WIP Environment - Sci Fi (UDK)

[3dflasher]

I wouldn't usually post this early cause I dont even know where the evolution of the room is going, but I figure posting will make me get off my butt and update this more often. So playing through Mass Effect 2, I decided I wanted to make an environment inspired off there work since it is just a gorgeous game. I started by modeling some random parts I saw in the maps and just putting them together in a room configuration in UDK. Since this piece is just for fun Im playing with shapes right now and putting them in the room to comp it out . Im hoping to replace them with real assets as i have time to build them. Im going to focus on the ceiling section this week so I would love to hear any suggeston on it. Im seeing I-beams and wires up the wazoo up there :)

http://aldenfilion.com/wip_ME.jpg

[ajr2764]

Nice work so far, sci-fi is always a interest of mine. I want to build a sci-fi environment sometime perhaps after my current project. I havent played Mass Effect but it also reminds me of something out of Dead Space. You should have some big piece of machinery in the center as the focal point in this room. Are your panels built modular.

[Gallows]

Very simple and all and all a nice little composition. I'm eager to see where you go with this one. One thing I could say is to add something like a window or a skylight to show a deeper setting unless it's supposed to give a confined feeling. Good work dude.

[chrisradsby]

You know what would look great on the walls? Sci-Fi Cryogenic tubes with people in them :)

[3dflasher]

Gallows - I tried openeing the top and it did look cool with the sun comming in but if I put glowy bits around the scene, the two might end up fighitng the contrast of the comp.

ajr2764 - big center piece comming soon...I decided to go with a vehicle under repair in the scene ... bigger challenge will be finding time to make it :)

Some updates...got a few hours yesterday to make some other random goodies. Please excuse the super rough pass textures ...i just like to mass out the environmnet before I get all microvision. I decided its going to be a vehicle repair bay...so hopefully I'll get some hours free this week to actually put stuff in it that makes it that. No work on the ceiling yet ... :(

http://aldenfilion.com/wip_ME2.jpg

[ES_139]

looking good so far, i like where this is going.

[ES_139]

double post....again

[4th-child]

Looking good mate, keep up the good work!

[fearian]

those wall supports look sweet! the rails on them are particularly original.

[SouthpawSid]

this is echoing a beautiful color scheme of complementary blue and orange colors. Maybe push the orange a little more by popping the orange in the pillars a bit more via the material itself or in the lighting. Either way this is looking great!

[crazyfingers]

Comin' along, especially considering a lot of these materials are "placeholder".

Just a minor crit regarding the center pillars, they don't really fit the aesthetics of the scene. On their own they're great, love the subtle reflection on them, but the rest of the scene has a rounded nature to it with lots of curves and rails, not to mention they're a little "noisy" for a midground prop, high contrast vertical and horizontal lines within a prop's sillhouette add confusion to the scene, they might work better as a wall prop without such a dark center so the contrast isn't so high. Right now there's just too many lines going every which way and its hard to read the scene.

[garriola83]

liking this, will follow

[ajr2764]

Nice progress, I like the wall supports you put in. I agree that now the supports in the middle look out of place geometry wise and texture wise. You should try to mimick the style you created on the walls.

[Ferg]

lookin good man, I could totally see this in mass effect

[JasonLavoie]

Love the atmospheric feeling you get from this already, be nice if you can get those cool light streams that mass effect loves so much :P

[verybad]

You know what would look great on the walls? Sci-Fi Cryogenic tubes with people in them :)

Those look good EVERYWHERE!

[Shogun3d]

It looks and feels like Mass Effect. I'm loving where you're going with this and seeing you stay true to ME's style. Keep up the great work. Love to see more progress :)

[A.Kincade]

It looks and feels like Mass Effect. I'm loving where you're going with this and seeing you stay true to ME's style. Keep up the great work. Love to see more progress :)

^^ this ^^

Great stuff. Going to keep an eye on this one.

[Grey]

Really liking where youre going man, keep it ups

[3dflasher]

Friend and co worker Matt Kohr decided to take some personal time to do a color paint over concept for me. I appreciate and loved the advice, so I decided to implement the colors into the scene. I think that it moved the comp from the Normandy to Omega 5 and I love it <--- (Mass Effect terms)

http://www.aldenfilion.com/wip_ME3.jpg


P.S. Never mind the red dot in the middle ...had the fog helper selected when I hit print screen :)

[Minos]

Very nice! There's nothing going on in the background though, it breaks the sense of depth and makes the scene feel rather "short". Add a cool backdrop!

