[WIP] Desert Gate Environment

DarkscytheDrake

I've been working on this piece for a few weeks now, and it's gotten to the point where I'm tweaking light and volumetric a lot. It was inspired by a bunch of concepts, but I wanted to stick with something simple yet striking. Can I have some feedback?

Fabi_G

Hi! I think currently the scene is swallowed by the fog which reduces readability/composition. Adjusting the lighting so the gate gets captured better would also help the readability, especially the warm lights. You have some cold light complementing those, I think that's good.

I understand that you want to have simple structures, still the surfaces could use more breakup/variation to not look bland/bare. The simple shapes can made more interesting by adding some wear and damage. This would also play nicely with the lights.

To support depth/perspective, you can use some elements that repeat into the distance, like some tiles on ground. This would at the same time add some breakup to it. Another way to enhance depth would be adding fog/sand gust planes.

If the desert theme is relevant, I think it could be pushed more. For example more sand skirts swallowing the structures.

Maybe step back from 3d and do a paintover/adjustments in an image editor to explore your options. Here is a rough overpaint with some ideas: 


Keep it up!

DarkscytheDrake

@Fabi_G What if I want to do a camera animation and not just a still? A paintover and planes work then, and I couldn't get the particles right in Blender.

Fabi_G

Hi! Not quite sure I understand the reply. A paint-over would be just a in-between step to evaluate the 3d environment and to art-direct one self, it doesn't have to look super good. The paint-over tweaks/notes then have to be applied to the 3d environment. This iteration loop can be repeated until it's good or you're out of resources.

With so many people creating scenes in Unreal, I assumed you were using it too. But as I understand you're using Blender? What renderer are you using? When using Eevee, I believe you have to use Irradiance Volumes for indirect lighting. Since the introduction of Lumen I prefer Unreal for environment projects, as it works quite good out of the box, no light baking or long render times. If the goal is to create game assets, I would consider picking up a game engine anyways.

With fog planes, you could create a material that fades out as the camera get closer, or at certain view angles. Surely there is way to modulate the volumetric fog too. I'm sure for both cases tutorials exist. I think something like fog planes is more a nice-to-have and would start by adjusting the lighting and fog.

While I don't know what the ultimative goal of this project is, I wouldn't stress to much about camera animation before you're happy with a still image. Sure, you could do an animation with the current geometry, but I'd try to prioritize and focus.

Maybe you find some sample scenes which you can inspect for techniques. Good luck!

DarkscytheDrake

Thanks for the suggestions!

What do you think?