Medieval Ruins - Critique please

Snex

Hi, I've just started a little project to test my texturing skills.

I plan to make a complete environment in UDK, but for now I just have a single wall. The ruins themselves will have a touch of fantasy in their design and my vision is that the area will be surrounded by falling leaves in an overgrown forest.

I would really like some critique as i have just started doing photo realistic textures and using Zbrush.

BTW ignore the bad lighting and harsh normals since UDK settings are different from Maya.

fearian

You might want to turn down the shadows in your diffuse texture, UDK is good at making its own shadows and AO so you have really harsh black shadows. You rarely ever want pure black shadows. For the floor texture, at the moment it is far noisy and hard to make out what's going on. look at some tutorials on udk terrain for how to blend between textures and get a mix of leaves, earth and grass. I'd also lower that mound against the wall on the left, its a little too harsh at the moment. Also, think about where the ground meets the wall. At the moment they just seem to intersect. more mud and dirt along the base of the wall and (without darkening it!) will help there.

Finally your presentation will improve alot if you spent a few minutes with your work lights in udk. Get a dominant directional light in there and play with the settings. Here's an excellent shot from ParoXum of his early lighting setup for his Helms Deep environment: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1180420&postcount=35

Good luck, looking forward to seeing more!

Snex

Thanks for the tips Fearian, I've taken your suggestions and setup the lighting in udk.
Here is a WIP:

gsokol

It really seems like your wall here is sunk half way in the ground. You don't have any sort of trim on the ground, and your arches look like the tip of a much taller arch. There are a few seams in your brick texture.

Good luck!

fearian

Much better! make sure to brink back the laves at some point! ;P