[UE4] WIP - Star Citizen Corridor Environment

DeathstrokeFTW

Hi guys,
I am working on a Star Citizen style corridor for study and portfolio work. Now what I am trying to do is how artists over there do their environments and piece together all of it to recreate one done by Matthew Trevelyan Johns. By turning this into a learning experience, I might learn a thing or two. So I am going to model this out in 3DSMax, I'll try use some other package for UVing as I hate UVing in Max and use Quixel and Substance Painter for texturing. I will use Quixel's nDo for the normal map decals to avoid un-necessary geometry and then finally add all of it into Unreal Engine 4.

Critiques welcome!



My first step was exporting the character from UE4 for scaling the environment in Max and block it out.

DeathstrokeFTW

I may not have the same topo but making progress. The trick part is getting the door area fixed for now.

DeathstrokeFTW

I may have got some measurements wrong but added a few more things :P

Anchang-Style

Really curious how you are going to handle all the geometric details? 

DeathstrokeFTW

Anchang-Style said:

Really curious how you are going to handle all the geometric details? 

It's quite challenging actually, no wonder they call these guys "Senior" artists :P anyway, most of the normal map details are actually done using normal map decals, I will make a trim sheet of lets say the exhaust grill or bolts and then cut them out and place them on the places I want to as floaters. That is how they do it but they have their own shaders to get better effects but I think I can make a simple one in UE4. Other than that is mostly repeating geo so Ill just have to figure out where to place stuff properly.

DeathstrokeFTW

Small update.

DeathstrokeFTW

So much geo xD

DeathstrokeFTW

Making the door was a pain xD
I still have to make adjustments for it to fit the side.

DeathstrokeFTW

Finished adjusting the door and other missing things. Now I can focus on the roof and add panels on the window side  

DeathstrokeFTW

The modelling phase is done. Now to make the trimsheets and UV the meshes.

macoll

Interesting, i will follow you  ; )

DeathstrokeFTW

macoll said:

Interesting, i will follow you  ; )

Ty  

DeathstrokeFTW

Sorry for adding no updates, I didnt have much time to work on it lately. I started UVing in Max and I have been facing a lot of crashes and I only managed to UV one part by cutting it in half. I even tried Unfold3D and it crashed too much and was not able to run UVlayout either.
I will continue to UV all of the models and then try to keep it in 2x2k maps and then work on the NormalMap and Decal Trimsheet.

Trevelyan .

Hi deathstrokeFTW, I'm very flattered you're using my work as inspiration for your own project, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress and it'll be interesting to see it in Unreal too! Keep it up! 

DeathstrokeFTW

Trevelyan . said:

Hi deathstrokeFTW, I'm very flattered you're using my work as inspiration for your own project, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress and it'll be interesting to see it in Unreal too! Keep it up! 

The honor is mine, you're work has inspired me a lot and I hope become a good artist as you someday xD I just dont know where i should specialize, I like making environments and also vehicles but most of the work I do usually ends up in the sci-fi genre.
I have applied to CIG many times but I ended up facing rejection so I hope when this is done I can apply again.

Trevelyan .

That's awesome, I'm really glad to hear you feel inspired! My advice would be to focus in the area you enjoy the most, environments for example, but don't be afraid to cover more than just one genre. My other 'insider tip' would be to do this with tiling textures and to perhaps think about how you can expand the scene a little, or change it in some way, to give it your own spin, after all you'll apply to cig again with this piece I assume and so it might be cool to show how you can elaborate and potentially improve on something they're already familiar with hope that helps! 

DeathstrokeFTW

Trevelyan . said:

That's awesome, I'm really glad to hear you feel inspired! My advice would be to focus in the area you enjoy the most, environments for example, but don't be afraid to cover more than just one genre. My other 'insider tip' would be to do this with tiling textures and to perhaps think about how you can expand the scene a little, or change it in some way, to give it your own spin, after all you'll apply to cig again with this piece I assume and so it might be cool to show how you can elaborate and potentially improve on something they're already familiar with hope that helps! 

