Mountain Temple
Latest Update:
In an attempt to create a snowy scene for the first time this is what i've done.
i'm trying to re-create the samurai scene from suckerpunch (film). So far i have all of the large blocked out pieces but no details yet.
The main thing that i've done with this piece so far is the vertex shading. I've made use of some nifty shader work to allow the painting of snow to build up in the grooves of the base texture, using the specular as reference texture to get this working. The actual shader that pretty much every object here (minus trees and mountains) are using is quite heavy coming in at 130 instructions, it's got 4 lerps and allows painting snow, water (puddles) and basic shadows for some custom AO touchups.
However something i'm strugling with is the lighting. At the moment the blue hue is coming from mainly the post process, but that's most likely going to affect the red hue on the entrance way if i bump up the blue to match the film scene. I also think it needs to be brighter and tbh the sun is too prominant so that could do with being toned down, still want to keep the lense flare though as it's the first proper interactive lense flare i've made.
Any Crit welcome
BIG EDIT:
After alot of re-thinking and looking at the more detailed assets after they've been created, i've decided to scrap the suckerpunch idea and just go with a completely original layout and colour scheme for the scene. Still lots to add, props and especially some plynths for the fire particle system dotted around the edges of the building. It will also need a suitable surrounding, so far i'm flitting between an enclosed courtyard or a low wall onto a sheer cliff edge. (this idea would be acompanied by some nice water features).
I also plan to put a fountain/statue/thing in the center of the courtyard along with some trees. However for the trees, i need to figure out a way of using vertext paint for both snow and wind so i'll have to set one colour for the snow and the other 2 (or 3 with alpha) as the horizontal/vertical wind movement.
In an attempt to create a snowy scene for the first time this is what i've done.
i'm trying to re-create the samurai scene from suckerpunch (film). So far i have all of the large blocked out pieces but no details yet.
The main thing that i've done with this piece so far is the vertex shading. I've made use of some nifty shader work to allow the painting of snow to build up in the grooves of the base texture, using the specular as reference texture to get this working. The actual shader that pretty much every object here (minus trees and mountains) are using is quite heavy coming in at 130 instructions, it's got 4 lerps and allows painting snow, water (puddles) and basic shadows for some custom AO touchups.
However something i'm strugling with is the lighting. At the moment the blue hue is coming from mainly the post process, but that's most likely going to affect the red hue on the entrance way if i bump up the blue to match the film scene. I also think it needs to be brighter and tbh the sun is too prominant so that could do with being toned down, still want to keep the lense flare though as it's the first proper interactive lense flare i've made.
Any Crit welcome
BIG EDIT:
After alot of re-thinking and looking at the more detailed assets after they've been created, i've decided to scrap the suckerpunch idea and just go with a completely original layout and colour scheme for the scene. Still lots to add, props and especially some plynths for the fire particle system dotted around the edges of the building. It will also need a suitable surrounding, so far i'm flitting between an enclosed courtyard or a low wall onto a sheer cliff edge. (this idea would be acompanied by some nice water features).
I also plan to put a fountain/statue/thing in the center of the courtyard along with some trees. However for the trees, i need to figure out a way of using vertext paint for both snow and wind so i'll have to set one colour for the snow and the other 2 (or 3 with alpha) as the horizontal/vertical wind movement.
Replies
Id say you should definitely lay down some basic lighting before you mess with post process stuff.
Are you planning on having anything in the courtyard area? Right now the area is realy big and plain. Maybe some statues or potted plants or something would be cool.
As for the courtyard, since it's based on the scene in the film theres not really much that could be put in it, except for some damaged areas/random bricks lying around. Also the ground base texture (bricks) needs to be changed to a more shiny tiles texture as i looked more at the film scene today.
Also, the reason for the low visability isn't much to do with the god rays but more to do with the fog in the scene. I'll tone down the fog in the center of the scene and up the fog behind the buildings, think that'll improve it overall, but also it'll probably help with the lighting too.
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So now, here's my update on this, the fog is way less now, and i've ditched the lens flare and alot of the bloom which has reduced the glaring godrays. Still no details in yet, which i intend to add mainly via textures, (main update i need to do for the details is create a cylidrical pillar with metal rungs around the middle and bottom to replace about half of the basic pillars i have currently). I also plan to update the wood texture with pre-snow built in to give it a bit better transitions.
Also one thing i'm still yet to do is create snow piles in corners and along the walls, both for realism and to hide nasty seams.
the pattern how the snow-covered and snow-free areas change is too small, almost seems like they change in a regular pattern although they don´t.
looking foward to see this finished.
The snow on the rooftops however is way too splodgy, so i've removed the vertex colours and done them again, the transition is alot smoother now, but with a few bits of randomness on as well.
The main thing i've done now though is, i've realised that the height map the brick texutre was using for the vert paint shader, was inverted >< so now that it's the right way round and the snow is filling in the cracks before the tops, it's looking alot better. Will post pics tomorrow night.
I do agree that the fog is maybe a bit heavy though
more pics:
I also have a sort of brazier for the fire on the go too, it's based roughly off this:
will have that sorted soon too i hope.
I've done a wall based on the concept in my previous post and that's currently in, but will need some reworking to fit with this new direction, hopefully i can get some propper work on it done this weekend.
I already have some ideas for the fog though, there is a nice particle effect i had made for the scene when it was the blue snowy scene from suckerpunch. I can do that blowing through the trees, and i can also add some fog density spheres in and around them to simulate the fog in the background.
Will also mess around with the landscape tool too, not used that yet.
Although it's in a winter or snowy should i say, setting, the plants would most likely be dead (havn't checked on jap plants if they're disiduous or not, i'd guess some are) but a dead scene isn't something that i want to go for and the volume of the trees helps the scene all together, also the green makes a nice contrast with the black brown red and white.