[MightyPea]

As far as ideas for dressing up go, how about a crane? The settings strikes me very much as a cargo hold (nice job on the latest update, by the way!), and even in addition to your vehicle center-piece, the crane could add visual interest to the background, even if it were only a silhouette.

edit: also, the red dot does bring up an interesting point: Maybe a very concentrated area of another colour (green, red) could be a nice guide for the eye.

[vcool]

BIOWARE, I DEMAND A MASS EFFECT SDK SO WE CAN MAKE OUR MISSIONS AND SHIT.

Looks great. Looks Mass Effect.

It's a shame there is no easy way to add custom content to the game. Environments like these could actually be used in-game and we could make our custom "DLCs".

:(

[JasonLavoie]

You better add streaks to those lights... or I will cry myself to sleep EVERY night!

Looking great man!

[Aran Anderson]

Looking awesome, and great lighting in the last screenshot!

[SouthpawSid]

that PO must have helped a lot! Again, the colors look amazing and I love the new lighting scheme.

[duxun]

how did u get the light actor to cast in a cone ? im using udk and i would like to know.

[garriola83]

that would be a static mesh and not a light

[fearian]

Those look good EVERYWHERE!

I've got some in my living room! It really matches my Steel Walkway flooring!

[3dflasher]

:) Thanks for all the great advice and positive feedback

duxun - you can right click on any light, go to convert light and choose spotlight....you can do that with multiple lights selected too ...(make sure you save it can be buggy sometimes). You can also go to actor classes in the content browser select spotlight in the light catagory, than right click to put it in the level :)

SouthpawSid - your earlier advice with colors was dead on. The paint over helped so much. I can't say enough kind words about Matt kohr...he is constantly making something go from cool to awesome.

JasonLavoie - Those flares in Mass Effect 2 are some of my favorite elements too :) Ive been trying to plug them in but lens flare actor seemed to be borked in the latest UDK build. Ive read that in several places too ...dont know if anyone can confirm or deny that here, but I want to put them in :)

MightyPea - Crane is a great idea ...sci fi cherry picker comming up

[duxun]

thanks..

[3dflasher]

My creative A.D.D. kicked in so i jumped over to the focus piece. Sketched a bit ...that was going nowhere so i blocked out the mass of the spider mech in max...basic shapes and such

http://www.aldenfilion.com/spider_block.jpg

Once i got the basic mass imported into the scene to make sure its somewhat decent. I decided to dive into modeling it...I just have the back section started.

http://www.aldenfilion.com/back_detail.jpg

Sarting crunch back up next week, so updates are gonna be few and far between...booo :(

[3dflasher]

Got to work on it a bit more on sunday...still no texture pass and no love for the ceiling ...yet :)

http://aldenfilion.com/images/center.jpg

[OrganizedChaos]

This just keeps getting better and better :D I like where you're going with it!

[Diwan]

Nice progress, this is tight.

[yiannisk]

it is improving a lot with your every screen.
I understand that you will later add some more clutter with fat cables and such?

i think the frame over the spider feels a bit weak but has a nice shape overall.

is this a construction\repair room i suppose?
lighting and colour scheme are looking pretty solid but maybe if you "frame" a bit more the spider?

some vigneting perhaps on the final or perhaps some darker lights in the foreground sides?

[tlovemark]

The piece is looking very nice. My only complaint is that the environment feels too symmetrical. Adding some extra junk in around the sides to help break that up a bit would help.

Yiannisk mentioned cables, which I think would be the perfect thing to help draw our eye around while also breaking up the symmetry a bit.

Maybe even angling one of the orange "repair arms" down a bit could be a possible solution to add a more dynamic feel to the environment. Right now it looks like they're all at the same angle, which feels a bit artificial.

[brandoom]

Nice, I really like where your heading with this scene :) I'd love to see you push that holographic screen some more. I'm really digging the lighting thus far as well.

[3dflasher]

***updated the screengrab to have more dynamic range in the lighting as suggested***

Thanks for the great input guys. I will try and get some updates soon :)

[3DRyan]

This is great! I love how detailed the back section is. If the rest of the model is this focused, then you've got a winner sir. :)

[Mistry10]

very cool stuff man !
hope to see more soon !

[doeseph]

Shweet. The spider personally took my interest level from an 4 to a 6, can't wait to see more progress. Will you be posting wires of the other props in the scene once this is completed?

[loganfredericksen]

That is really awesome mate.

[ajr2764]

wow I havent checked in on this thread in a while and I must say loving the direction you took. I didnt expect for the environment to take this route but it was a good choice. Im really inspired right now with all the sci-fi projects floating around on the forums including this one.

