[Stage] Samurai Shodun 4 - old temple

Mert

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Hi, I've just joined up here to get in on this brawl comp - Hopefully I can find the time to make it happen. :poly118:

No idea if anyone is doing this but I'm looking to mix it up a little with this stage as my primary:



and this one as secondary:-




I have some ideas and I'm sure to jazz it up as I go along. Will keep you posted with progress - cheers.

Mert

It seems I keep changin the plan and my ideas - I'm loosely following the two stages above more for the mood than anything.

I would like to get a statues head in there and some temple parts. Anyway here is some progress pics.


generic rock still needs some work!






I'm thinking about openning up the centre more. I'm going to be adding trees and I want them to be leaning towards the the middle to create that sense of vertica.

Sean VanGorder

Oh nice. I was considering that stage as well. Hope you can pull it off.

Mert

here is a cheap surface I made this evening - not using the terrain system.



Here is the material - first pass.

vik

Cool stuff man, good to see you here. SH was/is one of my favourite fighting games ever :thumbup:

Mert

cheers vikky :] I'm using one monitor at the mo and having to move windows about all over the place all the time- will sort it out tomorrow!

Mert

Here's my progress - the trees and the distance landscape will change! I will also post up my mood wall in a little bit.

d1ver

Love the mood and the moon. Looking good.

Serial19

the color tinted night lighting is awesome...

Mert

thanks for the comments - heres my ideas/ref:



Looking at my level I think I need to add more depth so that's what I'll will be tackling next !

Karl Stjernberg

This is seriously looking very nice!

Mert

Quick update just zbrushing a budda style statue head.

doktor

cool! I will be watching this

Mert

that was just too nasty!

I'm not sure about the statue head but I guess its a bit different!

Mert

New asset complete and re jigged the scene some:

Cexar

Loving the mood your setting up but I think the composition is a bit too symetrical. Maybe offseting the head or something.

ParoXum

I preferred the first iteration of your scene:), since you added the bigger moon/bamboo, the head and bridges the scale has no more meaning in my honest opinion.

Also, where's the rest of the statue?:poly124:

Mert

I agree it was a bit too symetrical but it's a wip and I'll still be playing around with it quite a bit!

As for moons I think bigger is better

I will let you work out where the rest of the statue is...

thanks for all the crits by the way it helps when you've been looking at it for some time.

Mert

floor lamp almost ready to be zbrushed.

stfu_donny

keep up the good work, nice progression

EzMeow

floor lamp almost ready to be zbrushed.

aha it's the next asset I'll have to build as well :P

Mert

lamp almost finished now I was planning on adding more detail but it maybe a waste of time !






I almost forgot the latest update, still feels quite empty and it still needs a big ass temple in the bg and more veg.

Mert

Hi poly Buddha statue finished up:






I kinda ran out of ram/polys around some areas but I guess thats the risk you run when you start out with a zsphere

Needs a little bit more shaping around the belly and arms I think.

JordanW

You shouuld try using the mallet fast or trim dynamic tool to add some chiseled looking areas to your statue.

Chandler

I like the composition of your latest update, it's really looking good! Though I do agree with Jordan that the statue model isn't looking like a stone sculpture yet, needs some more defined edges.

Mert

what, you guys don't like smooth statues? :P I'll have a look at it later will take some chunks out of it too and chisel some for you folks.

Mert

Update to buddha.

mxdirector

looks fantastic my friend.

d1ver

now that is awesome, dude! yeah!

Chandler

Wow, nice! The material really sells it.

Mert

I had some spare time recently so I've now done an fx pass on the lamps and I've added some foreground details. Here it is :



next up is a lighting pass and some more veg.

Mert

Latest update with lighting and fx pass:-



Also note the far lamp that looks like it's floating well...... that's because it is :!

conte

Looks great! Nice moody scene, full of atmosphere.
My only nitpick: statue now looks a bit too shiny, i would fade the highligts on it down, it will make the silhoette and shape stronger and it wont take too much attention in scene.
And i think if those greens could be replaced by desaturated browns and blues, it will give it more accurate feel of night.
Closing my mouth now, too much talk. Keep up the great work!

JasonLavoie

Really loving where this is going, but you seem to be drowning your background / mid ground with too much post / fx. I liked your last update you did before this one because you can clearly see your mid ground horizon line which really helped create some depth.

Now I can see why maybe you wanted to fog that out a bit for your recent update because you just want the foreground viewable so the player can focus on that, but now your mid / background have become very muddy, which in turn make's it distracting. Not to mention your contrast is so high in the mid / background that I find my eye going there instead of the foreground.

