[WIP] Ruins of the Wolf King
polygon
I find that I have a lot more motivation to work on tedious environmental props such as brick chunks and rocks when I have a place on the internet to log it down and see the whole collection,
So here I'm posting my progress on my current project, a UDK environment which I'm calling the Ruins of the Wolf King,
The setting is a ruined shrine/temple built atop the mysterious rock pillars of the snowy highlands.
I'me starting with this blocked out scene and then taking each repeated piece I'm modelling them proper.
So here I'm posting my progress on my current project, a UDK environment which I'm calling the Ruins of the Wolf King,
The setting is a ruined shrine/temple built atop the mysterious rock pillars of the snowy highlands.
I'me starting with this blocked out scene and then taking each repeated piece I'm modelling them proper.
Replies
stair segment
big door handle thing for epic wooden door entrance
the base piece for the larger indoor columns
The screenshot for the knob is too hard to read because of the mat. I think the stair sculpt turned out good. Keep up the hard work.
Found this pic that might serve as inspiration.. maybe. Keep it up!
these are just screen-shots from the xNormal previewer, by the way, there's no diffuse texture on them yet, just looking at how the normals baked down
Thanks, yeah that metal material is pretty obnoxious but it was the closest zbrush had to the kind of metal look I'll be going for.
OK, I guess I've been rounding things off a big in the sculpts in anticipation of the low-poly models making them sharper, and I've been working on mobile games recently where everything is very polygonal and sharp, so I guess I was trying to push the more rounded next-gen look here,
I think you're right though, some sharper definition of shapes could go well, I guess I'll try fix the existing meshes up in the texturing phase.
once this is done I'll export each piece out as it's own model to UDK and get building the scene in there
again, these meshes materials only have normal maps, I'l easily be able to drop in the diffuse textures once I've made them.
Having this set up allows me to see what other environmental models I still need to make.
Just google wolf statue and see what you get.
Theres lots of reference out there for ya!
Best of luck!
Yeah, I should have mentioned, I've made the wolf in a reference pose, I'm planning on rigging it so I can then experiment with a bunch of dynamic poses,
Also I'm still going to model some items to add onto it, such as a crown and robes, so those things will be what makes the silhouette a bit more interesting.
I've finally had some time to work a bit more on this project, so here's a new screenshot from UDK;
I'm working on closing in the assets made so far within walls and a roof, it's been a real struggle making things make architectual sense (box rooms are much easier
The bricks are varying in size way too much, especially since they all look to be the same texture. Small on the door, tiny on the arch and windows, and huge on the walls.
I know you'd like to reuse the same texture as much as you can, but you really need some variation (and color would be nice!).
Definitely has a neat gothic cathedral feel at the moment. Well, it would be gothic if it wasn't so damned bright, but that's not a criticism of it at all! Bright and cheery is actually something that seems to get more response from fantasy type stuff. Get it too gothic and dark and heavy and people seem to get down on it.
Everwhere you see that brick texture is just a placeholder, those models havent been uv mapped and properly textured yet, so i just threw that tiling brick texture over them all
I've re-posed the wolf statue, uv'd and textured the front stairs, built a terrain for outside and modeled the entire back section of the building (yet unseen)
This is a new model I didn't originally plan on making, but i think it's necessary, a mini wolf statue to go around the place, holding the theme consistent throughout.
And worked on tweaking the AO and post processing
I also made a cloth simulated flag which I proceeded to slap everywhere
I'm curious if you're using a pre-made UDK skybox or if you modified it/made your own?
Speaking of your atmospherics and lighting, I think you're relying a bit too much on flash and pizzazz before considering ways to push your scene traditionally. Like a great painting, lighting, atmospherics, and scene finishing should be done in a regimented and controlled way. Hit the big broad strokes first, before adding in those sweet layers of detail and bling.
