Hi GhostWriter. The most glaring problem for me is one of scale. Either the stairs are way too big, or the handrail is way too low down.
The grimey paintwork is also bothering me slightly, as it looks like the lines were painted fuzzy to begin with rather than worn down over time. The edges should have some straight bits and some worn/chipped bits, not that uniform "noise" effect you've got going on.
text_fish: Nice catch man, thank you for your inputs. You were right about these painted walls, now the edges are more settled. I also raised the handrail, so I hope the scale is correct now, what do you think? Did you notice anything else?
Guys, is there anyone working in CE3? I have this issue with anti-aliasing, could you help me with that? I mean, is there a way how to enable antialiasing in FreeSDK editor (not in the launcher), because command "r_SuperSampling" doesn't work in current build of CryEngine3.
SuperFranky: ok and could you tell me your opinion on that staircase? What do you think of that? It's too empty, it's too boring or are there bad textures, bad lightning? I don't really know so please, just tell me I want to improve my skills that's all and I need some serious feedback.
well, im a beginner as you are, so i guess my feedback dont count for much
But, i dont really like the contrast between whitey walls and those red stripes, stripes are too saturated compared to the rest of the environment.
And about the texture on the stairs, what is this material? If it is concrete, then i dont remember seeing such concrete on my staircase, its too street-looking, too many grains in it i think, it is almost asphalt.
Rails are too blocky, maybe you want to bevel them or something, they attract too much attention of the eye.
Lighting, where does a light coming from? I dont think its from a lamp on a ceiling or a broken old window. That is something to think about. Cool sun light coming from a holes in window will do something for a scene, i think:)
And i think the scene would be better with more debris on a floor, like broken glass or beer bottle.
Just my 2 cents, you can take my critique however you want, but if it helped then great:)
I think the textures are a bit noisy, too much going on.. but I like the colours.. I also think the grime and dirt marks on the walls don't make sense for why they'd be there, it looks like water damage in some areas and green moss-like patches.. But why are they there?
Personally if you're going for the whole abandoned look I would probably change the lighting set up, have some dim lights that are placed on each platform (if you have a fly-through they could be flickering etc.) make the scene darker and allow the lighting to give the scene more character.
And let's say - if I would have an open window for every second floor (four floors = two windows), should I use any light except the daylight? This thing really bothers me. I mean that decision when should I use:
a) daylight system without own lights
b) visarea without a daylight and with own lights
c) combination of the daylight and own lights
If you want an entirely closed environment with no effect from the sun outside (ie no windows or anything) then you just want one visarea encompassing the entire thing. If you want sunlight coming in from the outside you need a vis area and a portal for the sunlight (and of course you need to setup your Time of Day correctly for the look you want).
That has everything you need to know about visareas and portals.
As for lighting, that entirely depends on what sort of lighting you want. Find ref's for the type of lighting/mood you are looking for and try to recreate it.
if i had to say anything about the textures i would age the wood some. right now its very rich with color. with the age of everything around it i would expect it to have some color loss as well as some wear on the top from all the hands that used to touch it every day. the red tone paint on the wall would look nice with a gradient of value or hue shift. these are just little things that can help go a long way when trying to get interest out of simple things that you see in everyday lives such as stair cases.
for the lighting i would go with what some have been saying and say just add a small window at each stair turn. would be cool looking and also give you a good excuse to get some lighting practice with getting it to look correct. keep it up!
Looks tons better already, but if this is part of a larger level I imagine its main purpose will be to transport player from "interesting section A" to "interesting section B", so don't sweat too much of the small stuff.
The biggest improvement you could make would be windows, for sure. Once they're in there you can use them to experiment with light levels -- if you find you'd rather it was lit artificially, the windows can be boarded up or covered with grime to keep the light out but still make it more visually appealing. Other things you might expect to find in a scene like this are those old fashioned cast iron radiators, painted pipework/wiring, fire alarms, eviction notices etc. Think about the purpose of the building before it was abandoned and make a list of what functional things it might've had and how they might be used to add to the feeling of disrepair.
