Hi-tech research facility (UDK environment)

[Minos]

Final screenshots:

http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/Zest_HiRes_06.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/Zest_HiRes_01.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/Zest_HiRes_02.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/Zest_HiRes_03.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/Zest_HiRes_04.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/Zest_HiRes_05.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/Zest_HiRes_07.jpg

Some of the modular pieces:
http://thiagoklafke.com/images_2011/thiagoklafke_zestf_09.jpg

Thiago Klafke - Environment Artist
www.thiagoklafke.com

[JonathanF]

hey thats pretty bad ass looking... only part i do not like at all. is the ceiling. It looks like I'm going into a fancy European house with that tray ceiling style. I would nix that personally... but everything else looks great!

[Bigjohn]

Real cool. I love how clean it is, that's refreshing. So used to everything being super damaged like it's been through a war.

[SasoDuck]

The modeling looks great, but I've never really been one for low-ceilinged sc-fi stuff. It makes it feels cramped, especially since sc-fi hallways usually have a bunch of blocks and gizmos on them. Like Orbital in Halo 3 I never really liked to much because of the low ceiling. Just a personal opinion.

[Shogun3d]

I'm enjoying the design and layout for sure! The only issue I have is the sense of scale, there's nothing to compare the ceiling height, and width of wall sections to. I'm sure that'll be fine once props make their way into the scene.

[divi]

when i only saw the shots of the modular assets i thought that those bevels are incredibly large and would look like toys but when all put together it works rather well.
looking forward to updates on this.

[fearian]

That looks liuke a good start, but the you just have very strong plain shapes - you need to get in close and do the dirty work! Some more noise and variation on the walls would be good ns its screaming for a specular map. You dont have to make it dirty by adding detail, But you really need something to get rid of the doom 3 plastic wrap look!

[Minos]

@JonathanF @SasoChicken: You guys are right :) I'll see what I can do!

@divi: Yeah I exaggerated the bevels so I could have more depth in my normal maps. My previous tests with this kind of sci-fi stuff on UDK turned up kinda bad because lightmass tends to make normal maps look flat... it's either that or you crank up indirect lighting influence and get huge blobs on your lightmaps...

@kaburan: You are right, I plan to improve the sense of scale by adding props and doors :)

@fearian: I think it looks like doom because of the viewport shader I'm using for visualizing the mockup. I'm pretty sure it will look a lot different when I put this on Unreal. I'm planning on having some direct lighting and windows where the light comes through, and that alone will give this a whole different look I think!

[Minos]

First UDK test. I plan to fill this place with green and plants to give a nice contrast to the walls!

http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip01.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip02.jpg

[Ryan Smith]

This looks good, but you should think about breaking up the repeating in your meshes with some color variation, or perhaps some signs or lights or decals. You may want to try vertex paint to discolor some of the red panels or floor.

I understand that yo may be going for a clean, new look. In which case this would look fine, but not that interesting.

The green should add a nice touch as well.

[brandoom]

Looks great, love the lighting. Only thing I would suggest is to increase the shadow map resolution on your walls.

Can't wait for more :)

[ScoobyDoofus]

Hey! Looks better than I would have expected for such simple textures. I think you could do with a more complex specular, which might lend some more realism to the material and scene.

[SasoDuck]

Wow. The lighting has come a long way, although one obvious and major flaw is that you have lights coming in like there's big windows and skylights, but there's zero windows of any kind. I'd say keep the lighting, it gives it a good feel, but add in the sources of those lights in the appropriate spots.

Also as far as modeling goes, you might want to add in some high-tech looking computer terminals and whatnot to give it the "Hi-tech research facility" feel. Right now it reminds me a lot more of the inner corridors of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

[Xendance]

Also, you might want to consider using cubemaps ala Mass Effect, that's how they did their "reflections" on the walls.

[Minos]

@Virtuosic - Yeah don't worry I have a lot of props planned for this scene to break repetition =)

@brandoon - I'm using lower res lightmaps at the moment to keep iterations fast. The final version will use higher res maps!

@ScoobyDoofus | @Xendance - Cool! I'm planning on adding detail specular maps, just need to figure out how to make good tiling detail textures that don't look tooo repetitive from the distance. Far Cry 2 did that and it looks really good.

I also plan on using spherical maps for "reflections", but I can't seem to find any good tutorials on this. The one on UDN is obsolete :/ Does anyone know how to do it? I wanted to make a few tests with spherical mapping before switching to cubemaps.

@SasoChicken - The ceiling holes are not visible in the screens because they are just placeholder bsp atm ^_^

Tonights update:
- New wall set
- Using placeholder plant meshes by Epic at the moment
- tweaked the floors diffuse map, which was way too dirty

http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip03.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip04.jpg

[00Zero]

lookin sick. i like the sunlight coming in. how bout angling the light a bit so that it goes into the room a bit more?

i think the darks in the corners are a bit too dark. i dont know if thats the realtime AO or what.

