i really appreciate the inputs even if theyre more general. always good to know how other people work.
and yea vig, i understand. i always run into this issue at work where i model a sweet highres and then they tell me "oh this texture needs to be like 128" and then all that detail is lost because i thought i would get more texture space to show it.
ok i got the stuff into unreal ed and did some first lighting passes. i got some decals on the walls and floor too.
i tried some lightrays from the window.... i think im gonna ditch the whole window altogether. what do you guys think? (by the way, theres no skybox so its doing the whole weird "hall of mirrors" thing. sry).
my partners assets: the crates, 2nd monitor, computer tower, green shelf, wood planks.
im going to add some more things and work on the lighting to polish this up.
EDIT: yea..too many coffee cups. hahaa. will replace some with another kind of trash.
A little bit of reflection on the monitor will make it look nicer. Would probably increase the specular on the tile too. Seems a bit dull for what it is.
I'd redue the texture on that rolling crate thing, it's all noisy and uh, unrealized? I think maybe you're turning a blind eye to it, like it doesn't exist for you, it's really distracting from the other stuff in your scene.
yea i know. its not that great looking. i didnt make it. this was a forced group project. ill see what i can do in the material editor to make it look better.
im trying to get a reflection probe in there to get some nice reflections on certain things.
and the lighting is making it look flat i think, i need to get some more darks and stuff in corners.
i dont think unreal does realtime ambient occlusion. at least not the versian i have. i heard 3.5 does it.
hey guys. thanks for the inputs. i added reflections, but i have to really tweak them to show right. angles are off, they only look good from certain angles, etc. i have to rotate the cubemap so they are facing the right way.
all in all, the reflections are present, (as you can see from the light reflection on the tiles)
i took the noise down on the noisy assets.
the shadows on the corkboard, the papers are at an angle away from the wall (like they were stuck there and are bent). so thats why teh shadow looks like that. if its really distracting i could make them more parallel with the board).
the most important change i made was the lighting. much more direct now. which is where i need some suggestions. i need some kind of secondary light source to make this look interesting. maybe blue, or blueish green. what kind of asset could i place for it to make sense?
any suggestions lighting wise? or any other objects i can put to balance the composition? the left wall look way too empty, i was thinking a couple of pipes and an air conditioning duct.
I disagree about your suggestion to gang up the textures into one sheet to start. That isn't a hard fast rule. That can work if you never plan to separate the objects. It can quickly backfire if the tiny objects share a large texture sheet get recycled by themselves. That works well in some cases like with modular buildings. But for props as individual as a monitor, keyboard and table, they all could be placed independently at any time.
Often props get created as you go, things get recycled and you never really know what all the purposes are going to be when you create it.
At any point we're just talking about rearranging UV's and its as simple to compress them to one sheet. Keep in mind though, it is better if pieces start out big and go smaller, so in general it might be smart to break things up to separate sheets and then if it makes sense at the end of the project, gang them up when you know exactly how the props will be used.
Its easier and quicker to gang things at then end of a project if there is an issue. Then it is to rearrange all effected props when you need to break something off, not to mention you either downsize the texture, or up-res the pieces, or just let the wasted space sit...
You have to be smart about it, generally, if you've got a level with a monitor, and a keyboard, its pretty safe to assume you'll have a mouse in there too. And really, while it may be easier to pack a bunch of textures together in the end, you'de have a hard time arguing that this is a more efficient route to go.
Think about it a little, say you have 5 props that you're doing, you can split each of these into their own 512, but really, you could probably fit that 5th prop into the extra space on a 1024 that would have been totally wasted if each had a separate image. Which means you're getting a 5th prop for free.
Really its all about knowing what and how you're going to use something, obviously there are no hard rules for any of this shit, i'm surprised that i need to even say this. You have to use some common sense, don't group a tiny prop like a lamp onto a huge texture with a jet or something.
As far as only adding detail where it will be seen, yeah, again, does this need to even be said? Really, in the case of a table, a very generic prop that could be seen from many different angles, in many different situations(knocked over with physics, placed upside down by LD, etc) its a pretty good case for making it look good from all angles, not simply one angle in one scene. You can put in that little bit of effort, and make it actually a decent asset, or half ass that shit, dont even bother to make a highres, and it can look like intern quality stuff, it isnt a big difference effort wise on an asset like this, so you might as well do a good job.
00Zero, as far as working on multiple highres objects, just work in layers, only have what you're currently working on visible at once. Max can handle a lot.
Think about it a little, say you have 5 props that you're doing, you can split each of these into their own 512, but really, you could probably fit that 5th prop into the extra space on a 1024 that would have been totally wasted if each had a separate image. Which means you're getting a 5th prop for free.
i agree with earthquake. this is how i do things. if there's space, stuff it in there.
and there's always is space.
Scenes looking awesome. I'm a little disappointed you got rid of the window window, sure an open window right next electronics is pretty problematic and you then have to take care to detail something outside the window. But why take it out? Why not just board it up more, or make it more of a industrial/factory window? You still get the benefit of light and the illusion that a bigger world exists, maybe more dramatic now that its being filtered by a window?
