[CE3] Solaris Environment

Wiktor

Hi all!

These last two weeks I've been busy working on a new piece I call Solaris.
It's based on a very small image I found while searching for concepts.
I think this is a photo of a movie set, but I'm not sure.



I decided to take some artistic freedom and make it more my own.

Here's what I have so far:



There are tons of things left to do. One of the tiles has a pretty much untouched texture sheet, the reflections need tweaking, as well as the lighting, but I'll get to that closer to finalization.
My next step will be to really try and nail the material definitions.

I'm curious to hear what your initial thoughts are!

(I am aware of the non-tiling pipes.^^)

Cheers!

Grums

Disting wrote: »

I think this is a photo of a movie set, but I'm not sure.

Yeah its from the set of the old Russian film Solaris. Looking great, I almost tried making this a while back but never did.

Looks real nice though, like the colour scheme to. Is this CryEngine or UDK?

blitz

looks damn sweet!! only crit i have so far is, the square wall think looks a bit to flat, would add tiny spec on it.

Anyway, kick ass work!

ScoobyDoofus

I think that photo is actually from the new Solaris remake, by Soderberg, not the original russian.

That said, Looking pretty cool! I have to say I'm not a fan of your addition of the orange color, and all the shadows/contrast seems a little high. You seem to have largely nailed all the major shapes tho, and I think with a little tweaking this will be fabulous!

Oniram

looks real nice. only crit i have is the reflectivity on the flat grey area of the wall (specifically the bottom part of the left one) is way too much.

[HP]

Fantastic, loving the contrast. Ain't really got anything negative to say.

megalmn2000

Sweetness! I like the color scheme and the contrast.

Alberto Rdrgz

Beautiful! pull back on the reflections tho, as they would help the grittiness being more subtle. no other crits!

roosterMAP

Looks great! But there's no real focus in ur scene. It looks very... empty.

looprix

looks good maybe try slight asymetry

Wiktor

Thanks for all the great feedback and kind words guys! I really appreciate it!

I've started working on some slight asymetry on in the ceiling. It's not much though.
There is 1 more prop I need to make, and that's a ceiling light. It is visible in the photo I posted in the first post.

I've also been working on the material definitions a bit more. Still got a lot to do though.

This is what I have right now:


It's not a huge difference. Mainly been working on details today.

Cheers!

Aigik

Looks 10x better than the concept art itself. Awesome job. :thumbup:

IxenonI

Nice. I´d add some more detail to the white lights, add some sort of structure underneath it. Add something for the eye to focus on, right theres no real focal point in the scene.

Otherwise, very cool.

Omilinon

Great job there!

Jenn0_Bing

This looks super awesome, maybe work some of that teal colour from the film shot in? I can see some off in the distance but it could look nice in a similar place to the film shot on that door.

chrisradsby

Really great job, nice contrast and depth to it! Really sweet work.

Jessica Dinh

Awesome translation!

Snefer

Turn down the AO ALOT. Right now all your AO is pitch black, and the same goes for the shadows. Get some bouncelught going and make sure the AO is not black in your textures :} Otherwise it looks nice :]

Wiktor

Thanks for the feedback guys!
There's been a lot of comments about the contrast. Some people like and some want less of it.
Personally I like it, but I do see what you mean. One thing I could do is to lighten it up slightly and make it a bit blue.
I will see what I can do about it tonight.

Thank you!

Yury

Wow! This scene looks fantastic! Can't wait to see it finished.
Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions? I'm going to do something similar (a sci-fi scene with a lot of shiny metal surfaces) in CE3, so I would really appreciate your help.
1. How did you set up you level for this type of lighting. Did you tweak any settings or you just using default values in CE3?
2. For this really nice metal reflections are you using environment probe to genereate cube map after you place all the geometry and lighting in the scene and then just tweaking glossines in the material editor for metal surfaces?

Jungsik

mm that looks really nice i love your lighting and the reflection on your floor

Wiktor

Yury wrote: »

Wow! This scene looks fantastic! Can't wait to see it finished.
Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions? I'm going to do something similar (a sci-fi scene with a lot of shiny metal surfaces) in CE3, so I would really appreciate your help.
1. How did you set up you level for this type of lighting. Did you tweak any settings or you just using default values in CE3?
2. For this really nice metal reflections are you using environment probe to genereate cube map after you place all the geometry and lighting in the scene and then just tweaking glossines in the material editor for metal surfaces?

