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Urban Scene (hopefully will be unreal ready)

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  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    wrong colour brick, your mixing distinct areas of england, your first stuff is from the north, the yellow is more like london brick, keep it red but vary the tone and saturation with a layered shader

    and i would say, you could structure the scene in terms of texturing better, keep all the doors and windows on seperate sheets, as well as maybe three types of brick that can blend, at say 512*. if you takle buildings in terms of detail and surfaces you will be able to shake things up and produce variations much faster and cheaper.
  • JohnnySix
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    JohnnySix polycounter lvl 16
    Watch at least 5 hours straight of Coronation Street, or the title sequence on an infinite loop.

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H1M5oBKWE0&feature=related[/ame]
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    point taken and brick colors where changed

    things also changed

    - Baked 3 unique light maps
    -learned how to get light maps to work proper in unreal..
    -diffuse color changed
    -unique layouts made


    updates1.jpg
    updates2.jpg




    Still to do
    -Remodel /texture brick walls
    -Add more bumpyness to road
    -add in spec for buildings
    -model garbage cans
    -model /layout wires/light posts
    -Add Deco layers to buildings to add further details to it

    Thank you for the constant feed back more to come soon :)
  • Ben Apuna
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    Hey seforin, cool those lightmaps really help unify everything.

    The tiling of the brick texture you have on the houses is really noticeable. You might want to fix that up.

    Also I think you should consider adding some grass decals and/or modeled plants to help with the transition between the grass and everything else.
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    I already have deco layers setup for that , thats near end fluff :)
  • salman_fas
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    its looking cool man,

    why don't you make wholes for window frames instead of just placing those on flat wall, looks odd that way imo.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Is the lighting just like a generic low level AO? I don't see any shadow casts anywhere =\

    Also the tiling on the short walls seems wonky in some areas. On the shortest ends they look normal but on the sides facing the street, they're really squished up tight which just looks wrong. The bricks for the chimney also look disproportionately larger than those used on the building, which seems strange. Though since it's something that's not seen often, you could probably get away with that.
  • danr
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    danr interpolator
    are you still basing this off your original ref photo, ie an english terrace street? Seems to be you're basing the designs of the houses of the american architecture you're more used to rather than digging out some detailed ref, most of it doesn't apply and it's really unconvincing

    the doors seem to be ornate oak doors off a new york brownstone or something like that. These are BACK doors of terraced houses, they'll be a) simple and b) each one will be different

    i've never ever seen the overhang you have over the doors. Check out sheperio's drawing further up and the vid posted above, there is usually a solid lean-to structure that extends out and forms an L shaped yard. Sometimes this gets extended further out (and occasionally up, creating a second story) which will allow you to get some variation across the scene. Occasionally people do put up a bit of roofing (often corrugated metal or slightly transparent plastic) on a frame, to add a bit of shade or rain cover to the yard but this isn't integral to the house

    likewise the steps - weird. The yard and back door is generally at the same level, any "basements" in these houses would be a proper cellar - ie, it's below ground level, accessed from an interior door. Don't remember seeing a whole street built like you have, just the occasional house on ramshackle streets in hillside villages and towns (where, sometimes, the back door can be a full storey above or below the front door)

    you have a skylight right up on the top joist of the roof, it'd be much lower down. Can't see how many times you've repeated this down the street, but only the occasional house would have its attic ("loft") converted into a room with a skylight.

    Cornice - nope. There will be something here to support a slight overhang of the roof slates, but in almost every case, there will be plastic guttering fixed here, which the drainpipe will run from.

    the back yards will be laid with concrete / flagstones. Sometimes people lift these and add a bit of grass, but this is an owner modification

    once you nail the details, variation is the key to a convincing street like this. Just check out the first frame of that youtube vid - the houses are built more or less to roughly the same plan, but over the years little changes go in like an extension here or there, paint, and so on.

    edit - just checked some of the reference posted on this thread, and yeah, you seem to be confusing the front of these houses (eg chunkeys photos) with the back of the houses (yours). Your original photo is most definitely a back alley or 'ginnel'
  • danr
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    danr interpolator
    also , while i'm about it - the extra small flue you have sticking up from the roof above the door? That would usually be a vent up from the drains, but on an old terraced house this usually sticks onto the back or front of the house just like a drain pipe (they're later additions) and then stands up from the roof by a foot or so.

