Ruin UDK Environment

KMNettelbladt · Mar 2013

I began making this environment several weeks ago, as my first larger UDK scene. I am a bit late into the process, but I would still like to ask for some feedback.

My Assets

And here is some screens with different color correction

Here is a mockup concept of the scene

Any thoughts or feedback are welcome

refriedspinach · Mar 2013

the first thing that stood out to me is the bigger branches for your bushes, expessally the one where the mask almost cuts the branch in half and creates a floating branch. just a little bit more alpha work and itll look way better i think.

the bridge piece on the right seems to lead no where, as in it hits the mountain side too low. even if it is a ruin, there would still be a hint of path work where they would have wagons, horses,etc coming through.

all in all great scene and cool concept. i love the sillouette it makes against the sky. i like the one with slightly more blue hues to it for the colour correction picture, it seems closer to the concept.

keep going! love to see more progression.

dissonance · Mar 2013

Awesome concept, and I love how well the scene responds to relatively simple CC changes.
I'd reexamine the grass, though; the blades look too thick. They were the first thing that caught my eye, and I sped a while trying to figure out if they were ferns or grass. Aside from that, it looks awesome. Maybe add... some moss? ...maybe?

ftorek · Mar 2013

looks great - definitely moody

i'd probably replace them bushes branches with 'proper' geometry - you wouldn't spend that much triangles on them and now look hmm... odd and fake (hehe - i know 'fake' is a bit weird when we're talkin about cg but hey

and after refriedspinach - fix that bridge - maybe raise that rock wall and carve a tunel into it leading into the ruins but under ground?

The_Blenderer · Mar 2013

The rock shapes are generally ok, and I think you did a good job sculpting them but something feels unrock-like about them , either the material (though I assume you did the Normal + Occlussion pass) or maybe its that they have some strong specularity.(am I imagining this?)

Regardless since your main selling point seems to be the rock formation and ruins I suggest working some more details appropriate for the size of rocks and maybe breaking off the rock texture with some moss or these strange bacteria/mushroom stuff that tend to spread on old lime rocks.

The best reference is of course Stonehenge pictures

Anyway good luck, I must avoid procrastinating by trying to help people on forums :P :thumbup:

TorQue[MoD] · Mar 2013

Yeah the rock materials are far too smooth. They look almost like polished concrete right now. I'd suggest adding a detail map so they get some extra noise. They're beautifully modeled though. In fact the whole scene looks too smooth to be a ruin. There's not enough roughness to everything. I prefer the more yellow color correction, but its a bit too yellow. A blend between that and the first version would be best I think.

Also your texture for the grass model is too repetitive. Either make a few more grass clumps to break up the pattern or fix the texture. And finally the bacteria The_Blenderer is referring to is called Lichen or more specifically "Crustose Lichen" for the type that he's meaning and its not bacteria :P

HughieDM · Mar 2013

Over all good work. I think the ruins need to be built of smaller stone pieces though. and there should be a focal piece to the composition right now every thing is about the same detail you need something to pull the viewer in. You also need a bit more value break up of the composition.

Keep working it!

The_Blenderer · Mar 2013

TorQue[MoD] wrote: »

The_Blenderer is referring to is called Lichen or more specifically "Crustose Lichen" for the type that he's meaning and its not bacteria :P

Good to know

KMNettelbladt · Mar 2013

@refriedspinach - Do you think the branches would do better with a mesh like
ftorek wrote? I made them a bit hastily when I felt I needed more detail to the vegetation, which might have been a misstake.

@The_Blenderer - I suppose I could add some lichen and moss with vertex painting. That might work.

So adding some segments or bricks to the texture of the ruin parts should help with them feeling to smooth perhaps? or should I go over the highpolys again?

Thank you all for the response, This was very helpful.
Though it might take a while for me to get around to polish the scene.

TorQue[MoD] · Mar 2013

KMNettelbladt wrote: »

So adding some segments or bricks to the texture of the ruin parts should help with them feeling to smooth perhaps? or should I go over the highpolys again?

There's not enough roughness to all of the textures so you should definitely add some more details to the high poly.
http://www.texturehd.com/data/media/17/rock_texture_17.jpg
Rock should be very grainy like the above link.

Same thing goes for the ruins themselves. The idea is that the building has been laying there in pieces for hundreds of years so it has gone through a process of erosion. The only reason the stone would ever be that smooth naturally is if it was constantly covered in running water like a waterfall. Otherwise it should be rough too.
http://anglotopia.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Corfe-Castle-2.jpg
http://img.wikinut.com/img/3rqqrwx2jpi1aank/jpeg/0/Bayham-Abbey-Ruins.jpeg

You just need to rough everything up a lot and it will look great.

Ruin UDK Environment

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