Hey all, seems now that Skyrim has been released there is an abundance of Medieval-esque projects sprouting up!

Skyrim has captured my imagination and I had to build something medieval-ish.

I've begun the modelling process and I will be keeping this thread updated. Here is a quick paint over of the model so far...

sweet, nice angle, solid start. I like it, could be really epic. Keep going!

*seal of approval*

Lookin good, I like the concept and the modeling looks great too Looking forward to some more.

You really nailed the angle! Caught my attention immediately.
Keep it up!

well the fist thing i thought of when looking at the pic without reading was Skyrim so i guess you're on the right track!

keep going, i'll be watching this.

Very nice concept. Looking forward too ^^

Wow, thanks for the kind words guys/girls! I was expecting this to get ripped to shreds but it seems that Polycounters are kinder people than the voices in my head!

Anyway enough about the voices...

My only concern at the moment is that the purpose of the scene seems a little diffused, its hard to tell whether it is civilian or military. However I suspect that once I get some props in the scene it will start to take a more defined shape.

The lighting plan is presenting some interesting puzzles. I want to define the focal point, which will be the tower, but not sure whether to light it as a daylight scene or night. If it is a daylight scene, then I will use vibrant colours (flags, insignia etc.) around the tower, in order to draw the eye. However, if it is a night time scene then I need to find a realistic way to light the tower without creating an unrealistic fire. hmmm.. any thoughts on lighting?

I'm also toying with the idea of making it a snow scene. This might be something that I approach after the scene is 'Completed' as that way I can use vertex painting to paint show onto the various objects.

I'm taking this weekend out of my normal scheduled activities to devote to this project, so should hopefully keep the updates rolling. I'll get to work on it once I return from work and keep you all posted tonight.

Thanks again for the encouragement all!

Hey there, this is looking really nice, it's great when you can start out with a strong concept and block-in I agree the scene will take better shape as far as theme when you add props. I kindof like the idea of a moonlit snow scene with some torches and whatnot, but unfortunately I know like nothing about lighting so I can't really help you out with further suggestions haha. Looking forward to more!

Hey all, just started work on the Rocks for the Scene, I'm trying to figure out how to texture them (First time texturing rocks!) I'm really happy with the Normal maps but not sure how much detail to put onto the diffuse.

I have prepared a comparison, what do you think? WHich do you prefer? What would you change?

If you're going with the snow scene then I would use (C). It looks like it was born from a cold environment. (A) looks a little more desert/forest enviro, and I'm not too sure on (B).

When you mention cold/medieval I can't help but think of Game of Thrones and the wall.

Love the contrast between fire and snow too.

Looking forward to more updates.

Thanks, I agree about Rock 3 looking cold!

All the reference photos I took were of a non-snowy cold environment. Lots of browns and olive greens with orange dying ferns and very few leaves on trees. Hmm... I hate being torn between two choices! I think I'll just keep modelling and fix it later on.

Here's a quick UDK test, nasty seams (exaggerated by bump offset).

If you have ZBrush you could try creating your diffuse using Spotlight, that way you can paint right over the seams and it'll always match up.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not the most confident in zBrush. I can sculpt stuff pretty well but prefer to do my PS work in photoshop etc. I instead used the 'Viewport Canvas' Tool in 3DS Max to paint over the seams on the diffuse.

I wasn't happy with the texture on those rocks from last night and decided to take BreaK's advice and make it a cooler colour, a little more neutral. I took a lot of the large details out of the texture and just used a bit of dodge and burn to accentuate the details from the Normal Bake. This helped show off the normal maps a bit more (they were kinda hidden before) and also allows me to put a snow texture on later on quite easily.

I have two rock variation, at 300tris each and 512 diff/spec/norm. Moving onto texturing and finishing the Houses now.

Any crits?

On that last shot there, it looks like your texture scaling on ore or two of those rocks is off. If the rock texture tiles then should be easy to fix.

I like where the scene is going so far. Good planning, minus deciding if it should be snowy or not. I think if your plan is for a cold environment, you can hold off on that decision. If not, you should probably choose before you go too far in as your lighting will also have to reflect cold vs. not.

Keep up the good work!

For extra detail you can add an extra tiling detail normal map, particularly useful if you want to scale the rocks up to vary sizes but still need them to hold up at close distance. You can even add an extra tiling diffuse, multiply them together etc, to add variation too.

Cheers Ian, I will definitely look into that as I want to be able to scale them to randomize the scene a little bit.

As things stand at the moment, last night I finished modeling some dead Ferns (I've settled on an autumnal feel for the project) and began texturing the right hand house. As I was texturing I realized that it would be much nicer to view my textures in Unreal, repeating textures always look so rubbish in 3ds max!

Will post an update tonight when I get back from work.

QUikc update, work on the house was slow so I switched and moved onto creating a few ferns and grass clumps. Here's how it looks end of play tonight.

I wish UDK had HBAO, it makes grass look awesome.

What is hbao?

Horizon Based Ambient Occlusion.

Ooo sounds nice, does cryengine have it?

Also, while on this subject - is the cry engine easy to import assets etc? I've been considering it but not had the time to fiddle yet.

You should remove the white spot on your rocks mate =)

Originally Posted by Guy123

Ooo sounds nice, does cryengine have it?

Also, while on this subject - is the cry engine easy to import assets etc? I've been considering it but not had the time to fiddle yet.

No it doesn't. HBAO is somehow exclusive DICE feature.

About importing assets. Well you do not import assets to CE3 you export assets to CE3. You have to install plugin to maya or 3ds max, and just selecte what you want to export.

You should remove the white spot on your rocks mate =)

You sir just gave me a brainwave! I wanted to keep it to make the rock look old and detailed (all the rocks have white spots) but as you have noted, it repeats really badly.

I will remove it when I get home, and then I will make a different texture with little bits of white 'Mould' stuff etc. and then apply it as a tiling world space texture. Thanks for that!

Hmmm... not sure I have the time to learn the new cry engine if I want this project the be finished anytime soon.. decisions decisions.

Cryengine Has Directional occlusion which is supposedly better, but I think it requires dx11?