[UE4] WIP - Alien / Star Citizen inspired Sci Fi corridor

Ryusaki

The title mentions only 2 prominent sources of influences, but the pool of inspiration is very large. Basically everything Sci-Fi since Alien.
It all started when i watched the 90 minutes documentation about the making of Alien (followed by the one about Aliens). 
I've been working on this for a while, but the project moved very slowly. Since i am seeing results in UE4  my motivation has improved significantly.
The whole exercise is an test of my new learned abilities, as well as an test of the Unreal Engine for me. I can say now that i am quite satisfied with both. 

I have created 5 unique wall-segments out of 8 for the left side of the corridor. More modular variations are also planned. The right side gets other unique + modular elements. The whole corridor is asymmetrical, right and left side pieces are not exchangeable.
I have an idea how it should look like but i am basically making it up as i go.
It definitely needs more cables, pipes and heavy machines.
I am waiting for the new UE4 release so that i can flood the scene with volumetric light and maybe even volumetric smoke.


Tools: Blender, Substance Painter, Krita, UE4


The next piece.

alexk

I like it! I really like the modeled geometry you've put into the scene/modular segments, it really adds weight and visual interest

LVG

That's some really nice detail you've put into this eager to see more, I really like the lighting as well  keep it up!

brandv3d

This is great man! I wish you had more in-process images. But keep it up can't wait to see more.

Ryusaki

Thanks for your kind words, i am definitely motivated to push this as much as my computer and my brain can handle it.
Brandv3d, what do you want to see, half-finished models, wireframes?

I moved the scene to the latest UE4 version and played around with volumetric fog... 
I finished the unwrapping of the asset you see above, probably start texturing it today.

cores25

oh wow, great shapes in the geometry looks great, I´m hooked for more hehe

Ryusaki

I am getting the feeling its way too boxy. I am gonna need to watch some Arrimus 3D videos to learn how to do more complex shapes easier. I have the tools and the will to design, but i am to lazy to model and UV that stuff. 
Here, that's supposed to be the next piece. I don't really like it. 

Ryusaki

I got that other piece textured. 

BucketOfNuggets

Looks awesome. Only thing I can say is that the alpha stamps don't look right . They are super clean with no dirt or grime in them.

Also the switch an inner part look unfinished. Too clean. Also the marble like texture seems off to me. With scratches and edge damage it kinda feels odd that something has got in side that centre piece and managed to just scratch the edges of those grey cube bits. The rest of it looks bitchin!

macoll

Really love the design ! I will follow your work, gg

Ryusaki

Thanks for your feedback. I will do a polish / finetuning pass later, those assets you see in engine are like 95% finished, but they are all WIP (especially the Textures/shaders) so if you find more little things that you don't like, post them. I have good eyes, but i am getting routine-blinded occasionally, your criticism is needed and appreciated.

Ryusaki

I reanimated (necro'd) my own thread because i am not done with this. Because of (stupid) reasons i couldn't finish this but i am not the kind of guy who gives up easily.
So here is an update.
I started with the other side of the corridor building heavy machinery. I need a couple more of them.

macoll

Nice mood ^^

DeathstrokeFTW

Could you show the texturing workflow? I really like this!

fdfxd2

Very impressive!

Maybe it's a bit *too* dirty for my tastes but it makes sense since it looks like a maintenance area

Ryusaki

@ DeathstrokeFTW

There is nothing special about the workflow. No Star Citizen like Decals, sometimes i use FWN, mostly i use real chamfers, but it's all unique texture sets for each object. Only a few objects with reusable tile-able textures (pipes and stuff like that).
After i saw you and some others struggle with the Star Citizen workflow in UE4, i just figured i don't want no trouble and did it the old-school way.

@ fdfxd2
I have to keep my urges under control to make it even dirtier. I don't know why but i don't like things in a prestige and new state, it better be rotten and kaputt.


I worked on a little side-project started right before Christmas and i am pretty much finished now. I challenged myself to create another corridor but this time with an short deadline. Of course i missed the deadline ( i also catched a cold but that is a lame excuse) but on the bright side i did this project in under 2 weeks work-time which i am kinda proud of.





