[STAGE]Street Fighter II, Sagat's Stage - Thailand, Tyrone70

Tyrone70

After 3 days of contemplating, I've decided to enter. My main goal for this challenge is to actually complete a challenge. If I win the 1,000,000 dubloon prize, it will be purely coincidental.
The stage that I HAVE to do is Sagat's from SF 2. I spent about 2 minutes thinking about my favorite traditional fighting stages and this one stuck in my head. My M. Night Shyamalan twist to this (as clearly explained in the attached diagram) Is to somehow replace the Buddha statue with a giant neon stripper logo, have it feel like the red light district, except in Amsterdam, have it take place in a city like Tokyo, then destroy it all so it'll resemble the chaotic beauty that is Gear of War. Here we go!

Tyrone70

I had a crappy day yesterday, so there's barely any progress on this. Right now, I'm just blocking it out and testing some lighting scenarios. The final product will be in UDK, but I'm testing the lighting in Mental Ray for now. Also, if I have he time and patience, I may replace the neon lights with an actual statue. I'm not great at making people, but it'll be a nice challenge.

[IMG]http://overthunk.net/brawl/lighting_01 copy.jpg[/IMG]

EmAr

haha nice equation... I like the neon idea a lot.

Tyrone70

Thanks. There will be more than one, but I needed to get the important one out of the way. Since the original level is pretty much empty, it's essential that a huge lady of some sort be laying on its side. Yes, I know Buddha is a man, but I played SF2 when I was about 4 or 5, and I thought it was a woman for the longest.

Onuris

You can just claim that's part of your re-interpretation. What if Buddha was a woman... and sexy... and ... I should stop.

Anyway, I really like the idea and the execution is looking cool already.

Tyrone70

lol. thanks.
ok, minor update. I'm gonna block out a few more things then start transitioning over to UDK. I'm starting to feel a bit antsy. Here's the sketch I'm using for the next set of neons. The body was traced and the head was made by me. I'm trying to keep this as asian as possible. Also, if any cool people out there can help me with the feet, that would be awesome. They look really wonky to me.

sltrOlsson

That's a great idea with the sign and shit Looking forward for an update!

Onuris

See, but that's the benefit of using neon signs. Go out there and look at real neon signs... Generally, the people that make them have no sense of anatomy or proportions. So if the feet look wrong, that just adds to the realism!

Seriously though, you can get pretty stylized with the neon signs and it'll look good since real neon signs aren't exactly modern masterpieces.

Tyrone70

Ah, very good point. Thanks for pointing that out.
and I WISH i had a graphics card that could support DX11, but I'll have to work with what I got. Plus, this will challenge me to come up with creative ways to make the special effects i'm going for.

Tyrone70

Allright, I'm pretty much done blocking out in max. gonna start moving some thing to UDK today. I probably haven't mentioned it, but I do intend on adding some sandbags and gun turrets to make people realize that although this is a place of pleasure, the constant threat of invader is always present. also, the background skyline is going to be kind of messed up, missing lights, broken windows, etc. anywhoo, here's where I'm at now. and C & C is hugely welcome.
[IMG]http://overthunk.net/brawl/lighting_02 copy.jpg[/IMG]

Jason Young

I think the neon signs are a great way to handle the subject matter and make it original. Have you thought about making it look like the large foreground sign fell off it's mount? Maybe break it up a bit or add some broken/bent metal bits hanging above it? That would fit in with your idea of broken windows and missing lights.

Tyrone70

YES! That's EXACTLY what I was thinking of doing. The sign used to hang up on the wall behind it, but after an earthquake or some crazy stuff like that, it fell down. rather than restore it, the people left it there. thanx for the suggestions and complements.

Calabi

What if the scene or maybe just the front sign was at angle so she's foreshortened? Well at least thats the way the way the original ref looks.

Tyrone70

I'll play with that idea a bit more in the future. in the pics i've shown so far, i did try to angle it a bit, but I was afraid pushing it too far wouldn't leave much room in the rest of the level. but I'll definitely give that a try.

Tyrone70

this is more of a note to myself so i don't forget. i just stumbled upon this and it look interesting. starting the hi poly of some smaller scene bits now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Sky_Tree

oobersli

i like your idea, but I feel like before you rush onto doing high poly work you should work with your whitebox more. You have this huge city behind, and then these dinky short buildings as the showcase. The front of the buildings are also sorta boring atm. What about blocking in a street with details you would see outside a club. Fleshing out more ideas for the sign and how it would be incorporated into the building, rather than just hanging there.

Things like a second story, power cables, telephone poles, hanging wires, how the sun/moon/city lighting will affect the scene all seem like things that could be thought of. I like the ref shots you got, just seems that you're trying to start final art before you can figure out the details and composition completely.

Tyrone70

yeah, you're right. i just felt tired of looking at it. i'm not doing the hi poly for anything huge right now, just taking a break from one thing while still being productive on another.
And you're very right. I'm going to redo that skyline, bigtime, because there's nothing special there. Also, thanks for the other ideas.

