Got some problems with the grass shading. Don't know what is causing it.
Still have couple of things to add, Foliage, some textures and quickly redo couple of things so they fit better.
Its kinda weird because its like all the bricks in the floor moved to let a tree grow there. where are the bricks? I think it should be more like this.
Other than that its coming out nicely, keep it up.
Love how the roots are eating into the structure all around. Could use some tile debris scattered in the middle, as suggested. I'd lose the DOF, too strong, and makes it hard to see your work.
Grass shouldn't grow thru tiles, only around it, penetration looks artificial. A common trick for grass shading is to bend the vertex normals upward, so they light similar to the ground they're on. Could also use some bend in the texture, the blades seem very stiff, like a bed of nails.
Thanks guyz for the feedback I should have had posted my 3 versions before I posted this.
Generally in the frst version I used the tiles I posted erlier and it looked like this.
but then i fiddled around with the terrain a bit couse it felt too flat. At the begining the whole are was going inwards and down so the tree was situated in a small hole. I've remade the terrain and used the bigger blocks for testing. I agree with you all that they feel a bit chunky for that environment. Those blocks also wouldn't count as a game asset due to their tricounts :P .. Anyway gonna have to go back a step and prepare a mesh on which I can apply the tiles material. I will cut it in places where the tiles are pushed up. Need to think of a way to approach this. Couse I also want to do some vertex paint to that mesh with some moss.
Thanks Eric for the tips on the Grass and that link. Will apply the changes to it. Tho I got some problems with the foilage brush when painting with the mesh. Becouse it has an vertex offset (foliage animation) material it behaves very wierdly. Each brushstroke with the foliage acts as 1 whole object rather then alot of tiny objects. Need to find a fix for that later on.
Got a larger update on my environment. I have redone the middle ground compleatly so it fits the environment more, changed the grass, added few assets and more overgrown parts. Here are some screenshots :
Still to do :
- Create assets - Flag, Woodplanks, Crate and Barrel
- Texture Doors and Lantern
- Fix Walkway floor
- Add dirt and grime on the walls and floors
- Decals
- Fix Lighting and postprocess.
I got some issues with cascading shadows affecting grass. Some places are black and when switching the cascading radius to 0 and then back to 1024 the black areas just change place. Also when switching to DX11 rendered I got some wierd artifacts. Blue grass
Anyone got a clue what might be happening ? Some tips on proper grass material setup in UDK would be very helpful
Right now you have some waviness in the floor, but it's not really enough. Also, I reckon this tree is more likely to just push up brickwork and ruin it, than it is to grow new roots above the bricks.
I'll also add that it would take many many years for a tree to grow this huge (even if it were there while people maintained the place) and that there would thus be much more other types of overgrowth (such as the ivy being over a foot thick and not just a few strands, and several smaller bushes and trees). I can understand if you're not aiming for such realism, but I figured I'd mention it.
As Snader said, your scene needs more of this kind of roots "exploding" the brickfloor.
You should contrast the lighting a little bit more, right now it's looking a little bit too washed out.
Other than that I really like the color and architecture your using on this scene.
also would be nice:
-collapsed section
-dirt and damage pass on plaster
-more localised damge, door off hinges sections of plaster missing
-more mid level shapes like rubble or rocks or bushes to break up the squareness of the scene and naturalise it a touch.
Nod of approval here. I think the lighting could use some work but as you stated its a WIP. I think the roof could use a little more meshpaint damage as well. Keep up the good work.
Loving the updates. Scene gets better and better. One thing though, that temporary red color you have on the banners there... it calls to much attention, its the most saturated thing in the image... :P .. I know it's temp, but its acting as the main focal point.
Thanks for the great comments guys Sorry that I didn't came back at you earlier. Had a littlebit of hard time at work.
@ Snader
Thank you will do that As for the more overgrowth. I need to keep a balance between the architecture and overgrown bits. Don't want to hide everything behind foliage However I have added to my to do list some bushes and smaler vegetation which will help break the straight lines more
@ GoSsS
Thank you Lighting is a topic I need to study more. Once I get most of my stuff from my "to Do" list I'll focus on it. Got 2 weeks to do most of the stuff so I can show it in my folio for eurogamer's career fair
@ SHEPEIRO
hehe ye I overkilled it with the fog on those screenshots a bit. I've added the things you mentioned to my list and will be updating the environment with it soon. Thanks for that
@ POFFINGTON
Thank you for the kind words Think I will just texture the dirt and moss on the rooftiles rather than do some mesh paint on it. This way there would be 1 less complex shader for the engine to handle.
@ riddlaz
Thanks bro Right on it. Will tone the color down so it doesen't shout that much.
@ Rick_D
Thanks I understand what you're on about. I need to balance this thing. Can't have too much of overgrowth but also can't have it too little. Also you mentioned low quality vegetation. Should I have built my ivy differently ? If you could elaborate more on that that would be very helpful
There is a lot of green and muted warms.. I like the boldness of the red door personally, but it will stick out more compared to the green door. It's really more what you are going for. But I'll throw my hat in for the red.