    In fact, the thickness of your drainpipe is more like this vent, drainpipes tend to be much thinner. It'd be more convincing to convert what you have into this vent and then add a second pipe coming down from the guttering. Check out the white building to the right of the youtube vid titlescreen for a good example of the vent/drainpipe combo

    also

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/sally-jane/3054875043/

    vents seen on the left, drainpipes seen on the right (i imagine its the position of the main sewer why they're not seen on both sides of the alley)
  • Tumerboy
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    Tumerboy polycounter lvl 17
    289390015_17404e029d_o.jpg
    168861081_ed03579970_o.jpg
    454762640_fd6d8d8282_b.jpg


    Also, while I haven't found anywhere where they go down the ginnels, google has a large portion of Manchester covered in street view. And since the camera is mounted on top of their vans, you can actually get a better sense of the whole street, and you can get some decent views down the ginnels from the main street in some places:

    http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.460434,-2.268956&spn=0,359.988649&t=k&z=17&layer=c&cbll=53.460432,-2.268956&panoid=LPe3bycVbkHbW1NYzi7WYA&cbp=12,122.79,,0,0.66


    Also, WTF is this?!
    http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.485561,-2.293621&spn=0,359.998184&t=k&z=19&layer=c&cbll=53.485484,-2.29373&panoid=iAfi2H8u973FtW8c1NlIuQ&cbp=12,338.29,,0,3.4
  • butt_sahib
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    butt_sahib polycounter lvl 11
    Hey sef :)
    Its great seeing you doing environment pieces :)
    Everything looks good to me XD
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    salman_fas:Thank you, I would have done cuts but I was trying experiments with light maps/ modularity, next time I have another approach on how to do this for that kinda of geo cuts.



    Vassago : Yes its a 1/2 rez of my current texture bake but its on there. I havent baked it for other stuff asside from the buildings so far, plus lighting isnt right yet its still F'd Gimme a bit more time before I touch lighting properly! Also I'll fix the chimney brick size..I thought the sizing seemed correct but I'll gladly fix if it looks weird.

    danr:

    Thank you! I will take the advice you gave and fix the buildings as best I can.

    I am planning on recreating that image as close as possible from page 1 yes.

    I also followed the designs of the buildings posted on page 1 by Chunkey.You were correct with that.
    I agree with you about some things now knowing how they work.

    When I first started these buildings I had stated I didnt know really enough about them and was looking for any ref images if people had them. So I based it off what was given to me.

    After understanding how the piping works for the vents/ drain piping I'll rescale the piping

    I do agree with you with the door, I again, was not sure what type to use.(any sort of links of proper style doors you suggest?) I will delete that overhang part you addressed above the door and create enough uv space for a proper door type and a 2ndary door type for more modularity

    I didnt break up the skylights that was mostly my bad on that one.

    I did not realize till now this was the backyard of a house....I kinda wish people would have said backyard versus grinnel...that would have made more sense for me :P (culture difference //unedumacted)

    Ive already remodeled this building 3 times, considering these wont take alot of screen space/ focal points when im done with the next batch of 3d , im debating about remaking this building for a 4th time...

    This would probably would have been alot easier if I had decided to do something american since I dont exactly have access to any uk style buildings nor am I familar with there design. (hell if I even went to the UK to see in person to roughly remember by memory might be better then me guessing at this point..)


    butt_sahib : Thank you :) Plan on making this finished soon!

    Tumerboy- Damnit nick! You posted while I was in the middle of writting my replys! D:
    But no seriously that 1st image you posted is fantastic I wish I had that when I first started those buildings. I atleast can see / understand how the piping works and can fix it easier now

    Alot of things people are stating are things I have yet to touch yet.