I'd start with re-evaluating your directional light and what it's doing to your scene. This would be considered part of those broad, first strokes. Check out some reference of sunsets and their effect on architecture and directionality. In your scene your haze/shafts/fogging is pretty thick and your scene is getting washed out with a ton of mid tones. A sunset brings out intensity on both ends of the spectrum - hot, saturated bright points, and deep darks.
An example of ranging values:
You might also want to try to introduce some color contrast in your ambient/shadowed areas to really bring out visual interest. Right now everything is awash with warm earthy tones. In this image the direct areas are warm, while the indirect areas fade off into the cools:
Right now the scene appears to have too much bounced/flat lighting and less of the focused drama a sunset would create. The windows where the sun comes in from shouldn't be as illuminated as they are because the bounce would really die off before that wall gets splashed with a ton of light. Check out some reference of sunlight coming through windows - the area around the window is usually dark unless there are some walls or floors close by for the light to scatter back toward the window.
My point here is to nail the foundational elements and then start piling on the pretty. It's hard to get a good feel for the scene and it's lighting when it's layered with thick amounts of atmosphere and post effects. Find some way to get that high contrast sunset look and your scene will thank you for it, more values create more depth and definition and an overall stronger scene.
Good luck, I'm really looking forward to watching this scene develop!
-Jon
Hopefully I'll get some time to keep working away on this scene soon
And @Jackson? Keep up the hard work!
I love the style and concept of this scene and I can't wait to see it really start coming together into a complete package.
But, I thought I'd show a comparison shot of this simple material effect I made which I think brings out the color and contrast of the scene better, removing some of that washed out effect that was mentioned,
But yes, as I said, I will eventually get around to trying to achieve this kind of thing through better lighting instead of more cheap post effects.
Lately I've been working on annoying but necessary things such as tiling grass and dirt textures, more rocks, sky-box assets (low poly trees etc.)
I should hopefully have some more substantial updates to post soon.
Also I thought it was dumb of me to talk about my work on the skybox and not post a pic, so here's one
I notice that the reflection of the water isn't picking up the world fog though, as that's making the surface look a bit odd. Presumably you're using a SceneCapture2D actor, so it's just a simple case of ticking the 'enable fog' box in the properties.
I'd also suggest setting your framerate for the actor at '0' which will only capture the scene once upon level start (if you haven't already done this).
Keep the good work up!
I've also been working on the lighting now that the scene's meshes are no longer white.
I think it's an improvement since I'm achieving this look without about half-as much post effects as before,
I wouldn't claim this as a good way to do terrain, I just wanted to try it out as an experiment, now that I know how to use the UDK terrain editor I think it would have been a much better choice :S
Personally, I think that current lighting set-up has just the right amount of light and dark values.
What I'd suggest working on next is getting some variation in materials.
At the moment, it looks like the entire scene is made from the exact same stone - so perhaps a load more ruined tapestries or foliage would work well?
Edit: Or maybe get some water in there somewhere?
Tomorrow I'm aiming to make a lot of grass meshes, bushes, hanging vines, moss decals and other kinds of foliage to have overgrow the scene, I'm also going to be making more smashed variants of the existing meshes and draping some kingdom banners over repetitive parts of the scene geometry. I think after all these things it will be just about complete
I think you can push some fake rim/accent lighting into the scene now. In shot 1, check out the golden warmth splashing the right wall but notice the lack of pop on the front windows. I'd take a small point, spot, or line light (can't remember if default UDK has those) and activate the geometry with some cleverly placed rim lights. This approach is kinda Hollywood, kinda exaggerated but it will really make things shine. You're essentially going in and painting in some additional highlights as an artist would while finishing a traditional piece. Try this technique around the windows and maybe subtly on some of your pillars and that should dial up the drama!
Finally, as already stated, some material separation and foliage work will take this thing all the way. Looking really good!
-Jon
Completed yesterdays foliage assets,
made grass and leaves sway in the wind,
made smashed variants of the side arches and the main pillar segment,
started adding foliage assets into scene,
worked out spawn point locations and added new maths through the map and
added in smashed-variant assets to the scene.