Factory Environment WIP

carlo_c

After getting such good crit on my last project which really helped to push it I thought I'd post up my project at an earlier stage so that I can hopefully take more feedback on board as the project progresses.



I'm working from this concept (I can't credit the artist I've lost the link does anyone know who is the artist?) At the moment I've walled it off at the lower level because I've got to get this finished in the next couple of weeks.

I want to get some of the larger machinery down first, the concept just sort of suggests large pipe shapes so in that respect it's only helpful to a certain degree.

All of the objects just have an AO and normal map, which haven't been edited yet so they do need tidying up. BSP surfaces are just to help me with blocking out at the moment.

I've imagined this place as a weapons factory, so I've got to think of a purpose for this area and dress the scene appropriately. Any suggestions/crits at the moment are very much encouraged

danshewan

It's a great concept - looks like Killzone 2 concept art, so maybe start there if you want to identify the artist?

Looks like you're off to a solid start. Not too much to say right now, but the one thing I'd be mindful of at all times is the scale. I know it's difficult to convey at this stage, but at first glance your scene appears smaller in scale than the concept.

Looking forward to seeing this develop.

JohnnySix

Looking good so far, with Dan on the scale, maybe get a couple of default characters in there and place them in similar positions to the concept and see if it looks right. For example the cat-walks up top look about 3-4 stories above the mid-left cat-walk.

carlo_c

Here's an update on where I am with this at the moment, I've started to do a first pass with textures on the objects I've already modelled.

Walkway


Doorway Support


Floor Tile (1 of 2)


When I am done with the textures before moving any further I'm going to get the lighting down as it's just a directional light and skylight at the moment. I think that the lighting and atmosphere will really bring this together and as it's my weakest skill I need to work hard on it.

Here's an image with the character models dropped in for scale ref, thanks for that tip JohnnySix



Will be ramping up work on this scene for end of october deadline, crits and advice welcome

PixelMasher

haha awesome thats my desktop here at work right now. I was thinkning of having a crack at this concept ymself but got sidetracked.

I think the pipes could be fatter and more exaggerated with some fat clamps holding them to things. whats really gonna sell this is punchy silhouettes, lighting and atmosphere. cool man, looking forward to seeing more.

Tom Ellis

Damn that's a huuuuuge scene, it looks so epic the way the character looks tiny!

Really like it so far, I would cower in fear at the thought of even starting something like that looking at the concept, you seem to have tackled it well!

My only crit, which is small, is that you could maybe add a second base texture to the archway piece, the blue kinda works, but it looks a little flat. Adding something with a bit more surface texture to it might liven it up a little. The dirt and rust work well, and it doesn't necessarily need dirtying up any more, just a bit more depth.

carlo_c

@ Pixelmasher: cool idea about the larger clamps, I'll see what I can do about that.

@ creationtwentytwo: yeah it was pretty daunting starting this scene, I haven't tackled something this large before in scale but I want to push myself and figured this would be a good way to do so. I was playing with the textures trying to add another colour into the textures so will show that when I've got more progress done.



Here I've just finished a first pass on the textures for almost all the objects, just got that top walkway to do and then will start work on the walls and floor. I'm not sure if I should keep them as BSP surfaces and then put meshes on top to break it all up like trim etc. so some input there would be great.

Tried to improve the lighting too but need to block some areas to prevent light going where I don't want it to go first!

carlo_c

So I've strayed a bit from the original concept as I wanted to do something that was more enclosed, here's a quick (and poor) paint over that hopefully illustrates what direction I'm going for (some imagination required lol).



The idea I've got is that it's part of a large vehicle refuelling dock, so the drums would be fuel and the computer consoles would be monitoring them. Light would be coming from overhead with the large open sky area and then some localised light for focus.

I changed the floor as the other one was too busy and put a quick wall texture over the BSP to get a better sense of what it could look like.

It'd be great to get some thoughts on the paintover, I still need something for the foreground too since the concept has a character but I only want to hint at characters with some silhouettes at the far end. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Mistry10

this is looking really good, i like here this is going.

killingpeople

I love the scale on this! dooope

Zander85

looking great

carlo_c

This is the larger drum, which sits underneath the platform on the left wall. It's going to have cables/hose coming out of the yellow valves.

The spec doesn't show up so well in UE3, I think that's partly because of the poor lighting .I will be doing one big final pass over all the textures when everything is in the scene so I'm leaving at this point to start the next object which will be the computer consoles.

Any crits about the drum are appreciated

Mark Dygert

looking pretty cool I like where you're taking it. The first few shots reminded me of the HL2 levels with the ant lions. I think the tank could use some gauges and maybe a few control valves?

crazyfingers

Texel density's a bit high on the mini cylinders at the top and low at the base parts. I'd also add some orange rust at the tops of the metal support parts at the bottem to ease the transition to the floor. In the very middle the little divets don't alternate like they do around the other seems (you can just offset the UV's a touch). Last thing, the black number box looks a bit too shopped, could add a bit more transition on the outer boundry towards the middle just to break up that perfect square a little bit. Last last thing, the green cylenders look to be a little oversaturated and over specced.