Thank you!
1. I created a NoVis (I think that's what it's called) Area to remove all default lighting and then I set up some standard lights. Nothing fancy at all.
2. The reflective surfaces are bright both in specular and gloss. I generated a quick and dirty env. map by placing a box in the middle of the scene and generated it from that. You find the option for that in the upper right part of the material editor when you have the box's material selected. You can use one of Crysis 2's default ones before you have your scene set up, as you will most likely have to remake the env. map as you progress.

I'm really not experienced with Cryengine 3, so I might be doing some things completely wrong. :P

I will try and find the wiki I'm using tonight and post it here.

Hope I could help!

Cheers!

[HP]

You should use an environment probe to generate a cubemap, that technique you used is old and convoluted.

Go to Misc -> Environment probe. Place it in the middle of the room, set up a big radios that encompasses your entire scene, make sure active is ticked off, set up a resolution for it, and generate the cubemap. After it finishes generating the cubemap, tick active and look at the level in awe with the awesomeness of image based lighting! )

Wiktor

[HP] wrote: »

You should use an environment probe to generate a cubemap, that technique you used is old and convoluted.

Go to Misc -> Environment probe. Place it in the middle of the room, set up a big radios that encompasses your entire scene, make sure active is ticked off, set up a resolution for it, and generate the cubemap. After it finishes generating the cubemap, tick active and look at the level in awe with the awesomeness of image based lighting! )

Awesome! Thank you so much for telling me this! Can't wait to try it!
Cheers [HP]!

beancube

im a sucker for good corridors, man i gotta get in CE3!
lookin forward to seeing the new lighting update man.

Yury

Disting, thank you for the tips. I appreciate it! Good luck with your scene. Looking forward forward for the new updates

EVIL

I think the contrast is a bit to rough, this makes it feel like all the shadows colour to black instead of nice tints of shadows caused by the lighting.

[HP]

Don't be shy to post updates and workflow when it comes to lighting!

Also, we're all here to help out with anything. Looking forward to see more dude, I always love your stuff.

Wiktor

@EVIL: Thanks for the feedback! I'm currently working on the lighting, and my new lighting has decreased the contrast a bit. Hopefully you'll like the next update better.

@[HP]: Alright! I'll throw one up in a bit. Thanks!

I really appreciate all the help I get from you guys!

Wiktor

Alright, I've been tweaking the values a bit and I'm now using an environment probe.

The difference is kind of subtle, but I think it looks better now.



What do you think?

Cheers!

lincolnhughes

shadows still feel too black and dark. I'd maybe probe a color from the enviro for the colors of the shadows then make them even less dense. Looks fucking awesome still though.

burtonyang

Looks awesome! But the shadows are still really black on the side piping and the corridor ceiling break especially if both sides of the corridor are lit.

[HP]

Here's a quick tip. You see that glow material you have on the sides? it's way too bright atm .
Like Xenon said it needs something else on the material to get rid of that blob of white you have there.
Try and put the difuse texture quickly on the "decal" slot, you will see that it functions as a mask; it maskes out the glow and makes it look more contrasty, it will probably give it a vignette like effect. It's a really good effect to use in lamps such as these, I used it a lot on C2 Times Square.

You can also obviously put a different texture on the decal slot and play around with different values. (Have a look at the default ones in ../Textures/lights/ folder.

Regarding the lighting, I'm ok with the contrast, but since a lot of people feel it's a bit off, you can go in the ToD and give the level a little bit of ambient light.

Wiktor

Thanks for the input guys! It's really helping me!

I added a ceiling light, which still needs proper texturing and placement, but I still wanted it there for now.

The lamps along the walls got some underlying structure. Please let me know what you think about it. It's a bit subtle.

I also boosted the light in the part closest to the camera.



Please let me know what you think!

Thanks!

lincolnhughes

cool man. I still think having those straight black shadows seems like a bit too much. Of course shadows are dark, but you should still be able to make out some type of form underneath the structures instead of just a cloud of black. Good job though. Enviro looks mint. You're making me want to learn ce3

Wiktor

Thanks for the feedback lincolnhughes!

I've continued working on the textures and lighting.
Added some details so on.



I noticed just now that I put the wrong material on one of the pipe segments. I'll fix that later. ^^

Please let me know what you think!

Cheers!

BlvdNights

Looks good, but it's off scale from the original and, obviously the lighting isn't the same, nor do I think it's better than the original.

