WIP Sky Pirate Outpost

cdb-art

Hey all, trying to beef up my portfolio to land an environment artist position and I'd thought I'd post my latest project here to get some opinions.

The concept is a sky pirate base that's nestled on the side of a mountain cliff. Heavily influenced by the film treasure planet and various other sci-fi films. Current Tri count is about 110,00, and texture space used so far is 75% of a 4096x4096.

Also, being this is my first post I don't know if the images are gonna show right away, so please be understanding if their not.

Any C&C greatly appreciated.

Direct UDK screen grabs:

Khalamea

Really nice looking assets, it's coming together very nicely! I would put more geometry into the cliff sides though, model out some boulder shapes and vary the geometry up a bit just to make it more interesting. They're just a little too straight vertical currently. I might also add something into the open space on the left side of the first shot, maybe just some more rocky cliffs that you can see in the distance.

For the ship itself, I think you could put more geometry into the top canopy and maybe indicate more wear and tear on it. Also maybe just adding some grime into the texture map could make it a lot more interesting, you have the wings and flags torn but no indication of any age or damage in the textures.

Awesome work though

duoxan

this is some pretty sweet work, but i agree with khalamea. your cliffs are pretty bland right now and that added geometry, and perhaps some cliffside plants would change it up a bit. also some more clutter in between the ship and the entrance, tools and supplies and such.
nice work man

P442

the silhouette of the rock wall is flat/straight. I also feel the area between the ship and building is a bit empty. Your assets look nice, but I feel you're not really showing them off. Perhaps if you moved the ship to the left, docked more toward the market tarp thing, and had the camera to the right of the wooden building pointing out toward the sky. Could have some more ships flying around out there too in the BG.
On a side note, I would assume a pirate base would have some kind of defense, but don't see any. Pirate flak cannons?

attattattack

Looking really nice, but like Khalamea said, more wear and tear. Also I think the environment should be more messy, more chaos and disorder, since they are pirates?
Maybe more contrasts in the lighting too?

SHEPEIRO

your assets are nice but the compostion SUCKS...re-arrange to get rid of those flat horribly straight back walls they kill it

Lonewolf

yea ya need to work on the background, use some more realistic mountains or something

it would be great!

BradMyers82

The red sail looks a little too clean to me, and the metal fin things on the side just don't make sense to me. But I have to say its looking really cool so far. I think you have done a great job making all the assets fit together texture wise. Can't wait to see more man!

cdb-art

@Khalamea - Ya that cliff wall is something that has been bugging me for awhile, and seeing how its as obvious to others as it is to me im definitely gonna redo it with a bit more love. Ill also add some wear and tear to the other portions of the ship, thanks for the crit

@Douxan - Glad your liking it, and yup ill be adding little misc props and things until I use up whats left of my texture space, thanks

@P442 - Was planning on adding some sort of defense yup, though the idea of a pirate flak cannon is pretty hard to top, thanks

@Attackattack - Thanks man, hopefully it looks more lived in once i get my misc props into the scene (bottles, concrete pieces, junk piles, etc)

@SHEPEIRO - Could not agree more man, rearranged everything, lemme know if this is an improvement

@Lonewolf - Ya those mountains are just scaled up boulders right now lol, when you say background does that include the skybox?

@BradMyers - Thank you, and ill be sure to throw in some grime And the side sails really serve no practical purpose lol, I just like em

Okay first off huge thanks for the replies, really appreciate you guys taking the time to comment.

To Do List:

Ropes for Repelling off ship onto landing pad
Flak Cannon (thanks P442)
REAL cliff side and mountains
Misc props/Junk
Trashed ship thruster (HiPoly done)
Ventilation system (Attaches to the bottom of the room on the left, HP Done)
Balcony Door
Foreground clouds
Neon sign?
...and much more im sure

I rearranged the entire level and got rid of the flat cliff wall, will do a proper one in next update but for now Im just using scaled and rotated rocks to give an idea of where im goin with it. Also lemme know your thoughts, Sunset or Afternoon?

Alberto Rdrgz

this is nice. keep it up man.

roosterMAP

very nice! the area between the house and the camera looks very empty.

but some grass and trees. i think a well would go very nicely. also, its a cliff edge. how bout some bolders and rocks?

teaandcigarettes

I prefer the morning lighting; afternoon looks a bit too washed out.

If you go with the morning version, I think the sky should be brighter. I would also make the terrain yellowish rather than red. At the moment, there are too many red hues in the scene; the building doesn't stand out as much as it could.

Apart from that, it looks pretty nice I'm really digging that material on the sail.

Serp

I agree with Rooster, what about duplicating the stuff on the left side of the screen. That little pavement area with boxes and stuff and putting it in the middle aswell.

aesir

Blue sky is far superior. My main complaint before that screen was that it was way too monochromatic. All brown!

cdb-art

@ Alberto - Thanks very much man
@roosterMap & serp - Tried to make it a bit more balanced, lemme know what you think
@teaandcigarettes - Thanks man, adjusted the colors so it doesn't all blend as much
@aesir- Im liking the blue sky too, wanna get some opinions before i choose which one goes on my portfolio

Okay so Im calling this one done as soon as I decide on a lighting setup, lemme know if you like the dusk setup or the afternoon. Also, anyone know how I can link higher rez images? Photobucket keeps resizing them. (sorry for the nub question)

Another question I have is whether this piece and all it contains is good enough to land me an environment artist position seeing as how starting Monday I will start applying.

Thanks all for the support.

Final Tri Count: 108,133
Texture: 4096x4096 total for all assets (excluding skybox)

P442

looking a million times better!

roosterMAP

much better. but the area infront of the house is still empty. add rocks, a patch of dead grass, a wel... ANYTHING

Torrrtilla

I really like it! I think you could shift the hue of the house slightly to separate it from the rocks more, but the balance of detail and contrast is nice.

jocose

I think the composition is a little akard right now. Some more blue sky on the left wouldn't hurt. Its good to gives objects that look like they are moving or could move some leeway in the frame. It would help balance things out.

cdb-art

@P442 - Thanks man, sorry I didnt end up doing the flak cannon, really wanted to but I need to move on to a new project
@RoosterMap - Ill throw something in there for my final shot lol, thanks for the crit
@Torrtilla - Thank you, Ill do some color tweaking before I post the finals to my portfolio
@Jocose - Ya composition is something I struggled with on this one, I learned alot of what not to do for my next project though lol
@Skayne - Ya sorry everything is so far away, I wanted to fit it all in one shot

Heres some closer shots as well as a couple renders of some random Hipoly models. Picture overload ENGAGE!





Thanks again for all the feedback guys Really great community you have here!