Here is another update with the billboard and more plants added.
I used the Polycount logo on it but I added a little plant coming out of its head. Its meant to symbolize the plants as well as a bomb fuse burning away.
Here is another progress update with some ground stuff. I have a lot of tileables to make for it but I made some unique pieces to hang over the cliffsides. I also added Jaytowns basemesh for the tree. There is still so much to do, I hope we can finish all of it before the deadline. I also changed the size of the screenshot to widescreen. Do you guys like this resolution better than the previous? I felt the last one was making it too cluttered.
Lighting is pretty much first pass atm if that. There should be lots of changes with the lighting after everything is in. I will go ahead and try going brighter with more visible cooler colors though, thanks .
Damn turpedo, you are quickly becoming one of my fav artists in that kinda style, greaaaatttt colours!
If anything, I'd watch your contrasting in the left / bottom left of your scene, things are starting to get lost in the pinks / purples (losing a bit of the punch you had before). It could be because of the fog as well, if anything, maaaybbbe try and get a light to highlight some of those broken edges along the left building (a nice brighter blueish / white could be cool) to help separate foreground from background (colour wise).
But again buddy, love the direction, love the style, and most certainly love the colour!
You guys are blowing me away with your entries, crazzzyy inspired!
Peris - Thanks! The second camera angle will probably be around the midground looking up towards the tree at a worms eye view. Going to try to catch a lot of the other details that the viewer will miss from the first shot due to the distance.
JasonLavoie - Thanks a bunch for the compliment Jason. I ended up toning down the lights in the foreground to create more depth between the foreground, midground, and background. It does feel a little flat, Ill definitely play around with the lighting there some more. Thanks for the crit!
Sweet! Love the style and how the perspective draws you in. Classic purple shadows/orange sun setup, nice. Billboard is great Think the roots entering the building on the left could use more detail/contrast in texture - they disappear a bit against their surroundings, but feel important so need to be seen better. Eyes peeled, keep it up!
Mrturtlepaste - Thanks, glad you like the content .
Rasmus - Thanks for the crit! I'll see what I can do about the vines, I felt that some of them looked a little lacking as well. Thanks again .
Here is another update of the scene.
I was thinking about making some simple alpha cutout buildings for the bg behind the freeway. Do you think the scene would look too cluttered if I did that, or would you guys prefer to see more of the sky for the eye to breath? Keep in mind that the tree in the center will have leaves that will block the middle top of the image.
to be honest it's feeling really cluttered already. there's hardly any negative space. maybe try a stronger distance fog to blend out the middleground with the tree and highway a bit. or just change the camera position, im not sure. but at the moment it feels really busy and i have a hard time deciding what to look at first.
in general - i would have rather liked to see the tree breaking through the ground in the middle of a town squareish thingie surrounded by buildings just because the ones in the foreground are very awesome and i would have loved to see more of them .
Thanks for the crit divi, much appreciated. I'll see what I can do about the camera angle. As much as I would like to rebuild the midground, I don't think the time frame will allow me too. I'll have to see what I can do to guide the eye towards the tree more. Hopefully the colors the tree will have in the texture will help with that as well. I'm thinking about moving the camera foward and losing a bit of the foreground elements as well. I'm going to play with the lighting some more as well.
Jeez how'd I miss this until now? I love the textures in this! There's a number of areas where the depth doesn't feel pushed enough. Particularly the left part of the foreground, and how it falls on to its background. They blend together and its hard to discern the two.
Your ambient blue separates the scene a bit, but I would try adding in a HeightFog and setting its start distance to just past the building with the greentooth billboard. Use the density and colour of the heightfog to compliment the ambient & bounce lighting in the background, without overdoing it.
Thanks for the crit Adam! I currently have a heightfog in the scene right now, but I'll try playing around with it more to see if I can separate the foreground and midground. Thanks again
The texture style is hands down some the of the coolest stuff I've seen in a while. I do agree w/ Adam though, there is depth perception issues going on. A few thoughts overall on the scene:
- Lighting feels very flat mainly because your fore, mid and background all share similar luminance values. Consider creating contrast with your lighting by having your foreground darker than the mid or background. This should be planned to go hand in hand with your focal point...
- focal point - my eye is currently drawn to the tree (which I know only has AO) and then to the top left where darkened inner wall section and bright sky meet (high contrast area). I'm not sure if these are the intended focal points.
- detail levels - the foreground and even the mid-ground contain good levels of detail, however the background is just as detailed causing the scene to feel cluttered and busy. This again detracts from a real focal point. Most of the detail / visual noise comes from strong contrast in lights and textures. Consider lowering the levels of detail the further away the camera is. Fog will partly help this, but it won't solve it.
