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Chew Magna Fortress, UDK

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polycounter lvl 10
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Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
Hey guys! I'm building an environment based off a scene from one of my favorite books, First King of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Basically, the characters are searching for a powerful relic called the Black Elfstone in an ancient fortress called the Chew Magna, hidden in a mountainous region. (Currently I am focusing on the exterior of this environment piece, but later I would like to get to some interior work and a specific courtyard scene I like). Here are the exact excerpts in case anyone is interested:
“A massive fortress stood before them, its stone blocks so ancient the edges were worn smooth and its surface so cracked it seemed as if spiderwebs had covered it over. It was a wondrous construction, a balancing of towers atop battlements, an interlinking of parapets that cantilevered forward and back at every turn, and a spiraling of catwalks that suggested the intricacy of tapestry threads woven on a loom. The castle rose high and then higher, until its farthest reaches were barely discernable. Mountains ringed the castle, opening to the sky through the ceiling of clouds and mist. Trees and scrub grew thick along the rock walls at higher elevations, branches and vines drooping inward toward the castle spires, letting daylight slip through in a ragged seam. It was from here that the light took its odd cast, spilling down through the filter of the leafy canopy and swirling haze to coat the fortress stone in its watery illumination.”

“Inch by inch, the mountains were reclaiming the ground on which the fortress had been built. One day they would close about it for good.”

“He glanced up again at the trees and scrub and vines growing high above them on the cliffs, and realized that the mist was almost a rain. He could feel the damp on his face. He looked at the fortress doors and windows, black holes in the gray haze. Iron hinges and locks hung empty and useless; the wood had rotted away at every turn. Moisture worked at the stone and mortar as well, wearing it down, eroding it. Tay walked to the wall of the nearest tower and rubbed his hand across the stone. The surface crumbled like sand under his fingers. This ancient keep, this Chew Magna, had the unpleasant feel of a place that would collapse under a strong wind.” (196)

Here is some of my reference and inspiration. I was specifically looking for examples of grand scale and the effects of erosion and age:

CijwA.jpg

XJJKk.jpg

3ny9o.jpg

For textures, my goal is to push the level of detail and realism in my painting - my work is typically somewhat cartoony and simple and I would like to see if I can achieve something a little more involved/intricate this time. Here is a sort of guide I am going by, some textures I quite admire (cholden, lincolnhughes, romy, sayonara):

pJ71W.jpg

Using the written descriptions from the book, I painted a concept:

3JPVO.png

And now I am currently doing some basic blockout in max, making sure the fortress is structurally sound from all angles (currently I have some shapes right from the front):

4qN4L.jpg

This week I plan to complete the blockout. As well as develop some spreadsheets for the asset list I have assembled below (certainly subject to change):

Assets and Textures:
• 2 custom cliffs (or sculpted landscape??)
• 2 boulders
• 2 rocks
• vine/moss alpha cards (4 variations: brown moss, green moss, and 2 types of hanging jungle vine)
• 3 plants (2 green plants and 1 with red flowers)
• grass (long and short)
• 1 bush/scrub
• 2 trees
• the castle modular set
• tileables: (paint all at 512)
FORTRESS:
1. stone brick wall
2. stone brick wall ver 2
3. damaged stone brick wall
4. damaged stone brick wall ver 2
5. crack decal
6. decorative stone trim (for main gate and other areas) [512 x 128]
7. stone steps [512 x 128]
8. metal bar for main gates [512 x 128]
9. broken rock cutaway [512 x 128]
10. unique 1024 with 3 different stone tablets, smooth stone corbel caps, 2 different diamond windows and 1 rectangular window, support beam texture
TERRAIN:
1. cobblestone
2. smooth stone
3. grass
4. grass with roots
5. dirt
6. cliff
7. broken cliff
8. moss
9. unique 1024 for 2 boulders, 2 rocks, 3 plants, 1 bush, grass, and vine alphas
10. unique 1024 for 2 trees

Total: 16 textures

Some other small goals I have for this project:

1. What are decals?
2. How to texture blend in UDK
3. How to use vertex color in UDK, on models and on the Landscape
4. How to height-map blend in UDK

Currently I am debating whether to make the cliffs in this environment from custom meshes built in max (by extruding/building from a pre-painted texture plane, a horizontally tiling cliff face), or from sculpting in the UDK Landscape editor, where I imagine it might be easier to paint on some moss later (unless I figure out texture blending for custom meshes...). I'll be doing some tests tonight. Thoughts?

