[WIP] Cyberpunk Street (Crit needed)

Johnnynapalmsc · Apr 2018

Hey guys,
So this will be my very first environment art submission. All of my previous projects are either props,vehicles and character sculpting, so I've never worked in UE4 before. I don't have much time to finish this for my university final project and I still need to work out how to make HTC Vive work with this, ideally with a camera moving on rails and the user can look around. But this is what I got so far, and depending how it will go, I will either do one street, or a full block. Everything is being done in UE4. Would love to hear what you think, and I am aware it isn't much as it is right now! Also I am using a bunch of modular sets, as I had absolutely not enough time for this huge of a project, but I am making some of the props myself. Heavily inspired by blade runner, and I will be even remaking some of the blade runner props/vehicles to fit in this scene.

Also the end result will be the usual cyberpunk rainy/night time so it might look a bit weird now being day.

My Artstation portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/johnnrosh

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/u2/hvedrcxrzwjt.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/7e/f1wfcopv5xfn.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/uq/145ungmyf9b6.jpg

Johnnynapalmsc · Apr 2018

Tiny update from today

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/op/jz8bu24lcx25.png

Taylor Brown · Apr 2018

my first impressions are that it doesn't yet have any props that scream cyberpunk. take this pic for example: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YlwY8RR_-r4/maxresdefault.jpg . That holographic sign is amazing high tech stuff to us but just normal crap to these folks from the future.

The other thing is that the street feels so spacious and when I think cyberpunk i think of dirty and claustrophobic city streets. like kowloon city, everyone just building and jostling on top of eachother.

overall i'm excited to see where you take this, your other work is great so I'm sure with enough love this will be too

Johnnynapalmsc · Apr 2018

crawl said:

my first impressions are that it doesn't yet have any props that scream cyberpunk. take this pic for example: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YlwY8RR_-r4/maxresdefault.jpg . That holographic sign is amazing high tech stuff to us but just normal crap to these folks from the future.

The other thing is that the street feels so spacious and when I think cyberpunk i think of dirty and claustrophobic city streets. like kowloon city, everyone just building and jostling on top of eachother.

overall i'm excited to see where you take this, your other work is great so I'm sure with enough love this will be too

Awesome, thanks for the feedback! And I know what you mean about the street size, at first I wasn't sure that 4 lane road is a good idea, but it came from my research on blade-runner, and one of the exterior filming locations were shot on a street in LA that is 4 lanes. It's not all finalized yet, so I could possibly just move everything a lane or two closer

And I'll definitely add some more high-tec stuff! Thanks for the heads up.

Johnnynapalmsc · Apr 2018

Hey guys just a little update. Hope you like it! Still need to do some storefronts, but I am getting there now.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/qa/gem8wbz6t6qx.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/jh/v0cd7b4796yk.jpg

X-One · Apr 2018

It's coming along nicely, but I'm not yet sure what direction you're going in. In the foreground, the buildings look fairly old, except for a couple of retrofit signs, but the road looks like it was paved and painted less than a month ago (the road is very smooth and uncracked and the lines are bright and crisp). I want to see more elements that sell it as cyberpunk. There should be digital/holo construction signs at least. Also; I don't think the road is too wide, but I do think it's too vacant. I'm sure it's just a matter of getting around to it, but you'll definitely have to fill it out in one way or another.

Johnnynapalmsc · Apr 2018

X-One said:

It's coming along nicely, but I'm not yet sure what direction you're going in. In the foreground, the buildings look fairly old, except for a couple of retrofit signs, but the road looks like it was paved and painted less than a month ago (the road is very smooth and uncracked and the lines are bright and crisp). I want to see more elements that sell it as cyberpunk. There should be digital/holo construction signs at least. Also; I don't think the road is too wide, but I do think it's too vacant. I'm sure it's just a matter of getting around to it, but you'll definitely have to fill it out in one way or another.

Thanks for the comment, you're totally right the road is just too nice looking, I will have to play around with textures here and wear it down a lot. Also tryting to think of what to put on the road, so it doesn't look as empty, but a new worn out texture will be a good start, and probably some cars. I definitely want to go for more worn out cyberpunk street, but contrasting with high-tec buildings in the background. Can someone suggest a good way to do a worn out modular road? So the textures don't repeat? Is it just a case of putting decals on the road, so the repeating textures aren't that obvious?

X-One · Apr 2018

You might want to consider doing a good decal sheet. They can go a long way to add in a lot of variation.

Johnnynapalmsc · Apr 2018

X-One said:

You might want to consider doing a good decal sheet. They can go a long way to add in a lot of variation.

Thanks will look into that. I'll try to research a bit on the world position for textures, as I heard it's the way to give modular environments variety. I still haven't touched the street, but I have illuminated some more buildings and some other changes were done like adding some store fronts

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/45/zp8f215bdi4c.png

Also I have an issue. I am not getting any ambient occlusion in my scene, does anyone know why? I even tried making a new clean level, and the AO is just not working. (Using post processing settings)

Johnnynapalmsc · Apr 2018

Johnnynapalmsc · Apr 2018

Screenshot at higher resolution and proper reflections, AO

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/b0/hqav4b0dcqz7.jpg

Sorting out road at the moment

Johnnynapalmsc · May 2018

Had a bit of a break from this, but I ended up wearing down the road a bit, adding some more stuff to the scene, and changing the road layout by making it a bit more closed off.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/lz/pykd6o1n5cdz.jpg

Thinking about adding a burned spinner car model as a little easter egg from blade runner

Johnnynapalmsc · May 2018

Starting to finalize this portion of the scene, playing around with post processing a bit. Might be slightly over-done here, but I am trying to catch the mood

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/pr/256hp9o4r1lc.jpg

Screenshot is at 2x resolution

Johnnynapalmsc · May 2018

Hey guys, I think I am done with the composition and assets. The only thing I will probably touch on, is the road material, similar like I created the sidewalk material, making it look more gritty.
I will also have a better play with the lighting and post processing. If anyone has any tips in that regard, or wants to play around with the levels and so on, I would appreciate that.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/hx/zq5stcpz1e3e.jpg

Johnnynapalmsc · May 2018

Thought I might as well make a little fly-through of the scene. Music for the atmosphere haha! Hope you like it. Not calling this finished yet. Also as you can see I toned out the strong magenta color filter, not sure if I like it more neutral or not.

JustinT · May 2018

Beautiful. Really feels like this could really be our future in a hundred years haha

JackKnife · May 2018

Well SHIT!!! This is fucking PHENOMENAL dude! I'm doing a much smaller cybernoire/punk scene myself. Super awesome to see others trying their hands at cyberpunk envrionments.

SimonTG · May 2018

Your latest updates to the lighting/post process really made a huge difference!
Awesome mooth, you nailed it imo!

X-One · May 2018

I like the way this turned out quite a lot. The atmosphere is great, lighting is nice, and overall, everything feels grounded. If I have any gripe, it's that the road still feels flat. I'm okay with the surface being fairly reflective, but I would expect the road to have slightly higher and lower areas, that would create areas of sharper and more diffused reflections.

Great work overall.

(You know what, I took a look back at the stills, and your road looks fine. It's probably video compression that's making it look smooth in the video)

Johnnynapalmsc · May 2018

Thanks very much for the feedback guys!

brettmarshalltucker · May 2018

Clever camera work. Especially when passing through those street lights! The lighting and reflections are awesome, too. That's definitely where I fall short.

I agree with @X-One, though. I would like to see a more varied road surface. Places for the water to pool and more texture on high points would bring more life to the scene.

Well done!

[WIP] Cyberpunk Street (Crit needed)

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