it further you might try adding transparency to it based on zdepth, so there's less of a hard edge where the water plane meets the ships/barrels/terrain. Bonus points if you add seafoam lines but that might not be worth it since the water appears to be more of a background element. Just my 2 cents anyways. I'm digging how the lobster cages turned out!

Keep it up, it's looking good so far!

Joopson

I love how this feels. Great atmosphere, lighting, texturing, and modelling.

Something I'm not sure is on purpose-- it feels like a miniature, because of some scaling issues. The lighthouse door should be taller than a human, which would make the waste barrels about the size of a human right now. If it's on purpose, that's totally cool, just thought I'd mention it.

Auldbenkenobi

Deathstick said:

I'd fix whatever's going on with the skybox, or perhaps replace it. The dark clouds look a little too much like a photoshop airbrush and don't appear to be matching with the other clouds. The white line below it between the ocean and sky is also distracting and looks like a visual error, possibly the horizon line for your skybox is set too high, I'd lower that so it is hidden by the ocean plane in the distance. The rock texture/models could also use a bit more love in comparison to the rest of the models, perhaps a little closer to this for what you're looking for? http://www.hhresort.org/tour/rocks-01.jpg

Not that you necessarily have to do this, but as an idea some of your smaller objects in the foreground might benefit from an additional subtle light, such as a lantern laying on the ground or a torch/flashlight, just to draw the viewer in a bit more on those shots and bring attention to how the light interacts with the materials.

Getting water to look right is kind of a pain in the ass, but if you wanted to push it further you might try adding transparency to it based on zdepth, so there's less of a hard edge where the water plane meets the ships/barrels/terrain. Bonus points if you add seafoam lines but that might not be worth it since the water appears to be more of a background element. Just my 2 cents anyways. I'm digging how the lobster cages turned out!

Keep it up, it's looking good so far!

Oh man, thanks for the feedback, I've been wondering why the sky felt "off" and I guess it was a case of looking at it too long. I'll definitely give the Rocks another go over, and I reckon it might be worth making one or two extra varieties, just to add some variation. All the rocks in the scene currently are scaled and rotated varieties of the same mesh. The link you provided isn't working though?

And I love the idea of a small lamp or something. I'd toyed with the idea of having a small scavenger hideaway somewhere in the scene but decided it'd make it too cluttered. Though if it were just one or two items, like the lamp and maybe an old sleeping bag, it might add a focal point as you said.

Water could use some zdepth yes, it did have it originally, but I'm not shit hot with node based material editors, so it looked pretty weird. I'll have another bash at it though!

Auldbenkenobi

Joopson said:

I love how this feels. Great atmosphere, lighting, texturing, and modelling.

Something I'm not sure is on purpose-- it feels like a miniature, because of some scaling issues. The lighthouse door should be taller than a human, which would make the waste barrels about the size of a human right now. If it's on purpose, that's totally cool, just thought I'd mention it.

You're absolutely right about the scaling. I actually based it on a real life lighthouse in Massachusetts, with this photo in particular being the basis for composition of assets:



I had originally planned on making a full size lighthouse,  but decided that'd require a larger environment as a whole, which I could see myself getting burnt out on. The scale of the door was human error, everything else has been built round a Biped at the standard Unreal height. I could definitely go back and change it though, if you feel it'd benefit the scene as a whole?  

Joopson

Honestly, I think it's fine the way it is, as long as you stand boldly by it. It certainly looks really beautiful the way it is.

Beautiful real life lighthouse, too! I'm from Massachusetts, and will definitely have to stop by Nantucket on my next trip back, to see this, and the island as a whole. Somehow I've never found my way there.

Auldbenkenobi

Joopson said:

Honestly, I think it's fine the way it is, as long as you stand boldly by it. It certainly looks really beautiful the way it is.

Beautiful real life lighthouse, too! I'm from Massachusetts, and will definitely have to stop by Nantucket on my next trip back, to see this, and the island as a whole. Somehow I've never found my way there.

Neat! I don't actually live in the US, but I was VERY taken with Fallout 4s setting and the Hebridean Islands like the one seen in Dear Esther are a few hours North of me, so it was the perfect storm of Inspiration