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Urban Alleyway Scene (UT3)

polycounter lvl 11
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LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
Hey there, I've been meaning to join these forums for a long while just haven't really gotten around to it. I've looked around a bit and you guys seem to know your stuff pretty well so hopefully I can get some good critique on my stuff.

Right now I'm working on a scene for UT3 that's just a back alleyway thing. It's all based off of (not going for a direct remake) an area back home in Wisconsin.

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I thumbnailed em 'cause they're kinda big and I'm not sure about any special [shot] tags or anything on this forum yet (this is my first post afterall...)

Anyhow, that's all in UT3 right now, there's some really bad shadows going on because of some stuff that isn't UV'd yet, but overall it's starting to come together in my opinion. Sorry about the homing at the top of the images too by the way, I haven't put in a skybox yet :/

Any and all crits/comments are appreciated.

Replies

  • JohnnySix
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    JohnnySix polycounter lvl 16
    The forum automatically resizes, so you're fine posting the large ones. :)

    Got some wires too?
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    Since it's all in UT3 the wireframe view is kinda chaotic so I didn't post anything from there before... but if you wanna see wires here ya go haha

    83324569.jpg

    25428795.jpg

    I mainly fixed my UVs on pretty much everything so that it's a lot more efficient now so that the shadows fall on them better and I'll be ready for texturing soon.

    I'm planning on having this stuff textured by Monday (one week from now) so lets hope I get there. There's still a ton of stuff I wanna add model wise yet, like a lot of power lines and some stray cinder blocks/boards along with piles of junk to break up the floor. The big building on the left isn't nearly done at all model wise.
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    ugh, UVing took a lot longer than anticipated :/

    87413846.jpg

    that's just lit in UT3 with the AO passes applied to the models. I really need to texture this pronto. I've been sick though so... ugh.
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    curious- how many environments have you made?
  • Target_Renegade
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    Target_Renegade polycounter lvl 11
    promising start, lighting looks like a daylight scene at the minute.
  • PixelMasher
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    PixelMasher veteran polycounter
    looks like you are off to a pretty decent start, but that trash can is huuuuge :P

    good to see you roughing in some lighting while you work too, so many people leave it to the very end and it either looks bad/muddy or they have to go back and level all their textures so it lights nicely. the way you are doing it gives a much bettter indication of the textures in context while you work.

    only other thing for now, for future threads maybe make a more unique name, there are like 3 urban alley threads on the 1st page, hard to keep track of which is which haha.
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    @Shepeiro: Umm... in UT3? haha this would be my fourth environment for UT3. I made a ton of stuff for Halo Custom Edition back in the day, but only four "current" environments. You can see two of them on my secondary Youtube page if you're interested.

    @Target_Renegade: Yea, I'm going to be going for a day scene. It's harder to show off stuff in a night scene :/

    @PixelMasher: Yea, as this is my first thread/post I noticed that too after posting my thread haha. I'll make more interesting names for my future threads. My thread is the one with the thread tags haha.
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    Hey guys, a few more progress shots. I'm a bit behind from where I wanna be, but it's all good.

    74681140.jpg

    54021334.jpg

    I'm considering making a few different brick tiling textures, than multiplying a dirt layer over it all in UT3 to try to make my texel density somewhat bearable without making OMFG huge textures for it.
  • Mark Dygert
    Looking pretty good so far!

    The lighting needs work, the shadows are too strong, they need to be washed out more with bounce lighting. The light looks a little yellow but lighting a grey box scene is not going to get you final lighting. But I think you need to turn up the blue/white and turn up the bounce lighting (or fake it as best as possible).
  • ColinR
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    ColinR polycounter lvl 9
    I think the scale of the steps in the last image needs adjusting. It's like 5-6 steps for the whole ground level which to me just looks wrong when you compare that to either the close wall next to them, the slightly rusted blue door behind or the original reference. When looking at that reference it looks like your steps are more stretched out horizontally then they should be as well.

    Just something to consider mind.

    Coming along nicely though, and I'm liking the detail you've started to put in with the various overhead wires, satellite dishes and vents. This sort of stuff usually really sells the scene in the end I feel.

    Will keep an eye on any progress you make now, ha. Good luck man. :)
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    60522441.jpg

    46238524.jpg

    Base texture on the big building on the left, redid the main building there, textured a bunch of little decorative things.

    My stairs are a little off, the real thing has 13 steps, mine has 8 (plus the top piece for the top platform). I also stretched it out a bit 'cause I didn't like how steep the original ones were. It looked strange to me in 3D so I pushed it out this way. This also allows me to do two sets of four stairs so I don't have to texture them all and such. Modularity FTW!
  • Pope Adam
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    Pope Adam polycounter lvl 11
    Not bad man, textures actually looko pretty nice here! Starting to come together now.