[JonathanF]

sweet!! yeah man! looking so much cooler now! feels a lot more open! especially needed the open spice like this with the plants, nice touch! really gives it some great color. and that sun light is awesome to!

[doeseph]

Awesome work

[Ryan Hawkins]

Looks good but looks like alot of static mesh loading and less use of BSP's should probably try to mix and match brush usage and mesh usage rather then 100% static mesh level building.

[SasoDuck]

Wow.

The plants in the walls really add life to the scene. Although I still think some wall panels and lights would make it looks more like what it is

Pardon my poor mouse-painting skills:

http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/SasoChicken/SciFiResearchFac-paintover.jpg

[SHEPEIRO]

looking nice like the lighting

needs:

some signage, leaks n drip decals, moar plants (maybe a new section with a planter that stickout into the pathway some, with a nice trailing plant that could creep into the rest of the scene

[Tyler]

It looks ace, but not wha ti would have expected from a research facility, usually they pride themselves on extremely clean, totally anti-bacterial rooms, so that experiments can't be messed with by any other factors. Those plants would have an effect on the climate of the rooms, also its easier to make somewhere look clean by using brighter colours (whites, light blues, yellows, etc.). Just my thoughts anyway..

Did a little paintover, hope you dont mind... Its a bit of a washout, might want to make noticable lighter areas, instead of just brightening up like i did,

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/9324/paintover.png

[Ged]

I think its going well as it is saso, nice work, might look nice with a shiny polished floor using a cubemap or something?

[samgriffiths]

How about giving the sunlight some volume so we can see it coming through the windows ;)

[SHEPEIRO]

skulburn - i find the original more interesing to tell you the truth, and more realistic...even a welll lit interior like a labs lights is nowhere near as strong as the sun
and the retaining glass for the plants makes the Env less interesting...when IMO it needs more breaking up with organic elements....SOrry dont like it

[an aggressive napkin]

Imo, If its a bit dark in that area, you should add some artificial grow lights or something because in that darkness I don't see how a plant could grow or germinate without that said light.

[Minos]

wow nice ideas everyone! Keep em coming, loving it so far =)

[feanix]

might be cool to have some tanks of blue and green phosphorescent algae and kelp instead of ferns. might lend more of a scifi feel and avoid contaminating the environment?

[Minos]

I'm not too worried about this area not looking too clean, this is supposed to be a corridor/lounge area (There's an area not shown on the screens where I plan on placing couches, magazines and stuff).

I might even change the theme to something else to justify all the foliage I want. Maybe some sort of futuristic residence or a human colony in a lush distant planet? hmm that would make a bit more sense considering everything I have planned for this

[an aggressive napkin]

Maybe some flowers, like on the movie avatar? Something that is supposed to look like a weed but has really nice blooms. I dunno when ever i look at those things i get inspired, And in a scientist's research facility, If you want plants, wouldn't you want something that inspires you? Just my opinion, Cuz the ferns look great too :P

[paulsvoboda]

I love what you've done so far - It looks great. You don't see many 'clean' and sterile environments and this is a nice change. The plants added a lot to it and I don't like the glass covered version (ie. paintover). Some wall panels would be nice and maybe some artificial subtle lights shining down on the plants. Otherwise - beautiful work so far.

[SasoDuck]

I'm not too worried about this area not looking too clean, this is supposed to be a corridor/lounge area (There's an area not shown on the screens where I plan on placing couches, magazines and stuff).

I might even change the theme to something else to justify all the foliage I want. Maybe some sort of futuristic residence or a human colony in a lush distant planet? hmm that would make a bit more sense considering everything I have planned for this

I think the research facility is still a nice setting, but perhaps deciding on what is being researched would help determine an atmosphere. For example, a weapons research facility wouldn't need so much of a sterile environment as a medical research lab would.

[EricV]

I like what you have so far...please continue

[Divine Rage]

Absolutely awesome work! I'm getting a slight ME feel from this. It certainly would fit.

[Shogun3d]

Really coming together! I'm enjoying the lighting and the foliage is doing a great job off adding color to the scene. Really balances well.

[brandoom]

Nice work. Already it is really starting to come together. As Kaburan just mentioned, the foliage really helps give it some balance.

Perhaps the AO is a tad too intense for how much light looks to be coming in.

Regardless, awesome looking scene! Can't wait for more updates :)

[Asteric]

NOt to hijack, but in UDK, how do you keep those crisp highlights from the light? when i run lightmass it totally ruins the effect.

[Minos]

@Asteric: Crisp highlights on normal maps you mean? I toned down "DiffuseBoost" to 2.3 on lightmass settings (default is 5.0 which is way too exaggerated for the clean textures I'm using imo). Normal maps will never look as crisp as they look with dynamic lighting only though :(

@Brandoom: Agreed. I haven't looked into a way to tweak the SSAO effect yet. I don't even think it's possible though :/

@Divine Rage: Can't avoid being influenced by ME, it is my favorite game this generation =)

@Saso: Yep I've never really decided what kind of research I wanted this base to perform... i'm seriously considering making this a settlement instead, with rooms like kitchens, lounges, balconies and gardens. The actual research base or factory (where the dwellers work at) would be visible in the backdrop instead. Would fit the assets I have in mind for this better I think :)

[piippo]

I got that ME vibe from these too, especially after those plants were added. Really cool stuff.

