Arctic greenhouse
Heips!
This is my latest university project. At the end of it I should have a playable and pretty-looking level in UDK.
My plan is to create a futuristic greenhouse in the Arctic. Lots of windows, clean white surfaces, bright lights and laboratory equipment.
This will be my first proper environment, so I have loads to learn and I'm quite excited!
I would love to hear any tips and feedback you have to offer.
Concept:
References and moodboards:
3D so far:
This is the latest design for the level.
These are designs for the living quarters. I wanted to go for something a little bit more cosy.
Props:
These two are my second, low-poly versions of little trees.
This is still very high poly, but I will redo it soon soon.
This is my latest university project. At the end of it I should have a playable and pretty-looking level in UDK.
My plan is to create a futuristic greenhouse in the Arctic. Lots of windows, clean white surfaces, bright lights and laboratory equipment.
This will be my first proper environment, so I have loads to learn and I'm quite excited!
I would love to hear any tips and feedback you have to offer.
Concept:
References and moodboards:
3D so far:
This is the latest design for the level.
These are designs for the living quarters. I wanted to go for something a little bit more cosy.
Props:
These two are my second, low-poly versions of little trees.
This is still very high poly, but I will redo it soon soon.
Replies
I'm trying to make a very clinical and modern laboratory-like space, so unfortunately the plants are not allowed to climb the walls.
Here are some more images about the living quarters:
These guys are 429 tris each:
465 tris each:
175 tris each:
I also started working on pots to put the greenery in. This is a two-storey version of a simpler pot I made earlier. I thought it might be more interesting to look at if it had multiple levels.
I also thought of putting an ultraviolet light on the lower level to try to get some interesting lighting effects going.
The model is not yet finished at all, and even though it's probably impossible to see at the moment, the lower level has glass walls.
I have been having loads of problems with lighting, but most of the props are complete, and the gameplay is pretty much done.
Plants are still going through items and things need to be rearranged, and the start room is still empty.
can`t wait to see this finished, it`s gonna be awsome
In the corridor I just put dim spot lights in every doorway and on the tall ceiling between them. They aren't really in the right places considering that the light should come from the emissive lamps. But that was the best way I could think of doing it at the moment, and it gave the exact atmosphere I was going for.
The seedling room also has just one blue-green spot light in the ceiling, and lots of emissive lamps.
I have a huge lighting problem still with the interactable tubes, they shine terribly and really stand out, so there really is no challenge in finding them.
Lately I have been getting a little worried again, because I always kept on telling myself that nothing is final, it will look great by the time it's done.
And now I have a feeling that very soon I'm going to run out of ideas of how to make it look better. I still have good time to change and add things, and a lot of my problems are techincal, but still it feels like it's missing something. I don't want to clutter up the space either, so I shouldn't keep adding things just for the sake of it.
As for your lighting issues, how are your lightmaps? Having good lightmap uv's can be a huuge plus. What type of light are you using as well? A dominant directional?
I'll definitely try to add more colours then.
I made all the light maps in Maya, and yesh, I have one dominant directional light and then a bunch of spot lights. I do agree, the huge contrast gets really boring after a while, I'll try to make the rooms a little dimmer
Before:
After:
I never even noticed it before! Thanks for pointing that out.
Should I build the lighting before I see the difference? (It takes hours so I usually let it build over night.)
Thanks again!
I'm afraid it might be a little too advanced for me at the moment, but I would love to learn some day.
For instance in that last shot... I would imagine that screen being in a rather cramped corner... unless forces by cords and whatnot people would have moved it to the right after the first day.
Great work though and really love the concept and it's execution!!
I do see what you mean, matsman, the lab is looking a little boring at the moment with everything against the walls. My original idea was that the player is here all alone, so everything is designed for one person only, and the books that are lying around (titled "How to cope with loneliness" etc.) are really the only things that show signs of use and that someone is living there.
But I will definitely try to add a little bit more life and disarray to the environment in other rooms too.
Thank you so much for the ideas and feedback, it's greatly appreciated!
Hmm, I do agree that I have some spaces that are quite cramped, but I also kind of liked the contrast between small spaces and big open areas. I'm still working on lowering the camera a little bit as well to make things more epic.
marq4porche: Very true, they are way too dark. I'll give that a try right away!
marq4porche: I have been working on the foliage, but I think I'm doing something wrong, because nothing seems to change, things are still really dark. I was doing pretty much this [ame="
This is the first time I'm trying these kinds of things, so I'm quite lost with it. (Still trying go understand what exactly is going on)
I do have quite a bunch of plants, so I don't want to do that to all of them before I know I'm doing it right.
I'm still trying to lighten up the plants, but so far it hasn't worked.
I have been trying out a few different colours, I think I prefer orange most.
I also have this really annoying lighting problem, where all movers look really bright. I've been trying to google this quite a few times but so far no luck. It's especially annoying here, where the point of the puzzle is to locate the correct tubes with their numbers alone.
Have you thought about some particle effects? Like mist or steam? Maybe sitting up mist to sprinkle over the plants at certain intervals? Or mist in the seed room, like they're being cooled? Either way, it's looking good!
I see what you mean, Blaisold, in the first picture the orange is a little bit too bright. Maybe I should remove the horizontal beam so it wouldn't be so overpowering. Or put it a little higher, perhaps.
And I'm really glad if people like it! I just hope I can finish it nicely on time.