    The stairs texture could use a little love. Make the transitions between the metals a little more apparent - right now it just looks like a base texture (maybe thats all you've gotten so far though)


    I dont really like that big weird gutter coming out of the building that runs across half the scene... jsut ditch it totallyl IMO
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    35429198.jpg

    Killed that gutter, made a sky, changed around a few background buildings (stuff on the right that you'll never see was bothering me haha) and I changed the ground a bit, can't really tell yet, but soon :P

    I'm currently adding more shape to the ground piece then onto texturing it.

    I still have to do decals, a few particle effects, texture that cute little grill haha, and finish up my blue building's texture and the big building on the left's texture. There's some spots that still need lovin.

    Oh yea, and normal maps haha.
  • AshleyTayles
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    AshleyTayles polycounter lvl 9
    How many tris is the whole thing?
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    43262279.jpg

    Made the sky darker/less saturated. Made a quick ground texture.

    @AshleyTayles 72K tris.
  • 3Drobbo
    Hey man looks great! Good work

    my only tip would be maybe add a few more tri to corners of walls and pipes and things so they arnt so boxy. (whats that hug pole coming like 45 degrees out of the left wall?)

    Oh and it might just be me but are the bricks alittle to big? could just be the camera.

    Good man! i like it! i will be keeping an eye on this one!
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    Haha that's a wire, teacher told me to put it there :/

    The bricks on the left are a bit large, but the windows that were in the photosource matched up to the size of my windows so I just went with it, they're a bit large but I don't have enough time to go back and fix it now :(. (Project due in 4.5 hours)

    I'm planning on adding some more detail to the edges of the buildings yet, similar to what I did to the cinderblock shed in the corner.

    76552994.jpg I might bevel the corners to add a bit more to it, but that's low on the priority list.

    E: Project deadline got pushed back 8 hours. Hurray :3
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    42930395.jpg

    38436332.jpg

    20196726.jpg

    I have about seven hours left thanks to the deadline being pushed back a bit. I'm going to redo the ground texture because of how low res it is, going to add in some decals and particle effects, and play with a post process volume.

    In this update I added normal/spec maps. Well... the specs were generated in Ut3... so yea... but... yar.
  • imb3nt
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    imb3nt polycounter lvl 14
    looks like ka/ku swm3 dishes.

    All of these people have high def tv ;)
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    crits n tips

    - make windows interior dark and allow specular and reflection map to do their work
    - your bricks are a tad lumpy in placses, bricks are generally quite square ;-)
    - your lighting is bad, try upping the strength of the ambient by at least double and adding a touch more blue, also baking in a bit of AO will help
    -work on your specular to acheive more beleivable materials
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    finished1.jpg

    finished2.jpg

    That's what I turned in yesterday. Then I came home, took those pictures and passed out before being able to post em haha.

    The bricks look lumpy because the texture is too low res for crazy bump to want to make the bricks into decent shapes. I commented about that to the teacher and he said it was fine, and that he liked it so I left it *shrug*

    All of the objects have AO passes in their diffuse map, I don't know how to get them to make it look like they are AOing eachother though.... (like buildings to ground).

    My specular was made in UT3 due to time constraints. My windows I knew needed work, I just wasn't sure how to make them look good so I left them like they are which... meh. Thanks for the tip.

    The ambient was at .02 lol. What do you usually set yours around? I'm always afraid of upping it too far 'cause it destroys normal maps :/

    Thanks for all the critiques though I really appreciate it :)

    @imb3nt I have no idea what you're saying haha
  • crazyfingers
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    crazyfingers polycounter lvl 10
    Lookin' good.

    I think if you fix up that house on the right it'll really start kickin'. Right now the texture seems really flat and bright, like it's made of paper.

    You might want to just try reusing your brick Texture, but change up the UV tiling and adjust the hue a bit for a quick fix. It'll look like it's made out of a different type of brick and still change up the scene a bit.

    Probably want to think about taking off your distance blur too. It'll clean up your dishes and wires bunches.
  • ColinR
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    ColinR polycounter lvl 9
    I would still go back and alter your bricks normals though........even if your teacher says it's fine then I'm guessing that was for the hand-in aspect and was absolutely fine with it.
    LlamaJuice wrote: »
    All of the objects have AO passes in their diffuse map, I don't know how to get them to make it look like they are AOing eachother though.... (like buildings to ground).
    Recently when working on an UE3 piece with someone, we faked the AO between the buildings and the ground with decals set to modulate. Plus typically in those areas dirt builds up as well a little.
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    AO- think you can bake in a GI solution into the vertices.

    ambient light strength is very dependant on engine, and ive been using HDR for so long im a little rusty on standard values, but if i remember correctly, i would normally expect a top light value of 1.5 on a sunny day so maybe 0.5 in the ambient and 1 in the directional.

    you have tinted the whole screen green, was this intentional through a postfx or is it from the lighting, remember if you use a fairly saturated ambeint (i would) then you have to balance out the colour with the main directional.
  • gamedev
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    gamedev polycounter lvl 12
    Few crits / feedback

