Underworld (collaboration)
polycounter lvl 19
Hey, long time no post.
Recently I've been working on another environment set, this time teaming with James (Gwot) who is doing the character for the scene. If you've seen the movie Underworld you might recognize this scene from the end of the movie where the final (re: boss) battle happened. Like the Towers set I did I didn't want to feel constrained so I worked with above normal specs and went loose on the texture count. For the environment, the average texture size is 512x512 and the triangle count weighs in at around 12.5k
Two of the aspects of environment work I wanted to learn about with this is to get an understanding of effective lighting techniques, and set composition to tell a story. After doing the Towers I've made it a goal to always do scenes that tell a story in a single frame - rather than stale shots of fire hydrants (whoopty-doo).
The following is two shots of composition tests, taken to near final post.
PLEASE SEE IMAGES BELOW!
Wires:
http://brome.toogeek.com/stuff/crap/je_ab_colab_wires01.jpg
http://brome.toogeek.com/stuff/crap/je_ab_colab_wires02.jpg
James will be showing his work shortly I believe.
Recently I've been working on another environment set, this time teaming with James (Gwot) who is doing the character for the scene. If you've seen the movie Underworld you might recognize this scene from the end of the movie where the final (re: boss) battle happened. Like the Towers set I did I didn't want to feel constrained so I worked with above normal specs and went loose on the texture count. For the environment, the average texture size is 512x512 and the triangle count weighs in at around 12.5k
Two of the aspects of environment work I wanted to learn about with this is to get an understanding of effective lighting techniques, and set composition to tell a story. After doing the Towers I've made it a goal to always do scenes that tell a story in a single frame - rather than stale shots of fire hydrants (whoopty-doo).
The following is two shots of composition tests, taken to near final post.
PLEASE SEE IMAGES BELOW!
Wires:
http://brome.toogeek.com/stuff/crap/je_ab_colab_wires01.jpg
http://brome.toogeek.com/stuff/crap/je_ab_colab_wires02.jpg
James will be showing his work shortly I believe.
Replies
Critic:
Dark in the entrance area I dont know if this is just suspenceful lighting to make the renderings more mysterious looking until the final result?
The wolf is looking great... he has a massive neck area though it still looks fine.
EDIT:
Here's the head if there is any interest:
Can't wait to see the rest of the designs and the final end results.
Nice job overall so far on the final battle scene.
$!nz: He's doing the wolf, that's all. Selene won't be in this one :P
Are you trying to keep this game ready art or just going for a nice high poly static shot?
What program are you using? Max?
Even if this isn't art that is going into a real time engine you can still save render times.
Add a bit of reflection to the concrete, it will help give the scene the damp look the scene you are copying has.
Play around with volume fog, a little goes a long way. A thin layer of fog over water is sometimes a nice creepy touch and helps the sometimes harsh transition between water and world.
Push some of the pieces of rubble in the piles out to the edges so they effect the silhouette and the transition from concrete pillar to rubble, and the transition from rubble to floor. Or add more so they help break up those lines.
Also one your pillars have a big chunk chipped out which looks great but then the broken pillars with the rebar off to the left look really plain.
Might as well do a progress update too then...
UV mapping is done, currently sculpting, and messing around with XSI hair to come up with something that works for him.
Mudbox progress:
-Neil
- Where the rubble meets the ground - decals of smaller rubble might helped blend it. Right now it's very clinical in appearence.
- A lot of the bevels you have on the pillars, the ground, etc - all very uniform. Makes those elements look very tell-tale cg.
But like I said, for the restraints, VERY nice
Gwot, I can't comment on the anatomy since I don't know it :P But I think the wolf looks damn cool
I love to see some sort of a blending between a real dew claw and a human thumb. But then i like more of the werewolf in london. Also id make his chest huge then have it then collapse in after the rigs end like dogs do. And like everyone else make the pecks bigger or give him extra nipples...
I know what you mean, just poking at you.
Environment looks pretty great!
And the mutt too!
Yowzers thats a damn nice bit of mudboxing Gwot. He feels super top heavy, and that he could barely hold that bulk on those tiny feet and legs, but I get that that's a stylistic choice. Very nice so far.
Daz: Yeah he's pushing it a bit on the top, I agree - was sort of loosely running with the bulk of the big werewolf dude in the first movie as my inspiration. It's bugging me a bit, but I decided to just push through on this and see how it goes, then maybe do a more slimmed down version at a later date if interest is still there. I'd like to animate it too at some point and the bulk may get in the way of that in the end.
I'm adding hair/fur too so I want to see what gets covered up/hidden in the end, or exaggerated too far, depending on the length in some areas.