[Daniël.C]

Indeed verry Mass Effectish:), (thats positive btw).

So far the panels look well designed and have a unique style to them really something I've not seen before, maybe its a tad too clean (even modern/newly built stuff has some dirt in places) but it doesn't distract me too much.

Always love scifi stuff, looking forward to seeing more.:)

[Divine Rage]

Minotaur0, I was looking at your portfolio, and I'd definately suggest adding this to it. You also haven't updated it since march "09.

[Minos]

Minotaur0, I was looking at your portfolio, and I'd definately suggest adding this to it. You also haven't updated it since march "09.

Yep, my portfolio is soo outdated right now. I'll definitely update it with this scene and some other stuff I've been working on at Ubisoft (nothing fancy tho, just DS games and stuff. in fact I'm not even sure if I should add them to my folio at all lol). I also have to remove some of the older stuff like HL1 props and that crappy girly scene. :)

This scene still has a long way to go though. Progress has been slow this week but I hope to get up to speed again soon!

[Divine Rage]

Well, there's nothing wrong with adding handheld stuff to your portfolio. There's also nothing wrong with adding WIP content there, if you'll update it once it's done. I'm always intrigued by WIP's and seeing the final result.
I keep pushing people to record timelapses of their work aswell.

Anyway, you've certainly pushed me over the edge to finally do some game modelling myself. Tried out the UDK these past few days and I really like it so far.

[jyandel]

I really like this. Definitely add more greenery and sunlight. I would put some signs up also just to let us know what this facility is, and where it's located. For instance, is it on a ship? A moon? What is being done there?

Keep up the great work!

[PogoP]

Got a quick question Mino.

Did you make those texture sheets first, and then build your geometry around them? Or did you make your geometry first and slice it up onto those individual UVs?

[Minos]

Got a quick question Mino.

Did you make those texture sheets first, and then build your geometry around them? Or did you make your geometry first and slice it up onto those individual UVs?

Since I answered this in PM on another forum I thought it might be useful if I posted the answer here too:

I created the texture sheets first trying to be as generic as possible, and then reused these textures in different manners to create modular pieces. For the red panel wall I created this texture:
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_texture_wall06.jpg

and then created wall units out of it:
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_wallmockup07.jpg

I started this scene with unique textures for walls and stuff but that wasn't very flexible and fast so I'm sticking with tiling textures for now on, using unique textures when needed. Ex: doors, seats, signs and so on. This way I can iterate between versions much faster.

Progress on this has been slow due to Red Dead, but I hope to post updates soon, so stay tuned!

[Divine Rage]

Any updates on this? Such a shame to let this wither and die.

[Visceral]

Yeah this is amazing stuff you have here!

[Froyok]

---

Nothing to say, it's an error, sorry.

[veteehrri]

looking great man, wanna see more.

[SimonT]

really nice so far!

[Minos]

Thanks for the heads up dudes!!

This scene is not dead, I've just been working quietly on it :)

I've also been away from my PC the last few weeks (crunching @ work and then I took a week off to pull myself together). But I'm back now. I've tweaked the modular parts and materials a lot since the last update. I just need to put it all into UDK which I hope to do soon!

[Minos]

A new update after so much time! I changed the theme of this scene to a sci-fi apartment complex because I think it fits better the props I have in mind for this.

Please excuse me for the horrible screenshot quality. I just can't get tiledshot to work inside UED (I can't run my map on play mode for some reason). Tiledshot looks like this for me:http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip_tiledshot_Error.jpg Has anyone any idea on how to fix that?

New media:
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip06.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip07.jpg

I'm struggling a bit to find a good color palette for my lighting, any tips on that will be highly appreciated!

[JordanFrayne]

Maybe try some info lighting, exit signs or something like the colorer coding in a hospital but with lights.

[SasoDuck]

The blues are not doing it. Try sticking with natural sunlight yellows and whites and if you have to put in an artificial light, I'd go with a red or orange, maybe a low-saturation green like you have in those hallways.

Also (hypocrite warning, since I haven't managed to pull off a good hologram myself yet), try making your holographic sign not so solid. Like, have a solid-ish rim that slowly quickly fades to a lower opacity center of the text.

[nrek]

Hey man, the scene is looking great so far! I like how you have managed to keep it very visually interesting without having to compromise the clean look of it. However I totally agree with SasoChicken about the blue light. Right now it is just way too blue and neon like.

And as far as the tiledshot, use tab to pull up the command prompt and not the "~" key if you want to avoid the big black menu in the screens.