Now i am back on track, working on the original corridor...

jwsargent_me

Ryusaki said:

@ DeathstrokeFTW

There is nothing special about the workflow. No Star Citizen like Decals, sometimes i use FWN, mostly i use real chamfers, but it's all unique texture sets for each object. Only a few objects with reusable tile-able textures (pipes and stuff like that).
After i saw you and some others struggle with the Star Citizen workflow in UE4, i just figured i don't want no trouble and did it the old-school way.

@ fdfxd2
I have to keep my urges under control to make it even dirtier. I don't know why but i don't like things in a prestige and new state, it better be rotten and kaputt.


I worked on a little side-project started right before Christmas and i am pretty much finished now. I challenged myself to create another corridor but this time with an short deadline. Of course i missed the deadline ( i also catched a cold but that is a lame excuse) but on the bright side i did this project in under 2 weeks work-time which i am kinda proud of.





Now i am back on track, working on the original corridor...

I love this scene, nice work!

Ryusaki

I use FWN on a couple of models, but not in combination with tile-able textures also no high poly baking since i don't build HP-models in the first place. Its all medium poly modelling done in Blender and surfacing done in Substance Painter.
Despite me being hugely influenced by Star Citizen (Yes you are right Menchen, it is taken straight from the Starfarer Corridor) i don't use their workflow. I would if EPIC cared enough to make it fully featured so that i could use it like it works in CE and Unity, but they don't so i can't.
I am not willing to waste too much time with technical issues, i did waste enough time, now i am only concerned with the end result and how to do things faster, that stuff can wait.
Despite that, all the pieces are modular and can be used to build up a bigger environment. Which is the plan for the big corridor, i am just focused on building unique pieces before i build the final corridor.

Shrike

Looks good, would be cool with Eurostile as font if you want the alien look

Ryusaki

Nah, that's too cliche , also there is not a single piece of text in Alien which uses Eurostile,  Aliens (1986) however...
This (orange) corridor is more like a homage to Star Citizen, i don't know which font they used, and tbh i don't care. I usually am very loose with my inspirations and have no real motivation to copy it that exactly, i rather choose what feels right.
The green (Alien) corridor is so stuffed with things i haven't found a place to use text yet. Lets see...

FreneticPonies

Awesome lighting! Looking forward to seeing the whole thing.

MACHIN3

I can spot a few of my decals in this, nice work.

Ryusaki

I just created another Machine, not quite done yet, it needs some more cables and pipes, also obviously materials.
I hope i can finish this in the next few days (being optimistic here), and then i need at least 2 more machines until i can start thinking about wrapping up the whole project and build the final environment with all the modular pieces i have.

PatrickSF

Lookin good sir!

Ryusaki

I finally finished this machine.

lloydj14

Loving the look of the scene. You doing a great job of making the elements fit together and can totally feel the star citizen inspiration. The bright red at the top of console area feels a bit distracting/ bit too strong. Going to be following the scene its cool to see a bit of different take on a sci-fi corridor with more unique panels and areas.

Ryusaki

Thanks for your feedback. I am still playing around with the illumination and placement of objects, these are not final and will change a bit.

yanpes

Nice work! The heavy machinery matches so well with the overall look and feel!

Tipp: Maybe you could add some roughness variation to the black floor panel since it looks way to pristine in my opinion.

Ryusaki

Making everything dirty and grimy is one of my top priorities. I see what you mean, but it kinda is view angle dependent, against the light it looks much cleaner than it actually is. But i keep that in mind. Too clean is not something i wanna hear as a criticism.

Ryusaki

I had a creative blockage when designing one of the machines. So i said F it, and threw a dirty piece of cloth over it - done.

Rendered with Eevee.

Ryusaki

More Eevee renders from the next thing.

I am starting to recycle some parts i already finished (in this case the wall piece).

I am getting concerned with how much more unique textures i can put into the scene, so i am gonna recycle some things and try to use some more clever shading techniques.

