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[CE3] Bioshock Environment Homage

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  • |MM|
    Great work obviously, I wasn't getting a lot of the Bioshock feel at the beginning but now it's definitely there.

    The only thing that could be improved is color balance IMO.
    As I remembered and now as I look at the screens there's a lot of greens in the water in Bioshock.

    Generally in Bioshock there's a lot of greens and your images are a bit cold compared to that.
    Sorry if I'm missing something and it was your plan:)
  • theonebutcher
    Looking really awesome man, id love to see some texture flats and wires as well! Good luck with the rest of the scene!
  • Grimmstrom
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    Grimmstrom polycounter lvl 7
    This is looking really good, the pipes have added a lot too the scene and its defiantly a step forward.

    Can't wait to see more progress, keep up the good work man
  • Quickel
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    Quickel polycounter lvl 12
    Who else wants to run through this space when it's finished? :D
  • scotthomer
    @|MM| - I agree, you're not the first to say it either. I think that part of the issue is that its so tempting to make the blues really cold to help the oranges punch (BLORAGE!). I definitely think im going to go back through the scene and bring the greens back in, I think that will take the cleanliness out of the entire scene and make it feel much more Grungy (ala Bioshock). Also, the greens "should" help to ensure that the scene does look underwater, as a few people have noted that the blue makes it feel like its outside (on land) good crit :D

    @theonebutcher - Thanks dude! I cant really show wires and textures atm as currently they are all work in progress, ill show them at the end when I do a mini "making off" (hopefully!). Still alot of work to do between now and then though :D.

    @Grimmstrom - Thanks man! Hopefully will get a fair bit of work done on the scene this week and have some progress to show over the weekend. :D

    @Quickel - Well it will all be optimized, lodded with physics so I may be able to arrange something after its done.. maybe! :D
  • OtrickP
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    OtrickP polycounter lvl 13
    Just wanted to stop by and say great grilling as always Scott, you've always been an inspiritor of mine. Keep haulin' ass you crazy genius.
  • snow
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    snow polycounter lvl 8
    lovely work! are the cracks on the walls decals or are you blending between a cracked variant? will you be posting flats?

    keep at it.
  • KennyTies
    Really awesome work on the hallway scott. Could you possible so some breakdowns for it. Also how do you achieve your glass textures. Im always at a loss when it comes to glass. Thanks and keep up the awesome work!
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    Oh wow - nice!! :D
  • scotthomer
    @Otrick - Grilling...? like a Lean Mean fat reducing 3D machine. :D Thanks man, just messing around and having fun!

    @Snow - Ill definately be posting flats (once ive polished up the textures and gone through and tweaked everything!) Basically I just sculpted a clean concrete slab, and then a broken concrete slab and then worked out a decent height map to allow me to blend between the 2 textures. I then rotated the slabs and mirrored them so that the tiling wouldn't be really obvious! Sneaky

    @Kenny - Ill definately do breakdowns, im going to do a full breakdown once im done with the level, hopefully will be able to release it for people to run around if it actually holds up under that amount of scrutiny!

    @Jessica - Thank you! :D

    Updatez!

    I decided to work on the Vista for a while before going back and polishing up the actual tunnel (mainly because there is a bunch of stuff outside of the tunnel that I need to make before I can finalise the design). Super low res, low poly buildings. Currently using 1x 256x512 for the building and 1x512 for the Neon signs. Very early stages.

    06082012.jpg

    Crit me up, im kinda worried about things getting noisy, however I'm hoping that once I get some darker silhouettes in things will look a little less flat.
  • Ex-Ray
  • gsokol
  • l.croxton
    I was going to say that it would be awesome if the city had lights and thats what you added ;). Have to say I prefer the latest update alot more. Its crisper and the details pop, the other one was in my opinion, to blurry. A suggestion for the noiseyness is to maybe have a mild DOF, just to fake AA the jaggies?
  • Texelion
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    Texelion polycounter lvl 8
    Looks sweet, nice colors.