Thanks for the tips! And I am going to do tiling textures using Quixel, this way I can export them to UE4 and create a Master Material then mask parts using the Material ID. I just hope this works out.

DeathstrokeFTW

Placed the meshes inside UE4 for playing, I just realized I made a few errors in calculating the size of the corridor

DeathstrokeFTW

Texture work, still trying to figure out how to fix the texture difference, it has both been the same when i used Painter and Quixel even with sRGB off.

 

FreneticPonies

Hmm, maybe the metal is a bit TOO noisy?

DeathstrokeFTW

FreneticPonies said:

Hmm, maybe the metal is a bit TOO noisy?

Yeah, Ive had trouble setting up the roughness and metallic maps. The result looks drastically different than in Quixel

DeathstrokeFTW

I think I will go for flat colors for now and then slowly start working on details. This would have been a lot smoother if my Master Material had worked.

lloydj14

Have you tried using the UE4 lighting preset in 3Do to get a better idea of what it will look like? It not great but it might help if you haven't tried it already

DeathstrokeFTW

lloydj14 said:

Have you tried using the UE4 lighting preset in 3Do to get a better idea of what it will look like? It not great but it might help if you haven't tried it already

I have, the textures looked waaaaaaaaaaaay better in 3Do rather than UE4, the thing is Quixel has different setups and UE4 doesnt have them

DeathstrokeFTW

Slapping flat textures with minor editing.

monodrobe

If you re having issues with your rough masks not responding quite how you expect make sure you have srgb disabled on those textures. If you disable it set your sample type to linear color on the texture sample node (these will be set automatically if you drop in the texture to the node graph, but if you change the texture afterwards you ll need to update the sample type to the appropriate one). Alternatively you can just select "masks" from compression settings for an easy default, or "greyscale "for a better compression. Although with grey scale you do sacrifice the individual rgb channels for the increase in quality so you ll use up more texture samples in your node graph.

Asim7

You seem to have made the door and the wall details all in one mesh? I am a bit curious as to why? Wouldn't it be easier to have made them as seperate models? Especially for a game model, if the door is supposed to open and close? It's looking great though, really looking forward to seeing the progress

DeathstrokeFTW

monodrobe said:

If you re having issues with your rough masks not responding quite how you expect make sure you have srgb disabled on those textures. If you disable it set your sample type to linear color on the texture sample node (these will be set automatically if you drop in the texture to the node graph, but if you change the texture afterwards you ll need to update the sample type to the appropriate one). Alternatively you can just select "masks" from compression settings for an easy default, or "greyscale "for a better compression. Although with grey scale you do sacrifice the individual rgb channels for the increase in quality so you ll use up more texture samples in your node graph.

I have tried that earlier but its not making an difference. I will work on my Roughness and Metalness maps later

Asim7 said:

You seem to have made the door and the wall details all in one mesh? I am a bit curious as to why? Wouldn't it be easier to have made them as seperate models? Especially for a game model, if the door is supposed to open and close? It's looking great though, really looking forward to seeing the progress

They are all separate models actually, I can even detach the door inside and make it open but for now I am keeping it as a static scene. If you look at my wireframes above most of the objects are individual objects.

Asim7

Hmm, it might just be me being a noob
So you modeled the door and other details seperatly, and then attached them to the main corridor mesh for now right? And you can then detach them later if you wanted, but right now they are attached as 1 big model correct?

Sorry, not trying to nitpick or anything. Im just used to making very low poly game models, so for me it seems like a lot of tris being used on something i maybe might have been without. If the details had just been slottet into the walls for example, without attaching them and connecting.

TheCloudCreator

Asim7 said:

Hmm, it might just be me being a noob
So you modeled the door and other details seperatly, and then attached them to the main corridor mesh for now right? And you can then detach them later if you wanted, but right now they are attached as 1 big model correct?

Sorry, not trying to nitpick or anything. Im just used to making very low poly game models, so for me it seems like a lot of tris being used on something i maybe might have been without. If the details had just been slottet into the walls for example, without attaching them and connecting.