Ryusaki

DeathstrokeFTW

This is epic!

FreneticPonies

Wow, awesome!

Ryusaki

Now the whole scene comes together and the end is in sight. Still 2 machines on the plan.

lloydj14

Looking great. Cant beat a bit of through vent lighting works really well here    One thing the repeating on the middle black strip is a bit obvious.

Ryusaki

Yeah i am aware of it, its just one texture and i don't like it that much, i am gonna put some more variations and decals on it later.

Forest_Cat

The blurred silhouette of Alien at the end of the corridor will be very much to the place.

Ryusaki

@Forest_Cat

Not at the end of the corridor.

ITS RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcsCQENqZww

LVG

Looking very cool man, glad to see you're getting close to being done

Ryusaki

Thanks @LVG. One question...did you get the job at CIG with just one Environment in your portfolio, or did you have more work which is not on your Artstation?

Forest_Cat

@Ryusaki Great job! If this video is a little more elaborate then it is a very plausible fake trailer of the new game. You only need to add the fictitious name and release date at the end.

chriszuko

@Ryusaki

I dig the presentation of this stuff so far however when it comes to portfolio pieces for environment work, I'd try to show your models off in the scene a bit more. The alien isolation cinematic approach shows that you can do movement and setup a scene. However, I think you could take the same assets and make a nice fully lit corridor as well to give a second look to the assets you've created. I'd personally start with a lit corridor with maybe a few flicking lights. Travel down that and then take a turn into a dark corridor. Or.. just go from a fully lit corridor to a dark corridor in the distance and travel down it straight. The idea is to still have the cool cinematic setup for the scene, but then also give your assets some life and let your modeling skills really show. Right now you zoom in pretty close to see the alien's face appear, the texture detail on the asset attached to the wall tot he right is a bit low res, so I am focused on the low res normal map rather than the alien that is showing its head in the scene.

That's my 2 cents!

Keep up the good work, I think you are on a good track!

Ryusaki

Yeah man, its planned exactly like what you are writing, except that the whole Alien homage is just a thing i did on the side for entertainment and fun. @Forest_Cat was mentioning it and it was in my head all the time, so i couldn't resist much longer.

For the final presentation of the corridor i plan to create a more polished lit scene, show off that hard-surface modelling, then get progressively darker and more cinematic and atmospheric (or the other way around). Or maybe i do 2 videos. One dedicated to an cinematic approach and one to show of the actual models in detail, like a breakdown video with neutral light. I am aware of the fact i need different presentations to demonstrate different aspects of my work, so that somebody who wants to inspect the quality of the models doesn't get angry because its all shrouded in darkness.

chriszuko

@Ryusaki Sweet! Im interested to see the final shots

Ryusaki

@chriszuko

I need to do 2 more heavy machines. One is already 75% there in terms of modelling (pic below). The other one is quite complex and has more details as all others ( still need to design this thing).  After that i probably will use the door from the other (orange) corridor posted above in this scene too. Then there is some minor adjustments to do here and there and i will finally approach the finishing line.

So i am calculating something like a couple of weeks until i am there.

chriszuko

Neat, well it looks promising!

Forest_Cat

@RyusakiTry to collect heavy machines from a set of pre-created items. This is a fairly simple and convenient way to work. Here is a good example of this approach: Garth Travis C O R R I D O R - E / B R E A K D O W N

littleclaude

I just wanted to say its great to see the airlocks or joining panels that have been designed to be flush with the floor. So many people make them as if they are trip hazards like about 30 cm high. 


Thank you for the break down, great thread.

Ryusaki

At first i had trip hazard joining panels coming up 5 -10 cm. I didn't like them aesthetically and functionally and i saw the exact problem.

They also introduced to much visual noise in an area that should have clear lines.

I "designed" new ones after looking at some designs from Star Citizen. They did a good job of avoiding exactly that. I kinda "stole" them, letting my inner Picasso out .

Havoc89

Wow, this is gorgeous. You've done an amazing job!