[WIP] [UE4] [Environment] Overgrown Abandoned Hospital
polycounter lvl 7
OLD
Hey Polycount!
So after bouncing around for what to make for my folio next and pushing my shader skills in UE4, I finally decided on a theme. Seeing all of the awesome TLOU fanart and inspired environments lately, I thought I'd give it a go.
My objective here is to create a believable, overgrown space that would match the theme of TLOU's world, and also to hone my Zbrush skills, learn Substance Painter since I just picked it up, and improve my Designer skills.
In my town we actually have an abandoned mental hospital (well, 2, but that one is boarded up), and thought it'd be awesome (and a great opportunity to gather reference) if I went in there and took a ton of photos, and based the architecture on that.
And yes, I'm a bit nuts
The only downside is that it wasn't too overgrown in the places I wanted, so tomorrow and the day after I'll be researching/gathering a ton more ref for how that happens.
Now that that's out of the way, on to the actual plan!
Topdown Plan:
(Note this is the first iteration, it'll probably be changed around to make it flow better)
I'm giving myself a 3 and a half weeks to a month deadline to take this from start to finish, so I can really focus on what needs improving in my pipeline and what areas I can speed up in.
This is going to be the funnest project I've had yet!
Cheers guys!
So after bouncing around for what to make for my folio next and pushing my shader skills in UE4, I finally decided on a theme. Seeing all of the awesome TLOU fanart and inspired environments lately, I thought I'd give it a go.
My objective here is to create a believable, overgrown space that would match the theme of TLOU's world, and also to hone my Zbrush skills, learn Substance Painter since I just picked it up, and improve my Designer skills.
In my town we actually have an abandoned mental hospital (well, 2, but that one is boarded up), and thought it'd be awesome (and a great opportunity to gather reference) if I went in there and took a ton of photos, and based the architecture on that.
And yes, I'm a bit nuts
The only downside is that it wasn't too overgrown in the places I wanted, so tomorrow and the day after I'll be researching/gathering a ton more ref for how that happens.
Now that that's out of the way, on to the actual plan!
Topdown Plan:
(Note this is the first iteration, it'll probably be changed around to make it flow better)
I'm giving myself a 3 and a half weeks to a month deadline to take this from start to finish, so I can really focus on what needs improving in my pipeline and what areas I can speed up in.
This is going to be the funnest project I've had yet!
Cheers guys!
NEW
So as you could probably guess, some stuff came up and this project got left in the dust. I've wanted to return to it for a while. So I looked over my old project and realized that it's not at the skill level I'm at now, so I decided to redesign it and shorten the scope so I can really go in hard on detailing and such. Below is the same moodboard from the old version, which I'm still going to use.Moodboard:
Just to help out with my idea of the scene, I made some layouts to get the ideas down. All of this is still early, so changes will probably happen.
Current Progress
Link to all of the photos I took:
Link HERE
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@macoll Thanks!
Okay, after some ref gathering/research and looking at TLOU for a bit I noticed how height, or holes in the ceiling leading outside/to another floor, played a major factor in their vegetation encroachment, and I decided that's something that I'd like to focus on. So I rearranged the plan so the bottom and top floor are stacked on top on one another, that way I can create layers of destruction between the two and have a great opportunity for visual storytelling. I have all the major architecture blocked in Unreal, so for the next 3ish days I'll be getting most of my major modular pieces through a first pass and make sure they connect and work properly, and after that some trim texture and important texture first passes.
Top down plan
Blockout images in the spoiler
My door heights and widths need some adjusting, so I'll be sure to look at how other games handled that and grab some ref for it.
I have most of the major modular pieces like floors and walls built out and placed, save for the second floor lobby and flooded area (and the destruction meshes) but I have enough to start the blocking and planning the textures and trims out. I'll probably be Substance Designing for the next 4-5 days
I'll have a couple of points where there'll be a view to the outside, so it'll be an illusion. Most of the windows will be blocked by wood or foliage, or the sun will be blowing it out like some of the pictures I took. That's my plan at the moment anyway. At my points of interest, I want to kind of achieve the same effect of this picture near the windows/light sources (Subsurface with the foliage)
so I may have to model a bit more with the exterior to influence that light.
