[WIP] Yawning Portal Battlemap UE4 - PIC Heavy

ThreeDM

I recently integrated some digital battlemaps into my home D&D sessions from fantastic creators such as  Dynamic Dungeons and Animated Dungeon Maps.  These maps incorporate dynamic lighting, particle effects and atmospherics to create a greater sense of immersion for the player and my table has fallen in love with them so much that the traditional 2D maps just don't compare anymore!  With this in mind I have set a goal to recreate some of the existing D&D maps in a digital environment.  My education in 3D art is limited to the depths of Youtube so I hope to use this as an opportunity to grow as an artist and as such I welcome any comments, critiques, or advice!  With that out of the way, lets get to business:

REFERENCE -

Since I will be running Dungeon of the Mad Mage in a few months I thought there was no better place to start than the Yawning Portal.  I will be basing my layout on the rendition below by Lios.  As of now I wont include the three rooms on the left side since my players wont be exploring that section (famous last words by the DM). 

TOOLS -

• I'll be modeling in 3dsMax and Zbrush and texturing in Substance Painter.  I'll use UE4 to render.

PLANNING CONSIDERATION -

• Since this is a battlemap I wont be worrying about creating the other floors or the roof. 
• Because of the zoomed out scale necessary to capture the entire tavern floor I don't want to waste time modeling tons of tiny details.  Simple geometry - let the textures tell the story. 
  
• Aiming for a stylized look.
• While I don't want to encourage bad habits, since I will be rendering the scene out as a video file I am not super concerned about complete optimization across my workflow - be it in polygon count, textures, or whatever else.  That said I am receptive to any and all feedback if something grinds your gears!
  

LEARNING OBJECTIVES -

• Increase overall workflow efficiency.
• Grow confidence in lighting scenes in UE4.
• Learn best practices for working with modular environments.
  

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With the UE4 mannequin as my scale reference I quickly jumped into 3dsMax and blocked out the floor dimensions as well as the infamous pit itself. 

For the floor I imported a simple plane into Zbrush and then, using the Array Mesh tools and Zmodeler, I created some simple wood planks.  To achieve a stylized look I angled the planks and used the Clip Curve brush to cut away the edges.  I added some striations and wood grooves with the versatile Orb brushes from Michael Vicente. 

At first I was a little concerned that the edge wear was a bit too extreme for floor boards but I pushed forward anyway and I am quite satisfied with the result in engine. 

In Substance Painter I created a very basic Smart Material that I can use across multiple assets.  The material consists of a fill layer with my base brown color and my roughness value pushed to 1.  On top of that is another fill layer with a lighter tone and a basic curvature mask to bring out some discoloration.  Next is an even lighter fill layer, this time with a tighter curvature mask to bring out the edge highlights.  I added a Warp filter with a very low threshold to distort the curvature mask and a little more of that stylized, hand painted feel (although very subtle).  A final dark fill layer with a dirt generator acts as an occlusion map and strengthens the contrast for the shadowed areas. 

More to follow soon!  Thank you so much for taking a look!

ThreeDM

Small update, started to work on the main wall piece.  Combination of Clay Tubes brush and Trim Dynamic with a hard square alpha to chip away at the stones.

 While I elected to make the floor a single element due to its complex shape, I wanted to explore some modular design features where possible.  The wall is just a simple plane extruded in the middle to create the horizontal beam. Ive used a vertical beam to break up the wall and add some visual interest. 

The next step is to make some variations of this wall, chiefly a half length section and one with cutouts for windows to match the reference. 

ThreeDM

Decided to knock out a couple assets before going back to the walls.  Finished the main square table that will be used all over. 

I also loved the look of this little stool design by Jeff Merghart. 

At the end of the day I will make a more proper chair to pair with this table.  This little stool might end up being filler here and there along the wall or something.