Unreal Scene looking for feedback

BradyJ · Mar 2021

Hello, trying to finish up this scene but I'm looking for some feedback to see what it still needs. My goal with this scene was to experiment with movement. I was also trying to practice making some cool useful houdini tools. I am still going to add some moss on top of the rocks and castle surfaces as well as just touching up the composition of the scene and placing some more assets. Please let me know what you guys think so I can add this to my portfolio. You can see a video of the scene on my twitter.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/64/1g92i814q3zc.png

https://twitter.com/BradyJDesign/status/1372694787946520579?s=20

Ashervisalis · Mar 2021

I like it a lot! I'm wondering if you could sharpen the design on the flags, it kind of looks a little blurred atm. I also feel the foliage has the flat shaded look of BOTW, while the castles look really high detail. I'm getting a bit of clashing between the two. If you adjusted hte tiling material on the castles to be less noisy, I think it might help with the jive of the scene quite a bit.

BradyJ · Mar 2021

@Ashervisalis got it, adjust the design of the flag and have some areas to rest the eye on the castle. I also feel like once the moss comes in on the castle it will bring them together a bit, you are right atm they seem like they are from different scenes. Thanks for your advice, i'm on it!

BradyJ · Mar 2021

Okay based on feedback from @Ashervisalis I made some changes to my scene. Made the grass and foliage mix better with the castle shapes. I also broke up the high frequency on the tiling brick. I added some cool geo strata to the rocks to make them look more like mountains. Obviously added my moss tool as well. Also touched up the flag design, I think the red looks more epic, and makes this culture seem really warlike or something... but hey i'm no designer so that part is hard. Still looking for feedback to make this look even better. Lemme know what you think guys!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/l7/teavh3rffizj.png

ZacD · Mar 2021

The clouds definitely look flat, could use a bit more story telling and a visual focus. Like the pillar on the right that's only the base, why not more obviously show the fallen over chunks of that pillar? How about some wear along the main path? The hill/mountain on the right side needs more love, I'd suggest some trees, vines, or more of a transition.

For a focus, think of something that might fit well, a empty suit of armor, a statue, some sign of life/death, an animal, or more focus on the distant castle. If you want that castle to be focus, center it with the path, make it more dramatic and heavier, add some color.

BradyJ · Mar 2021

@ZacD yes! Thanks for the advice, my goal is for the viewers eyes to go through the scene to the castle behond, but i see that I am blocking the view with the fog, I will use some colours to lead the viewers eye better along the path that I want. I think you are right about those rocks, I need to work on the silhouette and make them look more like mountains rather than hills.

BradyJ · Mar 2021

Okay the work for the day. Thanks to @ZacD for that advice, I'm liking how this is looking much better now! I've added a little stone unreal guy in the middle. And the mountains now frame the castle which is my focal point. The colours of the flags have been intensified to draw more attention to them and through the scene. And I've toned down the atmosphere fog so as not to block the view of the castle so much. Any more feedback is always appreciated!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/y3/iltlr1ya6dix.png

ZacD · Mar 2021

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/38/clxmvxulp58t.png

Did a real quick and dirty paint over.

Get some mist/fog cards and really try to layer in some misty fog. Might play with the volumetric fog settings in UE4 and placing deliberate areas of denser fog.

Make the statue way bigger and have the silhouette stand out against the background.

Really establish the background tower, have a strong silhouette rising out of the mist.

Define the rocks to look more like mountains and cliffs.

The flag on the backdrop building kills the scale, I'd get rid of it. If you do want flags, they should be the same size as the foreground flags.

BradyJ · Mar 2021

@ZacD Woah a paint over? Awesome! Now I see it in painting I think you are right about the statue needing to be larger, I think I'll do some more work on it to make it more of a central piece rather than feel like an after thought. It also looks way better without the large flag, you are right makes the big castle feel really small. I see what you mean about the clouds. Right now I am just using fog cards but they look a little flat. A quick trick I might try is to increase the power and contrast and the emissive mult to make them pop more, but maybe I will have to look into volumetrics to make this look the way I want. I'm working on 4.25 just so my houdini tools don't act up, but I hear 4.25 has some cool options. Thanks so much for all that effort!

BradyJ · Mar 2021

Ok so I did some work based on a paint over from @ZacD I think this looks way better! I may have gone too far with the statue haha! But yea I think the composition is way better. Probably gonna work on the mountains a bit more, as well as the ivy, but let me know what you think. To make the statue I just took the unreal guy into houdini and ran a cloth sim over him.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/sl/jhh3r4meubrc.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/gf/3mqx5lp6evcx.png

BradyJ · Mar 2021

Here is what I came up with after realizing that the lighting was not what I wanted for this scene. So I put on some 51daedalus videos and learned a ton about static lighting. I think this is looking better. Now my goal is to finish up the composition on these 3 shots and fix the ivy which I still think looks gamey.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/co/dsh4hteqdx0b.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/hj/3d24guvqv4vn.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/hn/8rrsvkog7pdw.png

Elivenger · Mar 2021

Wow! Your lighting is really starting to come together! Great progress!

BradyJ · Mar 2021

Thanks very much @Elivenger !

BradyJ · Mar 2021

Ok so the moss is coming together really well, I think I am almost ready to call this one for my portfolio. I did some last changes to the comp of all my shots, and really played around with the lighting. I also added a lut map to do my colour corrections. Lemme know what you think!