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UE4 - Mayan Temple Environment

polycounter lvl 11
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OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
Experimenting with UE4 and trying to get the lighting right on this temple. Having a hard time trying to fix the lighting in editor so I created a paintover on the right side and wanted some critiques on it. All critique welcome and the more the better! The pic on the bottom is a unlit version of my environment with a histogram.

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  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
  • Nathan3D
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    Nathan3D polycounter lvl 7
    Are the two top ones supposed to be different times of the day? The left looks like its night and the right looks like there's sunlight coming in from the top
  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    Thats supposed to be moonlight and a distance fog but you're right it does look a bit bright. In the far background there's a volcano and dark clouds
  • Nathan3D
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    Nathan3D polycounter lvl 7
    I would turn it down a bit yea. your trees in the back look a little bit off, could you post an image with them closer?
  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    It's been while since I posted here so I'm calling this done. Need critiques as usual.

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  • JoshWilkinson
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    JoshWilkinson polycounter lvl 9
    Looks really nice. Huge improvement and great lighting. But that stone looks like Quixel's default material. I'd recommend making your own stone based on Quixel's template so it isn't so recognizable.
  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    Good idea. I'll get on that. Any other problems?
  • modsoft
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    modsoft polycounter lvl 8
    Hey Blastradius, solid work. Especially in regards to modeling and color pallete.
    Here's my 2 cents if you are interested:
    -Focal points: I think your outdoor shots have stronger lighting and composition than your interior shots, so I will focus on interior, but some of these things apply to exterior as well. You interior shots lack in lighting and focal point. Specifically your last two shots featuring the entrance w/ candles. I think there is too much ambient light, try diminishing the bounced light and create a stronger focal point on the entrance (also buff floor reflectance). I've shopped some of your screenshots to show what I mean:

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    Candles: The candles are a bit scattered/overused and stand out because of it. If you haven't read this, it's a good read about visual clumping in composition (http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2015/07/10-thingscrumping.html). Using your candles more sparingly (scale them down, and place them in smaller groups) will help the composition. They also feel overall just a bit too big relative to a human. In this example (http://i.imgur.com/HkDxjbA.png) the candles are visually clumped together and more interesting, less visually noisy. + more dramatic shadows because the light source is from a point instead of spread out.


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    I like your first shot, perhaps you could frame up the volcano in the doorway? could be more interesting that way. Also, more contrast in your reflectance values on the floor materials (overgrowth, assuming there would be frequent rainfall? water on the ground?) oppurtunity for reflection on the ground. A minor thing is that your ivy asset is really bright for some reason, (on the left side) sticks out. Maybe a lighting bug.

    If i had to cut out one screenshot it would be this one (http://i60.tinypic.com/2jb8ryd.jpg) I don't think that foliage asset holds up that close and it's not a strong compositionally/not interesting lighting.

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    I'm seeing some seams and areas where you could benefit from small set dressing of rocks and leaves and stuff. Blend in those edges between assets and stairs, etc. Overall push the shadow play and really try to draw a focal point with lighting. (it's tempting to just light everything up to show off the work, but it ends up looking washed out/uninteresting).
    Hopefully this helps,
  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    Thanks my man! I appreciate the professional critique!
  • Spoon
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    Spoon polycounter lvl 11
    Great improvement! :)
    I really like the greenish mist\fog thing you've got going on. Did you do anything specific to achieve that? It looks much better than when I try the same :p
  • JoshWilkinson
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    JoshWilkinson polycounter lvl 9
    I'm really admiring your ability to handle constructive feedback and your willingness to improve. You're gonna make it
  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    Thanks! That's why i'm here. To improve.
  • foreverlost
    This really came a long way from when it was posted last year. Looking forward to seeing your updates from the suggestions in this thread. Very nice!
  • amirabd2130
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    amirabd2130 polycounter lvl 7
  • xblastradiusx
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    xblastradiusx polycounter lvl 16
    Here are some improvements and updates. I put in light dark contrasts to give the place more mood. I also placed water puddles next to the tomb chest in the center of the room. Put dirt and puddle variations on the floor. Added ivy strips and cowwebs in some places. Fixed and hid seams near the temple entrance. All critiques welcomed!


























  • kittles
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    kittles polycounter lvl 2
    Hey man. Your work here is really great and I find your progress alone pretty awe-inspiring. Your skill has increased dramatically from last year, and you've done well incorporating the adequate feedback. Some things I noticed looking at your most recent update:

    In the first picture, there appears to be a seam in your floor texture in front of the closest statue.