[3dflasher]

Here is an update from another productive sunday...Its frustrating only getting a day a week to work on this, but you got to live life too :P

Massed out some ceiling detail and made some quick little holograph consoles for the screens I had floating. I also have some matinee and kismet work I did on it, so I thought I'd share. Nothing fancy just 2 camera pans in cinematic mode with some halo 3 music. UV's and Mech work up next :)


Video Link:
http://aldenfilion.com/me3


http://aldenfilion.com/images/center2.jpg

[Ged]

love the lighting and atmosphere :)

[dtschultz]

That video is awesome! The lighting is top notch.

[SgtNasty]

Super awesome. After playing Mass Effect 2 I wanted to do something like this.

I like the changes you made to the ceiling except for the curved protrusions coming off of your pillars (the ones on the second floor that are catching that blue light). It is nice to get that blue highlight, but they just seem a bit wonky and redundant. I'm not sure you even need them. Looking forward to more updates!

[roosterMAP]

i like it! the robots look really good!

[3dflasher]

Another busy day yesterday...updated the vid.

http://aldenfilion.com/me3

Brought in the welding arms as skeletal meshes. Created particle systems in Cascade for the sparks and flare. Linked the particles to a socket created on the welder. Timed the sparks in an anim sequance on the skeletal mesh anim set. Than I brought that entire madness into Matinee and timed the welders activating and added some keys to play sound cues for when the welders hit their mark and for when they activate. The back welders don't hit the mech but thats temp for now till I get the real deal in. It was def a busy Saturday learning how to do all that stuff. I'm just blown away I could set all that up without touching a lick of script.

[jmiles]

very nice sir.. very good progress indeed

[Spitfire]

Very nice, shapeing up nicely.

A tip is to try and move away from the overall bloomy (lighting style) look of the udk to get a more original feel to it, unless its the udk feel your want that is

[SimonT]

your lighting looks awesome! i m impressed!

[roosterMAP]

excellent lighting!

[3dflasher]

Didn't get as much work as I would have liked to get done yesterday...but some progress none the less. Started adding detail to the spider mech.

http://www.aldenfilion.com/images/spider2.jpg

I update the vid also, with an extra camera pan and some other things...the changes are marginal.

(Click image to play the video)
http://www.aldenfilion.com/center_sm.jpg (http://www.aldenfilion.com/me3)

[BlazeF]

Lighting looks great and I really like the feeling of the scene, good shit yo

[SimonT]

cant wait to see this finished! stunning light!

[JasonLavoie]

Damn, very nice man, I love the sound effects too, you're going all out!

[Jesse Moody]

Nice stuff man. Say Hi to Judd Roy and Adrian Castro for me.

[3dflasher]

Thanks guys for the positive feedback...im glad you guys are digging it.

Thanks Jesse...(your work is awesome btw) Im gonna go slap Judd and Adrian over the head now :)

[gamedev]

Hey Alden, it's looking good. Digging the lighting and can't wait to see the centerpiece wrapped up!

[3dflasher]

Thanks Tyler :) Hope all is well with you. Can't wait for bakeTools. I'd love to use something like that for the bake out of the spider :)

[3dflasher]

Updates to the spider mech. Legs aren't "formed and functioned" yet...still playing with some ideas and shapes. They will probably change a lot by next Sunday... hopefully :)

http://aldenfilion.com/images/spider3.jpg

[Sirdelita]

that spider is killer dude!

[Mio]

looks awesome! keep going!

[3dflasher]

Here is my Sunday update...only got about 8 hours in for the changes, but I think its wrangled enough so that I can start with the low poly bakes next week.

http://aldenfilion.com/images/spider5.jpg

[roosterMAP]

looks badass!

[SasoDuck]

I think the design of the other legs look better personally. If you make them as detailed as the most recent shot, they'd be nicer.

[paulsvoboda]

I have to disagree with SasoChicken (just my opinion :) ) - I really like the new design - The new mid section 'covers' I guess you could call them add a lot to it and create much stronger lines leading down to the bottom of the leg - Overall it's looking great.
Keep it up.

[SasoDuck]

Yeah, you have a point. I think maybe more like having the same covers as the bottom one, put over the legs of the top one, and maybe have them a little less pointy...

[3dflasher]

Thanks guys

Here is a quick update...I'm slowly baking out all the highpoly elements

http://aldenfilion.com/images/center_6.jpg

updated the vid too...sorry for the low compression

http://aldenfilion.com/me3

Not all the elements are baked out on the spider so its a little bare right now and light maps aren't behaving :) I'll get it sorted it out though.

