I like like like this. Have you taken a look at the desert rock that comes with UDK? It has a lot of detail maps and they make it look awesome. You should definitely try to implement detail normal maps in these rocks.
I think the rocks on the left are a little too similar. They're all pretty much the same shape and pointing in the same direction. Some sand build up on the top of the rocks would help with the shapes too.
If you want to take it a little further, add some dust particles and the sky needs some clouds.
Thanks for the feedback!!:) The sky will have some clouds. And of course, why didn't I work on those spec maps?! Noob moment:P I will also add some detail normal maps as well:)
Here's an update: added a sky dome with clouds, worked on the specularity quite a bit. That always seems to be one of my weaknesses. I'm not finished though of course. Also added a detail normal which can be seen on the left side.
That texture was based off a grey limestone image from CG Textures wasn't it?
I'm not having a go, I just wanted to sound impressive :P
I adore the colours in your last image and the silhouettes are looking impressive.
You might be able to ramp up the normals to give the tiling texture a bit more lighting definition too
I used 2 cliff pics from cgtextures. One of them was grey limestone so you're right,SirCalalot:) Thanks for the words. I'll improve the normals and i'm still working on the lighting too.
So, what's holding this scene back right now is not actually the content (it's looking great!) but the lighting. The shadows are way too warm, all up-facing planes should be cool and all down facing planes should be warm.
I actually disagree with the above poster. I think the warmer in shadow objects make the whole scene pop more. Altho you might want to add more violet tones in your shadows. I think the problem with the scene is that there isn't enough variety in diffuse. You might want to try making variations on that diffuse you have. You might want to incorporate some variant of the diffuse to have more sand decay on it. First thing that came to mind when I saw this was the horse chase scene in Uncharted 3.
As with that, you might want to try to integrate the divide between the rocks and sand a bit more. It would add more detail and make it more believable.
Wait, so the screenshot you posted has cold up-facing planes and warm down-facing planes in the shadow. (cold does not equal blue!). Basically, they realize how reality works and why it works. There are very few instances in the real world which yield warm shadows (interiors comes to mind!).
So I thought lots about suggestions of this scene and gave it another makeover. Being the UDK noob i am, I had no vertex painting on my meshes. After a quick tutorial I put some sand and dirt on the rocks in given areas. I made two more rocks for the scene and i worked on the overall color of the environment making it look less warm.
The Uncharted3 pics were an absolute inspiration, even tho I know it isn't nearly as nice looking:P. But it is still a WIP:)
UDK never seizes to amaze me. Thanks for the link, SirCalalot:) I will use it. I guess it does look silly with sand underneath. I guess I was thinking it blew underneath, but how could it stick lol.
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If you want to take it a little further, add some dust particles and the sky needs some clouds.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98332
Amazing art and can give you inspiration for your scene.
I'm not having a go, I just wanted to sound impressive :P
I adore the colours in your last image and the silhouettes are looking impressive.
You might be able to ramp up the normals to give the tiling texture a bit more lighting definition too
Some cool inspiration / reference: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pbZw476tEsE/SNLV1yMPHrI/AAAAAAAABBw/wc4t8AuyFxE/s400/spr12-2-lo.jpg
As with that, you might want to try to integrate the divide between the rocks and sand a bit more. It would add more detail and make it more believable.
Good job though. Keep it up!
The Uncharted3 pics were an absolute inspiration, even tho I know it isn't nearly as nice looking:P. But it is still a WIP:)
You could look into applying the world 'up' vector in the material as a mask, so that the sand automatically settles on the top of the meshes.
Hopefully this video helps, as I can't check the link at the moment :P
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