The Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge | January - February (76)
Happy New Year everyone and welcome to the 76th Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge for the months of January and February!
The challenge is a way for real-time 3D artists to test their skills and create a piece of work based on concepts provided. It's open to those of all skill levels and we do our best to provide meaningful feedback along the way so everyone can come away from the challenge with actionable points on which they can improve their craft!
Anyone is welcome in this challenge no matter your skill level! It's a test of your own ability not a competition between members. We're all here to improve as artists and learn from each other.
- ENVIRONMENTS -
HARD SURFACE ENVIRONMENT:
Help us! by Leeda
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/k4B4yy
STYLIZED ENVIRONMENT:
Low Life by OJO art
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Qnrv98
- PROPS -
HARD SURFACE PROP:
DOOM - Office Props + Bonus by Colin Geller
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qKnyD
STYLIZED PROP:
The Bakery by Gaëlle Mazeau–Triaut
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/wJANm9
- RULES -
Please read all the rules before starting:
- Try to post at least one critique for every post that you make. This will make for a better learning environment and help us all grow as artists.
- Try your best to finish as much as you can in the time frame provided, but remember even if you don't finish by the end of the challenge we encourage you to keep pushing and finish your piece!
- Post what you are working on in this thread so that way it's a more centralized place for advice and critique. Please avoid creating a new thread as we don't want to spam out the forums.
- It is recommended to use a game engine to present your work. Unreal Engine, Unity, and CryEngine are very common engines that can be used but feel free to use any alternatives that you want. (Marmoset Toolbag for example.)
- Feel free to change up your chosen concept a bit if you want! Interpret these concepts to your liking, especially if your aim is to add storytelling elements.
- If you finish your project and decide to post it to Artstation, make sure you give credit to the concept artist in the form of a link to their profile. Additionally, it is recommended to ask a concept artist for their permission to post a 3D piece based on their work before doing so.
- RECOMMENDATIONS -
- When you are just starting out making a scene, it can seem complicated or imposing. Take your time planning and blocking out, it will set you up for success later on.
- Think about how you can re-use assets, re-use textures, break it down as simple as possible and plan it out. A lot of people will break it down in their own way when they start out their challenge. Gather some reference images as well for different parts of the scene, don't be afraid to make it your own.
- We strongly encourage you to go and look at other games and see how they make their assets as well as get concept art to give it your own feel.
The goal is to learn and grow both artistically and in your ability to both give and receive critique, but don't stress about it and remember to have fun!
Good luck!
Replies
Howdy! Thought I would get some notes on what I have for the modeling so far.
@MattWard Good job so far but I think you are going into the details to fast. Really focus on the foundation (the cutting board flow) and build on that shape. If you are going sculpt afterwards I'd wait until then before getting into the details on the wheels and bread.
I did a blockout for the cart, (still needs the cupcake and some fixes to the back.
Hey, for this challenge I will be working on the Hard Surface Enviroment theme and this will be my first environment project. Done with the scene blockout but I am not satisfied with the camera placement so I will try to tweak it.
How do you guys approach setting up the camera for environments? One possible way would to be to use f spy ( I did not use f spy for this) but I was curious if there are any other ways.
I chose to create prop this time. good challenge for me . Highpoly is now complete with lowpoly and UV. Had to remake model once but now i think it looks nice 🙂. Next thing to do is starting to do ID map and texturing.
Finished the prop! Artstation link: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6bdPdn
@GhostDetector Very nicely done! You captured the look and feel of the concept extremely well and I can picture it fitting into a great environment of a world made from food!
Only thing I'd say to consider for next time is those holes where the ropes at the top go through. Would probably be worth making those darker if you aren't going to have the holes actually be there. Just something to consider for your next prop! :D
Updated with the fix: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6bdPdn
So now i got the table completed! Learned alot of new thing with this one. Baking was a challenge and i think it could be better but still good. Also got marmoset toolbag just for this one. I will use it for future art. Overall im happy with the result. Comments and critique is always welcome. Cannot wait for the next challenge! :)
Any more notes before I start texturing? Or potential notes on how to model rope better lol.
@PuuroMan Great work, get some more renders at different angles or make a turntable!
@MattWard Looks good so far, if you want to make ropes better (it seems like you're using maya) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlpbBRvhst0
Basically you'll be creating a 'profile' of the robe strands , then copying it along a curve , then twisting the curve.
@GhostDetector I think this rope is a bit better.
Any final notes?
@MattWard The rope looks way better and I love the way that little hanging croissant came out!
Only thing that stands out to me that might still need a bit more work is just the seeds on the front wheels. Maybe a slight tint with a bit of shine to them if they are flax seeds, or just a bit of color variation if you want them to be interpreted as sesame seeds instead!
Started in middle of January, but first time posting my progress. Working on the table prop in Blender for the first time as I get used to using the program. I have used Maya and Maya LT in the past.
I realized the legs should be skinnier and I'm having some shading issues on the top. Thinking I may redo the bevel at the the corners.
@PuuroMan Wished I had come onto the Thread earlier prior to starting the same prop, I could've had more to write about. Looking clean, from what I can see. Do you mind sharing which program you used to texture? I was wondering how you went about making the top design. I figure you used ID mapping to separate the white from the black colored material.
Hello! I decided to take on the concept by OJO. I've never tried to do something this complicated before and given that I decided to join at the beginning of February means that it's a long shot if I'll finish it. This is the block out. Any feedback is appreciated!
