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Building an environment - Evil Genius hidden forest base

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  • [HP]
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    [HP] polycounter lvl 13
    This thread is full of awesome. ;) keep up

    I'm learning just by browsing it, thanks.
  • Tom Ellis
    Something doesn't quite feel right about those rocks in my [amateur] opinion.

    I don't want to rile the Mudbox lovers here but almost every sculpt I see in Mudbox seems to have a little too much 'squishiness', even the most impressive sculpts still look a little blobby I think, and those rocks kinda have that a bit.

    Is there a reason you are using Mudbox over ZBrush (unless you only have access to Mud) because I think just a bit of finishing with the hard surface tools in ZBrush would really add a nicer look.

    EDIT: I see you mentioned this is an early pass on them, and you are yet to refine the faceted parts and edge tightness, even so, I think you might get better results in ZBrush.
  • Will Faucher
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    Will Faucher polycounter lvl 12
    I know what you mean. As a mudbox user/lover, I do tend to find my sculps blobby. Muddy might be a better word :P. I don't know why this is. However, regardless of that, mudbox is much, much easier to use and has a much simpler interface. Even though I really enjoy Zbrush, I get tired of looking for simple things that take 2 seconds to do in Mudbox.
  • iansmithartist
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    iansmithartist polycounter lvl 13
    I think once you add the second layer of finer detail they will have less of that "muddy/blobby" look. I have taken a shine to mudbox over zbrush and find once you have added some texture to the sculpts, either before of after the bake they look a lot better. Though the "blobbiness" does lend it self nicely to the style you are after.
  • Vrav
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    Vrav polycounter lvl 11
    "I'd cap that."
    - Scout
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    Well, I'm back on this project. Can't wait to get rolling on this. Here now is the sculpt, so far, of the cliff faces. Anything I've done for these - including the ones seen in all pictures leading up to this, are now moot.

    forestbase_asset_clifffacehighpoly_02a.jpg
  • metalliandy
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    metalliandy interpolator
    Nice to see you posting some art again!

    Everything is looking pretty sweet for a rough sculpt :)

    In the variance example, the pieces that are together in the middle right section caught my eye as looking a little upright and straight when placed together. Kinda like the whole rock is at a 90deg. angle, even though there are random parts protruding out of the surface.
    Even though that part is made of separate pieces it looks almost like its one part because it looks too upright and flat.

    Does that make sense?

    Hows the hand btw?

    adam_overlay.jpg
  • Tom Ellis
    Haha! I was literally just thinking, when is Adam gonna get back on this.

    Excited to see this progress, I think it's my favourite thread. Ever.

    Just one thing though, I think I asked nicely before, and you knows I've been patient;


    *whispers timidly*

    Could we please see texture flats for your tree foliage?
  • Zipfinator
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    Zipfinator polycounter lvl 9
    I thought you might be back on this project when I saw those fucked up rocks in your Mudbox rage thread. Looking forward to some nice updates.
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    The lighting isn't the lighting I'll be going with. I lost my old LUA file with the set up I had so this is an old one I was testing.

    Anyway, here are the rocks in-game:
    forestbase_asset_cliffface_01.jpg

    And here's the old ones for comparison:
    forestbase_theme_06a.jpg
  • Sean VanGorder
    Yayyyyy, the project is back.

    The new rocks are a huge improvement.
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    The reason for the update was simple: The old ones, while using a fast technique didn't catch light very bad and made them look like, well, not rocks.

    The new ones, being planar and light catching should hopefully read more as natural rocks.
  • jakelear
  • looprix
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    looprix polycounter lvl 8
    Yes! the new rocks look much better.
  • BrendtheCow
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    BrendtheCow polycounter lvl 8
    Nice! Really glad to see this thread get moving again :D. The new rocks look a lot better!
  • GoK
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    GoK polycounter lvl 18
    bloody awesome piece of environment art! loving it a lot.
  • popngear
    Those rocks are pretty sick dude. Maybe tone down the haze is the only thing I'd say for now.
  • NoctyQ
    This is such an inspiration.:thumbup:
    The new rocks really rocks.
    Probably rocks 50% more than your old rocks.
  • ae.
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    ae. polycounter lvl 12
    The new rocks are looking great adam! keep it up :)
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    Right on guys, thanks.