    -Shadows are far too black. It's bright outside and you need to reflect this w/ some well placed bounce lights and more ambient light (whether you use a skylight or point lights)
    - pixel density is a nightmare - there is a texel density viewmode in UE3, use it. Your ground is mush compared to your bricks.
    - bricks are huge!! Grab a UT3 guy and put him all over your scene for scale reference. Also, fix up the areas where bricks go from skinny to fat. It looks less like construction detail and more like your UV's are messed up.
    - work on the sky dome - the texture is pretty boring. Grab a nice panorama texture and use polar coords in photoshop to prep it.
    - for composition, consider adding a foreground element, as well as some more color, or in particular, one colored element to draw the eye to whats important.
    - use of other building materials to break up the monotony (too much brick)
    - Buildings are lacking a lot of construction detail. You need to show how things are built and to do this you'll need to add building seams, use more than one surface type for large surfaces, show where floors meet on the building by using trim, trim at the top of the brick building, etc.
    - 'ground' your textures that meet the ground. Where your building touches the pavement, etc darken it up a bit to show dirt build up. Extra points for some silhouette changes such as dirt piles (more), weeds, grass, etc growing up along the edges of the building.
    - add some subtle post - a little color shift will really help sell the time of day.
    - more decal use.
    - Lastly, - and this is BIG one, start working in a more modular fashion. Can any of these buildings be used outside of this scene? How about your cables and wires? Are assets on the grid? Are backfaces capped? Just imagine your a factory worker - all you do is build meshes. SOMEONE ELSE puts them together. How flexible are your pieces? How many scenes can be made with them?

    It's a great start - keep pushing to the end.
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    @gamedev

    First off, thanks for the all the cirts, I really appreciate it (wish you woulda posted earlier! haha)

    As for the modularity of this... the buildings are useless other than for this project. Last month when I took this class I pushed hard for modularity of my objects, I failed and the teacher said to be less modular... and then when I asked how much less he told me to make that wall on the left all one big static. I went with it from there. I brought up the idea of making several smaller buildings that are all modular (or even one building and just being able to rotate it....) but he didn't like that idea so I stuck with this.

    My texel density I'll let you decide again... as I was using a few textures that were 2048X2048 and they were left in the LODGroup of just TEXTUREGROUP_World... and apparently that automatically LODs your texture to 1024... so that caused a bunch of awesome low res stuff going on.

    Also, I cannot figure out for the life of me how to get a decal with transparency to accept lights. I would have used them more, but I can't figure out how to make them anything other than "unlit"... and that's just ugly to have an unlit dirt smudge on your wall.

    newfinal1.jpg

    newfinal2.jpg

    newfinal3.jpg
  • maltuna
    You are making some nice progress on this, its looking good. The one thing that stands out to me is the scale of the bricks on the 2 buildings. The bricks on the left building seem alot larger, not sure if this is intentional?

    brickz.jpg
  • Celes
    very very cool pal! I can see you improving very quickly. if you are ever going back to do more touch up to the scene i'd suggest making the white building dirtier.
    this is my very first post... after this one i should be able to post pictures too right?
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    b-b-b-buuummmpppp haha

    I figured I'd update this thread again since I'm working on this piece some more.

    I'm working on this piece again to try to get it up to demo reel quality so that I can use this as an asset in my reel that I'm putting together.

    AlleywayFun9.png

    AlleywayFun10.png

    AlleywayFun11.png


    I was trying to play with the bricks in the building in the corner there with the stairs to try to make them a different color so that it'd be less OMG SAME BRICK EVERYWHERE type thing without having to redo a texture... I think I might have to be a bit more drastic with it though.

    I wanna make some more trash deco to toss around... maybe even something as simple as just a sheet of paper or something like that lol.

    Anyhow... back to work.
  • Jeremy Lindstrom
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    Jeremy Lindstrom polycounter lvl 18
    i'd remove the wire going to the box drapped across the street, not sure why anyone would wire it that way. :D good progression though
  • MetKiller Joe
    Looks nice. The only thing I'd say is that the bricks aren't as dense in your side buildings as they are in your reference. Your lighting doesn't match up with your reference, but this actually makes it more interesting. Many parts still feel low-res.
  • LlamaJuice
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    LlamaJuice polycounter lvl 11
    UA1.png
    UA2.png
    UA3.png

    I've been hard at work, I promise. :P

    I'm gunna be redoing those bricks now, they finally bother me enough to actually get around to it.

    I'm gunna be taking this scene into the UDK soon to take advantage of the better lighting stuff. Yay global illumination and AO! haha.
  • verybad
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    verybad polycounter lvl 17
    The Ivy doesn't really seem right for an Industrial Sort of area. Looks good, but what's it growing from? There's no dirt.

    Some newspaper, bottles, pissstains, and trash would look good in thre too.
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