[UE4] SciFI Mech Weapons Factory (WIP)
polycounter lvl 4
Hello polycount,
my name is Daniel Brück, I am a 3D artist and have been working in architectural visualization for the last two years. But since I learned Game Art and 3d animation (game development and prob creation) I would like to try to get a foothold in this field.
Every time I take a look at my portfolio I notice that I can't present a big and complex scene there yet.
Because I worked a lot with Unreal the last years and also developed some small prototypes, I would like to build up a SciFi environment in Unreal (mech weapons factory) and create a small movie, nothing big, a few camera movements and closeups (1,5-2 min).
I have already looked at some references for my project and I know roughly the direction in which it should go. Here is my current status and the link to my portfolio for possible tips!
my name is Daniel Brück, I am a 3D artist and have been working in architectural visualization for the last two years. But since I learned Game Art and 3d animation (game development and prob creation) I would like to try to get a foothold in this field.
Every time I take a look at my portfolio I notice that I can't present a big and complex scene there yet.
Because I worked a lot with Unreal the last years and also developed some small prototypes, I would like to build up a SciFi environment in Unreal (mech weapons factory) and create a small movie, nothing big, a few camera movements and closeups (1,5-2 min).
I always liked this forum very much and was often able to get competent advice, but I was never really active in my work, I would like to change that and keep you up to date with this thread. I would also like to use this thread to get feedbeck and advice.
since i would like to try something new i would like to use the "Star Citizen" workflow for the assets and trim sheets/ tilabe textures and mesh normal decals for the textures and highlights. I've used it from time to time, but never in a big project together, let's see how it works!
I have already looked at some references for my project and I know roughly the direction in which it should go. Here is my current status and the link to my portfolio for possible tips!
Thanks a lot and see you later 
Replies
here comes my first update to my project with some pictures. I've been modeling the last days and I've done a lot. The corridor assets as well as most of the hall assets are finished, but before I start the rest I wanted to check if everything works as I thought it would. The assets I have edited in 3ds max 21 with a chamfer and the new weighted normals modifier and I am positively surprised how well it works together.
For the UVs I made sure that all islands have the same size (Pixel Density 5.12 / 2048/2048 texture). I use tilable textures preferably substance materials because I can edit and change them directly in Unreal, but I also use quixel materials, I would like to have as little unique textures as possible. For some smaller assets I will not be able to get around it, but that is OK.
I don't know if the order was ok, but I would like to test some materials and do some mesh decals after the unwrapping. Here are some screens of the hall scaffolding.
Hello everybody,
I would like to submit a small update on my project. I have been working hard the last few days to equip my assets with decals. In the beginning it was quite tedious and I often shot up decals and UVs and had to start over countless times until I slowly got the hang of it. Since I'm still working my way through the whole thing piece by piece I'm learning with every new step.
I decided to not only create normal decals but also to use colour and emissive decals for my assets, each of which gets its own material / slot in Unreal. Therefore I have created two atlases on which I collect my decals, I left some space to add some more if necessary. My scene has gained some colour and material, but due to the enormous scale of my scene I am still missing some assets that bring some life and create some dynamics. I have also taken care of the light and this will be the next step as soon as I am roughly finished with the setting.
it's been a bit quiet around my project the last weeks or months because I had some things to do in my private and professional life. But this is now behind me and I have the nerves to take care of my project again.
Therefore I would like to bring you up to date. I put some work into the main corridor and added the floor textures and light. I built the floor texture in 3ds max as geometry and then baked it in Substance Painter as a normal map and then used an ID map to create the rest of the materials. I had planned to build the floor in Substance Designer, but I found that I was more than rusty and to save time I switched to Max.
Most of my assets have a second UV channel that I use to give them Dirt and Edge effects in the Painter, which I then incorporate into the material instancen in Unreal as needed. In addition, I have built in a possibility to embed a DetailNormal map if needed.
Next, I will take care of more details in the construction hall and improve it a bit. After that I will work on the light setup again and refine it. Particle effects are next.
I hope that I can work on it more regularly now