Campfire Environment - WIP
polycounter lvl 10
Hi guys,
I started going over a few ideas for a personal project yesterday.
The scene's gonna depict a lone bonfire clearing, in the center of some dark, gloomy woods.
Been playing Dark Souls 2 quite a bit recently, so it's gonna be heavily inspired by that, particularly the huntsman's copse area.
So I'm planning to use a nice warm colour range for around the campfire to express a feeling of safety and security. In contrast I'd like to create a sense of mystery and wonder to the surroundings, so I thought about subtle green hues for the fog. I'll have to experiment a lot with those though.
Here's a rough idea of what I had in mind...
And here's the tree that I've been creating in zbrush using zspheres...
I've been modelling it from several ref images, but it's the first time I've modelled a tree (or used zspheres. I was quite taken aback by how easy it is to use!), so I wanted to get your thoughts on it before I take it any further.
One issue that I'm having is the poly distribution. They're really stretching around the branches, and it looks very noticeable at high subdivisions. I've been looking into retopoing it, and it seems pretty straightforward, but I was wondering if there's another way to reduce it. Is it possible to reduce it while still modelling with zspheres? I've tried lowering the number of spheres I have, but it doesn't really help much.
Thank you in advance
I started going over a few ideas for a personal project yesterday.
The scene's gonna depict a lone bonfire clearing, in the center of some dark, gloomy woods.
Been playing Dark Souls 2 quite a bit recently, so it's gonna be heavily inspired by that, particularly the huntsman's copse area.
So I'm planning to use a nice warm colour range for around the campfire to express a feeling of safety and security. In contrast I'd like to create a sense of mystery and wonder to the surroundings, so I thought about subtle green hues for the fog. I'll have to experiment a lot with those though.
Here's a rough idea of what I had in mind...
And here's the tree that I've been creating in zbrush using zspheres...
I've been modelling it from several ref images, but it's the first time I've modelled a tree (or used zspheres. I was quite taken aback by how easy it is to use!), so I wanted to get your thoughts on it before I take it any further.
One issue that I'm having is the poly distribution. They're really stretching around the branches, and it looks very noticeable at high subdivisions. I've been looking into retopoing it, and it seems pretty straightforward, but I was wondering if there's another way to reduce it. Is it possible to reduce it while still modelling with zspheres? I've tried lowering the number of spheres I have, but it doesn't really help much.
Thank you in advance
Replies
Roughly 3/4 of the way through now retopoing the high mesh. I started using zbrush for the topology but I found it a little too fiddly. Using the graphite tools in max now. I should have it finished later on today, then I can get it into zbrush and start sculpting. Can't wait!
1. Sculpt
2. Export High
3. ZRemesh
4. Export Low & UV
5. Bake your maps
Here's the result
I gathered more ref and now I've started to sculpt it in zbrush. Again though, this is the first time I've sculpted a tree, so if anything seems a bit weird or off to you, please give me a shout
A friend pointed out to me that there doesn't seem to be many sub branches, but I'm going to be saving those for an alpha texture, together with a few stray leaves perhaps.
More updates to follow soon
More updates soon
The branches were too thin to work with, so I went back and made them a bit thicker. Still tricky though.
Here's the updated sculpt after today.
Crits welcome as always
I think I'm pretty much done with the high poly now. Here's a few more pics
Gonna start baking shortly.
Any crits are welcome. Cheers
More updates soon
I'm using UDK for this.
I've captured a few pics from the intro at the beginning of dark souls 2. This is what gave me the idea for the scene...
Still unwrapping the tree at the moment.
Can't wait to get these tree UVs sorted!
EDIT: Also meant to mention, about the high poly above. I decided not to include the alpha tree bark. The polys were getting ridiculous, and the results were pretty noisy, even at a bigger brush size. So I'm just gonna generate those myself. Not sure how yet. I'll give it more thought
Also, here's a quick test of the normal map in UDK
AO pass next!
Just been working on the diffuse today and adding a few details to the normal map.
Crits welcome though, as always
I dunno if you're still playing around with the composition or not, but I think you might wanna revisit some of the placement of the objects. I usually lay over a rule of thirds guide over my environment work to see if the points of emphasis are lining up.
I'll upload another pic shortly when I get a chance, to show you what I mean. Been working on a few objects this week too, in between work. I'll upload some pics asap
Thanks again!
I've been looking into composition, and actually stumbled on a pretty good resource from another thread: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72082 (I didn't realize how old it was before I commented
I've done a paintover of what I imagined, while keeping the composition in mind, specifically the rule of thirds as the other guys have pointed out. Forgive me for it's crudeness, it's pretty rough!
As was suggested by luge, I've pulled the ruins in closer and I've moved the camera to the side so the fire sits nearly parallel to the left vertical line. Do the trees look like okay to you, position-wise?
The ruins are sitting more or less dead-centre, which isn't really advised? I'm a little unsure about where to put them. I tried them off-centre, near the left vertical line, but it didn't look right with the arrangement I already had. In the end I moved them back and reduced the opacity to make sure they weren't too distracting. Let me know if you thing it looks off though.
This is actually the first time that I've taken composition into so much consideration before, I'm sorry to say. Well, I've always tried to take care with it, but it's the first time that I've approached with a little better understanding of it, if you get me.
Anyway, feedback would be really appreciated
I've decided to rethink the layout, and to include a stone path going through the woods. Also been working on some grass. Here's a quick screengrab from UDK. I've been placing the grass clumps by hand so far, using alt + shift and left click. I've got some straight planes as well that I'd like to put in between the stones on the texture.
Also, here's a render from inside marmoset of the stone path texture.
Still unsure about the composition tbh. The tree placement isn't sitting right with me at them moment. I like the one sitting nearest to the fire light, but the other too are framing the shot, which is looking a little contrived. Maybe when I get more trees in it'll make more sense.
The next thing I'm gonna work on though is the earth/dirt texture, and then eventually use mesh paint to blend it with the stones.
More updates soon! Any crits would be great
I haven't forgotten about this! I don't have any fixed time set aside to work for this - work's picking up again atm, so I'm pretty much working on it as and when, so it's taking longer than I'd like. I'm enjoying it though
Started experimenting with vertex paint. Managed to get the grass blending with the mud. I'm still not sure about the mud texture yet though. Might redo it. I sculpted it in zbrush and then made it tileable from the displacement map, but I think I could probably get a better (and more convincing!) result from just using PS and Ndo. What do you think of it? I do like this mesh painting though
There's the issue of the seams though running alongside the road. I exported the terrain geo from max with two materials (the mud and the road). The downside though is the obvious tiling that's going on when I try and blend the road with the grass.
I could probably go back and weld the terrain and road Uvs together to create a seamless blend (the road is tiling straight vertically atm). The downside of course being that the cobbles won't conform to the direction of the road. I'm not really sure what to do for the best!
Any suggestions and/or feedback would be grand