Nice work, you really need to get 2nd UV channels going so you can get lightmaps in there. The lack of shadows is really killing your scene and there already seems to be existing lightmap bake issues.
The grass alphas also needs some work, you can increase the opacity towards the bottom of the grass to blend in with the ground so it doesn't look so "clipped" into the ground. You should also consider the placement.
The God rays also look very unnatural, as well as the lighting. The scene is definitely lacking some warm and cool colors, it's very washed out at the moment. Try adding a primary directional with a warm color and another directional the opposite direction with cooler colors to fill in shadows. You also need a skylight to add some global illumination.
The overall scene layout has potential, but onto other things.
The street sidewalks seem rather pristine compared to the middle of the road, should have some puddles and cracks, stains whatnot.
More on the lighting, the lighting doesn't make the scene pop out as much other than brightening it up, may want to get some color variations in there like some of the textures too.
Add some elements like beaters (cars) can bring it up a notch.
So I have added another UV channel for light maps and have it set up in Unreal, but still not getting the shadow results that I want. Any recommendations?
Currently I'm setting the building pieces at 64, the cliff pieces at 128, and small props at 16 or 32 depending on size. Not seeing a huge change just yet.
on the objects go into their object properties (f4) and make sure override lightmap resolution is not ticked and the number is not set to 0 otherwise its still forcing it to use vertex lighting.
on the objects go into their object properties (f4) and make sure override lightmap resolution is not ticked and the number is not set to 0 otherwise its still forcing it to use vertex lighting.
Just uncheck override lightmap resolution flag. The number will only be used if this flag is checked, otherwise don't worry about it.
For super small assets, a 16 or 32 pixel lightmap may actually look worse than being vertex lit. Be sure to bake and then look at it in 'Lighting Only' mode to see if your lightmaps are doing what you'd like.
Ok so I've added lightmaps to everything and unchecked the override box, but still not so happy with the results. I'm also experimenting with warm and cool lights, but haven't found a great solution yet. Any other ideas?
The lighting is mostly what's killing this. There is a lot of room for creative lighting with the canyon layout. Experiment with setting the sun pitch to something more visually interesting, like sunrise. It would look good having the warm sun cutting into a deep blue canyon at a 45 degree angle. I would also get rid of the sun beams. There is a lot of visual noise from the overhanging wires. It could also benefit from cranking the fog a bit more to give it broader depth.
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The grass alphas also needs some work, you can increase the opacity towards the bottom of the grass to blend in with the ground so it doesn't look so "clipped" into the ground. You should also consider the placement.
The God rays also look very unnatural, as well as the lighting. The scene is definitely lacking some warm and cool colors, it's very washed out at the moment. Try adding a primary directional with a warm color and another directional the opposite direction with cooler colors to fill in shadows. You also need a skylight to add some global illumination.
Keep it up!
The street sidewalks seem rather pristine compared to the middle of the road, should have some puddles and cracks, stains whatnot.
More on the lighting, the lighting doesn't make the scene pop out as much other than brightening it up, may want to get some color variations in there like some of the textures too.
Add some elements like beaters (cars) can bring it up a notch.
So I have added another UV channel for light maps and have it set up in Unreal, but still not getting the shadow results that I want. Any recommendations?
Currently I'm setting the building pieces at 64, the cliff pieces at 128, and small props at 16 or 32 depending on size. Not seeing a huge change just yet.
For super small assets, a 16 or 32 pixel lightmap may actually look worse than being vertex lit. Be sure to bake and then look at it in 'Lighting Only' mode to see if your lightmaps are doing what you'd like.
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=51209#Post260972
This might be useful too:
http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/UT3_Basic_Lighting_Tutorial.html
The lighting is mostly what's killing this. There is a lot of room for creative lighting with the canyon layout. Experiment with setting the sun pitch to something more visually interesting, like sunrise. It would look good having the warm sun cutting into a deep blue canyon at a 45 degree angle. I would also get rid of the sun beams. There is a lot of visual noise from the overhanging wires. It could also benefit from cranking the fog a bit more to give it broader depth.