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Futuristic Chinatown

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polycounter lvl 4
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enoki polycounter lvl 4
Hi everyone, I wanted to show a new environment I've been working on for a while. The theme is futuristic Chinatown where I'm doing a blend of modern and sci fi elements, so it feels rooted in modern times that's advancing into the future. I got a lot of inspiration from games like Remember Me where it takes place some decades into the future.

Here's some reference:

Ryl5wuo.jpg

ZAWkluI.jpg


I was originally working in UDK, and I have made other environments in UDK but I decided to try rendering out an environment with the new Marmoset Toolbag and see what I can do with it.

Here is the layout of the scene:

VBubfDj.jpg


\WIP of the building, just testing things out:

screenshot3.png?format=1500w


and a few assets:

screenshot208.png?format=1000w

Futuristic wall WIP

screenshot207.png?format=1500w

Trying out PBR

screenshot2.png?format=1800w


I'll be working more on the layout and the lighting next, and of course crit/feedback is always appreciated. Thanks! :)

Replies

  • leleuxart
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    leleuxart polycounter lvl 10
    Seems like a great idea and I'm really liking the building so far. I'd dirty up the grunge in the Gloss/Roughness map for the bricks and dumpster a little more though. They are reading as pretty smooth, which makes sense for the dumpster, but you could bring out the rust some more with a little more work in the Gloss.
  • jeremiah_bigley
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    jeremiah_bigley polycounter lvl 12
    Looking nice so far man! Keep the stuff coming. *subscribed*
  • LANKUS MAXIMUS
    Really nice start dude. I can't wait til i get around to tackling my first futuristic environment!

    Remember to keep vertical detail in mind. All the best futuristic Chinatown's (Blade Runner, Metropolis, A.I etc...) all seem to have just as much going on overhead as there is at street level. Fly-over's, signage, traffic lanes and all that jazz..

    Anyways. All the best with it dude. I look forward to your progress! :)
  • SaferDan
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    SaferDan polycounter lvl 14
    I love all of this stuff so much! The quality is awesome!

    Could I get some insight into your bricks? Were they sculpted? Thanks for any help!
  • Jeffrotull
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    Jeffrotull polycounter lvl 3
    I dig your take on a futuristic streetlamp. Really nice prop, and your brick work is superb.
  • chrisavigni
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    chrisavigni polycounter lvl 12
    Great start! Looking forward.
  • nukes
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    nukes polycounter lvl 4
    i wanna lick those materials.
    awesome stuff:poly124:
  • _Kratos_
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    _Kratos_ polycounter lvl 11
    It's lookin great man!
  • gamerenrique
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    gamerenrique polycounter lvl 6
    Looks really great... cant wait to see more..
  • enoki
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    enoki polycounter lvl 4
    Thanks everyone for the kind words! :)

    @leleuxart: okay, I will try and fine-tune the material more.
    @LANKUS MAXIMUS: I'll keep that in mind as I work on the layout more.
    @Jeffrotull: thanks though I can't take full credit. I looked around for street lights that looked futuristic or unique and tried to mash things together.
    @SaferDan: yeah, the bricks were sculpted in Zbrush then textured in Photoshop. Nothing particularly fancy but here's the sculpt:

    bricks_z_01.png?format=1500w


    Also here's another shot of the building. Still quite a bit of work to do on the sci fi stuff:

    screenshot009.png?format=750w

    screenshot007.png?format=1500w

    Thanks again everyone for the encouragement and feedback.
  • NomadSoul2501
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    NomadSoul2501 polycounter lvl 10
    That layout looks gorgeous!
    Can't wait to see this finished :)
  • KazeoHin
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    KazeoHin polycounter lvl 8
    This is such an awesome concept, and you work thus far is superb. Keep it up.
  • JustGarry
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    JustGarry polycounter lvl 4
    looks great, have a sub from me :D
  • aferalva6
    nice brick wall. can I ask you something do you really need to sculpt the bricks? or can you take a picture in photoshop and create the specular and normal map? I am new on this field so I have not much experience,
  • Holland
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    Holland polycounter lvl 9
    Looking great dude! Yeah i'd love to know if you sculpted all those bricks? Usually I just sculpt around 6 and make sure each side is unique. Then just flip them round when placing them.
  • Tits
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    Tits mod
    Looking great so far!
    Following to see how it will turn out :)!

    Edit : agree with LANKUS MAXIMUS I would love to see a tutorial covering how you made those brick, they look great!
  • LANKUS MAXIMUS
    You're brick work seems to be mighty popular dude...