The main cylinder is good to go and overall it looks great as is

carlo_c

Another update, I've got the computer consoles into the scene now. They'll have some glowing lights on them. The screen will be glowing and have a pipe map with the idea they are monitoring the piping system. The textures aren't finished yet but I have left them at a state where I feel I can come back to it later.

I tweaked the lighting a little but no major update on that yet. I am feeling quite worried about lighting this, I think that's going to be the deciding factor with this scene.





Workstation (sorry for poor UE3 preview shot) - still needs keyboard + screen texture

Vig, there will be large cables from the top of the drum which hook up to the computer so that will be the reason there aren't any gauges or control valves. Just haven't got to them yet lol.

Thanks for the comment crazyfingers, it's been noted for when I do the big 2nd pass on all the textures in the scene.

Any crits on the computer console and especially the scene so far are appreciated!

motives

i think its a shame that you decided t owall of the front wall like that. IMO that depth and "epic" feel of the concept is what makes it really cool. Try push yourself and get those assets in! you can probably get away with a more low poly backdrop kind of assets.

carlo_c

I agree that its a shame I couldn't stay true to the original, I just felt that I wouldn't be able to do it justice. Hopefully doing a good job on this will mean I have the confidence to tackle something with the depth and scale of like the original next!

carlo_c

Hello again, more updates!

Here's how the scene is coming along, tweaked the framing of the shot I hope it's working better now.



Here's the generator thing from the front, since you can't see much from the angle above. That also made me realise I need to make the side more interesting so probably add some sort of poster/painted sign. Sorry for the blue glow lol I was messing about with the material editor



Oh, the generator will be on a base but thats not done yet so its just sitting on the floor at the moment!

carlo_c

Hey guys, got no crit from the last 2 posts so I figured I must be either doing ok or it's that bad lol. I'm still working on this scene, just been tweaking the lighting as well as getting some of the smaller stuff in.



My list of to-do's are:

• model and texture wall/floor trim and wall decorations such as fans etc.
• finish floor and wall textures (includes top section!)
• 2nd pass on all textures (diffuse work / make changes to textures based on earlier crit / tweak spec / sharpen / resize for engine)
• tweak lighting to look more correct, maybe add some negative lights for shadowy areas
• engine stuff such as fixing blurry textures and post processing

Please add more to my list lol or if there are any bigger issues I'd love to hear them so I can tackle them over the weekend

carlo_c

I've been tweaking the lighting and added some trim where the walls and floor meet. Also changed the wall and floor textures. Starting to feel like I need a fresh pair of eyes on this so if anyone's got anything at all to say about it would be really helpful

carlo_c

Update! I've been working hard on the 2nd texture pass and got a very helpful lighting paint over from a lighting artist which really helped me out.



I now need to add decals to some of the walls and floor areas so it's not so clean and get some cables in there

myles

I really Like what you have going on above the players view with the walkways, but I think whats going on below (the floor) is a bit boring and is limiting the scope/ scale this could have. Personally I'd open up the floor or have some sort of production line. You can see the concept manages to capture this better because there's no sudden ending, both the ceiling and end wall keep on going until reaching a block of light.

Also take a look at your colour palette/ lighting, notice the concepts main colours are a light blue/ orange and to contrast that the dark red of the machinery lights with a green/ grey midtone adding ambient light to the rest of the scene, I think you would do well to better follow the concept here, your deep blue lights are taking a lot of focus from the level.

For you'r composition I'd suggest moving the camera a bit to the right, and making more focus on above than the flooring, also remove the railing in the foreground because I think unless it should to be heavily detailed or interesting its not helping. I'd also think about increasing the size of the support on the left, I'm sure that little thing couldnt support the walkway

carlo_c

Hello everyone, here is my final image. I have been working on it for almost a month and I think I'm at a point where I'd like to leave it like this and use what I've learnt on something new. I'd love to hear feedback on it, so I know what I need to work on in the future.

Myles, your comments are really helpful and constructive and I'm sad I only just saw them as I was writing this post. I didn't realise you had replied to my thread, that'll teach me to keep a closer eye on my threads in the future! The overall idea of your post about following the concept is something I'm definitely going to take on board though.

I felt like when I started this I might have been biting off more than I could chew, and I think it shows in the end that I sort of did with how it deviated from the concept. I have learnt so much from this project though, and I'm really glad I saw it through to the end rather than become demotivated and have another unfinished piece.

Thanks for reading this and to anyone who left a comment/crit during its progress, I've learnt a lot from all of you guys