[UE4 – WIP] 1960’s Subway Car
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Hi everyone,
I’m a second year computer games art student at Teesside University, I’m currently working on a recreation of a 1960’s New York City Subway car. I want to share my process as well as gain feedback and critique, to further push my project and future work.
I aspire to create the same level of detail and sense of atmosphere that can be seen in Clinton Crumplers work.
REFERENCE
I have gathered various references for my environment, but have chosen the following image as my main guidance.
MODELLING
I originally modelled a different subway cart, before i came across my guidance image, that I find more visually interesting. This meant that I had already created a blockout that had measurements and scale set up. I set up perspective match in 3DS Max to match my geometry to the image, meaning it's more precise.
I spent several weeks in 3DS max, creating high and low poly models, that incorporates all my reference and research. I separated my scene into modular sections that would be easily repeated, such as the Walls, Seats and Doors.
I have just finished importing all the modular pieces into UE4, and I am currently baking down the high poly models (using Marmoset Toolbag 3) and adding additional detail in NDO. As well as further research into texturing.
Replies
So ive spent the last few days adding some basic textures and basic lighting to my scene.
Most of the textures were made using Quixel, and i going to do a further pass in substance painter, to build up dirt as well as further detail. From feedback i've received from a friend i need to spend some time altering my roughness maps.
I would really appreciate some feedback and critique at this stage!
Or will you really just focus on the interior ?
@chrisevansart I see what you mean! ill have not attempted to texture them yet, so ill be careful to make sure they have screws or something to look like there secured to the ceiling, thank you for pointing it out to me.
I also had a look at the handles, and they are very much like the references so well done. However, they are all very lined up, which makes the whole setting look more arranged. If you varied the angles of these handles, I think it would make the scene more believable. Currently they seem stuck in a kind of weird angle.
Lastly the references show how reflective the seats are. It might be a bit difficult to make it seem natural, but maybe adding some lights or something could make that feeling of texture stand out a bit more? Again this would also benefit from a nice roughness map.
Definitely very well done so far though
Thank you for the feedback! I think changing the angle of the handles is a really good idea, it will definitely make it feel more natural. Ill also make sure to spend some more time on the roughness maps especially of the floor as i do a secondary texturing pass. The chairs have been really hard, so i might look at creating the material in designer too.
Could is ask do you have any ideas on how to approach the physical lights in the scene? Im not sure whether to make a glass material with an emissive behind it
I’m definitely in agreement with some of the earlier feedback about the handles. They feel like they’re floating from the surface and not attached at the moment.
This is my master material setup working with Substance Painter Material Exports. (The normal is duplicated underneath and blended together, as i wanted stronger normal's in some areas).
@cmc444 I see what you mean about the emissive lights and ill make sure to add dirt close to the edges, however i'm unsure how to set up the material itself. Would it be best to create a dirty clear plastic material, which i can sit am emissive tube inside and allow the light to pass through. Or create an emissive that sits on the outside and has all the dirt and normal map information? (this is what i'm currently using). Thank you!
I'm currently around half way through my secondary texture pass. I had a lot of fun putting all the various 60's advertisements on the walls which really starts to add some life to my environment. The majority of the colours of the environment were picked off an auto coloured version of my reference, for greater accuracy.
Auto-coloured Reference:
Current UE4 Progress:
I'm currently working on the roof texture, and trying to match it to the colours, before moving onto the floor. The lighting also needs redoing, however I'm going to wait till a get a few more finalised textures.
Below shows my before and after for the door texture, I started with a base Quixel texture (tweaked, scratched painted metal 10) i then later imported it to substance painter to allow me to add stronger dirt passes, scratches and text, to give a greater sense of wear and tear.
LIGHTING UPDATE
I spent a few days working on the lighting and post processing. I'm getting there however i would very much appreciate feedback. I'm looking to create a 'haze' like effect, however i'm unsure how to do that currently. I have updated the floor texture and also intend to re-texture the chairs, and add additional decals with numbers for the doors.
Speaking of the floor, i am not a fan of your albedo, perhaps less saturation. I think the roughness is also too white for the floor.
Well, the scene is really great, gratz
Not less saturation, but brighter/higher albedo? Agreed that the photo ref is a bit more shiny though. That you'd have to nitpick like this though means uh, great job!
And now I realise I will do that tomorrow morning in real life.
This is the first step towards Matrix and you Abigail will be building it !
Ive put more images on artstation:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/r4md6
I slightly tweaked the floor to make it more 'shiny' as well as changing up the roughness on the chairs and adding a slight noise in the normal map!
I also spent a lot of time messing with LUT tables, so hopefully I've picked the right one
Lut Experiments: