[CRYENGINE] Forest environment WIP (Image heavy)

loggie24

For the past few months i'v been working on assets for my forest environment which is going to be a part of my portfolio. I'm using CRYENGINE due to the supreme vegetation/forest rendering (and because it's the engine i'm most familiar with). 

I'm utilizing mostly photogrammetry/photomodeling techniques to get my assets because i want to achieve the best quality possible. My end goal is a spruce like forest, but also different "styles" in terms of forest layout and lighting.

I will try and update regularly as i progress. Going to start with showing various surface textures, decals, ground vegetation and some tree tests. Trees are the main obstacle left before i have the majority of the assets i need (just need to find good tree trunks to scan), otherwise the fun thing will be combining things together. Crits and feedback is always welcome 

loggie24

loggie24

sgv3dmax

Pretty damn good!!!..Can't wait to see the forest scene

Nathan3D

I love a good forest environment will be looking forward to this as I've never used cryengine 

loggie24

Cheers fellas. Currently testing out a lot of different methods to get nice looking moss on rocks, from displacement to blendlayer but i find using cards the best since it gives proper silhouette plus it's easy to LOD. Needs work in some areas but progress.

DanielPeres

Your work looks incredibly real and beatiful, really inspiring. But may I ask how you made the ground textures? I am doing an environment where I need some textures like that and I am kinda stuck on making them look good

Tomiajayi

making real life look pretty lame man.  I'll stick with cryengine

leleuxart

Everything is looking awesome far! Looking forward to seeing the environment

loggie24

Thanks guys!
@nukakola7 I'm using photogrammetry to capture them. Basically find an area with a bunch of different variations i might be interested in and start taking pictures of 1x1-1.5x1.5m areas (reason i don't take more is due to hardware - quality limitations). I stay in the same area to try and keep things as consistent as possible, this is also the same for lighting condition so if i am in the field on a nice cloudy day i will get as many as possible to avoid having to do much post processing regarding color-balance and such. There is obviously much much more i could talk about regarding this topic but it's a starter (feel free to send me a mail or add me on skype: apekatt13)

loggie24

Last thing i'm going to post in a few days while i work on some other stuff. A quick mashup of different assets. While i'm not fully happy with the look it's still WIP so i can hopefully get away with some rough edges without getting stabbed.

SimãoSilva

damm those textures look soo real and good ! what software did you use ?

DanielPeres

loggie24 said:

Thanks guys!
@nukakola7 I'm using photogrammetry to capture them. Basically find an area with a bunch of different variations i might be interested in and start taking pictures of 1x1-1.5x1.5m areas (reason i don't take more is due to hardware - quality limitations). I stay in the same area to try and keep things as consistent as possible, this is also the same for lighting condition so if i am in the field on a nice cloudy day i will get as many as possible to avoid having to do much post processing regarding color-balance and such. There is obviously much much more i could talk about regarding this topic but it's a starter (feel free to send me a mail or add me on skype: apekatt13)

Thanks a lot. Actually photogrammetry is something I really want to start learning and exploring because the results are perfect when it is done correctly like you did. If I may, I will add you in skype (when I am back from vacation) and maybe get some help or simples questions answered

bildeerbuch

Nice work! do you have more portfolio samples?
could you share wireframe, gloss and diffuse samples?

loggie24

bildeerbuch said:

Nice work! do you have more portfolio samples?
could you share wireframe, gloss and diffuse samples?

Hey, i do have quite a bit of work but it's either old or done while freelancing so i can't show. I will show wires and such soon, any particular assets you are interested in?

another caveman

Looks promising !
Little bit too much of AO on this in my opinion: http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b567/grimsonfart/screenshot0047_zpsa9ns0d6h.jpg
Keep up the good work!
So if I may ask on what reasons/purposes did you choose Cry engine ?
My summer goal is to learn Cry engine or Unreal, I am still hesitating.

loggie24

another caveman said:

Looks promising !
Little bit too much of AO on this in my opinion: http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b567/grimsonfart/screenshot0047_zpsa9ns0d6h.jpg
Keep up the good work!
So if I may ask on what reasons/purposes did you choose Cry engine ?
My summer goal is to learn Cry engine or Unreal, I am still hesitating.

Hey! I don't think it's the AO but rather the shading in-engine but i will take a look at it tomorrow. Anyways here is a shot of my albedo, as you can see i can hardly remove more.
The reason i chose CRYENGINE is because it's the engine i'v been using for the past 3 years and it is unarguably the best engine freely available for rendering forests. Depending on your own needs its generally aknowledged that UE4 is a better engine if you want to make a game while CE is more of a eye candy engine (you can obviously still make games but requires a lot more knowledge).

loggie24

Here is something to look at. Trees aren't mine, still working on finishing them.

stickehbunz

Your terrain texture is absolutely amazing, Would you be able to post a picture of the material? Also, the leaves on your tree look a little too light, they seem a little as though they don't belong. 

loggie24

stickehbunz said:

Your terrain texture is absolutely amazing, Would you be able to post a picture of the material? Also, the leaves on your tree look a little too light, they seem a little as though they don't belong. 

Hey, they aren't mine as previously stated. They are from Ryse: Son of Rome and assets that come default in CRYENGINE. I'm changing them with my own soon.

another caveman

Thank you for your answer.
About photogrammetry: Agisoft, or are you using the Autodesk one that does the render for you on this cloud thing?
(or another one?)

gametime

Great work obviously!

I'm wondering, which version of cryengine are you using? Or are you even using Lumberyard? I'm asking, because CE5 is pretty much broken (no asset or texture import is working + rest is buggy, too). 

loggie24

gametime said:

Great work obviously!

I'm wondering, which version of cryengine are you using? Or are you even using Lumberyard? I'm asking, because CE5 is pretty much broken (no asset or texture import is working + rest is buggy, too). 