Tyrone70

Ok, I think I've spiced it up. I WILL be adding more to the blockout, but I need to sleep on it. I'm not a club guy, so I'm going to be hitting up Google in the morning for some ref pics. A few "story" explanations:

• Fighting Area: This is where the fights take place. I haven't yet decided if this is a gambling spot or just the place where people go to settle disputes, but there is it. That's a dumpster in the right. The searchlights are meant for the soldiers to keep an eye out on intruders, but it also comes in andy for an excuse to light a fight
• Fire Hydrant: Sometimes in Street Fighter, when you're fighting, they'll be an object in the background that somehow take damage from the fighter despite being on a completely different plane of existence. So, the idea behind the hydrant is that once is takes damage, it starts to spill water and the concrete floor gets glossy and reflective. Fortunately for me, since these level are just being made for still, I won't have to animate that process.
• Bent Pole: This is what the giant neon lady was attached to before the quakes. It fell, got bent, and dropped the sign. Will definitely be adding more detail to that.
• Neon Signs: These are temps, but they serve their purpose for now. Fortunately, I downloaded a font called Japanese Brush a few years ago. Hopefully, Max will let me make Japanese test just as easily.
• Sandbags/Barriers: I'm trying to make this level the way Epic would, so sandbags and concrete barriers are a must. Just not sure if I should do both or just pick one.
• Moon and tower: They were building a giant *insert random doomsday device here* on the tower in the background. It accidentally struck the moon which caused a nice chunk of it to fall off. This chunk laded in Russia. Russia and several surrounding countries are still completely covered in darkness with casualties in the hundred millions. Fortunately, Japan was mostly safe, but if did get some damage, both environmental and political. So yeah, that's why I will be adding guns and other defensive outposts to this level.

[IMG]http://overthunk.net/brawl/lighting_03 copy.jpg[/IMG]

God I can't wait to move forward with this. But I'm not creatve enough to just "wing it," so I will be back in the morning.

*Crap* I forgot to add the parade dragon. oh wellz. Later.

Onuris

I'm digging it. Very cool.

Jason Young

I definitely like the new layout! It's got some nice angles, although a lot of things are leading my eye right to the center of the image where the balls and windows are. It might be cool to push the camera in a bit and use the red balls as foreground elements.

Tyrone70

So I added a few more thing. I also shifted the building on the right a bit more to the right so that the side of the building was a bit more visible. I don't want to spend time on something people wont see after all. I also messed around with some post processing. I only added things that I know I'll be able to do in UDK. Things like color correction, vignette, chromatic aberration, and brightness and contrast will be easy to added. I just wish I knew how to sharpen the image within UDK
So yeah, PP is on the left and original render is on the right.
[IMG]http://overthunk.net/brawl/lighting_04 copy.jpg[/IMG]

**edit to add** I JUST saw your message JM young. You have a good point thre too. I'd like to add foreground elements, but I'm not sure how to at the moment without blocking the view or making any sense. But I'll play around with that idea.

Tyrone70

I don't think I'll be doing any work on this today. It's my birthday (22), so I'll be taking it easy. Tomorrow, I'll try a few more things with the blockout and start shifting over to UDK. I'm not really looking forward to the hi poly process, especially that dragon. also debating if graffiti will fit with this theme, but i'll cross that bridge later.

Shiskebab

Happy Birthday! Nice progress also!

mxdirector

happy birthday. It's looking good.

WillMac

proceed...

Tyrone70

I managed to see a bit of what you were talking about before you edited it, but I honestly couldn't understand most of it. If you're worried that I'm biting from your portfolio though, don't I didn't even see your portfolio when coming up with this idea. In fact, if I'm biting from anyone, it would be Epic and their Samaritan Tech Demo.

Thanx for the Birthday wishes everyone. I'm going out to eat then watch Sucker Punch tonight. None of the reviews have been good so far, but I've been looking forward to this movie for a while now.

EMC3D

Looking good! I take it the neons are emissives?

Tyrone70

Thanks. Yeah, the Neon's will be emissives once I bring them into UDK. Hopefully, this will be my last Max update.
I got a crazy idea somehow while watching Suckerpunch last night. The movie sucked big time. In fact, I think it's the only movie I've ever walked out on. But it gave me the idea to my the dragon in my scene robotic. I remember seeing something like what I'm thinking about on a yugioh card, but I haven't look for it yet. Anywhoo, here's the update with some PP trails. I have some serious questions though, so if you guys can give an honest answer I'd really appreciate it.

• Does this look like a different interpretation of Sagat's stage to you?
• Is the current color pallette to bland?
• Does it seem like I'm trying to squeeze too much into this image?
• If you hate or had to hate one thing about this level so far, what would it be?

[IMG]http://overthunk.net/brawl/lighting_05 copy.jpg[/IMG]

Burger Ninja

maybe it's just about monitor calibration but looks too bright and too much ambient to me


a little photoshop test:

Tyrone70

You bring up a good point. I need to keep checking these updates on my laptop too since my desktop monitor is somewhat dimmer. I get what you mean about the brightness. It's not very club scene. I can try lowering the brightness of all the lights except the searchlights. I want to to remain bright because I'm looking at this as though it was meant for a fighting game, so that character need to be well lit. But yeah, tone down the brightness, got it

WillMac

Mezz calms Will down like a jedi... proceed... win this thing Tyrone!

Maybe apply rule of thirds and re-scale it... pan cameras lower so you make most of that tower thing and alley. Higher contrast also... in the lighting, like in the paintover.. works well?

Is good work so far.. a very good idea.

Calabi

The scene does look a bit cluttered to me. Also it doesnt really look like a real place(I dont know if that really matters or not).

The fire hidrant seems most out of place. Maybe if a curb or mailbox(bollareds something) were added.

Akuma1x

Great idea!

Tyrone70

Thanx for the tips guys. I totally forgot about the rule of thirds to be honest. I will be adding a sidewalk and balancing some things for the next update. If this place does seem unreal, then you're right. in my head, i'm just seeing a fighting zone and the world behind it. i'm not really thinking much about what going on off the camera. it might not be a big deal, but i guess it's something to take into consideration so that the final scene does seem grounded in reality.