- I really like the color palette.
- Foliage is top notch!
- Textures make this piece very unique!
With a few adjustments to your lights, composition, and a tiny bit of post I think this could be a stellar entry. Looking forward to what you cook up!
The texture style is hands down some the of the coolest stuff I've seen in a while. I do agree w/ Adam though, there is depth perception issues going on. A few thoughts overall on the scene:
- Lighting feels very flat mainly because your fore, mid and background all share similar luminance values. Consider creating contrast with your lighting by having your foreground darker than the mid or background. This should be planned to go hand in hand with your focal point...
- focal point - my eye is currently drawn to the tree (which I know only has AO) and then to the top left where darkened inner wall section and bright sky meet (high contrast area). I'm not sure if these are the intended focal points.
- detail levels - the foreground and even the mid-ground contain good levels of detail, however the background is just as detailed causing the scene to feel cluttered and busy. This again detracts from a real focal point. Most of the detail / visual noise comes from strong contrast in lights and textures. Consider lowering the levels of detail the further away the camera is. Fog will partly help this, but it won't solve it.
- I really like the color palette.
- Foliage is top notch!
- Textures make this piece very unique!
With a few adjustments to your lights, composition, and a tiny bit of post I think this could be a stellar entry. Looking forward to what you cook up!
-Tyler
Thanks Tyler,
These critiques are helping me out a bunch. I'm currently going through my lighting pass to add these changes in. It is starting to look better already, thanks again .
-Lightened up the focal point(the tree)
-Darkened the foreground interior and building on the right
-Added simple streetlamps
-Added more noticeable dust/pollen particles
To be added
-Red leaves on the tree
-Tree textures
-Anything else you guys think it needs!
Am I heading the right way with the lighting? I feel like it could still be better, any critiques would be really helpful, thanks guys!
One thing I'd say for lighting, is that there doesnt seem to be enough contrast in value still between the foreground and some of the background! Some rim lighting might help. I'm sure though you guys will figure out how to make the lighting in that scene pop though!
That's fantastic! I think some more and lighter fog (that fits closer to the sky) could definitely help to separate the background more, now its has about the same tone as the foreground.
actually the red made the tree loose its focal point, when it was white your sight would be immediately atracted there and it was an asset that stand out from the rest.
The leaves in the foreground are the same size as the leaves in the background. I'm guessing you want those to appear as large as the billboard?
I pulled the leaves from the tree next to the ones from the billboard and they are actually the same size as each other. I think it just appears that way because they are clumped up so much.
Congratulations on a marvellous scene. I really like what you've done.
I've read all of the crits and had a think about what it is about it that isn't quite right. In my opinion its still too busy and lacks some focus. The scene lacks depth and I think the main cause of that is in front of the tree where the road sort-of falls away. It's kind of difficult to get a grounding in the scene because of all the various heights, if you cleaned this up and had a flat surface there I think it could benefit the scene so the audience could get a better sense of perspective, scale, and a greater overall understanding of the environment.
Just my initial thoughts. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Great stuff so far!
Replies
Keep up he excellent work guys.
gj
Here is another update with the billboard and more plants added.
I used the Polycount logo on it but I added a little plant coming out of its head. Its meant to symbolize the plants as well as a bomb fuse burning away.
Going to work on the ground next I think.
absolutely awesome.
Here is another progress update with some ground stuff. I have a lot of tileables to make for it but I made some unique pieces to hang over the cliffsides. I also added Jaytowns basemesh for the tree. There is still so much to do, I hope we can finish all of it before the deadline. I also changed the size of the screenshot to widescreen. Do you guys like this resolution better than the previous? I felt the last one was making it too cluttered.
Lighting is pretty much first pass atm if that. There should be lots of changes with the lighting after everything is in. I will go ahead and try going brighter with more visible cooler colors though, thanks
I'm pooped, time to sleep!
If anything, I'd watch your contrasting in the left / bottom left of your scene, things are starting to get lost in the pinks / purples (losing a bit of the punch you had before). It could be because of the fog as well, if anything, maaaybbbe try and get a light to highlight some of those broken edges along the left building (a nice brighter blueish / white could be cool) to help separate foreground from background (colour wise).
But again buddy, love the direction, love the style, and most certainly love the colour!
You guys are blowing me away with your entries, crazzzyy inspired!
Peris - Thanks! The second camera angle will probably be around the midground looking up towards the tree at a worms eye view. Going to try to catch a lot of the other details that the viewer will miss from the first shot due to the distance.