    I did some more work on the style guide tonight. I mainly fleshed out a new area for it based on more open water while working out the lighting and atmosphere. I'm very keen on this setup, as it has a similar palette to my 70's references while keeping the vibrancy you'd see in a more cartoony game like this.

    forestbase_theme_07a.jpg
    forestbase_theme_07b.jpg
    forestbase_theme_07c.jpg
    forestbase_theme_07d.jpg
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    Some notes:
    • The saturation overall is a bit high. I'll reduce it tomorrow.
    • Some AO was baked right on to the cliff face textures. I'm going to reduce that or remove it outright tomorrow.
    • The mud & dirt terrain textures need their saturation reduced. The grass needs something else to help the forest floor feel like a forest floor without needing to throw a ton of geometry at it.
    • The sun flare is a bit much. It only happens when you stare right at it, but even so it needs to be reduced. I can't remember how to do that but I am sure I will figure it out.
    • High quality DOF in the latest UDK builds is pretty great. I am going to go back to having foreground DOF.

    And here's a point worth reiterating, since this thread is coming back from the dead:
    What I am doing here is simply a style guide for my overall vision of this environment. It's a way for me to plan out and create all of its art content without worrying so much about design or layout of the environment. This way I can tackle most of my problems early on before hitting the design I did in the original concept.

    I started with the fundamentals of the environment, the forest, and am now working outward to Dr. Q's items. His base. His nuke silos. His comm. array. And so on. I wouldn't expect someone new to this environment to see the above shots and understand what its context is other than its a forest with a camera on a tree.
  • mkandersson
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    mkandersson polycounter lvl 7
    Sweet! Dig the new rocks a lot more then your previous ones.
    I like the haze. Makes it look way more like an old photo and makes the colours more soothing for the eyes.
    The old one had to much contrast imo.
  • paulsvoboda
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    paulsvoboda polycounter lvl 12
    I'm thrilled that you brought this back. Really looking forward to what you come up with.

    I wasn't much of a fan of the palette change at the beginning but at the moment, I think it looks fantastic.
    I'm actually really liking the saturation, I don't think there's any need to tone it down. It adds a lot to the more cartoony feel you're going for. I don't know, maybe I'll change my mind if you show more desaturated shots.
    Perhaps for the ground you could overlay leaves, twigs, etc on top of the current grass texture.

    Great stuff. :)
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    The saturation should be knocked down a bit just to give the characters a chance to pop.

    Not that I am saying there will be characters, but its just a good exercise to run through.
  • Rapante
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    Rapante polygon
    sorry for bursting in that late... :)

    I really dig the new rocks - looks like to stop you from doing great stuff we'd have to chop your hands plain off :D - it's good to see you keeping in shape :) keep it up!
  • sltrOlsson
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    sltrOlsson polycounter lvl 14
    Great to see you start this thing up again! So you went with a separate texture for every rock piece? No tiling stuff at all? Just curious :)

    Looking forward for next update!
  • Matroskin
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    Matroskin polycounter lvl 11
    welcome back from the dead ;)
    Good to see it coming.

    I was thinking that right now the cliff areas look a bit too bold.
    Cliffs could have some more small/medium scale vegetation on top of them as well. At least some bushes or "overhag" patches of grass.

    Any vids coming soon btw? ;)
  • Joao Sapiro
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    Joao Sapiro sublime tool
    i still think that swizzle paintover lightning looked spot on, right now its way too saturated and contrasted , the greens blend in with the oranges too much , this has lots of potencial sir.

    quDV8.jpg
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    After the tweaks I mentioned I'll be done with messing around with the lighting and moving on to Dr. Q's stuff.
  • Will Faucher
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    Will Faucher polycounter lvl 12
    I actually really liked the contrast between the orangy-red and the bright blue sky. Looked awesome.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    looks like next gen pysconauts
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    Alright, finally sat and tried to get out some ideas on Dr. Q's actual pressense in this environment. This is where the 'Evil Genius Forest Base' part of the 'Evil Genius Forest Base' environment will pan out. Oof.

    I've been watching James Bond movies lately and trying to get some characteristics of good evil bases. Some characteristics I found there to be were:
    • Monorails. Seriously, these dudes like efficient travel.
    • An entrance.
    • The base itself. Sometimes hidden, sometimes out in the open but disguised as something else. In my case, Q's base is a environment monitoring station (Re: large glass dome with an array station next to it) that folds downward to reveal 2 rocket stations inside ready to raise hell.

