[WIP] Stylized Asian outdoor environment UE4
polycounter lvl 6
Currently working on my first outdoor environment and I would love some pointers on composition, lighting and what not. I haven't decided yet what time of day, but as of now, I'm thinking of golden hour(6 degrees below/above horizon). Not sure why, but it feels a little flat in some places, bad textures and/or lighting?
It's roughly 90% done when it comes to modeling, I just need to finish my main piece and place it.
It's roughly 90% done when it comes to modeling, I just need to finish my main piece and place it.
Replies
One of the first things that jumped out to me was the evergreen trees in the mid-background. They all look the same for the most part, which really breaks the immersion (most of that problem is centered around the silhouette up top). This could be fixed by simply rotating them a bit, but it might be down to how you placed the planes sort of evenly, which gives a repeating effect.
When it comes to composition, I'm having a hard time knowing where exactly I should look. The lighting is all over the place in terms of focus, and it mostly centers around the lights, so I'm drawn there first. Everything else from the foreground to midground especially is all washed out in the same darker hue, making your props hard to see. I would boost the contrast, but lessen the intensity of the lights so they're not as blinding. Overall I would do some research into lighting composition, just to create a nice balance and fix the center of attention that's a bit skewed at the moment.
Depending on where the focus is supposed to be, I might also move the camera and/or that big rock in the right hand corner. So far it's too dark to properly see, and so big that it's just taking up unnecessary space.
Decided to change the colors / brightness, added my last prop(small shrine) and did a few more variations of the trees to change it up. Not sure where to go from here to be honest. I'm still learning when it comes to lightning, colors and such.