Urban architecture - improving my workflow baby!
polycounter lvl 12
Hey guys, I haven't posted anything in a while so here I go.
Recently I have realized that I don't have much experience of working with big assets that rely on brute low poly modelling and tiled textures rather than HP to LP workflow. More so, I have realized that whenever I am not relying on those next-gen techniques the results of my work tend to be horrible.
So in order to improve that area of my skillset I have decided to take a step back and work on some modular buildings (3-4). I always had trouble finding information on creating those, so I've decided to use this thread as a means of documenting my progress. While this thread is mainly meant to allow me to look back it in a few weeks and see the errors in my workflow, I'm hoping that others might also learn something from my experiments.
Here's my progress so far:
What I'm planning to do next:
- Add more details such as drain-pipes, fire escape stairs, more vents and some unique elements. Add some smaller props around the building
- Slap some basic colours on the building: I always ignored this stage and always went right into texturing. After looking into techniques that Valve used when making TF2 I have realized that choosing the right colour scheme can have a huge impact on the final model
- Start texturing; some meshes will get slightly changed to match the texture better. Add more unique detail (make some of the windows open, etc.)
- Bring it into UDK; create two master materials, one for regular meshes and for walls that will use vertex blending
- Start vertex blending (divide walls if needed) to break up the tailing. Add decals for unique details.
- Get some popcorn and enjoy. Start another building.
I hope that this time my progress will be much smoother; even though I don't have much free time to work on this project I pray that better planning will make everything easier. I need to get that folio done some day after all :poly142:
Recently I have realized that I don't have much experience of working with big assets that rely on brute low poly modelling and tiled textures rather than HP to LP workflow. More so, I have realized that whenever I am not relying on those next-gen techniques the results of my work tend to be horrible.
So in order to improve that area of my skillset I have decided to take a step back and work on some modular buildings (3-4). I always had trouble finding information on creating those, so I've decided to use this thread as a means of documenting my progress. While this thread is mainly meant to allow me to look back it in a few weeks and see the errors in my workflow, I'm hoping that others might also learn something from my experiments.
Here's my progress so far:
What I'm planning to do next:
- Add more details such as drain-pipes, fire escape stairs, more vents and some unique elements. Add some smaller props around the building
- Slap some basic colours on the building: I always ignored this stage and always went right into texturing. After looking into techniques that Valve used when making TF2 I have realized that choosing the right colour scheme can have a huge impact on the final model
- Start texturing; some meshes will get slightly changed to match the texture better. Add more unique detail (make some of the windows open, etc.)
- Bring it into UDK; create two master materials, one for regular meshes and for walls that will use vertex blending
- Start vertex blending (divide walls if needed) to break up the tailing. Add decals for unique details.
- Get some popcorn and enjoy. Start another building.
I hope that this time my progress will be much smoother; even though I don't have much free time to work on this project I pray that better planning will make everything easier. I need to get that folio done some day after all :poly142:
Replies
Also your last environment was really stunning which have raised my expectations even higher!
Approaching large, city style building assets is something I need to brush up on too, especially with regard to texture/unwrap considerations.If you could post your progress quite regularly so we get a bit of an insight into your workflow that'd be a real help!
Keep up the good work!
Here's the overview of the progress:
- I have fixed some scale issues; I have added another storey and made the windows slightly slimmer
- I have modified the roof (as iWi pointed out it was odd-looking) Now it should be not only more realistic but also more visually appealing
- I started adding smaller details, such as cables, rain pipes, metal bars, etc. Those small details should create a better sense of scale.
What's next:
- the sides look a little bit bare at the moment; I'm plan on adding fire escape stairs on one of them and some pipes and cables on another.
- I might have to exaggerate some of the shapes and make them bolder; some of them wouldn't read too well in-game.
(The wires are a bit messy atm. Some of the vertices would be welded later on and edges removed; in most cases the odd edge placement is there for modularity sake)
http://www.3dmotive.com/product-modular-building-udk
You want a good amount of size for each modular piece, you'll get a few barely visable seams in UDK but the beauty of the pillars is that they can be floated over to hide any errors and what not.
Goodluck, looking good.
Mr Bear: Yeah, I've seen this one and I've been meaning to buy it, but I'm rather short on cash these days :poly142: Still, I've seen the previews and it looks very similar to my old workflow. For some reasons however, I feel more at ease working on a whole building rather than on individual assets. I always find it hard to maintain consistency across the assets if I work on them separately. Hence this time, I plan to create a generic building first and then modify the pieces to achieve higher modularity. We'll see how well it will work for me.
Anyways, here's an update. I started working on my diffuse and blocked out and added some basic colours. I'm not happy with the base yet; I will probably make the bricks another colour, or use a completely different material. Textures themselves need some grunge and localized details, but that's something I plan on adding later on.
Looking forward to your crits guys.
Honestly this is looking very very solid, of course it is still a wip but I think you're on a very good path. As always when you get to that point, I think you should add a bit of character to the building either through some grime, or maybe add some painted brick at the bottom, or show some hints of weathering with discoloration.
If you ever wanted to take it furthur, you could add a mail box with some mail, or a birds nest near the top of the trim, or maybe have some flower pots hanging off the first or second windows. Also, I always love seeing just some basic foliage cards sprinkled here and there (such as on the ground level, or have some vines / weeds growing upwards).
So far this is super nice, and the presentation is spot on I think, its just a nice building
And could we get a roof shot since we haven't seen any of it yet?
I would say add some decals to it or break up the tiling with added details as you've mentioned and if possible through the shader/material. So far good stuff man
Yeah, unique details are a must. I'll make sure to spice it up a bit, once I get all base textures done.
Contrails: Thanks mate. Yep, the wire is supposed to connect the lights; I'll probably add an electric box nearby to make it more obvious.
The reason why I haven't posted an image of the roof, is because...there is no roof
G3L: Cheers man! Decals and shader hocus-pocus will come once I get it exported to UDK.
Oniram: Thanks :thumbup: Yeah, it's max; a basic radiosity render with some colour and contrast tweaks done in PS.
Here's a small update. Added some new textures and tweaked the ones I had previously. The red bricks around the base will have to go; I will replace them with something that matches the door better.
Borked version
I have no idea what was causing it; everything looked fine in the viewport, but wrong when rendered. I think it could be caused by the mirror tool (I noticed it can screw up the vertex normals) since I got it easily fixed by removing that part and replacing it with a "fresh" mesh. The corner on the right suffered from the same problem and it was also mirrored.
I've left the link to the original, just in case someone else runs into a similar problem.
Can I ask how you went about your brick texture?
To spice it up you could get some nice directional light going, maybe some of the windows are blooming from the sun, etc, that sort of thinking.