Aliens Environment

[CNecron518a]

Here's my work so far on this environment. I am still working on it but any crits are welcome and appreciated.

[alsoknownasOTiS]

looks nice..but first thing i notice is that your metal grates are actually modeled with polys? that should be done with an alpha...use what you have now as your source mesh and bake a normal map for that..other than that looks pretty good...there are quite a few places you could optimize your poly count though

[rburke]

looks cool so far but id add more detail to the door region. and maybe thin out the ladder a bit its sort of obstructive to the view right now.

[SpiralFace]

This is a very big improvement over the last batch of rooms I've seen you post CAnecron.

Its good to see your work improving.

As its been said, its not the most optimized piece for games at the moment, but its a good start, and it at least gives you models to sample N-maps off of.

Keep it up.

[Gary]

thats the NP we made, and thats how i tiled it

[CNecron518a]

Thanks for all your feedback, I will get on these things. I am posting a shot from the movie 'Alien' that I gathered my inspiration from. How would you deal with the ladder situation? should I just make the steps more narrow and spread them out further so that it isn't blocking the view?

[hadidjah]

I have to agree with OTiS on most of this- this is looking really really cool so far, but there's a lot of optimizing to be done. Mostly in those grates- you'll cut out thousands of tris with an alpha and normal on a plane.

Also, I think the blinds on the windows could use a similar treatment, or at least a zig-zaggy plane with an alpha if you want to keep some of that geometry (I'm not sure if that made sense, but ah well).

As for the ladder, I think just thinning the rungs down a bit would help a lot in making it look more realistic and blocking everything else less. Right now the gaps between rungs are about the same size as the rungs themselves, which isn't much the case for your reference or real ladders. It'd be a chore to fit your foot through those gaps.

That's all kinda nitpicking though. Really, I think this is looking pretty tits so far.

[rburke]

well now that you post the reference, i saw right away that the reference has pipes running along the lower wall against the floor but in your low poly it looks as if its some sort of paneling. Either redo those with piping or modify your existing ones to look rounder, i jus think it looks cooler the way its done in the ref. and i agree make the rungs smaller and more spread out. Cool though so far, great way to test your texture skills, and if you have not done normal maps before this would be a good place to start. Also a though is that something like this could be made modular very easy, then you could repeat the hallway sections like puzzle pieces, creating a much longer hallway, or even a whole hallway level.

[CNecron518a]

I did a normal map for that grate as well as a wall grate/light which is serving as awesome detailed models for it just being a flat plane. I have seen the normal map light. I believe I am going to start mocking up the lighting setup which shouldn't take too long.. and then get started on textures.

[rburke]

you might want to scale up the floor grate a bit, its getting alot of that "mirage" effect where all of the repeating grid lines create odd patterning, scaling it up some would prop help that, it will also be less apparent at higher res.

[Marq4porsche]

I agree about the floor texture you have now, increase the grate size like ryan says. Otherwise it's looking like a pretty nice piece.

[CNecron518a]

Here's some current progress.. I just got done unwrapping all my props for the environment (door,piping, mechanical stuff,lockers,etc) so I will be texturing those next, than painting tiling textures to go on the wall. I also finished the gun rack so let me know how it works. This is without any lights/HQ render.

Thanks for the feedback and keep it coming!

EDIT: I also fixed the 'mirage effect' with the grating by scaling it up and it looks alot better now so thanks Ryan!

[gerasimimumu_George]

Looking interesting so far, but I think the textures need much more contrast, they don't read very well.

G

[Gary]

whats your tex size?

[CNecron518a]

Oh I'm just doing 1024's right now

[Rushn]

One thing,

The lighting in this environment will bring the scene alive!

Do you know how to use VUE 7 ? because that program has best lighting system EVER.

I am no 3D, but the scene looks good so far!

[SpiralFace]

saw this a bit ago on polycount and Figured I would pass it off to you for some inspiration.

http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=61415&highlight=aliens

I would say if your building this as a portfolio piece try to shoot for the same level of quality as the other guy.

Good luck with it.

[Brandon Hillman]

I like the environment, it looks pretty cool.

[AdamT]

Looks really nice but i would like to see lighting to see how well this really looks

[CNecron518a]

Thanks for the input everyone. This is my final for my hard surface modeling class, and he isn't requiring the texture and I have been really busy with my other projects, but stay tuned, I am working on the textures first, getting those right and then I am going to do a cool lighting setup for the final for my own project. I would like for this to be a strong portfolio piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojhGdRSkiUw

around 1:29 where Ripley is running through the same hallway you see in the beginning and there are the warning lights bleeping, this is what I want to do, but maybe not as dark as it is, because I still want the player to see, but it would be kinda cool to have that effect.

Spiralface: I looked at that thread for polycount, its looking really sick, I will do my best to top it!!

