WIP Lies of Locke Lamora Environment
polycounter lvl 2
Hello everyone! I would love some feedback on a scene that I am making. I am using 3Ds Max, Substance Painter, and ue4.
This scene is from the book the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. In the book, there is an alien material called elderglass that absorbs light in the day and glows purple at night after the sun sets. The setting is a filthy city that lives on water. It’s filled with people living elbow to elbow, trying to constantly steal from each other. I wanted to make a scene that showed the beauty of elderglass yet the grime of the people. Any and all feedback is welcome! Thanks!
Replies
I reckon if you were to play with a thickness map to partially mask off your emissive you might be able to get a better sense that there's an internal glow. It's looking a little holographic currently, which isn't necessarily bad given the weird nature of the glass. Something to mess with.
I'm hoping you do a daylight version too. I'd be interested to better see how you've visualised Comora.
Thanks for your feedback! I made the material in ue4 using bump offset, but I never thought of using a thickness map. That's a great idea. I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
I am definitely doing a daylight version. Right now, I am thinking of the mood that I want to set with the lighting.
You could darken the skybox a little and perhaps play around with the emissive of the bridge, maybe increasing the glow intensity a bit.
I also feel like the scene could do with a little more colour, it seems slightly monochromatic to me at the moment. Apart from that I love it! Great job and good luck!
Thank you! I was trying to make it feel very noisy and closed in. i was looking at Rio de Janeiro and Ganvie Lake Village shanties for ideas of how to build the scene.
I can work with the lighting to strike a balance. I am trying to make the scene dark enough that the bridge catches your eyes, but yet have enough light so that some shanties are seen. Thanks for the feedback!
I would say the overall light on the bridge could do with being a bit more contrasty, maybe the text and line streaks could be the brightest points. Think this would give the bridge a more visible profile and allow all of your other awesome work to speak as currently the bridge is stealing from the other aspects - again this might be what your intending!
The lights going slightly warmer in temperature in the interiors might also help as it would bring you closer to that blue/orange utopia that we're all so used to seeing!
Looking forward to seeing this one and where it ends up!
Hello everyone! I used the feedback and this is my new result. Any feedback about this new result is welcome!
I played with the thickness map to put an inner glow on the bridge, but I tried to ground the bridge so it looked like a glowing glass bridge and not a hologram. I played with the fog and lights to try and brighten the scene a little so there were more lights on the shanties.
Thanks!
You should check out the book from your local library! It’s one of my favorite books that I have ever read. I did want the bridge to steal all the thunder in this shot 😊 The source material opens with a glass bridge and shows you what elderglass is in this world and that is what I tried to capture in this scene.
I do love the idea of the edges being the brightest point and I can play with that to see how I can highlight the bridge more. Thanks for the feedback!