Mountain Temple

[Impala88]

Latest Update:

http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_3.jpg

http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_1.jpg

In an attempt to create a snowy scene for the first time this is what i've done.

i'm trying to re-create the samurai scene from suckerpunch (film). So far i have all of the large blocked out pieces but no details yet.

The main thing that i've done with this piece so far is the vertex shading. I've made use of some nifty shader work to allow the painting of snow to build up in the grooves of the base texture, using the specular as reference texture to get this working. The actual shader that pretty much every object here (minus trees and mountains) are using is quite heavy coming in at 130 instructions, it's got 4 lerps and allows painting snow, water (puddles) and basic shadows for some custom AO touchups.

However something i'm strugling with is the lighting. At the moment the blue hue is coming from mainly the post process, but that's most likely going to affect the red hue on the entrance way if i bump up the blue to match the film scene. I also think it needs to be brighter and tbh the sun is too prominant so that could do with being toned down, still want to keep the lense flare though as it's the first proper interactive lense flare i've made.

Any Crit welcome :)

BIG EDIT:

After alot of re-thinking and looking at the more detailed assets after they've been created, i've decided to scrap the suckerpunch idea and just go with a completely original layout and colour scheme for the scene. Still lots to add, props and especially some plynths for the fire particle system dotted around the edges of the building. It will also need a suitable surrounding, so far i'm flitting between an enclosed courtyard or a low wall onto a sheer cliff edge. (this idea would be acompanied by some nice water features).

I also plan to put a fountain/statue/thing in the center of the courtyard along with some trees. However for the trees, i need to figure out a way of using vertext paint for both snow and wind so i'll have to set one colour for the snow and the other 2 (or 3 with alpha) as the horizontal/vertical wind movement.

[gsokol]

Cool. snow looks nice..but yea, its kinda hard to see anything. Lens flares and god rays are overpowering.

Id say you should definitely lay down some basic lighting before you mess with post process stuff.

Are you planning on having anything in the courtyard area? Right now the area is realy big and plain. Maybe some statues or potted plants or something would be cool.

[Impala88]

thanks gsokol, yeah the lighting is getting tricky, the reason i changed the world postprocess colour values was just to have a look at getting the colour of the scene right, will look more into changing the lighting instead to achieve a better result.

As for the courtyard, since it's based on the scene in the film theres not really much that could be put in it, except for some damaged areas/random bricks lying around. Also the ground base texture (bricks) needs to be changed to a more shiny tiles texture as i looked more at the film scene today.

Also, the reason for the low visability isn't much to do with the god rays but more to do with the fog in the scene. I'll tone down the fog in the center of the scene and up the fog behind the buildings, think that'll improve it overall, but also it'll probably help with the lighting too.

[Impala88]

looking at it now i think i'm going to remove the lens flare altogether, and have the sun behind heavy cloud cover (see if i can replicate the overcast sun in the film by using a fog half density volume high up in the sky). This way i could increase the visibility of the main scene area without creating too much of a harsh contrast between the sky and the surroundings.

[Impala88]

also here's my main reference:


Sucker Punch - Samurai Fight Scene [HD] - YouTube

[dpaynter26]

i like the idea and it seems to be really coming together, good luck, are you going to create the inside as well?

[Impala88]

eventually yes :)

[SasoDuck]

Hang on... there's some potential, sitting on an Impala, out on my deck.

[Mark Dygert]

Way too heavy on the fog and effects. But from what little I can see it looks really promising. I look forward to seeing more of the scene (and less of the fog).

[Impala88]

Cheers for the crits guys greatly appreciated.

So now, here's my update on this, the fog is way less now, and i've ditched the lens flare and alot of the bloom which has reduced the glaring godrays. Still no details in yet, which i intend to add mainly via textures, (main update i need to do for the details is create a cylidrical pillar with metal rungs around the middle and bottom to replace about half of the basic pillars i have currently). I also plan to update the wood texture with pre-snow built in to give it a bit better transitions.

Also one thing i'm still yet to do is create snow piles in corners and along the walls, both for realism and to hide nasty seams.


http://www.afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_1bk.jpg
http://www.afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_2bk.jpg

[Goeddy]

i think in terms of the snow you should think more global.
the pattern how the snow-covered and snow-free areas change is too small, almost seems like they change in a regular pattern although they don´t.

looking foward to see this finished.

[Impala88]

Thanks Goeddy, but do you mean the snow covering the floor or covering the rooftops? the floor snow is pretty much the same as the reference , there are spots of bare brickwork dotted around the whole courtyard, with most of the snow clumped up around the edges where the walls meet.

