After a large amount of research into colour palettes, specific asset mood boards and the overall background of the stage, I have begun modelling high poly interpretations of some of the assets for the recreation of the Street Fighter stage, "Secret Laboratory".
I have also created a block out in UDK for me to get a feel for scale, using dev textures that indicate units, with a simple paintover that is indicative of the design changes I will be making in my own interpretation of this stage.
I think you could work on your presentation a bit more mate. At the moment the lighting is quite strong and it's washing out the detail on your models. If you put a high specular material on there then it will be easier to read and pick out any pinching or over sharp edges. Combine that with a simple 3 point lighting setup to pop those details even further. Also it might be worth uploading larger images as it's quite hard to see the smaller pieces. I know you can change the settings in Photobucket to allow the original size to be linked out, otherwise Imgur it.
Looking forward to seeing your progression on this
I'm currently using the ambient / reflective occlusion mental ray material. I currently have been using a daylight system for speed, but will look into using an mr area omni / skylight combo that I've seen being used online to good effect.
It's quite hard to read the surface to pick out any errors due to the flat looking material you are using. If you present the model with a high specular material then it will be easier to read the edge width and spot pinching that could cause you some baking problems.
Here is a nice mental ray material that can show your wireframes too.
At the very least you could go with a standard Max default material and bump up the specular to around 70 with a glossiness of about 20. Play around with the values and lighting setup and it should make your model look better and make it easier to critique.
You could then use this to make some quick screenshots if you don't want to wait for render times.
Hope this helps
Also here is an image showing how to get round Photobucket's poor image size
I have gone ahead and tried new material / lighting setup and I think the outcome is better, what do you think? (I have also made the changes to my Photobucket).
Yes it's a definite improvement! For a bit more definition, try lowering the diffuse colour a bit to get more contrast between the highlights and the rest of the model. And a 3 point lighting setup will bring out the geometry that a singular light won't catch.
So from your improved render I can already see on the light, where the highlight is most prominent, there's a pinch from where it looks like the support loops from the extrusions you have made are altering the cylinder's natural shape.
You may want to revisit the amount of sides you are using or modify those control loops. See these for reference and also check out http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56014 for more on general hard surface stuff.
Looking at some of the renders on other computers, I'm shocked by how incredibly bright some of the renders are. Not sure if it's this set of computers specifically or it's every computer but my own.
Thanks for the link, will definitely look into that. It appears to have just been the computer I was on at the time however, even the white background on Windows file explorer was noticeably brighter.
I was advised to start work on actual construction meshes for the scene such as walls and floors so that I could start putting the scene together properly.
I have created this 256 modular wall piece that will run along the bottom of the scene. It has been rendered with the original daylight system for now as I'm a bit strapped for time currently, will look into proper rendering settings soon.
From here you could try putting a warm orange light opposing the main light and it will contrast nicely with the blue in the model and highlight any remaining edges that haven't been picked up. You could also lighten the background up a bit, say values between 50-100 for the diffuse colour.
As far as the models go if you are planning to bake these down to a normal map you might want to check your edge width. Tighter edges could cause you problems, so zoom out to viewing distance and check they still look soft.
But yeah once again big improvements over the first ones
Great start on this man. Minor gripe- those wires look a bit odd to me, as wires that go vertically tend not to have as many kinks and bends in them due to gravity, unless they're stiff and bent out of shape. Also can't help but feel that there's more potential for detail, I know the source material is fairly simple so it's understandable but even some minor details like screws/raised panels etc. can help to make your normal map more interesting. Keep it up!
Thanks Kroma, I have had a look at those images before and was something I was putting into affect on a different project but hadn't considered it for this project. I will make necessary tweaks to the models, I'm also noticing pinching a lot more since the improved renders.
Thank you Chandler, I agree with the wires now that you've pointed it out to me and will attempt to make them a bit more realistic providing I have the time to go back and change it. I'd like to maybe have them all fall into one tie then fall down as a group, much like the wires in your WIP Spaceship Interior scene.
Yes, some critique I've received - specifically for the wall piece - is that they are a bit plain. I'm trying to keep in mind the distance certain objects will be from the camera and thus some objects are lacking in detail but I would like to go back and add some details in places.
What is that orange texture your using for your blockbout, I see it a lot when people are blocking out their levels. Also, huge street fighter fan, looking forward to seeing this : D
I created some very simple dev textures reminiscent of those in the Source engine. The numbers on the wall textures are indicative of the scale, not to be confused by future target texture map size (the same mistake my lecturer made hehe). You can use them if you like.
Scene composition using high poly models, minus a few assets.
I set out to mimic the composition of the original scene as much as possible but alter the look by changing up some of the assets, while keeping the focal point of the environment pretty much the same.
Replies
Block Out in UDK
Looking forward to seeing your progression on this
I'm currently using the ambient / reflective occlusion mental ray material. I currently have been using a daylight system for speed, but will look into using an mr area omni / skylight combo that I've seen being used online to good effect.
Also here is an image showing how to get round Photobucket's poor image size
I have gone ahead and tried new material / lighting setup and I think the outcome is better, what do you think? (I have also made the changes to my Photobucket).
So from your improved render I can already see on the light, where the highlight is most prominent, there's a pinch from where it looks like the support loops from the extrusions you have made are altering the cylinder's natural shape.
You may want to revisit the amount of sides you are using or modify those control loops. See these for reference and also check out http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56014 for more on general hard surface stuff.
Credit to perna for the images:
Hope this is helpful
http://wiki.polycount.com/Gamma
I was advised to start work on actual construction meshes for the scene such as walls and floors so that I could start putting the scene together properly.
I have created this 256 modular wall piece that will run along the bottom of the scene. It has been rendered with the original daylight system for now as I'm a bit strapped for time currently, will look into proper rendering settings soon.
From here you could try putting a warm orange light opposing the main light and it will contrast nicely with the blue in the model and highlight any remaining edges that haven't been picked up. You could also lighten the background up a bit, say values between 50-100 for the diffuse colour.
As far as the models go if you are planning to bake these down to a normal map you might want to check your edge width. Tighter edges could cause you problems, so zoom out to viewing distance and check they still look soft.
But yeah once again big improvements over the first ones
Credit to racer445 for the images.
Thank you Chandler, I agree with the wires now that you've pointed it out to me and will attempt to make them a bit more realistic providing I have the time to go back and change it. I'd like to maybe have them all fall into one tie then fall down as a group, much like the wires in your WIP Spaceship Interior scene.
Yes, some critique I've received - specifically for the wall piece - is that they are a bit plain. I'm trying to keep in mind the distance certain objects will be from the camera and thus some objects are lacking in detail but I would like to go back and add some details in places.
I created some very simple dev textures reminiscent of those in the Source engine. The numbers on the wall textures are indicative of the scale, not to be confused by future target texture map size (the same mistake my lecturer made hehe). You can use them if you like.
256 Wall
512 Wall
Alarm Light
Clutter - Papers
Cryo Chamber
Hero Piece - Stand
Powerbox
I set out to mimic the composition of the original scene as much as possible but alter the look by changing up some of the assets, while keeping the focal point of the environment pretty much the same.