[WIP] Canals remake in UE4

teodar23

Hey all,

I decided to try my hands at remaking one of my favorite levels from one of my favorite games - you guessed it - its another HL2 remake.

For those that don't know what i am talking about here are some screens from the game:

So i started by importing the original map with a tool called Crafty and the result is this:

Tweaked the materials a bit and enabled RTX here and there.

Then by mistake i enabled physics and this happened:

and this

But enough distractions!

The goal here is to recreate this map or a part of it as a piece of portfolio.

I will be doing all models and textures myself with a dash of help from Megascans, maybe.

So i started kinda in the middle and did some barrels:

And here they are in UE4 with their friend the pallet:

teodar23

Hey peeps,

As an update, i am working on more props at the moment, but i can show you only "the ladder":

As a side note, the reason i chose to import the actual map is that i can skip the blockout phase and just start modeling. Since i have the map as a guide, i know how it will turn up (more or less) so i don't have to worry about layout, story, readability and other things. I realize that i am kinda doing things backwards starting with the props but its easier to start small and make some progress fast, then move to larger set pieces.

Getting back to my current progress, i am trying to keep things consistent with the HL2... design choices, but there are some things that are either not quite realistic or not how i like them to be . So i am wondering whether i should fully commit to the HL2 style or if i can maybe change things a bit here and there.

Speaking of crowbars, i could use some critique or brutal honesty or just plain old "keep at it" works.

Enough text, lets see some before&after pics:

See ya next time!

Anura_Interceptor

I think you should make the blue on the last barrel a bit less vibrant and add that whitish decaying paint back in. The barrel is currently a bit too contrasty with the rest of the scenery and it seems less visually interesting without that white in there. Weathering also feels a bit random, the top of the original barrel is almost completely rusted because it's exposed to rain, hail, and water pooling in that recessed lid.

teodar23

@Anura_Interceptor I thought about the top being completely rusted but i want the barrel to be scattered throughout the scene in various positions so i don't think it will look ok with directional weathering like that. I do agree with you on the white paint and about the saturation, i dialed it down a lot before posting that last pic.

I have been playing with the physics some more and thinking into making it a playable level.

teodar23

Ladder WIP:

Bouncytube

This is gonna be awesome, HL2 is what started it all for me so I can't wait to see the outcome of this. Defs gonna keep my eye on this thread

lluc21

teodar23 said:

@Anura_Interceptor I thought about the top being completely rusted but i want the barrel to be scattered throughout the scene in various positions so i don't think it will look ok with directional weathering like that. I do agree with you on the white paint and about the saturation, i dialed it down a lot before posting that last pic.

I have been playing with the physics some more and thinking into making it a playable level.

For the barrel rust you can create a material inside Unreal to create the rust procedurally depending on the barrel orientation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JOWaZAe8uM

teodar23

@Bouncytube- hope i don't disappoint

@lluc21- thanks for the tip but what if i want to pick up the barrel and move it around

lluc21

teodar23 said:

@Bouncytube- hope i don't disappoint

@lluc21- thanks for the tip but what if i want to pick up the barrel and move it around

I'm sure there is some way around that, like locking the normal coordinates or baking per object somehow, but it might be too much trouble just for one asset. Could be worth the time if you wanted to apply that to more objects in the scene though.

teodar23

@lluc21 - one way is to do it just like in HL2: some barrels were stuck in the ground or under rubble, and others were "physics enabled", so I could do that directional wear just for the static ones and maybe not just barrels, like you said.

we'll see...

teodar23

heya,

small update, i've added a few new models and (sort of) finished the ladder:

i've had some issues with the ladder, in the sense that i wanted to have a mesh that looks like it is welded together, not just some cylinders intersecting, so i resorted to baking normalmaps. made the low poly in max and exported to rhino for the high poly.

the ladder is modular so the top curved part detaches and the rest is half duplicated.

so i made some crates and developed a material system that takes in multiple tileable textures (blended through vertex colors) and a "stickers" texture that adds detail in certain places - like mesh decals but its just using a second UV.

the crates are still WIP, i'm not sure that i will go with this approach, tho.

let me know if you have any suggestions.