I get what you mean exactly. I'm currently working on som props in which it would be best to "slot" the meshes together. Saving poly's. However, when you're working with light baking in a game engine it can often cause splotches when the mesh is not closed properly.

DeathstrokeFTW

Asim7 said:

Hmm, it might just be me being a noob
So you modeled the door and other details seperatly, and then attached them to the main corridor mesh for now right? And you can then detach them later if you wanted, but right now they are attached as 1 big model correct?

Sorry, not trying to nitpick or anything. Im just used to making very low poly game models, so for me it seems like a lot of tris being used on something i maybe might have been without. If the details had just been slottet into the walls for example, without attaching them and connecting.

Heh I didnt attach them i just used aligned them by using snap by vertices/edges.

Asim7

TheCloudCreator said:

I get what you mean exactly. I'm currently working on som props in which it would be best to "slot" the meshes together. Saving poly's. However, when you're working with light baking in a game engine it can often cause splotches when the mesh is not closed properly.

Ah ok, yea that makes sence

DeathstrokeFTW said:

Heh I didnt attach them i just used aligned them by using snap by vertices/edges.

I see, my mistake. Thanks for the explanation

Broodlord_Craft

Deathstroke, I am a new 3d modeler and I was wondering, where did you learn to 3d model/ do you have suggestions or tips for newer people?

DeathstrokeFTW

Broodlord_Craft said:

Deathstroke, I am a new 3d modeler and I was wondering, where did you learn to 3d model/ do you have suggestions or tips for newer people?

I mostly started out of hobby back then there werent many tutorials or even youtube xD about in 2013 I started studying as a degree so most of what I learned was through tutorials and critiques. The best way to model is to start with something small and keep working hard even if you fail you learn something. Also software wise, Blender (free) and 3DS Max are great modelling tools for starters.

DragonGuard

Hey. For your materials, what filetype are you using? I noticed that sometimes my textures in Unreal don't match when I have them set to 16/32 bit/ channel png's in photoshop. Setting it to 8bit  (image>Mode) or using .tga usually solves this for me.

DeathstrokeFTW

DragonGuard said:

Hey. For your materials, what filetype are you using? I noticed that sometimes my textures in Unreal don't match when I have them set to 16/32 bit/ channel png's in photoshop. Setting it to 8bit  (image>Mode) or using .tga usually solves this for me.

I use Targa but also PNG. For this project Im using PNG though I think I should use Targa

Broodlord_Craft

When it comes to modeling for games, which is better? Maya or 3Ds max?

Doxturtle

There are lots of threads on this already if you search the forums I have used both, Maya and Max, personally I think Max makes some parts of the process easier, however Maya is definately a solid program too, you can use both, just depends on your preference

peloncr

@DeathstrokeFTW

Awesome work u have in there! Congrats One quick question and sorry If I missed it but when do u use DDO and Substance? Or it's like a mixed use of both? Cheers!

DeathstrokeFTW

Broodlord_Craft said:

When it comes to modeling for games, which is better? Maya or 3Ds max?

I would say Max because its great in modelling, Maya has better animation controls and the industry uses it too. But if you're good in Max you can get used to Maya once you know the basic controls.

DeathstrokeFTW

peloncr said:

@DeathstrokeFTW

Awesome work u have in there! Congrats One quick question and sorry If I missed it but when do u use DDO and Substance? Or it's like a mixed use of both? Cheers!

Its good to get noticed xD
I use both but it depends on the project, Quixel is fun when you want to setup base textures (kinda like what I am doing right now) and then I mix Substance Painter for adding details such as scratches, bumps etc. You can use Quixel/Substance and be done with but if you want to learn things you have to get your hands dirty xD

RedLehari

Hey man, will fav this thread and will be wishing you the best on it as I wanna go on the same path on my last project for uni, and try a shot at CIG.
I will have a whole year for it so I wanna do the outside and inside of a small ship (maybe something smaller than the Freelancer); I'm still unsure I will do from my own concept or copy one of the ships.
I've been fascinated with the technique that they use for star citizen and have been researching it for a quite a while, there's a whole thread about the Differed Normal Decals that is used on SC (Just be careful as it seem that the Deffered Decals are broken on latest version of UE4)
Edit: Just saw your comment on the thread. xD

Been experiment this on Uni projects and also had some problems exporting the Scratch and Grime RMA packed textures for the master material.

