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WIP Stylized Temple Environment

RobStites
polycounter lvl 8
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RobStites polycounter lvl 8
Hey guys,

Been lurking around here for a loooong time, never really felt like I had anything worth posting I guess. I'm in my last quarter of school and working on portfolio work, with this piece hopefully making it in.

I've been wanting to do a WoW style environment for a while now and after seeing the screenshots from Diablo 3 I decided to do something like that. I figure it will help broaden my skill set and since working at Blizzard is kind of a dream job for me. I've done photo sourced textures and realistic painted textures, but never really dedicated my time to stylized work like this. hopefully you guys can provide me with some tips on this stuff because I'm just kindof fumbling around in the dark. :)

Anyways, I've only gotten a little bit done so far, but I feel like I'm starting to get a better grasp on it. The pillars need to be completely redone and after I finish up the textures for the architecture I plan to add some vines and trees growing into the ruins. Anyways, that's enough blabbing, here's the work. :)

wip_2.jpg

wip_1.jpg

Replies

  • garriola83
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    garriola83 greentooth
    ouch my eyes, just kidding man, i looks like a good start but you already know that. so heres a few things i noticed so far. the color pallette really seems to blend together. you should make certain parts of the texture pop out more by changing the HSV of some of the cobble or the shingles. also maybe its just me but its just too orange/yellow or just too warm. try to find a balance on the color scheme there. good luck.
  • RobAI
    Hey, thanks for the crits. :)

    My monitors aren't calibrated correctly right now, I wasn't sure which one was off so I just guessed, that's why it's so bright. I'll try shifting around the colors on some of them to break it up. I'm going to add in some vines and plants too which should bring some green into the scene.
  • RobStites
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    RobStites polycounter lvl 8
    Been busy, but still working on this, hope to get a lot more done this weekend. Hopefully I remember to log into my new account this time...

    wip_3.jpg
  • RobStites
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    RobStites polycounter lvl 8
    Still working on this.. slowly. Started on a character to put in the scene, still pretty rough. Need to add plants and some props, though I'm not sure what sort of props to add so I'm open to suggestions. Going to add some torches to the pillars too, I think.

    wip_4.jpg
  • System
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    System admin
    Badly needs grunge, ao and much more detail in textures. Earthquake, a mod here has a thread which he told me of, there was a great link for a free texture site there, check out cgtextures :)
  • kio
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    kio polycounter lvl 16
    I like the clean look - i guess with some proper lighting it could turn out pretty nice. remove or change this grass thing on the floor tile as of now its reveals the tiling pretty badly. Creating a variation for the floor tiles wouldt hurt either.

    Anyways nice to see some classic non photo filter sourced texture work. Keep working :)
  • Neox
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    Neox godlike master sticky
    GCMP wrote: »
    Badly needs grunge, ao and much more detail in textures. Earthquake, a mod here has a thread which he told me of, there was a great link for a free texture site there, check out cgtextures :)

    don't listento that, you're heading for a great direction, this is like telling blizzard to do more phototexturing >_<
    grunge and photosource might be the easiest way to increase detail but it's also only the cheapest when you go for a specific style.
  • System
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    System admin
    Well okay, I suppose it depends what your shooting for, true with lighting it will look better, I just see too much blandness though :/ Oh don't get me wrong I love hand painting textures edit: I didn't mean photosourcing! but that site is still a good place for reference, whatever the medium.
  • Mark Dygert
    Neox wrote: »
    don't listento that, you're heading for a great direction, this is like telling blizzard to do more phototexturing >_<
    grunge and photosource might be the easiest way to increase detail but it's also only the cheapest when you go for a specific style.
    Agreed x10. Keep what you have, you can work in some more dirt but stay away from the photosourcing. I think you have an interesting style playing out right now and it would be a shame to muck that up.

    There's an amazing amount of skill that can be learned by doing what you're doing. I think it should be a required course at all "game art" schools and for anyone trying to get into the industry.

    One thing to keep in mind is that plant life, has a life cycle. I see you fleshing out those ideas on the wall textures, but it really needs to come through on the ground and on the roof as well.

    It's looking good, keep at it!
  • Heathmeister
    I love the progression so far...

    Wouldnt mind seeing it lit..

    Any plans for torches or light sources.... or this mostly outside?