This first post is text-heavy - but more images to come, shortly! Critique and comments welcome, and thanks in advance:]

Jessica

Replies

  • cholden
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    cholden polycounter lvl 18
    I'm so excited I made the list. That bridge was one of my favs! Fuck it up girl!
  • Dvolution
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    Dvolution polycounter lvl 11
    Woot! You've got this Jess. :D

    Beat me to making a thread too....mine will be up tomorrow.

    Subscribed! Now kick ass.
  • jmt
    Awesome start to this project. Very well planned out. Make sure to capture the atmosphere in the concept.
  • chrisradsby
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    chrisradsby polycounter lvl 14
    Well holy crap, looking forward to this one! :D
  • dirigible
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    dirigible polycounter lvl 8
    Oh dang, Jessica Dinh is making another environment! This gon' be good.
  • BARDLER
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    BARDLER polycounter lvl 12
    Be careful with that perspective in your concept. It is a lot more extreme then what you will find in UDK or any default camera in a 3D package.
  • ablaine
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    ablaine polycounter lvl 14
    This is going to be awesome.
  • chrisradsby
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    chrisradsby polycounter lvl 14
    I know how you can get this perspective in UDK :) for your beautyshots as well, without cropping the shot.
  • Kuki
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    Kuki polycounter lvl 8
    I know how you can get this perspective in UDK :) for your beautyshots as well, without cropping the shot.

    Please share your knowledge, I am interested as I always had problem capturing that kind of vertical perspective shot from Udk :)
  • Pixelatedkiwi
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    Pixelatedkiwi polycounter
    Awesome, cant wait to see it come together!
  • Jakob Gavelli
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    Jakob Gavelli interpolator
    Woah, you just made my day Jessica! Goodluck, really looking forward to this project!
  • MrNinjutsu
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    MrNinjutsu greentooth
    I'm really looking forward to seeing this one! Good luck with it.
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
  • ParoXum
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    ParoXum polycounter lvl 9
    You can surely just rotate the camera 90 degrees and then rotate the picture back in PS after screenshot. Should work.
  • RogerP
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    RogerP polycounter
    def following this one, the block out is already looking sweet :)
  • MEGALOS
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    MEGALOS polycounter lvl 9
    Looks very promising, will keep watching this :)
  • romy
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    romy polycounter lvl 12
    i'm looking forward to see this !
  • neverwander
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    neverwander polycounter lvl 7
    Can't wait to see more!

    As far as the cliffs go, you need to remember that the landscape tool in UDK is heightmap based, so you can't undercut anything. Also, such extreme vertical changes will mean a lot of texture stretching.
  • RedRaven
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    RedRaven polycounter lvl 10
    Good STUFF Jessica.
    After your last work, I am KEEN as BEANS to see how you go with a different art style and workflow.
    Best of luck!
  • breakneck
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    breakneck polycounter lvl 13
    putting my eyes on this!
  • chrisradsby
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    chrisradsby polycounter lvl 14
    Kuki wrote: »
    Please share your knowledge, I am interested as I always had problem capturing that kind of vertical perspective shot from Udk :)

    First of all you need a good rotatable wide-screen monitor, then you need to set your desktop to vertical.

    So you have a vertical desktop like this. (Very awkward to work with if you don't have 2 monitors)
    472792571_27075fba9f.jpg

    Then you need to go into UDK -> Preferences -> Aspect Ratio Constraint -> Maintain Y-axis FOV (to get rid of the distortion on the sides).