    Theres many things I have yet to do in short

    -Finish modeling Light pole,street light, Garbage cans
    -Fix side walks
    -Deco layers for the buildings to break up flow
    -Deco layers for the road
    -Remodel out the main bricks walls/ retexture them
    -Ivy generation (need to learn and apply it around...)
    -Fix road add more bumpyness to it
    -Add alpha plants (foliage volume)
  • JohnnySix
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    JohnnySix polycounter lvl 16
    Tumerboy wrote: »


    Looks like they've build garages or something on the bottom floor, and put the gardens on the 1st floor?

    One under construction here

    Not sold on the giant monoliths, looks like the doors of a prison!



    Here's a couple more shots :

    spaceball.gif


    275545713_b084d6b747.jpg?v=0

    3.jpg

    aul704bl.jpg

    theginnel.jpg



    Something you won't see a lot of in any of these back gardens is much grass. They're so dark most are plain concrete/paving etc, you won't see lush lawns.

    A few weeds maybe through the cracks, but mostly bins, washing lines, cigarette butts etc, bikess, tyres, whatever junk is thrown out and left out there.
  • danr
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    danr interpolator
    typical back door for a house of this type :

    24907.jpg

    variations would be on the amount of glass and the number of panes (1 or 2, or no glass at all though in most cases they will), also the colour , and details like cat flaps
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    thank you for those images, updates I did this time

    -got rid of overhead,
    - replaced with little house cubby thingy ,
    -have 2 door types in there now
    - baked new light maps for everything

    updates1_a.jpg
    updates2_A.jpg
    updates3_A.jpg



    Still to do

    -Fix light maps (fragments in some of them
    -Make building Spec
    -Fix Brick Walls
    -Start modeling 2nd batch of stuff to put in zone
  • killingpeople
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    killingpeople polycounter lvl 18
    this is evolving nicely
  • JohnnySix
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    JohnnySix polycounter lvl 16
    I'd suggest getting more ref for the doors, what you've got there now with the white ones is something typical of the PVC front doors you get here. Most back aren't nearly as decorative, and usually just as danr posted, a plain block with a single large pane window.



    garden_back_door_after_fs.jpg

    83353_6.jpg

    (Just pointing out door styles with these two, ignore the houses)


    For the cupboard doors you'd want something simple, wooden boards, with a large visible hinge,


    http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Ioz5n699hBs/SYcT0EqMXlI/AAAAAAAAILE/nD23RyQx71E/553++Clippers+Quay+++FW.JPG

    http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Ioz5n699hBs/SYcTyWhYjEI/AAAAAAAAIK4/vvyD3FCaYO4/550+++Bins+17+April+2004.JPG

    And don't forget gates :

    gate_3.jpg

    It's worth spending time getting it right, as it's the little details like this that can throw the whole illusion off.



    Also - in keeping with the current financial meltdown - a few boarded up windows/doors wouldn't look out of place lol :

    primrose_terrance_dumplinton_trafford.jpg
  • carlo_c
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    This is really moving in the right direction, the windows look odd to me because there's so many of them I don't think there's enough variation when you look down the street. The office blind one is really apparent.

    Also, when you move onto the smaller props it needs wheelie bins. Lots of them.
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    thanks glad to know this is hitting in the right direction

    keep in mind I still have yet to add in thing sto really turn this around IE:

    Weelie garbage cans, deco layers

    I will fix 1 or 2 of these buildings to be less noticable

    Since there technically 6 types of buildings (3 of which have the cubby house 3 of which do not) the ones that do not have the cubby hole I'll rearrange to be with less windows

    The ones without I'll rearrange with more...

    I also will look for another more beaten up door type for the cubby hole doors..

    Im glad the UK guys seem to be liking this (means im going in a right direction I guess?)