Is the "Zest" thing meant to be a hologram? If so I would suggest removing the 2 wall lights above it and let the hologram itself emit the light, but only slightly. There is functionality in UDK for emissive materials to light the scene, so that would be perfect for this application. Then maybe add tiny point light type meshes on the wall behind each letter to act as the projector of the holographic letter. Something like that would help it feel attached to the scene as opposed to just floating in it. But those are just some suggestions, the scene looks great regardless : ).

[PhilipK]

Awesome stuff! I agree about toning down the blue, perhaps you can have some illuminated info signs or something that can emit some stronger blue. I really think you should stick to using the "sun" as your main source of light as you do, it works really well, and I love that you started to get in some material color as well :)

Great stuff Mino!

[Divine Rage]

I don't much like the new lighting. I much preferred the old lighting.
The modelling and texturing seems solid as usual.

[Minos]

Great tips guys, I'll surely take them into account!

As for the colored lighting I agree with what you guys said. I tried to put in some color but the way I'm doing it is not really working.

The Zest sign is supposed to be solid. It looks full bright right now because I added a strong spotlight on top of that, but it is a metal texture with cubemap reflections really. I'll fix that too.

@nrek: Thanks! I was using the tilde key indeed, I'll try using tab!

[brandoom]

Looks great Minotaur. I'm really like the colours and the contrast of large and small details.

I would love to see some sort of 'space age' advertisements along the walls, weather it be hollograms or billboards.

Looking forward to more :)

[Minos]

@brandoom - YEah I'm very eager on starting on the addon props. They will be really useful for adding more color to the environment without overdoing it (like I unfortunately did in the previous update).

Tonight's lighting test:
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip08.jpg

[Oniram]

thats working out pretty well. are you using static emissive lighting?

[duxun]

i really like your color scheme here.. Cheers..

[mkandersson]

Your last shot looks very nice. I like your art direction on this. Has a little mirrors edge feel to it.

[Minos]

thats working out pretty well. are you using static emissive lighting?

Nop, spot lights only!

[Oniram]

ah ok. agreed with mkanderson.. it is feeling a bit mirrors edge-y. masybe if u take your environment color to a bit more of a saturated blue.. and have the emissive lights give off a fluorescent blue tone as well, they may enhance the scene a bit. also i was really digging the red tones you had on the wall pieces in your previous posts.. the orange seems to not go with the scene as much.

[SasoDuck]

Wow. Insanely better, although I'd still work on making the sign look more holographic...

[Divine Rage]

Looking very good! But has much potential for additional props. It seems a bit empty on the floor.

[cholden]

I think it looks cool. Your detail is hi-tech, but your lighting is not. Each light in your scene is represented by a big obvious light source with a light under it (besides the sun of course). Since this isn't a barn, it could be worthwhile to research how modern facilities handle their lighting.

Great examples inside of airplanes and movie theaters. They have track lighting on the floor to guide patrons and most major lights use indirect lighting (as in, a covered light directed over a large wall surface to illuminate a room without people attention draw by a harsh, bright light bulb).

This is something often overlooked, but very important to the believability of your scene.

[SHEPEIRO]

agree with chris... think the biggest bonus would be to light the sign with internal neons rather than spots

oh and down lighting is far too this century maybe a touch more up...eg sun comeing downa and a few big fill spots then your accent lights from below (spots around wall edges and maybe track lighting)

also horizontal lights (out of doors, sun direction maybe) can provide nice rim lighting but is much more dependant on viewing angle but if you know how the level will be played or veiwed most regularly......

[Minos]

I think it looks cool. Your detail is hi-tech, but your lighting is not. Each light in your scene is represented by a big obvious light source with a light under it (besides the sun of course). Since this isn't a barn, it could be worthwhile to research how modern facilities handle their lighting.

Great examples inside of airplanes and movie theaters. They have track lighting on the floor to guide patrons and most major lights use indirect lighting (as in, a covered light directed over a large wall surface to illuminate a room without people attention draw by a harsh, bright light bulb).

This is something often overlooked, but very important to the believability of your scene.

That's a great idea. I was actually browsing some modern architecture sites the other day but it's hard to find pictures of corporate projects. I'm considering buying a book on architectural lighting to have a better understanding of it, if anyone can recommend a good but not so expensive one please let me know!

I also found a cool site which sells all kinds of lights for theaters, bars etc... some really good stuff here: http://www.calilighting.com/

Thanks again guys, your feedback has been really useful :)

[55joe]

nice man!

[Mike Yevin]

Wow, I love how this piece has come together. It's a huge inspiration considering the fact that I am also in the process of creating an environment similar to this for my portfolio. Keep up the good work, I look forward to seeing how you decide to wrap it all up in the end :thumbup:

[HughieDM]

It would also be cool if you did some sort of hero asset for the middle of this large space like a holographic ad or something like that
http://www.computescotland.com/images/SxTyKKglbrCJru6P1YUt0ad07u.jpg
great work though keep it up

[SasoDuck]

I think it would be really wicked if you scrapped the commercial look to it, and added in a huge holographic galaxy map in the center.

Just some random spazy idea I got from that last picture HughieDM posted

[Ben Apuna]

I've been watching this scene progress for a little while now and love what you are doing with it.

