Piano Room
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Hey! I still feel like a noob, but I'm trying to put myself and my work out there, get some critiques, and maybe a contact or two. I'm working on an environment art portfolio and this is a fairly big piece. I'm going to share little pieces of my process here, and if I'm doing something wrong or the hard way, please let me know.
This is what I blocked out. I wanted the focus of this piece to be a broken piano in a derelict house. Originally I planned out only one room, but because the house is supposed to be breaking apart, I realized I'd have to build some of the outside. The block in the corner is the piano. All the squares are going to be debris. This was to give me an idea of how to set up the room. Afterward I decided to add windows and a fireplace to make it feel a little more like a living room.
I started building the walls in 3DS Max and breaking them. The last scene I made was set up primarily in UE4 and made all the props separately in Max, but that process caused some sizing issues. To combat this, I decided to set up everything together in Max before importing to UE4.
I built the railing as one piece, then broke it apart and bent it partially by hand and partially with a bend modifier. I also made the second floor with individual rectangular objects instead of depending on wood plank textures. This may be a mistake, but I wanted the boards to be crooked and broken in some places, and holes where you can see through the cracks, and I was afraid I wouldn't get the same effect if I used a texture. The broken chunk of the second floor I've never been sure of how to tackle it, but I did my best. I made a layer of pointy pieces to be splintered wood. Added some broken wood boards, and some plumbing pipes. I don't know much about construction, and most collapsed buildings end up in heaps of rubbled chaos and not what I was going for, so references were limited.
I then modeled the piano. I wanted it to be open, so I modeled the inside of it too. I'd like this to be the main prop in the piece, so I want it to look the best. I'm going to make a high poly of it later to practice high to low texture baking, but at this stage, I just wanted it to be modeled and set in the scene.
I added a fireplace and a broken/crooked fence around the house that it's going to be set in. Originally I wondered if I should build the whole house or just have the room by itself, but opted for the latter. The surrounding environment is only to compliment the main room.
I modeled the street, sidewalk, and a house and detached garage for the house across the street, as well as a street light that I hope will add some atmosphere when I get to the lighting stage.
At this point I decided to import everything to UE4. Nothing is unwrapped for texturing yet. I only added the grass texture from the starter content to give it a little bit of color. I wanted to focus on making sure everything was modeled first and see if the layout worked. I think it works pretty well, but there are a few things missing. I think I'm going to add a ceiling fan, and wood and a grate for the fireplace.
I'm going to need to model more houses for the background. At least two more. But this is where I am currently. I want this to be a very Naughty Dog style of environment (my dream job). The hole in the ground is going to be full of dirty water and moss. There's going to be ivy climbing over the piano and hanging from the railing. There's going to be debris everywhere. A forest is going to be behind the fence in the back yard.
Everything is kinda sloppy at the moment because, as I've said, I was focusing on getting everything modeled before anything else. But if you have any critiques, tips, or something I need to pay more attention to, please let me know.
This is what I blocked out. I wanted the focus of this piece to be a broken piano in a derelict house. Originally I planned out only one room, but because the house is supposed to be breaking apart, I realized I'd have to build some of the outside. The block in the corner is the piano. All the squares are going to be debris. This was to give me an idea of how to set up the room. Afterward I decided to add windows and a fireplace to make it feel a little more like a living room.
I started building the walls in 3DS Max and breaking them. The last scene I made was set up primarily in UE4 and made all the props separately in Max, but that process caused some sizing issues. To combat this, I decided to set up everything together in Max before importing to UE4.
I built the railing as one piece, then broke it apart and bent it partially by hand and partially with a bend modifier. I also made the second floor with individual rectangular objects instead of depending on wood plank textures. This may be a mistake, but I wanted the boards to be crooked and broken in some places, and holes where you can see through the cracks, and I was afraid I wouldn't get the same effect if I used a texture. The broken chunk of the second floor I've never been sure of how to tackle it, but I did my best. I made a layer of pointy pieces to be splintered wood. Added some broken wood boards, and some plumbing pipes. I don't know much about construction, and most collapsed buildings end up in heaps of rubbled chaos and not what I was going for, so references were limited.
I then modeled the piano. I wanted it to be open, so I modeled the inside of it too. I'd like this to be the main prop in the piece, so I want it to look the best. I'm going to make a high poly of it later to practice high to low texture baking, but at this stage, I just wanted it to be modeled and set in the scene.
I added a fireplace and a broken/crooked fence around the house that it's going to be set in. Originally I wondered if I should build the whole house or just have the room by itself, but opted for the latter. The surrounding environment is only to compliment the main room.
I modeled the street, sidewalk, and a house and detached garage for the house across the street, as well as a street light that I hope will add some atmosphere when I get to the lighting stage.
At this point I decided to import everything to UE4. Nothing is unwrapped for texturing yet. I only added the grass texture from the starter content to give it a little bit of color. I wanted to focus on making sure everything was modeled first and see if the layout worked. I think it works pretty well, but there are a few things missing. I think I'm going to add a ceiling fan, and wood and a grate for the fireplace.
I'm going to need to model more houses for the background. At least two more. But this is where I am currently. I want this to be a very Naughty Dog style of environment (my dream job). The hole in the ground is going to be full of dirty water and moss. There's going to be ivy climbing over the piano and hanging from the railing. There's going to be debris everywhere. A forest is going to be behind the fence in the back yard.
Everything is kinda sloppy at the moment because, as I've said, I was focusing on getting everything modeled before anything else. But if you have any critiques, tips, or something I need to pay more attention to, please let me know.