JasonLavoie - Thanks a bunch for the compliment Jason. I ended up toning down the lights in the foreground to create more depth between the foreground, midground, and background. It does feel a little flat, Ill definitely play around with the lighting there some more. Thanks for the crit!
Updates to come soon.
Rasmus - Thanks for the crit! I'll see what I can do about the vines, I felt that some of them looked a little lacking as well. Thanks again
Here is another update of the scene.
I was thinking about making some simple alpha cutout buildings for the bg behind the freeway. Do you think the scene would look too cluttered if I did that, or would you guys prefer to see more of the sky for the eye to breath? Keep in mind that the tree in the center will have leaves that will block the middle top of the image.
in general - i would have rather liked to see the tree breaking through the ground in the middle of a town squareish thingie surrounded by buildings just because the ones in the foreground are very awesome and i would have loved to see more of them
looks still great though
Changes
-Normals and AO have been applied to the tree. Jaytown is working on the leaves for it atm
-God rays and dust particles are added into the scene as well
-Lighting tweaked
-New sky put in
-Freeway signs added
-Camera trucked in a bit more so that it focuses on the tree more.
Things to add
-Leaves on tree
-Street lamps
-Possibly some small smoke effects in certain areas and maybe a subtle mountain range for the very back.
Jeez how'd I miss this until now? I love the textures in this! There's a number of areas where the depth doesn't feel pushed enough. Particularly the left part of the foreground, and how it falls on to its background. They blend together and its hard to discern the two.
Your ambient blue separates the scene a bit, but I would try adding in a HeightFog and setting its start distance to just past the building with the greentooth billboard. Use the density and colour of the heightfog to compliment the ambient & bounce lighting in the background, without overdoing it.
The texture style is hands down some the of the coolest stuff I've seen in a while. I do agree w/ Adam though, there is depth perception issues going on. A few thoughts overall on the scene:
- Lighting feels very flat mainly because your fore, mid and background all share similar luminance values. Consider creating contrast with your lighting by having your foreground darker than the mid or background. This should be planned to go hand in hand with your focal point...
- focal point - my eye is currently drawn to the tree (which I know only has AO) and then to the top left where darkened inner wall section and bright sky meet (high contrast area). I'm not sure if these are the intended focal points.
- detail levels - the foreground and even the mid-ground contain good levels of detail, however the background is just as detailed causing the scene to feel cluttered and busy. This again detracts from a real focal point. Most of the detail / visual noise comes from strong contrast in lights and textures. Consider lowering the levels of detail the further away the camera is. Fog will partly help this, but it won't solve it.
- I really like the color palette.
- Foliage is top notch!
- Textures make this piece very unique!
With a few adjustments to your lights, composition, and a tiny bit of post I think this could be a stellar entry. Looking forward to what you cook up!
-Tyler
Thanks Tyler,
These critiques are helping me out a bunch. I'm currently going through my lighting pass to add these changes in. It is starting to look better already, thanks again
Will post an update soon.
Additions
-Lightened up the focal point(the tree)
-Darkened the foreground interior and building on the right
-Added simple streetlamps
-Added more noticeable dust/pollen particles
To be added
-Red leaves on the tree
-Tree textures
-Anything else you guys think it needs!
Am I heading the right way with the lighting? I feel like it could still be better, any critiques would be really helpful, thanks guys!
Looks fanfuckingtastic!
One thing I'd say for lighting, is that there doesnt seem to be enough contrast in value still between the foreground and some of the background! Some rim lighting might help. I'm sure though you guys will figure out how to make the lighting in that scene pop though!
EDIT: I hope you don't mind a little paintover!
Adam - The majority of the scene was made through highpoly projection mapping.
Zacd - Thanks I'll give that a shot.
Peris - Thank you for the paintover Peris
Heres another progress shot.
Added
-Leaves
-Tree textures
-Lighting adjustments
-Smoke effects
Changes to come
-Tree top silhouette(less circular)
-Move tree top foliage higher as well
-More lighting work
Make the leaf colors like Crystal Forest trees under dalaran. Simply yellow. I think that should pop it out more.
Thanks again.
I pulled the leaves from the tree next to the ones from the billboard and they are actually the same size as each other. I think it just appears that way because they are clumped up so much.
I've read all of the crits and had a think about what it is about it that isn't quite right. In my opinion its still too busy and lacks some focus. The scene lacks depth and I think the main cause of that is in front of the tree where the road sort-of falls away. It's kind of difficult to get a grounding in the scene because of all the various heights, if you cleaned this up and had a flat surface there I think it could benefit the scene so the audience could get a better sense of perspective, scale, and a greater overall understanding of the environment.
Just my initial thoughts. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Great stuff so far!