[Smi7h1sH3r3 808]

now that is a trailer...

no story, just cuts of scary scenes...u don't know what's going on but it's scary

too many trailers now, tell u the whole story right from the start...u know the movie
once u've seen a few trailers...

my 2 cents lol

[AdamT]

Yes adding more light is helpful, however it doesn't need to necessarily be white light added to just brighten the scene, add some lights that are darker in color will still add light to see but should also allow you to keep the dark feeling you are looking for in the scene

[CNecron518a]

The top image is with High quality rendering+all lights

The bottom is viewport, no lights

This is what I've been doing. Feel free to give me feedback. I think it may be too dark still but I like the Dead Space/ style lighting. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks everyone.

[rburke]

your getting alot better as you develop this project. I would say it needs more obvious AO and perhaps this can be done by using a second uv set to mix in lightmaps, and ao at once. The textures and everything are working just needs the subtle shading that AO brings to the picture so i would say work on that. Make sure you sign up for the games environments class next semester too, you'll be glad you did.

[Amad]

I agree with Ryan, it's coming along nicely. I'd recommend a couple of things in moving forward..

First, the god lights are abrupt. I'd go into your alphas and really soften those edges so you lose some of the hard edges.... make them harder towards the source, but quickly soften them as they recede. Right now, they're looking a little too 'I made this in Maya and Photoshop'-y if you get my drift. Ask Austin about how he did his on his farmhouse... might have been with volumetrics.

Second, the lighting scheme is cool, but you might consider adding some point lights where your orange is coming from. That would scatter that light across the environment in a logical way and you'd get your spec to capture some cool reflections. It's also a bit dark all around... too dark to see your texture detailing. I'd start with those two point lights and maybe a main ambient just to get the levels you want... then go through and refine it to make logical shadows and stuff. Remember, half the scariness of this stuff comes from the shadows being a strong part of the shot. Don't forget to mix cool and warm lighting to get some depth as well.

I'd also go over the textures again and add some sharp detailing on some seams, edges, etc and some grunge. Right now it's looking like the memory map of a last gen game with new gen techniques. Maybe give yourself a higher texture budget if that's what it takes to capture details in certain spots. Just try to make your metal diffuse textures read and the spec/normals will follow suit.

In Games Environments, one thing I think a lot of us learned was that it more or less doesn't matter HOW you achieve something, just that it looks good in the viewport. So try stuff from a couple approaches til you get what you like.

Hope this helps man, it's gonna be sick!

[AdamT]

This looks sweet, you've definitely gone in the right direction for creating a finished project. Good work hope to see more soon

[Brandon Hillman]

Nice, the lighting helps bring the environment to life. This is coming along really well.

[Steve Mittlestadt]

Like stated about the lights on the ceiling are the only thing that don't seem to be working for me but alot of great progress from the beginning.

[CNecron518a]

Let me start by saying I regret that I haven't been posting my progress. I have been getting good feedback from you all. I decided to scrap the in-maya lighting I was doing, and since I am learning Unreal Editor for a private project I am working on with some friends, I thought it was appropriate to bring this into Unreal as well. That way, I won't have these lame limitations on lights in Maya before it breaks, plus lighting in Unreal works a lot better I think, plus it looks cooler to boot.

Anyways.. I finished the update on the textures awhile back, but I've been dealing with a lot of personal stuff lately so I haven't had time to even post this. Finally things have settled down and I intend to get back on the horse with this. Anyways here's my re-vamp. I added grime and dirt to make things more realistic as Josh suggested. The main thing now is it needs cool lighting, and I have some great ideas on how to do that in Unreal. Lately, I have been playing around with the packages and added effects like things such as 'fog lights' and mist/steam coming from cool places like the vents. Doom 3 anyone?


Anyways I appreciate all of your understanding and help through this process. It's been a long development of this level, but with all of your help I can finish this to industry quality is my hope and drive.

[spurn]

textures need to be bumped up a lot in detail/color. feels very monotone.
try saving your blacks for the lighting's shadows, unless you have planned lighting i suppose.

where you have black around the edges, where a plate meets a plate let's say, use rust colors or at least a worn look, rather than craggy shadow (as it feels now).

even that door in the back should have some colors in it from use and degradation.

if you look at this model i did dec2008/jan 2009, the one thing that really hurts it is the black shadow tones, even in such areas as the bone having grating lines etc. AVOID THIS!

http://www.sagarpatel.net/dk.jpg

[Amad]

While I agree that it's important to stick to reference, I think this is a case of 3D needing an artistic bend to work well. It seems... unlit yet, and from your post I suspect as much. I'm sure that in unreal it'd look different, but here's what I see right now.

Spurn is right in that it's really monochromatic. Even if you're going for metal, sterile or industrial, you want something to offset this stuff. In my opinion, the only time that really, truly sterile grays and blacks look any good is in high detail renders with a lot of point light stuff going on. Industrial subject art tends to work in one or two colors that compliment and give a theme to the whole thing. I think that in 3D, even that's a little weak and doesn't play as interesting as it could be. In other words, even though the monochromatic thing might work in a film or very high rez cinematic asset, it falls flat when working with what you have here.

