Windmill Scene UDK
polycounter lvl 6
Hey Polycount,
This is my first real scene I'm putting together in UDK as well as my first real thread. I'm doing this for a project and I want to get this right--so pummel away. If I'm missing something that people normally post, let me know. I'm still new to how it works here.
For most of the screens I threw some random textures from UDK on, because I just find it easier to look at. Nothing is unwrapped yet. So ignore the textures, none are mine or make any sense. Modeling and composition is what I'm looking for, I guess? Ya'll know better than me.
And the windmill concept I would credit if I knew where it came from:
This is my first real scene I'm putting together in UDK as well as my first real thread. I'm doing this for a project and I want to get this right--so pummel away. If I'm missing something that people normally post, let me know. I'm still new to how it works here.
For most of the screens I threw some random textures from UDK on, because I just find it easier to look at. Nothing is unwrapped yet. So ignore the textures, none are mine or make any sense. Modeling and composition is what I'm looking for, I guess? Ya'll know better than me.
And the windmill concept I would credit if I knew where it came from:
Replies
Get those textures done! :P
You planning however, I'm not sure what you are aiming for. Are you planning on building an entire scene off this single concept? At the moment you have this large, empty scene all in support of this one piece and I'd imagine that in the end even if the windmill is the best windmill ever built in 3d, the rest of the scene will bring down the quality and you'll end up with something which isn't very impressive.
An environment is always about the whole rather than it's individual parts, and while it is important to have each part look as good as you possibly can, if you can't bring all those parts together to form one cohesive whole, the environment won't work.
There are some interesting things in the concept and a lot of areas which I think you could expand on. I'd almost suggest forget about putting it into an environments and rather make a small pedestal to present this on. This way you can focus on the windmill itself but also be able to bring it in the engine, light it, add some grass, your cart, etc.
Here's a good example: http://scotthomer.co.uk/?p=248
And another (this one is an entire environment but he limits how much you see very effectively so the the environment merely supports the house: http://www.viktorzics.com/barn/wbarn.html
Best of luck on this!
palsvoboda: I like the pedestal idea, but I do not think the terms of my project would allow that. You are right about everything though. I might go with your second suggestion and limit what can be seen. Looking back, I'm not sure why I thought having a big open area of nothing would be good.
Thanks for the critiques so far!
EDIT: Forgot to mention.. The skybox is not mine. It's from UDK.
everything looks rather flat. but i think that might be due to the lighting. try and get some shadows going to help set the mood and time of day.
the ground looks super repetitive, so i would try and break it up with a bit of vertex painting.
a fantastic tutorial is here:
http://eat3d.com/free/vertex_painting
check that out. keep it up. i can see this being a nice fable like scene.
http://udkc.info/index.php?title=Tutorials:Adding_Brick_Variation
I usually make mine a simple large cloud texture to fake the variation over a larger surface.