[UE4] Hallway Complex

griffitii

Hi all,

I haven't posted in here in a while because I a) created a new account to better match my other media outlet names, and b) I've mainly been posting work updates in Discord. I thought it would be good for me to get additional feedback on my project through Polycount (hence this thread) and to engage more with the community here too.

I've always found it difficult to work at home but over the last couple of years I've used Twitch to stream while I have been working. This has been a great way for me to commit to creating artwork in my spare time and I've managed to produce some good portfolio pieces by sticking to a stream schedule. I stream twice a week (for a couple of hours each) so expect frequent updates to this thread. If you're interested in seeing how I work and communicating your feedback with me live then please head over to my Twitch (or Youtube) channel and chat to me through that. I stream Mondays and Thursdays at 7:30pm GMT.

https://www.twitch.tv/griffitii
https://www.youtube.com/griffitii

Thanks for looking in!

griffitii

Used the cover script to adjust all the walkway covers into groups and turn off any that were intersecting with pathways or other geometry. Created a smaller pipe kit and used this to replace the walkway pipe block outs from earlier on in the project.

icegodofhungary

This is shaping up really well. I like the chiaroscuro lighting.  At this juncture, what do you feel is your end goal with it? It's a great study in modularity. If I had any critiques it would just be to add some garbage and stuff to make it seem more lived-in. Maybe some sort of obvious living areas or a marketplace.

griffitii

Hi @icegodofhungary. Adding garbage, posters, decals, wires and anything else I can think of the set dress the place is next up on my list. The pipes and windows do a lot to make it feel more 'alive' but I know the extra assets that litter the walkways will really help it feel more lived in. 

In terms of end goal, I want it to be a decent portfolio piece and to stick it on the asset store. The problem is time in that I only have a finite amount of it to work on environment so it might not end up as polished as I would like it to be. I also want to do other projects (as I've working on this for a while now) so I will have to mark this as finished at some point soon.

griffitii

A colleague got the scene working in VR! Here's a short clip of it. https://twitter.com/griffitii/status/1220388941750325248?s=20 It's pretty cool to see the space up close and personal!

griffitii

Finished off walkway pipe layouts so that they all connect. Created some pipe coverings that go around pipes that are entering the walls (creating a better transition).

Menchen

As someone who has always struggled to get modularity right; your work is to be admired. Not only you got lots of things right in that regard, but you also made everything fit in such a big, open, complex shaped environment. Also love the grungey, massive look to the whole scene, reminds me of "BLAME!".

Do you have an artstation account?

jStins

Dang. I bet this space feels awesome in VR. The scale is impressive. I've been enjoying this thread for awhile, but not sure I ever posted to say so. Nice work! (and congrats on the banner)

griffitii

@Menchen Thanks for your kind words! The trick to modularity is to pick a scale/size and stick to it. When you're in the early stages of testing the kit parts try to make things work as best you can before creating any new kit parts. That way you're not creating anything unnecessarily.  I had to google BLAME!, looks pretty cool and definitely in the same vein as what I'm making so thanks for sharing that. Yep, I'm on ArtStation at https://www.artstation.com/griffitii

@jStins Thanks Joel! I never thought I'd make it onto the site banner so feels pretty cool to have made it there. The Nav Mesh needs some serious refinement for the teleportation to work better in VR. It was pretty cool seeing it so close. All the texturing holds up and the scale feels right. I just want to add more in to dress it up. I'm glad you've been enjoying the thread. It's been great to post all my progress in one place and see how far I've come. 

griffitii

Added in some debris meshes. A mixture of wire lengths, small rock things and paper. Very much a first pass and definitely needs detailing up and more mesh variants.

griffitii

Refined the panelling on the railings. For such small things they've made a huge difference to the look of the place. Compare the previous image and this one for a look at the difference!

pixelpatron

Pretty awesome stuff for sure...although I wish there were more splashes of color. Industrial railings are typically painted a color. Making a visual seperation between the flooring and the wall panels via material change or color variation would do wonders for this scene; suffering from a little bit too much "samey" at the moment. Lighting looking solid although your ambient is a little too dark for my tastes. I typically always make sure my darkest dark in the scene never fully goes to 100% black; I also recommend using a very dark purple over straight black/white values. Pretty dope scene though, keep going!