This is my first foray into the XSI hair sim so I'm just sort of winging it right now and not too concerned about the mesh for a bit as I'm finding hair in itself is a pretty big task on its own.
I would also agree with daz about the dof. It takes away some of the massiveness and scale of it all.
Real nice work so far though, looking forward to updates!
Keep it up the both of you, id love to see more come of this.
I agree with TGZ about the hands, 4 fingers and a thumb/dew claw would be pretty cool. With 3 digits where there should be 4, you have to wonder at what point in the transformation did a digit fall off or meld into another one?
I also agree with Daz about the DOF, it gives the scene the wrong kind of effect, it also takes too long to render sometimes and might not play nice with atmospherics if you decide to use any. Normally you get the DOF effect when the camera has a hard time focusing on the entire scene such as with tiny objects. So people are used to seeing this type of camera distortion on shots of tiny things.
There are other effects that can be used that won't make it look like the camera is having a hard time focusing on the whole scene and give you the separation of character and scene you want. You might want to do two sets of renders, one of the background slightly blurred using normal blur features in max or use something like DeFocus and then composite the character into the shot.
Also play around with some advanced lighting set ups like Radiosity to help the lighting along.
One last thing don't forget about water ripples around his feet
Vig: The wolf will definitely be comped, as Adam is working in Max and I'm in XSI.
I'll be sure and add the 5th digit for the hands and feet... enough of you are mentioning it, I'd feel bad for not taking advice. =D
I guess I just got lazy and figured it probably wouldn't even factor in to the renders originally. =D
I'll play with the upper body bulk some as well and post a variant to compare.
Vig, I tried to keep the detail even all the way across the scene. I had one angle in mine for a final render but wanted to be able to muck about within the scene to find another shot or two to use for this collaboration. Also, James has been having some fun posing the wolf throughout the scene and if he did something that really worked, but that area was low quality compared to the rest, it'd make for extra work in the end. Also, I enjoy doing this stuff so I don't mind the extra time it takes to do the entire scene.
I'm using Max. I'll mess around with the rubble some more.
Thanks for the critique, I loved it and will use quite a bit of it.
okkun, I'm in 100% agreement with the broken pillar on the left being lack-luster compared to the one on the right. I'll be giving it more love before the next update. Thanks!
Vassago, thanks Josh :P I was hoping you'd chime in with your 2 cents on this one. The shot with the wolf in it actually doesn't have any of the bump I did on the pillars for some reason. I remember thinking the same thing about the bevels but thinking it was looking better with the bump info.
Daz, I'll probably stay with the DoF but tone it down some for the final shot. I don't want it taking away too much from the time I spent on the stuff in the background. Thanks man.
motives, I agree. That top pillar will be getting some love. Thanks!
MRFlynn, Thank you!
Vig, the DoF was actually done in post so I could see how it looked. It'll be adjusted for the final shot(s) I'm sure. Oh yah, there'll definitely be some ripples around his feet in the water. Thanks again dude!
BTW Vig did you get my PM?
Gwot, you're a whore but I love you (like a whore).
If I went with this I'd have to remove that light for sure.
Also, some new normal map love got added to the pillars since I last updated. Damaged up the smaller pillar some, added a few things in. Etc.
Yes, I know - the water.
Although I'm working on a more anatomical werewolf (if there is such a thing :P ) ok nvmd maybe not!
Beauty shot:
Overall scene (no lights w/ minimal bump info):
Wires:
There's more to the scene than whats in these shots but I'll save that for when the character is done and do one big final update. (For lack of a better term these shots show the 'gist' of the scene.)
I had a ton of fun working on this - its been my favourite thing to texture in a long time. I learned a lot while working on this and will bring that knowledge onto everything I do in the future.
Thanks everyone!
P.S.: JAMES FINISH WOLFY! :P
on the pillars with the intact archway, would it be okay to leave triangulation up to the engine/export?
I don't really know all too much about level-art mind you, i'm just wondering. I take it it's only a good idea on flat surfaces, because the tesselation won't influence the lighting too much?
Nice stuff, allthough i preferred the shot from higher up. This composition makes for some akward shapes that cut up the image, in my opinion. Is this set in stone allready, or will you experiment further once Gwot finished the character?
MightyPea, if the surface is flat generally it isn't a problem to have an ngon here and there. This isn't for any engine in particular but if it were I'd export and test to make sure its fine to do. I'd also make sure the triangles are nicely laid out anyway. I might do another beauty render once the wolf is finished.
Rooster, yah I might try that.
Thanks everyone.