You might not need to buy a book on architectural lighting, I ran across this site the other day: http://www.erco.com/products/download/index/index_3620/en/en_index_dltut_1.php There might be some useful info for you there. Be sure to check out the Printed Media section, there are a bunch of PDFs that go into great detail about architectural lighting, especially this one (http://www.erco.com/products/download/others/downloaddat_3992/en/en_downloaddat_dltut_1.php?aktion=_startseite&sprache=en&dir=30_media/25_guide_pdf).

[Minos]

I've been watching this scene progress for a little while now and love what you are doing with it.

You might not need to buy a book on architectural lighting, I ran across this site the other day: http://www.erco.com/products/download/index/index_3620/en/en_index_dltut_1.php There might be some useful info for you there. Be sure to check out the Printed Media section, there are a bunch of PDFs that go into great detail about architectural lighting, especially this one (http://www.erco.com/products/download/others/downloaddat_3992/en/en_downloaddat_dltut_1.php?aktion=_startseite&sprache=en&dir=30_media/25_guide_pdf).

wow those rule!! They are exactly what I need.

I'm gonna spend my entire weekend reading them, thanks man :)

[sprunghunt]

Looks really good so far.

But if it's a hi-tech facility I'd expect to see some advertising posters from the company that owns it. Or perhaps some corporate art that expresses exactly what it is they do there? or even a glass display case with products in it?

[Baaaah!]

Nice work Minatour0 :). It'd be interesting to see that room with just sunlight. Have you tried that yet?

[roosterMAP]

sick environment. reminds me of that one halo 3 map... forgot what i was called. anyhow, looks great!

[Minos]

update!

http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip09.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip10.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip11.jpg

[ZacD]

Very Zesty, I like it. Nice update.

[ajr2764]

I love the environment seen alot of changes through its production. It looks very well put together, new lighting setup is doing it justice. I added some pics to my ref/inspiration folder. I do kindof feel like its empty a bit on the floor like toward the middle why not have something else instead of the plant mesh setup.

If you get a chance I'd love th see the breakdown of the modular assests, im working on a uni project right now thats sort of hi-tech research facility. I have a similar area like the circular floor panels in the middle that was giving me some issues before.

[duxun]

i prefer the previous warmer lighting !!!! but you are the ARTIST my friend....


Cheers....

[katzeimsack]

http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip08.jpg

had a much better lighting :)

[SHEPEIRO]

i agree ^

[JasonLavoie]

http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip08.jpg

had a much better lighting :)

Agreed, contrast is your friend :) This looks fantastic though, I like the warmth it brings, but I think the lighting needs to be pushed more.

[Froyok]

update!

http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip09.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip10.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip11.jpg
"Juste un Zest de beauté."
I love it !
I prefer this lighting personnaly...

[cholden]

Much better assault on the lighting. Looks way more hi-tech

[brandoom]

I like the lighting how it is right now. It gives a sort of clean high techy feel to the scene. I also think this is still a significant amount of contrast. Perhaps not as much as before, but enough.

Maybe try introduce some different colored light, as right now its all pretty consistent.

I think it looks great though, nice work on the foliage.

[an aggressive napkin]

It should have a Dining room in it :P

[aajohnny3d]

I barely have crit for you. Great work. Love the textures. You should think of making more scratches on the metal.

[Oniram]

how about some reflections? u can take a basic reflection of a generic area, then put it on your floors or something.. but sort of at a lighter hue (when i did something like this i took the reflection vector and just added it with a value of something like .4 and that made it extremely subtle)

[Minos]

Thanks everyone :) I'll definitely push the lighting a bit more, but no too much. I'll leave it somewhere between the latest update and the previous one.

how about some reflections? u can take a basic reflection of a generic area, then put it on your floors or something.. but sort of at a lighter hue (when i did something like this i took the reflection vector and just added it with a value of something like .4 and that made it extremely subtle)

I actually have cubemaps (custom ones made in photoshop) on most materials. They are barely visible in the screenshots but they look great in motion.

As for the assets breakdown: Yes I'm gonna do sometime soon!

I'm currently working on a modular sofa set, hope to post it soon too!

[Shogun3d]

Good call on the lighting, it's definitely looking great and feels very natural. The lighting choice at this stage looks to be based on preferences so just go with what you feel is good to go.

Definitely would love to see some break downs, great stuff!

[Minos]

Some of the modular pieces as promissed:
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkassetsbreakdown_wip.jpg

[Generalvivi]

looks nice minos!

[paulsvoboda]

Just want to say how awesome this environment is. It's funny but you don't usually see 'clean' stuff look this good. You've really nailed the subtle textures.
I do agree with some here that the warmer lighting worked better, but it seems that opinion isn't shared by everyone so it's up to you.
Keep going!

[Priske415]

Lovin it, very inspirational.