Wiktor

@BlvdNights: Thanks! Yeah, I decided to make it more my own and take some artistic liberties.

I could really use some help or advice on the lighting and presentation, seeing as I'm getting pretty close to a presentable result I think.
Another thing I've been thinking about is props. Should I have props i the scene? And in that case, what kind of props?
One idea I had was a Slippery Floor sign, like this: http://www.accidentadvicehelpline.co.uk/success_stories/post/image.axd?picture=2010%2F11%2Fwet+floor+sign.jpg
It might be a bit too comical though. ^^

Please let me know what you think!

Thanks!

beancube

BlvdNights wrote: »

nor do I think it's better than the original.

Not sure if you are joking or not?



I think its a great looking scene! the only gripe im havin is the floor/walkway isnt clear or well defined.

Perhaps some props will help to ground the scene. I like your idea of a "Slippery when wet sign" and possibly a standalone mop and bucket.

awesome man!

chrisradsby

The floor is a little bit too reflective I'd say and honestly I think people are nitpicking about the shadows being too dark, it's clear that they are brighter than before.

I don't think it makes a lot of sense having pipes on both sides of the walkway, mainly because it feels like it would hinder any doors coming along. Maybe create at least one door tile to add some variety in there. It'll be easier to create props around that door as well.

Good work so far Disting!

Wiktor

Thanks for the feedback!
I will look into the floor material and see what I can do about it!

Tonight I wanted to try an idea for the scene a friend gave me.
I opened up a few of the hatches in the wall to reveal what's behind them. It's a really quick a dirty job, but I just wanted to see what it'd look like.

If you think it looks cool I'll keep working on it and make it more polished.



Please let me know what you think!

Thanks!

snow

I prefer the clean version, but I guess it breaks it up. Lovely work!!

Did you build this entirely in max/maya then import into CE3, or did you construct it out of modular pieces in CE3? ( if that makes sense )

Wiktor

snow wrote: »

I prefer the clean version, but I guess it breaks it up. Lovely work!!

Did you build this entirely in max/maya then import into CE3, or did you construct it out of modular pieces in CE3? ( if that makes sense )

That's cool! I like the clean version as well. I just feel that I need to create a point of interest, and I'm really struggling with that. ^^

I built the entire thing in Maya and then exported to CE3. For this scene I felt it was best to do it that way.

Cheers!

EMC3D

The opened panel stuff is spot on, will help break it up for sure. Other ideas you could maybe look at is having wires draped across certain parts or the floor, just little dressing props to help break it up.

Either way loving the scene!

zoombapup

If it were me, I would be tempted to make it more of an intersection point. Its always more useful to have places where characters can hide behind a corner in battle and such (for if you wanted to pose some characters as an example).

burtonyang

Now add a character like a little cleaning robot to make a story, or not, but I think it would make your scene that much cooler.

Wiktor

Thanks for the feedback!
I think a cleaning robot could be a really cool idea!
I'll see what I can do about it!

In this update I've added some structure to the open paneling, and a cord on the floor.

I'm having some problems with the shadow from the cord. It looks like the cord is floating, and there's no SSAO. Hopefully I'll figure it out.



Please let me know what you think!

Cheers!

burtonyang

I like the idea you're trying to go for, but when i look at the scene as a whole, the wire stands out to me the most. I would recommend having a few more (with different lengths and thicknesses) if you're going to put in wires and lead them towards down the hall rather than having them end halfway because the horizontal is breaking up the flow of the scene, making the wire stand out the most.

Wiktor

burtonyang wrote: »

I like the idea you're trying to go for, but when i look at the scene as a whole, the wire stands out to me the most. I would recommend having a few more (with different lengths and thicknesses) if you're going to put in wires and lead them towards down the hall rather than having them end halfway because the horizontal is breaking up the flow of the scene, making the wire stand out the most.

Thank you very much for the feedback! That's very helpful!
I'll experiment a bit more with cables and post an update later!

Cheers!

Wiktor

Alright, I played around with the cables and I think they blend in a bit better now, except for the lack of SSAO.
I also wanted to create some interesting highlights on the piece in the ceiling that the pipes go into, so I increased the specular on it.

I'm really sorry for posting images that are so similar. It's just that I'm finding myself in a position where I'm happy with the overall scene, but I feel there are details that I need to tweak. I guess I should wrap it up soon so that I don't over-work it.

Anyways, here's the last update for today, promise!



Cheers!

burtonyang

Now that's what I'm talking about