[Finished] Japanese Town
polycounter lvl 3
Just a quick work in progress on a small Japanese town I have been creating. All made using Maya, Zbrush and Substance Painter (aside from the vine decals seen on the brick walls). Assembly and lighting was done in UE4 and the trees were created using speed tree.
Still working on detailing the scene and finishing up some assets as some parts still look pretty flat. Any suggestions/critiques would be much appreciated and if you have any questions about the scene feel free to ask!
Still working on detailing the scene and finishing up some assets as some parts still look pretty flat. Any suggestions/critiques would be much appreciated and if you have any questions about the scene feel free to ask!
Replies
First the lighting, is it supposed to be daytime or nighttime? I can't tell. The very bright directional light feels like mid-day sunlight, but the darkness, contrast, and general mood of the rest of the scene looks like night. Also the lanterns seem a little too bright in the foreground, and too dark in the background. Are they meant to be electric or flame?
I would be interested to see some of your lighting reference, to get an idea what you're going for.
Also I'm not sure if the ivy decals work. They look too flat, and the projection is very distorted when it tries to wrap around the sides of the bricks. Maybe the ivy texture would look better on meshes with alpha placed on top of the brick walls?
I suggest creating a shell mesh over the walls and use that for ivy with an alpha.
For the lighting, I was going for an ambient sunset kind of feel, though it does seem like I started to veer off from that (ill post reference pics below). As for the lanterns I agree. I never really though about what type they were meant to be, now that I think about it I suppose electric. Also the lights in the background disappear once I exceed a certain view distance; any way I could fix that?
I'll definitely work on the ivy decals and try your suggestions. Also your work is awesome man, I'm really thankful for the feedback and hope you can continue critiquing the scene as I continue to push it even further.
Not sure what's going on with the lantern's distance cull. Are you using point lights, emissive materials, or both? And if they're point lights, are they set to static, stationary, or movable? (Each setting limits point lights in different ways).
if you are interested, these are some of my favorite lighting tutorials/lectures:
I also did some tweaking with the ivy, I got rid of the decals and ended up manually placing ivy scans in my prefabs.
Really appreciating the feedback from everyone, the more the better!
As for the lantern distance cull -- I am using point lights, I tried static, stationary and movable, messed around with the LODS and still no luck. Went into the project settings and tried configuring the cull settings as well. Spent a few hours looking for ways to fix the problem but haven't been able to find a solution yet. Again, really appreciate the feedback and hope you can continue critiquing the scene!
(this is becoming an intriguing mystery.)
The ground textures are super shiny as if wet, but it's not raining so that comes across as incorrect material work. Either add rain, or reduce the shine to a more reasonable amount.
Your darks are pure black, which can be a stylistic choice, but I know it can be a pet peeve for lighters. Usually there's some bounce light add some dark detail in the shadows, and usually there's a cool color cast too (moonlight or cloud/sky bounce). Tree trunks are also jet black, but a bit of bounce from all those lanterns would be nice.
I feel this scene would benefit with a bit more depth of field adjustments through some tweaks to the fog and maybe having some slight blur for the background just to clearly differentiate between the different planes in the composition!
Nice stuff!
I still think I can push this scene a bit further, the feedback is helping a ton keep it coming!
I would also introduce some AO into the scene but not too much.
The white bricks on the left are bugging me a bit, too uniform in color.
The wall in the upper left, it would help to add some dirt in the corners where it meets the wood beams. This is true all around, but especially noticeable here. If a surface has been around for any length of time, it's going to have soot and grime, which is worn away by wind/sun/rain in the more exposed parts, and accumulates in the crevices and corners. Increases realism. Just don't go too crazy with it, a little goes a long way. You can use vertex painting and multitexturing to add this. Search our wiki for MultiTexture.
Every surface has the chance to add to the environment's narrative, as the environment artist, it's your job to sell that story.
Went and made the lights on the right side of the brick wall softer and more ambient @teodar23.
For the white bricks that I previously had I ended up using a reference picture of a worn down European style brick wall as per @Eric Chadwick suggested. Went for a slightly dirtier and sandier look than before and added some new bricks with a few more chips and cracks around the edges. Also dirtied up the white walls a little so that they don't stick out as much.
I feel as though this project is starting to near it's end, but I am in no rush. Going to try and look for small things I could touch up and make the scene the absolute best it can be. As always thanks everyone for all the feedback, it has helped tremendously. And of course, let me know what you think and tell me what I can improve on!
I think the walls could use some help, a bit of a softer transition to the dark wood beams. Here's a quick paintover:
One thing that bugs me a bit is the terraced areas don't have railings. Most entrance/exit walks will have railings for any drop more than 24".
Great suggestion with the railings, I think that will look good as well. Thinking about adding a balcony to some of the second story floors too.