The snow on the rooftops however is way too splodgy, so i've removed the vertex colours and done them again, the transition is alot smoother now, but with a few bits of randomness on as well.

The main thing i've done now though is, i've realised that the height map the brick texutre was using for the vert paint shader, was inverted >< so now that it's the right way round and the snow is filling in the cracks before the tops, it's looking alot better. Will post pics tomorrow night.

[Goeddy]

yes i ment the snow on the roofs, the floorsnow could need some extra too but i assume that will come together with the snowhills you mentioned.

[mystichobo]

Well, I immediately recognized it from the film, so good job there :)

I do agree that the fog is maybe a bit heavy though

[Impala88]

Update on this, i pretty much redid everything (new scene, new assets etc). See top post for edit on update.

more pics:
http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_6.jpg
http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_5.jpg
http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_7.jpg
http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_8.jpg

[SasoDuck]

"As we look to the right we can see Saso's jaw in this display case. Now this artifact was said to have dropped from an immense height after apparently viewing a certain post on a one Polycount. Now if you'll follow me....."

.

[Impala88]

.

<3

[Impala88]

Would love some more input on this :) I'd like to hear more ideas for blending the courtyard into a suitable environment area other than keeping it enclosed, would rather not have masses of roof sections everywhere!

[SasoDuck]

Maybe you could slope some rocks down into the courtyard and then have just some sort of smaller fence or rock wall?

Like this:

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/49/09/2490903_0a213e63.jpg

With some of this:

http://images.travelpod.com/tw_slides/ta01/2ee/876/an-old-fence-hualien.jpg

But obviously more towards your theme, have it similar to the temple's design

Just an idea

[Impala88]

yes! the sloped rocks could be quite a nice idea, i'll most probably have to re-do most of the background but tbh i've been getting tired of the mountains the way they are anyway, i'll just add a mountain backdrop and make closer mountain to merge with the slope sections.

[Impala88]

I know i havn't put an update in for this in a while now, but i'm still working on it. I have some rocks done however, i'm feeling that now they're in it's not really holding together properly. So, what' i'm going to do is probably create some out building work and a wall to go around the courtyard, while still showing some of the surrounding mountains etc. will Post pics tonight when i get back. This is the wall style that i think i'm going to go with:

http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfophoto/japan-best/wall.JPG

I also have a sort of brazier for the fire on the go too, it's based roughly off this:
http://image.ohmynews.com/down/images/1/crossfire_384185_1%5B673496%5D.jpg

will have that sorted soon too i hope.

[SasoDuck]

Looks good, fits the theme. Can't wait to see it

[Impala88]

Hey guys, been a while since i last updated this, i'm still working on the surroundings etc, but i've also been thinking about making some foliage and making use of the tools for terrain and foliage that UDK has to offer. So with that in mind this is a quick concept of something it could look like:

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/4630/templeconcept.jpg

I've done a wall based on the concept in my previous post and that's currently in, but will need some reworking to fit with this new direction, hopefully i can get some propper work on it done this weekend.

[Roelant]

Nice project :). I think the trees add alot to the scene. Maybe it is nice to see also some mountains sticking out on the background on top of the trees. Keep going ;)

[SasoDuck]

Those trees are a really nice touch. Are you using 3ds Max? What method did you use for the snow/fog?

[Impala88]

those arn't even models yet lol :P i'm yet to do that. As i said it's a concept currently, it's all photoshopped over the other image. i'm hoping to get it looking like this in UDK over the weekend though.

I already have some ideas for the fog though, there is a nice particle effect i had made for the scene when it was the blue snowy scene from suckerpunch. I can do that blowing through the trees, and i can also add some fog density spheres in and around them to simulate the fog in the background.

Will also mess around with the landscape tool too, not used that yet.

[Impala88]

Ok, update on this, added a small wall and some landscape (not made using landscaping or terrain in udk though, ended up with lightmass problems so it's zbrush plus pro-opt in max. Uses the vertex paint like the rest of the scene.)

Although it's in a winter or snowy should i say, setting, the plants would most likely be dead (havn't checked on jap plants if they're disiduous or not, i'd guess some are) but a dead scene isn't something that i want to go for and the volume of the trees helps the scene all together, also the green makes a nice contrast with the black brown red and white.

http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_3.jpg
http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_1.jpg
http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_2.jpg
http://afs3d.co.uk/HD-images/temple_4.jpg