Persona 3/5 Dungeon

Ditch

Hey everyone!

I want to start off explaining briefly this project I started.  I've been a huge fan of the Persona series and SMT as a whole.  I wanted to really shake things up and try my hand at some stylized assets and materials.  Along with really take a more focused approach to improving my lighting.  So the idea of this project is taking some elements of Persona 3 and re-imagining them in the Persona 5 style/engine while providing my own twist.  It's still early on but with lighting having been so difficult for me in my last few project I wanted to try to get the block out and basic lighting up for possible feedback.  I'm still messing around with proportions of things but I'm hoping to get some more secondary detail in and add some flat colors within the next few days.



As always everyone, critiques and feedback is super appreciated!  Also thanks a ton for your time, and I hope you have a good one!

Ditch

Hey guys!

So this week I set up a master material, continued to go through and replace simple blocks with simple models.  This has helped me really try to envision my scene.  I have also continued to mess with the lighting and applied some basic colors to help set the mood.  I realized while I was going through this week however, I was taking most of my influences too much from P5.  I intended to do a P3 style scene re-imagined in a P5 engine.  So went through to add a more 'misty' feel, along with keeping things more closer to a monochromatic theme as well as replaced the original table + chest design I had with P3's cube chest design.  I had thought about applying floating elements but hard for an object to feel like it's 'floating' in a screen shot without it feeling like I didn't snap it to grid or it's stuck in a wall.  However I worked in some more 'warped' elements into the design.  I hope this week to focus in on one of these screen shots and get some real modeling done and some texture work to help bring life to the scene!  I'll continue posting and keeping everyone updates but as always critics and comments are always welcomed!

As always, thanks for your time and hope everyone has a good one!

Ditch

Hey everyone!

Sorry for long wait, I've been really busy the past few weeks.  However I got some serious progress done and wanted to share.  I'm still trying to figure out the lighting and getting use to doing something more stylized. I feel i'm getting close but something's just not hitting it's mark like I wanted.  I think the next big steps are to finish up several of the props laying around the scene, continue with the lighting (I assume this will be a never ending battle for me), revisit some of my lightmaps, and of course just generic fixes here and there to really try to pull the project back to the look and style I'm aiming for.  As always, critics and comments are always welcomed!!!


As always, thanks for your time and I hope you have a great day!

Ditch

Alright everyone!  New update and this time it didn't take me several weeks.  So after talking with some friends they gave me some great feedback on pushing the contrast more.  As well as slapping me upside the head about my mats (really goes to show never work without reference).  I'm much happier with the contrast I added to the scene, as well as the mats.  I also went back and fixed some of the extreme elements I had to tone make them a bit more subdued to help with the overall flow of the scene.  Lastly I think I really found the lighting color I've been aiming for.  I'm really happy with how that's turning out, I may need to revisit some of my light maps but I feel outside of adding some additional particles and effects my lighting is getting a lot better. 

I still feel some it's a bit blank and not really selling the P3 look I was aiming for.  I think this week I'll be trying to play with rotating some of the pillars and making some of the objects in the scene a little off tilt.  Along with adding in those awesome Persona 3 coffins throughout the scene.  I think a couple would really help break the scene up as well as add a ton more character and could give me the chance to have a lot more titled angles and lines.  Lastly the chains that come with the coffins would also help give me a decorative piece I could have strung up and line on the floor, again giving me more assets to help break the scene up. 

As always any and all feedback, ideas or suggestions are very much welcomed!


Thanks a ton for your time, and have a great day!

Ditch

Alright guys, another week, another set of images.

So after doing some additional studying on lighting I fixed some of my issues I had with being able to spot the modular assets from the lightmaps alone.  Along with going through and making sure I broke up a lot of perpendicular lines that I have (recognizing that Persona 3 has far few compared to what I had).  Also going through and modeling a couple of new assets to help fill in the space and give thing a bit more fantasy look to it (Persona 3 coffin's and giant scrolls).  I feel I've helped really flesh out the scene a lot more.  However I'm still not done, and still have a few more pieces I aim to finish soon.  However I'm getting close and I feel I'll finally be able to address that large black hole I got in my one screen shot.  As always feel free to give me your thoughts, opinions and input.  

Thanks for your time, and I hope you have a great one!

Toxic929

This is really coming far. Major adjustment in mood which is great. I'm try adding a slight blur to the kanji characters emmisive on the scroll. Also what is the bright orange light box on the last image? Is that a light? 