    You should whip up a simple tutorial pic when you finish the project. Really is a nice wall :)
  • dvisionvoid
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    dvisionvoid polycounter lvl 6
    Amazing! Can you show us some meshes?
  • pixelpatron
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    pixelpatron polycounter
    You got skillz. Subd.
  • ostwid
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    ostwid polycounter lvl 9
    if you can show a wire of the building
  • vmrnv
    Looks very sweet, especially last picture
  • urgaffel
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    urgaffel polycounter lvl 17
    Looking forward to seeing this evolve! Really like your bricks :)
  • enoki
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    enoki polycounter lvl 4
    Hey all, thanks for your comments.

    To those who mentioned the bricks, thanks but I have to say, there's nothing special about the way I made them.. I've made tileable textures in Zbrush before using the method Holland mentioned, make a few unique pieces then rotate them around and reuse them. This time I wanted to experiment and see if putting in the extra effort to uniquely sculpt every brick would make a difference and arguably maybe not when it comes to having to sculpt this many pieces but oh well, it didn't take much time to sculpt each one and sculpting is just plain fun! :D

    I spent just a few minutes on each brick, and you can see that some bricks I did very little work on. One thing I've noticed is if you make every brick really detailed, and you have a ton of bricks, what you may end up with in the end is a really noisy texture. As far as the sculpt goes, the treatment is primarly just trim dynamic to break away the edges and then adding some small surface imperfections. After that it's just extracting the normal map from Zbrush then using photo manipulation to make the finished textures.

    @aferalva6: Yeah I could have grabbed a photo of a brick wall then turned that into a texture but making your own textures is way more fun and good practice (if you have the time for it)
    @dvisionvoid: What did you want to see specifically?
    @ostwid: Sure, here's the building wireframe and yeah I was pretty generous with the polys in some areas, and I could probably cut back and optimize more. :poly132:

    screenshot008.png?format=750w


    and this is an update to where I'm currently at with the scene:

    screenshot010.png?format=1500w

    I went with a rainy night scene, but I think I'll render out both a night and day scene. Lighting needs more fine-tuning and not so sure about the composition and focal point. I'd especially appreciate some help/suggestions with that. :\
  • kimmokaunela
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    kimmokaunela ngon master
    I have a strong Remember Me feels and that is a very good thing. Looking good so far!
  • L33
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    L33 polycounter lvl 5
    This is looking fantastic. Cant wait to see the finished piece.
  • pixelpatron
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    pixelpatron polycounter
    12381685993_ea84dc31a0_o.jpg

    super quick paint over, I think it'd be awesome to have a butcher shop on the left. You could use that to draw the eye to that spot with the warm colors and a neon sign of some sort. Other than that just some more silhouettes, boarded up broken windows, a car and an awesome futuristic bike (dirty it up to match) and your there! Good luck.
  • Auldbenkenobi
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    Auldbenkenobi polycounter lvl 11
    This is looking incredible already, really nice work with the Materials!
  • snake85027
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    snake85027 polycounter lvl 18
    cool paint over
  • serriffe
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    serriffe polycounter lvl 9
    looking nice already :]
  • Mr Smo
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    Mr Smo polycounter lvl 18
    looking brilliants, is it all in marmoset 2 still?
  • enoki
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    enoki polycounter lvl 4
    Thanks everyone.

    @pixelpatron: That's awesome! Thanks for the paintover, I'm going to rework the layout and composition a bit more and I'll try and incorporate your ideas in. :D

    @Mr Smo: Thanks and yeah, it's all in Marmoset. I wish I could make it in UE4 though.. :( and by the way, I'm a big fan of your environment work, amazing stuff.
  • Cint128
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    Cint128 polycounter lvl 6
    Hi, just wondering with the brick wall, is the grime at the top and bottom and under the windows just done via decals on planes?

    Thanks :)
  • Steve_T
    awesome stuff man, really liking the ideas in the paint over too
  • ostwid
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    ostwid polycounter lvl 9
    Thanks for the wire view. I asked for a show wire, which is why I rarely someone shows a wire of the building.
  • Iciban
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    Iciban polycounter lvl 10
    great stuff! The only thing thats bothering me is the scene needs more neon signs. Maybe i'm just being picky, but whenever I go to chinatown. Thats what stands out for me. Neon lights and red banners.
    Also not sure if you would incorporate bamboo framing into ur scene, but it gives a bit of old touch to it. One thing i love to see when I go back to hk
  • Envart
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    Envart polycounter lvl 6
    Cool environment, looking forward to seeing this develop.
    In addition the the previous paintover, perhaps the lights could continue down the alley way?
    paint.jpg
  • Shrike
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    Shrike interpolator
    Looking nice so far !
    Something I dislike is that sci-fi metal section that you show on the first page.
    It looks like a very generic sci-fi bash that dosnt make any sense. Its kinda usual making made-up geometry, but these are not believable , would you build your panels like that if you were a specialist doing your job ? ; )
    If you took one outstanding feature, like the left part, and made the rest a lot simpler, it would be a lot more reasonable.
  • Kobalt Kiwii
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    Kobalt Kiwii polycounter lvl 6
    Loving it so far! I've been putting an environment together as a side project to render out in toolbag2 and would be interested if you've come across any issues with rendering an environment in it rather than simply an asset.

