Roman Fort - UE4 - [Complete]
polycounter lvl 7
Hi all, it's been a while since I posted on PCount. I usually get feedback within discord groups but I wanted to make a quick post here and see if I can get feedback on 'Composition, lighting and other things that stand out at first glance'.
Theme: It's a Roman Castra/Fort based in UK at the end of Hadrians wall. The structure/dimensions/features are based from an actual Roman Castra during the Limes Britannicus, bordering between England and Scotland.
Narrative: Caledonians (native people north of Hadrians wall) have been picking shots trying to find weak points and increasing quick skirmishes. As a result, during the night out of desperation for wanting to improve defence as much as possible, the Romans attempted to quickly brick up one of the portals/arches, thus creating a single threshold. Laying and waiting, the attacking force waited for more materials to be brought out to seal the portal and launched their attack. both by fighting through the portal and by crossing the moat and scaling the walls with ladders.
This environment is the result of that assault, a burning mess.
Any feedback is great! I'm at the point where I've created enough to play with, but I'm not TOO committed to the scene in which it couldnt be changed if it could improve it.
Thanks and much love.
Glenn
Main shot - focal point should be the archway on the left and the burning interior of the Gatehouse.
Front view - archway on the left shows a resupply of bricks on a broken cart blocking the gate. archway on the right currently being worked on
Focal point - left archway shows a collapsed 1st floor wooden beams and planks.
setting up a mud master material made in Substance designer. 1. clean and rougher 2. puddles and wetter 3. streaks for road and moat. blending on a UE4 landscape.
references (incase theres an ask for it)
Theme: It's a Roman Castra/Fort based in UK at the end of Hadrians wall. The structure/dimensions/features are based from an actual Roman Castra during the Limes Britannicus, bordering between England and Scotland.
Narrative: Caledonians (native people north of Hadrians wall) have been picking shots trying to find weak points and increasing quick skirmishes. As a result, during the night out of desperation for wanting to improve defence as much as possible, the Romans attempted to quickly brick up one of the portals/arches, thus creating a single threshold. Laying and waiting, the attacking force waited for more materials to be brought out to seal the portal and launched their attack. both by fighting through the portal and by crossing the moat and scaling the walls with ladders.
This environment is the result of that assault, a burning mess.
Any feedback is great! I'm at the point where I've created enough to play with, but I'm not TOO committed to the scene in which it couldnt be changed if it could improve it.
Thanks and much love.
Glenn
Main shot - focal point should be the archway on the left and the burning interior of the Gatehouse.
Front view - archway on the left shows a resupply of bricks on a broken cart blocking the gate. archway on the right currently being worked on
Focal point - left archway shows a collapsed 1st floor wooden beams and planks.
setting up a mud master material made in Substance designer. 1. clean and rougher 2. puddles and wetter 3. streaks for road and moat. blending on a UE4 landscape.
references (incase theres an ask for it)
Replies
''Right now this feels very noisy and unclear for the decals consider making them more defined and clear. Overall same note for the composition. Im not certain where I am supposed to be looking, you have a lot of lines leading out of the image and little converging to one spot. The walls and edges feel very flat and CG. I think the arches not being modelled out separately doesn't help Id consider breaking a few things into their own models so there is more to the silhouette rather than it all being a flat surface''
does this resonate with you guys too?
I would say that those fire embers arent super clear at first, personally I might try to make those particles a bit bigger? Im sure that once in action and moving it becomes pretty clear that those are fire embers, but maybe for image alone it might be worth a shot to make them bigger?
Another thing is that those clouds look like, there was a bright image of clouds taken and dimmed down, I think it might be better to find images of clouds that are already darker or paint and photobash if you can (Im no skybox artist btw). It could workout in your favor in this case I think, unless thats what youre going for
PS: Maybe its just me but the scale of that entrance looks a bit too small for me, even after looking more at the reference, like that ladder and that scale of grass looks pretty big comparing to it.