griffitii

@pixelpatron Thanks for taking a look and your comments! I agree, a splash of colour would help. I thought about having advertisements or a painted version of the metal panels in areas to break up the space. The lighting is still wip and I'm hoping the black areas won't stay 100% black. Just needs more time spending on it!

griffitii

Created a painted metal texture variant for each trim and hooked it up in the material to be tintable. The left image shows it off, the right is a more subtle look to it in the environment. 

pixelpatron

Hey Graffiti, digging the new panel. Yet I'd be curious to look at your mood board/inspiration. Also, what is the purpose of this piece? Portfolio? Practice? Material studies? Level layout? This environment could fit any number of those qualifications; (understood it's still a wip) yet I wouldn't say any of them are executed at a high level here. I see a large body of work, yet the focus is scattered. I'd suggest picking one shot, and then polishing that to a point where there is the following. 

Interesting lighting, (see examples)
The scene is telling me a story.
Strong composition.
Distinct separation of floors and walls. If the material could look like a floor tile or a wall panel, you need to go deeper. 

Here is some amazing reference from some of the best in biz. Study what makes these scenes work. Look for the things I called out above in these images. https://www.artstation.com/paulpepera  https://www.artstation.com/simonfuchs https://www.artstation.com/acms

(good example of walls/floors having contrasting elements)


Even though a lot of this scene is comprised of similar looking assets/materials, the lighting and composition saves it. (well that and the superb models).


3 to 4 lights in the scene and careful execution of a solid ambient lit scene (Turn off all your lights except your skylight/ambient) is the scene black? You should have a decent looking scene before adding any spotlights, emmisive glows/lights, or area lights. 




Hope this inspires you to refocus on the scene and tackle it in a different way....good luck.

griffitii

@pixelpatron You're onto something with the different floor and wall textures. That should be an easier fix to implement. 

The scene probably feels quite scattered because it's been evolving since day one as it's plucked from my imagination opposed to matching a concept. Normally I work to one (or two) camera angles and wanted to build a whole level this time instead. Roll on a year and I'm still chipping away at it but want to wrap it up soon. I definitely get where you're coming from though. The lighting will help considerably and I'll be able to tell more of a story through further set dressing. On page 2 there's an image of possible camera angles.

The purpose of the piece was to create a level using several game art techniques, either as practice or to skills up. If that resulted in a decent portfolio piece and/or marketplace kit then that would be even better

Thanks for the points and ref

griffitii

Started looking at creating different textures for floors and walls. Needs a bit more work (and my Painter version needs updating!) but happy with the grip variation.

Auldbenkenobi

Amazing progress you've made on this, keep it up!

griffitii

Began updating the surrounds of the walkways with actual panel meshes. Also, it looks like the culling is working, just not very well at this stage!

mrgesy

I agree with pixelpatron. I think the scope and volume of this piece is ambiguous and very large to handle, seeing as you've been doing it for 1 year. 1 year is enough time to pop out 3-4 smaller, higher quality pieces than one with large quantity. It looks like a generic game level with no visible main subjects and things to interest the viewer.  Looking at the albedo, it lacks constrast, everything is grey and with a few orange accents. This will even worsen your lighting as dark objects don't bounce a lot of light. 
I personally would delete 70% of this and focus on increasing quality on the remaining, and adding a "story-teller" with interesting subjects. I understand lighting is not done yet, but I would try to have good quality lighting with fewer completely black areas and more realistic GI.

griffitii

@mrgesy Thanks for your comment. Yes, 1 year is long for a piece of work. At the time I wanted to not follow a concept and just have fun with how the piece evolved. If I managed to get something portfolio worthy out of it then great but it wasn't the goal of the project. I've not made process on it since my last post as I've decided to stop streaming for the moment. 

I agree with you're comment on the albedo and that it needs more contrast. I can see your point on deleting 70% of the piece but in my eyes (and the way I've set it up) I only have to set something up once to get it working across the level. I want to see how far I can push the "procedural" nature of it.

Please keep commenting as replying to people does encourage me to keep at it!