    The second, I think your highlights are too extreme on the stone column and could be dialed down a bit to where the middle block is lit more like the bottom (or top). Currently, the middle stone and overlaid foliage look identically specular, more so than they should be, thus both white. The adjacent blocks, however, retain better material differentiation and aren't egregiously bloomed.

    Lastly, my marking over the floor in the bottom picture is in regard to your stone floor texture as a whole. You've broken up the overall surface with a consistent layer of dirt and grime (think overlaying a Photoshop clouds render on your specular map, for example), but there isn't any variation on a per-stone level. Every stone is the same stone. Literally. The only difference is what's on top (the dirt). I think going through your textures and slightly tweaking the diffuse and specular values with selection masks of random stones - or exaggerating this if you've done it already - would really benefit your scene and help it look more natural.
  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    Thanks my friend! I'll work on those issue right way.
  • FreneticPonies
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    FreneticPonies polycounter lvl 3
    The torches flame particles are almost non existent compared to the light they seem to be giving off. I had to look hard to see if they were even there.

    That's some great architecture!
  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    Updated and fixed the problems. Fixed the seam issue on the side by adding cobbled stone to hide them, Toned down the light in the temple room, and put stone variations on walkway.









  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    great result! such attention to detail on all the assets and the lighting really brings it all together :)
  • Paulod
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    Paulod polycounter lvl 8
    Hey, great work. Would you mind taking us through your lighting set-up. I personally am struggling with lighting in UE4 as you were in the beginning. 
  • kittles
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    kittles polycounter lvl 2
    Your scene is fantastic and I truly love it. The changes you made look great, in my opinion. A lot of really nice contrasts in material, lighting and color which makes the space interesting. If I were to continue nitpicking, I'd say the central portion of the walkway nearest the temple entrance could be overly specular? Of course, it could be wetness as there is water in your scene, but if it's dry stone the reflections would be too sharp, or not really exist at all. Awesome variation, though, in the stones - do you like it? Looks a lot more natural and helps break up the surface.

    Anyway, I appreciate the quick update and, again, great job.


  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    Paulod said:
    Hey, great work. Would you mind taking us through your lighting set-up. I personally am struggling with lighting in UE4 as you were in the beginning.

    Here's some of my light layouts. I used one directional light and placed it right next to the tree outside to get good light shafts from the moon. I also used some reflection spheres in very dark areas to lighten them up with the help of the roughness map.






    Used a skylight to help with a little bit of ambient light, but very little, like 0.03 settings.  What also helps with contrast is playing around with both the diffuse boost and the indirect lighting bounces I found. Both of these also help if you want to illuminate dark spots in certain areas.

    Here are my lightmass settings in the world settings box.


    Hopefully this will help you out!













  • OBlastradiusO
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    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    kittles said:
    Your scene is fantastic and I truly love it. The changes you made look great, in my opinion. A lot of really nice contrasts in material, lighting and color which makes the space interesting. If I were to continue nitpicking, I'd say the central portion of the walkway nearest the temple entrance could be overly specular? Of course, it could be wetness as there is water in your scene, but if it's dry stone the reflections would be too sharp, or not really exist at all. Awesome variation, though, in the stones - do you like it? Looks a lot more natural and helps break up the surface.

    Anyway, I appreciate the quick update and, again, great job.


    Thanks Kittles your tips helped out a lot. The floor leading towards the temple room looks a lot better with the cobbled stones and I may just rough it up a bit more later. Before it looked plain and had no variety. Also i'll take care of specular and tone it down near the walkway.

    FreneticPonies said:
    "The torches flame particles are almost non existent compared to the light they seem to be giving off. I had to look hard to see if they were even there.

    That's some great architecture!"

    Thanks for that tip. I raised the flames up like you said and it's looks a lot better too me.





  • Uberren
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    Uberren polycounter lvl 9
    I see this Mayan temple environment done so much but this is probably my favourite attempt at it that I've seen.  Really nice work :)  Love the shots with the volcano in the background.
  • Paulod
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    Paulod polycounter lvl 8
    Thanks for the reply dude. Will be sure to check out your suggestion for the Diffuse boost and indirect light settings. What did you mean by using the reflection spheres and roughness map to lighten the darker areas?
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