Alien inspired Environment and props. Feedback and help

LucasJosefsson · Jan 2017

Hi Polycount! This is my first post here, so it's going to be very exciting!

It started out with 2 props inspired by the Alien movie. Now I decided to make it a whole environment in UE4, It's a small medical/experiment room where something happened. I want to make it look scary and intense, so if you guys has any tips on how to increase that feeling to the scene would be awesome.

Also I have a wierd problem with my photoshop right now where the pictures looks brighter and washed out. When I save then it look fine again. Does anyone know how to solve this? I hope the look correct when I upload them here.

All feedback is very appreciated!

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LucasJosefsson · Jan 2017

So for the environment!

I want it to look like it's the inside of an space ship. I've stared out be grabbing some references and blocked out of the room. This is the first time I make a environment in UE4 so I'm very exited.

How much time and detail to you spend on the block out and and how much lighting should be dine in this part. Also how sloppy is it okay to be with the BSP work is it important not to have intersecting BSP?

I'm pretty new to 3D so any tips and trick about workflow, and feedback is very appreciated!

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LucasJosefsson · Jan 2017

Update!

I started out with doing the walls, they are not finished yet but getting close.

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JLeeD · Jan 2017

Hey! Looking pretty good, I'm a huge fan of the alien franchise and I love the art direction in the game. The main things the jump out at me are very nitpicky, the first is that the medical bed is too low, usually they're fairly high around waist level so they're easy to sit on and yours looks to be just above the knees, and the second is that the decor on the walls is very decorative. From the mood board you put up it looks like you've taken mainly from the residential/staff areas, where the working hospital walls are much more basic. Hospitals are very utilitarian, they're designed to be simple and easy to clean. It depends on how much you want to nail the atmosphere and how close you want it to be to the game, but personally I would go back and make it look like a working environment rather than a decorative one and use the walls with the horizontal strips. Replicating the plasticy soft wall look that the hospital environments have in the game would look really good aswell. Another thing on your bed aswell, is that I think you should just go ahead and make it completely blood soaked rather than a bit stained, hospitals are made with blood in mind and they're really easy to clean and not very stainable, and it would have more of an impact as a hero asset.
Keep it up! I'm looking forward to seeing it develop

LucasJosefsson · Jan 2017

Hi @JLeeD and thank you for the feedback! Yeah i noticed that the the whole med bed unit looks a bit small when i put the mannequin next to it. What you say about the walls makes a lot of sense, I'll see what I'll do with that. I definitely want it to look like it could belong in an Alien game, but I also don't want to copy ant existing assets as much is I can. But something a bit simpler would probably be nice. Thanks again!

LucasJosefsson · Feb 2017

Latest update. Starting to get finished with the modelling.

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LucasJosefsson · Feb 2017

Hey Guys! Here is some WIP updates. I've been working on the light and mood aloot. Pretty much all texturing is done. The ceiling and the floor still doesn't have propter textures, and there is still some props that need to be made. What do you guys think? All kinds of feedback please!

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JLeeD · Feb 2017

This went from 0-100 reeeall fast

Your texture work is badass! Keep pushing the polish on this man, offset the light of the medical bed so its tilted, separate the floor in the corridor so that the tiles run in the right direction and get a door threshold in there to cover the seam, stuff like that

Your main issue now is that the scene is feeling a little empty, maybe get a few more medical bits of furniture in there if you can, they have a lot of stuff on wheels, racks of trays and cabinets and stuff. Little touches like files and paper can take your scene a long way. If you can tell a story within your environment aswell, like a teddy bear on the bed implying the blood is from a child or a broken and bent wrench hinting a final showdown fight can take your environment to another level. Looking forward to seeing more!

LucasJosefsson · Feb 2017

Thanks @JLeeD ! I really Appreciate it!

Yeah I'm gonna do a chair in front of the medbed and some crates of something like that. The Floor and ceiling textures is still in progress. Thanks again for the respond and feedback it gives some good boost!

Random_Dude · Feb 2017

looks really good

sessholover1 · Feb 2017

To help with your lighting think of how a building actually functions.

Is there a power outage or is there an emergency going on?
It seems a bit weird to me you have the right side of the room with no "major" lights yet their is a light to shine on the guns. While the left side of the room is completely lit. It throws the scene off balance.

Also the strength of the lights should vary depending on the size of the light. So the small circle near the door way shouldnt cast such a large directional light. It also takes away from the red lights you have going on there.

The red lights really shouldnt bleed so much into the main room. Keep in mind the direction you have the lights facing, the height you have them set at and the objects that interfere with them. The doorway should be blocking a lot of light from reaching the ceiling in the main room.

Also if you want to bring more attention to the blood you have on the floor, either incorporate another light to enhance it or dim down the redness of the emergency lights you have going on. It washes it out and i figure you want that to be a focus for your piece.

Keep in mind the strength of your lights.
The green light you have seems way to harsh. The only time light creates a hard shadow is if it is sun or a direct light source. a computer monitor creates more of an ambient light, so softer shadows.

look at light references, it will help with the consistency.

LucasJosefsson · Feb 2017

Thank you! @Random_Dude

LucasJosefsson · Feb 2017

Thanks for all the feedback! @sessholover1 I was thinking an emergency, like some thing happen connectes to the blood in the room. The lights that shines on the handheld scanners are supposed to be spotlights above them, but I see that they are off, that wa a mistake. I Can totally agree with what you are saying about the red lights and the strength of some lights! Altho the strong green light are supposed to look like it comes from the drawer on the med bed. Like a scanning lamp. I should probably work on making that more obvious. But does it make more sense knowing these things?