Ditch

Hey,

I'll try to add a bit of a blur effect to the Kanji on the scroll, shouldn't be hard at all.  I'm not sure which orange box you're talking about however.  The 'gold chest' i think i'll end up replacing this week with a briefcase.  I had hoped that it would be more akin to the gold chest found in Persona 3.  However it just kind of looks like a shitty Overwatch loot crate.  Briefcases were the normal boxes found throughout Persona 3, however I think I'll keep the gold to help add a bit of contrast.  If you're referring to the glowing box floating up in the ceiling?  That has just been a sitting place holder for a hanging lamp.  I'll make sure to fix that as well!  Thanks for the feedback and I'll try to get everything addressed asap!

Toxic929

ah yeah I was referring to the placeholder lamp gotcha! I like the idea of making it a briefcase instead and keeping the gold just for the contrast.

On the latest update the darkness on the spiraling hall way actually makes it lose its context. It almost looks like an accident that the floor is lifting up and spiraling, where as when I could see down that hallway I knew the whole thing spiraled.

Another thing I would suggest is highlights along the larger wood beam edges. I'm seeing edge highlights in some of persona screenshots like here on the wood barrier things: Persona+5+-+Review+%282%29.jpg or here on the stairs: 81llIvylBML._AC_SL1500_.jpg

Ditch

Thanks again for all the feedback!  I went back through and attempted to put those highlights on everything.  I really enjoyed how it caused everything to pop a bit more.  I also this week realized while talking to a friend, how I royally screwed up on this project.  Made everything too modular to the grid and struggled to really break from it.  Been studying a ton, and still learning my way through the lighting and post effects.  However after pushing things even more after making changes to my models to be more multipurpose.  I feel it's coming along nicely.  I dropped one of my screen shots for now, and will hopefully get to it soon.  however like always critics and comments are always welcomed and I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Toxic929

Oh cool that's looking a ton better and all the props are filling in nicely as well. Not sure if lighting or post but briefcase is really blown out.

Do you have a reference board/images of this scene?

PeterK

This is coming off as monochromatic.  Consider some additional variation in your materials.

Ditch

Alright, another week and a couple of new post!

Thank you Toxic and PeterK, along with your feedback and some additional feedback from some friends I pushed my work a bit more to where I want it.  I'll post some reference images of what I've been working and aiming towards.  I just started using PureRef and could not be happier with it, although I'm finding exporting any reasonably sized image to post is a bit challenging.

I probably should of posted this a long long time ago, but neglected to do so.  I also choose to go with a more Japanese temple because neither Persona 3 or Persona 5 did anything too dedicated towards that style.  Felt it would give me some freedom to work with and make it uniquely my own.

Ditch

To prevent the world's longest post I broke things up, maybe that was a mistake...  Oh well, so talking with a friend she stubbornly slapped me over the head and showcased that I needed to push towards the greens not the blues.  I stubbornly was stuck in a terrible mindset that I guess required someone to really smack out of me.  Changing the color palette and pushing more heavily into greens really helped ground it in the "Dark Hour" along with adding in blood stains.  This also helped me push the yellows in the lights and on the chest.  Plus with the contrasting reds, helped address PeterK's comment on adding more color.  I finally got to adding the chains as well, which i feel help break up and fill in the scene a little bit more.  However the further closer I get into finishing this project, the less I'm happy with my metals.  I have been studying the work of P5 and realize that they don't have a lot of reflections and just imply it with a solid color map.  I'll attempt to just scrap my metallic maps, in favor of a stronger color map.  Again, maybe just my stubbornness kicking in, but this has all been one massive learning experience.

I appreciate any and all feedback and I want to thank everyone for your time and comments so far!

Ditch

Alright everyone, I won't be able to work on this scene much this week.  So I spent some time today to quickly do some lighting and post effects work to help balance out my contrast, and shadows, along with taking some feedback provided by friends.  While keeping with what PeterK suggested by bringing in more colors as well.  I like some of the results I'm getting but the blood now looks waaaaay bad, will have to fix the alphas and mess with the decals and check to see why they're so reflective for decal pieces (first time messing with UE4's decals).



Feedback as always is very much welcomed and thanks for everyone's time!  Have a great day

Ditch

Alright everyone, I'm back!  So because this week I was just trying to get back into the swing of it after my trip and being sick.  I wasn't able to accomplish everyone I hoped to do this week.  That being said I did correct some errors I was having.  I was able to fix some of the blood decals, now no longer do they reflect like mirrors and have a bit more stylized look.  I also started messing with some fog volumes to help give some more depth to the scene, and tried to mimic some of my reference with a very mood base atmosphere, without being overpowering.  I hope this week to get close to wrapping things up.  Adding some light shafts and some particle effects such as a portal in my warping path.  Hopefully I can finish up soon, however I've learned a ton from this project.  First time trying to deal with decals and master materials.  Along with a serious exploration into lighting and some post effects.  As always feedback is welcomed and I'm always happy to hear from people! 