Thanks, i'm using CE5.1.1. It's not great, as you said it's quite buggy and unstable but it works (i have no problems at all with the import pipeline other than buggy geo/texture updating). Reason i'm using it is due to the improved GI and while i do punch myself occasionally due to the crashes it's not a total deal breaker for me as long as it doesn't get any worse ^^.

@another caveman i'm using Agisoft, i really don't care for cloud based software like what Autodesk has.

loggie24

Two new shots, trying out some different looks.

Telerak

Everything is looking fantastic. I'm loving the look of your ground cover and materials.

pixelpatron

Subbed.

PixelMasher

your recipe looks great, there is no reason you shouldnt be able to make a killer scene with these assets The main thing is going to be composition and lighting, along with natural object placement that creates a path or point of focus. looking forward to seeing more!

loggie24

So i'v been away for some time on vacation hence why no updates. Currently got 3 new ground stones, as well as testing out methods on getting interesting terrain because CRYENGINE's terrain system is very bad (10 year old+). Could make a tasty list of whats wrong with it but don't want to clutter it up here :P

Other than that i'm working on some architectural stuff which i will show fairly soon.




Cheers.

loggie24

So i'v been working on a rock wall for the past few days while trying out some other stuff not related to this scene... I still feel that there is something a bit off about the texture but i can't figure out why and people i'v shown it too haven't pointed anything obvious out yet  





testing out blending with terrain in engine, not quite there yet, need to find a more efficient method (would use decals but they are somewhat broken atm).

FreneticPonies

Everything looks great, love all the tiny detail in there. Was reading "Technical Art of Uncharted 4" and they combined like a dozen hacks to get their moss, and yours just blows it away. Looking forward to whatever "done" is on this!

Flight

This is looking great! Really like the amount of clutter on the ground level, helps to break up the ground textures and create that sense of depth that you find in nature. Are the branches decals/alpha planes or meshes? 

loggie24

Flight said:

This is looking great! Really like the amount of clutter on the ground level, helps to break up the ground textures and create that sense of depth that you find in nature. Are the branches decals/alpha planes or meshes? 

Hey, branches are alpha planes with elevated edge going along the branch to give the illusion of geo. 

loggie24

So it's been a while since i posted anything. Have had some personal business to take care of lately so been progressing slowly but getting there. Have started laying out the level and will soon have something large scale hopefully. 

ZombieDEV

loggie24 said:

So i'v been working on a rock wall for the past few days while trying out some other stuff not related to this scene... I still feel that there is something a bit off about the texture but i can't figure out why and people i'v shown it too haven't pointed anything obvious out yet  





testing out blending with terrain in engine, not quite there yet, need to find a more efficient method (would use decals but they are somewhat broken atm).

What program use for the texture?

frmdbl

This is oozin' quality!

Joopson

This is my favourite work-in-progress I've seen in a while. Can't wait to see it move forward!

ZNP

Hey, loggie24! Your work is absolutely amazing! Congrats!

Could you please talk a bit about your workflow? (process, software, techniques?)

loggie24

Thanks guys!

@ZNP i might do a breakdown when i'm done with this  

loggie24

Been working on some small birches, here are some shots.

loggie24

Update time! The layout of the level is done, and i'm probably 1/5th done with building the environment. Hoping to be done in 3-4 days... Rocks on the side of the path might need some work, not fully happy but i'm testing out a different technique.

loggie24

Hey guys, so i finished the environment. Sorry for not being more active in posting progress.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dGRre

Cheers!

Flight

Mm.. those transitions.. 

I think you could have used some more bush size undergrowth, possibly other things obscuring vision. Also missing a bit more storytelling in the landscape, house looks a bit lonely.

That aside, beautiful materials and props, well done. Going into inspiration folder for sure. Would be interesting to hear more about your photogrammetry process.

loggie24

Flight said:

Mm.. those transitions.. 

I think you could have used some more bush size undergrowth, possibly other things obscuring vision. Also missing a bit more storytelling in the landscape, house looks a bit lonely.

That aside, beautiful materials and props, well done. Going into inspiration folder for sure. Would be interesting to hear more about your photogrammetry process.

I agree that in terms of interesting and unique pieces there aren't that many. The main reason i chose to go with something a bit more generic is because this is my first scene and i would rather create something simple but  great than try to create something fancy that felt wrong. Next project will definitely have more punch to it!

amirabd2130

wow. very nice

loggie24

@amirabd2130 thanks. I'm uploading a small breakdown later tonight.

loggie24

The breakdown is up. This is strictly about the scene and not photogrammetry unfortunately. Hopefully i will have time to do something more in depth later but i'm going to be really busy the next few weeks.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YgE13

Cheers!

ZNP

loggie24 said:

The breakdown is up. This is strictly about the scene and not photogrammetry unfortunately. Hopefully i will have time to do something more in depth later but i'm going to be really busy the next few weeks.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YgE13

Cheers!

Awesome breakdowns! Final scene is jaw-dropping!

Could you please just mention the softwares you used? Did you use Speedtree or Substance Suite or just ZBrush/Photoshop?

loggie24

ZNP said:

loggie24 said:

The breakdown is up. This is strictly about the scene and not photogrammetry unfortunately. Hopefully i will have time to do something more in depth later but i'm going to be really busy the next few weeks.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YgE13

Cheers!

Awesome breakdowns! Final scene is jaw-dropping!

Could you please just mention the softwares you used? Did you use Speedtree or Substance Suite or just ZBrush/Photoshop?

Hey, i created all the vegetation by hand using 3Ds Max, otherwise i used Photoscan, ZBrush, Photoshop, xNormal and occasionally DDO for some 3D painting.