EQ, I'll PM you in a bit, I feel pretty bad for derailing this thread. For the most part I agree, but because you're you and I'm me, I think we're destined to disagree. =P
I think this is looking really good, but it was much better with the window as vig pointed out. I was really impressed how the light was casting through the window and now for some reason you completely got rid of it.
Lastly, it could just be me, but I think the cable on the wall looks weird. I agree it should be there, but it looks like someone did a bad job of photoshoping it in or something. Maybe its the way its all bent like its new, when in this particular scene it should be droopy like its old.
Anyways, keep going man, I have been enjoying your progress here.
ughhh, so sick of lightrays. i spent so long trying to get them to look somewhat correct.
anyway. i got the 2d comp in THREEE DEEEEE
added a complex piping system on the ceiling (cant see in this screenshot )
also added big gulp and flourescent wall light done by my partner.
the lite from the window was done using a spotlight with a lightfunction.
the dust is animated.
and the lighting only.
HELP! anybody know if its possible to have a static light thats casting soft shadows and animate it to flicker? or is it only with dynamic lights? any ideas on how i can do this? i want to have that hanging lightbulb randomly dim.
Replies
i really appreciate the inputs even if theyre more general. always good to know how other people work.
and yea vig, i understand. i always run into this issue at work where i model a sweet highres and then they tell me "oh this texture needs to be like 128" and then all that detail is lost because i thought i would get more texture space to show it.
i tried some lightrays from the window.... i think im gonna ditch the whole window altogether. what do you guys think? (by the way, theres no skybox so its doing the whole weird "hall of mirrors" thing. sry).
my partners assets: the crates, 2nd monitor, computer tower, green shelf, wood planks.
im going to add some more things and work on the lighting to polish this up.
EDIT: yea..too many coffee cups. hahaa. will replace some with another kind of trash.
im trying to get a reflection probe in there to get some nice reflections on certain things.
and the lighting is making it look flat i think, i need to get some more darks and stuff in corners.
i dont think unreal does realtime ambient occlusion. at least not the versian i have. i heard 3.5 does it.
Vj
all in all, the reflections are present, (as you can see from the light reflection on the tiles)
i took the noise down on the noisy assets.
the shadows on the corkboard, the papers are at an angle away from the wall (like they were stuck there and are bent). so thats why teh shadow looks like that. if its really distracting i could make them more parallel with the board).
the most important change i made was the lighting. much more direct now. which is where i need some suggestions. i need some kind of secondary light source to make this look interesting. maybe blue, or blueish green. what kind of asset could i place for it to make sense?
any suggestions lighting wise? or any other objects i can put to balance the composition? the left wall look way too empty, i was thinking a couple of pipes and an air conditioning duct.
edit; haha forgot to post pic.
You have to be smart about it, generally, if you've got a level with a monitor, and a keyboard, its pretty safe to assume you'll have a mouse in there too. And really, while it may be easier to pack a bunch of textures together in the end, you'de have a hard time arguing that this is a more efficient route to go.
Think about it a little, say you have 5 props that you're doing, you can split each of these into their own 512, but really, you could probably fit that 5th prop into the extra space on a 1024 that would have been totally wasted if each had a separate image. Which means you're getting a 5th prop for free.
Really its all about knowing what and how you're going to use something, obviously there are no hard rules for any of this shit, i'm surprised that i need to even say this. You have to use some common sense, don't group a tiny prop like a lamp onto a huge texture with a jet or something.
As far as only adding detail where it will be seen, yeah, again, does this need to even be said? Really, in the case of a table, a very generic prop that could be seen from many different angles, in many different situations(knocked over with physics, placed upside down by LD, etc) its a pretty good case for making it look good from all angles, not simply one angle in one scene. You can put in that little bit of effort, and make it actually a decent asset, or half ass that shit, dont even bother to make a highres, and it can look like intern quality stuff, it isnt a big difference effort wise on an asset like this, so you might as well do a good job.
00Zero, as far as working on multiple highres objects, just work in layers, only have what you're currently working on visible at once. Max can handle a lot.
Sooo...then you are not kidding? :P
Nice stuff btw
i agree with earthquake. this is how i do things. if there's space, stuff it in there.
and there's always is space.
EQ, I'll PM you in a bit, I feel pretty bad for derailing this thread. For the most part I agree, but because you're you and I'm me, I think we're destined to disagree. =P
Lastly, it could just be me, but I think the cable on the wall looks weird. I agree it should be there, but it looks like someone did a bad job of photoshoping it in or something. Maybe its the way its all bent like its new, when in this particular scene it should be droopy like its old.
Anyways, keep going man, I have been enjoying your progress here.
Not that I'm against it, it just looks a little bit to over done for something that is indoors.
Hehe, and thats all well and fine. I hope you weren't insulted by what i was saying, as i was sticking up for you putting in extra effort!
Just keep working dude, keep pushing yourself to become better, and you wont be an intern for long.
anyway. i got the 2d comp in THREEE DEEEEE
added a complex piping system on the ceiling (cant see in this screenshot
also added big gulp and flourescent wall light done by my partner.
the lite from the window was done using a spotlight with a lightfunction.
the dust is animated.
and the lighting only.
HELP! anybody know if its possible to have a static light thats casting soft shadows and animate it to flicker? or is it only with dynamic lights? any ideas on how i can do this? i want to have that hanging lightbulb randomly dim.