As always have a great day and thank you for your time!!!

Ditch

Hey everyone, another week another series of screen shot!  After talking with some friends, I figured out what I was doing wrong with my lighting.  I revamped the whole lighting system to use more dynamic lighting and rely a lot less on post work.  I also added several more and new decals to help break the scene up a bit more.  As always, I look forward to hearing form you and always looking for more feedback!



Thank you for your time, and as always have a great weekend!!!

Ditch

Hey everyone!  I feel this week after talking a great deal with some friends, I'm forming a stronger understand of lighting and how to use post effects.  This project as a whole has been a serious learning exercise for me.  I hope to call it quits on it soon however, maybe about another week.  I have learned a great deal and have been taking the feedback I've received to heart and trying to learn a lot.  I want to take all that knowledge and apply it to something fresh.  However listed below is a reference board of the images that I have zeroed in on when attempting to work out the mood and the look.  As well as this week's screen shots.





As always I look forward to hearing from everyone and feedback is always welcomed.  Have a great day and an awesome weekend!

Toxic929

There is alot of different objects and values that are making my eye wander around the environment which is good.  Lightening it up also helped too. One of the things I'm noticing is the blood doesn't quite feel like blood. What I'd say to do is make a gradient study of the different areas of blood on the mood board. It looks like it goes from a deep dark red to a mid red at it's lightest. Also the fringe areas of blood that has the lower spec/rough seems off to me.

You also have alot of vibrancy with your scene which I noticed your modd board does as well so that's good. 

Are you thinking of doing the cast light like the one windows shot in your mood board?

Ditch

Toxic929 said:

There is alot of different objects and values that are making my eye wander around the environment which is good.  Lightening it up also helped too. One of the things I'm noticing is the blood doesn't quite feel like blood. What I'd say to do is make a gradient study of the different areas of blood on the mood board. It looks like it goes from a deep dark red to a mid red at it's lightest. Also the fringe areas of blood that has the lower spec/rough seems off to me.

You also have alot of vibrancy with your scene which I noticed your modd board does as well so that's good. 

Are you thinking of doing the cast light like the one windows shot in your mood board?

Hey thanks a ton throughout this whole process I really appreciate all the feedback.  However this week I was really struggling to get the blood to work in a way like you suggested.  I don't know if it's due to my texture, my material or my lack of understanding of decals.  I messed around a ton with it and didn't really like the results I was getting.

Outside of that, I took my first shot at making a particle effect, as well as made a few more adjustments to other comments and feedback I received from some friends.  I think outside of continuing to do some edits this week, I should hopefully be done.

Trying to learn how to make a particle effect, as well as trying to come up with a pattern I like for the portal were a bit more challenging than I though they would be.  However like this whole project has been, it was a great learning experience and I really enjoyed figuring everything out.  As always critics and comments are always welcomed!



Thanks a ton for your time and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Ditch

Alright everyone, I think I'm done!  This project has been sooo educational.  I learned a lot about lighting, stylized work in a PBR workflow, master materials, decals, post processing and now particles effects.  I'm really happy and proud of my growth and I can't wait to start something new.  I hope the next project will go even more smoothly and take a lot of what I learned here and continue to apply it and grow.



As always everyone, have a great weekend!

akiratang

Big Persona fan here and love the look of this so far, definitely has vibes from the series ^^

Ditch

akiratang said:

Big Persona fan here and love the look of this so far, definitely has vibes from the series ^^

Thanks man, I really appreciate it!  I've learned so much through this project and referencing a game I enjoyed really helped keep the motivation up.  Trying to adapt an old PS2 game and re-imagine what it would look like in a PS4 engine, as well as making something new all together, was seriously way more challenging than I thought. 

akiratang

Ditch said:

akiratang said:

Big Persona fan here and love the look of this so far, definitely has vibes from the series ^^

Thanks man, I really appreciate it!  I've learned so much through this project and referencing a game I enjoyed really helped keep the motivation up.  Trying to adapt an old PS2 game and re-imagine what it would look like in a PS4 engine, as well as making something new all together, was seriously way more challenging than I thought. 

I finished P5 last yr and definitely one of my favourite games ever!
Thats great its always nice to challenge yourself and learn alot from doing so.
Anyways it looks great