The Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge | March - April (95)
ngon master
Welcome one and all to the 95th edition of the Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge for the months of March and April!
This challenge is a way for real-time 3D artists to test their skills and create a piece of work based on concepts provided. It's open to those of all skill levels and we do our best to provide meaningful feedback along the way so everyone can come away from the challenge with actionable points on which they can improve their craft!
Anyone is welcome in this challenge no matter your skill level! It's a test of your own ability not a competition between members. We're all here to improve as artists and learn from each other.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/AZyAz5
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rlDbKJ
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8BZKDm
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/eR9eeG
Good luck everyone!
This challenge is a way for real-time 3D artists to test their skills and create a piece of work based on concepts provided. It's open to those of all skill levels and we do our best to provide meaningful feedback along the way so everyone can come away from the challenge with actionable points on which they can improve their craft!
Anyone is welcome in this challenge no matter your skill level! It's a test of your own ability not a competition between members. We're all here to improve as artists and learn from each other.
- ENVIRONMENTS -
HARD SURFACE ENVIRONMENT:
Staircase by Jordan Grimmerhttps://www.artstation.com/artwork/AZyAz5
STYLIZED ENVIRONMENT:
Project Unicorn environment : inverted tree by Sylvain Sarrailhhttps://www.artstation.com/artwork/rlDbKJ
- PROPS -
HARD SURFACE PROP:
Starfield - Shattered Space - Concept Art - Assets by Veljko Krivokucahttps://www.artstation.com/artwork/8BZKDm
STYLIZED PROP:
Production Building by JiaYing Lianghttps://www.artstation.com/artwork/eR9eeG
- RULES -
Please read all the rules before starting:- Try to post at least one critique for every post that you make. This will make for a better learning environment and help us all grow as artists.
- Try your best to finish as much as you can in the time frame provided, but remember even if you don't finish by the end of the challenge we encourage you to keep pushing and finish your piece!
- Post what you are working on in this thread so that way it's a more centralized place for advice and critique. Please avoid creating a new thread as we don't want to spam out the forums.
- It is recommended to use a game engine to present your work. Unreal Engine, Unity, and Godot are very common engines that can be used but feel free to use any alternatives that you want. (Marmoset Toolbag for example.)
- Feel free to change up your chosen concept a bit if you want! Interpret these concepts to your liking, especially if your aim is to add storytelling elements.
- If you finish your project and decide to post it to something like Artstation, make sure you give credit to the concept artist in the form of a link to their profile. Additionally, it is recommended to ask a concept artist for their permission to post a 3D piece based on their work before doing so.
- RECOMMENDATIONS -
- When you are just starting out making a scene, it can seem complicated or imposing. Take your time planning and blocking out, it will set you up for success later on.
- Think about how you can re-use assets, re-use textures, break it down as simple as possible and plan it out. A lot of people will break it down in their own way when they start out their challenge. Gather some reference images as well for different parts of the scene, don't be afraid to make it your own.
- We strongly encourage you to go and look at other games and see how they make their assets as well as get concept art to give it your own feel.
- The goal is to learn and grow both artistically and in your ability to both give and receive critique, but don't stress about it and remember to have fun!
Good luck everyone!
Replies
Been a lurker here, so finally decided to hop in and try to do the monthly challenge
Hello everyone. I've participated in some of these but intend to finish this one. Here's my blockout for this scene!
Sculpting is a big weakness of mine, and I feel this concept absolutely calls for sculpted elements - so this is going slowly and painfully.
I think that's all the sculpting done, though I'm not really happy with the barbeque masonry, so I may come back at that from another angle. Otherwise, time to get baking!
Old wooden dresser.
Old table lamp.
i tried real hard to get the perspective right so i even made perspective image guidelines in photoshop. -
Thank you for your comment, it's very helpful and I will go do fix it.
Your work is so great bro.
Final output from godot (higher quality still under the cut).
The reference puts a lot of focus on this giant pool of light spilling down the stairs - so don't be afraid to experiment with sun angles and removing more wall, anything you can do to get that light in there.
rookies link - https://www.therookies.co/projects/80136#comment-form
artstation link - https://www.artstation.com/charlieturner849
im gonna add more to this over the next week or so. i learned alot from this about modelling and lighting in unreal engine, good stuff.
I’ve completed the blockout phase and decided to go a bit further by starting to sculpt some parts of the scene. I felt that certain elements, like the wooden platform and the stone base of the stove, really needed some texture and surface detail to better convey their material and feel.
@BadgoingReally cool to see how you've managed to capture the atmosphere of the reference, even at this early stage! The lighting is already setting up some nice contrast, especially on the staircase. Excited to see where you take this next — great progress so far!
@rafiii You've done a great job with the blockout—the layout feels solid, and it already captures the mood of the reference really well. I especially like the broken and worn-out details you've added—they're a great touch.
@cturbo I think currently some surfaces have a pretty intense normal map. Some more subtle/micro details might be a better fit for the roughness map, so they reflect differently. For example, currently the parquet floor looks like it has grouts between the different wood panels, I think that's more a trait of brick wall, while parquet floors in reality are pretty even/ smooth.
@rafiii Nice blockout! I think the ivy overgrowth looks perhaps a bit too artificial in the way it's distributed. Did you base the placement on reference images? I would do so. I would imagine plants growing in through openings and then spreading from there. Perhaps you're doing so already and switched it off for the render, but I think its handy to have person in the scene to check against, so everything is to scale.
@Iribree Sweet sculpting! I think on hard surface elements the edges could be less sharp/ more beveled. Depending on the texture resolution you're going to use, bevels that are too tight might not show well in the normal map. I think the one organic element, the big fish, unfortunately looks facetted. This happens when remeshing low poly geometry. You can avoid this by applying a subdiv modifier first (support/ crease edges to keep shape). With Blenders modifier stack you can chain a subdiv modifier with a remesh modfier (smooth modifier if needed) and adjust the settings until you got a nice smooth mesh at the desired resolution.
Keep it up
Here is the simple White Box I've done. Next step will do the broken stair's model, after that will do floor's and wall's model.
@Fabi_GThanks a lot for the detailed feedback! That’s super helpful. I’m still pretty new to sculpting, so I really appreciate the tips — especially about the bevels and the faceting on the fish. I’ll definitely try out your suggestion with the modifier stack in Blender next time. Thanks again for taking the time to explain it so clearly!
@rafiii Thank you so much! Really appreciate your kind words and your suggestion about the chimney — that’s a great point. I’ll definitely keep it in mind if I revisit the sculpt later. Good luck with your scene too, it’s coming along really nicely!
I basically continue on doing Whitebox for the scene, mainly the walls and the stairs, and also apply some materials just to get a initial feeling of the floor and the wall. For the next step will keep working on the Whitebox of the large window at second floor and debris on second floor and first floor, and other props in the scene.