[Coldeath]

very cool lighting reminds me of SC2 :D good work keep it up !!

[Jesse Moody]

Very nice. Digging the lighting. Spider droid dudes coming out quite nicely. Will be nice once you get the final textures and stuff on him..

[3dflasher]

Thanks guys

Jesse Moody - Thanks man. I should have had a good bit more to show, but I spent most of the weekend fighting xNormal and Max's render to texture...both of them beat me up pretty badly on Saturday...but we made up on Sunday :P I can finally start painting some textures now.

[PogoP]

Looks really nice, good bake! Love the colours.

[Ged]

would be cool if there was a cube map on the spiders paint job?

[3dflasher]

Updated the vid ...couldn't help it, had to rig and animate him...I haven't animated in some time so I was eager to set him up...I'm still baking out some of the parts on him :P

http://aldenfilion.com/me3


I'll be tweaking the anim to make him react to the hits better.

[Ged]

I like the animation great job on the whole scene

[SunSetter]

great job dude. i can't wait to see the final result.

[vofff]

great progress here.

[3dflasher]

I think im pretty much wrapped up on this piece. I might go back and tweak some shaders and textures on this one but the changes will be marginal. Ayways here is a final shot and a vid ...it's meant to be moving so definately watch the vid :) Sound FX were created by Chris Groegler. The links may be similar to earlier post but the content itself is the latest. Thanks everyone for the input on this. See you guys in the next piece...hopefully next week ;)

Spider Video
http://aldenfilion.com/thumbnails/me3_mov.jpg (http://www.aldenfilion.com/me3)

http://aldenfilion.com/images/center_5.jpg

[Slum]

That is great. You get 500 points for using an impressive way to show your work :).

I know you're employed, but for anyone reading this is really beneficial:
This is a fine example of when to use a demo reel for a game art job. (not for wireframe turnarounds!). It says a lot to a potential employer that you took the time to build a pseudo-functional environment with animations, fx, sounds. Great work!

[Justin Meisse]

that video takes ages to load (I'm letting it load while I go out for lunch), have you considered Vimeo? (http://vimeo.com/)

[Grey]

Really Impressive Flasher. Cannot wait to see the next piece! And Chris's sounds are also awesome...as is to be expected from him :D

[StefanH]

i second that. That is great!. very much enjoyed this presentation and really nice scene too. I think the robot arms are sticking out a bit. They are giving a lot of focus by movement and the sparks but they don't have enough detail to hold up...

[Alberto Rdrgz]

Love the scene, man. the atmosphere, the lighting, the spider vehicle looks awesome!

[Barnstable]

Looks fantastic. Great job.

[SouthpawSid]

holy crap again good job. the animation and sound was the icing on the cake. SO COOL!

[cman2k]

that video takes ages to load (I'm letting it load while I go out for lunch), have you considered Vimeo? (http://vimeo.com/)

I second the vote for Vimeo. It's fast, and you can probrably get higher quality (720p). Plus it's much classier than youtube.

[Spitfire]

Wow, great stuff there, it all comes alive with movement and sound.

[3dflasher]

Wow ...thanks a lot guys :) Im glad you guys are digging it. Im uploading an HD video to vimeo as I type. Had to go into one of the udk ini's to make it render at 720p so I could capture a vid vimeo would recognize as HD. I'll post a link as soon as it's done uploading.

Thanks again for all the great input you guys gave me while working on this.

[3dflasher]

HD vid link from Vimeo


http://aldenfilion.com/thumbnails/me3_mov.jpg (http://vimeo.com/12392980)


Not a fan of how dark the vimeo compression turns out :P

[Slum]

Video link is set to private.

[3dflasher]

*fixed

[doeseph]

Nice video 3dflasher, I am planning on making a video for my environment as well so this was very cool to see. I'm glad your scene turned out so nice.

edit: was it a pain setting up animations?

[ghudson214]

Hey man! Nice job, this is coming along very nicely! You're on the front page!

[3dflasher]

ghudson214 - Thanks man, I was pretty excited when I saw it on the front page. Miss you guys, btw :P

doeseph - Thx. UDK has some pretty artist friendly tools for bringing in anims and triggering them off in Matinee (the cinematic editor). I always sound like a fanboy when I talk about Epic, but they have just done so much right with that editor. All the animations I brought in were exported with the new FBX support they put in...seems like they are phasing out the Actor X stuff. So long answer short ...it was easy getting the scene set up. The tools are intuitive and communities like Polycount and the UDK site, are full of people that can answer pretty much any question if you get stuck.