[UDK] My first 3d scene - WIP

mkandersson

Hello everyone at Polycount!

I have been longing to make something serious for a while now but not knowing what to make. I’m quite new to 3D modelling and have only been
at it for about 7 month now. I must say have learned a lot from reading all your posts and this forum has really been a great source for learning modelling.

So the other day when I was scouting for some good references I came across a place called Larnaca Castle, which I though had some really nice features,
so I decided to base my environment on it. I’m not going to make an exact copy of the place and will throw in some of my own ideas when creating this environment.

My goal is to
- create a game environment out of modular pieces
- improve on modelling and texturing
- get better at lighting and lightmass
- hopefully get some of your awesome feedback
- have a finished portfolio piece within a month or two
- get one step closer to become a environment artist

Here are some of my references as well as a blockout I made inside UDK.







Comments, suggestions and critique are welcome! No sugar coding is needed. I can take it.

brandoom

Looks like your on the right track,

not much to crit yet.

Keep working!

Mark Dygert

Nice, yea keep going!

Mistry10

good start !
hope to see more soon !

duxun

keep going !!

mkandersson

So finally an update! Just when I found something to do a bunch of other stuff poped up as well, so I haven’t had the time to work on this unfortunately.

Here is a small update anyway. Texture and shader needs more work and the normalsmap isn’t that great either. Will be adding doorways, staircases and catwalks next.





Suggestions & critique are warmth welcome!

mkandersson

Hello again!
After glancing trough PhilipK’s tutorials on custom materials I felt that the one I was using was far from good looking. So I decided to learn how to sculpt my own medieval brick wall and push myself even further to make this project look as professional as possible. So I downloaded Sculptris and man I must say it’s a really fun program!

This is my first try on sculpting a stone brick. Let me know if I’m in the right direction or not.



Oh and been looking for Sculptris tutorials. Those I found on Youtube didn’t explain much. Does anyone know a site where I can find some?

snow

Hi mkandersson! Make sure you use reference on the brick, you might want to look at creating some harder edges, it's looking a bit soft at the moment, look at creating big interesting shapes instead of fussing over every little bit.

Blockout looks great!

PhilipK

Nice start on the scene for sure.
I'm glad my tutorial was of use for you! I think you got the right idea for sure with the stone, the details are in the right places (IMO), but they look too soft as it is now. You'd probably want the edges to be more sharply cut even if the stones are very old.
Made a very quick and meh paintover to show what I think:



The only thing you'd need to do to achieve this is to use a smaller brush with a sharper tip and go over the borders of your cuts. That's my opinion anyway. But it's a good start so keep it up

Edit: Gah, snow was quicker

mkandersson

snow: Thanks I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks!

PhilipK: Thanks for that paint over and feedback! I’ve spent most of the week on that brick a bit and I still fail on getting those sharp edges looking nice. Care to make a video tutorial perhaps to show your work method in action?

After a couple of days of frustration and practice and I decided to put sculpting aside for now and keep working on the buildings. Here is my result rendered with Max. Tri count so far is 2875



and wireframe



I planed to get everything rock related done first and unwrap that as 5 separate objects and then add the other details like windows, railings, roofs and so on which is going to need unique shaders. Trims around arches and doors will also be added later when I have my material ready so I know how to set up the UVs for it.

C&C are welcome

Mark Dygert

Are you planning on using a lot of uniquely unwrapped textures or tiling textures? I suggest tiling because it will allow you to cover a lot more with a lot less. Also, I think a lot of this could be done with BSP brushes inside of UDK with some unique elements added as static meshes. You could import this as a guide to use as you build the BSP brushes around.

Either way, static or BSP I think tile textures will be key. It will help to think about tiles and start planning some geometry breaks to help with seams and random details. I also think it will be a good idea to think about breaking a part some of the larger chunks and turn them into one smaller static mesh that repeats instead of big static mesh.

Good luck, keep up the good work!

mkandersson

Yeah I was planning on using a tiling brick texture on just about everything you see here. Then use vertex paint on top of stairs and catwalk to remove bricks and create a walkway.

k well that’s usually how I build my levels, a bsp shell and meshes on top. I decided to go full 3D just to practice working inside max with something bigger then a prop

Well I first planed on having it being made out of modular pieces but a friend of mine told me that I should unwrap it as a bigger piece because it’s such a simple design and that would give me more power over texture in the end (breaking up tiles and so on without using vertex paint).

mkandersson