[Minos]

pre-final screens. I really need to move on to another projects!

http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_01.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_04.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_05.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_06.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_07.jpg

Modular pieces:
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_08.jpg

Texture maps:
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_09.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_10.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_11.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_12.jpg

[Jason Young]

Looks awesome! Couple of minor crits: come up with another billboard for variation's sake, and the light cones in that last image don't match the light that's being cast.

[brandoom]

Wow. Nice, freaking, work. lol.

Looks great. Only thing I'd say is perhaps a bit too yellow in the first image. Maybe change the yellow flooring to a different colour.

But really nice work :)

[woody_294]

Phwoar! It's like Mass Effect and Half-Life 2 had a beautiful baby!

[[HP]]

Absolutely awesome! Lovely usage of color.

Congratulations dude! Love the new lighting too, definitely spot on!

[adam]

You need higher-res screenshots. :)

[rollin]

You need higher-res screenshots. :)

this!

[Synthesizer]

Really nice! I like how you've opened the floorplan up a bit more. It'd be fun to run around in there to check things out :) Also, I like the Cool Boys Lounge :D

[Minos]

Also, I like the Cool Boys Lounge :D

haha i actually stole that from peris =)

I'll post higher res pics when I get home tonight!

[chadabees]

Damn man that is some impressive work! I REALLY love the layout now and the colors you brought in look great.

[voodoochopstiks]

Wow man, wow. Loving it! All it needs is some nicer billboards, I usually prefer it if games try not to have actual photographs in them, as they tend to not blend so well with the stylized(always to some extent) nature of game worlds/characters. Loving the new use of color.

Also, Cool Boys Lounge - I think everyone that has a Spotify account knows you stole that from Peris :D

[Minos]

I'm definitely changing the adverts soon! I agree they look horrible now.

Some hi-res goodness:
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip14.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip15.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip16.jpg
http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip17.jpg

[Mind]

I'm definitely changing the adverts soon! I agree they look horrible now.

I dont think they look so horrible but just some variants could be better , anyway very beautifull work :D .

[Oniram]

amazing work! this is really inspiring for a project im gonna start soon. top notch stuff!

[Peris]

This is turned out really awesome man, fantastic work! You did everything right, this is a great environment to explore in a game, all the areas are very readable, I like the big blocks of color and huge letters to guide you around. A well designed environment that looks like it can serve great as an actual level, this is really the thing that's going to make your portfolio stand out from the rest, take note environment artists!
If I have to critique something it's that some of the textures and materials could use some polish, but nothing major, and also the area could use some unique props here and there to really bring it alive. But still, very awesome environment, especially for doing it all by yourself :).

[paulsvoboda]

Great job on this. Really impressive work. I love the solid block colours and how you've chosen to lay them out in the room. The hints of foliage here and there also adds a lot and gives the whole scene a really nice feel.

[ajr2764]

Amazing work, I've been watching this thread from the beginning and the environment has really come to life. I really didnt expect the latest progress, it pushed the environment to a whole new level.

[ZacD]

needs less distracting ads, but yeah, looks great.

[Whoot]

take note environment artists!
/Me takes note. :) Really nice environment. Love the use of bright colors.

[d1ver]

Awesome, man! Realy vibrant. You've done one hell of a job. Congrats!

[PhilipK]

Still absolutely stunning :) GJ man

[Spitfire]

awesome, reminds me of some parts of cairo station in halo 2 and also chronicles of riddik EFBB´s appartment areas.

Very nice!

[sampson]

nice work dude, i remember battling it out with you in game-artist texturing comps and you always coming up trumps. Shows how you dont need super-detail to make a kick-ass scene.

[SHEPEIRO]

very nice
one tiny crit-
dont make the glowing signs flat colour...add in some hint of the lighting behind it...always looks cooler IMO if not that realistic for the future

like-
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lisY8rJMAmY/S0cWQ4up1dI/AAAAAAAAAV0/7ehf5HcX7Ug/letters-A-S.jpg

and maybe back lit cool aswell (http://www.signworks.ae/images/services/signage/illuminated-signs-02.jpg)

[Minos]

wow thanks everyone, your nice comments make me really happy and make me wanna improve this environment even more!

very nice
one tiny crit-
dont make the glowing signs flat colour...add in some hint of the lighting behind it...always looks cooler IMO if not that realistic for the future

like-
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lisY8rJMAmY/S0cWQ4up1dI/AAAAAAAAAV0/7ehf5HcX7Ug/letters-A-S.jpg

and maybe back lit cool aswell (http://www.signworks.ae/images/services/signage/illuminated-signs-02.jpg)

Hmm Just had an idea. I tried doing that with static emissive lighting but then lightmass started to take forever to run. I'll try to fake a back lit effect using an unlit alpha texture, let's see if works :)

I'll do a final iteration before wrapping this up so please let me know what bothers you.

Things I'll change:
- Adverts
- Make the text look back lit
- Add a simple backdrop
- Try to get a few unique elements here and there
- Tone down the lighting on the big room just a little bit (looks a bit overbright in some places)

[HAL]

How could I miss this so long Oo

Great work!