Thanks all of you for very helpful comments, really appreciate it!! I will definitely start over with the brand new staircase model/design (something more interesting) and I'll be posting here some screens from the process. That theory of daylight coming through windows via visarea with portals seems very right and I will stick with it.
First pass done - simple geometry blockout and lighting (visarea + portal for each window). There will be a lot of objects on these large platforms (floors) - like doors, radiators, broken things, debris etc. What do you think so far?
Thats looking like a really good Ao/ lighting pass. I love how there is no lightmaps required. I am going to be starting a personal project in CE3 soon, do you have any pointers you could throw my way regarding lighting, workflow, ect cet?
ScottPetty: Thanks Scott, CryEngine is really cool, I like this "WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET" way of working. For the advices on lightning I would say you really want to understand difference between outdoor and indoor light setup. I mean CE3 has very strong daylight system but you don't want to use it on illuminating interior scene and vice versa. I also recommend to study this manual: http://freesdk.crydev.net/dashboard.action
nick2730: Thanks man.
Brygelsmack: Thanks, I'm shooting for "bright as day" definitely.
I added simple color pass for an objects and basic diffuse texture for walls. There will be a lot of decals on the walls - dirt, old paint etc. Also the light is more atmospheric now, I hope. What do you think?
Replies
The grimey paintwork is also bothering me slightly, as it looks like the lines were painted fuzzy to begin with rather than worn down over time. The edges should have some straight bits and some worn/chipped bits, not that uniform "noise" effect you've got going on.
Guys, is there anyone working in CE3? I have this issue with anti-aliasing, could you help me with that? I mean, is there a way how to enable antialiasing in FreeSDK editor (not in the launcher), because command "r_SuperSampling" doesn't work in current build of CryEngine3.
But, i dont really like the contrast between whitey walls and those red stripes, stripes are too saturated compared to the rest of the environment.
And about the texture on the stairs, what is this material? If it is concrete, then i dont remember seeing such concrete on my staircase, its too street-looking, too many grains in it i think, it is almost asphalt.
Rails are too blocky, maybe you want to bevel them or something, they attract too much attention of the eye.
Lighting, where does a light coming from? I dont think its from a lamp on a ceiling or a broken old window. That is something to think about. Cool sun light coming from a holes in window will do something for a scene, i think:)
And i think the scene would be better with more debris on a floor, like broken glass or beer bottle.
Just my 2 cents, you can take my critique however you want, but if it helped then great:)
Personally if you're going for the whole abandoned look I would probably change the lighting set up, have some dim lights that are placed on each platform (if you have a fly-through they could be flickering etc.) make the scene darker and allow the lighting to give the scene more character.
a) daylight system without own lights
b) visarea without a daylight and with own lights
c) combination of the daylight and own lights
http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC2/VisArea+and+Portals
That has everything you need to know about visareas and portals.
As for lighting, that entirely depends on what sort of lighting you want. Find ref's for the type of lighting/mood you are looking for and try to recreate it.
for the lighting i would go with what some have been saying and say just add a small window at each stair turn. would be cool looking and also give you a good excuse to get some lighting practice with getting it to look correct. keep it up!
The biggest improvement you could make would be windows, for sure. Once they're in there you can use them to experiment with light levels -- if you find you'd rather it was lit artificially, the windows can be boarded up or covered with grime to keep the light out but still make it more visually appealing. Other things you might expect to find in a scene like this are those old fashioned cast iron radiators, painted pipework/wiring, fire alarms, eviction notices etc. Think about the purpose of the building before it was abandoned and make a list of what functional things it might've had and how they might be used to add to the feeling of disrepair.
Cheers!
Btw, might want to update your other posts, pics are broken.
nick2730: Thanks man.
Brygelsmack: Thanks, I'm shooting for "bright as day" definitely.