    Then just mess around with the regular FOV settings to get a good shot :thumbup:
  • Howl
    Your work has always been an inspiration Jessica! I'll be keeping an eye on this
  • erroldynamic
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    erroldynamic polycounter lvl 18
    Wow, this sounds exciting! Looks very promising.
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    dirigible, ablaine, Pixelatedkiwi, Jakob, MrNinjutsu, Adam, xxxcubanxxx, MEGALOS, romy, RedRaven, breakneck, Howl, Rion411 - Thanks very much for all the support guys!!

    cholden - I shall do my best xD

    Dvolution - You and me, man! Let's do this! :]

    jmt - Thank you. Yes, capturing the atmosphere is of huge importance to me.

    chrisradsby - Awesome, thanks so much! ^_^ I will need to hunt down one of those rotating monitors now haha.

    BARDLER - Yes, I will need to play with the FOV in UDK - just learned about that recently!

    neverwander - Ahh, right. I do want a good deal of undercut going on in my cliffs, in fact, a general inward slant. To remedy the texture stretching, I was going to paint stepping in the terrain, point by point - but it's not like that would be easier than hand-modeling a custom mesh haha. Custom mesh it shall be!

    This week I made my spreadsheets. Plant concepts and stuff! There is a variety of tall, mid-level, and ground-cover type plants, most of them the standard natural greens and browns, but some with little red accents that I want to use in my piece to complement the overall green-ish atmosphere and provide a hint of danger/foreboding. I'll end up picking 3 or 4 to model, perhaps more if time allows:

    EQQXZ.jpg

    1HOIn.png

    l129k.png

    kpCE0.png

    Critique and comments welcome. This next week will be dedicated to my castle model! I will complete the blockout and export it to UDK. Not necessarily fully detailed, but the overall layout and general shapes will be there and fitting together correctly.
  • carlobarley
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    carlobarley polycounter lvl 9
    wow well thought out! can't wait to see more
  • KennyTies
    Jessica, this is turning out awesome and I cant wait to see your progress. I also like how you meticulously plain everything out. Keep up the awesome work!
  • Gwee
    Love the planning :) Can't wait to see this come to life
  • locater16
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    locater16 polycounter lvl 8
    I wish I could play this game, because I want to go into that castle!

    My only criticism is UPDATE IT SO I CAN SEE!!!!
  • toxic_h2o
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    toxic_h2o polycounter lvl 8
    I've been wondering when you were going to post.

    Great start! I really like how fantastical your plants feel.

    I'll be watching competitively. ;)

    Good luck Jessica!!
  • Bek
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    Bek interpolator
    I was perplexed by the Chew Magna thread title as I couldn't place what story it was from, but ah how could I forget Shannara, the series I stole my username from? Really keen to see how this goes, it's been awhile since I read the first king, but I do remember being intrigued by the Chew Magna section.
  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter
    Very nice work so far, always love your threads.
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    carlobarley, Kenny, GWEE, locater16, toxic_h2o, Neox - Thank you! x]

    Bek - I was wondering if that's where you got your username xD This book has several really well-described environments - wish I had the time to do all of them! :poly142:

    Here is castle progress! It is also now in UDK with some fog and some kindof disgusting lighting - I'll work on it :poly117: Critique and comments welcome!

    2Zweb.png

    6UMmR.png

    8VaXA.png

    bHijM.png

    1Qh6Q.png

    This next week is for my custom cliffs (will be working both models and textures simultaneously). I'll get those exported to UDK as well.
  • dirigible
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    dirigible polycounter lvl 8
    Looks good!
    I'm curious about how you plan on tackling the large cracks in the stone of the castle. Do you plan on using tiling textures for everything, and defining the cracks with actual geometry, or were you planning on baking high poly onto low poly, or maybe even using decals?
    Had you planned that out yet?
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    Thanks dirigible! I plan on using tiling textures for nearly everything (some parts of the castle may get unique texture space), but using decals for the cracks. I am only modeling out areas of huge damage, like where bricks are actually crumbling/missing. Not exaactly sure what decals are yet, but I'll be researching more about them soon :]

    Also side note - changes I am still planning to make to the castle is a little bit of tapering/flaring of the towers cuz right now I think everything is still too straight even though I'm not going for a very cartoony look. Plus as some people of my friends have mentioned, I'll try to add some more asymmetry to the castle somehow so the silhouette is more interesting.
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    TINY UPDATE!! Spiky towers! and other little things haha:

    fy7AN.png
  • Rhoutermans
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    Rhoutermans polycounter lvl 12
    Looks great! Tracking this :)

