Venice environment I've been working on for awhile. Debating on how much wear I should put into it, most if not all textures/materials are a WIP. Would love to hear any crits/feedback from you guys. Thanks!
Looking pretty good so far. As you said the buildings need a lot more wear. I would put a bit over the entire tiled texture and then use a lot of decals or overlays on a second UV channel to get some unique grunge around. The base for the buildings now looks pretty fancy though.
As for the buildings themselves, I would imagine there's a lot more height difference and unique shapes other than skewed rectangles in them. Here's a bit of reference for what I'm talking about.
The water could also use a bit of work too. Right now the grey tint it has makes it look like there's concrete a few inches under it. I think if it were more green/bluish it'd look a lot better.
This has really come a long way Dan! I agree with everything Zipfinator posted. Some hanging clothes and a bit of a waterline will really help to sell this thing.
johnnybrach: Ya definitely wanna get more surface detail in there, thinking of perhaps diving into some vertex painting or just sticking with decals, maybe some kinda combo would be good.
Zipfinator: Thanks for the awesome crits and references! Ya there's definitely a lot of small details that can go in here, really like those water level arches particularly. Definitely agree about the water , would also like to play with reflections a bit more.
darbeenbo: Thanks Lucas! Ya definitely wanna get all those small details in there.
Alberto Rdrgz: Haha ya will probably play around with building colors a bit more. I had a couple green buildings in there for awhile but I think I like it better with a more warm color focus.
Great choice of enviro. Lovely Venice!
I think the light is too bright and as everyone said the buildings need more variation.
Great start. Looking forward for more!
Thanks guys! Took a bit of a break over the holidays but back to work on this guy. Mainly been focusing on putting together a material for vertex painting the buildings, also spent a bit of time adjusting building heights, and the color of the sky and water. Definitely still need some more tweaking. Crits would be much appreciated
The 'wear' looks a little bit random at the minute, the lower facades of the buildings would generally have more wear because there at ground level and more susceptible to damage, as would the corners of the facades.
You could make some larger stain decals for the walls as well. You basically go from super clean to exposed brick..you need some in between grunge as well.
Aw yeah, this is lookin great Dan! It does look like those are vertex painted on, but as others have said, you need more of a transition. Try getting some damage in where boats knock into the walls and little scuff marks.
Thanks again for the crits guys, still hammering away at this. Here's where I am right now:
I decided to step away from vertex painting and go with a more clean/stylistic look, although I am planning on adding decals for water damage and such particularly near where the water meets the buildings. I've been having a weird issue with decals where depending on where they are on my buildings (BSP) they sometimes become darker or even entirely black. It seems kinda random and the spots where this happens change every time I bake out lighting, quality level doesn't seem to have an impact. Looks like this:
If any of you guys have come across this before I'd love to hear any possible solutions. I've tried disabling shadows and messing with lighting and shading options with the individual decals but that unfortunately hasn't really seemed to change anything.
It looks to... steryl, clinic, cartoonish. Those are my first thoughts. And I think It's mainly of lighting now.
But if you aimed at that look, then it's whole another matter.
It's interesting to say at least.
I think you need to look at Venice some more.
Look at where the water meets the buildings and how there is algae, worn paint, crumbling bricks.
I think the colors look good, and the modeling is good, but you need to breath some life into the scene.
Replies
As for the buildings themselves, I would imagine there's a lot more height difference and unique shapes other than skewed rectangles in them. Here's a bit of reference for what I'm talking about.
http://www.wallpaperpimper.com/wallpaper/Places/Italy/Italy-Afternoon-In-%20Venice-1-1600x1200.jpg
Also you could place a brick to plaster vertex blend like the buildings below perhaps.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Venice_italy_2007.JPG
Some other details that would be cool to have.
Hanging Clothes
http://www.ivarhagendoorn.com/files/photos/venice-14.jpg
Boats
http://www.mrcheapflights.com/Venice/images/Venice-Canal-LARGE.JPG
Water Level Arch Openings
http://images.paraorkut.com/img/pics/glitters/v/venice-9364.jpg
Thin Side Alleys
http://www.photo-prophecy.com/prodimages/1027%20Venice%20Canal.jpg
The water could also use a bit of work too. Right now the grey tint it has makes it look like there's concrete a few inches under it. I think if it were more green/bluish it'd look a lot better.
Great stuff so far! too much pink atm i thinks!
johnnybrach: Ya definitely wanna get more surface detail in there, thinking of perhaps diving into some vertex painting or just sticking with decals, maybe some kinda combo would be good.
Zipfinator: Thanks for the awesome crits and references! Ya there's definitely a lot of small details that can go in here, really like those water level arches particularly. Definitely agree about the water , would also like to play with reflections a bit more.
darbeenbo: Thanks Lucas! Ya definitely wanna get all those small details in there.
Alberto Rdrgz: Haha ya will probably play around with building colors a bit more. I had a couple green buildings in there for awhile but I think I like it better with a more warm color focus.
I think the light is too bright and as everyone said the buildings need more variation.
Great start. Looking forward for more!
You could make some larger stain decals for the walls as well. You basically go from super clean to exposed brick..you need some in between grunge as well.
it looks good. i think may look into vertex painting for the grim and damage. I think your project would really benefit from it.
check it out. good luck.
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MeshPaintReference.html
AO is a bit too strong. Also, lightmass? I'd love to see those colors bouncing around!
Edit: Hmm, at least in the first image it does. I'm not a fan of that water shader in any case.
I decided to step away from vertex painting and go with a more clean/stylistic look, although I am planning on adding decals for water damage and such particularly near where the water meets the buildings. I've been having a weird issue with decals where depending on where they are on my buildings (BSP) they sometimes become darker or even entirely black. It seems kinda random and the spots where this happens change every time I bake out lighting, quality level doesn't seem to have an impact. Looks like this:
If any of you guys have come across this before I'd love to hear any possible solutions. I've tried disabling shadows and messing with lighting and shading options with the individual decals but that unfortunately hasn't really seemed to change anything.
But if you aimed at that look, then it's whole another matter.
It's interesting to say at least.
Look at where the water meets the buildings and how there is algae, worn paint, crumbling bricks.
I think the colors look good, and the modeling is good, but you need to breath some life into the scene.