    "Fonataine" on the neon, it's intentional ? Shouldn't be "Fontaine" instead ?
  • Brygelsmack
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    Brygelsmack polycounter lvl 13
    (Posted at CryDev as well):

    Hey Scott, the Editor of Swedish magazine Gamereactor blogged about your work!

    http://www.gamereactor.se/blog/petter/383881/?sid=ad40efd02dc5a9c8b43bbe7a9afd4f7d&sid=ad40efd02dc5a9c8b43bbe7a9afd4f7d
    Imagine Irrational's wonderful action adventure rendered in Crytek (Crysis, Far Cry) latest engine. Bioshock in Cryengine 3, in other words. An artist at Crytek have done exactly this and uploaded a couple of wonderful pictures on his portfolio. It looks absolutely... fantastic.
  • KennyTies
    Well now I cant wait to see the breakdowns, and the addition of the buildings outside is great. It adds alot of depth to it. Keep up the great work!
  • scotthomer
    @Ex-Ray and gsokol - Thanks for the heads up! I noticed yesturday morning, and had a really fun day of checking out critique, laughing at trolls and generally enjoying see how far and wide the news got! It was a really great experience definately something ill remember for some time. I just cant wait to get it finished!

    - for those that cant go on Kotaku (why I dont know..? :D)

    fe6d1dfa3bdf0059190db36499426817%5B1%5D.png

    l.croxton - Yeah I think you're right, im toying with all the DOF stuff at the moment, just trying to get a decent balance of tasteful usage and gratuitous dof!

    @Texelion - That was a mistake on my part, I honestly didnt notice it until someone pointed it out. I guess working full time in the day and then then working full time on this at night has impaired my ability to spell! When I saw it, I felt like punching myself in the face, those signs are placeholder at the moment anyway, so it will definately be fixed.

    @Brygelsmack - ahh thank you for translating that for me, holy shit! Thats awesome, so great to hear such positivity from the community at large, really inspiring. Im hoping to get some progress online this sunday, ive done a fair bit more work, but not all of it is screen-shot worthy!

    @Kennyties - Ahah Thanks man, im just working out the logistics of how to break it down without just brushing over the "good" stuff.


    Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the critique and general support, was great to see my work all over the net, but also great to know that a whole load of the guys here at Polycount had a hand in making it what it is now!

    <3 Polycount
  • whats_true
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    whats_true polycounter lvl 15
    Awesome job man. Was psyched to see that on kotaku!
  • rockstar6
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    rockstar6 polycounter lvl 11
    good job man, you deserved the article(s), the scene is looking stunning!

    cheers
  • alexk
  • SeveredSon
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    SeveredSon triangle
    I'm really digging this thread. Good work man!
  • Mark Dygert
    One of my favorite threads.

    Thanks for being such an awesome member of polycount and congrats on the press, well deserved!
  • Sean VanGorder
    Dibs on having Scott's babies.
  • scotthomer
    @whats_true- Thanks dude! I was so psyched to see it up there too, I wish in retrospect id put a huge watermark across it all saying "WIP" ahaha, still the best thing has been getting some great critique when the project isnt finished so I can atleast make the changes they've suggested (and pretend I noticed the errors myself :D)

    @Rockstar6 - Thanks dude, its been a really crazy couple of days, just need to get the project finished and prove to all the trolls that ill deliver on my promises!

    @AlexK - paparazzi just wont leave me alone.... I JUST WANT TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE GODDAMNIT. (Noone, and I mean noone has stopped me on the street and taken a photo. A guy can dream though right?)

    @severedson - Thanks man! Hopefully ill have an update coming at-ya tomorrow, with some updated vista work and more high poly goodness. No promises though!

    @ Mark Dygert - Its definitely great that I had the opportunity to give a head sup to the polycount community in the only way I knew how, god knows that its only because of you guys that the project is where its at! Keep checking back, hopefully the updates will be a little more substantial as get more time to work on it.

    @Gordo - You already planted the seed, im just growing you a baby as we speak. Hmm. Not sure how I feel about that one.