That being said, I think you should look at some of the full environments on polycount under the pimping and preview section. You'll notice that they consistently work with color variation, even if it's very subtle. Take a look here...

http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=63843

This guy is doing something similar to you, meant for unreal as well. Notice what he's doing with color. In any given image, he's using purple/red/green/blue/yellow even if they are in disproportionate amounts. The focal points always have some form of color burst that really brings the whole thing together. In your scene, that focal point is the door. Right now it's acting as a physical focal point, but there's nothing to really accentuate it.

If this were my project, I'd make some of the foreground elements at very least lit in a red hue to show that somewhere there's a heat source. Maybe beneath the pipes there are vents that are acting as release valves for a furnace... maybe there's an emergency on board and some of the ground lights are lit up red or orange. Or hell, maybe it's just a texture accent that you can think about. Then in the back, on the door, I'd use your complimentary color. Really make it pop, use it to relieve the tension of your main color and give the eye an oasis to rest. If your foreground is warm, make the door a cool/floursescent cold area. If the foreground is your cool color, give the door a stronger, warm hue.

While these are just lighting solutions, I think you could pull them off and it'd be beautiful in unreal. I also think that, as others have said, rust and history on the textures themselves are needed to add realism. Give your textures some color variation... maybe there's rust/mold/burn marks/corrosion/stains/peeling paint... just some ideas to get you moving.

I guess all this is to say, revisit the material history of your textures, then when you actually get it into unreal, decide on a light scheme and make it dramatic using variation.

[CNecron518a]

Progress on color variation/texture detail..

[A_GAME]

Try rotating the ladder 90 degrees. Its looking a lot better with the most recent pass!

[dabu]

Lots of progress, Chris. The ladder is hard to make out, it needs to have its edges defined like you did with the floor and other surfaces. I would try changing its hue to a lighter shade, and take down the hi lites on the floor, as they are a bit distracting atm...

[CNecron518a]

Alright so I have been learning Unreal on my own since mid May, and I have to say that lighting your environment pieces in Unreal is definitely the sure fire way to do lighting for portfolio pieces. For one, you can have all these really cool effects like fog lights, fog/steam/smoke, and you can have a whole bunch of lights in your scene, without them breaking and not being viewable anymore. It is an awesome way to do your lighting because of these benefits.

I went ahead and brought my environment into Unreal and did the lighting/effects and everything.

Please let me know how it looks.

[dabu]

Big improvement, however, your wall textures feel soft and lacking in detail.

Can you post up your texture flats, or an unlit version? Feels like you are depending on the lighting too much to give the environment its life. Lighting is make or break, but you need a solid modeling and texturing foundation for maximum impact.

[Amad]

I don't know unreal, but I've seen this in Maya and know that your textures are sharper on the flats and in viewport than they appear here. I'm not sure if that's some conversion into Unreal thing, some setting or what. I do know that in rendering, there is a display setting meant to accomodate crappy televisions. It's a pixel filtering mode that you can select (gauss, lanczos, box) I'm sure you've seen that. Anyway, what it looks like to me is that somehow you've set this to display in gauss pixel filtration. But, again, I don't know Unreal yet, so I don't know if that's possible.

[CNecron518a]

Yeah it isn't a "gauss pixel filtration" issue in Unreal Josh,(haha) :) it has to do with when I was building the textures, painting them and such, I didn't do a high enough resolution for textures on the wall(512's..). So my best bet right now is to go higher on those textures to pop out more of the details, but I believe that most of my other texture sizes are 1024x1024's, and those are more higher in texture/pixel density so it's not as blurry looking on those textures. The walls/texture tiles I think need to be re-painted so there is more detail.

Dabu- Here's the texture flats which were 512's(the walls) which lies the problem. It shouldn't be too hard to re-paint larger and then update, lighting should still be in one piece, and with a higher resolution should help a lot more with the squinting effect of the textures.

Thanks for both of your feedback.

[CNecron518a]

1024x1024's.

[Amad]

Yeah upping them would work. I've talked to a lot of working artists and hiring art directors who tell me that if you have 1 or 2 pieces that show that you can be efficient with textures and polys, it's ok to show pieces that have high memory demands as well. So I'd do 1024's and for God's sake, use sharpen here and there after you've worked for a while! It really does help to tighten things up, just make sure you dont' go too far with it and ruin your painting.

Also, using normals, it's super important that your diffuse isn't blurry... you'll be picked apart for that. Also, maybe try posting on polycount... those guys have great insights.

[dabu]

I agree, post on PC.

Also, no point in high res textures that are soft and slightly blurred.

[CNecron518a]

Less blurry shit now.

Onto PC..

[Amad]

Somehow it's still kinda blurry. I don't really understand it offhand because I've seen your flats and they looked good to me. Maybe it's just a matter of needing more repetitions across the UV sections. You could cut up the UVs and just repeat the base material more to get a better density in the walls, then do a grunge alpha over the whole thing to break it up.

I'll be interested to see what the polycounters have to say. They'll have some good insights in how to make this super-murderous.

[dabu]

yea, the blurriness is throwing off the scale for me too, looks small in there...