    Anywho after tonights fixes the next updates will be filling the zone more and the players eyes will be OFF those dang buildings :p
  • danr
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    danr interpolator
    late reply

    terraced houses only have one back door, you've got three on some of them! That's pretty mad. Return to shepeiro's sketch again, that's largely spot on. Agreed, a good photgraphic overview seems to be quite hard to find (it's hard to get high up in these streets), but combine that sketch with the various photos of details you've got and extrapolate through. You're still in a total flight of fancy with the back of these buildings, doesn't matter how much you distract the player's eye, two or three doors is edging towards the surreal

    Lose the steps and the raised door, add a single door to the sticky-out bit, and you'll be much closer

    more ref for you, with variations on the sticky-out bits (whatever they're called)

    2514979944_73879588e0_b.jpg

    believe me, not one single house here has more than one back door, unless they've converted a ground floor window into a french window (i nearly did that)
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    wait those cubby hole things are actually doors that lead to outside? I thought those were like little side house things that lead to like a basement?

    ok well that makes sense...ok so that means the houses I have with the cubby sides will only have the 1 doors and the ones without I'll leave as is...


    jeeze I feel dumb now....this project would move alot faster if I would have known about these kinds of houses before I started :p (Go me for picking something im not familar in nor do I have access to seeing easily by not living there!)


    Ok well what I'll do is fix up the buildings again tonight make them that they have 1 door at most and make sure that door is not so fancy (I thought the new ones I put were more dumbed down)

    I also will fix the windows and some of the angels that were brough up to me

    after that I need to fix the walls still and then FINALLY will get to the next batch of 3d

    X_X



    (Ps.....honest opinion ive been working on this for a month long, for what I have am I taking to long? If the answer is yes I will pick up the pace more)
  • Tumerboy
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    Tumerboy polycounter lvl 17
    Sef, if you were doing this for a company, yes, it's taking too long. But you're doing it for education, and you have learned a lot, and made a lot of progress so far. So, as long as you're not completely sick of it, and you're still learning from it, it's not too long.
  • Jet_Pilot
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    Jet_Pilot polycounter lvl 10
    If this was for a company yea your taking a long time. Ideally, the first week you should of had all of this modeled first. Texturing should take the next two weeks. Decals and extra buffer time for week 4 and i think you should be done. Any Leads out there think this is unreasonable?
  • Jeremy Lindstrom
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    Jeremy Lindstrom polycounter lvl 18
    just remember those aren't sidewalks as much as they are concrete edges to the streets. In 90% of the ref's you've shown they look about 18-24 inches, I'd say you could probably pull that sidewalk in by half and it would look more like your refs.

    Regarding your brick texture, what we do here internally is have a set height, like one 512x512 is one story. It keeps the pixel density the same between buildings.

    Looking much improved though man, I need to start a project up here soon myself... and get the beat down. :)
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    yea considering I had to teach myself unreal in between this project with alot of stuff I didnt know was kinda a jump...I dont know if im being to hard on myself or not but I really feel I should have more in the time Ive had.

    Its hard to only be able to work on this 1 or 2 hours a day at most due to real life nonsense


    Well gonna have a new update in a bit so check later tonight
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    ok well took the advice about the buildings and the walls and buildings

    changed
    -Layouts of building revamped
    -1 door per back
    -some have stairs some have cubby holes none share now
    -each has its own unique light map
    -order of layout was changed between 2 sides
    -Walls remodeled (partially) and retextured
    -Played with lighting but its still temp (Im getting the next batch of 3d end then its all light work


    anywho

    fix1.jpg

    fix2.jpg

    fix3.jpg



    next to do

    -Fix side walk
    -Street light!
    -Light pole
    -Garbage cans


    After those are in I'll jump to phaze 3


    Im getting burnt out on this....I need to finish it...took me a month between learning unreal and learning how to do modular style stuff...ugh..
  • Daaark
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    Daaark polycounter lvl 17
    The proportions seem off.
  • Mark Dygert
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    Overall its coming along nicely, don't worry about the time, the next one won't have such a steep learning curve should go pretty quick yea?