@ Rick_D
Thanks I understand what you're on about. I need to balance this thing. Can't have too much of overgrowth but also can't have it too little. Also you mentioned low quality vegetation. Should I have built my ivy differently ? If you could elaborate more on that that would be very helpful
sorry that was very bad crits on my part.
the vegetation looks overall very flat, i think you should add more angled planes in amongst the regular stuff to give it more depth, layer a few planes with distance between them to get some nice shadows casting over the leaves. also some different angles in the normal map will help to get different lighting across the piece, right now it looks very flat.
a part of this is down to unreals way of rendering foliage - throw your vegetation into cryengine and you'll understand.
the grass is also very ON or OFF, and looks like it grows very high, very straight, some gradual blending of height difference where the grass patches end might help. also less vertical grass blades might help it feel more natural. along with colour variation within the grass texture itself - some dead blades, some freshly sprouted vivid green blades etc - just to keep it from becoming a wall of green.
the piece is very nice, just subtle tweaks to help it come alive.
Replies
Got some problems with the grass shading. Don't know what is causing it.
Still have couple of things to add, Foliage, some textures and quickly redo couple of things so they fit better.
Feedback would be very much appreciated
Other than that its coming out nicely, keep it up.
Love how the roots are eating into the structure all around. Could use some tile debris scattered in the middle, as suggested. I'd lose the DOF, too strong, and makes it hard to see your work.
Grass shouldn't grow thru tiles, only around it, penetration looks artificial. A common trick for grass shading is to bend the vertex normals upward, so they light similar to the ground they're on. Could also use some bend in the texture, the blades seem very stiff, like a bed of nails.
http://wiki.polycount.com/Multitexture
In particular, check out Mario's work on Dark Sector. Very similar goal I think.
Generally in the frst version I used the tiles I posted erlier and it looked like this.
but then i fiddled around with the terrain a bit couse it felt too flat. At the begining the whole are was going inwards and down so the tree was situated in a small hole. I've remade the terrain and used the bigger blocks for testing. I agree with you all that they feel a bit chunky for that environment. Those blocks also wouldn't count as a game asset due to their tricounts :P .. Anyway gonna have to go back a step and prepare a mesh on which I can apply the tiles material. I will cut it in places where the tiles are pushed up. Need to think of a way to approach this. Couse I also want to do some vertex paint to that mesh with some moss.
Thanks Eric for the tips on the Grass and that link. Will apply the changes to it. Tho I got some problems with the foilage brush when painting with the mesh. Becouse it has an vertex offset (foliage animation) material it behaves very wierdly. Each brushstroke with the foliage acts as 1 whole object rather then alot of tiny objects. Need to find a fix for that later on.
Still to do :
- Create assets - Flag, Woodplanks, Crate and Barrel
- Texture Doors and Lantern
- Fix Walkway floor
- Add dirt and grime on the walls and floors
- Decals
- Fix Lighting and postprocess.
I got some issues with cascading shadows affecting grass. Some places are black and when switching the cascading radius to 0 and then back to 1024 the black areas just change place. Also when switching to DX11 rendered I got some wierd artifacts. Blue grass
Anyone got a clue what might be happening ? Some tips on proper grass material setup in UDK would be very helpful
Crits very much welcome !
Right now you have some waviness in the floor, but it's not really enough. Also, I reckon this tree is more likely to just push up brickwork and ruin it, than it is to grow new roots above the bricks.
I'll also add that it would take many many years for a tree to grow this huge (even if it were there while people maintained the place) and that there would thus be much more other types of overgrowth (such as the ivy being over a foot thick and not just a few strands, and several smaller bushes and trees). I can understand if you're not aiming for such realism, but I figured I'd mention it.
You should contrast the lighting a little bit more, right now it's looking a little bit too washed out.
Other than that I really like the color and architecture your using on this scene.
but looking good
also would be nice:
-collapsed section
-dirt and damage pass on plaster
-more localised damge, door off hinges sections of plaster missing
-more mid level shapes like rubble or rocks or bushes to break up the squareness of the scene and naturalise it a touch.
@ Snader
Thank you will do that
@ GoSsS
Thank you
@ SHEPEIRO
hehe ye I overkilled it with the fog on those screenshots a bit. I've added the things you mentioned to my list and will be updating the environment with it soon. Thanks for that
@ POFFINGTON
Thank you for the kind words
@ riddlaz
Thanks bro
@ Rick_D
Thanks
Need to pick one door and push the textures a bit more. Which one fit better ?
sorry that was very bad crits on my part.
the vegetation looks overall very flat, i think you should add more angled planes in amongst the regular stuff to give it more depth, layer a few planes with distance between them to get some nice shadows casting over the leaves. also some different angles in the normal map will help to get different lighting across the piece, right now it looks very flat.
a part of this is down to unreals way of rendering foliage - throw your vegetation into cryengine and you'll understand.
the grass is also very ON or OFF, and looks like it grows very high, very straight, some gradual blending of height difference where the grass patches end might help. also less vertical grass blades might help it feel more natural. along with colour variation within the grass texture itself - some dead blades, some freshly sprouted vivid green blades etc - just to keep it from becoming a wall of green.
the piece is very nice, just subtle tweaks to help it come alive.