Anyway, all the luck on it.

DeathstrokeFTW

RedLehari said:

Hey man, will fav this thread and will be wishing you the best on it as I wanna go on the same path on my last project for uni, and try a shot at CIG.
I will have a whole year for it so I wanna do the outside and inside of a small ship (maybe something smaller than the Freelancer); I'm still unsure I will do from my own concept or copy one of the ships.
I've been fascinated with the technique that they use for star citizen and have been researching it for a quite a while, there's a whole thread about the Differed Normal Decals that is used on SC (Just be careful as it seem that the Deffered Decals are broken on latest version of UE4)
Edit: Just saw your comment on the thread. xD

Been experiment this on Uni projects and also had some problems exporting the Scratch and Grime RMA packed textures for the master material.

Anyway, all the luck on it.

Thanks and good luck with that too!
I had the same problem with the scratch and grime so I though I would just make it normally. I also planned to make the whole ship but that isnt going to happen anytime soon xD I also have a plan for a smaller ship, about the size of a VTOL Dropship to keep things small and interesting.
I also wanna do hand painted things, its the main reason that got me into 3D so I can give a shot at Blizzard.
Right now I am having a hard time concentrating on my work as my dad isnt really supportive of my career path (He let me study but still) so I am extremely extremely stressed if I will ever get a job in the game industry, its been almost 9 months.

DeathstrokeFTW

Everything is going painfully slow and Quixel keeps crashing on the other hand
Just got to finish these base textures and move on to Substance Painter so I can add more details. I might use 3DCoat too because Quixel nDo keeps crashing for me or bugging out in the middle of the project  

DeathstrokeFTW

Textured the door and the floor in Painter but the results suck

DeathstrokeFTW

Menchen said:

I'm also trying to follow Star Citizen as exercise to improve my art; In fact, I'm going to start this same model this week.

Why don't you try the Star Citizen Workflow in its whole? As Trevelyans said, instead of using substance painter, why not creating tileable materials in designer and simply adding them as a material to the mesh?

I cant wrap my head around Designer, I need to practice alot before I can make good textures, I did try using quixel but my master material failed :P Right now I realized my UE4 export config was mixed up between channel so I might have better textures :P
I may give it a shot again when I get time. 

macoll

Hey keep up and don't say it sucks
The roughness map is the most important in a PBR workflow, work more on it.
With a good placement of some SphereReflectionCapture actors, a better lighitng (fill, key etc...) and a clean post process, it will look good

AXEL

Hey just noticed this I'm currently making the same scene

DeathstrokeFTW

AXEL said:

Hey just noticed this I'm currently making the same scene

 

Bomb_Bear

Hey great stuff so far but as other have said I would also suggest using tiled material. Looks like your texel is a little low maybe. Since you said you were not so hot with designer why not try making them in Painter? it might be a little trickier but I think in the long run it will look great! Their workflow is midpoly using tiled materials, floating geo and custom normals. Good luck

samnwck

As others are saying, I suggest taking some time learning Substance Designer if you haven't fully grasped it yet. I think you're doing yourself a disservice doing an environment and avoiding tiling textures. That isn't to put you down. But it is a very important skill for an environment artist to know. Because unwrapping is really more useful on smaller props or larger "hero" one-off props. Not something generally done on a hallway. This project definitely has the mileage to go the distance and look really good. 

I suggest downloading other peoples substances and looking at people's graphs in Substance Designer. Study them and figure out what does what. Or figure out how to make the tiling textures in Photoshop or anything else. It will be a valuable skill to add to your repertoire.