fantasy workshop/study room diorama

b0lly

Hey guys!
I've only been doing 3d for about 2 years now so I'm still pretty new at it. I mostly do hard surface props, but I try to challenge myself all the time. I've decided I want to make a diorama-type environment, in a fantasy setting since 99% of the things I do are futuristic/sci-fi
I've been doing environments in Unity before during my internship at a studio so I have a basic clue on how to approach this project, but I still have some question marks left. But first, I want to present the type of environment I'm going to make. 

I wanted to make some sort of workshop/library/study room in a fantasy setting, but not dark and gritty. I've been looking around for inspiration for a while, and the pic that really caught my eye is from the D&D players handbook: 

..But with a more realistic (pbr) touch. 

I've started a bit of a block out in Maya and I'll probably be posting wip-pics all through the project if there is any interest! The headscratchers for me at the moment is how I'm going to approach the the texturing. I'm thinking I'll probably do a texture for floor, one for walls, one or more for the furniture and some sort of atlas-texture map for all the little nick-nacks? Any suggestions here? Am I thinking in too much of a prop-mindset when I'm trying to keep the texture map count low? 

Also, I'm trying to figure out how to go about the rendering when I'm done. I do all my renderings in Marmoset, is that suitable for environments? Or should I look into unreal or some other engine for environment renders?

Any tips or comments are appreciated! And ask away if anything is unclear. But be gentle, I'm still pretty new at this

b0lly

I did a fast blockout/paint-over to get an basic idea of the room. I hope you can read my handwriting!

b0lly

A little bit of process on the blocking out, and testing a bit of floor and wall material. Not sure what kind of material I want for the walls, I want it to feel cozy and nice, but not too dirty and dark. 

A

braintrain

looks like a cool project! i am not involved in environments and hard surface stuff, so no feedback from me. but i am very interested in what youre doing:)
definitely coming back to check out how your going along!

b0lly

braintrain said:

looks like a cool project! i am not involved in environments and hard surface stuff, so no feedback from me. but i am very interested in what youre doing:)
definitely coming back to check out how your going along!

Thank you!

b0lly

So this is today's progress. Things are moving pretty slow




One thing that worries me about this piece is not being able to mediate the residents size, since he is a gnome. Im messing around with objects like the apron, shoes, ladders and stools to make that clearer. 

For those of you who don't know, this is a Modron, which is gonna be under construction in the scene. 

b0lly

I've mostly been working on making the props for the scene lately. They are in different stages tho, some are still in a blockout stage (for example the Modron) and some are ready for high poly and texturing.

b0lly

A quick update! Been focusing on the floor and the furniture the last couple of days. I decided to make the floor mesh into actual planks with a wood texture instead of trying to communicate the space between the planks with a normal map. 
I "wonkyfied" the furniture, making the meshes bent and worn to give them a more organic and home made look. I've also baked down the high polys onto the low polys and made an AO-map (which I'm gonna have to redo unfortunately). Tomorrow I'm gonna get them all into quixel and try out some texturing!
Any C&C is appriciated!

BucketOfNuggets

Looking really good so far, will you be adding more detail in to the wall? It looks pretty flat at the moment. Are you bringing these objects in to Zbrush and adding detail to it? 

It all looks a bit lifeless, your book shelf for example, all the books look to be the same depth, all standing up correctly. Maybe throw some on the side, have one or two open on the ground. 

b0lly

BucketOfNuggets said:

Looking really good so far, will you be adding more detail in to the wall? It looks pretty flat at the moment. Are you bringing these objects in to Zbrush and adding detail to it? 

It all looks a bit lifeless, your book shelf for example, all the books look to be the same depth, all standing up correctly. Maybe throw some on the side, have one or two open on the ground. 

Thanks for the feedback!
Yes, the walls and window are yet to be polished. I'm still not sure what materials and feeling I want for the walls..
I'm not going to sculpt on them but I'm adding detail with NDO, carved floral patterns and such. When looking at the first pic from the D&D handbook the furniture look plain and simple, but the area is made dynamic and interesting from all the little nicknacks laying around (tools, drawings, etc). That was the feeling I was going for initially, but maybe it will look to bland and boring?
I get what you're saying with it looking lifeless and I agree. I'm gonna work some more on that!

b0lly

Today I've been testing out a bit of texturing, trying keep the number of textures to a minimum. At the moment I have one 2k texture, and two 1k-textures I think. And I still have some stuff that doesnt have a texutre map assigned yet.
I also played around for a couple of minutes in Marmoset, trying to get a feel of the end result lightingwise. I would be lying if I'd say I'm not feeling a big panicked about the project
But I'm not giving up yet!