So I've been Substancing for a bit and got a couple of mats through a first pass. I figured I'd show you guys an example of the master material that most of my modular pieces will run with. I have a base mat, and can vert paint 3 different mats on top of it based on masks (height lerping) and then use the alpha channel to paint wetness/puddles.
Everything's parameterized so I can fine tune it on an instance basis. Next on the list is getting the trim modeled out and baked down, and get the masks for some other base mats created in Substance.
Most of the work that I've done this far is getting my mats into unreal, tweaking them in Substance, unwrapping and some quick vertex painting for a base that I can work off of when I start making decals, debris, and props to really spruce up the scene. I'm pretty much using my basement as a test type of area for all of my pieces, so I'll probably flesh that out first and then apply those changes to the top (with some unique differences of course) Here's some shots, lighting is super placeholder at the moment.
The only 1:1 prop that I've created up to this point are the concrete stairs, and I did a quick sculpt/bake just to get something through Painter and learn how that program works (It's amazing btw). I'll revisit them probably sometime this week. So, on the list now is to create some variant modular pieces like wall with a hole in it, destroyed floor of each type (or 2) and things of that nature to help the modularity of the scene and break it up a bit. After that, the 2nd floor should get a vert paint first pass, and I should have my placements for my points of interest/hero assets pretty close to nailed down. And by the end of the week, I should be listing out all the props I want in here and establishing a timeline for them, and hopefully be well on the way in production with a few.
Anywho, I have a couple of shots. I tweaked quite a few things, and refined a bit of my master materials, did some first passes on props, and adjusted the layout a bit on everything. I'll edit this post with paintovers of each image soon so I can show what I think will visually help the comp of each shot.
So, for this shot I think foliage encroachment would be an easy way to lead the eye,
so next on my list is making some modular vines/ivy to use throughout the scene. Thankfully in this shot my masks for my trims and tileable materials aren't super apparent except for the rails, so I can break that up with hanging vegetation. Also, to get a bit of roughness variation, I can make 2 different rubble textures, one with just rocks and dirt, and one with a variety of materials, like plastic, glass, wood, etc., to help make the stairs pop a bit more (Not to much though). I can stop most of my laser lines in here by using some edge skirt decals, and warp the fence a bit to gather some interest. Also, the lighting needs to be addressed by the door in the center.
Most of what I said in the first shot applies to this one as well. Since the camera is going to be close up, I may use masks for my hero asset (The door) instead of just baking in textures, but I'll have to experiment to see a good solution for that. The interior needs to be darkened a bit, and the water shader needs to be adjusted so it doesn't blow out like it is now. My mask is obviously tiling on the pipes, so I can use hanging vegetation and detail meshes like supports or junctions to hide that. Also, the ceiling tiles are way too perfect, so I need to bubble them out and water damage them a bit, that way there isn't too many straight lines.
With this shot, a major point of interest will be the foliage coming from the ceiling hole, and how the light interacts with it and casts onto the water boiler in the corner. Like the above shot, the ceiling needs to be roughed up, and loose wires will help break up the lines where the ceiling meets. Also, I need to revisit my paint chip material, as well as add some decals of more paint chip variation and create geo that can represent larger peels coming off of the wall. A water meniscus decal can be put around the meshes that meet the water (just a slanted normal line), to make the objects grounded and show that they're interacting with each other.
Sorry for the delay on this everyone, hopefully everything will calm down a bit so I can work on this more consistently.
EDIT: The paintover stuff up above.
Here's what I've got so far
Once I feel comfortable with the progress of all the small dressing pieces and such, I can move forward into the building, which will be way easier than the exterior. I also made a small hero prop to establish my workflow in Substance Painter, it's super fast and pretty fun!
Shameless Crosspost, you can find more on this guy here
There'll be more updates this week, and I'm excited to finally be able to work on this fully again.