    CRITIQUEZ -

    Sooo, the best thing about all this "Media Coverage" has been getting a shit load of fresh eyes on my work, critting it all up. Here are some of the best that ill address in the coming weeks.
    (my comments in blue)


    - KOTAKU

    - "Textures look very plastic"
    - Especially the leaves - The leaves have been flagged a few times, definately need to do a nature pass asap!
    - "Lacks particle effects (General lack of atmosphere maybe?) - There will be a particle pass further down the line, that is a polish task really.
    - "Spelling Mistakes - "Fonatain industries" -How Embarrassing ahhaa
    - " Water Effects needed to make the scene feel like Bioshock"
    - Lighting tweaks

    - EUROGAMER

    - "Abit flat - Hmm, possible because some of the shots lack depth of field and are possibly made flat due to the even distribution of colour?
    - "Less colourful that the original"
    - "Needs more detail"

    - ESCAPIST

    - Doesnt look much better than the original

    - JOYSTIQ

    - "Needs to be grungier"
    - "Needs splicers"

    - NEOGAF
    - "Plants dont look great"
    - "THE GRAPHICS ARE TOO ANGULAR"
    - "Feels too sterile" -I think ambient story will solve this problem.
    - "Needs more water in the scene"
    - "Lighting looks flat and doesnt feel moody"
    - "Soul-less"
  • Pix
    Crits are always good, but some of them are hard to replicate, to be honest most of these people don't realize how much skill it takes to do something like this by yourself, just my two cents.
  • mats effect
    "Less colourful that the original"

    Maybe i need to play it again to really compair but honestly i quite like the colours at the moment. Maybe its just a little tiny bit too dark over all or something.
  • leleuxart
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    leleuxart polycounter lvl 12
    Pix wrote: »
    Crits are always good, but some of them are hard to replicate, to be honest most of these people don't realize how much skill it takes to do something like this by yourself, just my two cents.

    I agree with you. While they can be refreshing and give you a new approach on finalizing the level, I bet most of the people commenting are regular gamers and believe higher graphics means drag the slider over one more notch and upsize the textures :)

    I also agree with some of the comments too, in regards to the atmospheric effects, water, etc. But you already plan on doing them at a later time, sooo...Keep it up! Congrats on all of the features too
  • JamieRIOT
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    JamieRIOT polycounter lvl 6
    Once again, congrats on the coverage.
    I think the main thing that needs addressing is the lighting. I think it would be better to have more of an overall darkness which would make the lights stand out more; Big Daddy doesn't seem very menacing in a scene that is fairly light.
  • DuPz0r
    Congrats Scott. Brilliant work. You've come a long way since University already ;)
  • Kirkreng
    I really like it. Though the big daddy seems off. Something about him makes him a look a bit like a toy.

    I think it is the legs and arms. In your version the parts of the arms and legs that are covered in(what I believe to be) cloth are very big. They should be a bit thinner to contrast the metal parts and make them look bigger. It makes him look it bit less chubby and better, in my opinion.

    That and the shoes are to big(again, in my opinion).
  • scotthomer
    Sorry for the delay getting back to everyone, we've been super busy at work and im struggling to find the time to post :D. At least on that front, Gamescom is this week and we've been able to show off the multiplayer for Crysis 3. Check it out!
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpgm1AlTFFg&quot;]Crysis 3 @ gamescom - YouTube[/ame]

    -Pix - Yeah I gotta agree, I think there alot of people that seemed to think that creating an environment involves basically turning up a few knobs and takes around 10-15 minites. That being said, I was happy to see how people recieved it, and as you said, any critique is good critique! Ive tried to take on board as much as possible and make the changes as and when I can.

    -mats effect - Thanks man, Ive been looking at the game as often as possible and trying to replicate the atmosphere, the guys at Irrational did an incredible job of bringing the world to life, its definately been a great learning experience.

    -leleuxart - Yeah, defiantely. Tightening up the graphics on Level 3 requried a mear dose of blood, sweat and the occasional tear.

    -JamieRIOT - Thanks man. Ive tried to bring back alittle of the contrast in the image below, its diffcult to do so often without making the image hard to read. I often desaturate my image to ensure that the focus point is clear, so ive upped the intensity of the Big Daddy's lights to make him stand out alittle more.

    -DuPz0r - Ahah Thanks man, seems like a long time ago, its only been a 15-16 months. I miss working all through the night..not. :D

    -Kirkreng - Hmm, Its a tough one, this is something that alot of people have been quarrelling over and believe me ive tried every combination of thick folds, loose folds and everything inbetween. Im no character artist, but im reasonably happy with the results atm, (hell noone wants the Big Daddy to look better than the Environments :D!). He is very rigid at the moment because I modelled him an relaxed pose so he can be rigged and animated further down the line.

    Updates!