I love the light colors and the overall design and execution

[Minos]

hey guys, I haven't finished this scene yet!

Since the last update I began to rework the lighting from scratch. I also made a skydome and started work on the outdoor area (which is gonna look awesome with this new color scheme I think). Lemme know what you guys think!

http://img1.uploadhouse.com/fileuploads/6686/66861719edfdc0f089a63d9c33c936ee02c55bc.jpg

(Please bear in mind that the above lighting was baked on "medium" quality setting, hence all the seams and blotches).

[Charlie]

It's beautiful! The intensity of the blue in your skydome does wonders for the overall feel of your new lighting. Great job.

I love the piece overall, the theme is one of my favorites and you pulled it off brilliantly!

[Minos]

Thanks Charlie!

Another update:
http://img8.uploadhouse.com/fileuploads/6690/6690488a34fffd7962170b889a1c143f43d9a3c.jpg

[ajr2764]

Oh wow I thought you finished this a while back. The more work you put into it the more amazing it turns out. Im really digging the latest direction of the lighting and nice atmosphere overall. Looks like a environment I would want to explore.

[divi]

to be honest i don't really fancy the new lighting. all those very saturated colors and superbright lights make the scene really busy and unpleasant to look at.
loved the lighting in http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1197347&postcount=81 those shots.
the latest update almost feels like a carnival.

i really like the carpet material though (i hope its carpet :D)

[Charlie]

I think you have too many neon light blue bars on the sides of the floors. Maybe alternate them or make them less intense because my eyes keep getting drawn to them and not to the main parts of the piece.

[konstruct]

really nice work, but I`m with ajr. I think you just over worked it.

[teaandcigarettes]

Dunno man. I think I'm with divi on this one - sometimes less is more. I feel that the shots you posted on 31st of August were perfect and offered a great balance of colors.

Carry on of course; I would love to see if you can take it even further. But for gods sake, keep a backup :poly142:

[fearian]

to be honest i don't really fancy the new lighting. all those very saturated colors and superbright lights make the scene really busy and unpleasant to look at.
loved the lighting in http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1197347&postcount=81 those shots.
the latest update almost feels like a carnival.

i really like the carpet material though (i hope its carpet :D)


Gonna have to quote this. The random red light on the floor, the white bright light strips on the walls, its all too much! I do tend to dislike using many bright lights that 'glow'.

[Arcanox]

I'm going to chime in and say that the blue lighting isn't really working for me either. The problem I'm having with it is the fact that the dominant lighting doesn't match the lighting in the rest of the scene. It leaves you at sorts on what exactly the theme is intended to be there.

What I look at is the floor with the runner lights. They shoot out hot colors while the big blue lights and skydome throw a strong cool color on everything. Then you look up at the hallway lighting and it's completely desaturated and mostly works off of the light being pitched around off of the colored panels. Huge disparity there.

The other thing that I just picked up is that you have these red strip lights high up on the column and on the skylight. They seem to be pitching this red wash on surrounding areas. I'm not crazy about them either, it just seems like it's all on the wrong context and the color clashes with the exterior skydome.

[Divine Rage]

I'm with divi on this. http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1197347&postcount=81 looks better in my opinion. The clean look you had before, to me, is more attracting than this fairground ride.

The environments themselves are still as kick-ass as ever before, I'd just suggest going back to the roots with the lighting.

[Cordell Felix]

reminds me of Wall-E

[Klumpmeister]

very zesty.

[jocose]

I'm with Divi on the lighting

[BreaK]

Brilliant work. Ive been thinking of doing an sci-fi environment myself, and you've inspired me! Love the scene...keep up the good work. :D

[Minos]

Alright stripped down some lights and tweaked other stuff. I also enabled light shafts but for some reason they are not visible on TiledShot.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9403/scifiudkwip17.jpg

And the Skydome I made:
http://img6.uploadhouse.com/fileuploads/6711/671111678ddc90d9c839af4dfef569eb4e1cf1f.jpg

Thanks everyone for the feedback so far!

[woody_294]

Properly great environment, feels like I could just walk straight in!

[Minos]

this is the last time I spam this thread I swear!!!1

Most people hated the previous lighting scheme so I decided to go back to the scene roots. I'm finally satisfied with the lighting and this is the one that I'll settle for.

http://www.thiagoklafke.com/misc/temp/scifi_udkwip19.jpg

Now onto the outside area and finishing touches and I can finally wrap up this environment and go work on something else!

[Arcanox]

Lighting looks better. Really I'd recommend desaturating your skydome by a small amount. There's something about it that doesn't appear natural to the eye, and that's sorta what drives me nuts about HDR lit skies. They brighter they are, the more saturation pours into the lighting.

Generally when you perceive outdoor lighting from inside, things appear a little washed out. That's my thought on it so far. Everything else looks great though.

[Minos]

Bump!

I'm currently working on a large tutorial covering everything about the making of this environment.

I've got a lot written but I feel like I might be missing something, so I'd like to know if there's any specific topics you guys want to see covered.