    Really nice concept too, good luck!
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Good blend of large, medium details Jess! Can't wait till you get banners and stuff in here. The attention put into the castle design is nice too. It flows good.
  • jerom
    I can't wait to see this finished :D Love the concept :)
  • benji
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    benji polycounter lvl 7
    Awesome! The way you plan this stuff is great - I'll be taking cues from this in future!

    looking forward to seeing this one develop :)
  • EiGHT
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    EiGHT polycounter lvl 10
    This is really coming together Jess.
    Can't wait to see how you handle the textures.
  • Ryan Smith
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    Ryan Smith polycounter lvl 11
    Great stuff Jess! I love how you've done all sorts of research and reference gathering! Inspiring stuff!
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    Rhoutermans, jerom, benji, EiGHT, Ryan - Thanks guys! :]

    Jeff - I'm glad to hear the design is working.

    *sigh* So it's been a pretty frustrating week. I've been working on my first texture (the cliff texture) and I've probably started over like three or four times already trying to get something I like. Here's my latest iteration. Right now it kinda just looks like a wall or a floor or something too man-made at the moment. :poly127: I think I'm going to push this in a different direction and paint in some extruded shelves, and see if that works. Critique and comments welcome:

    lvpuB.png
  • Swizzle
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    Swizzle polycounter lvl 15
    Definitely go with the painted shelves, but also try to think of the larger shapes in general. At the moment it definitely looks like purposefully-placed masonry that's cracked and eroded over time, but it doesn't have the hallmarks of something that should be on a vertical face.

    Ask yourself what a cliff face might look like. What sort of strata is it constructed of? Which way are the layers of stone flowing? How is weathering and the shifting of the landscape affecting its shape? Is it sandstone, slate, granite? What would happen if you took a chisel to it — would it crack into a large sheet, or would small chunks come off?

    Once you have those kinds of questions in mind, it's a lot easier to come up with the general look of the cliff face.

    I mocked up a super quick example to give an idea of the direction you could go:

    e1j8A.jpg

    That looks like stone whose base is sinking into the earth and would come off the side of the cliff in large sheets. It used to be a flat or rounded upper surface, but now it's cracked and slowly being sucked down into the dirt as the tectonic plates and underground water sources erode the bedrock below it. It's something you'd more expect to see on a bit of a slope rather than a sheer cliff face, but it should give some idea of where you can go with your texture.
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    Ahh, thank you so much for the paintover and advice Swizzle. I'll think more critically about the cliff's construction and environment before diving in again, but I'm already starting to get a better idea of what to do. Thanks again for the time. Here we go again! :poly142:
  • AdelScott
    The entire project promises to be interesting :)
  • Gannon
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    Gannon interpolator
    I don't know how I missed this thread but I'm watching now for sure. Ready to soak up some art knowledge bombs.
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    AdelScott, Gannon - Thanks!:)

    So I redid my texture! Hopefully more cliff-like now:] Here's what it looks like on geometry. It's basically a bunch of little chunks clumped together, and if I hide some chunks I get different variations.

    From here, I plan to do some FFD stuff to these and shove them into some taller, smoother cliff faces (probably need to make another texture for that). Also going to be painting a moss texture for texture blending in UDK. I'll be placing plants/shrubbery/grasses on some of the ledges too.

    This is my first time tackling cliffs, so it's a challenge trying to come up with a workflow for something so immense! If anyone has any tips for me, I'm all ears:) Critique and comments welcome:

    kZ5Uc.png

    u8jYu.png

    amQSk.png

    This week I'm gonna jump over to working on some smaller boulders and rocks, as well as a tree. There aren't any trees in my concept, but every outdoor environment needs trees, right? :P I'll find a place for them. Here's some reference for that:

    P4jHf.png
  • romy
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    romy polycounter lvl 12
    wow, love that rock texture ! and a very good use of it with the geometry ! Can't wait to see more =)
  • Pix
    Nice progress, looking forward to foliage :)

    I thought you will repaint the whole texture from ground after Swizzle's feedback but you did paint over, that's really smart. :D
  • ablaine
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    ablaine polycounter lvl 14
    That cliff looks fantastic, Jess. Really nice job!
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