    16082012.jpg
    Ive done a fair bit of work to the entire level but none of it is really worth showing at this stage besides this environment. Ive build a few more vista buildings and placed them in a composition im reasonably happy with. It needs work still. Added:
    - Plant life
    - Jellyfish (then removed them because they looked horrible!)
    - 4th Vista building
    - Puddles
    - Dirt decals
    - Dripping water
    - Rising Bubbles
    - shader tweaks
    - lighting tweaks

    Vegetation highpoly:
    883746001344811103%5B1%5D.png

    Apologies for the lack of updates and for the essay ive just unloaded on you all. Crits would be awesome!
  • polyly
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I feel the far away building lights need bigger but duller/less intense bloom, due to the water distorting the light.
  • Brygelsmack
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    Brygelsmack polycounter lvl 13
    Fresh eyes, as in... casual gamers who have no idea how much work it goes into making this? People seem to think a studio is behind this, which just goes to show how awesome it is.

    Latest shot looks brilliant. Would be cool with some water spray particles shooting out of those pipes, but like you said, particles comes later. Keep it up!
  • Zelenkov
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    Zelenkov polycounter lvl 9
    Dude... people are just nit picking. Really fantastic work, I like how far you've pushed it and how far you've come along in one short year....didn't you just finish that shotgun? lol Congrats on all the press! You def learned something at work ;)
  • scotthomer
    Heya people!

    Long time no post, ive been working lots (both on the Bioshock environment and at work) I didn't want to post anything unless I had something worth showing.

    @polyly - Cheers dude! Im glad you like how its turning out, im starting to pull each element together now, so its great to see it all falling into place. :D

    @ZacD - Yep you're right! Ive fixed it now, darkened down the silhouettes, decreased the intensity of the lights and reduced the bloom overall. Would appear that day I wasnt thinking "subtle" :D Cheers for the critique dude.


    @Brygelsmack - Yeah, you're right I know, I do often think that the casual gamer think that making games involves simply pushing a few sliders and pressing a few buttons. Thank you dude, im glad you like how its turning out! Ive been working on a full particle pass, so hopefully spraying particles will be on the cards further down the line.

    @Zelenkov - Heya dude! Its definitely been a "long" year to me, lots of late night trying to recreate cool shit ive seen people at work do. Ive had the pleasure of learning from some of the most talented artists in the biz and they've definitely had a hand in guiding me in the right direction! Crumbs, that work seems so long ago right now, sigh how much id change if I could go back and redo it!

    Updates!
    I have been putting together the Rapture mail room, eventually id like to have alot of movement in the scene, with the Pneumo tubes pumping out letters into the air, which will be floating around and settling on the ground. In the window at the far end, there will be a desk and a doorway either side for access to the balcony. To the rear of the room im hoping to work up a doorway with a neon sign above it, giving access to another corridor behind this room. :D

    02092012-B.jpg
    02092012-C.jpg
    pigeonhole.jpg

    Any critique would be awesome, ive been working on this fairly intensively this last couple of days so there may be something ive really obviously missed.
  • Marchwarden
    Simply amazing. It's crazy that you're being so comprehensive and making multiple sets and with such detail. This new set looks great, no crits from me.
  • MaYdaY
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    MaYdaY polycounter lvl 8
    awesome stuff as usual scott! The room feels a little bit to narrow on the second shot maybe keep up the good work!
  • l.croxton
    Just a question about the extra drawer that you made, does that go over the other drawers? or all they all interchangeable drawers?

    I was just wondering because I would have thought that having a drawer floating in/over another drawer would be wrong, or is that not a problem in this case?

    Everything looks pretty sweet so far, you have a few zero gravity envelopes but thats cool :P.
  • teaandcigarettes
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    teaandcigarettes polycounter lvl 12
    Awesome progress Scott :thumbup: The last few updates were sweet. Grats on getting featured on gaming sites :)
  • scotthomer
    @Marchwarden - Thanks man! Its just such a great style to follow, ive been having tonnes of fun putting together bits and bobs when ive got time to kill, theme-ing everyday objects has been great fun.

