Piazza San Marco Level

Serp

I've made most of it now using modular pieces. I've still got to make all the scene props and pigeons.

I'm gonna get this into UDK now but I'm not sure exactly how to set the materials up as I've only done small scenes and objects in Unreal. Any tips?

Wiktor

Bloody hell! I thought that first picture was a render until I maximized it! O.o
Great modeling so far! Don't really have anything to crit on atm.

Keep it up! I'm gonna be following this!

Serp

Something went wrong when I was putting it in. Is it too big? I dunno. Gonna look into it tommorow. I'm also wondering if it will look better in Crysis instead, though I'm more used to UDK.

Gannon

Make sure you're not exporting groups, then check model history and freeze transforms. Check to make sure all verts are merged. If it still persists check your exporter and settings or export them into a fresh scene file, you may need to start a fresh package if these all fail.

Wiktor

That usually happens when I try to import a model with too many polygons.
Try splitting the scene up into a few smaller ones.

Serp

Getting it into Unreal now

Snowman

looks sexy keep it up I am really digging this

myles

Here is a real neat script for max that exports all meshes as different .ase files, its saves a whole load of time and means you can get it into unreal very quickly!

http://www.nijnka.com/hourences/tutorials/tutorialimages/ue3modeling/keen.zip

Swizzle

For a second I thought you were making a scene based on Piazza San Marco in Florence and I was about to get excited because I'm within walking distance of it at the moment. Then I realized you were talking about Venice and I was all

Anyway, great work so far! Keep going; this should be pretty awesome.

Serp

Finally got it in game with lightmaps. Lots of placeholder textures. Thanks for that script myles but I already seperated the buildings by hand Actually I can do it for the buldings that will be on the right.

Not sure why some areas are glowing yellow, I'll look into it.


@Snowman: That's cool that you did the sci fi corridor. I've also done one. That concept he made is great

Serp

1024x1024 9600 tris lol



Anyone know what lightmap resolution should I have for the lampost in UDK? I have it at 32

Serp

Copied some level settings from http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/UDK_Example_Level.html
test scene which seemed to make the lightmass darker and took away the blue shadows. Which is exactly what I wanted.

Timothy_graybill

coming along nicely

JasonLavoie

Maan... uber to the max, going to be reaallly interesting to see how you bring all that activity from the concept into this piece (the birds may be a good way of doing so).

Keep up the sick work!

Serp

-Any ideas on how to make the floor less shiney? I'm using a screencapturereflectactor.

-How can I make the scene brighter like in the concept but still keep the dark shadows?

To be honest I won't be spending much more time on this. I'll stick it in my portfolio as it is. I think my time will be better spent making decent props that don't take long to make, like tvs, tyres e.t.c

sltrOlsson

I think you can change the darkness/lightness with the built in filters i UDK. Came out really nice, fast process to!

Xoliul

Serp wrote: »

-Any ideas on how to make the floor less shiney? I'm using a screencapturereflectactor.

-How can I make the scene brighter like in the concept but still keep the dark shadows?

To be honest I won't be spending much more time on this. I'll stick it in my portfolio as it is. I think my time will be better spent making decent props that don't take long to make, like tvs, tyres e.t.c

1st: do you want it to look wet? Like it just rained. In that case, i'd get the reflections masked by your specmap or something. they're really uniform now.
You could also have the captureactor use a custom post-process pass that blurs things heavily, makes for much blurrier reflections. You could even go really far and blend between two rendertargets, a sharp and a blurry one, depending on the specmap or those large black splotches you have.
But i'd go and make the floor textures more like the concept. That's shiny marble, where reflections make sense, not old concrete like what you have.

2nd: Post-processing. Boost the high values, adjust contrast etc. Should do everything you need.

And erm ... I think this is 10 times more interesting in an artist's portfolio than boring simple props like Tv's, tyres, crates, barrels... ugh. Man, if you get this up to a solid, finished state (I think you can pull it off) this should be really, really bad-ass.

Cody

Looking great. I agree you shouldn't just leave it and go do small props. You put the time in, might as well go the whole 9 yards and make this amazing. Keep it up, this is looking really good.

Thor Sowards

Ooooo pretty concept. Is it from AC2? That game was fan freaking beautiful. I'd really like to do something like your doing if I ever got the chance

I like most it so far, you need to keep building onto this piece! I'd keep more to the concept though, I'm not digging the crosses you added above the arches. And the lighting needs some work too, that shadow at the bottom is really getting to me :P But keep up the good work!

raul

this is a very cool thread. im following!

Will Faucher

Looks awesome! You're thinking of calling it quits? Crazy! Blasphemy! This environment piece has so much potential and you're going to leave it incomplete? It technically is complete, but it is lacking something to give it that extra *wow* factor. One thing that kinda bugs me is that UDK bloom effect that is so apparent on the right side where you placed that flag/banner up front. It's the sort of thing that screams "I was made in UDK!". The lighting needs a little bit of work. As you can see in the concept, it has just rained and the clouds are giving way to the sun bit by bit. The clouds create very diffuse lighting. But there is enough sun to give the shadows enough definition. As it is, your shadows are a little too sharp, too defined. I'm very, very new to the unreal platform, so I don't know if you can soften shadows, but if you can, it will help things out a little.

Your ground platform also lacks that distinguishing pattern in the center of the plaza. Could you pop that in? It would really break up the tiling you have going. I also think that Photoshop Cloud-like overlay you have on your ground floor is has too much contrast with the floor tiling.

The placement of your sun isn't quite correct either, it should be shining bright on the far wall.

Ok, enough criticism for now. All this is based on the concept. Were you trying to follow the concept precisely or not? If not, I'm sorry and please disregard any criticism I have made.
Like I said, it's looking amazing. So much potential lies in this environment piece. I never said it would be easy and wouldn't take time though. But it's definitely looking awesome and would be far better than boring props. Look at it this way, a potential employer sees barrels and dumpsters all the time. Why not surprise him with something like this on an epic scale?

Keep up the great work!

kysterama

Looks great Serp! I was just running around this area in Assassins Creed II and the likeness is spot on. Ubisoft should have hired you Lucky the concept image isn't showing the dome roofed Basilica to the right...that would have been a challenge to recreate

I'm loving how well this is turning out and its a piece of portfolio gold.

haiddasalami

kysterama wrote: »

Looks great Serp! I was just running around this area in Assassins Creed II and the likeness is spot on. Ubisoft should have hired you Lucky the concept image isn't showing the dome roofed Basilica to the right...that would have been a challenge to recreate

I'm loving how well this is turning out and its a piece of portfolio gold.

One of the concepts I found. Looks like it would be tricky. Also agree with Prophecies on taking this piece all the way.

Serp

Ok you guys have me convinced. I'm going to keep at it. I can just showcase the props I made in this level anyway. Rather then make new unrelated props.

I have a list of everything I need to do to finish it and you guys have given me good advice. Thanks.

-Better marble floor with more tiling dirt layers
-Less reflection on floor, masked by dirt
-Flag pole
-Red sitting box thing
-Chimney smoke
-Softer shadows
-Alpha billboard birds
-White floor pattern in the center
-Dome roofed Basilica (lol not)
-Alpha gold statue for clocktower
-Alpha lion? Maybe people will be able to tell it's alpha
-Cloud shadows
-More random pigeons
-Tiling dirt on everything?

yubbie

i wouldn't worry about following the concept too closely as the concept doesn't follow the real thing very closely