Thanks!

[Oniram]

i remember seeing somewhere your texturing process for this, so i wont ask for that. but what im really interested in is your planning for this. your references, asset lists, design concepts for layout, etc.

[jordan.kocon]

I wouldn't mind the texturing tut if it's still kicking around :)

[Computron]

pre-final screens. I really need to move on to another projects!

http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_01.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_04.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_05.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_06.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_07.jpg

Modular pieces:
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_08.jpg

Texture maps:
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_09.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_10.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_11.jpg
http://thiagoklafke.com/thiagoklafke_scifienv_12.jpg

are these down for anyone else?

[jordan.kocon]

^ down for me

[Minos]

are these down for anyone else?

I'm an idiot and deleted those files from the FTP by mistake. You can check the first page for the final pics.

@jordan: I think Oniram is refering to anotehr tutorial I wrote that briefly mentions my texture creation workflow: http://thiagoklafke.com/makingofdmzest.html

[maximumsproductions]

Wow this is beuatiful! you should definetly model the outside as well. ^_^

[SKid]

This really Amazing!

and, Thanks for the tutorial!.:)

[NobleWulf]

I really like the style that the whole building has. Great work.

[Luther2s]

It's really amazing this scene!!!

[purkie103]

Id love to see a video of you creating one of those panels from start to finish, Did you make the normals with NDO or bake them out from a high poly i saw you said earlier you made the texture sheet 1st so i can only assume NDO, or something alike. I feel it would be quite educational to watch. I'm not asking for a spoken tutorial or anything like that just a screen recording. I understand if you dont wanna do it though the information youve given already is very informative. I would just like to see it.

[kostyasazonov]

This is amazing!

[Minos]

Id love to see a video of you creating one of those panels from start to finish, Did you make the normals with NDO or bake them out from a high poly i saw you said earlier you made the texture sheet 1st so i can only assume NDO, or something alike. I feel it would be quite educational to watch. I'm not asking for a spoken tutorial or anything like that just a screen recording. I understand if you dont wanna do it though the information youve given already is very informative. I would just like to see it.

The panels were baked from a simple hipoly mesh, there's nothing special about them really. Did you check out the making of tutorial on http://thiagoklafke.com/modularenvironments.html ?

There's an screenshot of one of the hipoly meshes used to bake textures at the bottom of the tutorial:
http://thiagoklafke.com/tutorials/modularenvironments/hp-1.jpg

Hope that helps!

[purkie103]

Ive read that over a couple of times is very useful :) Thanks

[Kino1428]

This is great work, I wish to work on project of this scale once I'm in the industry....

[elefantopia]

beautiful use of orthogonal feature in your textures

[DockRock]

Just stumbled upon this thread while doing some research on UDK. Amazing work!

[Minos]

hehe browsing through this thread made me appreciate polycount even more. The feedback received here was invaluable :)

[sankalp]

Real cool Environment....:)

[Minos]

Bump! Someone turned this into a Mugen background and I think it looks awesome :P They didn't ask for permission but I don't care cause I love this haha

Mugen || Team Commando [Me] Vs Team Yang - YouTube

[ZacD]

LOL, awesome.

[ZacD]

wtf, I can't edit my post?

I was just going to add I'm surprised how well it fits in with that game, it seems perfect of a 2d fighting game.

[swtor61]

Looks great, love the lighting.Only I don't play it.

[amile duan]

Your scenes are great,but...maybe they need more details to be more realistic.

[Lephenix]

What a surprise, it fits perfectly with a 2d fighting game!

By the way, i love the enviroment, can't wait to see how the exterior looks.

[d1spect]

This caught my eye today, Im so happy I found the source! I love this style of work!

[Gods_Requiem]

Wow this is great. I love how you made so little assets into such an interesting stage of that size. Being an entry level environment artist there's a lot I can take from this. I think I will attempt a similar stage just for practice.

[Moosey_G]

necrooo!

Still, I think everyone should see this thread at least once :)

[Freekill98]

You need a little robot with a duster. no way humans could make that so clean :P.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/209/517507424_60b6ff85b1.jpg

This is a wonderful piece of art. reminds me a bit of the environments from doom3 however, they were darker.

[Matroskin]

lol, looks like u also won the Brawl competition ;)

[RexM]

Your scenes are great,but...maybe they need more details to be more realistic.

I think he was going for a unique art style.


I also think he succeeded. :thumbup:

[Hcui]

I really like the colors, design, and shapes of environment. How did you make the labels on the walls illuminate like that?

Amazing work, hope to achieve your level one day.
Cheers,
Halleck

[Hellraiser1026]

I'm sure it's just coincidence, but it reminds me a lot of the scene in Dead Space 2 where you first meet Elli(I think that's her name). Other than that Very impressive. Great texture paging.

[Pancakes]

the colors are great

[MystiqueX]

Great scene! And thank you for all the helpful tutorials!

[agarcellano]

Great work, looks awesome!

[Hard3D]

Nicely done!