    @MArtin - Yeah, (By narrow you mean short right?) I see what you mean, im not sure if thats going to be a good thing when the camera pans reveal the main hall area, the contrast between a low confined area and the huge hall might actaully add to its impact. If not its an easy fix! Good crit

    @L.croxton - Yeah, I literally cut out the draws i wanted to replace with open draws, vertex coloured that area black, then stuck the draw on top. Dirty? yes, cheap? yes. :D. If it looks okay from a distance and largely passable upclose its usually fine. Video games are made of bubblegum and duct tape, smoke and mirrors! :D

    Yeah, I need to fix those blighters, seems a great way to waste an hour ahaha :) I used physics in max to scatter the letters but it seems it wasnt as accurate as id have liked. Good spot!

    @TeaandCIgarettes - Thanks man! Glad you like it. Was great to meet you the other day.

    Cheers for the Critiques fellas!
  • Gheromo
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    Gheromo polycounter lvl 11
    Hey Scott, is it just texture blending where wood showing up behind the plaster? or did you made plaster edges with geometry and another geo behind it for wood?
    Thanks
  • urgaffel
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    urgaffel polycounter lvl 17
    That's weird... Picturepush is blocked at work due to "adult content"
  • walklikethis
    Looking good scott!

    and the work looks good :p

    Crit: The papers on the left hand side of the room are a bit too built up. considering there is nowhere where papers could have fallen from on that side. Maybe lessen the effect. as if some had drifted over from the right, i just think the equal quantity looks a bit odd. i dunno my 2 cents.
  • scotthomer
    @Gheromo - Yeah, thats exactly right. I have a blend between clean plaster and broken plaster, and then I just cut around the normal map of the blend. Behind that ive put a simple wooden "lath" texture (Lath is what was used before plasterboard to hold plaster onto a verticle surface. I then "shelled" that area that is subtracted to give it some volume and make it look alittle more realistic.

    @Urgaffel - Ahah thats because my work is clearly not for the faint hearted, your ISP is protecting you from the mass amounts of bloom. :D

    @Walklikethis - Thanks man, :P

    Yeah, i see what you mean, I havent added the particles, or the letters falling out of the pigeonholes yet so it does look kinda random just to have the letters piled up the way they are. Im hoping to make it so that the Pneumo tubes are literally spraying letters out of them onto the floor. Kinda like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yZ2aM8VtL4 (excuse the douches!). Once ive got this in, I think ill definately have to balance out the letters, maybe breaking up that symettry would be a good idea.watch?v=4yZ2aM8VtL4
  • urgaffel
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    urgaffel polycounter lvl 17
    Nah, it's the overzealous Barracuda filter the IT department uses here at work... They block Dropbox too. Not at all annoying when you're browsing the WAYWO thread ¬_¬
  • Gheromo
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    Gheromo polycounter lvl 11
    @scotthomer - exactly as I thought. Amount of geo you have on the edges of the plaster is really good, as it is quite hard to tell what you have made there, hence why I asked. :)
  • scotthomer
    @Gheromo, no worries dude! Glad to help, ill show it all in the breakdown at the end :)

    Updates!
    11092012.jpg

    Super rough in places at the moment, im just trying to finalize the ceiling and get some of the ambient story in. Ive done a pass on the particles, the area now features letters flying out of the pneumo tubes which im fairly happy with so ill hopefully do a video at some point. The ceiling is still greybox, im struggling to lock down a design im happy with that wont be too distracting, any thoughts would be great appreciated!

    In other news, Ive been working on a new website design to replace my student one, any critique would be great, its not live yet, and all the images are placeholder. Its a highly modified Wordpress site so I would have full control on the move.
    Scott-Homer-Portfolio-2012---Just-another-WordPres.png

    Cheers everyone,
  • Grimmstrom
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    Grimmstrom polycounter lvl 7
    Nice one Scott, I always get excited when I get a message to say you've updated your thread :)

    As always this is looking great, I'm loving how the motion is captured even in the still image. The main thing standing out for me though is the letters in the pigeon holes look very repeated and could just do with some variation

    Keep up the awesome work mate
  • Brygelsmack
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    Brygelsmack polycounter lvl 13
    Awesome, mate! Two quick things I noticed (gonna be an ass and point it out even if it's early D: ), but anyway:
    1) The letters all look the same. Maybe make one more variation or simply rotate them around randomly. I just think it looks a little repeated atm.
    2) I think the detail bump on the pipes is a bit too strong. But it does give it a bit of a rough look so idk, might work after all!

    Rest is brilliant. Like the wooden floor and the glowing syringe. Keep it up man. :D
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