    Love it tho... keep up the work
  • oobersli
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    oobersli polycounter lvl 17
    lookin cool. Maybe play with the form a bit. some ffd on some pillars and roofs to change the shape could be cool seing how its got the old ruin look to it.
  • Baddcog
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    Baddcog polycounter lvl 9
    I think it's looking cool.

    You need props like large clay pots, maybe stacks of wood or something (firewood). That's all I can think of for now.

    I agree your tex are a good base. The thing I've found CGtex most useful for is overlays. You could pick a rust, desaturate it and do a very minimal overlay onto the stones and gice them alot more natural 'grainy' look and it's very easy.

    You can get really creative with overlays. I made a believable leather texture out of overlays/noise and the 3dsMax hamburger bun :)
  • garriola83
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    garriola83 greentooth
    since you have a really stylized environment here, why not slightly warp some of the assets on the environment. it'll really kick in some more cartoony stylization that you have goin on already. really explore how stylized you want it to be but remember to be subtle about it too. or not
  • Carbon14
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    Carbon14 polycounter lvl 10
    looking much much better in the recent update, looking forward to seeing those trees textured! As for stuff to go into the scene I would suggest pots, possibly plants, the good old stone block (the crate of temple environments), perhaps shallow decorative ponds, rough aztec style statues, perhaps extra patterned floor sections, sacrificial pit, who knows!

    Oh and one last thing, I would seriously consider upping the size of your floor tiles a bit, it would make it appear a bit more grand and "solid" if it looked like it was made out of much larger stones, would suit the temple look much better I think?
  • Kawe
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    Kawe polycounter lvl 8
    Latest image looks a lot better.. it was too yellow before.

    It'd be nice if the bricks at least turned around at the corner instead of everything being well.. as it is now. I think that'd add A LOT and it'd cost you very little I believe.

    Like Vig said... those plants look like you kind of made a rope out of plants on tossed them randomly on top of the roof.

    Also... not sure what the part is called but the texture with very horizontal elements... well.. you need to break it up with either geometry or texturing. I tried to mark the texture on the image below.

    Untitled-1_4.jpg
  • RobStites
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    RobStites polycounter lvl 8
    Hey guys, thanks for all the crits :)

    It's been really tempting to photosource, but I'm really trying to push away from it, I've already been down that road.

    Going to work on some torches and the tree, thinking of adding some sort of statue /fire pit thing. Also working on breaking up the tiling of the ground.

    I know that the vines don't really make sense and they still need some lovin', but I not really sure what to do about it. I got the idea from these vines in WoW...

    vines.jpg

    They're just kinda hanging out, I don't know, maybe I'll just have to replace them with something else.

    I'll see what I can do about the horizontal texture, maybe add some vegetation to it.

    Okay, well.. gonna go get a pizza and get back to work, I'll post more soon! :)
  • Kawe
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    Kawe polycounter lvl 8
    About the horizontal texture. You could just add some geometry there.. like a block or something. Just to break it up. Vertically.
  • Carbon14
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    Carbon14 polycounter lvl 10
    I would just rethink the vines rather than remove them, they will look more natural if you alter them something like this I think:

    temple.jpg
  • RobStites
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    RobStites polycounter lvl 8
    Ooooh, okay.

    I thought the the issue was that the vines didn't make sense where they were (which they don't), but that's sort of what I had in mind, just hadn't given them that extra lovin' yet.
  • Tumerboy
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    Tumerboy polycounter lvl 17
    Nah, the vine placement is fine, it's just odd how they're growing. If they were growing up over the backside of the roof, they wouldn't grow all the way down the other side, just to turn around and grow back up.

    Instead, they should start at the base of some pillars, grow up, and then outward from the top of the pillars, (sideways along the edge of the roof, and up and over the roofline. If they reach down far enough on the other side, they should follow the roofline again, rather than loop back around.
  • Matroskin
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    Matroskin polycounter lvl 11
    textures look really cool.
    But I think that red/brown horizontal lines look irritating and may not look good from far by creating an annoying pattern. I would just place another stone block or ornament texture on that place.
    Keep it up.
  • RobStites
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    RobStites polycounter lvl 8
    Worked on the vines, the trees, added some torches, added some more random blocks sticking up, moss on the ground and a little lighting.