@IcestarCometh Glad to have you on board! Don't worry if you end up taking more time than the challenge runs for. It's a personal challenge and would rather see you finish late than not at all. :D
The only comment I'd have about your blockout at this point is to make sure to check the proportions. At the very least get a mannequin and test the sizes against it to make sure things aren't super out of wack. (It's still stylized though so obviously feel free to exaggerate. :D)
@nbanezart For texturing i only use substance painter (2019 version is only one i have :D) I mostly just try to be be carefully observe materials i use in the textures.
For overall workflow i used was ->Blockout (for proportions) -> Lowpoly (i remade the lowpoly multiple times untill i got it right. Since first few had serious problems ) -> Highpoly from lowpoly -> Uv -> texturing in SP. -> rendering in Marmoset
Those different top surfaces are only in highpoly. I baked those in to normal map and then created ID map in blender for materials.
Here is some images of lowpoly and Highpoly.
Hi everyone, i'm doing the first scene. Most objects are done with UV, still have to figure out camera placement / some object size, as well as a few more objects on the floor and the high poly
Will probably finish after feb but it's ok! The bike was a pain to model
This is my first complete environment I've done from start to finish it's also the first project I'm posting online! (Very scary, be nice haha!) I have had a very hard time finishing projects and so I have taken some shortcuts to make sure I finished it and didn't move on to another project. The boxes, bags, and paint cans are Quixel assets as I just wanted to get the project finished. It is rendered in UE5 with a very bad lighting setup and very bad post-processing. I've not had much experience with lighting and post-processing, I'm happy with how it came out but not completely.
Few bits that I've noticed I need to improve on, my texturing & UVing are terrible, but I have learned how to improve a little bit and look forward to putting that into my next scenes.
I don't have any pictures of the blackout/planning stages as honestly didn't think I'd get this far!
Hello everyone!
I have been working on the second desk prop. I am rendering it with blender eevee currently and am tuning the materials.
Unfortunately I am struggling to get screen space reflections and refraction working at the same time. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I really Like how the Bakery Carts have turned out, there's some quality stuff in this thread.
I've been meaning to post my environment but have screenshots of different stages.
Blockout with a concrete texture on the floor:
Base Wall texture plus window decals and floor line:
Textured more assets:
Currently Working on the bicycle model:
Hey everyone,
Seriously excellent work this go around! I've loved seeing everyone tackling each of the concepts in their own ways, it's been really inspiring and hopefully everyone else feels the same way! I also want to shout out the people who have been participating in the challenge on Discord as well! It's great to see updates between the different platforms.
With that said, the end of the challenge draws near. As such, the voting has begun for challenge number 77!
https://polycount.com/discussion/229539/the-bi-monthly-environment-art-challenge-concept-thread-march-april-77
Even if you don't intent to participate in the next challenge please feel free to make a suggestion or vote on what you'd like to see next. For those still working on your pieces, please continue! This thread won't be going anywhere and it's great to see finished pieces come to life regardless of how long they take!
Hi everyone, here's my wip scene, started to work on the texture a bit. Don't really know how to texture the walls but i'll figure it out
Thanks for holding the bi-monthly challenge, and Im impressed with how many cool entries are here! :D
I didn't make it in time but I enjoyed the time I spent on this challenge. Important thing for me to remember is to not go to quickly into the texturing stage. I will try to do only flat colors and focus on how many different materials are in the scene. After establishing a solid block out and proportions then Ill go in and do UV and texturing. Since I didn't do it this time I found myself lost on what to do next, which resulted in a directionless project. Spending more time thinking about what to do next instead of just doing it :)
Hi everyone! Great postings and thank you Pinkfox for providing the challenge. Here is my take on the bakery. :)
Thanks for hosting this month's challenges. I wasn't able to get to the other three challenges but here's mine for the baguette cart.
I'm quite happy with how far I've come but there's several things I wish I'd done.
While I don't think i'd go back and refine this, I would love some feedback on how to improve model/ thinking process. and improve on future model. Thanks everyone and goodluck with your current/ next batch of challenges.
Here are my submission for the month. I'm glad with how it turned out, and here are some major changes I'd incorporate going forward
While I will move onto the next month challenges, I'd appreciate any feedback on parts to fix and look out for in the future. Thanks for reading
Really excited to see all the entries at the home stretch! Excellent work all around and I'm glad to see everyone doing a bit of self reflection on what you'd do differently for your next project. Can't wait to see what everyone tackles next. 😀
The challenge for the months of March and April has just begun! Hope to see some of you come along for this new adventure. 😊
https://polycount.com/discussion/229539/the-bi-monthly-environment-art-challenge-march-april-77
If you're still working on your piece I implore you to continue until you've got it finished. Making it to the finish line late is better than not finishing at all! You'll be able to take those experiences you had and apply them to your future work.
Hey everyone,
Finished my project of the first environment. Started in February and i'm done today! It was done in Unreal Engine 5, those are screenshots from the high quality screenshot tools (I don't know why but I cant quite get the movie render queue to work)
I'm happy about it, as I've never really done something 'semi realistic'. Also I was much faster on it than my others projects. Really enjoyed working on it !
The window part is the main area where I think it could really use more work, the opacity/glass workflow from substance to ue5 is a bit confusing, not sure if it's due to ue5 early access and the problems with lumen/transparency
More pics/lighting on my artstation : https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YKOrx6
@efwfew16 Looks really great! Love the additional lighting passes you did on your ArtStation post as well, really great to see it in different moods. Glad to see you finish it out. :D
Came out great! Lighting is aces too.
thanks guys :) I appreciate it. those challenges are fun and gives me something to work on
@efwfew16 I think your scene has come out great!
I took a short break from the environment and given myself the end of March to finish.
Here are some progress images:
My next goal is to redo the walls with some better vertex painting and decals.