    Personally I thought the scifi wall closest on the left looked as though it could become a futuristic system of shutters, perhaps opening from the center up and down, there's a bit which looks like a handle. Something that gives it more of reason to be that shape would make more sense, at the moment it looks like a wall which has had shape and interest added to it simply for interest's sake...

    Keep it up!
  • enoki
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    enoki polycounter lvl 4
    @Cint128: yup, just decals
    @Iciban and Walrus: yeah I'll try to add more lights and signs. I just need to be careful of not making the scene too overwhemling.
    @Kobalt Kiwii: There are some obvious challenges with rendering an environment using Marmoset Toolbag, particularly with the limitations of tools and features you get compared to game engines like UDK. Certain things like making special shaders, vertex painting, or fog can't be done and will have to be "faked", but I think it's worth it with how good things look :D

    Also Kobalt Kiwii and Shrike, thanks for your comment and duly noted. I'm going to rethink and redo the sci fi designs. I also want to push the sci fi aspects of the scene more, so here's a small update of where I'm thinking of going.
    screenshot011.png?format=1500w
  • Gannon
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    Gannon interpolator
    Lovin it, everything's baked so cleanly. How long did it take you to create the tiling brick sculpt?
  • Kobalt Kiwii
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    Kobalt Kiwii polycounter lvl 6
    Really liking that update! if you could make the opening times look more like holograms that would look really awesome.
  • enoki
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    enoki polycounter lvl 4
    It's been a while so I wanted to share where I'm at with this scene. It's a bit sloppy and the lighting hasn't been refined, but this is what I've been up to:

    screenshot012.png?format=1500w

    @Gannon: thanks and it was just a couple minutes on each brick and a little bit more time on a few of the more detailed ones so maybe 10-15 hours? I don't think sculpting that many bricks made much of an impact in quality, so I probably spent more time than I really should have.
    @Kobalt Kiwii: thanks and yeah I hope this update will make it look more like a hologram.
  • enoki
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    enoki polycounter lvl 4
    Almost ready to call this done! :)

    screenshot014.png?format=1500w
  • killazzz
    This is looking really nice! Definitely a nice blend between modern architecture and futuristic build-ons.
    However I feel like a lot more could be done to take it that one/two steps further.
    Number one, Foreground props!
    Trash piles, a Dumpster, a bit more signange, fire hydrant, grungy looking cardboard boxes.
    A couple more things like that would really help fill in the negative space in the foreground.
    I'd love to see more lanterns draping the front area as well, some nit picks would be to push your spec further on all the metal elements, and i'm not sure if the blue glass stuff on the balcony is working for me, I'd make it a bit more desaturated.
    otherwise, well done!
  • Minos
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    Minos polycounter lvl 16
    Looks great, dig it :)

    Lighting could use a few bigger light sources, such as street lights or something like that. Right now most of the lighting comes from tiny light sources which is always a big no-no when doing night scenes.
  • Iciban
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    Iciban polycounter lvl 10
    wow looks great! I agree on giving it more props. The streets feels a bit empty right now. Maybe some posters and graffiti? cardboard boxes would work wonders. There's always tons of flatten cardboards in chinatown
  • urgaffel
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    urgaffel polycounter lvl 17
    It's looking good but it feels like the scene is missing a focal point, especially with the empty street on the right side taking up almost 60% of the image. Maybe a car, a (noodle) stand or something along those lines. Crowds would also add to the scene but that is a big ask :)
  • chrisavigni
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    chrisavigni polycounter lvl 12
  • razz
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    razz polycounter lvl 9
    Looking great! I would go crazier and add more glow and some tint over the whole thing, but that's just me. It's a bit too grey for my taste, but well done!
  • enoki
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    enoki polycounter lvl 4
    @chrisavigni, kaikaisushi: thanks guys! :)
    @killazzz, Minos, Iciban: awesome, thanks for the suggestions and feedback guys! All really great points.
    @razz: thanks, you may not like the direction I ended up going with though... I got some feedback from other people, and I decided to tone down the glow and made the scene a little bit desaturated. It seems previously it was just too bright and too saturated for a cold rainy scene.

    So this is not a huge update, I was just making some subtle tweaks to the lighting and materials. I'll think of some more assets to make but in the meantime, here's a few more shots.

    aenok_oh_chinatown_01.png?format=1500w
    aenok_oh_chinatown_02.png?format=1500w
    aenok_oh_chinatown_03.png?format=1500w
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