I adjusted the colors of the lighting, going with a more afternoon time of day (Blueish) instead of a dusk (Orange) one, since I feel that it brings out the foliage a bit better, and I can use the warm colors inside to compliment the exterior, as well as give the interior an old feel. Fixed up that water shader, added wires and debris floating in the water, and got the ceiling tiles to where I want them. Here's a closeup of the water boiler
I'll probably get a little breakdown of the boiler up on my artstation either tomorrow or tuesday, so you guys can see how it's put together.
There'll be more updates soon, and thanks for sticking with the thread so far!
I've got a small wireframe/texture breakdown of the boiler up on my artstation now, here, if you want to take a look at it. I don't want to flood the thread with huge images of it, so I'll post one up.
Second pass foliage is baking as I speak, so while I wait for that I'm planning out my next moves. I'll have more updates this week if my plans pan out correctly. Thanks for stopping by!
I've wanted to return to this scene for a while. So, I looked over my old project and realized that it's not at the skill level I'm at now, and I decided to redesign it and shorten the scope so I can really go in hard on detailing and such.
Anyway, everything has been BSP blocked out in UE4, and I'm currently in the process of getting rough modular pieces blocked in Max. I also hit Substance Designer up to start on some materials that I'll need for the first room, just to get them in engine and get my master material made and working. You can see my new layouts for the scene at the OP.
Blockouts
Materials
I can't wait to really kick this project into high gear!
I've been working on my materials at the same time. I have most of the base materials done, so now I need to make some damaged variants, as well as masks to use in vertex painting.
Next up I need to block in the main points of interest in the scene, like the roof caving in at a specific point, the hero props, and get an idea of how I want to incorporate foliage into the scene. Once that's done, I can start blocking in the lighting!
Here's a paintover of what I'm hitting next (in this room anyway)
Puddles and cloth should give me some more rest areas, and give the scene a wider range of rough values, because it's pretty flat at the moment. Grime and damage/cracks will help age the walls with the help of vert paint when I apply that. And, finally starting on the foliage and overgrowing this place. I didn't paint this in, but I'll also be experimenting with maybe some flood lights and a portable generator, to give some bright spots and do some small storytelling (They'll be pointed at graffiti that was left behind, or just signs that people were there before). Here's some shots of the assets that were one-offed (not final yet).
@Shirk Thanks for the input! That's a great point. Since I'm making this overgrown I was thinking it'd be quite damp in there, so adding water damage to the ceiling like leaks would help explain the ceiling and floor being so messed up, and explain the wetness on the floor I'm implementing. I'll definitely have to work on that.
Here's a paintover of what I'm thinking of doing next.
Cloth and police tape are first on the list. Next, I want to start placing protruding bricks or some solution to give the walls a bit more depth, tackle the flood lights, portable generator, and maybe a flashlight in the scene. After that, I'll start on ivy that's encroaching into the building through the windows, and new ivy that's starting to form around my edge skirt dirt meshes. All of these will be made with re-usability in mind, so I can propagate them to the stairs leading to the flooded basement, along with my other assets I've made to this point. Then I'll tackle the centerpiece of this room, the wheelchair.
If anyone has any C&C's, it would be super appreciated!
(I wanted to emulate one of my pictures I took here, thought it would be a cool little detail)
Same with perhaps the doorways, maybe caved in with rubble or obscured by foliage.
Make sure to use reference for destroyed bricks/cinderblocks for the hole in the wall, small details like that are what will really sell the scene.
The only other things I'm thinking of to hit are dressing the corners of the room a bit more with ivy, spreading some more grass and trash around, touching up the hole in the wall, and maybe adding a couple more wires along the ceiling. Any C&C would be super helpful and appreciated!
Added more overgrowth, a bit more trash, trim for the top of the walls to help transition to the ceiling, knocked the vert painted dirt/paint flaking back a bit, emphasized my decals to to get a leaky look, and added more yellow to the scene. Just need to add some wire holders or nails under the wires on the walls and do a final production bake, and it should be good to go!
So far so good though. Im liking the extra growth added to the corner in the middle. Maybe adding in more leaves on the ground would help a bit as well.
I brightened the scene a bit, and added some more dead leaves and a tad more ground debris. After those tweaks I decided to call this finished, thanks to all of you guys for giving me C&C! You really helped me push this. There are more shots and breakdowns over here.