    Crits:
    It's not always make a box slap a texture on it call it good, sometimes the texture and scale determine the dimensions of something.
    - The scale of the brick walls looks different than that of the building, I assume they use the same bricks?
    - The brick walls are a little too thick. They should be one brick lengthwise, deep. Right now you have an average of 2 & 1/3rd bricks you could pretty easily shrink it in a bit and the pattern would be:
    1 Lengthwise (side)
    2 depth wise (ends)
    Like normal, however need to work out the scale discrepancy first, which I think would thin out the walls quite a bit more.
  • Firebert
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    Firebert polycounter lvl 15
    everytime i look at this it gets better and better... so keep goin sef! don't beat yourself up here man with the time. learning curves always through a wrench in the gears when trying to hammer something out. i know you'll be able to speed it up next go around.

    i agree with Vig on the walls being thick.
    since you're getting burnt out, maybe you should try making some objects to dress the scene . then ease back into the environment by adding in some spice like grass and wet areas and maybe some mapped broken sidewalk sections. but you're really close to wrapping up the bulk elements here, so think about little things like that that you will get to do soon to keep you motivated. you're call :) just keep it up!
    the only other thing that bothers me are all the seams from the textures along the roof and the bricks
  • Jet_Pilot
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    Jet_Pilot polycounter lvl 10
    Do you have your units in max set to inches/centimeters/or max units? IMO you REALLY need to set it to inches or feet and take a more active roll of finding the dimensions of something before you start modeling it. This will REALLY help with all your scale issues and make your scene "feel" more real.
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    took advice did changes updates are now, humans are instructed to give creative input or inital wrath will follow


    Did alot of the changes people suggested bricks/side areas (concrete now no longer grass and blended with cracks and some moss)

    Added in basic street light for now (need to create spec/normal etc)

    more updates to come....

    I plan on having ivy hang over alot of these pieces soon I think it will add to this

    but right now one thing at a time


    progress1.jpg
    progress2.jpg
    progress3.jpg


    some other obvious issues to fix with things which I will address shortly
  • ae.
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    ae. polycounter lvl 12
    Right now all the houses look basically the same, same color same shape, try to break it up a little, i know you have alot of work to do but right now its not that appealing to the eyes.

    here are my other crits:

    progress3.jpg

    Great job so far! getting ready for the unearthly challenge i see :P
  • Tumerboy
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    Tumerboy polycounter lvl 17
    dood, it's coming leaps and bounds. But I agree with everything AE mentioned.

    Also, you still need to figure out how your street drains. You have two plausable options:
    1) Street rises in the center, water runs off to gutters/drains on the sides.
    2) Street dips in the center, water runs to the middle of the road where your drain is currently.

    Right now, you're combining both, and that drain is utterly useless (as well as having a 2" or more lip for the water to get over.)

    I'd either drop the center, and make the drain into a decal that sits flush (or almost flush) with the road underneath, or just pull the drain and leave the road how it is.
  • Jet_Pilot
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    Jet_Pilot polycounter lvl 10
    I would re-visit your brick texture you have on the buildings and get it tiling better. Map it on a plan in Max so it tiles a few times and then keep working on it till you don't see that repeating pattern (ie those light and dark edges)

    Keep your reference Pics up at ALL TIMES. this will help you pick out the little details you need to sell this thing and it will help you see your problems areas, like that HUGE street light.

    Also your going to have to make a new texture for those sidewalk corner pieces. No half a$$ solution
  • Mark Dygert
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    I agree with the above, its coming along, keep at it!
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Updates, where are they?
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    Updates you have


    Finished the last of the modeling

    from here on out its fixing textures and geo of certain models, adding alphas of grim and such around

    and overall just final textures

    NOW WE DANCE!

    almostdone1.jpg



    almostdone2.jpg







    next steps

    -Fix light pole sizing
    -Fix seams on stretched wall texture
    -Texture Garbage can
    -Finish packing uvs for telephone pole and place back in scene and texture
    -Add more volume to road make it raise/lower more
    -Add deco layers around to add more to the scene
    -Final texture clean ups
    -Fix lighting
    -???
    -Profit
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