Have a nice day mate!
aw dude that's given me something good think about thanks very much. now that you mention it the ladders are looking way off scale. I actually just fixed them incase I forget haha.
in this screenshot I've included a scale dude
from other crits too I'm trying to emphasise the gatehouse a bit more.
regarding the embers, that's also super correct, Ive increased the intensity of the flames and embers a bit and tried to crank the main light sources up a tiny bit more. how's it feeling now? @valentin_baguirov
In the image I pointed out the entrance, I dont really understand whats laying there, if I were to guess those are debris? Its a bit hard to tell to be honest.
Also would make the collusion dust dirt (I assume its that) in corners of the stones one the edges uneven, maybe vertex paint that dirt, I feel like even a little bit of difference in the spread of it might boost the image a long way. I would personally play with it and see if it works at all.
Right now the top of the roof feels a bit like greymesh to me with no information there? Guess youre still working on it
and that back walls also needs those edge stone, I think it will help a lot.
Good luck!
so yeah in that archway it's a collapsed cart with construction materials for that right archway being blocked up and their alterations in narrowing the moat (as a result of previous skirmishes) perhaps I can make it a little more obvious to how something in that archway could be presented. you're helping me alot so I appreciate the feedback.
oh yeah!! haha the roof is still grey box atm, so no textures etc yet same with the wooden gates within the archways and the wooden window covers.
cant wait to gather all the crits ive ogtten and sort this out more
here's whats inside the archway there atm
roof to do, reducing flatness for the wall etc tomorrow. thanks for your feedback!
quick update on the lighting of the scene. got some nice feedback. and despite the fact that not a LOT has changed with the assets, lighting is something I'm still learning!
Keep it up
okay I could play with that! thanks dude. yeah Romans are dope
TLDR: got frustrated with the previous lighting, that I deleted them all and started over. It wasn't obvious enough that it was meant to be night time, and was infact mistaken for day time. I tried to work with the values and color composition in mind to try and make sure the Burning Gatehouse was holding the eye of the viewer.
I also made a couple of trims and a burning wood material
@Fddd yo man, I like your paint over, also the siege shields I actually love, I might play with that if I need some more foreground stuff going on
and yiss, please link it to me in here or PM me please! I loved the style of Ryse
About the filing (to be honest), i dont think that with such protection they could be captured
I like this more aggressive lighting option.
Yes!!! I'm glad you know! this kinda of Fort would have been incredibly difficult to take head on I'd say. The Romans would have had atleast 10 in the Gatehouse alone, and how harsh punishment was for simply falling asleep on duty.
I'll lighten those outer areas a little....infact I think it's the Vignette that's making it so dark
got some awesome feedback and I felt there were some stuff I needed to change. the moonlight was one I believe. It felt that the moonlight didnt offer much to help push my materials or narrative. I think it started to wash out the silhouette of the gatehouse, it flattened out the vignette surrounding the battlements either side of the gatehouse too. by switching the moonlight direction so it's almost directly behind and almost above at a steep angle, this helped frame the crenulations of the walls and also highlight the rooftops and lighting up the right side of the ditch/moat. I also got some nice whiter specular highlights on the mud and wood in some areas.
the fortifications I think were confusing and noisy. (far right within grass) as the spikes faced both inward and outward, having them siimply organised defensive spikes felt like the right move, also highlighted by the moonlight and fire.
the siege shields I felt didn't belong here. I tried orienting it in different spots and sliding them around, they looked off no matter where I placed them. plus they're blocking alot of the moat bridge where the siege battering ram is placed.
the primary narrative is the assault on the gate whilst trying to show a secondary narrative of crossing the moat with wooden platforms/planks and scaling the battlements using siege ladders. I wanted to try and tell some little stories such as the broken (failed attempt) ladder on the left shows the plank across the moat, but the broken ladder and eventually the bodies will reflect this failure.
I've got to fix the landscape in the background now it's lit more, and the image is less intense, but I may increase the intensity of the flames slightly.
Values:
refs:
Thanks
still got bits to do, some tweaks to the rooftop material. I'm currently planning how I'm going to present the 1 main shot and 3 mini shots (left broken ladder, right corner tower and the building behind which will be a granary building)