    Realized the screenshot isn't really from the best angle right after I uploaded it. Next on the block is some statue things and fixing that horizontal texture.

    wip_5.jpg
  • Kawe
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    Kawe polycounter lvl 8
    right.. so those horizontal lines are still bothering me. maybe do what the guy above suggested. change it to something ornamental? right now I cant really figure out what it is.
  • RobStites
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    RobStites polycounter lvl 8
    Yeah, I'm going to replace the horizontal stuff with something more ornamental, it was supposed to be something sortof like this, but it's not really reading right.

    ref.jpg

    and this shot should show the changes to the other stuff a little better.

    wip_6.jpg
  • cholden
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    cholden polycounter lvl 18
    Diablo 2 has a similar environment that uses a lot of big shapes to break up these corners, have a look at Kurast, particular the Travincal
    http://newd2event.net/img/maps/act3/Travincal.jpg

    Big trim shapes modeled in should do the trick, similar to what you're doing on the tower. Good start though, I like the brick.
  • RobStites
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    RobStites polycounter lvl 8
    Heh, it's funny that you mention that Chris, I have a bunch of screenshots from Diablo 2 act 3 in my reference folder for this. Thanks for the advice, I'll see what I can come up with tonight :)
  • Mark Dygert
    Good progress =)

    The in addition to the tweaks you have planned, its time to refine the lighting a little bit.
    Torch light needs another color to contrast against for it to have real impact. The absence of light can imply more detail then a full bright scene.

    Since it looks like you might be going for a dusk/night set up. Use soft blue and purple as an ambient light. It helps me to do lighting in stages. Ambient light > key lights.

    Kind of like this: http://www.vigville.com/forum_images/SewerPaintOver.gif

    More lighting Info: http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=51209 (Caution, long read...)
  • rooster
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    rooster mod
    i find it kind of hard to believe those trees grew there like that on the roof. i know there is a temple overgrown by trees (forget the name) but I'm sure they arent so precariously perched on the structure. overall style is cool though!

    edit:
    http://www.strengthandhonour.co.uk/images/060402GAngkorJungleTempleTree.JPG
    see? that bastard ain't going anywhere
  • RobStites
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    RobStites polycounter lvl 8
    Vig wrote: »
    Good progress =)

    The in addition to the tweaks you have planned, its time to refine the lighting a little bit.
    Torch light needs another color to contrast against for it to have real impact. The absence of light can imply more detail then a full bright scene.

    Since it looks like you might be going for a dusk/night set up. Use soft blue and purple as an ambient light. It helps me to do lighting in stages. Ambient light > key lights.

    Kind of like this: http://www.vigville.com/forum_images/SewerPaintOver.gif

    More lighting Info: http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=51209 (Caution, long read...)

    Thanks Vig, I have the sewer paintover, it's pretty sweet. The lighting was just kinda tossed in there quick to get a quick feel for it. I'll work on it a little more today.
    rooster wrote: »
    i find it kind of hard to believe those trees grew there like that on the roof. i know there is a temple overgrown by trees (forget the name) but I'm sure they arent so precariously perched on the structure. overall style is cool though!

    edit:
    http://www.strengthandhonour.co.uk/images/060402GAngkorJungleTempleTree.JPG
    see? that bastard ain't going anywhere

    Yeah, that temple was one of the inspirations for the environment. The tree is still pretty early, I was just trying to get a feel for how I was going to texture it, I'll try to make it look like it's stuck on there a little better because right now it's just kinda sitting there and abruptly stuck into the roof.

    Thanks for the crits guys, keep em coming. :)
  • RobStites
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    RobStites polycounter lvl 8
    Uuuugh, outside forces have delayed my work on this for the last week, but I got to work on it some tonight. Tried to make the tree look a little sturdier, going to add some smaller alpha'd roots coming down too. Replaced the horizontal piece, gotta finish the deco piece to break it up though. Spec map on the brick needs to get toned down a lot. Umm.. I don't know, I guess that's it. Should have a lot of time to work on it tomorrow hopefully without a bunch of distractions.

    wip_7.jpg
  • Mark Dygert
    Starting to shape up nicely.
    The new tree root textures are really helping to sell the trees a lot better now, but still need some work.
    I like the little statues too.

    I'm not sure if you're already aware of it but Thomas Luft put together an awesome procedural ivy generator that if you set the leaves to low levels you can get some really great vines or roots.

    I wouldn't suggest using the geometry it creates, but it could make for some interesting textures and overlays.

    http://graphics.uni-konstanz.de/~luft/ivy_generator/
  • Talbot
    Looks like it is coming along nicely. Keep up the good work!
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    This looking great man, can't wait for more updates.
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