Maybe push some of those fx to the outer borders of your scene, still create some depth, but play around with showing your mid ground a bit more so players wouldn't feel distracted or lose sense of depth.

Overall though, I love how lush this feels, and the colours feel very nice, really digging those reds.

Mert

thanks for the comment guys I'll keep tweaking it

I agree with the depth and the highlights it's something I'd like to work on, I think the misty smoke looks a lot better when in play. There;s still a couple of things I'd like to try so hopefully a few more updates before the end.

xtremepenguin

Great updates, need to try and separate out the elements as they all seem to blend into one right now. Maybe try to tweak the lighting to seperate out the foreground mid ground etc.

Mert

Some more updates - it has changed a bit!







The temple is still in it's early stages but out of the three I kinda prefer the last. Thoughts?

Also for some reason it looks blurry/compressed in these images no idea why, it is sharper.

d1ver

Hey, man, solid update! I agree last one for the win - it has more depth and scale which is always good.) Reminds of the winter palace in Sucker Punch somehow.
Anyway great update and definitely a leap forward. Keep it up!

Cheers.

TorQue[MoD]

Gorgeous looking stage man. I prefer the green lighting though. The bluish lighting blends too much with the colors of the trees where the green was some really nice contrast, plus it looks more original... like something you wouldn't see too often.

Mert

Thanks for the comments. @d1ver I haven't seen sucker punch yet may have to now!

@torque I agree the greens were different and helped a bit with the contrast but I felt that it might be a bit risky having that colour scheme for a night scene. This just seems more safe!

ayoub44

great piece , how about adding some yellow to your scene ? will work perfect good luck

EDIT : i see like you are going to a scary theme right ? :poly141:

TorQue[MoD]

Safe smafe... I always prefer to go with something original as opposed to what people expect but that's just me. Forgot to mention that I definitely like the compo of the 3rd scene but something about the flag on the right being slanted and the one on the left being straight really bugs me. Also the third flag in the foreground behind the tree looks wasted because its just blending with the leaves.

And don't bother with Sucker Punch... even with all its beauty it wasn't worth seeing. Maybe if you go to one of those cheap theaters for $5

Mert

Right here we are then, a green version update this time round!

Mert

It's a 'flatter' postproces compared to previous - is it too flat?

LoboHotPants

Well, I have trouble distinguishing the Buddha statue from the rockface behind it and I don't know if you took the head out b/c I can't see it at all. Is that one dominant directional light you're using? Maybe consider lowering the brightness of the directional light and focus on lighting the front of the scene with those lanterns?

crazyfingers

I agree with lobo, maybe you could make the diffuse of the statue a little more "white" to help it stand out. Post processing is also blowing out the scene a bit. I also feel like the giant moon smack dab in the middle is a little campy. The lanterns also look a bit floaty, you may consider making their base more square, or adding a square section at the base, a decal underneath the lamps could help too. Also seems just a tad too green, it's a great effect, but it just seems a touch too much, might tone it down a little so things read better, might tone down the reds a little too, they look like they're photoshopped on. Again it's very unique and i think you should keep the general vibe of it, but just take it down a notch.

Really great scene! It's just screaming for some fighters in the foreground.

Mert

Thanks for the comments! that's cool I'll keep experimenting with the post.

I still have a few things to do like lighting pass and skydome! will try and get this finished in the next couple of days just so I can have some free time again.

Will keep you posted.

PogoP

Don't go over the top with post processing. I would also highlight the fighting area in terms of lighting.

TorQue[MoD]

Oh you should definitely add back in those blue hues from #48 - the second render with the green lighting. As much as I like the first one, the blues really help sell it more as a real place. Too much of the green just drowns out everything and as you said flattens it a whole bunch. Its made your mid to background scene look 2D. If you can re-create the lighting and FX in #48 with the current geometry, it'll look awesome!

I'd also suggest you sink the front right lamp into the ground a bit more. Give it the impression that its got some weight to it cause it looks like its floating at the moment.

Mert

Guess it may be a good idea to post up the final bits?! well here is the finish, I think?

Movie of the stage in 720p HD!:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boVHMYWVVrA[/ame]

And the rest:










Would like to say thanks to polycount for the comp it has taken my mind off a few things which I needed and thanks to all that commented. Cheers.

edit- images are now uncompressed and to the correct size.

d1ver

Congrats on wrapping this up, man! Jolly good job.:)
Don't forget to post in the submissions thread!

Good luck