    I added to my style guide with a new area that I could draw over for ideas. If you have ideas and feel like sketching, that's cool. Show me what you're thinking.
    forestbase_forconcept.jpg

    Here's what I have done quickly tonight. Things aren't to exact scale or anything, but you can see where I'd take the idea in general.
    forestbase_forconcept2.jpg
    forestbase_forconcept2b.jpg
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    It's awesome to see how organic you're being with this. It'd be great to see the monorail more. Also the dome needs 25% more

    Biodome-thumb.jpg

    You might look into doing fake rock doors. Those seem classic too.
  • Zipfinator
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    Zipfinator polycounter lvl 9
    Looking nice. One thing that I think would help the forest floor out a lot is the use of blend maps (I'm not sure if that's the correct term for them in UDK, but that's what they're called in Source). The uniform blending between grass and dirt is very boring and looks very awkward to me and applying a quick blend map (Or whatever it's called in UDK) would add a lot in my opinion.
  • paulsvoboda
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    paulsvoboda polycounter lvl 12
    Awesome ideas. As soon as you mentioned monorails I started thinking of the monorail from The Incredibles going to the secret base.
    FilmIncredibles3.jpg

    Looking good.
  • Phones
    I'm REALLY late to the thread, but I gotta say, I've been reading all your tips in here and completely loving it. Awesome awesome stuff.
  • Cordell Felix
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    Cordell Felix polycounter lvl 9
    I'm a bit late to this thread also, but i gotta say that is one beautiful environment!

    great job on all of it, i cannot wait for the biodome thing and the monorail
  • Mathew O
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    Mathew O polycounter
    I've learnt alot in this thread, me and some friends are hoping to be building three custom environments for a competition soon so I think I'll be visiting this thread alot for tips if we get accepted! :P

    Thanks Adam
  • Inxa
    Hello,

    It been since 2009(I guess) that I have logged in the forums and yet to post anything here.

    I used to work on levels and model environments when I was actually learning which we all still are. But then I took a turn towards arch visualization and have been there since long.

    I wanted to get back to game level modeling, environments and recently I felt the urge and powerful gut to start it all over again. Right now I am getting used to poly modeling cause mainly what we do in our work due to dead lines is pick-cut-paste models (sorry)

    Landed up on this page while looking at various portfolios and getting inspired. I must this is a fantastic thread to read and learn from. I don't know much about the Unreal UDK but whatever I seen modeling wise and the look is fantastic.

    The last look reminds me of Warcraft levels

    Superb details and effort going in this. Keep it up.
  • passerby
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    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    adman can you explain how you went about doing the new rocks that i can see on post 626


    excellent work on the whole scene by the way hope you take it farther soon
  • slipsius
    *coughFINISHTHIScough*
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
  • jeremiah_bigley
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    jeremiah_bigley polycounter lvl 12
    adam wrote: »
    backdead.jpg

    Lol! I will keep and eye out!
  • jimmypopali
    The planned changes are excitingness!
  • Scozzi
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    Scozzi polycounter lvl 10
    Whew! Just got done brushing up on this thread! Quite a read!! :D Tons of wonderful content. Really love the style. I think it is looking quite nice. Now This may have already been answered but I didn't notice it, How do you go about creating organic foliage movement from imported assets. Is that something you can do in UDK or do you import animations for the 3d package. Excuse me if this is a newb question, but I am afterall a newb :D.
  • re.wind
    so i just read through the past 27 (!!!) pages, and all i have to say is one word.

    AMAZING. o_O
  • doubledope
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    doubledope polycounter lvl 7
    You've got to dig this one up. Love it :)
  • Rendered7Useless
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    Rendered7Useless polycounter lvl 8
    Hey Adam, I have a few questions related to your workflow.

    Around the earlier pages you were laying out your terrain textures

    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1074427&postcount=120

    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1074626&postcount=124

    1. After you made these what was your process for creating your normal maps? Did just use a variety of level adjustments or did you have to go in and paint for proper height information?

    2. I assume you choose photo sourcing for a means of your style and for fast results, (This may vary from artist to artist) but, would you recommend taking this 2d photoshop workflow over a 3d Sculpting, texturing, and Baking workflow?
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    backdead.jpg x2


    The last time Adam updated this thread was Jan 27, 2011. Stop necro posting in old threads, just pm Adam if you have questions.
  • staceanator
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    staceanator polycounter lvl 3
    comment removed, wrong thread
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